As you know, the majority of the hospitals today face tough challenges in the delivery of care.   Emergency Room waiting times can be excessive. Patient stays in the hospital are often long.   And with the expected demand increase due to baby boomers and continued staff shortages and constrained budgets, hospitals are looking for innovative ways to  improve theprocesses of care.

At the Research Center, we are partnering with GE Healthcare and some key thought leaders in the industry to develop new technologies that will  help hospitals provide better care more consistently and more profitably. 

Smart Room is the next generation in GE’s research program to help improve patient safety.  This system is like a “guardian angel,” helping care providers avoid the things that can lead to hospital acquired conditions such as infection rates and falls.  Our guardian angel in this case is GE technology. It is a  unique integration of GE’s latest clinical workflow, artificial intelligence based reasoning, and various sensor technologies.  The system will provide real-time monitoring capability and reminders for protocol adherence to assure patient safety.  The system will also be able to capture key information for process improvement and education. 

As part of GE’s Healthymagination initiative, we are very excited to be a part of the innovations such as Smart Room that will improve patient safety, reduce cost, and increase access for healthcare.

I’m Thomas Frey, research scientist at the Alternative Energy Lab of the GE Global Research Center Europe in Garching near Munich, Germany. I’m leader of a project that works on enabling the use of a hidden source of energy. You don’t believe me that there is such a thing? Let me tell you, there is one and this source is even so large that billions of dollars are wasted every year by not tapping into it. People drill costly holes up to 3 miles for hot water that can be used in geothermal power applications for CO2-free power production. At the same time thousands of megawatts of heat are wasted through stacks, chimneys and coolers to the atmosphere every day throughout the industry across the globe. Examples include, refineries, steel mills, cement plants, furnaces but also power plants. The latter have only an average electrical efficiency of 33% in the US. The rest is thermal heat and wasted to the atmosphere. A huge untapped source of energy! Experts have estimated that low-grade heat worth billions of dollars is wasted every year. Even, a significant impact on CO2 emissions could be made, if only a fraction of that heat could be recycled to save fossil fuels rather than rejecting it to the atmosphere.

What can be done useful with this low-grade waste heat? First, heat can substitute fossil fuel for heating purposes. This always makes sense when a constant heat demand exists. Second, the heat can be transformed into green electricity without additional fuel input. This is technically much more challenging but reasonable because very often no use for the heat exists and electricity is the most flexible form of energy with highest-value: It can easily be transported and transferred into other forms of energy like mechanical power, light or heat. However, cost effective waste heat recovery systems for power production didn’t exist so far.

This is exactly what motivated our waste heat recovery technology team at GE Global Research Munich to have a fresh look at an old technology: Organic Rankine Cycles (ORC): These systems are known for more than hundred years and operate very similar to any conventional steam based Rankine cycle which is the basis of every conventional coal plant. The big difference is: ORCs don’t rely on high temperatures from burning fossil fuels, but can use much lower heat input temperatures. The Alternative Energy Lab at GE Global Research Munich has developed advanced ORC systems for various applications such as reciprocating engines, small-scale gas turbines and industrial waste heat sources. These new, much more efficient and cost-effective systems will hopefully soon enable the broad exploitation of waste heat as source of energy to transform a waste product into a value-add product.

Only recently, we have commissioned a brand new experimental prototype system for heat recovery in reciprocating engines. In addition, we have already developed a new waste heat recovery technology called “ORegen”. The ORegen (Organic Regenerator) unit is a device that converts waste heat from exhaust streams e.g. from small gas turbines and industrial processes into usable electricity. The ORegen product from our Oil & Gas Business recently received GE’s ecomagination certification, making it the first “ecomagination” product to originate from the Global Research Center in Munich. This was very exciting for the whole waste heat recovery team in Munich!

You have any questions about waste heat recovery research at GE? Please, feel free to submit a comment on my blog.

My name is Ron Olson and I am the manager of the GE Global Research, Micro and Nano FAB Operations. We have a really incredible space here in Niskayuna, NY and I’ve wanted to contribute to the blog and discuss some of the different capabilities of the clean room for a while. Check out this video for a quick overview of the clean room such as the scale at which we work and some of our capabilities we have.

