EDITORIAL TECHNOLOGY NEWS

October 2010 • Issue 22 Continued on page 3

By the year 2025, 2 out of 3 people will face freshwater shortages.A new desalination technology could help reduce the shortfall.

year 2050, 4 billion people (over halfof the entire world's population) willbe facing severe water shortages.

The water shortage has yet tosignificantly impact the United States,at least not on par with how otherparts of the world are alreadystruggling. According to the WorldWater Council, 1.1 billion people arecurrently living without clean drinkingwater.

Any breakthrough would not come amoment too soon. Many countries areeyeing the oceans as a potentialsource of drinking water. However,seawater must be desalinated in orderto be a viable alternative, and today’sdesalination plants have their ownunquenchable thirst – for energy.

Energy is needed to drive reverseosmosis (RO), the process in whichsalty water is forced at high pressurethrough a membrane that lets watermolecules through, but blocks the salt.The amount of energy required to runa desalination plant is formidable.

But now several researchers and start-up companies think they have a moreenergy-efficient alternative and itworks by turning RO desalination onits head.

newsletterA publication from ifm efector featuring innovation steps in technology from around the world

IFM PRODUCT

The Oceanon Tap

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Scientists have been voicing concernsabout water shortages for severalyears now, and a recent UN reportestimates that by 2025, two-thirds ofthe world’s population will facefreshwater shortages.

When you consider the facts, it's nothard to understand why there's alooming problem. The world'spopulation tripled in the 20th centuryand is expected to increase by another40-50% in the next 50 years. By the

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Dear Readers:

Desalination may notbe on everyone’s radarthese days, but scientistsare projecting fresh-water shortages in thenext 15 years that will

affect most countries globally.

To address the issue, researchers aretaking a fresh look at how to removesalt from water and reduce the energyconsumption required to do so. Thetechnology is called forward osmosisand it’s attracting a lot of attention asthe latest innovation in helping theworld extract freshwater from ouroceans and underground water.

ifm is taking a fresh look at existingvision technologies. Rather than applycomplex, pricey vision systems forinspection and error-proofing, ifmengineers have designed a series ofhigh performance vision sensors thatare compact, robust, easier to use,and very reliable – at great value!

Enjoy the issue!

Sincerely,

Lizanne Dathe Editor, i-Step Newsletter

Fresh water pumps into a reservoir after being treated at a desalination plant.

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2IFM PRODUCT

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ifm Vision Sensors Offer SmarterInspection and Error-Proofing ifm offers a versatile line of vision sensors that can solve a variety of error-proofing and inspection applications throughout the industrial automationprocess. ifm has applied practical innovation to simplify complex visiontechnology. The result is a product family that offers robust housings, simplesetup, and reliable performance at a great value.

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• Multi Code Reader - identifies data matrix and 1D codes

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Laser-etched code on PVT panels andglass can be difficult to read due to lowcontrast. ifm's Multi-Code Reader’sintegrated lighting and CMOS imagesensor can identify low-contrast codes.

Printed code on plastic parts can wear ordisintegrate over time. ifm’s Multi-CodeReader reliably detects printed codes thatbecome damaged or soiled – even if upto 25% of the information is damaged.

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Material such as grain can shift within abin creating hills and valleys that can leadto incorrect level detection. The sensor’spixel array spreads across the grain todetect high and low points and provide amore accurate indication of level.

A robotic arm stacks material on apallet. If a stray box is left on the skid,the robotic arm could crush the product.ifm’s 3D sensor evaluates the entirelayer of a pallet and sends an alarmoutput based on loading errors.

The efector dualis inspection sensor canidentify incorrect orientation of parts ina feeder bowl before they are applied.

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Laser-etched DMC code on glass

Palletizing and de-palletizing

Assembly monitoring Object character evaluation

Bulk material level

Printed DMC code on plastic partsData Matrix codes arecritical for tracking andinsuring reliable quality inthe manufacturing process.ifm’s Multi-code Reader isdesigned to identify, verifyand qualify 2D data matrixcodes and 1D bar codes.

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ifm’s 3D Image Sensorevaluates the size, shapeand volume of objects in three dimensions. Thesensor provides criticalinformation such as con-veying, material handling,level and intelligent routing/sorting.

