University of Michigan

Optimal, Inc.

Song Ling Young

Shixin Jack Hu

Mihaela Banu

Tae Hyung Kim

Jingyu Liu

Nenad Eskerica

Boris Bagaric

A cradle for a commercial electric vehicle chassis. The cradle for the commercial electric vehicle chassis includes a housing and a bottom access panel. The housing and the bottom access panel are flexibly coupled together at a shared longitudinal edge by a hinge. The housing is formed by a trellis of members and the trellis of members form one or more housing apertures in the structure of the housing.

Cradle for a commercial electric vehicle chassis

A method of making a natural fiber composite panel includes extracting bamboo fibers from bamboo and embedding the extracted bamboo fibers in a polymer matrix material. The bamboo includes bamboo fibers and lignin, and the step of extracting includes mechanically scraping the bamboo fibers to remove at least some of the lignin. In some cases, the bamboo is steamed, soaked in water, soaked in an acidic solution and/or soaked in an alkaline solution before mechanical scraping.

Natural fiber reinforced composite panel and method

A reinforced composite panel and method of making the composite panel uses processed natural fibers such as bamboo along with a polymeric material. The method includes the steps of: treating a plant source comprising natural fibers with a solvent and processing the treated plant source. The processing step can include arranging the natural fibers into a sheet-like orientation in a variety of ways. A polymeric material is then applied to the natural fibers to form a composite sheet, and the composite panel can be formed from one or more composite sheets.

Growing community of inventors

Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America

Song Ling Young