I’m starting to worry that I’m turning into an ostrich.

I’m territorial and ill-tempered. I’m fighting a strange desire to eat shiny objects. And when I get scared, I find myself hiding my face as though not seeing whatever is scaring me will make it go away. And this may or may not be related: I’m developing a strong aversion to light bulbs.

Image courtesy http://www.ostrichheadinsand.com/

A company called Nth Degree Tech may be able to help me out with that last problem. They’re seeking to replace light bulbs with their first commercial product, a two foot by four foot LED light sheet that’s flat and looks like a glowing piece of paper, which they plan to ship to customers for evaluation by the end of the year (Bullis). This is an exciting development, since it would allow lighting designers to get freaky with curved or unusually shaped light-emitting surfaces – at a price point comparable to the current cost of fluorescent light bulbs and fixtures.

Image courtesy Nth Degree Tech

To make their snazzy new lighting material, Nth Degree workers carve up “a wafer of gallium nitride to produce millions of tiny LEDs—one four-inch wafer yields about eight million of them. The LEDs are then mixed with resin and binders, and a standard screen printer is used to deposit the resulting ‘ink’ over a large surface” (Bullis).  They toss down a layer of silver ink for the back electrical contact, add a layer of phosphors that alter the color of the light emitted by the LEDs from blue to various shades of white, and then they slap on an insulating layer that prevents those pesky short circuits that can burn out the LEDs.

The front electrical contact is made with an ink containing invisibly small metal wires, which makes it transparent and allows light through the layer.  The transparent electrical contact ALONE could be the subject of an entire article, since it’s unspeakably awesome. Its awesomeness derives from the fact that it may eventually replace the brittle and often testy indium tin oxide (ITO) sheets that have been used in touch screens and electroluminescent assemblies in the past. ITO can be expensive, it can’t be printed and it’s not at all flexible – it deserves to be made redundant.

Image courtesy Nth Degree Tech

While printing with inks that are comprised of “tiny working LEDs produces much brighter light than depositing powders or thin films of electroluminescent material,” Nth Degree’s light sheets don’t match the best LEDs available today, which emit over 200 Lumens per watt.  The sheets are better than incandescent lights in terms of efficiency, emitting 20 lumens per watt, but they’re not as good as fluorescent lights just yet, which emit 80 lumens per watt (Bullis).

The new design won’t require heat sinks the way current conventional LEDs do because the lights are distributed evenly and in a thin layer, meaning that they do not get hot.  The downside is that the tiny LEDs need a pretty robust power source and as a result, Nth Degree’s first light fixture will be two inches thick despite the fact that the light-emitting surface is thin and flexible (Bullis).  I’m not letting that ruffle my feathers, however, since I’m betting that the whole assembly will get thinner over time.

WU XING:

Filed under FIRE because it lights up!

Cited:

Bullis, Kevin. “Lighting Sheets Made of Tiny LEDs” Technology Review Online. 10/28/11. Accessed 02/24/12. URL.

Last week I found myself in Zürich, Switzerland, which in itself is somewhat unusual for a person who typically lives and works in the great state of Texas.  To add to that, while installed in said location I experienced one of those intensive periods of excitement and discovery that only happen when you toss yourself and an over-stuffed rolling suitcase headlong into a foreign country and participate in a workshop in order to learn how to screen print electroluminescent lamps (and also to learn that, although they are healthier, multigrain croissants are simply not as delicious as the regular kind).

I should preface this by explaining, as I did many times to curious collaborators over the course of a week skipping up and down five flights of art school stairs coated in phosphor ink, exactly how I came to be in Switzerland in the first place.  The travel process was pretty standard, actually: I took a car to the airport, and then flew to another airport, and then another one, and then rode an extremely quiet and efficient train into Zürich, which turned out to be an extremely quiet and efficient city.

But in all seriousness, I’d like to extend sincere thanks to Manuel Kretzer, CAAD – Chair of Computer Aided Architectural Design, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Karmen Franinovic, Interaction Design, DDE, Zurich University of the Arts, Daniel Bisig, Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology, DMU, Zurich University of the Arts, and Rachel Wingfield and Mathias Gmachl of Loop.pH, along with my amazing fellow workshop collaborators, all of whom I consider excellent, encouraging, and genius-tastic new friends, for the opportunity to participate in the Actuated Matter Workshop because … the experience was completely epic.

