A Fuel-Efficient School Bus
Seventh grade can be challenging. Classes get tougher. There is the pull of social circles. Then, for one kid, there was the effort to reduce a major transportation cost by hundreds of millions nationwide.
You know how it is.
Now 19, Jonny Cohen saw his roughly seven-year odyssey get to the testing stage in Florida last year, and this year in his native state of Illinois. Presently a mechanical engineering student atColumbia University, he’s optimistic about the possibilities, but, his experience has instilled in him the importance of patience.
The Aero Pointing
So how did it start? Taking a class at Northwestern University, the task of building pinewood derby cars fascinated the 12-year-old Cohen, especially when it came to aerodynamics. It wasn’t long before his thoughts shifted to a vehicle we don’t often consider: the school bus.
“I realized a school bus wasn’t as aerodynamically efficient as it could be,” he says. “People are often thinking about it as driving slow but they don’t realize it’s often not owned by the school and is driven from maybe 15 miles away or more, multiple times a day, to be put into action. The kind of driving that comes with that is part of where efficiency can really help. I wanted to design a practical airfoil and I wanted something that was easy and could fit on different school buses and be easily installed,” he says.
Cohen received a $25,000 grant from Pepsi in 2010 and also partnered with Northwestern University on the project.
Delving further into the invention, Cohen explains that “GreenShield” (as his invention is called) reduce fluid separation. “It’s basically like a right angle roof so there is a high pressure zone at the windshield,” he says. “What the GreenShield does is attach to the leading edge of the roof so it makes more of a gentle curve to it,” he says.
Though there has been a great deal of testing, he says, the wind tunnel work was definitely one of the highlights for him. “It first involved computational fluid dynamics on the computer and then we wanted to be able to test them,” he says. “We 3D printedfrom the CFD model and then we used that in an actual wind tunnel—using a scale model and testing it.”
Moving Forward
Today, the GreenShield is made of fiberglass and reinforced with Kevlar. It also comes in at about eight pounds. And the results have been encouraging. Cohen says 10% fuel savings were reported back from Panama City, FL, on a school bus using the Greenshield.
Quite a feeling when you consider how much of his childhood has been attached to getting this off the ground. “When you’re growing up it can be hard to put so much into one thing,” he says. “But this was something I believed in.”
Beyond what it might be as a business, Cohen says the GreenShield helped give him an open mind. “It taught me that we shouldn’t see things the way they are but the way we think it should be.” he says. “Society is very accepting of everything around us. Many just assumed that school buses were designed well. But almost anything can potentially be improved.”
Eric Butterman is an independent writer.
Seventh grade can be challenging. Classes get tougher. There is the pull of social circles. Then, for one kid, there was the effort to reduce a major transportation cost by hundreds of millions nationwide.
You know how it is.
Now 19, Jonny Cohen saw his roughly seven-year odyssey get to the testing stage in Florida last year, and this year in his native state of Illinois. Presently a mechanical engineering student atColumbia University, he’s optimistic about the possibilities, but, his experience has instilled in him the importance of patience.
The Aero Pointing
So how did it start? Taking a class at Northwestern University, the task of building pinewood derby cars fascinated the 12-year-old Cohen, especially when it came to aerodynamics. It wasn’t long before his thoughts shifted to a vehicle we don’t often consider: the school bus.
“I realized a school bus wasn’t as aerodynamically efficient as it could be,” he says. “People are often thinking about it as driving slow but they don’t realize it’s often not owned by the school and is driven from maybe 15 miles away or more, multiple times a day, to be put into action. The kind of driving that comes with that is part of where efficiency can really help. I wanted to design a practical airfoil and I wanted something that was easy and could fit on different school buses and be easily installed,” he says.
Cohen received a $25,000 grant from Pepsi in 2010 and also partnered with Northwestern University on the project.
Delving further into the invention, Cohen explains that “GreenShield” (as his invention is called) reduce fluid separation. “It’s basically like a right angle roof so there is a high pressure zone at the windshield,” he says. “What the GreenShield does is attach to the leading edge of the roof so it makes more of a gentle curve to it,” he says.
Though there has been a great deal of testing, he says, the wind tunnel work was definitely one of the highlights for him. “It first involved computational fluid dynamics on the computer and then we wanted to be able to test them,” he says. “We 3D printedfrom the CFD model and then we used that in an actual wind tunnel—using a scale model and testing it.”
Moving Forward
Today, the GreenShield is made of fiberglass and reinforced with Kevlar. It also comes in at about eight pounds. And the results have been encouraging. Cohen says 10% fuel savings were reported back from Panama City, FL, on a school bus using the Greenshield.
