{"id":5796,"date":"2024-04-10T20:46:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-10T20:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/?post_type=purduetoday&#038;p=5796"},"modified":"2024-08-03T11:35:49","modified_gmt":"2024-08-03T15:35:49","slug":"purdue-invented-concrete-strength-sensing-system-finalist-for-edison-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/2024\/Q2\/purdue-invented-concrete-strength-sensing-system-finalist-for-edison-award","title":{"rendered":"Purdue-invented concrete strength sensing system finalist for Edison Award"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"purdue-initial-words-wrap\"><p class=\"purdue-initial-words\">WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. &mdash;<\/p> \n<p>A Purdue University invention that could help reduce time and money spent on the construction and repair of concrete highway pavement and other structures has been selected as a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/edisonawards.com\/2024-finalists\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">finalist<\/a>\u00a0for an Edison Award in the Critical Human Infrastructure category.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The Edison Awards, considered the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/edisonawards.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Oscars of innovation<\/a>,\u201d are given annually to \u201crecognize the persistence and excellence that also characterized Thomas Edison\u2019s work.\u201d&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/edisonawards.com\/2023-winners\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Previous winners<\/a>&nbsp;of this award include Honeywell, GoPro, General Motors and 3M. The Purdue invention will receive a gold, silver or bronze award April 18 at the 2024 Edison Awards in Fort Myers, Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n    <div  class=\"purdue-home-quick-links-static \">\n        <div class=\"tagged-header-container\">\n\n            <h2 class=\"tagged-header\"><span>ADDITIONAL INFORMATION<\/span><\/h2>\n        \n        <\/div>\n\n       <ul class=\"quick-links-content\">\n                                        <li class=\"quick-link__item\">\n                                                                <a class=\"quick-link__link\"\n                                    href=\"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/releases\/2023\/Q3\/purdues-talking-concrete-embedded-into-new-i-465-and-i-69-interchange-in-indianapolis.html\" target=\"_blank\">\n                                    Purdue\u2019s \u2018talking concrete\u2019 embedded into new I-465 and I-69 interchange in Indianapolis                                <\/a>\n                            <\/li>\n                                                <li class=\"quick-link__item\">\n                                                                <a class=\"quick-link__link\"\n                                    href=\"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/releases\/2023\/Q1\/talking-concrete-could-help-prevent-traffic-jams-and-cut-carbon-emissions-interstates-throughout-u.s.-consider-purdue-invention-to-reduce-road-repairs.html\" target=\"_blank\">\n                                    \u2018Talking\u2019 concrete could help prevent traffic jams and cut carbon emissions                                <\/a>\n                            <\/li>\n                            <\/ul>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<p>The invention is sensors embedded into a fresh concrete pour that can&nbsp;measure the concrete\u2019s strength levels in real time, conveying when highway pavement is strong enough for traffic. These sensors are also being tested and developed for use in bridges, airport runways and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/releases\/2020\/Q4\/is-that-building-done-yet-researchers-test-sensors-that-could-speed-up-construction-schedules.html\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">buildings<\/a>&nbsp;to reduce their need for repair and speed up construction timelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/engineering.purdue.edu\/CE\/People\/ptProfile?resource_id=128278\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Luna Lu<\/a>, Purdue\u2019s Reilly Professor of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/engineering.purdue.edu\/CE\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Civil Engineering<\/a>, has led development of the sensor technology since 2017.&nbsp;This innovation hit the market Dec. 1, 2023, as the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/wavelogix.tech\/products\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">REBEL Concrete Strength Sensing System<\/a>, a product of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/wavelogix.tech\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Wavelogix<\/a>. Lu, the chief executive officer of Wavelogix, founded the startup in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fhwa.dot.gov\/policyinformation\/statistics\/2016\/hm12.cfm\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">According to the Federal Highway Administration<\/a>, concrete pavement makes up less than 2% of U.S. roads but approximately 20% of the U.S. interstate system. Though concrete interstate pavement supports much of the nation\u2019s traffic, road construction has caused traffic jams that waste 4 billion hours and 3 billion gallons of gas every year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The REBEL Concrete Strength Sensing System has the potential to&nbsp;decrease the frequency of concrete pavement repairs and allow roads to open sooner after a fresh pour by&nbsp;providing a better understanding of the concrete\u2019s strength levels and precisely determining when the pavement is strong enough to handle heavy traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This sensor system may be the most effective alternative to concrete strength tests that have been in use for more than 100 years. Engineers would no longer have to test large samples of concrete at a lab or onsite facility to estimate the strength level that a concrete mix will reach after it\u2019s been poured and left to mature. Rather, these sensors would be put into a concrete pour and plugged into a handheld device that logs concrete strength data, which provides the ability to directly monitor fresh concrete and accurately measure many of its properties at once.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Highways and bridges using this technology could last longer, which would further reduce repairs, the traffic the repair work causes, and millions of taxpayer dollars spent on these repairs. Cutting down on traffic would also reduce carbon dioxide emissions that vehicles would have emitted while waiting to get around a construction site. In decreasing road repairs, the technology has the potential to reduce 1 billion tons of carbon emissions globally by cutting up to 20% of cement in concrete mixes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The sensor system&nbsp;has already garnered prestigious recognition on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/collection\/best-inventions-2023\/6326422\/wavelogix-rebel-concrete-strength-sensors\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">TIME\u2019s Best Inventions of 2023<\/a>&nbsp;list. Additionally,&nbsp;Fast Company magazine&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fastcompany.com\/90804444\/transportation-robotics-and-automation-the-9-next-big-things-from-delivery-drones-to-warehouse-bots?_ga=2.256660751.581574254.1675089722-1903393249.1569853467\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">named this invention<\/a>&nbsp;one of its&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.fastcompany.com\/next-big-things-in-tech\/2022\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Next Big Things in Tech for 2022<\/a>,&nbsp;and the American Society of Civil Engineers\u2019&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/infrastructurereportcard.org\/gamechanger-item\/sensors-tell-construction-crews-exactly-how-long-to-let-concrete-cure\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2021 Report Card for America\u2019s Infrastructure<\/a>&nbsp;selected the technology as one of its \u201cGamechangers\u201d for the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More than half of U.S. states with concrete interstate pavement are currently participating in a Federal Highway Administration study to implement the sensor system, including Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Kansas, California, Texas, Tennessee, Colorado and Utah. In 2023, the sensors&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/releases\/2023\/Q3\/purdues-talking-concrete-embedded-into-new-i-465-and-i-69-interchange-in-indianapolis.html\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">were added<\/a>&nbsp;to the future I-465 interchange to I-69 south on Indianapolis\u2019 south side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wavelogix licenses this innovation from the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/purdueinnovates.org\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Purdue Innovates Office of Technology Commercialization<\/a>, which has applied for patent protection on the intellectual property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About Purdue University<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Purdue University is a public research institution demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top four in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, including nearly 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue\u2019s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap \u2014 including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the new Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, and Purdue Computes \u2014 at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/president\/strategic-initiatives\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/president\/strategic-initiatives<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. &mdash; A Purdue University invention that could help reduce time and money spent on the construction and repair of concrete highway pavement and other structures has been selected as a\u00a0finalist\u00a0for an Edison Award in the Critical Human<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":5797,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"department":[],"source":[29],"purdue_today_topic":[],"coauthors":[206],"class_list":["post-5796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","source-purdue-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5796"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7686,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5796\/revisions\/7686"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5796"},{"taxonomy":"department","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/department?post=5796"},{"taxonomy":"source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/source?post=5796"},{"taxonomy":"purdue_today_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/purdue_today_topic?post=5796"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}