Advanced Manufacturing

Entrepreneurship

Research and Innovation

Solar

Startups

Sustainability

U of T researcher Nazir Kherani and his collaborators at the startup 3E Nano Inc have one goal: to design the perfect window.

That includes a nano-thin window coating that can more than double the thermal protection for residential and commercial windows. That technology is now on its way to commercialization, thanks in part to $5 million in new federal funding from Sustainable Development Technology Canada.

“Windows are the weakest energy link in any building,” says Kherani, a professor in the department of material science and engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering who is jointly appointed to the Edward S. Rogers Sr. department of electrical and computer engineering.

“Think of heat escaping in the winter months and heat entering the cool, ventilated space during the summer months," says Kherani, who co-founded 3E Nano in 2015.

Kherani explains that a window’s resistance to heat flow is measured by the R-value, which increases based on its ability to prevent heat from flowing into or escaping from a building. Currently, 3E Nano windows – in prototype as well as in pre-alpha deployment – rate R8 and higher.

"This compares remarkably to an average window whose R-value lies in a range from R1 of a single pane, to R3, a dual pane.”

How was 3E Nano able to achieve this breakthrough? In its simplest configuration, the 3E Nano coating comprises a nano-thin metallic film sandwiched between two sapphire-like nano-thin films. This three-layered stack is opaque to certain wavelengths of light, but not others. As a result, the coating can control the flow of light entering and leaving the building over three parts of the solar spectrum: the visible, the near-frequency infrared and the mid-frequency infrared.

Both near-infrared light – which accounts for almost half of the sun’s total energy – and mid-infrared light can be reflected away. This keeps the sun’s heat from penetrating indoors, but it also keeps room heat inside the building from escaping through the windows, achieving low emissivity. At the same time, natural visible light is allowed through the window to the interior, reducing the need for artificial interior lighting.

Kherani believes 3E Nano’s coating is poised to become a mainstream product. He credits the industry experience of 3E Nano’s team with a critical pivot in the research.

“Combining earth-abundant aluminum and nitrogen results in a coating material similar to sapphire in its optical and structural properties,” he says. “The stability and multi-functional character of the sapphire-like structure is suited to low-cost, high-volume manufacturing.”

The coating is applied by sputter deposition – a process which hurls argon atoms into an aluminum target in a vacuum system, knocking the aluminum atoms like billiard balls into a lightweight polymer substrate.

After adding nitrogen gas, the resulting chemical reaction forms a colourless film only tens of nanometres thick (approximately one-thousandth of the thickness of a hair strand). This combined with a nano-thin silver layer results in a robust coating that can be tuned for optical and electrical properties.

Kherani and his team envision other aspects of the perfect window as integrated functionalities ranging from metamaterial structuring to dynamic systems that maintain ideal temperatures and daylighting (the practice of placing windows so that sunlight can provide effective internal lighting) within buildings.

“In the lab, we’ve created a metamaterial that retains low emissive and solar-control properties but has high transparency in the gigahertz range critical for communication – nature-inspired with near-invisible hexagonal honeycomb patterns,” Kherani says.

“Professor Kherani has his eye on sustainability solutions that remain scalable,” says Professor Deepa Kundur, chair of the department of electrical and computer engineering. “His startup 3E Nano is a shining example of how industry can shape and direct research, and he’s given 3E Nano every chance at a positive impact in the green marketplace.”

Kundur also points out that it's because of researchers like Kherani that U of T was recently named a top-10 research institution for global innovation.

Kherani is encouraged by 3ENano's progress and optimistic about the company’s ability to help transform the building sector, which ranks a close second to transportation in energy-related carbon dioxide emissions.

“Although the shortest distance from point A to point B is a straight line, finding that straight line is not a simple matter," he notes. "On the other hand, we are in a promising place today, and we can clearly see where we need to be.”

U of T researchers advance metal 3D printing technology for automotive, energy and biomedical applications

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 22:26:54 +0000

U of T researchers advance metal 3D printing technology for automotive, energy and biomedical applications

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 03/14/2023 - 18:26

Cutline

The metal 3D printers used by U of T Engineering Professor Yu Zou and his team are designed to specialize in both selective laser melting and directed energy deposition – two essential metal additive manufacturing techniques (photo by Safa Jinje)

Safa Jinje

Topic

3D Printing

Graduate Students

A team of University of Toronto researchers, led by Professor Yu Zou in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, is working to advance the field of metal additive manufacturing at the university’s first metal 3D printing laboratory.

