Richard Kaner and Maher El-Kady have “micro-scale graphene-based supercapacitors” on their front DVD burner, showing an energetic alternative to saving all those ‘80’s rockers to disc. Dr. Kaner is a member of the California NanoSystems Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and professor of chemistry and biochemistry. He and graduate student El-Kady are using a “consumer grade” LightScribe DVD burner to make dozens of micro supercapacitors on what looks like a typical DVD. Dr. Kaner’s research lab hosts 17 undergraduate and graduate student researchers who’ve helped amass at least 390 papers in four main areas of research; conducting polymers, graphene, superhard materials and thermoelectric materials. Their recent investigation of supercapacitor fabrication seems to encompass almost all of these fields. An abstract for their recent article in Nature Communications hints at the possibilities this research may realize in the commercial world. “The rapid development of miniaturized electronic devices has increased the demand for compact on-chip energy storage. …
Green Flight Challenge – Days Three and Five
As if in answer to the most fervent prayers by CAFE Foundation organizers, Tuesday, September 27 dawned as a bright, windless morning, perfect for the planned 200 -mile aerial trek that each of four teams would undertake in the Green Flight Challenge sponsored by Google. Each would fly a large, tightly-followed out-and-return loop around the Sonoma Valley, reaching the radio tower array on the peaks north of Geyserville, then returning for one of three passes (the fourth being the descent to land) over the CAFE Foundation hangar at the west end of the Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport. Each would have to reach at least 4,000 feet at the end of a 17-mile climb and would need to track within one mile on either side of the Challenge course’s centerline. Pilots would need to stay on the outside edge of turnpoints, but shave their margin to within one-half mile on each pylon-type turn. To help monitor that precise flying, Steve …
Lucky 13 to Fly in Green Flight Challenge
Following rigorous evaluations of all aircraft to ensure they meet all standards for the contest, Dr. Brien Seeley, President of the CAFE Foundation, announced the 13 entrants who will compete in the Green Flight Challenge at Santa Rosa, California between July 11 and 17, 2011. This exciting event will offer the public a first view of some incredible designs and resourceful competitors. Since the minimum performance required for consideration includes things such as the ability to fly a 200 mile course at 100 mph or better average speed, the ability to clear a 50-foot barrier on a 2,000 foot runway during both takeoff and landing, and the efficiency to attain at least 200 passenger miles per gallon during the overall flight, all aircraft are obviously the most efficient aerial creations yet seen. Rules were established to encourage designers to make “real world”, practical craft rather than specialized designs that could win the contest but find no real purpose or willing owners. Even things such as cockpit design and …
First Rollout of a Green Flight Challenge Flyer
On November 22, 2010, PC-Aero rolled out Elektra One with a running motor, the Geiger HP-13.5 unit normally found on paramotors, trikes, and the Swift flown by Manfred Ruhmer. Testing and the public unveiling took place at the Rotortec Company in Gonsried, Germany. The airplane had shed the tricycle gear it displayed at the Friedrichshafen Expo for Sustainable Mobility, where it had been a centerpiece in June, 2010. It now sports what looks like a center-line retractable gear much like that of the Fournier motor gliders. A month later, December 22, the team “performed successfully the static tests of Elektra One for the German Ultralight Certification. The structure of the aircraft (wing, fuselage and tails) [were] loaded up to limit load.” Test flights are set for January, and the aircraft is scheduled to participate in the Green Flight Challenge in July at Santa Rosa, California. There, it will have to fly a 200 mile closed course on a single charge of its batteries at …