Quite a feeling when you consider how much of his childhood has been attached to getting this off the ground. “When you’re growing up it can be hard to put so much into one thing,” he says. “But this was something I believed in.”
Beyond what it might be as a business, Cohen says the GreenShield helped give him an open mind. “It taught me that we shouldn’t see things the way they are but the way we think it should be.” he says. “Society is very accepting of everything around us. Many just assumed that school buses were designed well. But almost anything can potentially be improved.”
Eric Butterman is an independent writer.
LG Display Unveils Incredible New Flexible Televisions
LG Display continues to be the leading pioneer in flexible technology - debuting its new flexible TV panel at an event in Korea this week.
18 inches wide, the screen offers high definition viewing and 1 million megapixels – but can be rolled up into a 3 cm radius without damage to the screen or technology.
The screen was made possible by its OLED, or organic light emitting diode, technology, which allows it to be lighter, thinner and more flexible than standard LCD screens.
At an event in Korea earlier this week, LG demonstrated its newest flexible display screens, which are 55 inches wide and paper-thin at 0.97 mm thick, and weigh just 1.9 kg – all the while still offering high definition. Attachable to surfaces via magnets, the new screen can be fitted to curved walls.
Paper thin TV display can be stuck to curved surfaces via magnets. LG Display.
The benefits of this technology are that eventually, bendable TVs, tablets and smartphones will be much easier to transport and a lot less likely to sustain damage. Other companies such as Apple and Samsung have also been developing the technology – but although Apple offered up its most malleable iPhone yet in the form of the 6th generation smartphone, and Samsung previously promised flexible smartphones in 2015, neither have released any devices with the new fully-flexible technology.
LG Display uploaded a video to YouTube showing the screen in action.
LG Display continues to be the leading pioneer in flexible technology - debuting its new flexible TV panel at an event in Korea this week.
18 inches wide, the screen offers high definition viewing and 1 million megapixels – but can be rolled up into a 3 cm radius without damage to the screen or technology.
The screen was made possible by its OLED, or organic light emitting diode, technology, which allows it to be lighter, thinner and more flexible than standard LCD screens.
At an event in Korea earlier this week, LG demonstrated its newest flexible display screens, which are 55 inches wide and paper-thin at 0.97 mm thick, and weigh just 1.9 kg – all the while still offering high definition. Attachable to surfaces via magnets, the new screen can be fitted to curved walls.
Paper thin TV display can be stuck to curved surfaces via magnets. LG Display.
The benefits of this technology are that eventually, bendable TVs, tablets and smartphones will be much easier to transport and a lot less likely to sustain damage. Other companies such as Apple and Samsung have also been developing the technology – but although Apple offered up its most malleable iPhone yet in the form of the 6th generation smartphone, and Samsung previously promised flexible smartphones in 2015, neither have released any devices with the new fully-flexible technology.
LG Display uploaded a video to YouTube showing the screen in action.
India Opens World's First Ever Solar-Powered Airport
August 20, 2015 | by Caroline Reid
Cochin International airport, the fourth-largest airport in India in terms of international traffic, now runs entirely on solar power. (Not the planes, though). The move will make the airport completely power neutral, and is a stride towards significantly reducing India's emissions, one of the world's largest polluters.
The nearby solar farm responsible for powering the airport contains 46,150 solar panels. The farm itself covers 180,000 square meters (45 acres) of land. The project took six months to set up and cost $6 million (£3.8 million) to complete. However, this is a cost that the airport is projected to make up in the next five years. Not bad when the solar panels themselves are expected to last 25 years.
These solar panels are predicted to prevent the creation of around 300,000 tons worth of carbon emissions during their lifetime.
"Now, Cochin airport will have 50,000 to 60,000 units of electricity per day to be consumed for all its operational functions, which technically make the airport 'absolutely power neutral,'" Cochin International Airport Limited wrote in a statement.
This project may be a catalyst for other airports to start evaluating how they can begin to introduce solar power as a viable energy source. While not all countries have the intensity of the sun's rays that India does, it is still an inspiration to begin pushing away from a dependency on non-renewable energy sources.
You can view the response to the new solar-powered airport, as well as some more information on how solar power will lower its carbon emissions, in this video:
August 20, 2015 | by Caroline Reid
Cochin International airport, the fourth-largest airport in India in terms of international traffic, now runs entirely on solar power. (Not the planes, though). The move will make the airport completely power neutral, and is a stride towards significantly reducing India's emissions, one of the world's largest polluters.