So epic, in fact, that I am in the process of producing a series of posts that focus on each of the materials/technologies that we investigated (I will turn the list into a series of links once everything is written because only today am I over my debilitating jet lag/have finished doing all my laundry):

Glass-fiber Reinforced Plastic

Electroluminescent (EL) Lamps

Electro-active Polymer (EAP)

Printed Loudspeakers

Thermochromic Ink

Although I have written about some of these items in the past, I must confess to you all that a hands-on approach where you try to make these materials do something specific has given me a new insight – and I almost feel like each has a distinct personality (and some may even have distinct personality disorders).

Another thing I noticed was that there is a peculiar rush associated with actuating matter – when Manuel casually electrocuted our EL lamps into functionality, I felt like Dr. Frankenstein watching the monster open his eyes for the first time and it flooded me with a curious mixture of fascination and relief (not to mention a bit of suprise that the modules actually worked after the number of failed trial attempts).

EL Modules from ARCHITERIALS on Vimeo.

And, lucky for us, the EL lamps did not turn around and run out the door to kill innocent villagers like Frankenstein’s monster.  Well, at least, not as far as I know….

Say what you will about the 1990’s, the decade produced some severely under-appreciated and entirely too short-lived cultural moments: I mean, Hammer pants? Titanic? Come on – you know you loved it!  Another phenomenon of the 1990’s that in some ways is slightly less exciting than the OJ Simpson trial, but which has stayed with us to this day is: green-tinted glass.

Image courtesy metaefficient.com

No one knows exactly how it started, but I imagine that sometime in the 1990’s, an architect somewhere in the world specified green-tinted glass for the fenestration on a prominent building. This building was probably published in a print magazine that a lot of other architects read, and somehow, without even knowing what was happening, they all suddenly wanted to use green glass on their projects too.  I completely understand: the exact same thing happened to me when I was reading Elle and saw that Heidi Klum decided to cut bangs (and yes, mine are still growing out).

Image courtesy instyle.com

What if there was a way to have your green glass cake when it felt trendy, and then not have the same cake twenty years later when it was moldy and dated, and kind of sad looking?  I think perhaps there is!

I recently learned that a University of Connecticut scientist has developed a method that allows films and displays to change color.  The obvious application for this technology is sunglasses, and everyone from Hollywood stars to the U.S. military are interested in lenses that respond to changes in the environment to make it easier to see (or be seen).

Typical transition lenses use photochromic films, which are sheets of polymers that change color when light hits them. The new color-changing technology uses electrochromic lenses; these are controlled by an electric current passing through them that adjusts when triggered by a stimulus such as light (Physorg.com). The arrangement is similar to a double-pane window with a gel sandwiched between the glass.

Image courtesy physorg.com

That’s what got me thinking that this material, which can change color as quickly as electricity can travel through it (ie instantaneously) could be great for buildings.  The polymer used by the scientists creates less waste and is less expensive to produce than previous mixtures, which is good because for an architectural application, you’d need a lot of it!

WU XING:

I have filed this under fire because electricity creates the color change, and under wood, because it’s a polymer.

Cited:

“A Better Way to Photo Gray: New Technology Allows Lenses to Change Color Rapidly.” Physorg.com 07/12/11. Accessed 07/15/11. URL.

I resent the noise of the printer, printer jams, shaking the toner cartridge, the harsh chemicals involved, and the amount of electricity it takes to print on a sheet of paper. I resent those things with the heat of a thousand suns.

But … just when I believed that I had calcified in my negative stance on all forms of printing, I learned that MIT engineers recently revealed a process they’ve developed to produce printed solar cells.  Their flexible cells can be printed on paper or fabric and folded over 1,000 times without losing efficiency, and they’re not energy-intensive to produce!  I was cautiously optimistic: maybe, I thought, printing doesn’t have to be completely evil?

Photos: Patrick Gillooly/MIT

The creation of typical solar cells involves exposing substrates to intense chemicals and high temperatures, which necessitates a whole lotta energy consumption.  MIT’s new fancy solar cells “are formed by placing five layers of material onto  a single sheet of  paper in successive passes. A mask is utilized to form the cell patterns, and  the entire printing process is done in a vacuum chamber” (Singh).  Fabric and paper substrates weigh less than the glass and other heavy backing materials that are typically used, and researchers think that they’re well on the way to developing scalable cells for use in photovoltaic arrays.