The technology, which uses computer-aided design (CAD) to construct materials layer by layer, can improve manufacturing across aerospace, biomedical, energy and automotive industries.

“We are working to uncover the fundamental physics behind the additive manufacturing process, as well as improving its robustness and creating novel structural and functional materials through its applications,” says Zou, an assistant professor in the department of materials science and engineering.

Unlike traditional manufacturing, in which parts or components are made from bulk materials, the metal 3D printing process enables microstructure and materials constitutions to be locally tailored, meaning they can exhibit distinct properties.

“For example, medical implants require human bone-like materials that are dense and hard on the outside, but porous on the inside,” says Xiao Shang, a PhD candidate in Zou’s lab. “With traditional manufacturing, that’s really hard to accomplish – but metal printing gives you a lot more control and customized products.”

Subtractive manufacturing techniques generally involves removing material in order to achieve a desired end product. Additive manufacturing, by contrast, builds new objects by adding layers of material. This process significantly reduces production time, material cost and energy consumption when producing objects such as aerospace engine components, tooling parts for automotive production, critical components for nuclear reactors and joint implants.

Assistant professor Yu Zou, far left, and his 3D printing team conduct research in the Laboratory for Extreme Mechanics & Additive Manufacturing (photo by Safa Jinje)

Zou’s metal 3D printers are designed to specialize in both selective laser melting and directed energy deposition – two essential metal additive manufacturing techniques used in both academia and industry.

First, CAD software is used to create a 3D model of the object and its layers. Then, for each layer, the machine deposits a very thin layer of metal powder, which is subsequently melted by a powerful laser according to the geometry defined by the 3D model.

After the molten metal solidifies, it adheres to either the previous layer or the substrate. Once each layer is complete, the machine will repeat the powder doping and laser melting process until all layers are printed and the object is completed.

“Conventional manufacturing techniques are still well-suited for large-scale industrial manufacturing,” says Tianyi Lyu, a PhD candidate in materials science and engineering. “But additive manufacturing has capabilities that go beyond what conventional techniques can do. These include the fabrication of complex geometries, rapid prototyping and customization of designs, and precise control of the material properties.”

Three different geometries are fabricated layer by layer using the directed energy deposition process (video by Xiao Shang)

For example, dental professionals can use selective laser melting to create dentures or implants customized to specific patients via a precise 3D model with dimensional accuracy that is within a few micrometres. Rapid prototyping also allows for easy adjustments of the denture design. And since implants can require different material properties at distinct locations, this can be achieved by simply changing the process parameters.

The team is also applying novel experimental and analytical methods to gain a better understanding of the selective laser melting and directed energy deposition printing processes. Currently, their research is focused on advanced steels, nickel-based superalloys and high-entropy alloys, and they may expand to explore titanium and aluminum alloys in the future.

“One of the major bottlenecks in conventional alloy design today is the large processing times required to create and test new materials. This type of high-throughput design just isn’t possible for conventional fabrication methods,” says Ajay Talbot, a master’s student in materials science and engineering.

With additive manufacturing techniques such as directed energy deposition, the team is rapidly increasing the amount of alloy systems explored, altering the composition of materials during the printing process by adding or taking away certain elements.

“We are also working towards intelligent manufacturing. During the metal 3D printing process, the interaction between a high-energy laser and the material only lasts for a few microseconds. However, within this limited timeframe, multi-scale, multi-physics phenomena take place,” says Jiahui Zhang, a PhD candidate in materials science and engineering. “Our main challenge is attaining data to capture these phenomena.

“In our research, we have successfully customized specific machine learning methods for different parts of the metal additive manufacturing lifecycle.”

In the lab, high-speed infrared camera systems are integrated directly into the metal 3D printers. The team has also built an in-situ monitoring system based on the images taken by the printer to analyze and extract the key features of printed objects.

“With the development of computer vision, a well-trained deep learning model could automatically accomplish some basic tasks that human visual systems can do, such as classification, detection and segmentation,” adds Zhang.

