11-02/03 :: February / March 2011

nanotimes EU-Projects

Contact: Dr. Birgit Gebauer, Nanosystems Initiative Munich, Germany, Phone: +49 (89) 2180 5091: http://www.nano-initiative-munich.de

Low-cost Hydro Turbines

European researchers are developing a methodology for low-cost hydro turbines of up to 5 megawatts, which are more efficient than currently available models. The productivity and costs of tailor-made, small hydro turbines should be improved by 3-5% through the application of a numerical optimisation methodology currently being designed by EU-funded scientists.

The team behind the Hydroaction project then se- lected flow simulation tools, which involved adopting and applying the ‘Lagrangian smoothed particle hydrodynamics‘ model. Thirdly, the team adopted hierarchical, distributed and meta-model assisted evolutionary algorithms to accelerate the optimisati- on of turbine design.

Contact: Dimitrios Papantonis, National Technical Uni- versity of Athens (NTUA), School of Mechanical Enginee- ring, Head of the Secretariat of the Research Committee of NTUA, Greece, Phone: +30-2107721099

A Boost for Bioengineering SMEs

Recognising that many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) find it difficult to formally take advantage of European research opportunities, the SM-BIO-POWER team is working to increase SME

Contact: Guido (Mr) Massaro, Airborne Development B.V., NL, Phone: +31-70-3017400: http://www.airborne.nl

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participation in FP7 projects. SM-BIO-POWER also provides information on the latest trends in EU sup- port for biomedical engineering and medical techno- logies research together with best practice examples from other SMEs in EU projects.

http://www.smbiopower.eu/

Embedding Optical Sensors in Fuel Tanks

A new sensor, designed and tested by Dutch engi- neers, could be instrumental in helping to make fuel tanks safer.

With current technology, fuel tanks must first be removed from the vehicle in order to be inspected, which is a costly, time-consuming process. The GROWTH Programme funded an R&D project en- titled ZEM, the aim of which was to streamline the inspection process through the use of optical sensors.

The key was to incorporate an optical sensor into the tank itself, allowing continuous monitoring. The chal- lenge was to develop a sensor that could be easily integrated and produced reliably at low cost without sacrificing durability. The solution, conceived by engineers with Airborne Development B.V. in the Netherlands, was a polyamide optical sensor embe- dded in a glass fibre-epoxy prepeg tape.