A Ministry of Science and Technology industry-academia cooperation program has helped commercialize 12 elite university projects over the past year — including a head-up vehicle display, a radar sensor system for vital signs and a graphene-based water filter — with an estimated value of NT$3.64 billion (US$113.7 million).
It is the ministry’s first joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) to help academic research teams develop industrial applications by providing technical support, facilitating patent acquisition and investment, and promoting interdisciplinary cooperation, Ministry of Science and Technology Deputy Director Chen Ter-shing (陳德新) said.
The head-up vehicle display, a transparent display that presents data ahead of the windshield without requiring the driver to look down at the dashboard, was developed by a team led by National Chiao Tung University professor Chen Cheng-huan (陳政寰). It eliminates interfering reflections on the windshield.
A conventional head-up display that projects the image onto the windshield would result in two separate images, one from the front surface of the windshield and the other from the back surface, Chen said.
Chen’s team was able to eliminate the interfering “ghost images” by using a highly transparent optic film developed by the ITRI, which creates a new projection surface on the windshield, while adjusting the angle and brightness of the ghost images so that a single image is presented to the viewer.
An animal radar sensor system developed by a team led by National Sun Yat-sen University professor Horng Tzyy-sheng (洪子聖) detects the heartbeat of an animal from a distance, replacing pedometers that are put on cows to monitor their movements, the patterns of which are traditionally used to determine their health.
The system is the first to use continuous wave radar technology in the animal husbandry industry to control the quality of milk and animal reproduction, Horng said, adding that the system could also be used to detect bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease, which accelerates the heartbeat and breathing of the affected animals.
Horng said that a foreign farm had offered US$2 million in royalty payments to use the team’s patented product.
A Chung Yuan Christian University research team developed a flexible, electrically conductive graphene membrane which removes dissolved materials in water due to the graphene’s natural ability to let water molecules pass, but block other substances.
Graphene is a form of carbon consisting of planar sheets which are one atom thick, with the atoms arranged in a honeycomb-shaped lattice.
The membrane could also be used to develop touch screens, transparent conducting film and smart clothing, the team said.
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