Momentum - The Magazine for Virginia Tech Mechanical Engineering Vol. 2 No. 2 Summer 2017 | Page 26

Zuo to receive ASME Da Vinci Award
Professor Lei Zuo, John R. Jones III
Faculty Fellow in Mechanical Engineer-
ing, has been chosen to receive the
2017 American Society of Mechanical
Engineers’ Leonardo Da Vinci Award. The
prestigious award is given for “Eminent
achievement in the design or invention
of a product universally recognized as an
important advance in machine design.”
The award, which was announced
May 2, is in recognition of Zuo’s work on
his mechanical motion rectifier which
converts bidirectional irregular vibration
into unidirectional rotation, allowing for
high efficiency energy conversion with
high reliability.
The MMR has applications in the
automotive industry as well as rail and
ground transportation, renewable ener-
gy generation, and motion mechanisms.
The device has been a key component in
Zuo’s work with ocean wave harvesting
technology, designs geared to helping
soldiers recharge batteries while walking, The mechanical motion rectifier converts bidirectional
and harvesting energy from automotive movement into unidirectional rotation, allowing for energy
suspension systems, among others.
conversion.
Click the
images to
learn more
about Zuo's
work.
Ocean Wave
Harvesting Vehicle Energy
Harvesting
Motion Energy
Harvesting Nuclear Waste
Energy Harvesting
MOMENTUM SUMMER'17
PAGE 26