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Design and Technology

Home > Design and Technology > Innovation and Emerging Technologies > Trends in designing and producing > Trends in designing and producing in Australia

Design and technology

Innovation and emerging technologies

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Trends in designing and producing in Australia

In your study of innovation and your development of your major design project it is important to be aware of trends in designing and producing. This tutorial examines some of the major trends in designing and producing in Australia.

Outcomes

This material addresses aspects of the following syllabus outcome:

H2.1 The student explains the influence of trends in society on design and production.

Source: Board of Studies NSW, Stage 6 Design and Technology Syllabus, Preliminary and HSC Courses (1999)

Trends in Australian society today are largely governed by the needs of the community. The following examples are a small indication of innovative design activities that are currently being undertaken by Australians either independently or as part of a team, they include the following areas:

1. Biotechnology
2. Environment and energy
3. Health
4. Information technology
5. Manufacturing
6. Transport
7. Research organisations

1. Biotechnology
   The mission of Prana Biotechnology is to develop therapeutic drugs to treat the central disease pathways that cause degeneration of the brain and the eye as we age.
   
   Prana aims to play a major role in providing therapies for age-related disease, initially focusing on the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease and thereby preserving the "life force", the "Prana", within each and every sufferer of the disease. Other potential applications for the Company's technology include Cataracts, Tardive Dyskinesia (a major brain disorder that is caused by prolonged treatment with drugs used to treat schizophrenia), Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD or Mad Cow Disease), Motor Neuron Disease and Parkinson's Disease.
   
   Prana Biotechnology is developing therapies for a broad spectrum of age-related diseases, based on technology arising from a series of discoveries about the causes of major age-related diseases.
   
   The discoveries have emerged from the laboratories of Professor Ashley Bush and Professor Rudolph Tanzi, at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and the laboratory of Professor Colin Masters at the University of Melbourne and the Mental Health Research Institute.
   
   Extract from: Prana Biotechnology Ltd web site, viewed 30th July, 2003,
   < http://www.pranabio.com/>.
   
   
2. Environment and energy
   The Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems (CSES) is part of the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at the Australian National University (ANU). The Centre was established in 1997, and amalgamated pre-existing activities in photovoltaics and solar thermal energy. The Centre currently has 33 staff and 8 PhD students and an annual turnover of about $2.5 million. About 80% of its income is from commercial projects, the balance being support from ANU and ARC grants.
   
   CSES invented a thin crystalline silicon solar cell technique called Epilift. In this process a thin layer of silicon (50 microns thick) is grown on a conventional silicon wafer. The grown layer is peeled off and converted into a solar cell, while the silicon wafer substrate undergoes many further growth and peel cycles. The cost of silicon ingot sawing is eliminated and the mass of silicon per solar module is reduced by a factor of 5 to 10.
   
   Origin Energy made a major investment (~$4 million) into Epilift technology. The research phase of this project is scheduled for completion in the middle of 2002. Over the next year Origin Energy will make a decision about commercialisation of the technology. Recently Origin Energy was awarded $1 million by the Australian Greenhouse Office (RECP6) towards the cost of building a pilot plant.
   
   
3. Information technology
   Lastek Pty Ltd
   The Lastek Group of Companies was formed in 1988 and operates today from a large, fully-restored factory located in the University of Adelaide at Thebarton, Adelaide, South Australia. The Group offers laser and optical technological resources to the Australian and New Zealand photonics industry.
   
4. Manufacturing
   Hypersonic aerodynamics has been a major research activity at The University of Queensland over the last 20 years. The researchers in this group have been active internationally and, during that period, have been involved in collaborative research programs with about 20 universities and research organisations around the world. In November 1997 the University of Queensland Centre for Hypersonics was formally established jointly between the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Physics.
   
   
5. Transport
   The Permo-Drive Technologies Ltd system (select Success stories from left hand navigation and scroll down to Permo-Drive Technologies Ltd) harnesses the previously wasted braking energy of a vehicle, stores this energy and is able to release it back into the drive shaft as required. For example a truck going down a hill or braking can store that energy for use at a later time. If the truck needs to accelerate or go up a hill, or through a gear change, the Permo-Drive system can be automatically activated to deliver additional torque to the drive shaft during periods of peak engine demand.
   
   The benefits include:
   
   • significant cost savings
   • significant reductions in fuel usage
   • reductions in brake wear
   • reduction in clutch, gearbox and other driveline component wear
   • extended engine life.
     
   Operational and safety benefits
   
   These include:
   
   • reduction in the number of gear changes (less wear in automatic transmissions)
   • minimal loss of momentum during gear changes
   • improved acceleration particularly in urban environments and in hilly terrains
   • improved trip times
   • reduction in driver fatigue
   • improved traffic flows particularly in urban environments and hilly terrains
   • provision of accurate data on the operating and mechanical performance of the vehicle.
     
   Environmental benefits
   
   For example:
   
   • reduction in exhaust, carbon and noxious emissions
   • reduction in engine exhaust braking noise
   • reduction in brake dust pollutants
     
     
   Extract from Permo-drive Technologies Ltd, viewed 27/6/03,
   <http://www.permo-drive.com.au/technology.php>.
   
   
6. Research organisations
   The development of cooperative research centres enables both government and private sponsorship organisations to develop design solutions in many varied areas especially those that are related to scientific technological advancement. University research centres also act independently and in cooperation with the CSIRO in many endeavours.