The car that makes its own fuel

A unique system that can produce Hydrogen inside a car using common metals such as Magnesium and Aluminum was developed by an Israeli company. The system solves all of the obstacles associated with the manufacturing, transporting and storing of hydrogen to be used in cars. When it becomes commercial in a few years time, the system will be incorporated into cars that will cost about the same as existing conventional cars to run, and will be completely emission free.

As President Bush urges Americans to cut back on the use of oil in wake of the recent surge in prices, more and more people are looking for more viable alternatives to the use of petroleum as the main fuel for the automotive industry. IsraCast recently covered the idea developed at the Weizmann Institute to use pure Zinc to produce Hydrogen using solar power. Now, a different solution has been developed by an Israeli company called Engineuity. Amnon Yogev, one of the two founders of Engineuity, and a retired Professor of the Weizmann Institute, suggested a method for producing a continuous flow of Hydrogen and steam under full pressure inside a car. This method could also be used for producing hydrogen for fuel cells and other applications requiring hydrogen and/or steam.

The Hydrogen car Engineuity is working on will use metals such as Magnesium or Aluminum which will come in the form of a long coil. The gas tank in conventional vehicles will be replaced by a device called a Metal-Steam combustor that will separate Hydrogen out of heated water. The basic idea behind the technology is relatively simple: the tip of the metal coil is inserted into the Metal-Steam combustor together with water where it will be heated to very high temperatures. The metal atoms will bond to the Oxygen from the water, creating metal oxide. As a result, the Hydrogen molecules are free, and will be sent into the engine alongside the steam. 
The solid waste product of the process, in the form of metal oxide, will later be collected in the fuel station and recycled for further use by the metal industry.

Refuelling the car based on this technology will also be remarkably simple. The vehicle will contain a mechanism for rolling the metal wire into a coil during the process of fuelling and the spent metal oxide, which was produced in the previous phase, will be collected from the car by vacuum suction.

Beside the obvious advantages of the system, such as the inexpensive and abundant fuel, the production of Hydrogen on-the-go and the zero emission engine, the system is also more efficient than other Hydrogen solutions. The main reason for this is the improved usage of heat (steam) inside the system that brings that overall performance level of the vehicle to that of a conventional car. In an interview, Professor Yogev told IsraCast that a car based on Engineuity's system will be able to travel about the same distance between refueling as an equivalent conventional car. The only minor drawback, which also limits the choice of possible metal fuel sources, is the weight of the coil. In order for the Hydrogen car to be able to travel as far as a conventional car it needs a metal coil three-times heavier than an equivalent petrol tank. Although this sound like a lot in most cars this will add up to about 100kg (220 pounds) and should not affect the performance of the car. 

Engineuity is currently in the advanced stages of the incubator program of the Chief Scientist in Israel, and is seeking investors that will allow it to develop a full scale prototype. Given the proper investment the company should be able to develop the prototype in about three years. The move to Hydrogen based cars using Engineuity's technology will require only relatively minor changes from the car manufacturer's point of view. Since the modified engine can be produced using existing production lines, removing the need for investment in new infrastructures (the cost of which is estimated at billions of dollars), the new Hydrogen cars would not be more expensive. Although Engineuity's Hydrogen car will not be very different from existing conventional cars, the company is not currently planning an upgrade kit for existing cars but is concentrating on building a system that will be incorporated into new car models. 

Possibly the most appealing aspect of the system is the running cost. According to Yogev, the overall running cost of the system should be equal to that of conventional cars today. Given the expected surge in oil prices in the near future Engineuity's Hydrogen car could not come too soon.

Finally Find: J. Device Uses Laser Plasma to Display 3D Images in the Air

A collaboration of the Japanese National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Keio University and Burton Inc. has produced a device to display "real 3D images" consisting of dot arrays in empty space.

Many previous displays in 3D have been virtual images on 2D planes which, due to human binocular disparity, appear as 3D. However, the limitation of our visual field and the physical discomfort caused by wrongly identifying virtual images makes these displays less than perfect.

The new device uses the plasma emission phenomenon near the focal point of focused laser light. By controlling the position of the focal point in the direction of the x-, y-, and z-axes, real 3D-images in air (3D-space) can be displayed.

Our living space and the objects within it are three-dimensional but while 3D imaging is well documented on the Internet, we don’t see "real 3D-images" on our computer screens. This is because our monitors are unable to display them.

Keio University and Burton Inc. noticed that, when laser beams are strongly focused, air plasma emission can only be induced near the focal point. So, they experimented by fabricating a device to display 2D-images in the air. The images are constructed from dot arrays produced by a technique combining a laser light source and galvanometric mirrors. To form 3D-images in the air, the scanning of the focal point in the depth direction along the laser optical axis is essential. However, to do this, the quality of the laser and the technique for varying the position of the focal point must be improved. This explains why we do not yet have the technology to display 3D images.

By modifying the 2D image device with a linear motor system and a high-quality and high-brightness infrared pulse, the AIST, Keio University and Burton Inc. created a spatial display of "real 3D images" consisting of dot arrays.

The linear motor system can vary the position of the laser focal point by high-speed scanning of a lens set on the motor orbit. Incorporation of this system makes the image scanning in the direction of the z-axis possible. For scanning in the x and y axis directions, conventional galvanometric mirrors are used.

The high-quality and high–brightness infrared pulsed laser (repetition frequency of pulse: approximately 100 Hz), enables plasma production to be more precisely controlled, resulting in brighter and higher contrast image drawing. Furthermore, the distance between the device and drawing points can be extended by several meters.

The emission time of the laser pulse light is approximately a nanosecond (10-9 sec). The device uses one pulse for each dot. The human eye will recognize the after-image effect of plasma emission from displays up to 100 dot/sec. By synchronizing these pulses and controlling them with software, the device can draw any 3D objects in air.

US cuts off 'criminal' net firm

An American ISP allegedly involved in distributing spam and images of child abuse has been thrown off the net.
The US Federal Trade Commission asked for Pricewert LLC's net links to be severed after it had gathered evidence of the firm's 'criminal' connections. 
The FTC alleges that Pricewert had created one of the "leading US-based havens for illegal, malicious, and harmful content". 
Pricewert denied the allegations and said it would fight them in court.

Legal fight
In an official complaint filed in a San Jose Federal court, the FTC described Pricewert as a "rogue" or "black hat" ISP that acted as a hosting centre for many hi-tech criminals. 

The FTC alleges that Pricewert was paid to host "child pornography, botnet command and control servers, spyware, viruses, trojans, phishing-related sites, illegal online pharmacies, investment and other web-based scams". 

The evidence against Pricewert was gathered with the help of the National Security Agency's computer crime division, Symantec, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, as well as groups such as Spamhaus and the Shadowserver Foundation. 

In its statement accompanying its filing, the FTC said its complaint was "not a finding or ruling that the defendant has actually violated the law". That, it said, would be decided by a court. A preliminary hearing will be heard on 15 June. 

So far, the FTC has not been able to identify who was behind Pricewert. Although its servers are based in the US, it is registered as a business in Belize and many of its employees are thought to be located in Eastern Europe. 

Talking to technology news site Network World, a spokesman for Pricewert said the action was "unfair" and it would take legal action to defend itself.