News + Trends

Moments like this have become very rare. When, during my last visit to the Hannover Fair, I asked the representative at the Danfoss booth what the shiny, cloth-like material they were presenting was good for, he simply answered: “You tell me.” Obviously, the engineers had been given the chance to develop a unique material without a specific application in mind. The material in question is a very thin - only 60 micrometres - silicone film covered on both sides with an even thinner layer of silver. It’s called DEAP or Di-electric Electro Active Polymer. Such a “flexible capacitor” can be used as an actuator when a high voltage is applied to its electrodes while at the same time acting as a sensor since any deformation changes the capacity of the film. It can even be used to convert mechanical energy into electrical. The film’s developers envision applications in industries such as robotics, automotive, clothing, health care, toys or electronics. To get more ideas they organised a competition for devices using DEAP. Quite a compelling challenge - isn’t the chance to play with a completely new material another one of these rare moments in engineering?

The average motor biker is almost 50 years old and so, for the younger generations, riding a motorbike is as uncool as it can get. Not any longer. The Mission One not only looks hot, it’s also following the latest fashion of dispensing with the combustion engine and replacing it with a high torque electric motor. Its designer Forrest North has something of an e-reputation: Before he launched his motorbike company, he was part of the Solar Car Racing Team at Stanford and worked for Tesla. Together with Ducati and a few Silicon Valley companies he realised his dream: A motorbike powered by Lithium-Ion batteries and a liquid-cooled AC motor with a 135 Nm torque, reaching a top speed of 240 km/h. To show that his motorbike isn’t a science project but able to compete with conventional bikes, he registered it in the first zero emission motorbike race on the Isle of Man. Bikes like the Mission One might finally be the key to rejuvenate the aging biker scene.

Trainees of Mercedes-Benz have built a roadster with fuel cell drive which uniquely combines state-of-the-art technologies with the history of vehicle construction. As an allusion to the Benz Patent Motor Car from 1886, the vehicle is fitted with large spoked wheels. Moreover, the F-CELL Roadster incorporates stylistic elements from diverse eras of automotive history, such as the carbon-fibre bucket seats with hand-stitched leather covers and the distinctively styled fibreglass front section, based on the component from the Formula One racing bolides. The F-CELL Roadster is controlled with drive-by-wire technology, and a joystick takes the place of a conventional steering wheel. The vehicle is powered by the emission-free fuel cell system located at the rear. With a power rating of 1.2 kW the F-CELL Roadster reaches a top speed of 25 km/h and has an operating range of up to 350 km.

It’s called ‘luggage’ because we have to lug it around. For millennia travellers struggled with bulky boxes until in the 1980s someone finally had the idea to mount roller-skate wheels under these boxes. But the relief was only temporary - with all these laptops, batteries and the plethora of charging devices our luggage is heavier than ever and so we are struggling once more. Time for the world’s first power-assisted suitcase with motors built into the wheels and force sensors in the handle. The Live Luggage’s control system monitors the sensors and provides an output to the in-wheel motors that increase or decrease the torque provided by the wheels. This torque compensates by giving an equal and opposite force to that applied to the handle. The technology is clever enough to only power up the wheels when the traveller is struggling. It even has a capacitor that recharges the batteries when going down hill. The only disadvantage is that you have to carry even another charging device - the one for your luggage.

The "Go With the Flo" toilet is an ergonomic, sustainable design concept that functions like a squat toilet. Using the toilet is akin to yoga - by building and strengthening abdominal and back muscles. Only one-half to one gallon of reused water from hand washing is used for flushing. To flush water from the tanks to the toilet employs an electromagnetic ball valve that uses electromagnets. It is also free of mechanical parts. The toilet is fully self-sustaining and independent of electric power. By completely redesigning the toilet, the team from the Arizona State University College of Design changed the concept of a typical bathroom experience, which hasn’t really changed in over 100 years of use.

catch a phrase

to go with the flow = mit dem Strom schwimmen

If you, go with the flow, you accept how things are and you go along with what everyone else wants to do.