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ifm’s efector DualisInspection Sensor canprovide 100% inspectionthroughout the assemblyautomation process. Thesensor detects, evaluatesand compares an object toa pre-defined shape forreliable error-proofing.

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Surrounded by water, but not a dropto drink is never felt more profoundlythan a person who is stranded at sea.

Kim Hoffmann, a graduate student atthe Academy of Art University in SanFrancisco, considered this problem asa young girl spending summers on herparent’s sailboat.

This thinking led her to develop a liferaft that could be the differencebetween life and death for a personlost at sea.

Hoffman’s Sea Kettle, which recentlymade the short list of this year’s JamesDyson Award competition, is aninsulated, sturdy shelter able to turnsea water into fresh water.

A person using the raft operates handpumps within the cabin in order todraw seawater into a plastic cone-shaped reservoir on the roof. Heatfrom the sun causes the water toevaporate. The salt-free water vaporfrom the evaporated seawater can becaptured and collected in containerswithin the raft’s wall.

Hoffman says the desalination processshe incorporated into the design wasinspired by the Watercone, a portablewater desalination cone made byMage Water Management. By addingtheir concept into a conventional liferaft design, Hoffman came up withthe Sea Kettle.

Hoffman says the raft can providedrinking water for up to five peopleon a daily basis.

bicarbonate ions can pull waterthrough the membrane. If you thenheat the solution to around 40°C,ammonia and carbon dioxide aregiven off, leaving behind pure water.The team says its low-grade heatmethod could produce fresh waterwhile using substantially less energy oftoday’s desalination plants. Theirtechnology is being marketed by thecompany Oasys who hopes to have asmall plant built by mid-2011.

A team of researchers at theSingapore Membrane TechnologyCentre has developed a membraneconsisting of tiny tubular fibers thatcan be used with ammoniumbicarbonate as the draw solution. Saltwater passes down the center of thefibers while the draw solution swillsaround the outside. Wang Rong,deputy director of the Center, statesthis type of membrane has thepotential to reduce the energy usedfor seawater desalination by 30%.

Meanwhile, the com-pany Modern Water issuccessfully deployingforward osmosis using30% less energy thanconventional desal-ination. Instead ofammonium bicarbon-

ate, Modern Water uses a proprietarysalt to suck the water through theirmembrane. Modern Water says theirtechnology is already in use at a pilotplant in Gibraltar and at a full-scaleplant in Oman.

So, is forward osmosis the answer toour water needs? There are hurdles toovercome according to Mark Shannon,Research Director of DesalinationMaterials at the University of Illinois,Urbana-Champaign. He is concernedthat the cost of the membranes maybe prohibitive. “The water flux inforward osmosis is low, so a lot ofmembrane is required,” he says.

However, Shannon sees greatpotential for forward osmosis inrecycling waste water. And, thetechnology may turn out to be idealfor desalinating brackish water, suchas deep underground water andestuary water. Deep undergroundwater is plentiful.

“Underlying almost every continentare large sources of brackish water,“Shannon says. “Forward osmosiscould be a smashing success.”

DESALINATION (CONTINUED) KNOW HOW

3RO is an inherently energy-intensiveprocess. So instead of fighting thisenergy, why not try to harness it?That’s the thinking behind theexperimental Forward Osmosis plantsthat are starting to appear.

Water can be sucked effortlessly out ofseawater if you offer it a moreconcentrated “draw solution” to flowinto.

One of the first companies to harnessthe power of forward osmosis isHydration Technology Innovation (HTI).The company released the X-pack, aportable water filter that incorporatesa forward osmosis membrane into asmall sealed plastic packet. Inside thepacket is a powder containing sugarand flavorings, which act as a seed forthe draw solution.

According to HTI, the packet can bethrown into a mud puddle and thepowder will draw the water moleculesthrough the membrane to create adrink. Many US soldiers now carrythese packs, which can be thrown overthe side of a boat to pull a sweet drinkout of the sea.

