Engineering
- Make Magazine
- A New Push for Wind Power
- Focus on Engineering Basics
- Solar Powered Curtains
- Focus on Sensors
- Learning from Design Mistakes
- Focus on Renewable Energy
- Scientists Create Memristor
- Upcoming: 2008 ASME Annual Meeting
- What is an Engineer?
Posted by
Susan Kristoff
Susan Kristoff
Make Magazine is the publication for those who like to take things apart and make them better.
Do you have a soldering iron on your desk? When something you own doesn't work, do you take it apart and fix it? Do you salivate over the idea of hacking new electronic products to do your bidding? Make Magazine is the publication for geeks, hackers, hardcore do-it-yourselfers, and probably MacGyver if he wasn't a fictional character.
The magazine and its richly complementary website are chock full of ideas, tutorials, and examples of reader accomplishments. Some projects are amazing, some are useful, some are wacky, and some are downright silly. But the point is to show that people have the ability to make things and fix things, traits that have been declining since the mid-20th century when every self-respecting man had a full toolbox, and perhaps some metal working equipment in his garage.
The site also hosts podcasts, video clips, and a community forum for tinkerers to get together and share ideas. To all you engineers out there, get off your theory and get your hands dirty! The satisfaction of creating something with your hands is such a satisfying experience, and Make Magazine is bringing that experience to life.
Make Magazine website
The magazine and its richly complementary website are chock full of ideas, tutorials, and examples of reader accomplishments. Some projects are amazing, some are useful, some are wacky, and some are downright silly. But the point is to show that people have the ability to make things and fix things, traits that have been declining since the mid-20th century when every self-respecting man had a full toolbox, and perhaps some metal working equipment in his garage.
The site also hosts podcasts, video clips, and a community forum for tinkerers to get together and share ideas. To all you engineers out there, get off your theory and get your hands dirty! The satisfaction of creating something with your hands is such a satisfying experience, and Make Magazine is bringing that experience to life.
Make Magazine website
Posted by
Susan Kristoff
Susan Kristoff
Investors take notice when Pickens announces his vision for wind power in the United States.
It seems ironic that an oilman is bringing more attention to wind power as an energy source than environmentalists and politicians have in recent years. T. Boone Pickens recently announced his plan for taking advantage of the wind conditions in the central US and dramatically reducing America's dependence on oil. While wind farms are currently in place in locations throughout the US, PIcken's vision includes an integrated, nationwide system.
The concept is to replace 20% of the electricity generated by natural gas in the US with wind-generated electricity by building large wind farms in the Great Plains, from Texas north through the Dakotas. Our natural gas resources can then be redirected to fueling natural gas-powered vehicles, reducing our dependence on oil. Pickens is already putting his money where his mouth is. His company Mesa Power is already constructing what will be the largest wind farm in the world in Pampa, Texas.
Pickens claims that "building new wind generation facilities and better utilizing our natural gas resources can replace more than one-third of our foreign oil imports in 10 years." He also claims that many jobs can be created in the US for the manufacture and installation of wind turbines.
Of course, there are challenges. The central US lacks the power transmission infrastructure to transmit electricity from potential wind farm locations to population centers on the coasts. While a wind component in our energy policy would have low costs over time, a massive initial investment is required to plan, build, and install the wind farms and associated power transmission.
Despite the potential challenges, it is a "breath of fresh air" to hear someone like Pickens talking about making wind power a significant portion of our energy portfolio.
Sources
PickensPlan website
"Questions for T. Boone Pickens", CNN SciTech Blog, July 10, 2008.
The concept is to replace 20% of the electricity generated by natural gas in the US with wind-generated electricity by building large wind farms in the Great Plains, from Texas north through the Dakotas. Our natural gas resources can then be redirected to fueling natural gas-powered vehicles, reducing our dependence on oil. Pickens is already putting his money where his mouth is. His company Mesa Power is already constructing what will be the largest wind farm in the world in Pampa, Texas.
Pickens claims that "building new wind generation facilities and better utilizing our natural gas resources can replace more than one-third of our foreign oil imports in 10 years." He also claims that many jobs can be created in the US for the manufacture and installation of wind turbines.
Of course, there are challenges. The central US lacks the power transmission infrastructure to transmit electricity from potential wind farm locations to population centers on the coasts. While a wind component in our energy policy would have low costs over time, a massive initial investment is required to plan, build, and install the wind farms and associated power transmission.
Despite the potential challenges, it is a "breath of fresh air" to hear someone like Pickens talking about making wind power a significant portion of our energy portfolio.
