Engineering

Which is more interesting and beneficial among Engineering Math and Engineering Physic?

I understand that connecting batteries in parallel is not recommended, if not quite dangerous. Because any small difference in voltage will result in an equalizing current following between the batteries - possibly a very large equalizing current. But is not a single battery effectively an infinite number of batteries in parallel? Or, expressed another way: how close do two batteries connected in parallel need to be to be viewed as one larger battery? And even if it isn't considered an infinite number of batteries, chances are there'll be uneven voltages over the plate(s) area during discharge. Which surely must mean equalizing currents within the battery - possib…

Hi, I am new to the forum. Straight to question: Material I have: Two Batteries each 200Apms 12 Volts Solar PV as follows: 200W 24 Volts 6 Amps 250W 24 Volts 7 Amps 230W 24 Volts 7 Amps Inverter Input 24 Volts from solar to 12 V output to battery. Questions I have: 1. Amps written on the Solar PV as 6 or 7 amps are 6 amps/hr? Or does it means something else? 2. How many hours will my solar panels take to charge my two batteries? (I understand that there is a solar charge controller in between to control) If you can give the calculation, I would really appreciate. 3. What is required to charge battery - voltage or Amps or both? Is it correct to say that to ch…

I took apart an old air conditioner, and attached a belt to the rod on the fan, and intend to use it to drive a pulley, however the fan doesnt have enough strength to fully spin with the load attached (the fan puts out 0.03 hp). Is there a way to increase the volts going into the eletrical engine to give it more force to rotate with the load attached. I has 120 volts flowing through, is it possible to have 140, 180, 240 volts? ~EE

As never dealt with water wells... In my backyard there is a now unused water well, never seen or dug it, and a single (plugged to avoid dirt in) 2" black polyethylene pipe comes out of the ground. It was connected to the inlet of a now defunct plain pump + pressure tank that looks like this set: http://inspectapedia.com/water/JetPump020DJF.jpg House is on a swampy lowland From the type of pump; ---> Is it safe to assume it is a shallow well < 10m/30ft ? ---> It is safe to assume there is a non-return valve at the deep end of the pipe ? ---> Can anyone suggest a 12V DC pump to take its place ? Not much pressure needed, it is a single story dwelling. Not m…

Snowbird has been built by AeroVelo, a team of students at the university of Toronto The previous (young strong light wo-) man-powered one relied on ground effect to hover little above the ground. Toronto's team has obviously improved a lot, since their flies higher, not using the ground effect (winning as a consequence the Sikorsky prize, which had been proposed so long ago), and since the pilot doesn't even look exhausted. Fantastic achievement!

I heard recently that in many places much of a person’s time is spent collecting fire wood to heat water for the purpose of sterilization. I was wondering if a solar oven could be used instead of fire. I'm thinking of something like this. a plastic box with reflective surface with a reflective interior measuring 1Mx1Mx1m and a lid which would be propped open at a 45 degree angle (and is reflective) would this be an effective solar water purifier?

My roommate tells me that he is a refrigerator expert, and the reason my refrigerators on the patio are not cooling properly is because they are plugged in with an extension cord. Is there any truth to this? He says the refrigerators are not getting enough power, and will not get cold enough, because they need to plugged into a wall socket. The patio has a solid roof, and the sides are covered with tarps, so the refrigerators are not exposed to the sun. We have three refrigerators on the patio: 1) 4.7 cubic feet, 2) 14 cubic feet, 3) 21 cubic feet. The big one is the main problem, and has not been working properly ever since I got it over a year ago (from Crai…

I plan to make a small induction heater using copper tubing for the work coil, and run water through the tubing for cooling purposes. Assuming water as the coolant fluid, an inside diameter of [math]d[/math], a maximum height differential of [math]h[/math]" (going through a cooling block), and a total tubing length of [math]l[/math], how can I calculate the maximum volume of water and the necessary PSI of the pump? There'll either be a sharp 180⁰ bend where the tubing doubles back, or else the 180⁰ turnaround will be made more gently by transitioning to a nonconductive pipe -- depends upon how much of an impact the sharp bend would have on the maximum flow. I …

Do planes really fly faster when they fly at lower altitudes?

Down here on earth there we have a o zone layer that knocks most of the sunlight too another part of space we use solar panels here on earth right ?Well imagine if told you if we used solar panels in space we gather more sunlight which means more energy all we have to do construct a satellite with solar panels on it and place battery's inside the satellite the battery's will be charging off the solar panel for 30 years place the satellite a little further out in the ozone layer to collect the energy and i have a feeling the battery's will be super charged by time 30 years have passed depending on how close the satellite is to the sun .

This oldish engineering news from MIT introduces shape shifting robots and electric motors with memory, both with potential real world applications. The robotic equivalent of a Swiss army knife

Concerning a Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube, I'm wondering about the effect of the curve of the spiral vortex chamber on the device's performance. Specifically, I'm wondering if there would be any particular effect if the curve were a golden spiral rather than just any old spiral. I haven't found any references online, so I'm tossing it into this remarkable collection of creative minds to see if anyone has any thoughts. What do you think? Thanks!

