[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/AlgeriaMobile1.jpg"]
This image shows a typical GE mobile power plant installation. This Algerian plant includes four TM2500 aeroderivative turbines. They can generate more than 70 megawatts of power.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/AlgeriaMobile2.jpg"]
The modified jet engine peeks from behind the mobile trailer's open door.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/AlgeriaMobile3.jpg"]
Two shrink-wrapped mobile plants just arrived from Houston. Each contains the modified jet engine, controls package, exhaust stack and other parts.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/AlgeriaMobile4.jpg"]
Each mobile plant fits on the back of a tractor trailer.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/AlgeriaMobile5.jpg"]
The desert at dawn.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/AlgeriaMobile6.jpg"]
Workers in the control room are calibrating controls, and testing and checking the equipment.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/AlgeriaMobile7.jpg"]
Every morning workers attend a “safety tail gate” meeting where managers go over safety procedures and discuss any issues with the equipment.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/AlgeriaMobile8.jpg"]
Before power reaches consumers, workers need to assemble transformers, put up transmission lines and connect the mobile electricity generators to the grid.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/AlgeriaMobile9.jpg"]
The GE team at an installation in Algeria.
[/image]
[/slides]
The Tatooine-like landscape of the M’Sila province in northern Algeria provides the country's Mediterranean coast with a rugged bulwark against the encroaching Sahara desert. Despite the arid conditions (M'Sila is quite close to the original Star Wars set), the province is home to 1 million people who need electricity, especially in the summer when temperatures easily top 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Earlier this year, GE started shipping to the area mobile power plants designed to “fast-track” power production and make sure that locals have enough power to turn on their ACs and meet peak electricity demand. Each of the mobile power plants rides on a trailer and holds a modified jet engine that burns natural gas to generate power. The engines are manufactured by GE workers in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the power plants are assembled for shipping by a GE team in Houston, Texas.
The technology, which GE calls aeroderivatives, serves on all continents, with the exception of Antarctica. GE usually sends the plants to their destination by ship, but they can also fit inside huge AN-124 transport planes for immediate delivery. If gas pipelines, concrete support pads and other infrastructure are already in place, workers can get the plants running in just 60 days.
Algeria’s Société Algérienne de Production de l’Electricité (SPE Spa), an affiliate Algeria’s national electricity and gas company Sonelgaz, has ordered 24 such plants from GE. They will generate a combined 538 megawatts of electricity.
The mobile plants are part of a $2.7 billion power generation technology deal announced last Monday. Taken together, the technology, which includes massive gas turbines for co-generation power plants as well as the aeroderivatives, will supply Algeria with nine gigawatts of electricity.
Monday, September 30, 2013
Friday, September 27, 2013
Built For Speed: F1 Team Ushers In NextGen Race Car Using Advanced GE Tech
In Ron Howard’s brand new Formula 1 car-racing movie Rush, the legendary driver Niki Lauda gives his rival James Hunt a sage piece of advice: “To be a champion, it takes more than just being quick.”
Scientists working at GE Global Research (GRC) agree with that sentiment. Their advances in big data analytics and materials science developed in GE labs in the U.S., Germany and India are helping Caterham F1 Team’s Formula 1 race cars perform better. “It’s a win-win partnership for both of us,” says Matt Nielsen, GRC’s principal scientist for controls, electronics, and signal processing. “They are on a very short technology development cycle, often only two weeks between races. We learn how to apply our technology in that time-scale.”
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Formula1B.jpg"]
The Caterham team is solving problems very similar to what GE engineers do every day. “It’s all very analogous to what we do in the field with gas turbines, aircraft engines and the Industrial Internet,” Nielsen says.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Formula1C.jpg"]
The GE team is focusing on four areas to help the team’s cars get around the course more quickly: big data analytics, fiber-optic sensing, composites manufacturing, and heat management.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Formula1A.jpg"]
Each Caterham car has some 500 sensors buried inside its wheels, engine, gearbox, chassis and elsewhere. Together they generate up to 1,000 data points per second.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Formula1D.jpg"]
“These cars are roving sensor platforms traveling at 200 mph,” says Nielsen, who grew up as an open-wheel racing fan.
[/image]
[/slides]
The GE team is focusing on four areas to help the team’s cars get around the course more quickly: big data analytics, fiber-optic sensing, composites manufacturing, and heat management.
Each Caterham car has some 500 sensors buried inside its wheels, engine, gearbox, chassis and elsewhere. Together they generate up to 1,000 data points per second. “These cars are roving sensor platforms traveling at 200 mph,” says Nielsen, who grew up as an open-wheel racing fan.
The gigabytes of data travel to Caterham’s UK headquarters for analysis, where team engineers combine it with information generated during the development cycle, wind tunnel tests and even from a driver simulation system. “We were shocked by how much data they had,” Nielsen says. “We are helping them look at how they store, assemble and make connections between pieces of data, and pull out those nuggets that help them fine-tune their cars. The analytics developed by GE have the potential to cut Caterham’s data processing by half.
Some of the data may soon come from advanced fiber-optic sensors. The GE team built them to accurately measure the downforce on the front wing below the car’s nose. They believe that the embedded instruments can improve the wing’s design and help the vehicle go faster around turns.
Lauda and Hunt were racing in metal cars, but today’s cars are built mainly from carbon composites. The few exceptions include the engine, the drivetrain, and pipes. GE materials scientists are helping the racing team replace aluminum cooling tubes with composites and reduce weight. “Every ounce adds up,” Nielsen says. “We’ve made good progress and are working to transfer the manufacturing process to them.”
Starting with the 2014 season, F1 will enter a new, super-efficient era. The engines will still generate up to 700 horsepower, but they will be capped at 1.6 liters of displacement and use around a third less fuel than today. To do so, engines will come equipped with advanced turbochargers and energy recovery systems, which will boost performance. GE engineers are helping Caterham design sophisticated intercoolers that reduce the temperature of the air the turbocharger pumps into the engine. “You don’t want a lot of pressure drop, but you want the air as cool as possible,” Nielsen says. “We know a lot about heat transfer and are using that to help build analysis tools for Caterham.”
Nielsen says that the Caterham team is solving problems very similar to what GE engineers do every day. For that reason, there are a number of places where collaboration could lead to insights beyond just F1 racing cars. “It’s all very analogous to what we do in the field with gas turbines, aircraft engines and the Industrial Internet,” he says.
Scientists working at GE Global Research (GRC) agree with that sentiment. Their advances in big data analytics and materials science developed in GE labs in the U.S., Germany and India are helping Caterham F1 Team’s Formula 1 race cars perform better. “It’s a win-win partnership for both of us,” says Matt Nielsen, GRC’s principal scientist for controls, electronics, and signal processing. “They are on a very short technology development cycle, often only two weeks between races. We learn how to apply our technology in that time-scale.”
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Formula1B.jpg"]
The Caterham team is solving problems very similar to what GE engineers do every day. “It’s all very analogous to what we do in the field with gas turbines, aircraft engines and the Industrial Internet,” Nielsen says.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Formula1C.jpg"]
The GE team is focusing on four areas to help the team’s cars get around the course more quickly: big data analytics, fiber-optic sensing, composites manufacturing, and heat management.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Formula1A.jpg"]
Each Caterham car has some 500 sensors buried inside its wheels, engine, gearbox, chassis and elsewhere. Together they generate up to 1,000 data points per second.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Formula1D.jpg"]
“These cars are roving sensor platforms traveling at 200 mph,” says Nielsen, who grew up as an open-wheel racing fan.
[/image]
[/slides]
The GE team is focusing on four areas to help the team’s cars get around the course more quickly: big data analytics, fiber-optic sensing, composites manufacturing, and heat management.
Each Caterham car has some 500 sensors buried inside its wheels, engine, gearbox, chassis and elsewhere. Together they generate up to 1,000 data points per second. “These cars are roving sensor platforms traveling at 200 mph,” says Nielsen, who grew up as an open-wheel racing fan.
The gigabytes of data travel to Caterham’s UK headquarters for analysis, where team engineers combine it with information generated during the development cycle, wind tunnel tests and even from a driver simulation system. “We were shocked by how much data they had,” Nielsen says. “We are helping them look at how they store, assemble and make connections between pieces of data, and pull out those nuggets that help them fine-tune their cars. The analytics developed by GE have the potential to cut Caterham’s data processing by half.
Some of the data may soon come from advanced fiber-optic sensors. The GE team built them to accurately measure the downforce on the front wing below the car’s nose. They believe that the embedded instruments can improve the wing’s design and help the vehicle go faster around turns.
Lauda and Hunt were racing in metal cars, but today’s cars are built mainly from carbon composites. The few exceptions include the engine, the drivetrain, and pipes. GE materials scientists are helping the racing team replace aluminum cooling tubes with composites and reduce weight. “Every ounce adds up,” Nielsen says. “We’ve made good progress and are working to transfer the manufacturing process to them.”
Starting with the 2014 season, F1 will enter a new, super-efficient era. The engines will still generate up to 700 horsepower, but they will be capped at 1.6 liters of displacement and use around a third less fuel than today. To do so, engines will come equipped with advanced turbochargers and energy recovery systems, which will boost performance. GE engineers are helping Caterham design sophisticated intercoolers that reduce the temperature of the air the turbocharger pumps into the engine. “You don’t want a lot of pressure drop, but you want the air as cool as possible,” Nielsen says. “We know a lot about heat transfer and are using that to help build analysis tools for Caterham.”
Nielsen says that the Caterham team is solving problems very similar to what GE engineers do every day. For that reason, there are a number of places where collaboration could lead to insights beyond just F1 racing cars. “It’s all very analogous to what we do in the field with gas turbines, aircraft engines and the Industrial Internet,” he says.
It Takes a City: Healthcare Partnership in Cincinnati Offers Solution to Rising Medical Costs
The U.S. spends nearly a fifth of its GDP on healthcare, more than any other developed nation. Chronic disease, aging population, childhood obesity and other causes put the system under severe pressure and threaten America’s ability to compete on global markets.
GE, like most U.S. employers, is in the same boat. The company's U.S. employee benefit programs support more than 500,000 workers, their spouses and children, and retirees. With GE's U.S. healthcare costs at more than $2 billion annually, company executives realized they needed solutions to manage the growth.
One focused on changes at the community level. They started in Cincinnati, Ohio, the base of GE Aviation and home for thousands of GE workers. The broad plan included a coalition of large employers, hospitals, insurers, city government and patients. They would be working together to improve healthcare quality in the city, expand access to care and lower costs over the long run.
