Issue 2.3 | Sept. 15, 2009

Solar House Draws a Crowd

They built it. The people came. And now it will go.

The Iowa State University Solar Decathlon Team of students has virtually completed construction of the Interlock House, its entry in the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s 2009 Solar Decathlon competition. Close to 1,000 people came to tour the house in August in Ames. Now, the house is being readied for its 1,000 mile journey to Washington, D.C., for the actual competition in October.

“The Interlock House really opens your eyes to all the things that can be done to reduce energy consumption without sacrificing comfort and convenience,” says George Kraus, IPRT director. IPRT is a major sponsor of the team, contributing grants and other support. Ulrike Passe, director of IPRT's Center for Building Energy Research and professor of architecture, is the project's faculty leader.

Upwards of 1,000 people took student-guided tours during the Interlock open house in August. The project has drawn wide interest from the media as well and has been featured in publications ranging from the D.M. Register to ReadyMade magazine.

Forever in Blue Jeans

From its super-thick insulation to its state-of-the-art photovoltaics, the house is designed to both minimize energy usage as well as produce its own energy. According to the team, the photovoltaic array produces close to twice as much electricity as home needs to operate. The excess amount will be fed to the electrical grid. Passive and active solar systems are used to heat the house.

The house has also been designed largely with sustainable materials. For example, the insulation is made of recycled blue jeans and soy-based foam. The countertops include recycled glass aggregate, while the front porch floor is made from black river pebbles to absorb heat from the sun.

The team involved over 25 Iowa companies in either the construction of the house or as suppliers of materials and components. For instance, they initiated an alliance between Iowa’s own Pella Corporation and Acutemp Thermal Systems to manufacture doors with vacuum-insulation, providing an ‘R’ value of 50. Such doors in an affordable price range are not available in the U.S., so the hope is that they will turn into a new product for the companies. The doors' panels are made of a bio-based material from McKee Corp. of Muscatine, Iowa.

The custom-made north doors of the Interlock house are made with 28% renewable biobased material within its plastic. They feature images of native Iowa grasses designed by ISU students and engraved with help from the Des Moines Area Community College.

Twenty Competitors and Ten Events

In Washington, the house will be assembled on the National Mall, where it will be up against 19 other collegiate teams from the U.S., Canada and Europe in the "decathlon." The houses are judged in 10 areas: architecture, market viability, engineering, lighting design, communications, comfort zone, hot water, appliances, home entertainment, net metering and sustainability. The judges include professionals in architecture, engineering, building and lighting design and even web developers and public relations experts.

The Interlock team feels it will compete well in all ten categories. Some of its particular strengths include architecture and sustainability. The comfort and safety of its occupants was priority for the house’s design team. They used a “universal design,” philosophy, meaning that the house is made to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible. This philosophy meshes with the house’s target market of older adults who want to live independently in their own home. What's more, the house is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

“It’ll probably be one of the few houses in the competition to be fully ADA-compliant,” says Aaron Brncich, construction manager. Not only is that important for the target market, it also means Interlock visitors will be allowed in every room. The team also believes this design philosophy resulted in a house that feels bigger than its 800 sq. ft. “It has a very open and spacious feel,” says Passe.

The Interlock house's compact fluorescent (CFL), halogen and LED devices allow occupants to modify lighting levels according to task and season. During sunlight hours, its photovoltaic array generates electricity and feeds any excess into the electrical grid. When needed, the house draws electricity from the grid. The team expects the array will produce close to twice as much electricity as the house requires over the course of a year.

As if designing and building such an innovative house weren't difficult enough, the team must now disassemble it into six sections, put it onto four trucks and ship it to Washington. Fortunately, the team has done its work with that in mind, so Brncich is confident that the house can be reassembled and finished in time for the competition, which begins Oct. 8. More than 30 Iowa State students will travel to Washington to assemble and disassemble the house, direct the team’s participation in the competition, and communicate with the public.

IPRT Pitches In

“The Solar Decathlon is just such a natural fit for IPRT that we jumped at the chance to be a supporter and sponsor,” Kraus says. “It requires multidisciplinary research, involves working closely with industry and gives students a hands-on education. These are all areas in which IPRT excels.”

Indeed, IPRT is doing all it can to help the team succeed. The director of IPRT's Microelectronics Research Center, Vikram Dalal, has offered the team his expertise in the materials science and plasma engineering crucial to making solar power more efficient. And, IPRT administrative assistant Tami Wicks has filled a parallel position with the team, from coordinating meetings to ordering building materials to keep the project moving forward. IPRT

Water Quality Experiment Aboard Space Station

A water quality test system is now aboard the International Space Station and is ready for operation, according to Bob Lipert, a scientist associated with IPRT and the Institute for Combinatorial Discovery. The experiment went up on space shuttle STS-128 in late August and will run for six months.

