NEW TECHNOLOGIES
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Jun 06. Last week, IBM and researchers at Ga Tech made stunning news when they said they had created the world’s fastest chip—they lowered the temp of the chip via a cryogenic environment and got the chip to switch at 500 GHz (250 times faster than what’s out there today. At room temperature, the chip performed at 350 GHz. Although comparing IBM’s analog, semiconductor work with HYPRES’ digital, superconductor work is a bit like comparing apples to oranges, this still is excellent news for HYPRES. It’s the first time Hypres is aware of where a big-name company has publicly stated cryogenic cooling is what it takes to achieve the best performance. The team at HYPRES also is excited because they believe once the industry becomes more familiar and open to cryogenic cooling (which is what IBM’s news could do), you can get much better results from superconductors than that from semiconductors, because:
1) you dissipate much less power at with superconductors, hence a much more efficient system
2) you take advantage of the quantum accuracy of superconductors, hence much better A/D dynamic range
3) you take advantage of the dispersion less, dissipation less, interconnects, which are the Achilles’ heel in complex semiconductor circuits, regardless of how fast the transistors are
4) you can work in concert with cryogenic semiconductors, using them as amplifiers wherever needed to interface the superconductors to the room-temperature electronics.
28 Jun 06. Ultrasound to treat war wounds. The technology could potentially save lives on the battlefield. The US military plans a portable device that uses focused sound waves to treat troops bleeding internally from wounds sustained on the battlefield. Ultrasound can seal ruptured blood vessels deep within the body without the need for risky surgery. The lightweight device has to be designed so that soldiers can operate it with minimal training. Blood loss from wounds to the extremities is regarded as a major, preventable cause of battlefield death. The ability to treat soldiers with internal bleeding on the battlefield could prevent combat deaths and amputations, according to a US military presentation on the project. These occur, it says, due to the delay involved in evacuating soldiers from the battlefield to a surgical facility. The device would first use ultrasound imaging technology, in particular “Doppler ultrasound”, to locate internal bleeding. This employs a physical phenomenon known as the Doppler effect to look for a characteristic signature of bleeding vessels. It would then deliver a focused beam of high-powered ultrasound to those sites in order to cauterise the damaged vessels. The Deep Bleeder Acoustic Coagulation (DBAC) programme is sponsored by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa). Darpa envisages the device as a “cuff” containing an array of ultrasound transducers, different elements of which will detect bleeding and deliver focused, high-powered energy to the wound. This cuff would be flexible enough to be wrapped around the treatment area. Competing teams – one headed by the multinational Philips, the other by Seattle-based AcousTx Corporation – have both been awarded contracts by Darpa to develop the technology. (Source: BBC)
29 Jun 06. Voller Energy Group PLC announces the launch of a fuel cell automatic battery charger. The new fuel cell system is called the Fuel Cell ABC(tm) Automatic Battery Charger and is designed to charge a variety of batteries. This includes a MP3 player or Apple iPod® which can be connected to the inbuilt USB charging port. The Fuel Cell ABC can simultaneously charge an iPod, a laptop (via the standard wall outlet socket) and mobile phone (via the standard ‘cigar lighter’ outlet). The Fuel Cell ABC is an environmentally friendly portable generator that produces quiet AC mains electricity (either US standard 110v 60Hz or EU standard