"If we don't take accountability ourselves for figuring this out, we're part of the problem," Sue Siegel, CEO of GE Ventures, told The New York Times. "We have to be involved in the solution. We can't just wait for someone to tell us that it is going to be fixed."
Starting in February 2010, the partners zeroed in on five areas: primary care, information technology, quality improvement, consumer engagement, and payment innovation. They began collecting metrics like healthcare improvement, outcomes and costs, and tracking goals for the metropolitan area’s 2.2 million residents.
At the same time, the local community invested in primary care, digital records, and customer engagement through websites like yourhealthmatters.org to improve healthcare efficiency and generate better value.
The power of this partnership in Cincinnati can be seen in the results that are coming in, and they encouraging (see report). Cincinnati has become one of the nation’s most medically wired communities. The U.S. government selected the city to participate in the prestigious Comprehensive Primary Care (CPC) initiative organized by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. This project alone has the potential to bring $100 million in incentive payments to primary care doctors who improve the coordination of care for their patients.
An analysis of GE’s own medical claims data is also beginning to show gains from such coordinated care. An innovative healthcare model, called Investment in Patient-Centered Medical Homes, helps primary care physicians coordinate treatment for their patients. It has reduced ER visits and hospital admissions. Similarly, quality improvement efforts focused on pediatric asthma and diabetes are beginning to show fewer complications and hospital admissions, and better care. "Early results are promising: patients enrolled in medical homes had 3.5 percent fewer visits to the emergency room and 14 percent fewer hospital admissions over the four years from 2008 through 2012," the Times story said.
The early results were strong enough that GE expanded its community-level efforts to two additional cities in 2012—Erie, Pennsylvania, and Louisville, Kentucky. The company has also partnered with the Clinton Foundation’s new Health Matters Initiative to help build healthy communities nationally.
“Health is an investment we must protect and that means we all have to do things differently,” said Siegel. “Collaborations like this one in Ohio are important to driving sustainable transformation that yields better health and healthcare value for our businesses, our employees, their families and communities.”
GE, like most U.S. employers, is in the same boat. The company's U.S. employee benefit programs support more than 500,000 workers, their spouses and children, and retirees. With GE's U.S. healthcare costs at more than $2 billion annually, company executives realized they needed solutions to manage the growth.
One focused on changes at the community level. They started in Cincinnati, Ohio, the base of GE Aviation and home for thousands of GE workers. The broad plan included a coalition of large employers, hospitals, insurers, city government and patients. They would be working together to improve healthcare quality in the city, expand access to care and lower costs over the long run.
"If we don't take accountability ourselves for figuring this out, we're part of the problem," Sue Siegel, CEO of GE Ventures, told The New York Times. "We have to be involved in the solution. We can't just wait for someone to tell us that it is going to be fixed."
Starting in February 2010, the partners zeroed in on five areas: primary care, information technology, quality improvement, consumer engagement, and payment innovation. They began collecting metrics like healthcare improvement, outcomes and costs, and tracking goals for the metropolitan area’s 2.2 million residents.
At the same time, the local community invested in primary care, digital records, and customer engagement through websites like yourhealthmatters.org to improve healthcare efficiency and generate better value.
The power of this partnership in Cincinnati can be seen in the results that are coming in, and they encouraging (see report). Cincinnati has become one of the nation’s most medically wired communities. The U.S. government selected the city to participate in the prestigious Comprehensive Primary Care (CPC) initiative organized by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. This project alone has the potential to bring $100 million in incentive payments to primary care doctors who improve the coordination of care for their patients.
An analysis of GE’s own medical claims data is also beginning to show gains from such coordinated care. An innovative healthcare model, called Investment in Patient-Centered Medical Homes, helps primary care physicians coordinate treatment for their patients. It has reduced ER visits and hospital admissions. Similarly, quality improvement efforts focused on pediatric asthma and diabetes are beginning to show fewer complications and hospital admissions, and better care. "Early results are promising: patients enrolled in medical homes had 3.5 percent fewer visits to the emergency room and 14 percent fewer hospital admissions over the four years from 2008 through 2012," the Times story said.
The early results were strong enough that GE expanded its community-level efforts to two additional cities in 2012—Erie, Pennsylvania, and Louisville, Kentucky. The company has also partnered with the Clinton Foundation’s new Health Matters Initiative to help build healthy communities nationally.
“Health is an investment we must protect and that means we all have to do things differently,” said Siegel. “Collaborations like this one in Ohio are important to driving sustainable transformation that yields better health and healthcare value for our businesses, our employees, their families and communities.”
Thursday, September 26, 2013
#GEInstaWalk: GE Loosed Instagrammers at an Engine Testing Facility, See What Happened
The words jet engine testing call to mind the heady days of Chuck Yeager pulling Mach 2.44 over the California desert. These days, the testing tends more toward the high-tech than cowboy, but it’s no less awesome a site to behold. That’s why GE recently loosed a gaggle of Instagram photographers on GE Aviation’s Peebles Test Operation in Ohio to document the space age facilities. We called it the first ever #GEInstaWalk.
The six winning photographers were plucked from the photo-sharing network to join a crack team of GE’s regular Instagram contributors at the test facility. There, they photographed the black “turbulence control structure” that looks part Death Star, part Buckyball. They also got shots of engines like the ultraquiet and efficient GEnx and the LEAP-1A, a next-gen power plant equipped with carbon-fiber composite blades, 3D-printed fuel nozzles and parts made from ceramic matrix composites.
See the slideshow of some of the day’s best captures below.
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/InstaWalk5.jpg"]
Lindsay Crowder framed the turbulence control structure against the wispy clouds in the sky.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/InstaWalk2.jpg"]
Chris Ozer captured the play of light on the honeycomb-like matrix of the turbulence control structure.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/InstaWalk4.jpg"]
Dan Cole got this shot of a test stand at the Peebles facility.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/InstaWalk1.jpg"]
Adam Senatori got up close and personal with the fan blades of a GEnx engine.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/InstaWalk6.jpg"]
Tyson Edwards found fans at the Peebles Test Operation.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/InstaWalk3.jpg"]
Christian Cannon snapped Tyson Edwards jumping over a 55-foot wind tunnel at GE’s Peebles Test Operation.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/InstaWalk7.jpg"]
Tyson Edwards captured this feat of strength.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/InstaWalk8.jpg"]
A Chris Ozer shot from inside the test facility.
[/image]
[/slides]
The six winning photographers were plucked from the photo-sharing network to join a crack team of GE’s regular Instagram contributors at the test facility. There, they photographed the black “turbulence control structure” that looks part Death Star, part Buckyball. They also got shots of engines like the ultraquiet and efficient GEnx and the LEAP-1A, a next-gen power plant equipped with carbon-fiber composite blades, 3D-printed fuel nozzles and parts made from ceramic matrix composites.
See the slideshow of some of the day’s best captures below.
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/InstaWalk5.jpg"]
Lindsay Crowder framed the turbulence control structure against the wispy clouds in the sky.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/InstaWalk2.jpg"]
Chris Ozer captured the play of light on the honeycomb-like matrix of the turbulence control structure.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/InstaWalk4.jpg"]
Dan Cole got this shot of a test stand at the Peebles facility.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/InstaWalk1.jpg"]
Adam Senatori got up close and personal with the fan blades of a GEnx engine.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/InstaWalk6.jpg"]
Tyson Edwards found fans at the Peebles Test Operation.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/InstaWalk3.jpg"]
Christian Cannon snapped Tyson Edwards jumping over a 55-foot wind tunnel at GE’s Peebles Test Operation.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/InstaWalk7.jpg"]
Tyson Edwards captured this feat of strength.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/InstaWalk8.jpg"]
A Chris Ozer shot from inside the test facility.
[/image]
[/slides]
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Great Lakes Mystery: Wreck Hunter Hopes GE CT Scanner Can Identify 300-Year Old Ship
It was a good day for sailing on Sept. 18, 1679, when the French ship Le Griffon left an island harbor in Lake Michigan’s Green Bay. A light wind blew from the west, perfect conditions for the vessel’s voyage to Niagara Falls to pick up supplies.
But good weather in the morning, as any visitor to the Great Lakes knows, can turn foul before breakfast ends. A storm came up on the water the day after the 45-ton, three-masted ship set sail. Neither it nor its crew of six was ever seen again.
That is until now, if explorers who have been searching for Le Griffon, also known as the Griffin, for years are correct. They used the latest GE medical imaging technology to shed new light, or rather X-rays, on the 300-year old mystery.
In 2001, diver and history enthusiast Steve Libert found a strange piece of timber sticking out of the muddy bottom of Lake Michigan. Libert says he’s been obsessed with studying and locating the ship since he was a schoolboy in Ohio. He suspected the wood might be the Griffon’s bowsprit, the pole that extends out from the front of a sailing ship. “There was no question about it—that this was definitely man-made,” he says. “I’ve been researching this ship since I was 14. I’m 99.9 percent sure it’s the Griffon.”
He was hoping that the 20-ft.-long oak pole would be just the highest piece of the shipwreck that was buried in the mud beneath it, but divers who excavated the lake bottom found nothing else below it. “My hypothesis is that the bowsprit became dislodged from the ship as it was sinking and the storm moved the rest of it somewhere else,” Libert says.
But whether the wood is actually a piece of a ship is still in question, as is how old it is. Several different groups of laboratory scientists and archaeologists are analyzing it to determine its provenance.
Libert’s team sent samples for radiocarbon dating, a method of determining organic matter’s age range by measuring the decay of carbon inside it. So far, the tests have not ruled out the possibility that the wood was cut in the late 17th century. “Apparently the Griffon was built in AD 1679,” wrote Darden Hood, the director of carbon dating lab Beta Analytic, which analyzed one sample several years ago. “The results do support an AD 1679 time of death of the wood used in such a construction. However, it is clear that other lines of evidence are needed to exclude temporal possibilities extending all the way to AD 1950.”
Libert says the most recent round of radiocarbon dating by Beta Analytic came back on Sept. 23. Their analysis, he says, revealed with 95 percent probability that the beam came from a tree cut down sometime between 1680 and 1740.
In June, they recovered the whole 600-pound object from the lake’s icy waters. To get more data about the tree from which it was shaped, they needed to peer inside at the wood’s annual rings. But to count the rings, they would have needed to either drill into the pole to pull out a core or cut out a slice. Either method would have damaged the object. Instead, they called Carol Griggs at Cornell University’s tree-ring laboratory to solicit ideas. She offered an innovative potential solution: put the artifact into a medical CT scanner. Such devices use X-rays to take successive cross-sectional pictures, or virtual slices, of the body.