The aim of the system is to measure the level of disinfectant used in spacecraft drinking water to ensure that appropriate levels are present and the water is safe. To purify water, the U.S. adds iodine, while the Russians add silver, so the new system tests for both substances. Presently, astronauts collect samples later tested on the ground. “This delay is not acceptable,” Lipert says. The new technology is bundled into a hand-held device that’s easy to operate.

Lipert has been researching the basic technology of the system since 2000 with Marc Porter, a former IPRT scientist who is now a professor at the University of Utah, Jim Fritz, Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State and senior chemist emeritus, and graduate students and post docs from each research group. The team is working with NASA subcontractor Wyle Integrated Science and Engineering Group on the project, which has taken the laboratory technology and turned it into flight hardware.

IPRT scientist Bob Lipert (center) operates a water quality test system during a microgravity flight. The system is now aboard the International Space Station for further testing. If successful, the technology will become standard equipment to ensure drinking water quality aboard the space station.

Every month for six months, astronauts aboard the space station will check water quality with the new technology. The results from these analyses will be compared with both standards of known concentration and samples returned to a lab back on Earth for analysis. “If it works well, the next phase will be to develop operational hardware, which would routinely be used on the space station to monitor water,” Lipert says,

The system is based on colorimetric testing, in which one substance changes color in the presence of a specific chemical. In the space station experiment, astronauts will collect a water sample and inject it into the device.  A membrane in the device changes color in response to the presence of the material being measured. A detector in the device then measures the membrane’s change in color, which can be related to the concentration of disinfectant in the water.

The technology has great potential for application outside of the space program, according to Lipert. “It’s a very flexible platform that can be used to analyze for a wide variety of chemicals,” he says. “It’s an easy-to use, small, lightweight, battery-powered unit that can be taken virtually anywhere.”

For instance, Lipert, Porter and several students have done preliminary experiments to detect heavy metal contamination in water, testing for lead (student Neil Dias), nickel (Dan Gazda) and cadmium (Cherry Shih). “There’s a lot of old literature we can draw upon to find procedures for testing for environmental contamination,” he says, noting that colorimetric testing was a hot topic in chemistry in the years before sophisticated and powerful instrumentation such as the ICP-MS were developed. Lipert also foresees using the technology to find organic substances. For example, April Hill developed a method to test for formaldehyde, and began assessing its potential use in forensics for drug screening. IPRT

Governor Tours MRC

Iowa Governor Chet Culver visited IPRT’s Microelectronics Research Center August 5 to learn about a low-cost photovoltaic energy conversion project. The governor’s stop was part of a two-stop tour of renewable energy research projects to discuss Iowa’s leadership in energy independence. MRC’s research involves increasing the efficiency of thin-film solar cells while keeping manufacturing costs low. The technology will be commercialized to produce low-cost solar power. The project is funded by the Iowa Power Fund and is led by Vikram Dalal, MRC director.

VRAC Technology in D.M. Register

The maker of the BodyViz software, which was first developed at IPRT’s Virtual Reality Applications Center, was featured in the business section of the Des Moines Register on July 5, 2009.  Visual Medical Solutions, LLC., founded by Jim Oliver, VRAC director, and Eliot Winer, VRAC associate director, creates the software which helps surgeons visualize MRI and CT scans in 3D. The software can be used to help produce more accurate diagnoses and serve as a learning tool for students.

NETL Official Gets
IPRT Project Update

Brian Trewyn (right), associate director of IPRT's Center for Catalysis, explains the center's research on turning algae into ethanol to Edgar Klunder, Project Manager, Fuels Division, National Energy Technology Laboratory. Klunder visited IPRT in August to get an update on the $3 million joint project between CCAT and IPRT's Center for Sustainable Energy Technologies. The project is lead by George Kraus, IPRT director, Robert Brown, CSET director and Victor Lin, CCAT director.

Ambassadors Tour VRAC

James Oliver (right), director of IPRT's Virtual Reality Applications Center, talks to ambassadors during their August tour of VRAC. The group of over 60 ambassadors were part of Senator Chuck Grassley’s 12th Ambassadors Tour, which traveled Iowa to learn more about state’s businesses, agriculture, education and culture. Oliver reports that several delegates were interested in possible collaborative projects.

Honors and Awards

• Mark Bryden and Doug McCorkle, researchers at IPRT's Virtual Reality Applications Center and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory, recently received an R&D 100 Award for their work on the Virtual Engineering Process Simulation Interface (VE-PSI).  The VE-PSI is a software application that will help engineers design efficient and low-emission power plants.  The R&D 100 Awards are presented annually and honor the 100 most technologically significant products introduced into the marketplace.