In the clean room we are working on the research and development of MEMs, Nano, Wide Band Gap, Photovoltaics, OLEDs, Flexible Electronics, and X-ray device and detection technology. In the coming weeks we’ll post more videos discussing some of our technology projects a bit deeper, so stay tuned!

Today GE announced that we will be building a facility in New York’s Capital Region to manufacturing our sodium metal halide battery. You can find more information about the announcement at any of the following links….

GE Reports:   New York Powers Up With New GE Battery Plant
Wall Street Journal:   GE To Build $100 Million Battery Plant Near Albany
Business Week:  GE Will Build an Advance Battery Plant
Albany Times Union:   GE To Build $100 Million Battery Factory
New York Times:  GE Announces NY Battery Factory

This is a terrific milestone for our scientists who have put their hearts and souls into bringing this technology to the doorstep of commercialization.

After the news conference this morning we took Governor Paterson and our guests on a tour of part of our advanced battery research laboratory. The media was also invited along to get some good footage of the Governor inspecting the advanced technology. Although it’s tough to condense all the years of development into a few minutes we tried to give some newsworthy highlights. We particularly focused on the battery cell technology, which is really the heart of the battery. We talked not only about the advanced materials of construction but also about the sophisticated modeling and accelerated testing that we do to improve and predict life performance. This included some CT and x-ray diffraction images of the battery that we use to inspect what happens both mechanically and chemically during electrochemical cycling. This capability showcases a GE strength in being able to draw from our expertise in healthcare technology to bring advances to battery technology.

Hopefully the announcement today has generated a lot of excitement about what GE is doing in the green technology space and what we are doing to help stimulate job creation in New York.

“Neo: Is that…

Cypher: The Matrix? Yeah.

Neo: Do you always look at it encoded?

Cypher: Well you have to. The image translators work for the construct program. But there’s way too much information to decode the Matrix. You get used to it. I…I don’t even see the code. All I see is blonde, brunette, red-head. Hey, you a… want a drink?…   ”     -The Matrix 

There are 6 billion people in the world. Every one of us is generating and consuming information at ever increasing rates. In contrast there are trillions of objects, both real and virtual, creating and consuming orders of magnitudes more information; sensors, automobiles, factories, websites, search engines, grocery stores, the list is nearly endless. To survive, we must connect to the cyber world in a way that humans can deal with. We must teach our machines to serve us.

Over the past decade the world has labeled, identified (RFID, UID), and integrated (Internet, SAT communication, GPRS, WiFi/WiMAX, Bluetooth, Zigbee) billions of physical objects into complex and dynamic systems. As ubiquitous sensors and microprocessors proliferate, the torrent of data has begun to overwhelm traditional IT structures. In 2007, the size of the digital universe (the amount of information created, captured, and replicated) surpassed the amount of physical storage available on the planet. Information is a commodity that we pay money to get, pay money to maintain, and pay money to get rid of. Many of us paid to buy our local newspaper yesterday, only to have to pay someone to remove it today. This enormous amount of available information, specifically because of its distributed and time sensitive nature, poses large problems but even larger opportunities.

One system designed to leverage the pervasive availability of information is the GE Brain. The GE Brain is a mobile, low cost sensing, processing, and communication hub that will serve as a platform for an artificially conscious distributed decisioning network. It has enormous processing and network capability for its small form factor and is a hardware and software interface between the cyber and physical worlds. Its wired interface is dynamically and plastically configurable to enable it to operate in a large number of environments connected to a variety of sensors and intelligent devices. The communications modules allow it to participate in many wireless networks simultaneously and seamlessly while the application processor and digital signal processors enable collection and distribution of knowledge. These attributes give the GE Brain a situational and contextual self-awareness that enables real time decisioning without constant direct oversight and it does this at the edge of the network eliminating the need for central control.

