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Thermal, Propulsion & Energy

Militaries giving thrust to Biofuels as part of renewable drive and for cheap super-fuel for missiles and hypersonic planes

Biofuels are regarded as promising alternative to satisfy growing energy demands. Biomass derived biodiesel and bioethanol can be successfully utilized in modem vehicle engines with little or no modifications and thus contribute to lower combustion emissions in comparison to the former. Adequate production not only serves as long term replacement …

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Military Helicopters demand advanced engines with improved fuel consumption, power, durability and cost for conducting a wide range of military missions and operations.

A helicopter, or chopper, is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward, and laterally. These attributes allow helicopters to be used in congested or isolated areas where …

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Nanogenerators or Nanotechnology enabled Energy harvesting technologies could soon power Smartphones, IoT sensors, biomedical implants and reduce the soldier’s load

Energy harvesting is the process of collecting low-level ambient energy and converting it into electrical energy to be used as a power source for miniaturized autonomous devices. Examples of this can be seen in structural health monitoring, smart packaging solutions, communication systems, transportation, air and aerospace vehicles, structural biology, robotics, …

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Soldiers employing human Energy harvesting technologies including Backpack, knee kinetic and Heel-strike to power devices on the battlefield

The vision for the future soldier is to be combat effective and also highly mobile, adaptive, networked, sustainable with total battle space situation awareness and information assurance. Therefore, he is equipped with night- vision goggles, radios, smartphones, GPS, infrared sights, a laptop as well as batteries to power them. Some …

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Silicon Carbide (SiC) enabling emerging power electronics revolution in Electric vehicles and Aircrafts to Military systems

Integrated circuits and power devices utilized by the semiconductor industry for the production of advanced computers, consumer electronics, communication networks, and industrial and military systems have been almost exclusively based on silicon technology. The requirements of future electronics place a great emphasis on achieving new devices with greater power density …

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US, Russia, and China are developing next generation nuclear submarine fleets, other countries are also mastering nuclear submarine technology

A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor. The performance advantages of nuclear submarines over “conventional” (typically diesel-electric) submarines are considerable. Nuclear submarines are more powerful than diesel-powered submarines because nuclear reactors powering them can run for years without the need for refuelling. Nuclear propulsion, being completely …

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Phase Change Materials (PCMs) and Metal Hydride Heat Storage Technology for Directed Energy Weapon Systems

Recent advances of high power solid state lasers promises necessary laser power levels required for the Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) systems. However, inefficiencies of the laser components still generate too much waste heat to be managed by conventional liquid cooling systems, especially in an airborne platform where compactness, light-weight and …

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Countries developing Neutron guns as particle beam directed energy weapons to destroy enemy missiles

A neutron beam can destroy electronics and that would be useful in warfare. The U.S. Defense Strategic Defense Initiative put into development the technology of a neutral particle beam to be used as a weapon in outer space. Neutral beam accelerator technology was developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory. According to …

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New materials bringing Thermoelectric generators or heat-to-power technology close to deployment

Thermoelectric energy harvesting mainly depends on the operation of the thermoelectric generator (TEG). A thermoelectric (TE) device can directly convert heat emanating from the Sun, radioisotopes, automobiles, industrial sectors, or even the human body to electricity.  A TEG converts heat directly into electrical energy according to the Seebeck effect.   …

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Growth of Internet of Things and Wearables leading to rising demand of Flexible batteries to power them

Battery usage has expanded from mobile phones and laptops to LED lamps, portable fans, toys, toothbrushes, and even automobiles. Now, the battery applications are expanding further as the Internet of Things, Industry 4.0, big data, mobile and cloud computing are introduced. People build systems to obtain, manage and utilise data …

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