Engineering

At the office I have a few air tanks that combine for a volume of roughly 1200 cubic feet. They are normally used for the storage of 3000 psi air (Note: When I say they're 1200 cubic feet, I don't mean that they hold 1200 scf of air; I mean that they have a combined volume of 1200 cubic feet.). In any event, despite the use of air dryers, we get condensation in the tanks. This is bad (mmmkay?). What I'd like to do: Periodically vent the tanks and then pull a vacuum on them to force any condensation in the tanks to boil off thereby drying the tanks out. Early in the process this should be easy, but as the vacuum hardens (read: pressure reduces to < 0.5 p…

Thought this podcast may be of interest to you guys. It's from Boise State's (where I went to school and work with now) Beyond the Blue program, which is a podcast series that spotlights various academics from the university. This one is from Amy Moll, who is a professor of material science and engineering and she was also involved in PBS's Nova: Making Stuff documentary series. You should check it out: http://beyondtheblue.boisestate.edu

So I managed to make a metal rod into an electromagnet. I used speaker wire 18 gage. For power, I used a dc 24v 1.2A transformer. success it worked! After about 60 seconds the I could smell the transformer. I pulled out from the outlet and the transformer was smoking. What should I do to prevent this? what is the best way to supply power and not have over heating?

Continuing on from my previous post about this but pursuing a different method....... I have decided to have a go at making a water cooling system. My idea is to use a piece about 2.5 inch diameter copper pipe to make a cylinderical water filled chamber, i.e. silver solder the ends shut with sheet copper with an inlet and an outlet at the top. Would generating turbulence in the chamber result in better heat transfer into the total volume of the water in the chamber, i.e. as in stirring a pot of water on the stove, or would it be better to generate a venturi effect in the chamber, i.e. with a flatter chamber?

I've heard that when fiberglass is cut with regular saws, etc., it tends to crack and chip. Is there another way to get a better cut on this? I have a fairly large sheet of Plaskolite that I'd like to cut into a variety of pieces.

With all the power behind tides and currents, there has to be a way to efficiently harness this power and put it to good use. How would it be done?

hey need some help.. anyone can give some details regarding the design parameters of a vortex tube. Any established method of designing it .

Would the following set up work as an effective cooling unit...... Copper plumbing tube heat exchanger inside a PC case that is getting quite warm. Copper plumbing tube heat exchanger outside the PC case. Connected via platic tubes to a sealed reservoir with small pond pump and household ammonia and the reservoir can be partially evacuated. The idea being that the ammonia will boil out of solution within the heat exchanger inside the PC case and then re-dissolve as it gives up its heat in the second heat exchanger. Depending on how good a vaccum I can generate, some of the water might boil off too.

An idea that may break through! I suggested there (but there were already developments, at least for disabled persons, if not for every computer user) http://saposjoint.ne...php?f=66&t=1477 to track with a camera the eye position of a computer user and let software deduce where the user looks at. Then, special keys - I'd like them at the keyboard - would tell what action to start with the object looked at. This is meant as a pointing device to replace mices, touchpads and other trackballs. Meanwhile (or had they started before?), the Swedish company Tobii develops such a pointing device http://www.futura-sc...les-yeux_28435/ resembling my description. …

In all different kinds of Sci-Fi we see or read about people taking sonic showers. They would be amazing, just step in, hit a button, and 5 seconds later you are clean. Imagine how much water we would save. The only problem is, how would somebody go about creating one? Any Ideas?

Have set this up myself from parts and I am having problems with it over heating. The only way I can run it is to remove the side panel and have a pedestal fan blowing at full speed into the case at full speed. Can anyone suggest a compact but powerful type of fan, that would give the same air flow as the pedestal fan, but that I would be able to attach (with some modification) to the outside of the side panel over the vent for the usual 80mm case fans. Basically I want to be able to funnel the total air flow from the pedestal fan through the 80mm or so vent in the side panel. 240V fan is OK.