This intense link between the computational and physical worlds will differentiate this type of Cyber Physical System from traditional embedded systems and drive the development of intelligent, distributed, decisioning systems into the objects of everyday life. Everything from children’s toys, to automobiles, to wind turbines will have elements of pervasive decisioning systems embedded within them and these systems will engage the human race, and our creations, in new and extraordinary ways.

 If you have read the Technology section of today’s NY Times,  or visited GE Reports or Engadget, you will see that we are off to  a pretty exciting start to 2009 on the Holographic Storage project so far.  Earlier in 2008, we had demonstrated the threshold recording behavior in the new materials we are developing and we ended 2008 having demonstrated these materials using 405 nm blue lasers (the same wavelength used in Blu-ray Disc players).  Now in 2009, we have taken yet another big step.

You may be asking, “what is threshold recording behavior?”  Well, it is a fancy way of saying that we are looking to develop a material that records data in a way that is similar to how other optical disc technologies (CD, DVD, or BD) record data.  That is, when the optical drive is reading a disc, the laser power is turned down to relatively low levels.  To record data the laser power inside the drive will be turned up to high power.  This high power enables the laser to create changes in the recording layer of the disc.  For example, a laser power of 1 mW might be used to read a CD or DVD, which is less than most laser pointers generate, but a laser power of 10 to 50 mW might be used to record.  So to put it simply, threshold behavior refers to the low-power readout and high-power recording process.  However, this is where the similarities between the previous generations of optical storage and holographic storage end.  In CDs, DVDs, or BDs, the recording is done by making marks (or changes) in a thin recording layer in the disc.  These marks are typically made by changing the reflectivity of the recording layer - think of it as making microscopic damage spots in a mirror.  In the case of holographic storage, we are creating chemical changes in microscopic patterns that will generate higher reflectivity when read by a low power laser - this is a more complicated process and requires that we create a material in which the refractive index can be changed when exposed to high laser power.

So returning to 2009, we started the year with materials in which we could write holograms using 405 nm blue lasers that gave at most 0.005% to 0.01% reflectivity.  These materials demonstrated the high-power record and low-power readout behavior we were trying to create, but the patterns reflected too little light to enable high capacity on a disc.  However, very recently, the team at GE has made dramatic improvements in the materials enabling significant increases in the amount of light that can be reflected by the holograms.  In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, we demonstrated reflectivities as high as 1% in our materials using our holographic recording test setups.  This represents a 100x to 200x improvement in performance.  More importantly, the higher reflectivity indicates that when we scale the holograms down in size to those that would correspond to the marks created using standard DVD or Blu-ray optics, the reflectivities will be sufficient to enable the storage of up to 500 GB of data in a single CD-size disc.  This is truly a breakthrough in the development of the materials that are so critical to ultimately bringing holographic storage to the everyday consumer.

Hello everyone,  I wanted to let you know of a new announcement where GE is working with Florida Power & Light to make Miami one of the first smart grid cities in the U.S.   This large-scale deployment of smart grid technology will help us understand how large cities like Miami can become more energy friendly.

Please checkout the story and video featured on GE Reports to learn more about the smart grid effort being carried out in Miami.

How green is green? Are some greens more green than others? When it comes to biofuels these are interesting and important questions. Just because a fuel is created from a plant does not mean it is completely environmentally benign. The plant may have been cultivated on a farm using fertilizers prepared by using fossil fuels such as coal or oil and employing processes that emit toxins to the air; unabsorbed fertilizers can run into streams and rivers; the plants may be cultivated, harvested and transported using diesel-powered tractors, combines, and trucks or shipped half-way around the world; the plants may be irrigated using scarce water resources and delivered by electrically-powered pumps; forest land may have been cleared to open areas for additional agriculture or land used for agriculture of food crops may have been converted to agriculture for biological feedstocks for fuel. All of these factors and others need to be considered when evaluating the benefit of using various biological feedstocks for production of biofuels.

