Civil, Mechanical, & Industrial

Latest Innovations

AOXADUR Antioxidant Treatment for Increasing Service Life of Asphalt Mixtures

Background

Chemical binders used in asphalt paved surfaces are subject to age hardening, resulting in...

Background

Chemical binders used in asphalt paved surfaces are subject to age hardening, resulting in increased stiffness over time, a major cause of cracking and the subsequent need for re-surfacing. Over the last 40 years, treating the binders with some form of anti-oxidant (AOX) has shown some promise in reducing binder stiffness, but it still is prone to softening at higher temperatures, stiffening at lower temperatures or leaching out over time. To ensure long-term durability, a viable AOX treatment should remain dimensionally stable over a wide temperature range and be environmentally and occupationally safe to use.

AOXADUR

Developed by a team of researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2006, this revolutionary AOX binder treatment consists of three additives to base asphalt: aldehyde, thioester and a caltalyst. A condensation reaction of aldehyde with asphalt to form novolacs, which can act as antioxidants, results in a reduction of age-susceptible polar aromatics in the binder. The thioester serves as a secondary antioxidant, which is highly effective against oxidative degradation of hydrocarbons. Laboratory testing of over 40 binders at the University of Illinois showed that the AOXADUR-modified binder produces the lowest aging index the measurement of asphalt aging potential during service life. Further, the AOXADUR-modified binder showed a dramatic increase in high-temperature stiffness and a substantial decrease in low-temperature stiffness. This improvement in binder properties at both high and low temperatures results in less thermal stress and reduced cracking potential. Finally, the age-fighting characteristics of AOXADUR make it an appealing choice asphalt mixtures containing recycled asphalt pavement (RAP).

With AOXADUR, higher amounts of RAP material can be used, which can lead to a reduction in the amount of new aggregate and asphalt binder required per ton of mixture, leading to economic and environmental benefits and increased sustainability of the roadway materials. 

Pressure Activated Flexible Orifice Spray Nozzles

 

A spray nozzle assembly includes a pressure dependent variable spray orifice and an internal chamber which is at least partially bound by a flexibly deformable...

 

A spray nozzle assembly includes a pressure dependent variable spray orifice and an internal chamber which is at least partially bound by a flexibly deformable sidewall. At its distal end, the sidewall terminates at a distal face defining the spray orifice extending therethrough.

A metering member extends distally from the internal chamber and through at least a portion of the spray orifice. As the pressure of a liquid supplied to the internal chamber by a liquid supply pathway varies, the flexibly deformable sidewall expands or contracts in response thereto. As the sidewall expands and contracts, the distal face moves relative to the metering member to change the effective size of the spray orifice.

Tri-Directional Repulsive Magnetic Force Generator 

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is seeking collaborators for an improved Halbach Array MagLev that is simple to operate, track-guided, and cost-effective...

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is seeking collaborators for an improved Halbach Array MagLev that is simple to operate, track-guided, and cost-effective. 


 The improved MagLev uses two separate sets of Halbach arrays in each wheel. it creates both levitation and propulsion forces that allow the vehicle to levitate, self-center, and propel itself along an aluminum rail. When realized, it will fewer axes of motion compared to current technologies and yet offers improved performance when turning. This generator is easy to operate, powered by simple DC motor, and can be incorporated into MagLev transportation infrastructures. 


 The simple rotation of the two arrays causes both levitation and translation. The inverted "T" track is made entirely from aluminum, with the vertical portion acting in concert with the magnetic arrays to create the translational force. Additionally, when the track curves, the forces work in favor of turning and do not require additional inputs. This innovation is simple and cost-effective to implement.

RF Wireless Power Transfer to Chip-Scale Apparatuses

 

 

An inductive wireless power system is particularly appealing for secured short-range operation, considering its non-contacting and non-radiative nature....

 

 

An inductive wireless power system is particularly appealing for secured short-range operation, considering its non-contacting and non-radiative nature. However, one of the major challenges of inductively and wirelessly powering chip-scale apparatuses stems from the miniature size of chip-scale apparatus. The effective range of power transfer or communication is limited by the size of the coil that resides on the implanted chip or the hardware root of trust. For a distance exceeding five diameters of the coils, the power transfer efficacy diminishes to practically nothing even with high Q coils and magnetic resonance enhanced designs. 

