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Latest Innovations

Series-Input Parallel Output Multiple DC-DC Converter with Dynamic Current Sharing for High-Current DC Power Supply

The combination of a unique series-input parallel-output (SIPO) circuit configuration and a sensorless current mode (SCM) technique ensures automatic and nearly perfect...

The combination of a unique series-input parallel-output (SIPO) circuit configuration and a sensorless current mode (SCM) technique ensures automatic and nearly perfect load sharing of multiple dc:dc converters even during fast dynamic changes.

A power supply in an embodiment of the invention includes a plurality of dc--dc switching power converters, each of which has its input isolated from its output. The power converters are arranged with their respective inputs being series connected and their respective outputs being parallel connected in an embodiment of the invention. In another embodiment of the inputs are parallel connected and the outputs series connected. Each power converter includes an input filter in each of said dc--dc switching power converters and an output filter. Each power converter includes a sensorless current mode control circuit controlling its switching duty ratio.

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Control Methods and Circuits for Extremely Fast Response in Switching Power Converters

 

A method for accomplishing energy changes for a power converter to minimize an impact of a disturbance. The power converter includes energy storage and switches....

 

A method for accomplishing energy changes for a power converter to minimize an impact of a disturbance. The power converter includes energy storage and switches. The method comprises determining a nature of the disturbance, evaluating an amount of energy to be added or removed from the internal storage, and computing operating times of the switches to minimize the impact of the disturbance on outputs of the power converter.

High bandwidth Data/Power Transfer Using Sound Waves

 

Researchers from the University of Illinois have developed a technology that enables ultra high bandwidth data communication as well as power transfer over short...

 

Researchers from the University of Illinois have developed a technology that enables ultra high bandwidth data communication as well as power transfer over short distances using acoustic signal.The technology works when items are not touching, it works without pins that could bend or break, it works when moving around and only "near' connected. This technology can be used in any media which allows acoustic waves such as underwater in deep ocean, human-tissue, etc. to achieve data rates in excess of 300Mbps.

A Method for Compensating Wave Reflections in Transmission Lines

 

This technology is a method to eliminate voltage overshoot in cables used to connect AC electric motors and pulse width modulation (PWM) inverters. As a function...

 

This technology is a method to eliminate voltage overshoot in cables used to connect AC electric motors and pulse width modulation (PWM) inverters. As a function of cable length and voltage rise time, voltage overshoot occurs when high frequency currents reflect between the motor and source ends of a cable. University of Illinois researchers have devised a compensator that shapes the output of the PWM inverter in order to eliminate these reflections; the method only requires knowledge of the transmission line characteristic impedance and propagation delay. This technique extends the life of motor insulation and protects voltage-sensitive devices.

Voltage overshoot occurs when high frequency currents reflect between the motor and source ends of an electrical cable. Reflective waves of current can build up, causing motor insulation failure as well as damage to voltage-sensitive devices. While there have been techniques developed to compensate for voltage overshoot, many are complex, need load characteristics, and often require the use of bulky and expensive equipment.

The University of Illinois technique provides a mathematically exact solution that modifies the output of the PWM inverter in order to eliminate wave reflection. This technique is designed to eliminate voltage overshoot in the cable that connects alternating current (AC) electric motors to pulse width modulation (PWM) inverters that use insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT). IGBT motor drive cables are particularly susceptible to voltage overshoot due to their extremely fast switching speeds. The compensator, which attaches to either the source or motor end of a cable, is a filter that uses an appropriate linear combination of voltages and currents to transform the transmission line into a pure delay transfer. This prevents wave reflection and thus voltage overshoot. Users do not need to know the motor or drives characteristics; however, they do need to know the transmission line impedance and the propagation delay in order to use this device.

This invention improves on existing solutions to voltage overshoot by providing an exact solution rather than approximation. 

Applications:

The range of applications that use AC motors is vast, examples include:

  • Heavy Industrial Machines or Manufacture: Heavy industries including automotive, materials handling, mining operations, plastic and rubber production, ceramics, textile, and utilities.
  • Workshops: Metalworking, printing and woodworking shops.
  • Chemical Industries: Chemical refining, pharmaceutical production, and plastic fabrication.

Benefits

  • Cost-Effective: Eliminates damaging wave reflection, prolonging the usefulness of motors and voltage-sensitive devices.
  • Low-Cost and Small: No large or expensive equipment is needed to implement this technology.
  • Self-Adapting: Modifies waveform as transmission cable properties change over time.
  • Versatile: Can be implemented at either the motor or source side of a cable, allowing users to select the side that is easier to maintain.

Strong, Reusable, Surface-Agnostic Adhesives via Shape Memory Polymers

Surface adhesion is a ubiquitous need for consumer, manufacturing, and industrial applications. Whether hanging art on the wall, enabling pick-and-place robotics, or...