So they called Otsego Memorial Hospital in Gaylord, Mich., near their storage site to see if the facility had any equipment that would be up to the task. They were lucky. Hospital officials said they had a CT scanner made by GE that might be able to do the job.
In late August, Libert and five other crew members carried the timber into the hospital and loaded it into the GE LightSpeed VCT* XT 64-slice CT scanner. In seconds, the scans started popping up on a monitor. Radiology technicians whose jobs typically had them interacting with patients, counted 29 clearly visible rings. “The images from the CT scan were nothing less than fantastic!” said Libert. “I attribute this to an excellent piece of well-designed, technological equipment along with a highly trained group of professionals at the hospital.”
The scans were sent to Cornell University’s tree-ring laboratory so specialists there could match the rings to others in their database. This might yield a better estimate of the tree’s age when it was felled. Libert expects Cornell’s analysis to be completed soon, though he cautioned that deterioration at the bottom of Lake Michigan might have damaged the beam beyond reasonable classification. “The machine was able to image 29 rings, which might not be enough,” he says. “Still, the tree-ring lab was extremely excited the scanner could even image that much.”
Not everyone is convinced the object was part of the Griffon, even if it turns out to be the right age. An Associated Press story said that Michigan's state archaeologist contends it could be a stake from a "pound net," a type of fishing gear used for centuries in which fishermen strung nets between poles rammed into the lake’s bottom.
But contrary hypotheses won’t deter Libert, he says. If the age-detecting techniques they’re using determine that the artifact is from the late 17th century, his crew will venture back out to the vicinity of where they found it to continue their search for the rest of the vessel.
“If it turns out that this is the bowsprit of the Griffon, I believe the rest of the wreck is within four or five football fields of it,” Libert says. “I expect to find that ship intact.”
*Trademark of the General Electric Co.
But good weather in the morning, as any visitor to the Great Lakes knows, can turn foul before breakfast ends. A storm came up on the water the day after the 45-ton, three-masted ship set sail. Neither it nor its crew of six was ever seen again.
That is until now, if explorers who have been searching for Le Griffon, also known as the Griffin, for years are correct. They used the latest GE medical imaging technology to shed new light, or rather X-rays, on the 300-year old mystery.
In 2001, diver and history enthusiast Steve Libert found a strange piece of timber sticking out of the muddy bottom of Lake Michigan. Libert says he’s been obsessed with studying and locating the ship since he was a schoolboy in Ohio. He suspected the wood might be the Griffon’s bowsprit, the pole that extends out from the front of a sailing ship. “There was no question about it—that this was definitely man-made,” he says. “I’ve been researching this ship since I was 14. I’m 99.9 percent sure it’s the Griffon.”
Steve Libert used a GE CT scanner to count the tree rings inside a 600-pound beam recovered the bottom of Lake Michigan. He hopes the rings will help him tie the beam to the Griffon which disappeared 300 years ago. Credit: Steve Libert/Great Lakes Exploration
He was hoping that the 20-ft.-long oak pole would be just the highest piece of the shipwreck that was buried in the mud beneath it, but divers who excavated the lake bottom found nothing else below it. “My hypothesis is that the bowsprit became dislodged from the ship as it was sinking and the storm moved the rest of it somewhere else,” Libert says.
But whether the wood is actually a piece of a ship is still in question, as is how old it is. Several different groups of laboratory scientists and archaeologists are analyzing it to determine its provenance.
Libert’s team sent samples for radiocarbon dating, a method of determining organic matter’s age range by measuring the decay of carbon inside it. So far, the tests have not ruled out the possibility that the wood was cut in the late 17th century. “Apparently the Griffon was built in AD 1679,” wrote Darden Hood, the director of carbon dating lab Beta Analytic, which analyzed one sample several years ago. “The results do support an AD 1679 time of death of the wood used in such a construction. However, it is clear that other lines of evidence are needed to exclude temporal possibilities extending all the way to AD 1950.”
In 2001, diver and history enthusiast Steve Libert found a strange piece of timber sticking out of the muddy bottom of Lake Michigan. Libert says he’s been obsessed with studying and locating the Griffon since he was a schoolboy in Ohio. Credit: Steve Libert/Great Lakes Exploration
Libert says the most recent round of radiocarbon dating by Beta Analytic came back on Sept. 23. Their analysis, he says, revealed with 95 percent probability that the beam came from a tree cut down sometime between 1680 and 1740.
In June, they recovered the whole 600-pound object from the lake’s icy waters. To get more data about the tree from which it was shaped, they needed to peer inside at the wood’s annual rings. But to count the rings, they would have needed to either drill into the pole to pull out a core or cut out a slice. Either method would have damaged the object. Instead, they called Carol Griggs at Cornell University’s tree-ring laboratory to solicit ideas. She offered an innovative potential solution: put the artifact into a medical CT scanner. Such devices use X-rays to take successive cross-sectional pictures, or virtual slices, of the body.
So they called Otsego Memorial Hospital in Gaylord, Mich., near their storage site to see if the facility had any equipment that would be up to the task. They were lucky. Hospital officials said they had a CT scanner made by GE that might be able to do the job.
In late August, Libert and five other crew members carried the timber into the hospital and loaded it into the GE LightSpeed VCT* XT 64-slice CT scanner. In seconds, the scans started popping up on a monitor. Radiology technicians whose jobs typically had them interacting with patients, counted 29 clearly visible rings. “The images from the CT scan were nothing less than fantastic!” said Libert. “I attribute this to an excellent piece of well-designed, technological equipment along with a highly trained group of professionals at the hospital.”
The scans were sent to Cornell University’s tree-ring laboratory so specialists there could match the rings to others in their database. This might yield a better estimate of the tree’s age when it was felled. Libert expects Cornell’s analysis to be completed soon, though he cautioned that deterioration at the bottom of Lake Michigan might have damaged the beam beyond reasonable classification. “The machine was able to image 29 rings, which might not be enough,” he says. “Still, the tree-ring lab was extremely excited the scanner could even image that much.”
Not everyone is convinced the object was part of the Griffon, even if it turns out to be the right age. An Associated Press story said that Michigan's state archaeologist contends it could be a stake from a "pound net," a type of fishing gear used for centuries in which fishermen strung nets between poles rammed into the lake’s bottom.
But contrary hypotheses won’t deter Libert, he says. If the age-detecting techniques they’re using determine that the artifact is from the late 17th century, his crew will venture back out to the vicinity of where they found it to continue their search for the rest of the vessel.
“If it turns out that this is the bowsprit of the Griffon, I believe the rest of the wreck is within four or five football fields of it,” Libert says. “I expect to find that ship intact.”
*Trademark of the General Electric Co.
Friday, September 20, 2013
Blades and Bones: The Many Faces of 3D Printing
GE started testing its first jet engine that contains 3D printed parts last week. A big step for advanced manufacturing, for sure, but just the beginning of the 3D printing revolution. Like ordinary machining, 3D printing, also called additive manufacturing, spans a wide gamut of technologies for many different applications, from rapid prototyping to producing designs previously impossible to make.
Engineers and designers are not the only ones excited about the technology. A recent Citi Research report noted that GE has been investing for a decade in additive manufacturing and “has developed a strength in high-end metals and ceramics. This has been commercialized in fuel nozzles in aviation but is expected to have many additional applications across GE industrial businesses.” Take a look at our slideshow:
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Additive1.jpg"]
This lattice cube, which was made from titanium on an electron beam melting machine (EBM), resembles a bone chip. There is a good reason. The "organic" design makes it about one third of the weight of a solid cube while maintaining the solid’s compression strength. This technology could deliver huge material savings and weight reduction.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Additive3.jpg"]
This hand was 3D printed on an Objet Connex500 machine that can use two different resins at the same time. In this example, designers used a hard resin for the bones and a soft one for the flesh. GE is not moving into making body parts, yet, but 3D printing is helping engineers rapidly prototype and test their designs, and speed up parts development.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Additive2.jpg"]
This example of a high-pressure turbine blade was made from a cobalt-chrome alloy on another type of 3D printer, the direct metal laser melting (DMLM) machine. This machine uses lasers to melt layers of metal powder into the final shape. The blade contains intricate cooling channels that would be otherwise difficult to manufacture. It is a good example of the new freedoms enjoyed by designers using additive manufacturing to make metal parts.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/AddSlide1.jpg"]
Like the turbine blade, this replica of a fuel nozzle was printed on a DMLM machine from a cobalt-chrome alloy. The method can achieve intricate internal geometries shown on the next slide.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/AddSlide2.jpg"]
This image shows the internal geometries of the fuel nozzle that would be difficult to make using conventional manufacturing methods. A part this complex would normally require the welding together of over 20 different components. An additive manufacturing machine can build it as one piece.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Additive6.jpg"]
This porous titanium sphere was made on an EBM machine. It illustrates the power of the additive technology. Before 3D printing came along, engineers were not able to cast or manufacture such complex shapes.
[/image]
[/slides]
Engineers and designers are not the only ones excited about the technology. A recent Citi Research report noted that GE has been investing for a decade in additive manufacturing and “has developed a strength in high-end metals and ceramics. This has been commercialized in fuel nozzles in aviation but is expected to have many additional applications across GE industrial businesses.” Take a look at our slideshow:
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Additive1.jpg"]
This lattice cube, which was made from titanium on an electron beam melting machine (EBM), resembles a bone chip. There is a good reason. The "organic" design makes it about one third of the weight of a solid cube while maintaining the solid’s compression strength. This technology could deliver huge material savings and weight reduction.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Additive3.jpg"]
This hand was 3D printed on an Objet Connex500 machine that can use two different resins at the same time. In this example, designers used a hard resin for the bones and a soft one for the flesh. GE is not moving into making body parts, yet, but 3D printing is helping engineers rapidly prototype and test their designs, and speed up parts development.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Additive2.jpg"]
This example of a high-pressure turbine blade was made from a cobalt-chrome alloy on another type of 3D printer, the direct metal laser melting (DMLM) machine. This machine uses lasers to melt layers of metal powder into the final shape. The blade contains intricate cooling channels that would be otherwise difficult to manufacture. It is a good example of the new freedoms enjoyed by designers using additive manufacturing to make metal parts.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/AddSlide1.jpg"]
Like the turbine blade, this replica of a fuel nozzle was printed on a DMLM machine from a cobalt-chrome alloy. The method can achieve intricate internal geometries shown on the next slide.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/AddSlide2.jpg"]
This image shows the internal geometries of the fuel nozzle that would be difficult to make using conventional manufacturing methods. A part this complex would normally require the welding together of over 20 different components. An additive manufacturing machine can build it as one piece.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Additive6.jpg"]
This porous titanium sphere was made on an EBM machine. It illustrates the power of the additive technology. Before 3D printing came along, engineers were not able to cast or manufacture such complex shapes.
