Research
Highlights...
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Berkeley's
black-clad Siminovitch is into light.
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Number 83 |
June 18, 2001 |
Little
detector performs with the big ones
Researchers
at DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory
have developed a point-and-shoot portable instrument capable of
protecting both people and the environment. The battery-powered
RAMiTS (for RAMan Tunable Integrated Sensor), which analyzes chemicals
in just seconds, performs comparably to laboratory-scale instruments
and is simple to operate. RAMiTS uses Raman technology, employing
a helium neon laser, acousto-optic tunable filters and a photo
sensor to detect toxic chemicals, TNT, byproducts from explosives,
drugs and hundreds of chemicals in liquid or powder form. RAMiTS
could be used to monitor environmental pollution, detect chemical
agents, inspect food products or serve as a medical diagnostic
tool.
[Ron
Walli, 865/576-0226,
wallira@ornl.gov]
Environmentally
friendly grout
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Testing
on Naticoke Creek
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A stream-sealing
technique developed at DOE's National
Energy Technology Laboratory is being tested in Naticoke
Creek near Wilkes Barre, Pa., to prevent acid mine drainage.
A 310-foot section will be injected with an environmentally
benign grout, which expands to seal off subsurface fractures,
preventing clean water from being contaminated by underwater
mines. Terry Ackman, NETL mining engineer, says the grout eliminates
the potential for environmental damage if spillage should occur,
and will give, thus resisting cracking, should subsidence occur.
NETL is monitoring the grout's performance and durability in
a one-year project for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
[David Anna,
412/386-4646,
anna@netl.doe.gov]
New technology
reduces noxious emissions
Unlike gasoline engines,
there isn't an economically viable technology that can sufficiently
reduce air pollution-causing nitrogen oxides in the exhaust
typical of diesel vehicles. Research at DOE's Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory promises to change that. PNNL
researchers have successfully reduced harmful oxides of nitrogen
on an operating diesel engine by half via the combination
of an electrically charged gas, or plasma, with a specialized
catalyst. Laboratory results show even greater reductions are
possible. These reductions are critical to meeting emissions
requirements and fuel economy goals in diesel vehicles. A class
of zeolite catalyst materials appears to be the key to nitrogen
oxide reduction in this novel approach to controlling harmful
vehicle exhaust emissions.
[Gayle
O'Donahue, 509/375-2561,
gayle.odonahue@pnl.gov]
Team to
test self-contained fuel cell battery
The Center for Transportation
Technologies and Systems battery thermal management team at
DOE's National Renewable Energy
Laboratory will soon begin testing a 14-volt nickel hydrogen
battery from ElectraStor to measure its power and energy capabilities
and operation in extreme temperatures. This unique battery stores
hydrogen in a separate hydride compartment when the battery
is not in use, allowing for negligible amounts of self-discharge.
NREL will use its calorimeter to test the battery under various
charge/discharge cycles, as well as during numerous driving
cycles to help in the design of a battery thermal management
system.
Visualizing
the Invisible
Photos taken over
time capture changes, but the changes aren't always obvious.
The new Change Detection System exposes inconspicuous differences
from two photos taken minutes or even weeks apart. Developed
at the DOE's Idaho National Engineering
and Environmental Laboratory, this Windows NT-based system
could reveal important medical information such as blood vessel
growth or improve the consistency of mass-produced items in
industry. Using any two photos similar in size and perspective,
the CDS aligns them according to identical reference points
in each view. The CDS then rapidly flips between the two, allowing
the eye to detect previously unnoticeable differences-even footprints
amid gravel.
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Optical
efficiency and the human factor
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Michael
Siminovitch
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Lighting
accounts for a fourth of the nation's electricity consumption,
yet it's one of the simplest ways to save. Better lamps can't
do the job alone, however, as Michael Siminovitch of Berkeley
Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division learned. "You
have to make people happy. It's the most important thing in
persuading them to change."
While
studying architecture at the University of Illinois, Siminovitch
says, "The more I learned about light, the more I realized what
a difference it could make in cost and livability."
With
a Ph.D. in architecture and human factors from the University
of Michigan, he found a home in the
lighting research program at Berkeley Lab. "I like playing
with the apparatus," he admits, and his lighting lab is chock
full of it: the Spectro-Radiometer, the Gonio-Photometer, the
Integrating Sphere. . . .
Technical
developments include new uses for compact fluorescent lamps
(CFLs), better task lighting for the US Postal Service, and
improved lighting for beverage machines. Equally important are
friendly designs. For example, a
torchiere that uses a CFL instead of a hot halogen lamp
puts out the same amount of light with a quarter the power-and
it's cool enough to touch, reducing fire danger. A
new table lamp allows up and down lighting to be controlled
independently; at full power it's as bright as a 300-watt halogen
torchiere and a 150-watt incandescent lamp combined, but consumes
a quarter of the energy.
Siminovitch's
personal life mirrors his work. For years he has dressed completely
in black, at first because "I didn't want to be a photometric
error" in measurements and later because "it makes buying clothes
a lot easier." Which saves time for other projects: he and his
wife are remodeling their home for maximum energy efficiency,
with passive solar heating, superinsulation-and CFL torchieres
in every room.
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