One of the problems with current additive manufacturing processes is building a robust and reliable 3D printer that can deliver consistent high-quality parts. To this end, the team is actively working to apply machine learning and computer vision to develop a fully autonomous closed loop-controlled 3D printing system that can detect and correct defects that would otherwise emerge in parts made via additive manufacturing. Implementing these systems could greatly widen the adoption of metal additive manufacturing systems in the industry, says Zou.

Since building up the lab’s metal printing capabilities, Zou and his team have established partnerships with government research laboratories, including National Research Council Canada (NRC) and many Canadian companies, including Oetiker Limited, Mech Solutions Ltd., EXCO Engineering and Magna International.

“Metal 3D printing has the potential to revolutionize manufacturing as we know it,” says Zou, who offers an additive manufacturing course that is available to both undergraduate and graduate students. “With robust autonomous systems, the cost of operating these systems can be dramatically reduced, allowing metal additive manufacturing to be adopted more widely across industries worldwide.

“The process also reduces materials and energy waste, leading towards a more sustainable manufacturing industry.”

U of T computer scientist named NSERC/Autodesk Industrial Research Chair in Human-Computer Interaction

noreen.rasbach — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 13:52:28 +0000

U of T computer scientist named NSERC/Autodesk Industrial Research Chair in Human-Computer Interaction

noreen.rasbach Thu, 11/14/2019 - 08:52

Cutline

“We'll be looking at how modern interactive technologies, such as wearable devices, augmented reality, collaborative robots and mixed-initiative systems, will allow people to work and learn in ways that were never before possible," says Tovi Grossman

Alexa Zulak

Topic

Faculty of Arts & Science

Ontario Impact

Computer Science

Technology

The manufacturing industry is changing. Jobs that once relied on individuals to carry out manual labour are increasingly turning to automation because of the growing power of machines and computing systems.”

But humans still need to know how to work with the technology – and where they fit in.

“These rapidly evolving technologies are forcing individuals in impacted industries to work in new and unfamiliar ways, creating new human-computer interaction challenges,” said Tovi Grossman, an assistant professor in the University of Toronto’s department of computer science, in the Faculty of Arts & Science.

“It’s critical to our future that new interactive systems are developed to allow users to work efficiently with these automated design and fabrication systems and to support their learning, training and retraining, to keep pace with the rapidly changing needs of their skill base.”

It’s a challenge Grossman is dedicated to helping find a solution for as the new NSERC/Autodesk Industrial Research Chair in Human Computer-Interaction.

The five-year appointment – for early-stage researchers demonstrating exceptional promise – will allow Grossman to focus on developing human-computer interaction approaches to support hybrid interactive systems in the design and fabrication sectors. These systems help workers create efficient work patterns and maintain their agency while they perform tasks alongside automated technologies.

“Specifically, we’ll be looking at how modern interactive technologies, such as wearable devices, augmented reality, collaborative robots and mixed-initiative systems, will allow people to work and learn in ways that were never before possible,” said Grossman.

An expert in human-computer interaction with a focus on understanding and improving human learning in complex scenarios, Grossman joined U of T in 2018 after working as a distinguished research scientist in Autodesk Research’s User Interface Research group.

“I’m very excited to have been named the NSERC/Autodesk Industrial Research Chair in Human-Computer Interaction,” said Grossman. “As someone who recently transitioned from working in industry to working in academia, this position will give me the best of both worlds.”

The position builds upon U of T’s longstanding relationship with Autodesk, a leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software. NSERC acknowledged the partnership with a Synergy Award for Innovation in 2011, recognizing the collaboration as a model of an effective partnership between industry and higher education.

The partnership has led to a number of research publications, numerous highly skilled computer scientists and many patents and awards. Several employees of Autodesk have joined U of T as graduate students and faculty members, including Grossman himself.

“The partnership with Autodesk will provide me and my students the unique opportunity to transfer research solutions into real-world products that reach millions of users,” said Grossman.

Computer science's Interim Chair Marsha Chechik is proud to recognize Grossman’s success.

“His research often reaches beyond the boundaries of computer science, with collaborations from engineering, architecture and even anatomy,” said Chechik. “His current collaboration with Autodesk is a primary example of a partnership between academia and industry for creating solutions to real-world problems.”

The appointment will also allow Grossman to mentor the next generation of computer scientists, while working on challenging and innovative academic research problems with far-reaching implications in diverse areas, like the education, manufacturing and construction industries.