Sources
PickensPlan website
"Questions for T. Boone Pickens", CNN SciTech Blog, July 10, 2008.
Posted by
Susan Kristoff
Susan Kristoff
Engineering @ Suite101.com is focusing on engineering basics during the month of July.
Engineering is a diverse profession with several discrete disciplines and many sub-disciplines. Engineering @ Suite101.com is focusing on engineering basics during the month of July. Here is a summary of the recent content that we have on this subject:
Engineering 101: The Basics
Mechanical Engineering 101
Chemical Engineering 101
Electrical Engineering 101
Civil Engineering 101
Look for additional engineering basics articles later this month!
Engineering 101: The Basics
Mechanical Engineering 101
Chemical Engineering 101
Electrical Engineering 101
Civil Engineering 101
Look for additional engineering basics articles later this month!
Posted by
Susan Kristoff
Susan Kristoff
An engineer and architect at MIT is developing energy harvesting textiles that have the potential to allow homeowners to generate electricity in subtle ways.
File this under the "why didn't I think of that?" topic. A researcher at MIT in Cambridge, MA, is combining thin film solar power technology with interior decorating to create energy harvesting textiles that could be used in the home as curtains, wall coverings, or on the exterior of the home to generate electricity.
Sheila Kennedy is an architect and professor at MIT, and she has developed prototype curtains that incorporate thin-film solar cell technology. Thin film solar cells are currently not as efficient as their silicon cousins, but can be manufactured quickly using techniques not much different than newspaper printing.
Curtains are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of home useage. Sheets of material could be rolled out onto a roof, or incorporated into awnings or shades.
Kennedy plans to incorporate small rechargable batteries into the hem of the curtains, and envisions that someday appliances could be directly attached to the textiles rather than plugged into a wall socket.
Kennedy's textile technology is currently on display at the Vitra Design Museum in Essen, Germany, in a prototype home called the Soft House.
Source: "Capture Power with your Curtains", CNN website, July 1, 2008.
Sheila Kennedy is an architect and professor at MIT, and she has developed prototype curtains that incorporate thin-film solar cell technology. Thin film solar cells are currently not as efficient as their silicon cousins, but can be manufactured quickly using techniques not much different than newspaper printing.
Curtains are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of home useage. Sheets of material could be rolled out onto a roof, or incorporated into awnings or shades.
Kennedy plans to incorporate small rechargable batteries into the hem of the curtains, and envisions that someday appliances could be directly attached to the textiles rather than plugged into a wall socket.
Kennedy's textile technology is currently on display at the Vitra Design Museum in Essen, Germany, in a prototype home called the Soft House.
Source: "Capture Power with your Curtains", CNN website, July 1, 2008.
Posted by
Susan Kristoff
Susan Kristoff
Engineering @ Suite101.com is focusing on sensors during the month of June.
Sensors are used by engineers to evaluate the characteristics or behavior of objects or systems. Engineering @ Suite101.com is focusing on sensors during the month of June. Here is a summary of the recent content that we have on this subject:
Don't forget to check back all month for new content on sensors!
Don't forget to check back all month for new content on sensors!
Posted by
Susan Kristoff
Susan Kristoff
Engineers, such as those on the Phoenix Mars Lander crew, look at past mistakes to learn and to improve future work.
Last week, the Phoenix Mars Lander descended successfully to the surface of Mars, the first probe to land on it's legs since the Viking missions. NASA's mission crew had every right to be nervous, since 55% of recent missions to Mars ended in failure. Mission Control breathed a deep sigh of relief when the lander beamed back pictures of it's surroundings near Mars' north pole.
Phoenix certainly lives up to it's name. The guts of the probe were originally from the Mars Surveyor probe that was supposed to follow the Mars Polar Lander to the red planet. When the Polar Lander crashed in 1999, the Mars Surveyor program was shelved. The systems engineers pulled out the old probe to rework it into the Phoenix Mars Lander. Their goal was to learn from the mistakes of the previous Mars missions, and fortunately, or unfortunately, they had a lot of data to guide them. It seem that NASA engineers have learned from their mistakes and unforseen circumstances of previous launches, for the Phoenix Lander has been so far a success.
While most industries don't operate on the multi-year (or multi-decade) time scale that NASA does, we can learn from our experiences and apply what we know to create better products and services. George Santayana penned the famous quote, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." While this quote is in reference to history, it also applies to engineering.