But the X-pack is not going to solvethe world’s water crisis. A researchteam at Yale University hit on an ideathat took the concept a step forward.The researchers decided to use a drawsolution based on ammoniumbicarbonate. Just as HTI’s sugarypowder does, the ammonium and

SalineWater

ProductWater

Brine

Membrane

DrawSolute

Rocovery

DrawSolutionNH3/CO2

Life Raft MakesSeawater Drinkable

Using forward osmosis rather than reverseosmosis greatly reduces the energyrequirement compared to a RO desalinationplant (shown above).

Forwardosmosis useslow levels ofenergy to yieldhigh levels ofclean, healthywater. Sea Kettle makes 3 liters of fresh water per

day for those stranded at sea.

The sun’s heat causes the water in thereservoir to evaporate. The condensedwater droplets collect in oneof four shafts and thenflow down into pocketswhich can be accessedfrom inside the raft.

Forward osmosis desalinates seawater

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4TECHNOLOGY NEWS

MIND-BENDERAbout this issue:Authors of this issue: The Ocean on Tap, Kate Ravilious,New Scientist; Tracy Staedter, Life Raft, Discovery.com;Laser Beam Powers UAVs, Jeff Hecht, New Scientist andT.J. Nugent, J.T. Kare, LaserMotive, LLC.

Despite careful review by the editorial staff, theeditor cannot be held liable for the correctness ofthe publication. The applicable legal regulations andprovisions for the acquisition, installation and setupof electronic units must be adhered to. No part ofthis publication may be reproduced in any way or,using electronic systems, be processed, copied ordistributed without the editor’s expressed writtenconsent. It cannot be concluded from the publicationthat the described solutions or designations used arefree from industrial property rights.

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Level sensors

Photoelectricsensors

Pressuresensors

Visionsensors

Cylinder sensors

Inductivesensors

Inspection sensors

AS-i networking

CordsetsVibration sensors

Flowsensorsifm efector offers a

complete line ofsensors and controls.

Conventional unmanned aerialvehicles (UAVs) are limited in theirflying time because of the fuel theycarry or a short battery life. With thehelp from the sun, UAVs can stay up abit longer – like Qinetiq’s Zephyr thathas been able to fly for 82 hours.However, the sun doesn’t shine all thetime, as we know, and solar poweredUAVs can have a hard time staying upat night.

The company LaserMotive, a Seattle-based research company, believes theycan keep an electric aircraft in the air

forever – without the sun or any fuel –just using energy from lasers.

LaserMotive is developing a laserpower beaming system to transmitelectricity without wires for applica-tions where wires are either costprohibitive or physically impractical.

The company demonstrated a laser-powered model helicopter at therecent AUVSI Unmanned SystemsConference. The tethered, radio-controlled model helicopter waspowered by an array ofsemiconductor-diode near-infraredlasers, which produced laser beamsthat were then focused down to asingle beam seven centimeters wide.

The beam, which will not damageeyes, tracked the helicopterautomatically and illuminated thehelicopter’s photovoltaic (PV) cells,which were optimized for the laser’swavelength. The PV cells thenconverted around 50 percent of thelaser power to electricity, providing

just a few watts, butenough to keep therotors spinning.

LaserMotive took homea $900,000 prize inthe NASA-sponsoredPower Beaming com-petition. They beamed power to arobot that climbed a 900-meter cabledangling from a full-scale helicopter.The technology could help powerspace elevators to lift objectsthousands of kilometers into orbit.

In other scenarios, a craft could hoverfor long periods over a laser base, orfly between a series of laser bases. Inthe longer term, lasers could powerremote ground-based sensors orsupply emergency power duringdisasters.

By demonstrating the physical andeconomic viability of laser powerbeaming, LaserMotive has big plansfor extending flight duration in spaceand on Earth.

Laser beam powers UAVS to stay in flight

Answer the question:How many revolutions are made by a 28-inch bicyclewheel over one mile?a) 620 b) 720 c) 820 d) 920 e) 1020

The first 100 people who answer the mind bendercorrectly will receive a $10.00 i-Tunes gift card.

Sample of a near-infrared 1,000 W laser diode array, less than 3 inches across.

UAVs can remain airborneindefinitely by regularlyreturning to the beamingstation to recharge its batteries.

20,000 ft.

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