Tag: Efficiency

Researchers Find Way to Make Traffic Models More Efficient

sarah JonasResearch Results

Models that predict traffic volume for specific times and places inform everything from traffic-light patterns to apps that tell you how to get from Point A to Point B. Researchers have now demonstrated a method that makes these models more efficient.

Protruding Eyes, Mouth Make Stingrays More Hydrodynamically Efficient

sarah JonasResearch Results

In Physics of Fluids, researchers detail how the protruding eyes and mouths on simulated stingrays affect a range of forces involved in propulsion, such as pressure and vorticity. They created a computer model of a self-propelled flexible plate that mimicked a stingray’s up-and-down harmonic oscillations and used it to illustrate the complex interplay between hydrodynamic forces. The group found that the eyes and mouth help streamline stingrays even further.

Steering Wind Turbines Creates Greater Energy Potential

sarah JonasResearch Results

For wind farms, it is important to control upstream turbines in an efficient manner so downstream turbines are not adversely affected by upstream wake effects. In the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, researchers show that by designing controllers based on viewing the wind farm system as a coupled network, it is possible to extract power more efficiently.

Pandemic is pushing women in STEM ‘past the point of no return’

sarah JonasResearch Results

Cryocoolers are ultracold refrigeration units used in surgery and drug development, semiconductor fabrication, and spacecraft. The regenerative heat exchanger, or regenerator, is a core component of cryocoolers. At temperatures below 10 kelvins, performance drops precipitously, with maximum regenerator loss of more than 50%. In Applied Physics Letters, researchers used superactivated carbon particles as an alternative regenerator material to increase cooling capability at temperatures as low as 4 kelvins.