Engineering news
Ventilator plans pick up speed
The Guardian
Further details of the UK government’s plan to source 30,000 ventilators for coronavirus patients have been revealed this week, with well-known engineering and manufacturing firms offering their services. Dyson will supply 10,000 devices following a new design. Babcock will also build ventilators to a new design, while a consortium including Rolls-Royce, Airbus and Ford will boost production of models made by Smiths and Penlon.
6 more ways to help fight coronavirus
Professional Engineering
Other than building ventilators, how else can engineers help fight coronavirus? We asked our readers, who gave their expert suggestions. Ideas included improving health worker PPE, spreading Stem knowledge and advising the government.
’Pandemic drone’ could monitor crowds
New Atlas
Researchers at the University of South Australia and Canadian firm Draganfly Inc have another potential tool to combat spread of the virus – the ‘pandemic drone’. The unmanned craft is reportedly fitted with sensors to monitor temperature, sneezing and coughing, and heart and respiratory rate.
Bombardier suspends production
Aerospace Manufacturing
The spread of coronavirus continued to hit manufacturers this week. Bombardier announced the suspension of production at its Belfast wing factory until 20 April to help maintain as many people as possible in full-time employment.
Ford builds respirators in US
New Atlas
With the US now the country with the most confirmed cases of coronavirus, manufacturers there are also shifting production to help meet medical demand. Ford is working with 3M and GE Healthcare to build respirators, and is even aiming to adapt seat cooling technology from its F-150 model.
Printed ‘lab in a box’ could speed up scientists’ work
Professional Engineering
Although it is not yet ready to help create new medicines to fight the virus, a new ‘lab in a box’ from BiologIC Technologies in Cambridge could help scientists speed up work in future. The device uses cartridges made with a multi-material Stratasys 3D printer.
Work begins on wave energy converter
E&T
Start-up Mocean Energy has begun development of the Blue Star, a 40m wave energy converter designed to power subsea batteries and vehicles. Manufactured by AJS Production, a 20m prototype will be tested off the coast of Orkney in Scotland.
Autonomous cars given human touch
Professional Engineering
Autonomous vehicles reacted to potential collisions in ‘human-like’ ways thanks to new sensors and algorithms used in a research project. Aimed at “radically” reducing the number of multi-vehicle crashes on motorways, the Multi-Car Collision Avoidance (MuCCA) R&D project used AI and vehicle-to-vehicle communications to instruct autonomous vehicles to cooperatively make decisions to avoid potential collisions.
Scottish renewable success
Energy Live News
Renewable energy now provides roughly 90% of Scotland’s power demand, a 14% annual increase. The country has a target of 100% for 2020.
Shape-shifting car seat simulates walking
Professional Engineering
Jaguar Land Rover is developing a ‘shape-shifting seat’ for its cars, to simulate the rhythm of walking. Within the seats, a series of actuators embedded in the foam will make continuous ‘micro-adjustments’ beneath drivers and passengers, gently shifting them from side to side. JLR told Professional Engineering that the seats could help fight the dangerous side-effects of inactivity.
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Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.