[/image]
[/slides]
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Tall Order: 11-Foot Jet Engine - World's Largest - Will Power Lufthansa's New Aircraft Fleet
Lufthansa became the first airline to select for its fleet Boeing's next-generation 777X aircraft powered by GE’s advanced GE9X engines. The engines for the 34 planes are valued at more than $2.5 billion. The GE9X will use high-tech parts and materials like 3D printed fuel nozzles, fourth-generation composite blades, and special ceramic matrix composites.
The GE9X builds on more than two decades of GE research and development that involved hundreds of engineers and scientists exploring the boundaries of materials science, thermodynamics, and jet engine design. It will usher in a new generation of the GE90 engine family.
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Lufthansa1.jpg"]
Want a lift? The GE9X is the offspring of the world's most powerful engine, the GE90, in the picture above.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Lufthansa2.jpg"]
“The GE90 777 essentially opened the globe up to incredibly efficient twin-powered wide-body planes,” says David Joyce, president and CEO of GE Aviation.
[/image]
[/slides]
In 1990, GE launched the GE90, the world’s largest and most powerful jet engine for Boeing’s 777 aircraft. Until then, airlines could not fly wide-body planes across oceans and continents with just two engines under the wings. “The GE90 777 essentially opened the globe up to incredibly efficient twin-powered wide-body planes,” says David Joyce, president and CEO of GE Aviation.
The engine used fan blades made from a carbon fiber composite rather than metal for the first time in aviation history. “The design team woke up every morning thinking about the GE90 and went to bed every night thinking about the GE90 because it was such a radical change in design,” Joyce says. “No other jet engine manufacturer has composite fan blades in service today.”
The material allowed engineers to reduce the number of blades and build a larger engine. The fan’s 10-foot 8-inch diameter increased the amount of air bypassing the engine, improved thrust and boosted efficiency. “No one had thought about this, or if they had, it was not within the art of possibilities for most design teams,” Joyce says. (The blade that the GE team came up with was so comely that New York’s Museum of Modern Art included it in its design collection.)
But GE engineers kept improving on the blade. They reduced the number of blades from 22 inside the GE90-115, to 18 in the follow-up engine, the GEnx, developed for the Dreamliner. Joyce says that GE will be on its fourth-generation of carbon fiber blades by the time the GE9X enters service later in this decade. It will have only 16 blades even though their 11-foot diameter will be larger than the GE 90 fan. These innovations combined with a new composite fan case and lightweight ceramic materials inside the engine will shave hundreds of pounds from the machine, and improve its fuel efficiency.
The ceramics, for example, were developed by scientists at GE Aviation and GE Global Research. They can perform at temperatures as high as 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit – in hotter conditions than any alloy can handle. Engineers call the material ceramic matrix composites (CMCs). Like their carbon-fiber cousins, they are much lighter than the metal equivalent. CMC parts in the combustor and turbine will allow the GE9X to burn less fuel than the GE90-115B, which is already part of GE's ecomagination portfolio. “There’s not a component in that engine that does not come through some form of very advanced technology,” Joyce says.
Engineers have been testing the materials and technologies for the new engine for several years. They ran fan-blade tests at the ITP engine-testing facility in the United Kingdom. This month they will assess the engine’s high-pressure compressor at a GE Oil & Gas facility in Massa, Italy.
GE has delivered more than 1,500 GE90 engines to Boeing. The aircraft maker is now using the GE90-115B engine exclusively to power the latest generation of its 777 planes, the 777-300ER, the 777-200LR and also 777 freighters. The Boeing 777 is the world’s most successful twin-engine, long-haul airplane.
The GE9X builds on more than two decades of GE research and development that involved hundreds of engineers and scientists exploring the boundaries of materials science, thermodynamics, and jet engine design. It will usher in a new generation of the GE90 engine family.
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Lufthansa1.jpg"]
Want a lift? The GE9X is the offspring of the world's most powerful engine, the GE90, in the picture above.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Lufthansa2.jpg"]
“The GE90 777 essentially opened the globe up to incredibly efficient twin-powered wide-body planes,” says David Joyce, president and CEO of GE Aviation.
[/image]
[/slides]
In 1990, GE launched the GE90, the world’s largest and most powerful jet engine for Boeing’s 777 aircraft. Until then, airlines could not fly wide-body planes across oceans and continents with just two engines under the wings. “The GE90 777 essentially opened the globe up to incredibly efficient twin-powered wide-body planes,” says David Joyce, president and CEO of GE Aviation.
The engine used fan blades made from a carbon fiber composite rather than metal for the first time in aviation history. “The design team woke up every morning thinking about the GE90 and went to bed every night thinking about the GE90 because it was such a radical change in design,” Joyce says. “No other jet engine manufacturer has composite fan blades in service today.”
The material allowed engineers to reduce the number of blades and build a larger engine. The fan’s 10-foot 8-inch diameter increased the amount of air bypassing the engine, improved thrust and boosted efficiency. “No one had thought about this, or if they had, it was not within the art of possibilities for most design teams,” Joyce says. (The blade that the GE team came up with was so comely that New York’s Museum of Modern Art included it in its design collection.)
But GE engineers kept improving on the blade. They reduced the number of blades from 22 inside the GE90-115, to 18 in the follow-up engine, the GEnx, developed for the Dreamliner. Joyce says that GE will be on its fourth-generation of carbon fiber blades by the time the GE9X enters service later in this decade. It will have only 16 blades even though their 11-foot diameter will be larger than the GE 90 fan. These innovations combined with a new composite fan case and lightweight ceramic materials inside the engine will shave hundreds of pounds from the machine, and improve its fuel efficiency.
The ceramics, for example, were developed by scientists at GE Aviation and GE Global Research. They can perform at temperatures as high as 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit – in hotter conditions than any alloy can handle. Engineers call the material ceramic matrix composites (CMCs). Like their carbon-fiber cousins, they are much lighter than the metal equivalent. CMC parts in the combustor and turbine will allow the GE9X to burn less fuel than the GE90-115B, which is already part of GE's ecomagination portfolio. “There’s not a component in that engine that does not come through some form of very advanced technology,” Joyce says.
Engineers have been testing the materials and technologies for the new engine for several years. They ran fan-blade tests at the ITP engine-testing facility in the United Kingdom. This month they will assess the engine’s high-pressure compressor at a GE Oil & Gas facility in Massa, Italy.
GE has delivered more than 1,500 GE90 engines to Boeing. The aircraft maker is now using the GE90-115B engine exclusively to power the latest generation of its 777 planes, the 777-300ER, the 777-200LR and also 777 freighters. The Boeing 777 is the world’s most successful twin-engine, long-haul airplane.
The Matchmaker: Workhorse GE Locomotive is Helping Amtrak Hire Vets
The GE Genesis locomotive wearing veteran colors is pulling Amtrak trains throughout the U.S.
When Amtrak CEO Joe Boardman painted one of his locomotives red, white and blue to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, the reason was a mix gratitude and self-interest. Boardman served in Vietnam and the new design was meant to honor America’s veterans. But he also wanted vets to come work for him. “The leadership, reliability and high-tech skills veterans bring to the job are a great resource to the operation of America’s railroad,” he says.
Amtrak expects to hire more than 3,000 workers over the next year, and the company has set a goal to make vets a quarter of all new hires by 2015.
Amtrak's vet locomotive is the workhorse P42 Genesis engine manufactured by GE. It pulled into Los Angeles this morning for a Hiring our Heroes jobs fair organized by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.
Amtrak is one of many companies courting veterans. GE, for example, hired 1,000 vets in 2012 and the company is actively seeking and training more. Last fall, GE and partners Alcoa, Boeing and Lockheed launched the Get Skills to Work coalition designed to fill vets’ skills gaps and provide employers with the right tools to recruit hire, and mentor veterans. The program, which also includes the Gary Sinise Foundation, has a goal to reach 100,000 veterans by 2015. GE started hiring the program’s first graduates this spring.
According to estimates, there are 1.9 million unemployed veterans in the U.S. At the same time, there are some 600,000 open advanced manufacturing jobs across America. More than 82 percent of manufacturers report they cannot find people with the right skills to fill openings.
“The need is obvious,” said Jeff Immelt, GE chairman and CEO. “The challenge is matching their skills to our job openings and getting them the right jobs.”
Monday, September 16, 2013
Meet the Makers: 3D Printing Design Challenge Finalists Have Global Roots
The maker movement is a big community of students, manufacturing enthusiasts and hobbyists using cutting edge tools and design software to find better ways to make things. In the U.S., they meet in TechShop workshops and flock to Maker Faire fairs to innovate and exchange ideas. But the results of GE’s latest manufacturing challenge show that the movement resonates far beyond America’s borders. It is an international affair.
GE and GrabCAD, working closely with digital strategy firm Undercurrent, just announced 10 finalists of the 3D Printing Design Quest challenge to redesign a jet engine bracket, make it lighter, and print it on a 3D printer. There were more than 700 entries and the finalists come from nine countries as different and far apart as Hungary, which has two, and Indonesia. They will each receive $1,000.
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/CAD1.jpg"]
M. Arie Kurniawan lives in Salatiga, Indonesia. He runs a small engineering firm with his brother. "3D printing will be available for everyone in the very near future," he says. "It will change many things."
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/CAD2.jpg"]
France's Alexis Costa says he is a LEGO Technic fan.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/CAD3.jpg"]
Thomas Johansson from Sweden built a powertrain for the luxury sports car maker Koenigsegg. "A colleague sent me a notification of this competition and I could not resist a good challenge where the part was going to be tested in reality," he says.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/CAD4.jpg"]
Sebastien Vavassori lives in Stevenage, U.K. He works as a stress engineer for EADS. "3D printing is an interesting process, with a direct value for enterprises specialized in maintenance," he says. "With 3D printing, the last version of a mechanical part can be downloaded without delay; moreover that costs almost nothing in transport and in stock."
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/CAD5.jpg"]
Nic Adams hails from Cape Town, South Africa, and currently lives in Sydney, Australia. He says that he wanted to keep his bracket "organic, minimizing sharp corners and using a hollow structure to best distribute material and stress."
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/CAD6.jpg"]
Fidel Chirtes from Romania specializes in automotive and machine design.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/CAD7.jpg"]
Andrea Anneda lives in Milan, Italy. "My inspiration came from nature," he says. "I tried to recreate a structure similar to a bone."
