SOS! Inflatable Airbags to Buoy Damaged Vessels?

When a ship runs aground, or two vessels crash into each other, the damaged one may lose its stability, or worse, sink. But imagine if after a ship accident, balloons popped up like car airbags to keep the disabled vessel upright and afloat. This would help to avoid pollution of seas and beaches and gain valuable time for evacuation. Now, the EU-funded project SuSy, completed in 2013, have turned such an idea into a proof of concept. The project developed a proposal to install inflatables on ships including a system to blow them up vary rapidly.

The proof of concept culminated in 2013 with a demonstration of the idea on a model bottom of a medium-sized tanker in the port of Chalkida, in Greece. “Our challenge was to produce enormous amounts of gas from small cartridges which is quickly released into inflatables,” describes project partner Reinhard Ahlers, managing director ofBalance, a maritime consultancy in Bremen, Germany.

The technologies used by the project are not new, but the combination is. Kevlar reinforced balloons can be installed anywhere on a ship. Suitable places to install the balloons would be in between double hulls and in ballast water tanks. The gadgets needed to inflate them are taken from submarine rescue systems, based on rapid blow out devices originally developed for satellite launchers.

However, one expert voices concern at the project’s approach. “Given the location of balloons in the double hull, not only will the construction of the ship be much more difficult and costly. But inspection and maintenance will be almost impossible – hence these systems will be unreliable,” says Egbert Ypma, researcher at the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands in Wageningen, in the Netherlands.

To ensure that prompt inflation, the project devised cartridges attached to balloons holding potassium nitrate, used in gunpowder, an epoxy resin and ferric oxide commonly known as rust. When initiated, the gunpowder oxidises the epoxy resin which puffs into the balloons inflating them. What is more, rust improves the explosion process. But blasts produce heat, which may harm the plastic skin of the balloons or inflammable cargo. Therefore ambient cool air is mixed into the chemical explosion process. This comes either from a second cartridge containing compressed air. Or by using a heat exchanger device just before the gas enters the balloon.

In addition to solving the inflation problem, further fine-tuning needs to be done, according to project scientists. “For example, it would be desirable to have controls at the gas exhaust, as we do not always need the entire outflow,” Ahlers tells youris.com. The German rocket technology company Astrium in Bremen, Germany, now part of Airbus Defence and Space, continues to look for a solution. Whereas Survitec, a specialist in marine, defence and aerospace survival technology with its headquarters in Dunmurry near Belfast, UK,  who bought the original project partner Deutsche Schlauchboot in Eschershausen, Germany, will optimise the inflatable material of the balloons. Thus, there is still some way to go. “None of the partners assume that the system will be bought immediately,” says Ahlers.

One expert believes the system is worth investigating further. “I think that the idea to have a balloon in the ballast tanks in order to push out the water, or try to reduce a damage opening due to those in between a double hull, will be one step forward to enhance maritime safety,” concludes Jonas Ringsberg, professor in marine structures and head of the Division of Marine Design at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. 

Regenerating Bones Requires Good Doctors and Good Engineers

Imagine having to live without a jaw. Then imagine getting one custom-made, complete with regenerated bone. That’s a lot to imagine, especially if you’re a dog, but that’s exactly the type of patient researchers at UC Davis have been helping.

Some animals are known to regenerate body parts. These include relatively simple life forms such as worms or sea stars to the more complex such as lizards and deer (their antlers, in case you were startled). The ability is rare in mammals and typically not extensive where it exists. But what if you could give the body a little assistance? Lad, a collie from Kentucky, at University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine

A collaborative effort between  UC Davis’ William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, and biomedical engineers at the campus’ Translating Engineering Advances to Medicine (TEAM) facility has been changing the lives of our four-legged friends. The process starts with impressive science and advanced technologies. It ends with a fully functioning patient.

The process starts with modeling and creating a one-off titanium replacement scaffolding for the dog’s jawbone. This involves 3D scanning and 3D printing. No two dogs are exactly the same, and this method ensures that the replacement is a perfect fit. It also allows for the titanium replacement to be created accurately before surgery ever starts.

The titanium is not intended to be the entire jaw, but rather it acts to hold a special sponge which carries with it bone morphogenic proteins (BMPs). The BMPs essentially induce and govern the regrowth of new bone with the titanium acting as a support. Within eight to ten weeks the patient's remaining jawbone cells can regrow the missing structure.

The procedure has been applied to a number of full and partial regrowths, with every operation being successful.  This technique is certainly helping dogs, but there are implications for human medicine as well. Regenerative techniques are at the forefront of modern medicine and hold the promise of patients being able to provide their own replacement tissues and organs by using their stem cells.

The future of medicine is very much an engineering effort. The technique used to regrow dog jawbones brings together good design, materials selection, tissue engineering and advanced manufacturing technologies. Of course, these are only tools for the doctor, which have to be skillfully applied to be successful. This kind of collaborative effort has good implications for where we are headed in healthcare. For dogs and their owners.

The video below briefly discusses the case of Whiskey, a Munsterlander with oral cancer which received the regenerative surgery.

Hacking cellphones to save the rainforest

Topher White says that he has a solution to illegal rainforest logging operations. His company, Rainforest Connection, is running a Kickstarter campaign to fund their real-time rainforest protection system. The basic idea of the project is to use parts from recycled cell phones as listening posts in the rainforest, alerting their team when a chainsaw is being used.

The Kickstarter video starts with some bold claims, including a United Nations quote that deforestation is a leading cause of climate change.  Neil Young jumps in with some naturalist wisdom, telling us that this technology enables the forest to talk to the world. Then we're told that fifty to ninety percent of the logging done in rainforests is illegal.


Rainforest Connection is billed as the world's first real time technology for protecting the rainforests. After a chainsaw is detected by the listening devices an alert is sent to rangers who can act on the information. Additionally, an app allows people from around the world to hear the rainforest. An example of the app is on the Kickstarter page.

Listening devices are installed by local activists and the campaign video assures us that the final product will be much smaller and camouflaged than the prototypes shown. There aren't many details as to the hardware or software involved in the project but several process photos are shown on the campaign page and the company's Flickr page.

As Kickstarter campaigns go, asking people to donate for a cause, even an amazing cause mixing sustainability concerns and a maker attitude, can be a hard sell. Rainforest Connection is looking for $100,000 by July 29 to fully fund their project in Indonesia. If enough money is raised two other projects in Africa and the Amazon rainforest are planned.