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[affc21] 17/10/2018 12:57

And another previous posting from Jointer:Worth repeating, hope you don't mind Jointer?good explanation from prof. Ferrari, re zero gravity flights.Graphene Flagship tests material in zero gravity for out-of-this-world applications20 Dec 2017Andrea FerrariAndrea Ferrari floats during one of the zero-gravity flights (Credit: Graphene Flagship)Graphene Flagship science and technology officer Andrea Ferrari explains the project’s innovative testing of the novel materialThe Graphene Flagship is a 10-year, €1bn project funded by the European Union, aiming to take graphene from the lab to a stage where it could be considered for applications ranging from photonics to electronics, composites, biomedicine, energy and coatings.Our so-called zero-gravity flights are funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the scientific work by the Flagship, which has four main partners in this activity â€" us at the University of Cambridge, Université Libre de Bruxelles, CNR in Italy, and Leonardo, an aerospace company based in Italy.Leonardo has a branch that builds satellites, and one issue in satellites is heat balancing â€" from the outside to the inside, from the dark part to the one exposed to the sun, and from the heat generated by the electronics inside. To take the heat around, you typically use pumps called loop heat pipes. These do not have mechanical parts because the last thing you want in a satellite is a pump with a part moving around that can be blocked. Then what do you do? It’s extremely expensive to go and catch the satellite and fix it.To avoid these issues, the concept being put forward is a pump that works based on a “porous wick,â€? which enables a pressure difference between liquid and vapour, bringing about the transmission of the heat.By including graphene in this wick, you can get positive effects. One is the increase of the capillary pressure, making it easier to bring the fluid around the pipe. Graphene also increases thermal conductivity, so it makes it easier for the fluid to evaporate â€" this again makes the heat transfer better.Graphene also has better wetting capability, meaning it maintains better contact with the liquid. Usually these heat pumps have issues starting up because there is no switch, no mechanical part, so they have to self-start-up when the temperature of the wick reaches a certain level and the liquid is evaporating. If you have a better wetting capability then it improves the start-up.Eventually these pipes will be mounted on satellites, so there is a roadmap for qualification including testing them in space-like environments â€" not only zero gravity but also hyper-gravity, because when you launch a rocket it experiences gravity that is much bigger than 1g â€" it goes up to 1.5, 1.6g, and in space it experiences zero g.The zero g experiments are conducted on a plane run by Novespace and the ESA. The plane flies on a fraction of an elliptical orbit, essentially a parabola, for 22-24 seconds at a time and during this you experience weightlessness. This is repeated 31 times per flight, so you get 11.5 minutes of weightlessness per flight.It is challenging, and there are loads of ESA and Novespace rules that you need to obey. It takes a long time to prepare all the instrumentation â€" you need to prepare locks in a certain way, everything has to be enclosed and computer-controlled. During a flight, you can’t use a screwdriver because, if it flies off and you go to 2g, it could be a weapon. So there are lots of health and safety rules.It takes a week to do testing on the plane before flights. Novespace also provides workshops and lab space for the last adjustments. Once everything is done and you pass all the health and safety procedures, during the flight everything is quite simple because most of the interaction with the experiment is changing parameters on the laptop. You are not allowed to open up the experiment during zero g or hyper-gravity.There is a one-minute break between each parabola, and then every five parabolas you have a five-minute break for checks and adjustments. In the two campaigns we did, there was an additional 15-minute break after the first 15 parabolas.A few people get sick, but yesterday we didn’t have any problems and I was quite OK in both flights. When the plane stops you are OK, and you take an injection of scopolamine before each flight.In 2020 we may have the opportunity to test the pump on a real satellite. If that goes well we aspire to test it on the space station in 2022 or later. So we have a roadmap but this is just the beginning, we need to see what the results are. In each of the experiments we collect several gigabytes of data so once we finish the campaign we need to start analysing everything, which is what we are going to do for the next couple of months.Andrea Ferrari spoke to Joseph Flaig.hTTps://www.imeche.org/news/news-article/graphene-flagship-tests-material-in-zero-gravity-for-out-of-this-world-applications

[affc21] 17/10/2018 12:53

And a previous posting from Jointer:hxxps://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-12/gf-giz121517.phpgreat little video about graphene experiments on loop heat pipes (?) in zero G conditions.Joining the dots: Graphene Flagship is working with the ESA. They are also working with Leonardo (an Italian company). NR dropped a big hint a few weeks / a month or so back (about the time of that trade show in California) that VRS were working with a big Italian company. There was also that pic on Twitter of NR in zero G on a plane that looked an awful lot like the one in the video on the page above. The project is rammed with scientists and academics from Cambridge (and elsewhere).Draw your own conclusions.

