ITRI Wins R&D 100 Awards for Sixth Consecutive Year

ITRI (Industrial Technology Research Institute), Taiwan’s largest and one of the world’s leading high-tech research and development institutions, accepted three 2013 R&D 100 Awards on Nov. 8 in Orlando, Fla. ITRI was selected as a winner for the sixth consecutive year, collecting awards for the following advanced technologies in their respective categories:

• iAT Technology (Electrical Device category), one of the first see-through display and air-touch input technologies for computers, wearable computers and mobile devices that allows a user’s hand to be free of any physical device such as a touchpad or keyboard for touch input.
• ButyFix (Energy Technology category), the first carbon-negative bio-butanol production technology that uses cellulosic feedstock to produce advanced biofuel.
• FluxMerge (Mechanical Systems category), the only technology that reduces air gap magnetic flux leakage in the magnetic circuit path of all electric machines.

“At ITRI, we are delighted to receive recognition for the sixth consecutive year by R&D Magazine and for this year’s three breakthrough computer and green technologies,” said Golden Tiao, Deputy general director of Electronics and Optoelectronics Research Laboratories, ITRI. “They are significant innovations that create new possibilities for wearable computing, biofuel production, energy efficiency and global carbon reduction. These technologies exemplify ITRI’s mission to innovate and provide a better future for society.”

iAT Technology, i-Touch-in-Air, enables a user wearing a pair of special eyeglasses to see and interact with a virtual input device, such as a touchscreen or mouse that appears to be floating in the air, while still being able to see and interact with the real world around them. Now for the first time, instead of controlling wearable computers with head movements, voice commands, touching the devices or entering commands into an app on a smartphone, iAT Technology users can type on the “floating” keypad, keyboard, mouse or touch panel insuring flexibility, accuracy, privacy and convenience on-the-go.

ButyFix is the first carbon-negative bio-butanol production technology that uses cellulosic feedstock to produce advanced biofuel. The total energy content in the lignin-rich biomass covers not only the energy for production, but also for the entire life cycle of the fuel (well-to-wheel). As a result, the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission of ButyFix bio-butanol is slightly negative. Replacing corn ethanol with ButyFix butanol based on today’s U.S. ethanol consumption of 13 billion gallons could reduce CO2 emissions by 90 million tons per year. It is the only biofuel that can achieve a transportation-fuel price point of US$2.00 per gallon. ButyFix bio-butanol can be used to retrofit existing ethanol plants, is a good drop-in fuel surpassing ethanol (can be blended with gasoline at up to 85% with its higher heating value), and is more compatible with current gasoline engines and existing gasoline infrastructure.

FluxMerge is one of the first emerging technologies that reduces air gap magnetic flux leakage in the magnetic circuit path of all electric machines. FluxMerge achieves this by adjusting the magnetic reluctance distribution of the pole faces across an air gap, using microstructures placed on the pole faces. FluxMerge is easy and inexpensive to implement, because it requires no configuration change to the machine, and the microstructures can be formed using simple molding techniques. Motors equipped with FluxMerge realize an average efficiency improvement of 1.5%. Given the vast number of motors and their power consumption, FluxMerge is capable of significant carbon reduction.

Commercialization of iAT Technology, ButyFix and FluxMerge is currently underway.