The lab employs a novel approach of treating multi-coil WPT systems as RF filters formed by spatially and weakly coupled resonators, for which the final power transfer efficacy (PTEF) can be determined similarly to the insertion loss of a filter. The effectiveness and accuracy in predicting the performance of the designed WPT systems are tested by micro fabricating the coils on a Si wafer and measuring the power transfer efficacy. The measurement and modeling results reach excellent agreement. As a result, inductive wireless power transfer over a long distance (~5 times the coil diameter) has been achieved with an unprecedented high efficacy (-27 dB).

Origami of Air Conditioning

Mr. Rose of the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center at the University of Illinois has developed a membrane-based technology which can be used for building ventilation...

Mr. Rose of the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center at the University of Illinois has developed a membrane-based technology which can be used for building ventilation devices. The technology uses the commonly available material Tyvek (product of DuPont), folded in a special origami structure, which allows for maximum heat and energy recovery. The proposed use of this technology is in Heat and Energy Recovery Ventilators, which can transfer as much as 80% of heat and humidity from the outgoing air to the incoming air in buildings.

Multi-GPS System for UAV Navigation

Prof. Gao from the University of IL has developed an algorithm to incorporate measurements from multiple low-cost, light weight GPS receivers on one UAV to improve...

Prof. Gao from the University of IL has developed an algorithm to incorporate measurements from multiple low-cost, light weight GPS receivers on one UAV to improve accuracy and reliability. 

They have implemented an Extended Kalman Filter for the purpose of integrating the pseudorange measurements from multiple receivers. 

The measurement matrix in the EKF can be further extended to include the carrier phase measurements from the receivers – attitude. 

Publication(s) - Shetty, Akshay, and Grace Xingxin Gao. "Measurement Level Integration of Multiple Low-Cost GPS Receivers for UAVs." Proceedings of the 2015 International Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation, Dana Point, California. 2015.

System for Cleaning Fresh and Fresh-Cut Produce

This invention is an "in-flight" fresh-cut produce cleaning system that removes undesired substances from the produce's...
This invention is an "in-flight" fresh-cut produce cleaning system that removes undesired substances from the produce's surface. It reduces the amount of chlorine/other sanitizers and water used in the fresh-cut produce cleaning process while quickly and efficiently removing organic exudate, field debris, and soil particulates. Fresh-cut produce is sent down a chute with one or more manifolds. One manifold sprays water or a water/sanitizer mix upwards at the falling produce while another manifold sprays another fluid (typically air) upwards at the falling produce in order to slow the descent of the produce and spin them, increasing the produce's exposure to cleaners. Produce then falls out of the chute onto a substrate.

Semantic Natural Language Processing (NLP)-Based Automated Compliance Checking (SNACC)

Dr. Nora El-Gohary from the University of Illinois has developed an automated building compliance checking system (called SNACC) that automatically processes and extracts...

Dr. Nora El-Gohary from the University of Illinois has developed an automated building compliance checking system (called SNACC) that automatically processes and extracts the building design and regulatory information, checks the compliance of the design with the regulations, and detects compliance and noncompliance cases. The system is fully automated and no manual effort is required. It does not have limitations of the state-of-the-art software with information extraction and transformation. Compared to the manually-developed gold standard, 98.7% recall and 87.6% precision in noncompliance detection were achieved.

High Dynamic Range Polarization Camera

Dr. Gruev from the University of IL has developed a bio-inspired polarization camera.  The camera enables high-resolution imaging in less ideal lighting with high...
Dr. Gruev from the University of IL has developed a bio-inspired polarization camera.  The camera enables high-resolution imaging in less ideal lighting with high dynamic range of around 140dB. This low-cost camera has potential for application in automobile imaging and agricultural remote sensing.
 
Publications - Missael Garcia, Tyler Davis, Steven Blair, Nan Cui, and Viktor Gruev, "Bioinspired polarization imager with high dynamic range," Optica 5, 1240-1246 (2018)

Optimal Toolpath Generation System and Method for Additively Manufactured Composite Materials

Prof. Daniel Tortorelli and Mr. Felipe Fernandez Ayala from the University of Illinois have developed a system and method for optimal toolpath generation for additively...

Prof. Daniel Tortorelli and Mr. Felipe Fernandez Ayala from the University of Illinois have developed a system and method for optimal toolpath generation for additively manufactured composite structures. With this techniques, it is easy to impose Direct Ink Writing (DIW) manufacturing constraints such as no overlap, no sag of just-printed material, minimum radius of curvature of each toolpath, and toolpath continuity. In addition, to minimize manufacturing cost, the system formulates and solves a travelling salesman problem to obtain the shortest continuous toolpath for each layer that avoids overlap and crossing holes.

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