SmarTap has been developing a new technology for the next generation of thermostatic electronic faucets. This technology enables the user to monitor and control the water consumption in his property in real time. Shower systems based on this technology offer a unique shower experience combined with safety features and water and energy monitoring and saving capabilities. The systems supply water at the desired temperature and flow without wasting it: the shower will discharge water only at the desired temperature and flow.

Background:Wireless power transfer (WPT) based on magnetic coupling is becoming widely accepted as a means of transferring power over small to medium distances. WPT systems show promise for charging electric vehicle batteries electronic devices and other technologies. Stationary wireless charging systems have relatively high efficiencies (>90%) if the source and receiver coils are well aligned.

Background: Today\'s battery-powered electronics such as smartphones continue to add features that increase power consumption and decrease battery life. Most often users find ad hoc ways to increase battery life purchase larger batteries or have to frequently charge their devices limiting portability. There is a large need and market for technology that increases the battery life of electronic devices.

Technology Description Historical attempts at achieving practical capacitive desalination devices have failed due to a lack of appropriate materials and suitable designs. The current invention combines a novel electrode material with microscale architecture laminated construction and intricate flow and electronic control to achieve capacitive desalination of water. Through the use of porous electrodes when the ionic fluid flows in the proximity of the electrodes and a bias is applied ions migrate toward the electrodes.

Technology Description:A new technological process was developed for the synthesis of fiber-reinforced foam to overcome the limitation of the use of long fibers in low-density reinforced foams. This approach does not have viscous flow and fiber arrangement limitations that are the inherent peculiarities of existing fiber-reinforced foam technology. This novel process for making foam is based on thermoplastic expandable hollow microspheres. Dry microspheres are combined with long randomly arranged fibers or fiber webs to achieve a composite foam.

A semi-aqueous solvent based method using non-aromatic halogen-free organic solvent compositions for the effective removal of flux residue from electronic component surfaces after high temperature solder interconnections in the presence of rosin based flux compositions.

Microbial fuel cells (MFC) or electrochemical or biological cells are used to convert biomass material into liquid fuel and ultimately into electricity. They convert chemical energy into electrical energy through the catalytic reaction of micro-organisms. This process occurs in nature and researchers have had difficulty effectively and efficiently duplicating the process. MSU’s invention is an electrochemical cell that can be used to convert biomass material to liquid fuel electricity.

Electronics generate heat when they are used. In order to function properly they need to be cooled down. The more efficiently electronics can transfer this heat to another source the more energy it can use. Cold plates can be used to transfer heat more efficiently from electronics to the air or from electronics to some kind of liquid. As high-powered electronics continue to push power density limits engineers are attempting to find ways to cool these high-powered electronics more efficiently.

Distributed energy resources (DER) which include small-scale distributed power generators energy storage devices and renewable sources of energy are frequently located near the consumer’s “load” where the energy is used. DERs offer a promising alternative to meet the rapidly growing demand for more reliable power across the United States. When power demands spike individual DER units may respond by providing more energy to the system but they may also cause problems with other DER units.

Today there is an urgent need for a high-efficiency device that can store electric energy for various applications such as car batteries consumer electronics batteries and so on. For these applications and others there is always a tradeoff between power and size - a bigger battery may give more power but also occupies more space. Supercapacitors are electrical devices used to store electric energy; however these are still far from optimized in terms of energy versus size and nowhere near some commercially available alternatives.