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/CAD8.jpg"]
Peter Mandli hails from from Hungary. He is interested in automotive design.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/CAD9.jpg"]
Ármin Fendrik works in the small town of Bonyhád in southern Hungary. He tried "a lot of different designs, and after a few I noticed some patterns so I was able to optimize my designs," he says. He is interested in 3D printing applications in healthcare and space. "With 3D printing we could design and manufacture personalized body parts...at a moderate cost and with solutions which are only achievable through additive manufacturing."
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/CAD10.jpg"]
Piotr Mikulski lives in Rumia, Poland. He says that "since childhood, I have always been curious about how things work. The problem is that there are so many questions and so little time to find answers."
[/image]
[/slides]
The bracket is a key jet engine component. It supports the weight of the engine during handling and must withstand strong vibrations during flight.
GE engineers will now manufacture the 10 designs and put them through mechanical tests at GE Global Research in upstate New York. The load testing will take place between Sept. 17 and Nov. 15 and the top eight designs will share a total prize pool of $20,000. “We have entered into a new era of manufacturing that is leveraging the proven power of open innovation,” said Mark Little, chief technology officer at GE Global Research. “Additive manufacturing is allowing GE, together with the maker community, to push the boundaries of traditional engineering. These finalists have demonstrated what can be achieved by embracing this more open, collaborative model.”
The point has not been lost on New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman who wrote about the Quest challenge in his latest column. “When G.E. is looking to invent a new product, it first assembles its own best engineers from India, China, Israel and the U.S,” he writes. “But now it is also supplementing them by running ‘contests’ to stimulate the best minds anywhere to participate in G.E.’s innovations… I saw one prototype that was 80 percent lighter than the older version…A majority of entries came from people outside the aviation industry.”
Explore our slideshow featuring designs from the 10 finalists. The judges also recognized several designs for their creativity. They are listed here.
GE and GrabCAD, working closely with digital strategy firm Undercurrent, just announced 10 finalists of the 3D Printing Design Quest challenge to redesign a jet engine bracket, make it lighter, and print it on a 3D printer. There were more than 700 entries and the finalists come from nine countries as different and far apart as Hungary, which has two, and Indonesia. They will each receive $1,000.
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/CAD1.jpg"]
M. Arie Kurniawan lives in Salatiga, Indonesia. He runs a small engineering firm with his brother. "3D printing will be available for everyone in the very near future," he says. "It will change many things."
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/CAD2.jpg"]
France's Alexis Costa says he is a LEGO Technic fan.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/CAD3.jpg"]
Thomas Johansson from Sweden built a powertrain for the luxury sports car maker Koenigsegg. "A colleague sent me a notification of this competition and I could not resist a good challenge where the part was going to be tested in reality," he says.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/CAD4.jpg"]
Sebastien Vavassori lives in Stevenage, U.K. He works as a stress engineer for EADS. "3D printing is an interesting process, with a direct value for enterprises specialized in maintenance," he says. "With 3D printing, the last version of a mechanical part can be downloaded without delay; moreover that costs almost nothing in transport and in stock."
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/CAD5.jpg"]
Nic Adams hails from Cape Town, South Africa, and currently lives in Sydney, Australia. He says that he wanted to keep his bracket "organic, minimizing sharp corners and using a hollow structure to best distribute material and stress."
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/CAD6.jpg"]
Fidel Chirtes from Romania specializes in automotive and machine design.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/CAD7.jpg"]
Andrea Anneda lives in Milan, Italy. "My inspiration came from nature," he says. "I tried to recreate a structure similar to a bone."
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/CAD8.jpg"]
Peter Mandli hails from from Hungary. He is interested in automotive design.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/CAD9.jpg"]
Ármin Fendrik works in the small town of Bonyhád in southern Hungary. He tried "a lot of different designs, and after a few I noticed some patterns so I was able to optimize my designs," he says. He is interested in 3D printing applications in healthcare and space. "With 3D printing we could design and manufacture personalized body parts...at a moderate cost and with solutions which are only achievable through additive manufacturing."
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/CAD10.jpg"]
Piotr Mikulski lives in Rumia, Poland. He says that "since childhood, I have always been curious about how things work. The problem is that there are so many questions and so little time to find answers."
[/image]
[/slides]
The bracket is a key jet engine component. It supports the weight of the engine during handling and must withstand strong vibrations during flight.
GE engineers will now manufacture the 10 designs and put them through mechanical tests at GE Global Research in upstate New York. The load testing will take place between Sept. 17 and Nov. 15 and the top eight designs will share a total prize pool of $20,000. “We have entered into a new era of manufacturing that is leveraging the proven power of open innovation,” said Mark Little, chief technology officer at GE Global Research. “Additive manufacturing is allowing GE, together with the maker community, to push the boundaries of traditional engineering. These finalists have demonstrated what can be achieved by embracing this more open, collaborative model.”
The point has not been lost on New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman who wrote about the Quest challenge in his latest column. “When G.E. is looking to invent a new product, it first assembles its own best engineers from India, China, Israel and the U.S,” he writes. “But now it is also supplementing them by running ‘contests’ to stimulate the best minds anywhere to participate in G.E.’s innovations… I saw one prototype that was 80 percent lighter than the older version…A majority of entries came from people outside the aviation industry.”
Explore our slideshow featuring designs from the 10 finalists. The judges also recognized several designs for their creativity. They are listed here.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Voyager 1 Becomes First Man-Made Object to Leave Solar System; Probe Still Powered by GE Technology
A new research paper published today in the journal Science concluded that the Voyager 1 spacecraft became the first man-made object to leave the solar system and enter interstellar space. The journal says that “after long disagreements, that is now the consensus view of Voyager mission team leaders." The 35-year old spacecraft is still relying on GE technology, including command computers and power generators.
“I don’t know if it’s in the same league as landing on the moon, but it’s right up there — ‘Star Trek’ stuff, for sure,” said Donald A. Gurnett, a professor of physics at the University of Iowa and the co-author of the paper told the New York Times.
The spacecraft is now than 11.7 billion miles from home, almost 50,000 times farther than a trip to the moon. The Voyager 1 and its sibling the Voyager 2 launched in 1977. They were expected to last only a few years. “NASA considered everything past the Saturn encounter a bonus,” said Dr. Howard Butler, who ran GE’s Aerospace Electronic Systems Department.
GE engineers designed the Voyagers’ command computers directing the flight path and providing communication links with NASA Mission Control, as well as the probes’ power source called radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs). These devices still remain in service and convert the heat produced from the natural radioactive decay of plutonium into electricity for the spacecraft’s instruments, computers, radio and other systems.
Scientists have been speculating for several years about the exact timing spacecraft’s departure from the heliosphere, the limit of the particles thrown off by the sun. Last October, GE’s science and technology publication Txchnologist noted that since September 2012, the craft’s instruments have sensed a major, sustained drop in the low-energy charged particles released by the sun that reach it. The prediction was about five days off: the exact date of departure was Aug. 25, 2012.
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/BreakingFree1.jpg"]
The Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft launched in 1977. They are currently exploring the edge of the solar system. GE engineers designed the Voyagers’ command computers directing the flight path and providing communication links with NASA Mission Control. They also developed the probes’ electricity generator for the spacecraft’s instruments, computers, radio and other systems. The Voyagers have sent back detailed images of the solar system planets and their moons, confirmed the existence of Neptune’s rings, and gathered data about stars near the edges of the Milky Way.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/BreakingFree1A.jpg"]
The Voyagers’s next mission is to explore the boundary of the Solar System. NASA now estimates that the probes will survive until 2025. The Voyagers also carry cargo designed to communicate a message from Earth to extraterrestrials. Each probe holds a special phonograph record, a 12-inch encoded gold-plated copper disc containing music, sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth, from Bach and Chuck Berry to birds, heartbeat, and laughter.
[/image]
[/slides]
“I don’t know if it’s in the same league as landing on the moon, but it’s right up there — ‘Star Trek’ stuff, for sure,” said Donald A. Gurnett, a professor of physics at the University of Iowa and the co-author of the paper told the New York Times.
The spacecraft is now than 11.7 billion miles from home, almost 50,000 times farther than a trip to the moon. The Voyager 1 and its sibling the Voyager 2 launched in 1977. They were expected to last only a few years. “NASA considered everything past the Saturn encounter a bonus,” said Dr. Howard Butler, who ran GE’s Aerospace Electronic Systems Department.
GE engineers designed the Voyagers’ command computers directing the flight path and providing communication links with NASA Mission Control, as well as the probes’ power source called radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs). These devices still remain in service and convert the heat produced from the natural radioactive decay of plutonium into electricity for the spacecraft’s instruments, computers, radio and other systems.
Scientists have been speculating for several years about the exact timing spacecraft’s departure from the heliosphere, the limit of the particles thrown off by the sun. Last October, GE’s science and technology publication Txchnologist noted that since September 2012, the craft’s instruments have sensed a major, sustained drop in the low-energy charged particles released by the sun that reach it. The prediction was about five days off: the exact date of departure was Aug. 25, 2012.
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/BreakingFree1.jpg"]
The Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft launched in 1977. They are currently exploring the edge of the solar system. GE engineers designed the Voyagers’ command computers directing the flight path and providing communication links with NASA Mission Control. They also developed the probes’ electricity generator for the spacecraft’s instruments, computers, radio and other systems. The Voyagers have sent back detailed images of the solar system planets and their moons, confirmed the existence of Neptune’s rings, and gathered data about stars near the edges of the Milky Way.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/BreakingFree1A.jpg"]
The Voyagers’s next mission is to explore the boundary of the Solar System. NASA now estimates that the probes will survive until 2025. The Voyagers also carry cargo designed to communicate a message from Earth to extraterrestrials. Each probe holds a special phonograph record, a 12-inch encoded gold-plated copper disc containing music, sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth, from Bach and Chuck Berry to birds, heartbeat, and laughter.
[/image]
[/slides]
The Sound of Silence: GE’s Silent Scan Dials Down MRI Noise to a Whisper
Doctor visits tend to be quiet affairs, unless an MRI exam, or a root canal, is on the agenda. An MR scanner can generate noise in excess of 110 decibels, enough to rival a rock concert. There is a good reason why this happens. “An MRI scanner is like a huge version of a speaker in your home,” says engineer Bryan Mock, who manages GE Healthcare’s MRI products. “They both have magnets inside and a coil of wire that carries electric current,” Mock says.
The current that flows through the coil inside the speaker creates a magnetic field that moves a magnet attached to a flexible membrane that generates sound. The MR scanner uses changes in the current to generate a magnetic field to image the body. Since the coil and the magnet inside the MRI scanner are fixed in place, the machine does not play Bach, but vibrates and makes noise.