• Julienne Krennrich, technology commercialization associate with IPRT Company Assistance, graduated with an MBA from Iowa State in August 2009.  Krennrich, who also has a Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics from Iowa State, joined IPRT in January 2009.  “Eventually, I realized that if I wanted to pursue this as a career, I would need some kind of formal business training, particularly in entrepreneurship and R&D management, so I decided to get my MBA,” she says. Krennrich hopes her degree will allow her to build upon her work within Company Assistance. “In addition to working with Iowa companies and ISU faculty on joint research projects, I want to work more closely with IPRT faculty and researchers on developing commercialization plans for applied research on emerging technologies,” she says.

• George Kraus, IPRT director and professor of chemistry at Iowa State, has received a $128,100 grant to develop an effective "neuroprotective" drug for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease.  Kraus is working with Anumantha Kanthasamy, a Clarence Hartley Covault Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Sciences, and PK Biosciences Corp. at the Iowa State Research Park.  The award is a Grow Iowa Values Fund Grant, a state economic development program intended to support development of technologies with commercial potential and growth of companies using those technologies.

IPRT United Way Campaign On the Way

IPRT's United Way campaign is now separate from Ames Laboratory. IPRT faculty and staff will soon receive United Way pledge information in their campus mailboxes.

Those who wish to donate money should complete the form and return it by Oct. 23. Employees who return the form with a contribution by that date will be in the running for tickets to Iowa State Center performances. Employees are not required to support United Way, but those who choose to contribute can designate where their money goes, or doesn't go.

Technology Commercialization Group, IPRT Office Changes

IPRT Company Assistance's Technology Commercialization Group has moved offices. Lynne Mumm, program manager, and Brian Muff, technology commercialization associate, are now in 2810 Beardshear. Julienne Krennrich, technology commercialization associate, is now in 1279 Gilman Hall. Support staff for IPRT Company Assistance has also relocated. Jill Cornelis, administrative specialist, is now in 2156 Gilman Hall, while Sally Evans, secretary, is in 1620 Howe Hall. Phone numbers and email addresses remain the same.

Iowa Company Markets New Hand Sanitizer with Help from IPRT

Just in time for the cold and flu season: Prefense LLC of Muscatine, Iowa, is marketing a new kind of hand sanitizer said to last longer than traditional alcohol-based products.  Called “PrefenzBotanicals Hand Sanitizer,” the product got a key boost from assistance by IPRT Company Assistance and Iowa State University.

In a project co-funded by IPRT Company Assistance and Prefense, researchers at Iowa State studied the length of time that the Prefense product and other hand sanitizers retained their antibacterial properties.  “The testing performed by Iowa State provided us with factual information that allowed us to confidently go into the market place with the ‘next generation’ hand sanitizer that acts like an invisible glove, providing pathogen protection for 24 hours or more,” said David Reusswig, partner and one of the founders of Prefense.  “This is a very important product differentiation between PrefenzBotanicals Hand Sanitizer and others on the market,” he said.

The project was set up by Lynne Mumm, manager of IPRT’s Technology Commercialization Group.  “Lynne has always been totally supportive of our research efforts. She makes it very easy to work with ISU research professors and departments,” Reusswig said.

The research was done by members of Iowa State’s Food Science and Human Nutrition department, including associate professor Aubrey Mendonca, scientist William Colonna, and professor Tony Pometto, who has since moved to Clemson University.  Their study tested the effectiveness of hand sanitizers against bacteria, including several human enteric pathogens.  Reusswig praised the efforts of the researchers.  “Tony understood our unique technology, and he thinks outside the box,” Reusswig said.

Unlike most hand sanitizers that use alcohol as the active ingredient, Prefense’s product uses a silica complex called AMOSILQ that ruptures the pathogen’s cell membrane and destroys it.  The product also adheres to the skin to create a barrier against pathogens for at least 24 hours.  According to Reusswig, the product has also been tested by other researchers for use against bacteria, viruses and fungi and is being evaluated by the Mexican government in its effort to contain the spread of H1N1 influenza. IPRT

Recent Research Awards

* IPRT Company Assistance contract research

About IPRT News

The Institute for Physical Research and Technology is a network of scientific research centers at Iowa State University. In addition to performing world-class scientific research, IPRT provides technical assistance and contract research services to Iowa companies and offers education programs for students from middle through graduate school. Contact IPRT at iprtinfo@iastate.edu, 515-294-3405.

This monthly email newsletter is produced for IPRT employees and all interested parties by Robert Mills, IPRT Communications, and Rebecca Carton, IPRT Communications Intern.
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