[affc21] 17/10/2018 12:50

Ellis,Not sure if you have seen the previous postings regarding Leonardo:Prof. Andrea Ferrari (University of Cambridge), Science and Technology Officer of the Graphene Flagship and Chair of its Management Panel added "These are the first experiments where graphene is tested in near zero gravity conditions for space applications, and the first collaboration between the Graphene Flagship and the European Space Agency, with a clear path to applications, thanks to the Flagship Partner Leonardo, a world leading aerospace industry. We have already a roadmap to take graphene further in the space industry across the next two to four years, with an additional two zero gravity campaigns already confirmed."https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-11/gf-3gg111317.php

[woodpeckers] 17/10/2018 12:21

Thanks everyone for your help re the SIPP. Just created my HL watchlist, thanks Jen!

[fuji99] 17/10/2018 12:19

Coumpoundup - Do they use graphene though ?

[ellissj] 17/10/2018 12:10

Another big firm engaged in graphene research and looking to develop products here. Best ellis.

"We ask some questions to Nobel Prize winner Professor Sir Kostantin Novoselov, guest of honour at the "Graphene: Revolution is coming to Earth... and Space” event organised on 17 October at The National Museum of Science and Technology “Leonardo Da Vinci” in Milan by the Graphene Flagship and Leonardo.

 How did you become interested in graphene and how did you discover its extraordinary properties?

It was the style of work, called “the Friday night experiments” which was introduced in our lab by Andre Geim. According to it we would be encouraged to spend some time exploring risky projects. Graphene project was one of those. We never believed we would obtain graphene, but the goal was to get thin enough graphitic films to make a transistor. We were very surprised when we got down to one single layer. It then took years to uncover all the extraordinary properties of this material.

 What future applications do you envision for graphene? And which would make you most proud?
Already now, graphene is being used very successfully in a number of applications, ranging from composite materials to printed electronics to energy. I hope we will invent such applications which were not possible at all before graphene, those where the whole combination of the unique properties of graphene will be used.
 
As a ground-breaking physicist and Nobel Prize Winner, what advice can you share with STEM students/graduates who are beginning their respective research activities and careers?
I think the best advice is not to listen to any advices. One needs to do what s/he really loves doing – that’s the only recipe for success. 

 LEONARDO AND GRAPHENE: INTERVIEW WITH MARCO MOLINA

Research on graphene is moving at a rapid pace at Leonardo. This material is used in all the divisions and technological areas where its application is possible, such as electronics, sensors and thermo-mechanics. 

In the field of aerostructures, for example, graphene is used to study anti-icing systems for aircraft wings and to reinforce aeronautical structures against impact. In the field of airborne and space systems, on the other hand, graphene is considered a useful material both for cooling on-board electronics and for creating touch and flexible screens. 

In the future, we will see better optical and radar sensors than those currently available, ultra-light and low-consumption ;electronic components and solar cells and batteries that will allow our all-electric aircraft to fly for even longer durations. 

To find out what graphene represents for a company like Leonardo, we asked few questions to Marco Molina, CTO and Head of Capabilities, LoB Space, Airborne and Space System Division, Leonardo.

 Two of the winning projects of the last edition of the Leonardo Innovation Award proposed the use of graphene. What kind of research is the company doing on this material?
Graphene research at Leonardo is a concrete example of "open innovation" where, thanks to a network of collaborations and agreements, we have access to the most advanced laboratories in Italy and Europe and thus to the most innovative discoveries. Working closely with our technical colleagues, engineers, chemists and physicists, who collaborate directly with the laboratories where the chemical synthesis of graphene takes place (in Italy, for example, the National Research Council and the Italian Institute of Technology), we develop prototypes to demonstrate the advantages of using graphene. 

 Some of these projects form part of the Graphene Flagship, the largest research programme funded by the European Commission, of which we are a proud partner. Through our involvement, in 2017 we were able to conduct experiments on graphene in microgravity together with the National Research Council of Italy (CNR), the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Graphene Centre at the University of Cambridge, something which had never been done before. We are developing a cooling system for satellites called the 'loop heat pipe', which is based on graphene and will soon fly into space: the dream is to have completely autonomous cooling systems for the future exploration and colonisation of space. 

 What benefits can Leonardo draw from future graphene applications? 
In the CTO and Engineering community we expect great benefits from the performance of our products, which will be lighter, more compact and consume less energy. At first the innovation will be incremental: graphene will be added to our aerospace structures in very small quantities to make them more impact resistant, to allow us to better cool our airborne systems and to deliver sharper images we take from space. Therefore, we will have better products of the same weight or lighter with the same performance and we know well the value of every gram saved on board an aircraft, helicopter or satellite. 