It's about this vehicle I sketched, and how it would work as a real vehicle: It's supposed to be a convergence between a motorcycle and an airplane. I was thinking that it would utilize the ground effect for most of it's lift, while the rest of the lifting force would come from a small jet engine (Supposed to be able to reach 500 km/h in 0-3 seconds). It already has the control flaps as required of jet planes. It's wingspan is supposed to be somewhere around 12-14 feet. With these statistics in mind, how far above the ground would it get?

A very long open canal dug on plain soil has contaminated water, or seawater if you prefer. As very long means nothing; assume 10 Km. Placing an electrode touching that water, with 120VAC 60Hz phase from mains; a sustantial current flows trough the water into ground. (actually a 60W bulb in series is nearly at full brilliance !, say 80% (~0.4A) as conductivity is very high.) Current path: 120VAC phase-------------------lightbulb---------------------------immersed in murky water-----------------------canalground. [The bulb acts a current limiter] How far reaching is the effect of the current ? Is there a way to calculate such distance? Obviously if d…

Hi. Is there an external distinctive, simple visual sign on a domestic refrigerator compressor to tell if it is scroll or reciprocating, other than researching the label and its manufacturer/model data sheet ?

Hello, I just happened upon this forum, and I have to say it seems pretty amazing all the topics it covers, I wish I had found it sooner! I already know this will become a useful resource for me. Unfortunately, I already must ask for the help and time of any forum members willing to offer it, and this thread will probably seem pretty trivial in comparison to how technical this forum is. I must conduct a short Q&A for a class assignment of someone within the field of my chosen career, aerospace engineering. They are simple questions about what you like the most about this career, what a typical day on the job is, etc. If anyone within this field can spare just a c…

i need help making an inverse switch. i don't know what to google for to get a proper result and i've been digging around a bit and didn't find anything. i need to make a circuit where when a switch is closed, the circuit is incomplete, and when that switch is opened, the circuit is complete.

I'm not sure if this has been addressed previously, but there is an engineer who goes by the name of Dan who claims he can build a real starship Enterprise within the next 20 years. All he requires is the necessary funding, which is about $50 billion for each year, which I think is insane! Anyway, he has a website and while I found it an informative and entertaining read, I think this guy has lost his marbles. See link below: http://www.buildtheenterprise.org/ Granted, I'm no engineer, but I would imagine that the starship Enterprise design would not be spaceworthy at all, considering such design flaws (in the attached photos below) such as the thin neck sect…

I'm a new comer of aerospace engineering in postgraduate study. I wonder which is more important for engineering research work, the background knowledge,i.e.,the underlying mechanism(e.g. dynamics) or methods we employ(i.e. control theory)? In other words, is the understanding of the model of the problems, or is the methods we use for the solution, more important? For instance, I may study on the navigation of spacecraft descending on Mars. Then what should I concern more? The dynamics of the descending objects or the methods of state estimation(e.g. filtering)? Hope someone can help me what the most important thing is in engineering. Thanks in advance!

Hello, please I want to know how to calculate the overall efficiency of a concentrated solar power plant (CSP) which uses parabolic trough concentrator,so please if you can provide me with detailed information and calculation method. My CSP power plant is running under basic rankine cycle,with a pump,parabolic trough concentrator, a turbine and a condenser. The boiler,in this power plant is replaced by the parabolic trough concentrator to generate steam before entering the turbine. The idea is to find how the integration of parabolic trough concentrator,will affect the efficiency formula of the basic rankine cycle,maybe it will multiplied by the collector efficiency,…

ow exactly did modern electricity become available? Let's say I was stuck on an island which contained every naturally occurring element. How could I make modern lighting from scratch?

Is a hovercraft's skirt a part of the vehicle itself? I'm asking because somebody else online just said this: "A flexible skirt around the bottom of the pressure plenum will confine the air pressure, ride over small obstacles, and lift the whole assembly higher." He said "the whole assembly", which I thought meant the hovercraft's body. Does this mean the skirt is not a part of the craft itself? I thought it was because it was still attached to the vehicle.

I have been very interested in learning about robotics for the past 2 years. However, I have no idea where to start. I'm not too sure if I should start by searching for basic robotics lectures or if maybe I should look up some electrical engineering first or something else entirely. If someone could help me take my first step in the right direction because I would more than love to get started this summer. Also, I do have a decent background in physics and mathematic along with a bit of a coding background if that helps.

Which material, hardness, shape, porosity, tilt angle... would you say plain water dripping on it causes finer, more, farther reaching bounced droplets/splash ? (for a given height, say 1 metre) Seems like more than calculating, would be empirical knowledge (As to better ~evenly wet the surrounding area)