So here’s what I’ll say: the day my office printer can power itself by printing out solar cells is the day I will let go of these negative emotions and learn to forgive.

Click  here to see the technology in action (via Inhabitat).

WU XING:

I have filed MIT’s solar cells under water (because of the gentle process) and wood (because they’re flexible and can be printed on paper). And also, privately, under awesome.

Cited:

Singh, Timon. “MIT Unveils Flexible Solar Cells Printed on Paper.” Inhabitat.com 07/11/11. Accessed 07/12/11. URL.

Image credit wikimedia commons

Leaves are little factories that power the growth of trees and other plants.  But what if we could use leaves to power our homes and devices? Scientist Dr. David Nocera (MIT) has developed a low-cost artificial leaf that mimics the process of photosynthesis.  He presented the miniature solar cell at the recent 241st National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, stating that the goal of his research is to “make individual homes capable of becoming their own self-sufficient power stations” (Zimmer).  The leaves would decentralize power generation and reduce the need for expensive infrastructure.

Artificial leaves would allow remote, isolated settlements to connect to the rest of the wired world.  In addition, in areas where electric infrastructure already exists, the leaves could function as furnaces, reducing the demand for high-cost oil to heat homes in the winter.  To this end, the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E transformational energy program has partially funded the the research and development of the “leaf” (Zimmer).  Not only that, the artificial solar leaves introduce no additional pollen into the air.

Image credit wikimedia commons

WU XING:

I filed this Solar Leaf under FIRE because it produces useful energy from light.

Cited:

Zimmer, Laurie. “MIT Scientists Create Artificial Solar Leaf that can Power Homes.” Inhabitat.com 03/28/11. Accessed 04/03/11. URL.

After eight long years of research and development and the expenditure of almost 400 million dollars, Bloom Energy has begun the intensive process of hyping their (relatively) low-cost fuel cell technology: Bloom boxes.  The boxes have been installed at Google, eBay, Wal-Mart and other companies looking for some greenie points, and Bloom Energy hopes they’ll be able to generate (ha!) enough of a frenzy to position their boxes as a viable alternative to connecting to the electrical grid. 

Fuel cells generate electricity by a chemical reaction, and the electrical current can then be directed outside the cell to do work (run a motor, create an invisible fence, etc).  To understand more about the basics of fuel cells check out this comprehensive site that the Smithsonian put together.  Fuel cells are great because they’re efficient and they decentralize power generation – but the problem to date has been that they are really really really ridiculously expensive.

The idea behind Bloom boxes is that if, in the near future, you desire a mini power plant for personal or business use, you’ll be able to afford to install one or two “in your back yard … next to the dumpster at your corporate campus, or at your local electric-car charging station” (Keegan).  Units run on natural gas and/or bio-fuel to generate electricity.  Each box is about the size of a water heater, but the core of the assembly is a 6″ x 6″ cube containing some number of thin ceramic wafers separated from each other by a cheap metal alloy. 

 Image courtesy OnlyGizmos.com

The thin ceramic wafers are coated with a special black ink on one side and green ink on the other.  As natural gas and oxygen are simultaneously pumped to either side of the wafers, the gas fuel is electrochemically oxidized.  This reaction causes water and electrons to be released through the anode. The electrons follow an external circuit to be used as energy (Ricker).  According to the company, Bloom boxes don’t vibrate, emit sound, or produce odor. 

K. R. Sridhar, CEO of Bloom Energy and an India-born PhD, came up with the idea for the Bloom Box after “developing a device for NASA that would be able to create oxygen on Mars.  After NASA ditched their Mars mission, Sridhar had the idea to reverse the oxygen-creating Mars box and use oxygen as the input instead. Voila the Bloom Box” (Fehrenbacher).  You can watch a “60 minutes” interview with Sridhar here:

WU XING:

Bloom boxes rely on ceramics, produce water as a waste product, and generate electricity.  That’s why I placed ’em in earth, water, and fire respectively.

Cited:

Fehrenbacher, Katie. “10 Things to know about Bloom Energy.” Earth2Tech 02/21/10.  Accessed 02/22/10.  URL.

Keegan, Paul. “Is K.R. Sidhar’s Magic Box Ready for Prime Time?” Fortune 02/09/10.  Accessed 02/22/10.  URL.

Ricker, Thomas. “A Power Plant for the Home.” Engadget.  02/22/10.  Accessed 02/23/10.  URL.