Tech Briefs Magazine - September 2021 - 61

A thermally modulated battery was developed for mass-market electric
vehicles that eliminates range anxiety with unsurpassed safety, low cost,
and no cobalt. (Image: Chao-Yang Wang lab, Penn State)
mechanics, dynamic systems, manufacturing processes, multiphysics
modeling and analysis, nanoengineering, photonics,
and optoelectronics.
Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering - This department
focuses on human factors and ergonomics, human-computer
interaction, human-machine systems, and human-centered
design.
Mechanical Engineering - Research is performed in thermal/fluid
sciences, biomechanics, design and manufacturing,
energy systems, sensors and controls, transportation systems,
and computational mechanics.
Technologies
Penn Engineering researchers set out to develop technology
capable of localizing and imaging blood clots in deep veins;
however, their work may not only identify blood clots but also
treat them. To better identify the location, composition, and
size of clots - which informs how to treat them - the team
used a particle approach called nanopeptisomes (NPeps). The
particles comprise a shell around a droplet of fluorine-based
oil similar to liquid Teflon. The surface of the shell holds a
molecule that finds and binds a protein on the surface of activated
platelets - a key cellular component of clots.
A team developed wearable, flexible antennas to serve as
transmitters. Like wearable sensors, a wearable transmitter
needs to be safe for use on human skin, functional at room
temperature, and able to withstand twisting, compression, and
stretching. The transmitter, which can send wireless data at a
range of nearly 300 feet, can easily integrate a number of computer
chips or sensors.
The U.S. Army funded work at Penn Engineering to develop
additive manufacturing (3D printing) techniques for highstrength
steels and alloys. High-strength and high-hardness
steels are well suited for and currently used in many defense-relevant
applications such as personal armor, armored vehicles,
specialized facilities for blast and ballistic protection, and
Tech Briefs, September 2021
Cov
marine ship hulls. The material, however, is difficult to manufacture
traditionally. The laser-based directed energy deposition
(L-DED) additive manufacturing process, which builds
a component layer by layer and fuses them together with a
laser, could allow engineers to design more intricate pieces.
A new kind of wearable health device would deliver realtime
medical data to those with eye or mouth diseases. The
wearable device collects both small and large substances of
biofluids, such as tears and saliva, that can be analyzed for
certain conditions on a rapid, continuous basis, rather than
waiting on test results from samples in a lab. The sensors
would be placed near the tear duct or mouth to collect samples
that would then produce data viewable on a user's
smartphone or sent to their doctor. This new device also
administers medicine with a microneedle through the skin
around the eye, mouth, or tongue.
Range anxiety - the fear of running out of power before
being able to recharge an electric vehicle - may be a thing
of the past. Penn Engineering researchers are looking at lithium
iron phosphate batteries that have a range of 250 miles
with the ability to charge in 10 minutes. The battery should be
good for 2 million miles in its lifetime. The key to long life and
rapid recharging is the battery's ability to quickly heat up to
140 °F for charge and discharge and then cool down when the
battery is not working.
Sensors that monitor a patient's condition during and after
medical procedures can be expensive, uncomfortable, and
even dangerous. Researchers have designed a highly sensitive
flexible gas sensor that can be implanted in the body and after
it's no longer needed, safely biodegrade into materials that are
absorbed by the body. Current devices used outside of the body
to monitor gas levels are bulky and potentially not as accurate
as an implantable device. Implantable devices, however, need
to be removed, which could mean another operation. The new
sensor is made of materials that dissolve at a slow enough pace
that would allow the sensors to function in the body during a
patient's recovery period.
Electronic skin sensors were developed that mimic the
dynamic process of human motion. This work could help
severely injured people, such as soldiers, regain the ability to
control their movements
as well as con -
tribute to the development
of smart ro -
botics. The dualmode
sensor measures
both the magnitude
and load of
movement, such as
the effort of swinging
a tennis racquet,
as well as rate,
duration, and direction.
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ToC
61
Penn
State researchers helped develop a
dual-mode sensor that functions as electronic
skin to measure the dynamic nature
of human motion. (Image: Cheng Lab -
oratory/Ye Qiu)
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Tech Briefs Magazine - September 2021

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