The second line of innovation will be more revolutionary and linked to the concept of multi-functionality: graphene ink can be used to print an electronic circuit on rigid or flexible structures, even on a sheet of paper or fabric, which could therefore be a sensor on one side and a touch screen that displays the image recognised by the sensor on the other. Aerospace structures will become intelligent, able to read their own temperature and assess their state of mechanical stress and even wear, giving a clear competitive advantage in preventive maintenance. 

 As happened in the case of carbon fibre, the first applications of graphene have been in the area of sport. Today the composite material (carbon fibre) contributes significantly to the quality and value of Leonardo's products, will graphene evolve in the same way?
Gaining certification for aerospace use is a long process, which explains why composite structures are first established the area of sport and then in the aerospace industry, and therefore also in Leonardo. The composite material gave Leonardo the competitive edge in building a wide range of products of which we are world leaders, from wings to fuselages and from instruments for satellites to excavation drills for other planets. 

 Similarly, we see graphene emerging in one of Leonardo's key areas: the aerospace sector. We are working closely with research centres so that the properties of this material (transparency, mechanical strength, electrical and thermal conductivity, flexibility) can be transferred to our products."

[anley] 17/10/2018 12:09

Tesla has acquired an 864,885-square meter plot in Shanghai's Lingang area for its first Chinese factory, which is expected to produce its first cars in three years.

The facility will initially have capacity for about 250K vehicles and battery packs per year, and plans to eventually double that.

Funding will mostly come from local debt, and Tesla's own investment "will not start in any significant way until 2019."

Watch out you Germans as China takes slow control of the world car market..........

[freddievas] 17/10/2018 12:08

re the tesla 1 million miles. That is the equivalent of driving at 100mph, non stop, for 14 months. Amazing!

[graphenejen] 17/10/2018 11:56

Woody: I use HL for hubby and my SIPPs and Interactive Investor for our ISAs. I keep a duplicate of all our accounts on HL Watchlists, which you can set up to access without logging in, so it is easy to follow all our investments in one place on PC or mobile. Jen

[johnveals] 17/10/2018 11:54

100 days, about 10 years ago.

[adejuk] 17/10/2018 11:48

aerogel - mind blowing tech. this really is a new industrial revolution with the potential to save the human race [how long do we have?].

[willoicc] 17/10/2018 11:47

What about this for a crash test. Video about 2/3 way down the page.

[willoicc] 17/10/2018 11:38

I find AJ Bell very good.

I am retired now and have taken tax free lump sum which I have transferred to ISA to be tax free during my lifetime.

I also take monthly income which I can vary as I go along. This income is taxable so I make sure I do not take enough to put me into higher rate tax when added to my other pensions.

AJ Bell is also very good for ranking share and funds performance

[manora] 17/10/2018 11:37

Woody. Well done but Barclays are veeerrry slow at everything we found. Now each of us has our own HL and II Trading and ISA Accounts and all is well.

[woodpeckers] 17/10/2018 11:26

manora, I'm generally happy with Barclays, they always seem to get shares at a fairly good price but they are very slow when it comes to admin otherwise. I have just opened a HL SIPP and within 10 mins of filling out the forms (which was a doddle) I was able to purchase shares! If they can do it there is no reason why Barclays can't and I have just written to tell them....

[sonsonnyjim] 17/10/2018 11:26

It's coming, I too check every morning. People posting news in a week or UK scale China deal soon doesn't help, just sets up disappointment, especially when no backup is offered. Best to live in hope and patience combined imo

[vrs1] 17/10/2018 10:46

RNS' - I am glued to my mobile at 7am daily. I imagine we will get several RNS' rapidly together and when we do, the share price will rocket. I too am disappointed each morning, but I am also confident it will happen very soon.

[manora] 17/10/2018 10:33

Woody. I and my wife used to be with Barclays/Smart Investors; they were diabolical! We moved our accounts to both HL and Interactive Investors so that we would,hopefully,never be without an active platform. Warning: it took us many months to complete and numerous Barclays problems. We took them to the FOA and got measly compensation. To date HL has been marginally more efficient but each has its strengths and weaknesses. Cannot stress the satisfaction and sense of freedom with having two platforms on which to operate.

[club sandwich] 17/10/2018 10:32

BTW, you got mail...

[club sandwich] 17/10/2018 10:32

one day Fest, one day...

[festario] 17/10/2018 10:31

Every day I hope for an RNS with some tangible progress.Every day I seem to go back to sleep disappointed.

[club sandwich] 17/10/2018 10:30

quite. but no harm dreaming about the future.

but yes, we need orders first. and soon.

[super7] 17/10/2018 10:30

Let alone the heat dissapation that Graphene could provide a spacecraft on re-entry.... more easily re-suable spacecraft like the shuttle.

[ic0gcds00] 17/10/2018 10:29

Lets focus on something doable first and get some orders, ffs space , yoo many cooks spoil the broth. KISS