Phoenix certainly lives up to it's name. The guts of the probe were originally from the Mars Surveyor probe that was supposed to follow the Mars Polar Lander to the red planet. When the Polar Lander crashed in 1999, the Mars Surveyor program was shelved. The systems engineers pulled out the old probe to rework it into the Phoenix Mars Lander. Their goal was to learn from the mistakes of the previous Mars missions, and fortunately, or unfortunately, they had a lot of data to guide them. It seem that NASA engineers have learned from their mistakes and unforseen circumstances of previous launches, for the Phoenix Lander has been so far a success.
While most industries don't operate on the multi-year (or multi-decade) time scale that NASA does, we can learn from our experiences and apply what we know to create better products and services. George Santayana penned the famous quote, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." While this quote is in reference to history, it also applies to engineering.
Posted by
Susan Kristoff
Susan Kristoff
Engineering @ Suite101.com is focusing on renewable energy methods during the month of May.
As we near the end of May, we've seen oil prices continue to skyrocket. Attention has turned to alternative energy sources as a way to reduce reliance on oil for generating electricity. For the month of May I have put a spotlight on content in Engineering @ Suite101 that covers the techologies behind renewable energy. Here is a summary of the recent content that we have on this subject:
Solar Power Topics:
An Introduction to Solar Energy
Generating Power from Solar Energy
Solar Antennae that Generate Power
How Nanotech Solar Cells Work
Wind Power Topics:
Wind Power Used for 2000 Years
Generating Power from Wind Energy
Other Renewable Energy Sources:
The Basics of Geothermal Power
Hydroelectric Power Generation
Solar Power Topics:
An Introduction to Solar Energy
Generating Power from Solar Energy
Solar Antennae that Generate Power
How Nanotech Solar Cells Work
Wind Power Topics:
Wind Power Used for 2000 Years
Generating Power from Wind Energy
Other Renewable Energy Sources:
The Basics of Geothermal Power
Hydroelectric Power Generation
Posted by
Susan Kristoff
Susan Kristoff
Scientists at HP labs have created a memristor, an electronic component previously thought impossible to build.
As reported on the Wired Gadget Lab blog, scientists at HP Labs have announced the creation of the world’s first memristor, an electric circuit component that has been theorized for several decades, but until now has not been fabricated.
A memristor is one of four basic electrical circuit components, joining the resistor, capacitor, and inductor. The memristor, short for “memory resistor” was first theorized by student Leon Chua in the early 1970s. He developed mathematical equations to represent the memristor, which Chua believed would balance the functions of the other three types of circuit elements.
But what is a memristor? Chua defined the element as a resistor whose resistance level was based on the amount of charge that had passed through the memristor previously. A memristor would retain its resistance level even after power had been shut down.
The HP Labs team used nano-fabrication processes to create an array of 17 memristors The memristor is composed of two layers of titanium dioxide, each with a slightly different resistivity. As electric current is passed through the memristors, the overall resistance of the device changes because the boundary between the layers of titanium dioxide moves.
Chua observed that the memristor had qualities not unlike neurons in the brain. HP scientists agree that memristors could advance neuronal computing. In addition, because memristors retain their resistance when powered down, they could be used to develop new computer memory devices that could retain the specific state of a computer when the power is shut off.
Obviously, this technology is still in its infancy and additional research and development is required before the memristor appears in consumer and industrial products.
Sources:
Gardiner, Bryan, "Scientists Create First Memristor", Wired Gadget Lab Blog, April 30, 2008.
Chua, Leon O, "Memristor—The Missing Circuit Element", IEEE Transactions on Circuit Theory CT-18 (5): 507-519, September 1971.
A memristor is one of four basic electrical circuit components, joining the resistor, capacitor, and inductor. The memristor, short for “memory resistor” was first theorized by student Leon Chua in the early 1970s. He developed mathematical equations to represent the memristor, which Chua believed would balance the functions of the other three types of circuit elements.
But what is a memristor? Chua defined the element as a resistor whose resistance level was based on the amount of charge that had passed through the memristor previously. A memristor would retain its resistance level even after power had been shut down.
The HP Labs team used nano-fabrication processes to create an array of 17 memristors The memristor is composed of two layers of titanium dioxide, each with a slightly different resistivity. As electric current is passed through the memristors, the overall resistance of the device changes because the boundary between the layers of titanium dioxide moves.
Chua observed that the memristor had qualities not unlike neurons in the brain. HP scientists agree that memristors could advance neuronal computing. In addition, because memristors retain their resistance when powered down, they could be used to develop new computer memory devices that could retain the specific state of a computer when the power is shut off.
Obviously, this technology is still in its infancy and additional research and development is required before the memristor appears in consumer and industrial products.
