A combined team of researchers from Dimensional Energy and Cornell University won the first prize of $20,000 at Tech Brief’s 2017 “Create the Future” design contest with a Solar Thermal Chemical Reactor called “HI-LIGHT”. The 15th annual design contest searches for and recognizes innovations in engineering that benefit the environment, the economy, and humanity.
HI-LIGHT mimics plant photosynthesis through proprietary nanotechnology to convert carbon dioxide into clean liquid fuel cost-efficiently. In addition to HI-LIGHT, 1,150 other product ideas were submitted to the contest, and seven other first-place winners across seven categories were named, selected by senior editors at Tech Briefs Media Group and judged by a panel of independent design engineers. COMSOL and Mouser Electronics were co-sponsors and Analog Devices and Intel were supporting sponsors.
“I would like to express our greatest gratitude to the judges for choosing our team as the Grand Prize Winner,” said HI-LIGHT’s team leader and Cornell University Ph.D. Student, Elvis Cao. “This recognition is not for our team alone, but for the general science community to fight against climate change and push forward renewable energy research.”
Other winners for the “Create the Future” contest include:
- Sustainable Technologies: Volodymyr Khranovskyy and his team from Talent Molecule LDA of Braga, Portrugal, with “Energy Saving Filter for Removal of Heavy Metals from Water”, which filters water with a nanomaterial that attracts heavy metal ions.
- Medical: Jefferey Plott and their team, from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, with “Arterial Everter”, a tool to replace traditional suturing in arteries, enabling rapid anastomosis.
- Machinery/Automation/Robotics: Mohamed Gouda Alkalla and Mohamed Fanni, from Mansoura University, Mansoura, Ad-daqahilyah, Egypt, with “EJBot”, a robot using a propeller to climb structures and obstacles to reduce inspection costs and increase safety.
- Electronics/Sensors/IoT: Yeonjoon Park from the National Institute of Aerospace and Sang Choi from NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, with “Integrated Multi-Color Light Emitting Device made with Hybrid Crystal Structure”, a hybrid crystal LED display device emitting red, green, and blue colors from a single wafer.
- Consumer Products: Megan Moore and her team from Battelle, Columbus, OH, with “Conformal Battery”, a battery integrated into a product’s structure to improve performance and reduce weight.
- Automotive/Transportation: Joshua Medling and his team from Enviro-Cool, Sullivan, MO, with “Heavy Duty Aftermarket Super Truck”, an under hood air system that reduces fan and heat noise by 50% while offering 10% fuel savings.
- Aerospace & Defense: John Maris and his team from the Marinvent Corporation, Quebec, Canada, with “Airfoil Performance Monitor (APM)”, which provides pilots with real-time information on the airflow over an aircraft’s tail and wings, helping prevent loss of control or stalls.