“Funds for this program will train and prepare a new cohort of computer scientists and give our graduate students in computer science the opportunity to apply their research to real-world problems – putting new technologies into the hands of real people.”

U of T researchers, innovators to pitch ideas for Ontario's growth at annual economic summit

rahul.kalvapalle — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 20:41:00 +0000

U of T researchers, innovators to pitch ideas for Ontario's growth at annual economic summit

rahul.kalvapalle Tue, 11/12/2019 - 15:41

Cutline

Pepper, a socially assistive robot developed in the lab of U of T's Goldie Nejat, is designed to detect and respond to human voices and gestures (photo by Liz Do)

Rahul Kalvapalle

Topic

Ontario Impact

Alumni

Entrepreneneurship

John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture

Forestry

Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy

Mechanical & Industrial Engineering

Robotics

When it comes to using robots to help the elderly, the future is almost here.

That’s according to University of Toronto robotics expert Goldie Nejat, who says we’re only a few years away from deploying robots in long-term care facilities to help residents everyday tasks, exercise and cognitive stimulation.

Her long-term vision is to design robots that can assist with an array of tasks to improve seniors’ quality of life, alleviate some of the burden on their caregivers and family members – and, ultimately, contribute to the expansion of the Ontario economy.

“Health-care robotics is growing substantially, and U of T is at the cutting edge of designing these robots,” says Nejat, an associate professor in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering.

“We’re training the next generation of skilled researchers and entrepreneurs to develop this technology and integrate it into our health-care system to assist people who need the care.”

On Wednesday, Nejat, who holds a Canada Research Chair in Robots for Society, will be one of four presenters pitching their ideas to the audience at the Ontario Economic Summit. The annual event is organized by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and brings together industry representatives, experts and government officials to talk about the province’s economy. The theme for this year’s edition – taking place at the Beanfield Centre at Toronto’s Exhibition Place – is competitiveness. Premier Doug Ford and Mayor John Tory, a U of T alumnus, are scheduled to attend.

Goldie Nejat and a student interact with a socially assistive robot named Tangy, which is designed to facilitate recreational activities and promote social interaction among people with degenerative cognitive conditions such as dementia (photo by Laura Pedersen)

Nejat and three other members of the U of T community will take part in a session titled “The Next Big Idea.” Each will each present a pitch for how a hypothetical public investment of $100 million in their respective sectors could be utilized to drive competitiveness and economic growth in the province.

Nejat will discuss how socially assistive robots can help adults living with dementia as well as health-care workers; Hani Naguib, a professor in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering and director of the Toronto Institute for Advanced Manufacturing, will discuss how advanced manufacturing and smart materials can usher in a revolutionary transformation for factories and industry; Anne Koven, an adjunct professor in the forestry program at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design and executive director of the Mass Timber Institute, will talk about how mass timber and tall wood construction can sustain a mutually beneficial relationship between the forestry industry and thriving urban markets; and Allen Lau, a U of T alumnus and the founder and CEO of data-driven publishing platform Wattpad, will talk about how to nurture Ontario’s tech ecosystem into a global powerhouse.

The session will be moderated by Christine Allen, U of T’s associate vice-president and vice-provost, strategic initiatives, and a professor in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy.

"The Ontario Economic Summit represents an incredible opportunity to strengthen dialogue between academia, industry and government on how we can all work together for the betterment of our province,” says Allen, who is also the co-founder of medical nanotechnology startup Nanovista.

"I'm delighted that the audience will have the opportunity to learn about how the university’s research and talent are leading the way in the development and application of some of the most revolutionary technologies of our time – innovations that are improving Canadians’ lives and contributing to the economic health of the province.”

One of the session's participants is likely to stand out in the crowd, according to Nejat.

“We’re going to take one of our robots and have a demonstration where it engages people to do a few exercise sessions with it,” she says.

That’s a capability that Nejat and her team are also preparing to test in a two-month study that will see the robot lead residents of a long-term care facility through physiotherapist-approved exercises.

“We’ll assess residents’ acceptance of the robot ... and any other feedback during the interaction,” says Nejat.

Nejat’s robots have already spent time in long-term care facilities, where residents, family members, caregivers and administrators have been given the chance to have “meet-and-greet” sessions with them.