Surface adhesion is a ubiquitous need for consumer, manufacturing, and industrial applications. Whether hanging art on the wall, enabling pick-and-place robotics, or rapidly attaching components to a system or building, the ability to create strong, temporary seals that are reusable and do not damage surfaces is cruicial. Existing solutions based on magnets, sticky adhesives, and suction cups have limitations regarding which surfaces they can be applied to (e.g., suction cups require a smooth surface; magnets require a metallic one), how reusable they are, and how strong a bond they can form (e.g., suction cups can only achieve 1 atmosphere (atm) of adhesion in air).  

Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed a two-part dry adhesive system that is strong, reusable, and capable of gripping a wide variety of smooth, rough, and non-homogenous surfaces, both flat and curved. The system features an electrically conductive layer that triggers a thermoresponsive adhesive layer; re-application of voltage allows the adhesive to be removed with no damage or loss of function to either the surface or the adhesive. This technology bonds in seconds, is residue-free, is made from inexpensive materials, does not pick up debris over time like a traditional "sticky" adhesive surface, and has been demonstrated to work on a wide variety of surfaces and environments, including underwater. The bond formed is extremely strong, with researchers showing 18 atm adhesion in initial tests. The technology has also been demonstrated in conjuction with a robotic gripper arm. 

Benefits

  • Reusable                                              
  • Adhere to a range of surfaces, including smooth, rough, non-homogenous, non-magnetic, magnetic, fabric, etc.                                            
  • No damage to surface the device adheres to                            
  • Waterproof                                          
  • Strong bond

Applications

Applications incude manufacturing (pick-and-place robotics that interface with a single surface of a component are often limited to materials that will respond to magnetic or suction adhesion), consumer (e.g., hanging things on walls), textiles (e.g., modifying and reusing uniforms), and myriad other industrial applications. 

Publication

Microstructured Shape Memory Polymer Surfaces with Reversible Dry Adhesion. Jeffrey D. Eisenhaure, Tao Xie, Stephen Varghese, and Seok Kim. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 2013 5 (16), 7714-7717

DOI: 10.1021/am402479f

Rapid, predictable curing of composites

 

Professors Jeffrey Moore, Nancy Sotos, and Scott White from the University of Illinois has developed a novel method to create composites that allows for much easier...

Professors Jeffrey Moore, Nancy Sotos, and Scott White from the University of Illinois has developed a novel method to create composites that allows for much easier manufacturing and more design latitude.

3D Printing of High Quality Materials

Dr. Moore from the University of Illinois has developed a new method of 3D printing which enables the use of high quality components. This printing method cures materials...

Dr. Moore from the University of Illinois has developed a new method of 3D printing which enables the use of high quality components. This printing method cures materials as they print and removes the need for additional processing steps.

This invention could be used to make 3D printed composite materials. It expands the applications of 3D printing.

Polymer Microcolumns for Gas or Vapor Separation

Dr. Suslick has developed a method to form polymer microcolumns for portable and disposable gas chromatography. Using sacrificial materials as a template, 2D and 3D...

Dr. Suslick has developed a method to form polymer microcolumns for portable and disposable gas chromatography. Using sacrificial materials as a template, 2D and 3D microcolumns are formed to separate volatile chemicals.

This method is cost effective and easy to implement.

Disappearing Plastics: Process for the Production of Bulk Transient Materials from Cyclic Poly(phthalaldehyde)

With global production levels exceeding 400 million metric tons per year, many argue that humans have left the Stone, Copper, Bronze, and Iron Ages behind only to enter...

With global production levels exceeding 400 million metric tons per year, many argue that humans have left the Stone, Copper, Bronze, and Iron Ages behind only to enter into a modern-day Plastic Age. Although plastics have long been promoted as recyclable, the realities of material properties, manufacturing challenges and expense mean that less than ten percent of plastics are actually processed into new goods. These poor recycling rates and slow decomposition (if you can call breakdown of the material into smaller and smaller bits of non-usable material over hundreds of years "decomposition") of plastic materials place critical stress on landfill and waste management infrastructure. The need for plastics that can truly degrade at end-of-life is pressing. 

cPPA is a transient material which is capable of depolymerizing in response to a stimulus (e.g., acid, heat). Historically, the low degradation temperature of cPPA generally precluded the sort of thermal processing needed to make commercially useful devices, while cPPA’s unpredictable stability and thermal degradation behavior made any such devices too unreliable for most applications. However, resesarchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed a method for enhancing the thermal stability of cyclic poly(phthalaldehyde) (“cPPA”) to enable thermal processing (e.g., manufacturing of devices made from the material) and allow for controlled degradation of the material. 

Media
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/06/science/plastics-polymers-pollution.html

Biphasic Solvent System for the Capture of CO2 (BiCAP) 

Dr. Yongqi Lu from ISGS has developed a novel biphasic system that can be used for the capture of CO2 in a much more cost effective way. This system uses an organic...
Dr. Yongqi Lu from ISGS has developed a novel biphasic system that can be used for the capture of CO2 in a much more cost effective way. This system uses an organic compound for phase regulation. Since phase regulation is not dependent on the amine component, this solvent system is much more efficient for biphasic separation of CO2.

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