General Electric : The GE Brief – September 20, 2018

Last December, Auburn University in Alabama became one of eight colleges and universities to receive a state-of-the-art 3D metal printer through GE's Additive Education Program. Just seven months later, a group of students used the machine to win the American Society of Mechanical Engineers' Student Design Challenge.

Designed for 3D:ASME challenged the students to build a better heat sink, a device that cools electronics so they don't overheat. 'What set ours apart is the heat sink had multiple features that made it very efficient, but it could not have been built using conventional techniques,' said mechanical engineering professor Sushil Bhavnani. The 3D-printed heat sink looks similar to a seaweed garden, with tendrils rising from its base.

Read more about what students are doing with 3D printershere.

Digital twins are digital replicas of physical assets that are updated in real-time with data received from thousands of sources. GE has been using the technology to build virtual doppelgängers of physical assets like gas turbines, but engineers at Baker Hughes, a GE company, have now deployed the technology to manage a process: they tracked and optimized a supply chain.

What's the big deal?For the most part, supply chains are complex management tools that rely on predetermined calculations. They might be updated monthly or quarterly to match actual production conditions. Yet, in reality, supply chains never operate as planned. There are too many factors, such as part delays or weather disruptions like hurricanes, that impact how they function on a daily basis. But digital twins of supply chains are continuously updated and instantly shared across multiple organizations, giving managers the ability to determine performance and target high-priority issues. As a result, digital twins can improve delivery times, reduce inventory costs and create other efficiencies.

Read more about digital twinshere.

Researchers at the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom have invented a new type of liquid battery that is roughly 10 times more energy-dense than existing models, making it viable for applications in transportation.

Transitioning to green:Using the new flow battery, if a car runs out of charge, the driver can stop at a charging station, pump out the depleted liquid and, similar to regular petrol, refill the tank with fresh liquid that's already charged. The depleted battery liquid can then be recharged at the filling station for later use. In terms of implementing the batteries, 'there is no reason why a flow battery could not be retrofitted into an existing electric vehicle, provided it generates the same output and takes up the same space,' said Lee Cronin, Regius Chair of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow. 'Meanwhile, all the petrol stations in the world have pumps and are used to handling liquids, so a lot of the infrastructure is already there.'

Read more about the energy-dense liquid batteryhere.

- VIDEO OF THE WEEK -

- QUOTE OF THE DAY -

'You can teach kids in the classroom, but it's not until they get hands-on training that they really begin to learn.'

- Bart Prorok, professor of materials engineering at Auburn University in Alabama

Quote: GE Reports. Images: Auburn University.

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