“It’s interesting to see how naturally people interact with social robots. They talk to the robot in a similar way that they talk to people. They respond to it, they’re engaged,” says Nejat. “This shows the capabilities and potential of the technology.”

Nejat says robots hold promise in providing older adults with cognitive stimulation.

“Dementia is a worldwide epidemic for which there’s no cure, so it’s important for us to look at using technology to help us live with a certain quality of life as we age and our population demographics change,” she says. “It’s important for older adults to be healthy as they age, be active and take part in social interactions. There’s a lot of potential for robots to support their everyday lives in this way.”

Nejat says U of T’s prowess in robotics and related technologies like AI, as well as Toronto’s bustling innovation and startup ecosystem, makes it the perfect place in which to grow the sector.

“In addition to improving people’s lives, this sector can spur job creation through startups and spin-off companies, as well as the entry of established robotics companies. My pitch at the Ontario Economic Summit will centre on how robotics can help with everyday life, support us as we age and contribute to job creation and economic prosperity in the province.”

U of T researchers' shape-shifting technology paves way for new generation of 'soft' robots

davidlee1 — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 04:00:00 +0000

U of T researchers' shape-shifting technology paves way for new generation of 'soft' robots

davidlee1 Tue, 10/08/2019 - 00:00

Cutline

PhD candidate Yu-Chen (Gary) Sun and Professor Hani Naguib are designing soft robots and wearable devices with smart materials that physically respond to electothermal changes in the environment (photo by Liz Do)

Liz Do

Topic

Graduate Students

Robotics

University of Toronto researchers have created a miniature robot that can crawl with inchworm-like motion. The underlying technology could one day transform industries from aviation to smart wearables.

Hani Naguib, a professor in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, and his group specialize in smart materials. One line of their research focuses on electrothermal actuators (ETAs), devices made of specialized polymers that can be programmed to physically respond to electrical or thermal changes.

For example, an ETA could be programmed to mimic muscle reflexes, tensing up when cold and relaxing when hot.

Naguib and his team are applying this technology to the robotics field, creating “soft” robots that can crawl and curl. They believe these could one day replace the bulky, metal-plated bots found in manufacturing industries.

“Right now, the robots you’ll find in industry are heavy, solid and caged off from workers on the factory floor because they pose safety hazards,” says Naguib, who is the director of the Toronto Institute of Advanced Manufacturing and the manufacturing robotics lead of U of T’s Robotics Institute.

“But the manufacturing industry is modernizing to meet demand. More and more, there’s an emphasis on incorporating human-robot interactions. Soft, adaptable robots can leverage that collaboration.”

Although responsive materials have been studied for decades, the team has discovered a novel approach to programming them, resulting in the inchworm motion demonstrated in a paper recently published in Scientific Reports.

“Existing research documents the programming of ETAs from a flat resting state. The shape-programmability of a two-dimensional structure is limited, so the response is just a bending motion,” explains Yu-Chen (Gary) Sun, a PhD candidate and the paper’s lead author.

By contrast, Sun and his co-authors created an ETA with a three-dimensional resting state.

They used a thermal-induced stress relaxation and curing method that opens far more possibilities in shape and movement.

“What’s also novel is the power required to induce the inchworm motion. Ours is more efficient than anything that has existed in research literature so far,” says Sun.

Naguib says these programmable shape-shifting soft robots won’t just revolutionize manufacturing industries, but could be useful in fields including security, aviation, surgery and wearable electronics.

“In situations where humans could be in danger – a gas leak or a fire – we could outfit a crawling robot with a sensor to measure the harmful environment,” explains Naguib. “In aerospace, we could see smart materials being the key to next-generation aircrafts with wings that morph.”

Though he points out it will be some time before the world sees morphed-wing aircraft, the most immediate impact will be seen in wearable technology.

“We’re working to apply this material to garments. These garments would compress or release based on body temperature, which could be therapeutic to athletes,” says Naguib.

The team is also studying whether smart garments could be beneficial for spinal cord injuries and, over the next year, is focused on speeding up the responsive crawling motion and looking at other configurations.

“In this case, we’ve trained it to move like a worm,” says Naguib. “But our innovative approach means we could train robots to mimic many movements – like the wings of a butterfly.”

The researchers received support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Ontario government.

