The Industrial Technology Research Institute on Friday received four R&D 100 Awards in Las Vegas, for a wearable orthosis, an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) device, a nanofibrous membrane for water purification and a fluid-driven emergency lighting device.
Out of more than 1,000 entries, nine of the institute’s inventions were named among the 350 finalists, winning four awards, institute president Liu Jonq-min (劉仲明) said.
A high-sensitivity tactile-film system for a wearable orthosis was developed for people with essential tremor, a condition which affects 3.7 percent of the world’s population, the institute said.
The device can inhibit tremors, with its thin-film sensors detecting minute muscular movements and gestures to initiate appropriate movements with a motorized orthosis, allowing wearers to voluntarily control their movements and significantly improve the quality of their lives.
The development of the OLED, an LED that contains thin flexible sheets of organic electroluminescent materials, had been hampered by its short lifespan, as organic materials degrade much faster than components of traditional LEDs and LCDs.
The blue lights generally used in OLEDs are especially prone to degradation, with lifespans measured in hundreds of hours, compared with LCD and LED blue lights, which generally have lifespans of 25,000 to 40,000 hours.
Institute researchers developed a plasmon-coupled OLED that can increase the lifespan of OLED displays and lamps by up to 300,000 hours by using a single green light-emitting material to generate red, blue and green colors without the blue light component, which the institute said could revolutionize the OLED industry, which is expected to be worth US$2 billion by 2020.
A nanofibrous thin-film composite membrane developed by the institute can desalinate water at a much lower hydraulic pressure than conventional methods due to the membrane’s electrical conductivity that is able to efficiently separate ions and particles from water molecules, the institute said.
With less pressure needed for water treatment, the device can reduce energy consumption by 30 to 80 percent, significantly lowering processing costs, the institute said.
Unlike conventional reverse osmosis devices that sift out all substances other than water molecules, the device retains particles and nutrients needed for life, so treated water can be used for drinking and to irrigate crops, the institute said.
The institute also developed a fluid-driven emergency lighting device designed to be installed in the nozzle of fire hoses to power a high-intensity LED for firefighting.
The device improves firefighters’ visibility as it emits a light that is five times stronger than existing firefighting lighting devices, and firefighting departments in Tainan, Taipei and Keelung are already using the device, the institute said.
The inventions mark the nation’s transition from a labor-intensive to a technology-oriented society, the institute said, adding that its key areas of focus are smart living, personal health and environmental sustainability.
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