The nearby solar farm responsible for powering the airport contains 46,150 solar panels. The farm itself covers 180,000 square meters (45 acres) of land. The project took six months to set up and cost $6 million (£3.8 million) to complete. However, this is a cost that the airport is projected to make up in the next five years. Not bad when the solar panels themselves are expected to last 25 years.
These solar panels are predicted to prevent the creation of around 300,000 tons worth of carbon emissions during their lifetime.
"Now, Cochin airport will have 50,000 to 60,000 units of electricity per day to be consumed for all its operational functions, which technically make the airport 'absolutely power neutral,'" Cochin International Airport Limited wrote in a statement.
This project may be a catalyst for other airports to start evaluating how they can begin to introduce solar power as a viable energy source. While not all countries have the intensity of the sun's rays that India does, it is still an inspiration to begin pushing away from a dependency on non-renewable energy sources.
You can view the response to the new solar-powered airport, as well as some more information on how solar power will lower its carbon emissions, in this video:
Man Straps Drones Together To Create A DIY Hovercraft
Drones are defined as a non-piloted aircraft, controlled remotely by the user. Viewed as an innocent pastime by some, and an annoying invasive toy to others, drones have become increasingly popular in recent years with models hitting the market for as little as $40 (£25).
With a new toy to play with, it was always clear that someone was going to take it a little further. And in the case of YouTube user Gasturbine101, it wasn’t enough to watch the view from the drone with his feet safely on the ground.
Meet “Swarm”, described by the uploader of the video as The Manned Aerial Vehicle Multirotor Super Drone... which can basically be described as a bunch of drones, strapped together with a seat added in. It would appear its creator spent a considerable amount of time, effort and funds on the project, as he states it cost him approximately £6,000 (that's $9,200) and has a 54 counter-rotation propellers, a take-off weight of 148 kilograms (326 pounds) and a maximum run time of 10 minutes.
You'll flip from incredulous to pretty darn impressed as the odd looking DIY craft manages to hover a few feet above the ground.
Drones are defined as a non-piloted aircraft, controlled remotely by the user. Viewed as an innocent pastime by some, and an annoying invasive toy to others, drones have become increasingly popular in recent years with models hitting the market for as little as $40 (£25).
With a new toy to play with, it was always clear that someone was going to take it a little further. And in the case of YouTube user Gasturbine101, it wasn’t enough to watch the view from the drone with his feet safely on the ground.
Meet “Swarm”, described by the uploader of the video as The Manned Aerial Vehicle Multirotor Super Drone... which can basically be described as a bunch of drones, strapped together with a seat added in. It would appear its creator spent a considerable amount of time, effort and funds on the project, as he states it cost him approximately £6,000 (that's $9,200) and has a 54 counter-rotation propellers, a take-off weight of 148 kilograms (326 pounds) and a maximum run time of 10 minutes.
You'll flip from incredulous to pretty darn impressed as the odd looking DIY craft manages to hover a few feet above the ground.
Russia Is Using An Ingenious Method To Stop People Abusing Disabled Parking Spots
Among the most annoying type of people are those who park in disabled parking spaces when they don’t need to. The Russian organisation Dislife has come up with an ingenious way to make them think twice.
The sign painted onto the tarmac of disabled parking space is pretty easy to ignore, if you’re that way inclined. So they’ve developed a hologram that emerges when a car without a disabled permit edges into a restricted parking spot.
It works through dispersing a thin layer of air saturated with water. A moving image of a person in a wheelchair is then projected onto this layer to create the perception of a three-dimensional hologram to confront the driver. The moving image also comes accompanied with sound, which announces statements such as “Stop! What are you doing? I’m not just a sign on the ground.”
The technology has already been implemented at numerous business centres and malls in Moscow, including the largest mall in Europe, Aviapark. It hopes to help with the ongoing battle for disabled people's rights in Russia.
Among the most annoying type of people are those who park in disabled parking spaces when they don’t need to. The Russian organisation Dislife has come up with an ingenious way to make them think twice.
The sign painted onto the tarmac of disabled parking space is pretty easy to ignore, if you’re that way inclined. So they’ve developed a hologram that emerges when a car without a disabled permit edges into a restricted parking spot.
It works through dispersing a thin layer of air saturated with water. A moving image of a person in a wheelchair is then projected onto this layer to create the perception of a three-dimensional hologram to confront the driver. The moving image also comes accompanied with sound, which announces statements such as “Stop! What are you doing? I’m not just a sign on the ground.”
The technology has already been implemented at numerous business centres and malls in Moscow, including the largest mall in Europe, Aviapark. It hopes to help with the ongoing battle for disabled people's rights in Russia.