A simple device that could improve fuel efficiency by up to 20 per cent has been developed by a physics professor from Temple University.

The small device consists of an electrically charged tube that can be attached to the fuel line of a car’s engine near the fuel injector. With the use of a power supply from the vehicle’s battery, the device creates an electric field that thins fuel, or reduces viscosity, so that smaller droplets are injected into the engine. That leads to more efficient and cleaner combustion than a standard fuel injector.

Six months of road testing in a diesel-powered Mercedes-Benz car showed that the device increased highway fuel from 32 miles per gallon to 38mpg, a 20 per cent boost, and a 12-15 per cent gain in city driving.

Continue reading…

University of Twente researchers have developed a way of separating DNA molecules using an electric field before capturing them on a chip.

The researchers found that when forced through extremely shallow channels just 20 nanometers deep an a few micrometers wide, DNA molecules behave very differently than when in free solution. In the latter situation, they tend to form clumps, whicle molecules in the channels are forced into an elongated straitjacket. This effect alone produces a difference in mobility between long and short molecules. Moreover, exposure to an electric field has now been shown to have a substaintial effect.

In a strong electric field, the molecules judder along the channel, while in weaker fields they move more smoothly, enabling DNA fragments to be ‘captured’ on a chip and separated for analysis.

Continue reading…