MRI manufacturers traditionally minimized the noise by muffling it with foam or rubber. “But that’s just covering it up,” Mock says.
Two years ago, a team of engineers at GE Healthcare in Waukesha decided to snuff out the noise at the source. They developed a combination of hardware and software called Silent Scan that brings MR scanner noise near background sound levels around 77 decibels. “It’s a completely new way to image,” Mock says. “It’s like going from techno beat to ambient music. They both make you feel good in the end, you just get there differently. Your speaker is still working but the membrane is not moving as much.”
The technology works by minimizing changes in the current during the imaging process. Smoother current means fewer vibrations and less noise. “How we change the magnetic field is really the breakthrough of the Silent Scan technology,” Mock explains. He says that the software is changing the current “a tiny amount for every bit of information that we need.” New, “extremely stable” hardware helps to reduce the vibrations even further and eliminate bad images and image artifacts. “You need both pieces to work correctly for the machine to be quieter and give good images,” Mock says.
Hospitals in the U.S. and in Europe are already working with Silent Scan. Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was the first hospital in the world to implement the technology. It also used the software as part of research collaboration with GE Healthcare. “The response from our patients has been very gratifying,” says Spectrum Health radiologist Dr. Mark DeLano. “The scans are essentially silent."
Patients told DeLano that "the Silent Scans don’t make any noise are greatly preferred compared to the hammering sound of conventional MRI scans. This reduces their anxiety about the procedure." He says that he is "particularly looking forward to providing this to our pediatric patients, claustrophobic patients, and our patients being scanned in the operating room where the noise of the traditional MRI can be disruptive.”
Silent Scan does not solve the root canal problem, but it can give patients going for an MRI scan more peace of mind.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
GE Started Testing Next-Gen Jet Engine with 3D Printed Parts
Engineers at GE’s Peebles Test Operation in Ohio have started testing one of the world’s most advanced jet engines designed for next-generation passenger aircraft.
The engine, called LEAP-1A, contains 3D printed fuel nozzles, fourth-generation carbon-fiber composite blades, and parts made from ceramic matrix composites. The ceramics can operate at temperatures as high as 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit where most alloys grow soft. They are also two-thirds lighter than the metal equivalent. “In the past five years, we have completed thousands of hours of component testing leading up to this day,” said Chaker Chahrour, executive vice president of CFM International, a joint venture between GE Aviation and France’s Snecma (Safran )that is developing the engine. “Everything we have seen tells us the LEAP engine is going to deliver all we promised, and much more. Now, we get to put it through its paces in the most comprehensive test program we have ever undertaken.”
The engine fired for the first time on Sept. 4, two days ahead of schedule. After a series of break-in runs, the engine was operating smoothly and had reached full take-off thrust.
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/JetPrinted1.jpg"]
The LEAP-1A on a test stand in Peebles. The engine fired for the first time on Sept. 4, two days ahead of schedule. After a series of break-in runs, the engine was operating smoothly and had reached full take-off thrust.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/JetPrinted4.jpg"]
The black “turbulence control structure” is a high-tech wind shelter for testing jet engines. Its purpose is to smooth out the flow of air into a jet engine that is being tested. This is helpful during simulations of engine distress, including variations in fuel flow and “deterioration” of the engine compressor and turbine. Engineers also use it to reduce variation in thrust and fuel consumption data.The dome is made from an array of 300 flat aluminum honeycombs and perforated stainless steel plate panels of varying sizes.
[/image]
[/slides]
The tests will evaluate various engine systems and operability. Chahrour says that when he and his team are done in 2016, they will have gone through 60 different engine builds for both ground and flight testing, and simulated more than 15 years or airline service. (A build is defined as the same basic engine that has been disassembled for inspection and then rebuilt to continue testing. It may or may not include new hardware.)
The team will be testing the engine at the Peebles site for the next several weeks. In early 2014, the second build of the engine will begin icing tests at GE’s testing site in Winnipeg, Canada, where winter temperatures dip regularly below zero degrees Fahrenheit.
CFM is developing three versions of the LEAP engine for three different single-aisle aircraft. The LEAP-1A engine will serve on Airbus A320neo planes. The LEAP-1B will power Boeing 737MAX jets, and the LEAP-1C will propel COMAC’s C919 aircraft.
CFM executives said that the LEAP, which is part of GE's ecomagination portfolio, would improve fuel consumption by 15 percent and deliver an equivalent reduction in CO2 emissions compared to today’s best CFM engine. It will also bring “dramatic reductions” in engine noise and emissions, the company said in a news release.
CFM has received orders for 5,446 LEAP engines valued over $70 billion. They include orders from carriers like AirAsia, Southwest, Virgin America, Lion Air, Pegasus, Qantas, WestJet and dozens of other airlines around the world.
The testing program for the LEAP-1A engine will culminate in engine certification in 2015. The first entry into commercial service on the Airbus A320neo is planned for 2016.
The engine, called LEAP-1A, contains 3D printed fuel nozzles, fourth-generation carbon-fiber composite blades, and parts made from ceramic matrix composites. The ceramics can operate at temperatures as high as 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit where most alloys grow soft. They are also two-thirds lighter than the metal equivalent. “In the past five years, we have completed thousands of hours of component testing leading up to this day,” said Chaker Chahrour, executive vice president of CFM International, a joint venture between GE Aviation and France’s Snecma (Safran )that is developing the engine. “Everything we have seen tells us the LEAP engine is going to deliver all we promised, and much more. Now, we get to put it through its paces in the most comprehensive test program we have ever undertaken.”
The engine fired for the first time on Sept. 4, two days ahead of schedule. After a series of break-in runs, the engine was operating smoothly and had reached full take-off thrust.
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/JetPrinted1.jpg"]
The LEAP-1A on a test stand in Peebles. The engine fired for the first time on Sept. 4, two days ahead of schedule. After a series of break-in runs, the engine was operating smoothly and had reached full take-off thrust.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/JetPrinted4.jpg"]
The black “turbulence control structure” is a high-tech wind shelter for testing jet engines. Its purpose is to smooth out the flow of air into a jet engine that is being tested. This is helpful during simulations of engine distress, including variations in fuel flow and “deterioration” of the engine compressor and turbine. Engineers also use it to reduce variation in thrust and fuel consumption data.The dome is made from an array of 300 flat aluminum honeycombs and perforated stainless steel plate panels of varying sizes.
[/image]
[/slides]
The tests will evaluate various engine systems and operability. Chahrour says that when he and his team are done in 2016, they will have gone through 60 different engine builds for both ground and flight testing, and simulated more than 15 years or airline service. (A build is defined as the same basic engine that has been disassembled for inspection and then rebuilt to continue testing. It may or may not include new hardware.)
The team will be testing the engine at the Peebles site for the next several weeks. In early 2014, the second build of the engine will begin icing tests at GE’s testing site in Winnipeg, Canada, where winter temperatures dip regularly below zero degrees Fahrenheit.
CFM is developing three versions of the LEAP engine for three different single-aisle aircraft. The LEAP-1A engine will serve on Airbus A320neo planes. The LEAP-1B will power Boeing 737MAX jets, and the LEAP-1C will propel COMAC’s C919 aircraft.
CFM executives said that the LEAP, which is part of GE's ecomagination portfolio, would improve fuel consumption by 15 percent and deliver an equivalent reduction in CO2 emissions compared to today’s best CFM engine. It will also bring “dramatic reductions” in engine noise and emissions, the company said in a news release.
CFM has received orders for 5,446 LEAP engines valued over $70 billion. They include orders from carriers like AirAsia, Southwest, Virgin America, Lion Air, Pegasus, Qantas, WestJet and dozens of other airlines around the world.
The testing program for the LEAP-1A engine will culminate in engine certification in 2015. The first entry into commercial service on the Airbus A320neo is planned for 2016.
Friday, September 6, 2013
Falling For You: GE Launched World’s Longest Apple Drop on Vine to Celebrate #GravityDay
GE and hundreds of tech and science fans came together over the weekend to celebrate #GravityDay on Sunday, Sept. 8 (9.8 m/s2 roughly equals gravitational acceleration). GE's pitch was the Apple Drop, a nod to Sir Isaac Newton and an attempt to create the longest user-generated Vine chain ever experienced on the social media platform. The Vine activation lasted from Friday Sept. 6 through the end of Gravity Day.
Users dropped apples from the top of the screen, caught them, and then dropped them again through the bottom of the screen. The results appear as if a single apple is falling through all participating vines as you scroll through the app.
Here’s the inaugural Apple Drop entry.
Users dropped apples from the top of the screen, caught them, and then dropped them again through the bottom of the screen. The results appear as if a single apple is falling through all participating vines as you scroll through the app.
Here’s the inaugural Apple Drop entry.
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Connected: GE Software Gives New York City’s Largest Power Plant New Brain
A GE software and hardware upgrade has increased electricity output by 5 percent at TransCanada’s Ravenswood power plant in New York City, enough to power 10,000 New York households. Read the story behind the The Future is Now TV ad.
When Woody Allen declares his love for New York City on a bench under the Queensboro Bridge in the movie Manhattan, another New York mainstay makes a quiet cameo. Looming in the morning dusk just across the East River is the Ravenswood Generating Station, New York’s largest power plant with enough capacity to energize a fifth of the Big Apple.
New Yorkers have been using power generated by Ravenswood’s machinery, which includes a massive GE gas turbine, to meet peak demand during sweltering summer weather for decades. But last year the plant’s owner, TransCanada Corp., decided that it was time to add brains to Ravenswood’s brawn. “We wanted to bring cleaner, more efficient power generation to the marketplace,” says John McWilliams, vice president of energy operations at TransCanada.
Rather than spending hundreds of millions on new equipment, TransCanada used GE’s latest software, control system and combustion hardware to upgrade the existing turbine. Workers connected sensors to software and replaced key turbine parts with new components made from advanced materials developed for GE jet engines. “We were basically able to plug-and-play the latest and greatest technology into our existing unit,” says McWilliams. “GE has helped us find ways to be quite competitive with our infrastructure for much, much less.”
McWilliams says that in the past, control systems regulated power plants by looking at a few discrete data points such as firing temperatures, discharge pressures, the ambient temperature and humidity. “It’s not the best, it’s not the worst, you are in an acceptable range of operations,” McWilliams says. But the new technology, which GE calls “FlexEfficiency Advantage Advanced Gas Path,” is constantly gathering and analyzing data critical to performance of the turbine. A multitude of sensors is checking gas flows, temperatures, pressures, humidity and other variables, and feeds it back into the control system. The system is using the data to fine-tune the turbine to make sure that it is always running at its optimal level. “It’s real time and it’s interactive,” says McWilliams. “As things are changing, the control system is responding and always optimizing the unit.”
