Congratulations to Our 2024 Grand Prize and First Place Winners!

NETrolyze, a novel immunotherapy for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), was named the $25,000 grand prize winner at a live finalist round held November 15 in New York. The first-in-class therapeutic injectable gel prevents the spread of TNBC, one of the most aggressive cancer types, enabling patients to avoid toxic chemotherapy and expensive treatments – potentially transforming their lives. Click here for the full list of 2024 winners. Also see the Top 100 highest scoring entries.

Special thanks to our esteemed panel of judges.

Help build a better tomorrow

Since Tech Briefs magazine launched the Create the Future Design contest in 2002 to recognize and reward engineering innovation, over 15,000 design ideas have been submitted by engineers, students, and entrepreneurs in more than 100 countries. Join the innovators who dared to dream big by entering your ideas today.

Read About Past Winners’ Success Stories

Special Report spotlights the eight top entries in 2023 as well as past winners whose ideas are now in the market, making a difference in the world.

Click here to read more

A ‘Create the Future’ Winner Featured on ‘Here’s an Idea’

Spinal cord injury affects 17,000 Americans and 700,000 people worldwide each year. A research team at NeuroPair, Inc. won the Grand Prize in the 2023 Create the Future Design Contest for a revolutionary approach to spinal cord repair. In this Here’s an Idea podcast episode, Dr. Johannes Dapprich, NeuroPair’s CEO and founder, discusses their groundbreaking approach that addresses a critical need in the medical field, offering a fast and minimally invasive solution to a long-standing problem.

Listen now

Thank you from our Sponsors

“At COMSOL, we are very excited to recognize innovators and their important work this year. We are grateful for the opportunity to support the Create the Future Design Contest, which is an excellent platform for designers to showcase their ideas and products in front of a worldwide audience. Best of luck to all participants!”

— Bernt Nilsson, Senior Vice President of Marketing, COMSOL, Inc.

“From our beginnings, Mouser has supported engineers, innovators and students. We are proud of our longstanding support for the Create the Future Design Contest and the many innovations it has inspired.”

— Kevin Hess, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Mouser Electronics

Follow Create the Future

Use of Inductive Coupling to Automatically Charge

Votes: 5
Views: 6796
Transportation

A whole new generation of purely electric vehicles and "Plug-in" hybrids will soon be commercially available and attention has to be given to creating the infrastructure required to keep the batteries of these vehicles fully charged during their urban commutes.

The present approach is to re-charge the batteries at special charging "terminals" installed in people's homes or in specially designated public parking spaces. The problem with this is that the user has to physically go to the charging station and retrieve the plug and then manually connect the vehicle to the charging station. The open wire is also exposed to daily wear & tear and is also suceptible to possible vandalism. What is required is a more convenient way of quickly, efficiently and conventiently re-charging electric vehicles.

The solution is to use inductive coupling to recharge the vehicle each time that it parks. Inductive Coupling Technology (ICT) can be used to transfer wireless power from one surface to any ICT compatible device, eliminating the need for power cords and battery chargers. With the ICT technology, there are no on or off switches. It is possible to design the system to operate automatically and intelligently. When an ICT enabled area of the vehicle comes into contact with the ICT charging zone, the technology recognizes the product, interprets its power needs and immediately begins to transfer energy.

Copper coils are strategically placed within the charging panel located at the front end of each parking space and in the bumper of each electric vehicle. These coils determine not only the vehicle's power needs, but also the battery life and charging cycles. Intelligent, two-way communication keeps these devices running at peak efficiency without compromising the life of the battery or the life of the device.

There are many benefits to cutting the cord out of the system, but a number of primary factors stand out:
•Efficient: Transfers power with a rate greater than 90% efficiency, making it comparable to traditional hard wired charging.
•Safe: No exposed cords or contacts between charging surface and product.
•Convenient: Eliminates need for corded chargers and adaptors. Keeps vehicles charged wherever they are parked, on the jobsite or at home.
•Transparent to the User: The system does not affect non-electric vehicles or electric vehicles without an ICT charging system in their bumpers.
•Retrofit-able: The modular charging system can be quickly retro-fitted into any type of existing parking space
•Durable: There is no physical contact between the charging station and the vehicle, so there are no mechanical parts, plugs, wires or other components to wear out

Voting

Voting is closed!

  • ABOUT THE ENTRANT

  • Name:
    Paul Tinari
  • Type of entry:
    individual
  • Number of times previously entering contest:
    9
  • Paul's favorite design and analysis tools:
    Solid Works
  • For managing CAD data Paul's company uses:
    SolidWorks PDMWorks
  • Paul's hobbies and activities:
    Solving Scientific & Engineering Design Problems
  • Paul belongs to these online communities:
    Linkedin
  • Paul is inspired by:
    Nature
  • Hardware used for this entry:
    DELL Work Station
    Software used for this entry:
    COMSOL Multiphysics
  • Patent status:
    none