Sources:
Gardiner, Bryan, "Scientists Create First Memristor", Wired Gadget Lab Blog, April 30, 2008.
Chua, Leon O, "Memristor—The Missing Circuit Element", IEEE Transactions on Circuit Theory CT-18 (5): 507-519, September 1971.
Upcoming: 2008 ASME Annual Meeting
Posted by
Susan Kristoff
Susan Kristoff
ASME will be holding it's annual meeting June 7-11, 2008 at Walt Disney World, Florida
For mechanical engineers looking for professional development, workshops, and a chance to win a spot on a behind-the-scenes engineering tour at Walt Disney World, the 2008 ASME Annual Meeting is an event not to be missed. The Annual Meeting will be held June 7-11, 2008 at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
The event will include plenary sessions on a variety of engineering and business related topics, led by an array of top industry personnel, including Michael Rogers, Futurist-in-Residence at the New York Times Company, John Voeller, consultant to the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Charla Wise, Vice President for Technology at Lockheed Martin.
Workshops are scheduled on the subjects of global intellectual property, multi-disciplinary projects, advanced visualizing technologies, and leading virtual teams.
Other planned events include a career expo and training sessions on the importance of codes and standards to the engineering field.
In addition to the technical sessions, twenty lucky meeting registrants will be selected for a private behind-the-scenes engineering tour at Walt Disney World. For those not so lucky to be chosen for the tour, there is also a charity golf outing and 5K walk/run on the schedule. Proceeds from the charity events will be donated to Engineers Without Borders.
For more information on the 2008 ASME Annual Meeting, visit the Annual Meeting page at the ASME web site.
The event will include plenary sessions on a variety of engineering and business related topics, led by an array of top industry personnel, including Michael Rogers, Futurist-in-Residence at the New York Times Company, John Voeller, consultant to the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Charla Wise, Vice President for Technology at Lockheed Martin.
Workshops are scheduled on the subjects of global intellectual property, multi-disciplinary projects, advanced visualizing technologies, and leading virtual teams.
Other planned events include a career expo and training sessions on the importance of codes and standards to the engineering field.
In addition to the technical sessions, twenty lucky meeting registrants will be selected for a private behind-the-scenes engineering tour at Walt Disney World. For those not so lucky to be chosen for the tour, there is also a charity golf outing and 5K walk/run on the schedule. Proceeds from the charity events will be donated to Engineers Without Borders.
For more information on the 2008 ASME Annual Meeting, visit the Annual Meeting page at the ASME web site.
Posted by
Susan Kristoff
Susan Kristoff
How my son got me thinking about engineering.
While I was working on some engineering content for Suite101, my 4-year-old son asked me, "What is an engineer?" He is a bit aware of the concept of the engineer, since my husband and I are both engineers. While the first definitions that came to my mind were fairly technical, I tried to reframe my answer in a way that would make sense to him. I told him, "Engineers design and build things, and try to understand how things work."
Of course, the engineer in me was screaming that the answer did not cover all of what engineers do, but it seemed to satisfy my son. I told him that there were different kinds of engineers. I explained that some kinds of engineers (civil) build bridges and tunnels, while other kinds of engineers (electrical) design and build computers and other things that use electricity. Some engineers (mechanical) design machines and other things that move. He thought about these responses for a moment, then asked, "What kind of engineer am I?" I laughed at his assumption that he must be an engineer, and then thought about it. I replied, " Well, you are probably a mechanical or civil engineer right now, since you like to build things with your blocks and Lego sets, but that may change later." He liked that idea, and went off to "engineer" something. Will my son become an actual engineer? His disposition and genetics sure say that it's likely. Who knows what kind of engineer he will be, or the technologies that will be available when he enters the workforce.
Of course, the engineer in me was screaming that the answer did not cover all of what engineers do, but it seemed to satisfy my son. I told him that there were different kinds of engineers. I explained that some kinds of engineers (civil) build bridges and tunnels, while other kinds of engineers (electrical) design and build computers and other things that use electricity. Some engineers (mechanical) design machines and other things that move. He thought about these responses for a moment, then asked, "What kind of engineer am I?" I laughed at his assumption that he must be an engineer, and then thought about it. I replied, " Well, you are probably a mechanical or civil engineer right now, since you like to build things with your blocks and Lego sets, but that may change later." He liked that idea, and went off to "engineer" something. Will my son become an actual engineer? His disposition and genetics sure say that it's likely. Who knows what kind of engineer he will be, or the technologies that will be available when he enters the workforce.
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