INNOVATION May-June 2019

WASTE-TO-ENERGY FACILITY IN BURNABY The Metro Vancouver Waste-to-Energy Facility plays an essential role in the region’s solid waste management system. Bottom ash is the largest residual from the combustion of municipal solid waste, at about 45,000 tonnes per year. The non- ferrous metal recovery project was designed to increase the recovery of ferrous metal content from the bottom ash, recover the non-ferrous metal component, and improve the uniformity of the bottom ash. Space constraints required a unique vertical design, with the eddy current separator and storage hoppers located above the truck loading bay. The project was commissioned in the fall of 2018. Preliminary results show increased ferrous metals recovery of approximately 6 percent for a total recovery of approximately 500 tonnes per month, and non-ferrous metals recovery of approximately 50 tonnes per month. The total project cost was $5.9 million. Project Owner: Metro Vancouver. Project Management: Brent Kirkpatrick, P.Eng. (Metro Vancouver). Design: Leo Lakowski P.Eng. (LR Power Solutions)

REFLEX TORQUE AMPLIFIER: PLASTIC GEARBOX FOR ROBOTICS AND BEYOND

In an unassuming building in Langley, the engineers at Genesis Robotics continue to tackle decades-old mechanical challenges. For robots to realize mainstream adoption—in the home or workplace—performance needs to go up and cost needs to come down. Genesis Robotics’ REFLEX™ Torque Amplifier is a unique, lightweight gearbox that exhibits the power (50 newton-metre of rated torque and 65 newton-metre of peak torque) and backdrivability required for safe human interaction with robots. The REFLEX™ is injection molded out of engineering plastics, making it cost effective and ideal for mass production. The key to its design is how it directs a symmetric force transfer from a pair of stationary ring gears on each end, to a central output ring gear. For engineers, the REFLEX™ opens new design possibilities that have been unattainable until now. Participants: James Klassen, Richard Bos, P.Eng., Soheil Sadeqi, EIT, Matt Kownacki, EIT.

SUSTAINABLE ENERGYAND ENVIRONMENTALENGINEERING BUILDING The Sustainable Energy and Engineering (SE3P) project, at SFU’s Surrey campus, is a $116-million, five-storey building targeting LEED Gold. The building comprises classrooms, labs, team rooms, a 400-seat theatre, and offices. The building’s ground floor area is approximately 210,000 square feet. The building will house Applied Science Programs including Mechatronics, Systems Software, and a new Sustainable Energy Engineering Program. This new program will consist of 320 undergraduate and 100 graduate engineering students. The project has won Canadian Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute’s 2018 Roy Willwerth Architectural Recognition Award. The building will also be a living showcase for sustainable building standards, and features a heat recovery chiller, displacement ventilation, electronic filters, and CO 2 -based demand control ventilation systems. Faculty and students will focus on research and innovation to advance sustainable energy solutions in clean-tech industries such as electricity production, construction, natural resource extraction, site remediation, utility services, and transportation.

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