How this U of T alumnus is leading the ‘vinyl renaissance’

noreen.rasbach — Wed, 02 Oct 2019 04:00:00 +0000

How this U of T alumnus is leading the ‘vinyl renaissance’

noreen.rasbach Wed, 10/02/2019 - 00:00

Cutline

Alumnus Rob Brown, chief operating officer of Viryl Technologies, holds up a “splatter” record made on the company’s LiteTone vinyl press. Viryl Technologies is one of only two firms worldwide that produce such machines (photo by Doug Chappell)

Tyler Irving

Topic

Ontario Impact

Alumni

If you had told a young Rob Brown that he would someday run one of only two companies in the world that make vinyl record pressing machines, he would never have believed you.

“Vinyl was dead,” says Brown, who graduated in 2000 from the University of Toronto's Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. “Growing up, I had a turntable and enjoyed listening to it, but by the time I started my undergrad at U of T, it was all CDs. And after Napster, even those started to disappear.”

After graduation, Brown pursued a traditional engineering career path at first – thanks to a 16-month internship through the professional experience year co-op program, he landed a job in product development at Xerox in Mississauga.

Brown designed document feeders, auto staplers, and other components for printers and copy machines, from conception through to manufacturing. But a few years later, Xerox wound down its manufacturing operations in Canada and Brown went to work for Sentinelle, a startup that made advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) equipment.

“I was the 17^th employee,” he says. “Within just a few years, we grew to 150 people, so I got a taste of the startup life and all that it entailed.”

He also met James Hashmi and Chad Brown, two colleagues that would become his future business partners. Chad Brown had previously been the owner of Canada’s last vinyl record pressing plant, Markham’s Acme Pressing. It was through his former industry contacts that the trio started to hear about the improbable resurgence of vinyl.

“Today we can all carry thousands of songs in our pocket, yet we can’t find anything we want to listen to,” says Rob Brown. “Vinyl makes the process more deliberate. It’s about carving out time to listen to music in a more mindful way.”

Spurred on by the creation of Record Store Day in 2008, vinyl sales in the U.S. have soared from 1.9 million in 2008 to 16.8 million in 2018. The trend in other countries has been similar, accompanied by a brisk trade in second-hand records. Some industry watchers suggest that vinyl sales could soon outstrip those of CDs.

But the renaissance came too late for the companies that made the presses: Virtually all of them had gone out of business. Record companies who wanted to issue new releases on vinyl had to make do with refurbished machines from decades earlier.

“People were buying presses from Russia that had been sitting out in the snow for 10 years, that never had any chance of running again,” says Brown. “There was this huge void for new equipment.”

Around 2015, as their employer entered a period of restructuring, they started to research what it would take to build a modern record press from scratch. They visited pressing plants, taking pictures of their refurbished equipment and reading through dusty service manuals. They expanded their team, scoured the internet for expired patents and watched YouTube videos of old machines in operation.

“Mike Wybenga, who is now our director of engineering, was great at this,” says Brown. “He would zoom in on a video, find a number written on the side of the machine, call it and chat to whoever picked up.”

In this way, the team was able to identify the tried-and-tested solutions they wanted to preserve, as well as the pain points they could focus on improving.

In July 2015, Viryl Technologies was incorporated, with Brown as chief operating officer. A little more than six months later, the team had a working demo assembled. The launch gained media attention and generated a lot of interest in sales; Brown says that the phone was “ringing off the hook.”

Though built with modern materials, the design of the company’s flagship WarmTone vinyl press is broadly similar to the workhorses of the 1970s. What’s different is the way the machines are controlled and monitored. Programmable logic controllers, real-time sensors and mobile-ready software – none of which were available in the disco era – make it easier to detect problems and troubleshoot on the fly.

“Any operator can log in from their phone and see exactly what their plant is doing,” says Brown. “We also have access to that data, which helps us better support our customers and improve our designs.”

The company also offers a LiteTone model, with manual operation geared toward custom productions, such as records featuring pictures or multiple colours of vinyl. Their newest creation is a “steamless” model that eliminates the need for the cumbersome steam boiler traditionally used to heat up the molds. This model is small enough to fit in a standard shipping container, and was recently featured in a Ram commercial with country singer Eric Church.

