Green Energy News | August 5, 1996

August 5, 1996 – Vol.1 No.19

ENERGIES... week of August 5, 1996

“WIRE TOOLS” may someday replace hand-held pneumatic tools in many production and repair situations. Cooper Power Tools of Lexington, SC, which produces the Gardner-Denver line of assembly tools, is selling a line of d.c. electric power tools that can be controlled and monitored by a desktop computer. The tools, which bring computer aided manufacturing (CAM) to hand-held tool assembly operations, are designed for use where exacting tolerances are critical, such as the aerospace industry.

The aerospace industry often leads the way in technical innovation. Tools like these could eventually find their way to the local auto repair shop. Anyone who has tried to loosen an over- tightened lug nut when changing a tire would appreciate the capabilities of a computer connected wrench. The tool would stop operating when the nut was tight enough and record the amount of torque applied for quality control checks later on.

MUSCLES OF JELLO? Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have developed a series of gels that change in size when exposed to variations in light, magnetic field, temperature or pH. Application ideas are being examined such as “smart” gel-lined pipes which constrict or expand to adjust the flow of liquid or gas passing through.

Artificial muscles might be possible. Gel-filled elastic tubes could expand and contract when sensitized by light, for instance. The tubes clustered in bundles attached to artificial tendons could act as muscles to move arms, legs, etc. Different sized clusters could be used for different movements or for needed strength. A computer would control the light acting on the gel.

With advances like this, human-like androids might not be too far off.

THE MORATORIUM on nuclear weapons testing has brought forth the construction of a new “ultrasupercomputer”. The Department of Energy has contracted IBM to build the new machine by 1998. It will be 300 times faster than anything now available. Option Blue, as it is known, will be able to simulate nuclear blasts so that the performance and deterioration of the nation’s arsenal can be tested without environmental hazard.

Other uses for the computer might be to simulate car crashes, design advanced airplanes, examine disease molecules for cures and model climate change from global warming.