Research roundup at MSU-Bozeman -Lightning protection – Overlooking history – Pea perfect – Fuel Cells not ready for prime time

Lightning protection

Lightning strikes the average aircraft once a year, says Tia Sharpe, adjunct professor at MSU-Bozeman and former member of Boeing’s lightning protection group. That means engineers want to find ways to keep lightning on the outside of the plane so it doesn’t affect passengers, fuel and electronic systems. When newer planes are made with composite materials instead of metal, it creates new challenges, though. Metal offers good protection, but it’s heavy. Composite materials are strong, but they require unique designs to direct lightning away from sensitive areas. One technique Sharpe used placed metal shavings around rivets. When Sharpe worked at Boeing, she looked for ways to protect B-2 bombers and V-22 tiltrotors from lightning.

Overlooking history

Is recent history too recent to be considered history? MSU historian Mary Murphy has said that Montanans are so fascinated by vigilantes and prospectors that they tend to focus on the 19th century and ignore the 20th century. Walter Fleming, head of Native American Studies at MSU, said textbooks on Native American history generally stop at the 1970s. Both scholars would like people to care about more recent events, too. When Fleming wrote "The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Native American History," he included sections on tribal colleges and gambling. He discussed New Age beliefs as they relate to Native American religion. When Murphy helped edit "Montana Legacy," she hoped the book would spark interest in things like the 1959 state prison riot at Deer Lodge, rural childbirth, and the Mexican subculture in Montana.

Pea perfect

Montana ag producers need crop alternatives that break weed and disease cycles. When the alternatives are legumes that add to soil nitrogen, it also lowers fertilizer needs. MSU researcher Perry Miller, graduate student Mike Sill and the Central Ag Research Center’s Dave Wichman and Chengci Chen are working to help winter peas and winter lentils flourish in no-till grain rotations east of the Rockies. To start, they wanted to find out the optimal planting date. Last year, seeding Sept. 13 yielded a near-perfect crop, while seeding just a few weeks later–on Sept. 30– had just five percent survival. The work is coordinated with researchers in other states. The Western Region SARE Program and the Cool Season Food Legume Research program is funding the research.

Not ready for prime time

Fuel cells, those nondescript metallic boxes whose chemistry produces electricity, have improved significantly in the last decade but aren’t yet ready for the widespread commercialization some promoters dream about. That’s according to several experts who visited the MSU-Bozeman campus recently. A kilowatt of energy from today’s fuel cells costs about $3,000 to produce. To be cost effective, the price tag must be about $400 per kilowatt, said Gary McVay of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Fuel cells are viewed as the energy source of the future because their 40 percent efficiency is much higher than the 12 percent efficiency achieved from current power generation methods. MSU is doing research to improve fuel cell materials. It’s also beginning to train students in the technology. Sen. Conrad Burns has helped appropriate federal funds for the Montana projects.

Contact: Annette Trinity-Stevens, (406) 994-5607

http://www.montana.edu/commserv/csnews/nwview.php?article=988