Hi I have a question regarding the RAM Air effect on an automotive engine, and whether this can be improved by engineering a better solution. Currently, the air intakes I have seen tend to have a smooth finish on the inside. I am wondering whether changing this smooth finish to something that increases speed/flow (if this is possible) of the air will have an improved effect on RAM Air. Do any engineers out there think that by changing the internal profile of air intakes it would be possible to improve air flow and therefore increase horsepower from improved RAM Air effect? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. Nick

Hello everyone. I am a newbie to this forum. I am trying to help my 5th grade niece come up with a robotics project for her science project. Can anybody make a suggestion for something that would be suitable and where to gather info for such an endeavor? I have no experience with robotics myself, but want to help her out. All suggestion are welcomed. Thanks in advance for any assistance that you may offer.

Alright I'll skip all the formalities and dive right in: I've got much at my disposal but I've only ever been good at manipulating electricity (welding/machining) rather than learning about it (unless you count the incident wherein I had a nasty sensation from several turns of welder lead creating a magnetic field strong enough to attract my arm to a grounded pipe and numb it, thus making it very difficult to remove). So please have patience if I use wrong terms etc. Before we begin let me just say this: I work with 600 amp gouging units on a daily basis, I know to respect rather than fear the power involved. Also, yes I am hell-bent on creating this device, so hop…

Hi, Please, go to www.youtube.com/veproject1 to see my creations. Some mechanical projects on Videos. Thanks.

I need some help getting started with casting plastic parts for some hobby props I'm making. Could anyone direct me to a nice walkthrough, or answer a few questions? Also, not sure if this is the right forum for this, so if there is one, please move it there. Q's: - How do I make a mold box? -What basic procedure can I follow for casting plastic parts? (these are going to be fairly large, anywhere from 2 inches to 2 feet and a variety of shapes) -What materials are recommended? (best mold, best plastic for casting) All help is appreciated.

I had just had a discussion with a friend of mine about whether a piston's motion stops before it changes direction. He argued that since it pivots on a circular motion from the bottom that it didn't. I say that if he was talking about the piston itself, then it did. Since a piston only goes up and down in the sleeve, then it would have to stop in order to go the opposite direction. I just wanted to get some of your thoughts. Does an object have to stop in order to move in the opposite direction? I believe the answer is yes.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCEQtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D5IP8hMl7FcQ&ei=R4ndTqrcMor10gH3wc23Bw&usg=AFQjCNEe4uC2OsIQIuAuYQuGlQlZbtdi-w This was closer to what I'd been looking to bring in, kind of exciting, a TIME.com video from this month, I think this is from a Canadian engineer just now making headlines for a new discussion in performance enhancement; attention, clarity boosting gaming..

Hi all, How can I measure impact? I'd like to build something relatively simple that can measure the impact of a punch It needs to be fairly simple and portable, I thought about canibalising some bathroom scales... Any ideas?

With the increase of the fuel price all the people of the world struggling to find a better alternative to it and water base fuel in one of better science. Although you can't use water directly you can convert it to hydrogen gas and use it. You can get lot of information through this link. Advertising link removed by Moderator

what makes a metal capable of receiving radio waves? or to rephrase: what is the basic principle behind a functioning antenna?

I need to design an experiment to find the resonant frequency of porcelain. i'd appreciate any suggstions. (or the answer; i don't need to design the experiment if someone has the answer)

http://www.inhabitots.com/energy-generating-soccer-ball-brings-power-to-developing-nations/ I am curious about they store the electricity generated by the soccket ball. If they used a capacitor, what kind? Because a regular capacitor won't be able to store enough electricity to light an LED for three hours. A rechargeable battery? How did they do it? Sidenote: according to them, a 10 minutes play(or charge) can generate enough energy to light a LED light flashlight for 3 hours. A capacitor definitely can not do that, at least I don't think so.

what is mechanotransduction? I could not understand please help me

Can somebody explain it in detail please.