The Ecoassessment Center of Excellence at GE Global Research has been involved with two biofuels projects to date: the co-gasification of biological feedstocks and coal to produce fuels from syngas and the production of JP-8 jet fuel from biological oils. We have helped to build an understanding of the extent to which environmental impacts are affected by the use of biofuels in each of these projects by using the approach of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). LCA is a systems modeling methodology that tracks the flow of energy and resources from their acquisition in nature, through processing into materials and products, transport, assembly into manufactured articles, use, and disposal. Inputs are energy, raw materials, natural resources (land, water, air) and outputs are emissions to land, water, and air. An inventory analysis of the inputs and outputs is used to characterize and quantify the environmental impacts. We have also been able to show how different biological feedstocks affect the various environmental impacts and which factors (e.g., fertilization, cultivation, transportation, feedstock processing, etc) have the greatest effects on the various impacts. Comparing different bio feedstocks and different process configurations helps to define the directions by which the environmental impacts can be minimized or where trade-offs can be made.

Perhaps, not surprisingly, although green house gas emissions (such as carbon dioxide) are important - everything is not about carbon! In the analysis of JP-8 fuel production using either soy or palm oil feedstocks, the impact of global warming from green house gas (GHG) emissions (such as CO2) ranked a distant fourth in terms of relative environmental impact. Of greater import was the impact of the amount of land required and the impact of slashing and burning rainforest to create new arable land.

In synfuels production by gasification, if 50% or more of the coal is replaced by biomasses such as switchgrass or corn stover it is estimated that a 40% reduction in global warming impact for this process would be achieved. However, this replacement results in a much smaller reduction in the amount of small inorganic particulates produced - these materials are a potential respiratory hazard.

Another insight was gained in comparing the production of synthetic fuels by gasification of biomass versus fuels produced from refining conventional petroleum. Conventional petroleum extraction and refining to produce fuel is actually a very efficient process producing less global warming gases and other environmental impacts than the cultivation, harvesting, gasification and synthetic fuel production of biomass. However, when the fuel produced from petroleum is used (burned to power your car, for example) it releases carbon dioxide that had been removed from the atmosphere for millions of years and increases the net load of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. However, the carbon dioxide that is released upon burning of the synthetic fuels from biomass were recently incorporated into the plant matter and will ultimately return to new crops - essentially having no impact on global warming.

So when it comes to biofuels, there indeed seem to be various shades of green. Here at GE Global Research we are working to understand the spectrum of shades available and how to drive to “green” that will give us the best products with the best environmental performance.

I am a Scientist working here at GE’s Global Research Center and am exposed to some of the most exciting technological challenges facing industry. I was formally trained in Optical Spectroscopy and Physical Chemistry, but have developed a pretty broad set of technical skills that have served me well in my 12+ years in industry. Currently, some of my work involves developing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) models to assess the environmental impact of GE’s products. As a member of GE’s Ecoassessment Center of Excellence, I am able to use a powerful set of methods to assess a product’s impact on the environment. Although my interests in LCA are multifaceted, the prospect of working with large data sets, matrix algebra and multivariate analysis techniques appeals to my inner data cruncher.Hopefully, I haven’t lost you with the mere hint of mathematics! Even I, who am currently enrolled in a Post Graduate program in Industrial Data Modeling, cringe when I start reading a stimulating chapter heading only to be faced with the first sentence starting with a Greek letter “this” and postulate “that” which most assuredly ends with, “…I leave the proof to the student in the form of an exercise at the end of the chapter….”. I would however, like to give my perspective on the importance of being aware of the computational structure behind LCA, an environmental sustainability tool that is seeing rapidly increased use throughout industry and government.

It is my position that knowing as much as you can about what you are doing helps you to avoid making of a fool of yourself. I am sure I am paraphrasing someone much more significant than I, but I agree with the general premise. Remember that wonderful day in school when the teacher finally allowed you to use a calculator? Or sliderule, abacus or Ipod App depending on the age range of the readers… but regardless, the first thing warned was, “Don’t trust the results… know how that number was generated!” This analogy applies to using LCA and any type of modeling approach. What assumptions are being made? What potential pitfalls are lurking? Or, my favorite, “what don’t I know?” To me, knowing that matrix inversion can be used to solve a system of linear equations that help me understand how complex data types manifest a set of coefficients, which are then ascribed to environmental impact assignments through various aggregation techniques is critically important to my ability to assess my model’s answer. I know, that was kind of a long sentence, but deep understanding here is important. Because of my work I have the potential ability to affect high-level business decisions, product design changes and how a product is presented to its consumer! I take that very seriously. To me, it means knowing what, why and how my calculator arrived at the answer.

