For those who love model trains,
here's a peek at the future - a solar-augmented monorail. Joe Kopacz and his
brother Justin created the monorail from scratch. Joe, a mechanical engineer at
Colorado State University, created the gadget for a school contest. The
monorail includes break regeneration and has solar panels to augment the battery.
The monorail is run off of an arduino uno, which controls the recharging and
other special features - including lights that come on when the monorail enters
a tunnel.
I guess the future is now. This is certainly a long way from the trains I had as a kid. Even later on when a buddy of mine got into model trains for a while they were not like this. I have heard a lot about the arduino technology but have not tried my hand at it yet. The solar aspect of this is interesting as well since I am seriously considering some home improvements that would include some solar PV installations. Here in Florida any power sold back to the utility is at the same rate we get charged for it so it is a pretty attractive proposition once all the state and Federal incentives are added in.
I am just not so sure how a real solar train would work out.... :-)
By experimenting with the photovoltaic reaction in solar cells, researchers at MIT have made a breakthrough in energy efficiency that significantly pushes the boundaries of current commercial cells on the market.
In a world that's going green, industrial operations have a problem: Their processes involve materials that are potentially toxic, flammable, corrosive, or reactive. If improperly managed, this can precipitate dangerous health and environmental consequences.
With LEDs dropping in price virtually every year, automakers have begun employing them, not only on luxury vehicles, but on entry-level models, as well.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 3
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
3 
