Perspectives on Innovation

The days and weeks pass, and oil continues to blast upwards from the bottom of the Gulf. And as time marches on, we continue to receive submissions from you about how to stop the gushing oil and protect the coastline. Because of the importance and magnitude of this disaster, and because we want to keep you apprised of various InnoCentive activity around this Challenge, we are glad to share during the coming weeks the details of several key solutions and ideas we’ve received from you. Today’s post is a summary of a submission by Ed Melcarek, who is a seven-time winning InnoCentive Solver.

This is a stopgap “band-aid” containment solution at the deep water well head. The oil is directed to the surface with a flexible structure resembling an inverted funnel.  This flexible structure is made of “Hypalon” fabric used in making inflatable watercraft, like Zodiacs. It is highly resilient to abrasion, tensile forces, and is inert to volatile hydrocarbons. The inverted funnel structure has ballast weight inside the outer rim pipe perimeter, and is lowered over the leaking wellhead on the ocean floor via a nylon rope tether.

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The days and weeks pass, and oil continues to blast upwards from the bottom of the Gulf. And as time marches on, we continue to receive submissions from you about how to stop the gushing oil.

To date we’ve received over 800 formal submissions and, starting this week, we want to showcase several solutions that exemplify of the breadth and depth of this community’s work on this Challenge. Patterns of solutions have emerged, as well as some very novel approaches to both the gushing well and the clean-up.

It’s been tough getting BP’s attention—tough for the Feds, tough for local seaside communities, and tough for us to get your solutions to the right hands.

But we’re still pushing, still communicating with the right channels.

We will have an update soon from our CEO, Dwayne Spradlin, about our progress and what he knows from the front lines.

Meanwhile, watch for the first in a series of Gulf Oil Spill solution profiles in the next day or two. Who knows—it might be yours.

Congratulations to Andrew Patterson of Edmond Oklahoma for submitting the winning video in the 2010 InnoCentive Video Challenge!

We were blown away by the quality of all three video finalists – each Solver did an admirable job at conveying the power of InnoCentive Solvers to truly Change the World.   The second and third place winners were announced last week and can be seen here.  Thanks again to all who participated.

The vast majority of Challenges posted by InnoCentive Seekers are of such a confidential nature that we are never permitted to reveal even the Seeker’s identity, much less the actual solution.  However, we recently announced that the SunNight Solar Challenge, which was seeking a solar powered mosquito repellant to combat malaria had been awarded.  We are very fortunate in this instance, that the Seeker, SunNight Solar, and the Solver, Tom Kruer, have been willing to talk about the winning solution.  Below is an overview of the solution, provided by Solver Tom Kruer.

This blog entry describes, in detail the winning entry for the InnoCentive Challenge entitled “Reducing Risk of Malaria with Solar Powered Device”. The simple, passive solar device is shown in the illustration at left.

Not surprisingly, coming up with a viable solution to this Challenge involved the typical phases of product development project. Research uncovered the relatively few critical features that the product absolutely needed to have in order to be successful. The design phase generated and evaluated a number of alternative approaches which incorporated these critical features.  Two of these designs broke all the rules (including the ultimate solution) which the Seeker agreed to at least look at. A couple of crude functional prototypes were constructed to prove that the concept was feasible.  After that, it just was time to crunch some cost estimates and write up the submission for InnoCentive.

It must be pointed out that the Rockefeller Foundation and SunNight Solar deserve a great deal of praise for agreeing to publish this information and achieve as wide an audience as possible… with the ultimate hope of eradicating this terrible disease.  (more…)

Most of the Challenges posted by InnoCentive Seekers are of such a confidential nature that we are never permitted to reveal even the Seeker’s identity, much less the actual solution.  However, we recently announced that the Boston Innovation Prize, which was seeking an energy-efficient air conditioning technology, had been awarded.  We are very fortunate in this instance, that the Seeker, the Barr Foundation, and the Solvers, John Barrie and Dr. Norbert Müller, have been willing to talk about the winning solution.  Below is an overview of the solution, provided by Solver John Barrie.

The Challenge:

Innocentive recently hosted the Boston Innovation Prize which was developed by The Barr Foundation, a private family foundation committed to enhancing the quality of life for citizens in the Boston area, and the Cambridge Energy Alliance (CES), an organization that seeks to reduce the carbon footprint of Cambridge, Mass., in the next five years.

The Boston Innovation Prize challenge was to “radically improve efficiencies in space cooling and dehumidification” and to “identify breakthrough technologies and/or designs which will provide cooling and dehumidification with dramatically higher energy efficiency than current room or window air conditioning units, while maintaining affordability.”  No small task.  Large companies have been working on this for decades.  To put this challenge in perspective, air conditioning technology has already doubled in efficiency since 1970.

Our Solution:

Our winning submission is an air conditioner that uses water vapor as the refrigerant. When water vapor is used this way it is referred to as R-718. Water vapor can be up to 30% more efficient than traditional refrigerants, but engineering the compressor is difficult and expensive.  In Europe where there are high energy costs, water vapor is used as a refrigerant in large projects. The economics of making a smaller scale R-718 compressor have, in the past, proven to be prohibitive. Critical components are commonly made out of titanium.

The key to our winning submission is an economical and very efficient compressor invented by Dr. Müller.   He invented a small and lightweight turbo compressor with an integral motor woven out of high-strength fibers. “It gives wonderful control. It’s efficient and compact,” says Muller who points out that up to 30 percent of the U.S. electricity is used for traditional cooling and air conditioning. Another plus for the woven turbo impeller is that it is very quiet.

Benefits:

While winning the Boston Innovation Prize is wonderful, of equal importance is the added benefit of having such a high level review our technology.  “We looked at number of impressive designs, but this one really stood out because of its potential to consume significantly less energy and reduce peak demand compared to standard air conditioners,” says Kendra Tupper, a member of the panel of judges and a senior consultant at the Rocky Mountain Institute.  The Rocky Mountain Institute is an internationally recognized think tank that works on issues of energy, efficiency and sustainability.  This recognition will help us with upcoming presentations to venture capital.

-John Barrie

To find out more about this project, and see drawings of the solution, check out John’s blog – www.sustainabledesignupdate.com.