McWilliams says that the upgrade gives TransCanada “the flexibility to actually make some decisions on what we want to optimize. We can optimize for fuel efficiency, we can optimize for output, we can optimize for reduction of environmental emissions, or we can balance and see improvements of all three.”
The GE software installed at Ravenswood reaches beyond a single plant. It connects to the industrial Internet, a digital network that links people, data and machines, and taps pools of data generated by the entire GE turbine fleet running the same software. “We have access to the global view of power generation,” says McWilliams. “It allows us to improve or at least benchmark our performance. For example, if a power station in Pittsburgh is having an issue, we are able to quickly assess and analyze whether we are facing the same risks and then make some decisions to eliminate the problem before it occurs.”
McWilliams is quick to point out that the information provides a global perspective that is not specific to any turbine. “I can’t look across the East River at another New York plant and see how they are operating,” he says. “It’s not specific to that plant, it’s specific to that technology. We have service agreements in place, so much of the information is already at GE’s fingertips because they are directly connected to the units and receive the data continuously.”
On the hardware side, GE has supplied Ravenswood with new turbine blades, shrouds, and nozzles using advanced materials like single-crystal alloys and coatings originally developed for jet engines. They allow TransCanada engineers to fire the turbine at hotter temperatures, which make combustion more fuel efficient and power generation more productive.
As a result of the upgrade, Ravenswood is using less fuel to produce the same amount of power, making electricity cheaper and, relatively speaking, cleaner. TransCanada says that the upgrade has increased output by 5 percent. That's enough electricity to power 10,000 New York households. Says Adam Addesso, manager of engineering projects at Ravenswood: “These upgrades displace more expensive megawatts on the system. It’s a win for everybody, and those are rare.”
Enter The Dragon: GE, Dragon Innovation Launch New Hardware Crowdfunding Platform
It almost always takes a village to bring a new product from the garage to market. From concept to capital and manufacturing to distribution, it takes many hands to turn, say, the Apple I into the Macintosh.
Over the last four years, the Boston-based Dragon Innovation has been helping hardware entrepreneurs to weather the development cycle, vet designs and crowdsource funding by allowing individuals to financially back projects they like. Today, Dragon added more power to its repertoire and teamed up with GE, Arrow Electronics and Freescale to create a new platform designed to help innovators cut time to market and boost competitiveness.
GE, for example, will give entrepreneurs access to senior staff inside GE, including R&D collaboration with GE Global Research labs. The company will also help with technology transfer, licensing opportunities and marketing. “The advanced manufacturing revolution depends on everyday inventors and maker communities who are bringing new ideas forward at a record place,” said Beth Comstock, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at GE.
Dragon Innovation already provides entrepreneurs with the tools for planning, funding, making and selling hardware products. Dragon’s team of experts helps them estimate costs and timelines, and set goals and ship dates. “Hardware entrepreneurs run the risk of running out of money, even with a perceived successful crowdfunding campaign, if they haven’t properly penciled out the costs behind delivering their project,” said Scott Miller, Dragon cofounder and CEO.
Miller says Dragon’s experience combined with GE’s resources could make the new platform a major player in the new world of crowdfunding products. “In the old days, firms would spend millions of dollars over the course of multiple years in stealth mode, then have a big product launch backed by a significant market spend to drive demand,” Miller told TechCrunch. “In some cases, this went well, and the product sold. In others, it did not.”
The new platform could help entrepreneurs cuts costs and improve the odds of a successful launch.
Over the last four years, the Boston-based Dragon Innovation has been helping hardware entrepreneurs to weather the development cycle, vet designs and crowdsource funding by allowing individuals to financially back projects they like. Today, Dragon added more power to its repertoire and teamed up with GE, Arrow Electronics and Freescale to create a new platform designed to help innovators cut time to market and boost competitiveness.
“Dragon helped us take our crowdfunding success and translate it into to shipping more than 100,000 Pebbles in just over a year," says Eric Migicovsky, founder and CEO of Pebble Technology.
GE, for example, will give entrepreneurs access to senior staff inside GE, including R&D collaboration with GE Global Research labs. The company will also help with technology transfer, licensing opportunities and marketing. “The advanced manufacturing revolution depends on everyday inventors and maker communities who are bringing new ideas forward at a record place,” said Beth Comstock, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at GE.
Dragon Innovation already provides entrepreneurs with the tools for planning, funding, making and selling hardware products. Dragon’s team of experts helps them estimate costs and timelines, and set goals and ship dates. “Hardware entrepreneurs run the risk of running out of money, even with a perceived successful crowdfunding campaign, if they haven’t properly penciled out the costs behind delivering their project,” said Scott Miller, Dragon cofounder and CEO.
Miller says Dragon’s experience combined with GE’s resources could make the new platform a major player in the new world of crowdfunding products. “In the old days, firms would spend millions of dollars over the course of multiple years in stealth mode, then have a big product launch backed by a significant market spend to drive demand,” Miller told TechCrunch. “In some cases, this went well, and the product sold. In others, it did not.”
The new platform could help entrepreneurs cuts costs and improve the odds of a successful launch.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Brain Trust: GE, NFL and Under Armour Challenge Innovators to Improve Concussion Prevention and Treatment
Concussions are a major concern in sports, but they can happen anywhere. At least 1.7 million traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) occur in the United States annually. These head traumas contribute to a third of all injury-related deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The National Football League, apparel and footwear maker Under Armour, and GE are paying attention. Today they launched the second stage of an innovation project designed to crowdsource new materials and tools to protect the brain and track head injuries in real time. The best submissions in this stage will share up to $10 million in prize money.
The project called Head Health Challenge is a four-year, $60 million collaboration aiming to speed diagnosis and improve treatment for mild traumatic brain injuries, and increase the safety of athletes, members of the military and the public.
The challenge calls on innovators to develop active polymers and other smart materials that absorb or distribute impact forces. It is also looking for new systems that anticipate head blows and initiate protective responses by adaptive padding.
The organizers are also seeking technology that could monitor forces and share the information with imaging and diagnostic equipment, and “biofeedback” sensors that can help train athletes to minimize injury. Finally, the challenge is looking for data specialists who can develop systems that efficiently collect, organize and interpret large quantities of real-time “head” data. “GE is investing to speed up the study of head health,” says Sue Siegel, CEO of Business Innovations at GE. “Through this challenge, we hope to stimulate the broader ecosystem of scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and innovators worldwide to bring their talents to this effort and accelerate the current understanding of brain trauma.”
Competitors can submit their ideas from now through Jan. 30, 2014, at www.headhealthchallenge.com. Up to 10 participants will be selected as finalists in September 2014, and earn as much as $500,000 each. Up to five of those finalists will be awarded as much as $1 million after a second phase of judging.
The first Head Health challenge ended in July with more than 400 submissions from 25 countries. Winners of the first stage will be announced later this year.
The National Football League, apparel and footwear maker Under Armour, and GE are paying attention. Today they launched the second stage of an innovation project designed to crowdsource new materials and tools to protect the brain and track head injuries in real time. The best submissions in this stage will share up to $10 million in prize money.
The project called Head Health Challenge is a four-year, $60 million collaboration aiming to speed diagnosis and improve treatment for mild traumatic brain injuries, and increase the safety of athletes, members of the military and the public.
The best submissions to the second stage of the Health Head Challenge will share up to $10 million in prize money.
The challenge calls on innovators to develop active polymers and other smart materials that absorb or distribute impact forces. It is also looking for new systems that anticipate head blows and initiate protective responses by adaptive padding.
The organizers are also seeking technology that could monitor forces and share the information with imaging and diagnostic equipment, and “biofeedback” sensors that can help train athletes to minimize injury. Finally, the challenge is looking for data specialists who can develop systems that efficiently collect, organize and interpret large quantities of real-time “head” data. “GE is investing to speed up the study of head health,” says Sue Siegel, CEO of Business Innovations at GE. “Through this challenge, we hope to stimulate the broader ecosystem of scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and innovators worldwide to bring their talents to this effort and accelerate the current understanding of brain trauma.”
Competitors can submit their ideas from now through Jan. 30, 2014, at www.headhealthchallenge.com. Up to 10 participants will be selected as finalists in September 2014, and earn as much as $500,000 each. Up to five of those finalists will be awarded as much as $1 million after a second phase of judging.
The first Head Health challenge ended in July with more than 400 submissions from 25 countries. Winners of the first stage will be announced later this year.
The Right Stuff: GE Tech Has Been at the Launch Pad since the Dawn of Space Flight
Humans have been sending objects and each other to space for close to 50 years. GE technology has been near the launch pad since the beginning. On March 17, 1958, for example, a GE-powered Vanguard rocket blasted the Vanguard 1 satellite to space. That probe is today the oldest man-made object in space. (The first two Russian Sputniks and the U.S. Explorer 1 that preceded it fell back to earth decades ago.)
In 1960, GE's Discovery XIII satellite became the first man-made object to be recovered from orbit around Earth. After completing 17 trips around the earth in 27 hours, Discovery brought back the first color photos of our planet from an altitude of 700 miles.
This list could go on. GE engineers keep working with NASA to crack tough problems and solve scientific riddles. When the Space Shuttle Columbia broke up on descent from orbit in 2003, GE scientists together with NASA and industry partners developed repair kits for astronauts to fix up damage to the shuttle fleet in space and prevent similar disasters in the future. The team designed the kits from special ceramic composite materials whose offspring now serve inside next-generation jet engines like the LEAP and GE9X.
Another riddle involved eyesight. NASA documented at least seven cases where astronauts with healthy eyes returned to Earth with altered vision. Engineers at GE Global Research developed a special ultrasound probe to track changes in their vision during exposure to microgravity. It has been since used on the International Space Station. Scientists hope that back on earth the research could advance the understanding of the underlying causes of traumatic brain injuries and lead to better monitoring of changes in brain pressure in people who sustain blows to the head.
Today, anybody can experience multiples of early GE space power. The GE rocket engine that took Vanguard 1 to space produced 30,000 pounds of thrust. GE’s largest jet engine, the GE90-115, can generate up to 127,900 pounds. They power many Boeing 777 aircraft.
Take a look at our slideshow.