Viryl Technologies has created a mobile record press that fits in a standard shipping container (photo courtesy of Viryl Technologies)

With more than 50 machines now operating in a variety of countries, business is good for Viryl. Going forward, the company will continue to refine their presses, as well as expand into auxiliary equipment for the record industry and perhaps even other sectors that make use of molded plastic.

The future looks bright, but Brown says that he still thinks back to the lessons he learned at U of T.

“You forget the formulas, but what you remember is the approach to problem solving, and how to quickly get the information you need to move forward,” he says. “I remember one of my instructors, Duncan Newman, always used to say ‘get physical fast,’ by which he meant: Don’t spend too much time designing on paper before you build a prototype.

“That approach has served us well.”

Advanced manufacturing supercluster invests in potentially life-saving gene therapies

rahul.kalvapalle — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 14:11:17 +0000

Advanced manufacturing supercluster invests in potentially life-saving gene therapies

rahul.kalvapalle Thu, 08/22/2019 - 10:11

Cutline

Navdeep Bains, the federal minister of innovation, science and economic development, speaks Wednesday at an event where the advanced manufacturing supercluster's first funded project, focused on genetic treatments, was announced (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Rahul Kalvapalle

Topic

Centre for the Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine

Gene Therapy

Regenerative Medicine

Research and Innovation

The organization that runs Canada’s advanced manufacturing supercluster – which includes the University of Toronto – has announced its first funded project: a consortium devoted to producing special viruses that can deliver genetic treatments to people suffering from late-stage cancers and rare genetic disorders.

Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen), a not-for-profit that oversees the supercluster and includes Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering Dean Emerita Cristina Amon on its board, said it will contribute $1.89 million towards the project.

The project, led by Toronto-based company iVexSol Canada, will see iVexSol forge a partnership with the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM), which is hosted at U of T and counts Vice-President, Research and Innovation, and Strategic Initiatives Vivek Goel among its directors. Other partners include GE Healthcare and Vancouver-based biotech company Stemcell Technologies.

Its mission is to produce lentiviral vectors – retroviruses that are crucial to the development of cell and gene therapies to fight cancer and various genetic disorders – in far greater quantities and at a significantly lower cost than legacy methods by using iVexSol's clinically proven advanced manufacturing process.

Navdeep Bains, the federal minister of innovation, science and economic development, hailed the CCRM-linked project as an example of how the advanced manufacturing supercluster can drive potentially life-saving innovations.

“We all know someone who has had to battle cancer. This project and its results will give new hope to those family members, friends, the very people battling late-stage cancers,” Bains said during an event at the MaRS Discovery District on Wednesday.

“This project is an important first step for the game-changing work of the supercluster and will drive innovation in the treatment of diseases and genetic disorders once considered untreatable.”

Researchers work at the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine, which supports the development of technologies focused on cell and gene therapies (photo courtesy of CCRM)

The advanced manufacturing supercluster is one of five superclusters announced by the federal government in early 2018. Superclusters – networks of companies, academic and research institutions and other innovation actors – are part of the government’s broader innovation strategy to invest in industries where Canadian companies are positioned to emerge as global leaders.

CCRM’s contribution to the gene therapies operation will be to provide manufacturing infrastructure and technical services.

Michael May, president and CEO of CCRM, said the organization was excited to offer its expertise to bring the project to fruition.

“This initiative aligns perfectly with CCRM’s purpose to revolutionize health care by solving the big problems in regenerative medicine, including cell and gene therapy,” said May, who earned his PhD in chemical engineering from U of T in 1998.

Bains noted that advanced manufacturing activities such as the lentiviral vector initiative have the potential to spawn economic benefits for generations.

“This is about making sure that innovation benefits Canadians and also creates economic growth and job opportunities,” Bains said.

“In Canada, we already have a strong footprint in manufacturing, and 10 per cent of the Canadian economy is linked to manufacturing. But today, it is advanced manufacturing that is revolutionizing how we produce goods, which are often products that promise to transform our lives.

“Globally, advanced manufacturing is an industry that’s valued in the billions of dollars – I’m talking hundreds of billions.”

The investment in iVexSol is expected to create over 450 jobs, while the NGen supercluster as a whole is estimated to create over 13,500 jobs and add more than $13.5 billion to the Canadian economy over the coming decade.