If I have interested any of you, I must recommend two books that speak to this topic in a much more formal way:

1) Heijungs, R. and S. Suh (2002). The Computational Structure of Life Cycle Assessment, Kluwer Academic Publishers.

2) Saltelli, A., M. Ratto, et al. (2008). Global Sensitivity Analysis: The Primer, Wiley-Interscience.

My plan is to post additional blogs dealing with more focused topics relating to the computation of LCA, exploring the Life Cycle data inventory, probe the effects of impact aggregation and experiment with the adoption of data mining methods to help the analyst in the arduous task of creating a robust LCA. This topic excites me and I hope it will excite some of you!

As a society we’ve got some really tough challenges to focus on: global warming, energy efficiency, resource depletion, and pollution prevention… not to mention business economics! We are fortunate to have really smart people focused on solving these problems. One part of the solution is for us to continue developing eco-responsible products and services. In fact, I’m pretty excited about some of the product eco-design work we’ve got going on here at GE. I’m Bill Flanagan, and I lead the Ecoassessment Center of Excellence here at GE Global Research. It’s a fascinating area. Let me tell you why!Imagine that you are a product designer and that you are asked to come up with an innovative eco-design for a particular product. Where do you begin? How do you know whether your product design concepts are eco-responsible? Are there generic guidelines for this, or will it depend on the product’s function? What tools and knowledge do you need in order to be successful?

First of all, let me share a little secret I’ve learned: there’s a lot more to a product than meets the eye. I no longer think about products as “products.” Instead, I think about them as “product systems.” Take a simple example: How about that chocolate bar waiting for you in your locker, or at home on your counter? It didn’t just appear out of nowhere… somebody had to grow the cocoa beans and other ingredients, which then had to be harvested, processed, transported, manufactured into a candy bar, wrapped, delivered, and sold. Somebody had to print the wrappers, and somebody else had to manufacture the ink that was used on the wrappers. You’re probably going to throw the wrapper away, which means it’ll probably end up in a landfill. Hey… this is a pretty complicated chocolate bar! And you know what? Most product systems are at least this complicated, if not more so!

Whew! With all that in mind, the first step in product eco-design is to understand what the environmental impacts actually are across the product’s life cycle, from materials extraction and processing through disposal at the end of the product’s life. To do this we use a methodology referred to as “Life Cycle Assessment.” This can be a pretty tricky technique, but if done carefully and correctly, it can yield a tremendous amount of insight about the environmental performance of a product system.

But the fun doesn’t stop there! In fact, this is where the fun begins! Once you have an understanding of the environmental impacts and where they are coming from, you can use this knowledge to innovate new design ideas! Of course, improving the environmental performance of a product system can be extremely challenging, because we have to also pay attention to other critical product parameters such as functional performance, product safety, and a variety of business metrics.

What else do we need to consider? Oh yeah… workflow! Product design and manufacturing involves a whole lot of activity and a bunch of people in different roles. To implement new tools and concepts requires an understanding of this complicated workflow. Who does what? What tools are needed where? And it also depends on the goal. Are we redesigning an existing product, making the next generation version of an existing product, or coming up with something entirely new? The workflow may be somewhat different for each of these cases. We may use different eco-design tools and strategies depending on the application.

Right now I’m working with GE Healthcare’s global design organization on a pilot project to explore the use of life cycle assessment and eco-design tools for a sophisticated piece of medical equipment. Here’s where we get to put all this stuff together and see how it works. We call it a pilot project because we’re trying out all these concepts, getting lots of people involved, talking to them, learning from them, and finding out what their roles are and what kinds of tools they may need to do their part. It’s really very fascinating… engineering at the intersection of people and technology. Figuring all this out is the challenge of a lifetime. Man, I just love a good challenge! I’ll keep you posted!