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/InSpace4.jpg"]
In 1969, GE built an underwater habitat off the Caribbean island of St. John. Called Tektite I, part of the habitat’s purpose was for NASA to conduct research on how crews would behave during long-duration space missions. It was built from two steel cylinders that were connected via a passageway. The program lasted two months, and aquanauts spent a total of 432 man-hours in the habitat. Image courtesy OAR/National Undersea Research Program.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/InSpace5.jpg"]
To help engineers figure out how to get space vehicles off the Earth and to far away destinations, GE created this circular slide rule called the Space Propulsion Calculator. On the front are solutions for rocketry beam power, thrust, propellant consumption, specific impulse and exhaust velocity. The calculator also let users compute numbers for chemical, nuclear and photon rockets as well as magnetohydrodynamic and ion drives. The back offers calculations for planetary data like revolutions, gravity and astronomical constants. Production date unknown. Image courtesy International Slide Rule Museum.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Lunar-Landing.gif"]
GE engineers ground-tested Apollo 11’s command and lunar modules. NASA attached a GE jet engine to the Lunar Lander Test Vehicle to simulate the moon’s weaker gravity.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/BreakingFree1.jpg"]
The Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft launched in 1977. They are currently exploring the edge of the solar system. GE engineers designed the Voyagers’ command computers directing the flight path and providing communication links with NASA Mission Control. They also developed the probes’ electricity generator for the spacecraft’s instruments, computers, radio and other systems. The Voyagers have sent back detailed images of the solar system planets and their moons, confirmed the existence of Neptune’s rings, and gathered data about stars near the edges of the Milky Way.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/BreakingFree1A.jpg"]
The Voyagers’s next mission is to explore the boundary of the Solar System. NASA now estimates that the probes will survive until 2025. The Voyagers also carry cargo designed to communicate a message from Earth to extraterrestrials. Each probe holds a special phonograph record, a 12-inch encoded gold-plated copper disc containing music, sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth, from Bach and Chuck Berry to birds, heartbeat, and laughter.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/BreakingFree2.jpg"]
GE engineers led the design, integration and testing of the 14-foot, 4,400-pound Landsat 4 and Landsat 5 satellites that photographed Earth from 1982 until 2012. GE also managed the flight and ground missions of the spacecraft, and GE’s digital image analysis lab in Lanham, Maryland, processed their images to reveal details as small as 30 meters long, such as highways and bridges. In March 2012, Landsat 5 entered the Guinness World Records book as the “longest-operating Earth observation satellite.” The spacecraft was designed for a three-year mission but served for nearly 30 years.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Dubai.gif"]
GE engineers led the design, integration and testing of the 14-foot, 4,400-pound Landsat 4 and Landsat 5 satellites that photographed Earth from 1982 until 2012. This time-lapse compiled from Landsat photographs shows the rate of Dubai’s growth at one frame per year from 2000 through 2011. Source: NASA
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/BreakingFree3.jpg"]
The Hexagon and Gambit were among the largest spy satellites ever built. They were the size of a tractor trailer, 10 feet in diameter and 55 feet in length. GE engineers designed and built recovery vehicles, command systems, mission planning software and other systems critical for the mission.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/BreakingFree4.jpg"]
The top secret spy satellite programs ran from 1963 to 1986. In 1984, President Reagan commended the engineers and others who worked on the satellites. But the presidential honor remained secret until 2011, when the program was declassified.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/BreakingFree5.jpg"]
The technology to beam images from space wirelessly was then still in its infancy. This formerly top secret photograph shows workers "de-spooling" film from recovery vehicles.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/BreakingFree7.jpg"]
GE engineers, in collaboration with NASA and industry partners, helped design and fabricate unique patches to plug up in space debris damage on the shuttle’s wings and belly that caused the Columbia disater. The patches were made from a special ceramic composite material that could survive wild temperature swings, from minus 250 degrees Fahrenheit in orbit to a 3,000-degree inferno caused by the drag of Earth’s atmosphere during the shuttle’s 17,000 miles-per-hour descent.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/InSpace1.jpg"]
GE built the X-405 liquid-fueled rocket engine for the first stage of the Vanguard rocket, which successfully placed America’s second satellite into orbit in 1958. Image courtesy National Air and Space Museum.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/InSpace2.jpg"]
President Dwight Eisenhower stands with the recovered Discovery satellite. In 1960, GE's Discovery XIII became the first man-made object to be recovered from orbit around Earth. Completing 17 trips around the earth in 27 hours, Discovery also brought back the first color photos of our home planet from altitudes of up to 700 miles.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/InSpace3.jpg"]
Buzz Aldrin poses on the moon. His visor reflects Armstrong and the lunar lander. More than 6,000 GE employees worked to help put Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin on the moon in 1969. In fact, Armstrong’s first step on the moon occurred with boots made from GE silicone rubber. The company also supplied the Apollo program’s overall quality control, systems engineering support, launch vehicle test facilities and the ship-to-satellite system that provided the first live color TV pictures of splash-down and recovery. Courtesy NASA.
[/image]
[/slides]
In 1960, GE's Discovery XIII satellite became the first man-made object to be recovered from orbit around Earth. After completing 17 trips around the earth in 27 hours, Discovery brought back the first color photos of our planet from an altitude of 700 miles.
This list could go on. GE engineers keep working with NASA to crack tough problems and solve scientific riddles. When the Space Shuttle Columbia broke up on descent from orbit in 2003, GE scientists together with NASA and industry partners developed repair kits for astronauts to fix up damage to the shuttle fleet in space and prevent similar disasters in the future. The team designed the kits from special ceramic composite materials whose offspring now serve inside next-generation jet engines like the LEAP and GE9X.
Another riddle involved eyesight. NASA documented at least seven cases where astronauts with healthy eyes returned to Earth with altered vision. Engineers at GE Global Research developed a special ultrasound probe to track changes in their vision during exposure to microgravity. It has been since used on the International Space Station. Scientists hope that back on earth the research could advance the understanding of the underlying causes of traumatic brain injuries and lead to better monitoring of changes in brain pressure in people who sustain blows to the head.
Today, anybody can experience multiples of early GE space power. The GE rocket engine that took Vanguard 1 to space produced 30,000 pounds of thrust. GE’s largest jet engine, the GE90-115, can generate up to 127,900 pounds. They power many Boeing 777 aircraft.
Take a look at our slideshow.
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/InSpace4.jpg"]
In 1969, GE built an underwater habitat off the Caribbean island of St. John. Called Tektite I, part of the habitat’s purpose was for NASA to conduct research on how crews would behave during long-duration space missions. It was built from two steel cylinders that were connected via a passageway. The program lasted two months, and aquanauts spent a total of 432 man-hours in the habitat. Image courtesy OAR/National Undersea Research Program.
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To help engineers figure out how to get space vehicles off the Earth and to far away destinations, GE created this circular slide rule called the Space Propulsion Calculator. On the front are solutions for rocketry beam power, thrust, propellant consumption, specific impulse and exhaust velocity. The calculator also let users compute numbers for chemical, nuclear and photon rockets as well as magnetohydrodynamic and ion drives. The back offers calculations for planetary data like revolutions, gravity and astronomical constants. Production date unknown. Image courtesy International Slide Rule Museum.
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GE engineers ground-tested Apollo 11’s command and lunar modules. NASA attached a GE jet engine to the Lunar Lander Test Vehicle to simulate the moon’s weaker gravity.
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The Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft launched in 1977. They are currently exploring the edge of the solar system. GE engineers designed the Voyagers’ command computers directing the flight path and providing communication links with NASA Mission Control. They also developed the probes’ electricity generator for the spacecraft’s instruments, computers, radio and other systems. The Voyagers have sent back detailed images of the solar system planets and their moons, confirmed the existence of Neptune’s rings, and gathered data about stars near the edges of the Milky Way.
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The Voyagers’s next mission is to explore the boundary of the Solar System. NASA now estimates that the probes will survive until 2025. The Voyagers also carry cargo designed to communicate a message from Earth to extraterrestrials. Each probe holds a special phonograph record, a 12-inch encoded gold-plated copper disc containing music, sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth, from Bach and Chuck Berry to birds, heartbeat, and laughter.
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GE engineers led the design, integration and testing of the 14-foot, 4,400-pound Landsat 4 and Landsat 5 satellites that photographed Earth from 1982 until 2012. GE also managed the flight and ground missions of the spacecraft, and GE’s digital image analysis lab in Lanham, Maryland, processed their images to reveal details as small as 30 meters long, such as highways and bridges. In March 2012, Landsat 5 entered the Guinness World Records book as the “longest-operating Earth observation satellite.” The spacecraft was designed for a three-year mission but served for nearly 30 years.
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GE engineers led the design, integration and testing of the 14-foot, 4,400-pound Landsat 4 and Landsat 5 satellites that photographed Earth from 1982 until 2012. This time-lapse compiled from Landsat photographs shows the rate of Dubai’s growth at one frame per year from 2000 through 2011. Source: NASA
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The Hexagon and Gambit were among the largest spy satellites ever built. They were the size of a tractor trailer, 10 feet in diameter and 55 feet in length. GE engineers designed and built recovery vehicles, command systems, mission planning software and other systems critical for the mission.
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The top secret spy satellite programs ran from 1963 to 1986. In 1984, President Reagan commended the engineers and others who worked on the satellites. But the presidential honor remained secret until 2011, when the program was declassified.
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The technology to beam images from space wirelessly was then still in its infancy. This formerly top secret photograph shows workers "de-spooling" film from recovery vehicles.
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GE engineers, in collaboration with NASA and industry partners, helped design and fabricate unique patches to plug up in space debris damage on the shuttle’s wings and belly that caused the Columbia disater. The patches were made from a special ceramic composite material that could survive wild temperature swings, from minus 250 degrees Fahrenheit in orbit to a 3,000-degree inferno caused by the drag of Earth’s atmosphere during the shuttle’s 17,000 miles-per-hour descent.
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GE built the X-405 liquid-fueled rocket engine for the first stage of the Vanguard rocket, which successfully placed America’s second satellite into orbit in 1958. Image courtesy National Air and Space Museum.
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President Dwight Eisenhower stands with the recovered Discovery satellite. In 1960, GE's Discovery XIII became the first man-made object to be recovered from orbit around Earth. Completing 17 trips around the earth in 27 hours, Discovery also brought back the first color photos of our home planet from altitudes of up to 700 miles.
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Buzz Aldrin poses on the moon. His visor reflects Armstrong and the lunar lander. More than 6,000 GE employees worked to help put Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin on the moon in 1969. In fact, Armstrong’s first step on the moon occurred with boots made from GE silicone rubber. The company also supplied the Apollo program’s overall quality control, systems engineering support, launch vehicle test facilities and the ship-to-satellite system that provided the first live color TV pictures of splash-down and recovery. Courtesy NASA.
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