U of T researchers to harness quantum properties of light for biomedical imaging, security and more

noreen.rasbach — Tue, 20 Aug 2019 19:09:47 +0000

U of T researchers to harness quantum properties of light for biomedical imaging, security and more

noreen.rasbach Tue, 08/20/2019 - 15:09

Cutline

U of T PhD candidate Han Liu (foreground) and Professor Amr Helmy with a quantum imaging-enabled chip that was fabricated in-house in Helmy’s lab (photo by Liz Do)

Liz Do

Topic

Technology

Shine a regular flashlight at thick fog and you won’t see much more than a grey blur. Yet that reflected light still contains useful information – it’s just coded in the form of quantum data.

Researchers at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering are designing portable, lightweight sensors that could access this information, enabling them to cut through the noise and “see” things that are currently invisible.

“Quantum imaging modalities are no longer a physics experiment,” says Amr Helmy, a professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering. “This is something you could one day hold in your hand.”

Current light sensors, such as those found in smartphones, can detect the wavelengths or colours of the light that hits them, as well as its intensity. When two or more sensors are combined, software can be used to determine the direction from which the light came, in much the same way that our two eyes enable us to perceive distance.

But quantum sensors could access additional information encoded in the photons they detect that lead to a much richer picture of the object in question.

One benefit of accessing quantum information encoded in light is the ability to cut through what Helmy calls “turbid media,” such as fog or scattered light. In these conditions, traditional sensors become overwhelmed. By contrast, quantum sensors could focus in on only the most relevant forms of information, tuning out the ambient “noise.”

Helmy and his team were recently awarded research funding from Canada’s department of national defence (DND), as part of its All Domain Situational Awareness (ADSA) initiative. Helmy’s project will focus on prototyping integrated quantum-imaging techniques for drone detection.

His lab’s work is timely: Drones have been spotted flying dangerously close to airport runways over the past year. The security breaches have led to flight cancellations and chaotic scenes at airports. Because drones are too small to be detected by traditional radar, capturing them – and their operators – has proven to be notoriously difficult.

“If an imaging system had the capability to generate, process and detect, using quantum light, you would be able to distinguish these drones, their size and speed with unprecedented performance,” says Helmy.

Over the next two years, Helmy and his team will be working to optimize and prototype their drone-detection system. But the technology could also enable advances in other fields, such as the biomedical sector. The ability to richly discern objects despite significant environmental noise – for example, layers of tissue – could greatly enhance diagnostic tools such as MRI or CT scans, potentially enabling earlier detection and treatment of diseases.

Helmy also envisions uses for quantum imaging in the emerging field of autonomous vehicles. “Daylight sensing for pedestrians needs to be programmed differently if you’re in India, Africa or Sweden because daylight and sunsets are different depending on time of year and location,” he says. “Quantum technologies developed by our lab can help work across these domains, increasing the dynamic range.”

But if quantum light sensors are bulky, expensive or difficult to use, their adoption will ultimately be limited. To deal with this, Helmy and his team have assembled unique facilities that enable them to design, tailor, nanofabricate and package the quantum illumination technology in-house. Their prototypes typically take the form of “chips” small enough to be held in your hand.

“One of the things that is very unique about our work in quantum research is that we’re able to do this while being low-cost, portable and lightweight,” he says.

Ultimately, Helmy and his team want to demonstrate how they can harness this powerful imaging tool and apply it to today’s market-ready devices, and even make it comparable in price to non-quantum technologies.

“If you can have the same level of versatility and portability as some of today’s devices, but instead you can have along with it, the richness and power of quantum effects – imagine all of the exciting things you could do,” he says.

Seven U of T researchers awarded $3.8 million in federal grants for projects benefiting economy, environment

noreen.rasbach — Wed, 26 Jun 2019 19:09:36 +0000

Seven U of T researchers awarded $3.8 million in federal grants for projects benefiting economy, environment

noreen.rasbach Wed, 06/26/2019 - 15:09

Cutline

Assistant Professor Erin Bobicki, one of seven U of T researchers whose projects have been awarded federal funding, will partner with mining company Vale Canada on storing CO2 in mine tailings to keep it out of the atmosphere (photo by Kevin Soobrian)

Peter Boisseau

Topic

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Cell and Systems Biology

Chemical Engineering

Environment

Faculty of Arts & Science

Forestry

Materials Science

Mining