Engineering

Well, there are some things I don't understand about them. How do they get better mileage and cost you less? Take a gas/electric hybrid for example. What is the advantage of having both types of fuel in your car? To refuel it wouldn't you have to both charge the battery AND fill the gas tank? If both were used, you were using half and half wouldn't the be equivalent to a pure gas or pure electric car? There must be something I'm not getting here. And, there this site http://www.runyourcaronwater.com, are these HHO/gasoline hybrids for real? I just spent about half an hour looking (through my firefox history) for this youtube video that I saw earlier tonight of someone…

Even before Weixiao Huang received his doctorate from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, his new transistor captured the attention of some of the biggest American and Japanese automobile companies. The 2008 graduate’s invention could replace one of the most common pieces of technology in the world — the silicon transistor for high-power and high-temperature electronics. Huang, who comes from humble roots as the son of farmers in rural China, has invented a new transistor that uses a compound material known as gallium nitride (GaN), which has remarkable material properties. The new GaN transistor could reduce the power consumption and improve the efficiency of power ele…

Any military nerds here? http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3e/OP_KILO.JPG This is a Russian built (Iranian service) Kilo Class diesel-electric attack submarine. I'm about to build a model of one which is why I'm researching it. What I'm wondering about is what those little white painted rings on the deck are. Do they serve some functional purpose? The Kilo Class has two, some Soviet submarines seem only to have one and American submarines don't have any at all. Quite the quandry.

Can anyone help with this one? We got a 1993 Van awhile back, and now want to start using it- (Ford E-150). No info underhood on whether it is charged with Freon 12 or new-fangled 134a. The Ford 1993 Shop Manual says clearly F-12. However, the system is equipped with the access ports which accept quick-disconnects, which I thought were only used with 134a. The older systems had smaller, threaded ports. It clearly needed additional charge, high-side showing about 100psi at ambient 80 degrees F. Does anyone know, whether the presence of the newer ports signifies 134a? Is there any simple way to determine what material is in the system? Thanks, in advance, f…

Last night, on the PBS program NOVA, the importance and the science of improving our transportation technology was shared in an accessible and entertaining manner. From NPR, Click and Clack from the Saturday morning program "Car Talk" (which has helped people understand, fix, and laugh about problems with their cars for decades) were our guides, with John Lithgow (of 3rd Rock from the Sun and 2010: The Year We Make Contact fame) as the narrator. The site for the episode, with additional information and resources, is here: NOVA | Car of the Future | PBS You can watch the entire program online (split into 6 chapters) at the following: NOVA | Car…

Hydrogen may be the miracle fuel, but the problem is there aren't any hydrogen filling stations! Apparently, there's one in Essex, but this is used to supply buses that are used in demos to show how great hydrogen is. How are we supposed to go green without the practical means to do so..? http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?menuID=3&subID=998

========================================================================= Asia-Pacific Power and Energy Engineering Conference (APPEEC 2009) CALL FOR PAPERS http://www.srpublishing.org/conference/appeec Wuhan, China March 28-30, 2009 ========================================================================= This conference is sponsored by IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) and Wuhan University. All papers accepted will be included in IEEE Xplore and indexed by EI. This conference will be held in Wuhan, which is one of the largest cities in China on the banks of the Yangtze River. It is in Hub…

========================================================================= Asia-Pacific Power and Energy Engineering Conference (APPEEC 2009) CALL FOR PAPERS http://www.srpublishing.org/conference/appeec Wuhan, China March 28-30, 2009 ========================================================================= This conference is sponsored by IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) and Wuhan University. All papers accepted will be included in IEEE Xplore and indexed by EI. This conference will be held in Wuhan, which is one of the largest cities in China on the banks of the Yangtze River. It is in Hub…

I picked up some odd glassware at a surplus place -- about 50ml, but with no bottom -- and I'd like to try turning one of them into a Jacob's ladder column. The challenge is how to pass the wire through the (flint) glass wall of the bottle for an external connexion. How does one pass a wire through a glass interface, keeping a good seal? Like a connector passing out of the bottom of an old television valve? Thanks!

Hello. I decided to make a wooden model of castle Hohenschwangau but the trouble is that i cant find any plans or anything and pictures of the castle itself won't help much. I have been there and i liked the Hohenschwangau more than neuschwanstein. And making a maquette of castle is much easyer with good blueprints as you all know. So could anyone help me finding the blueprints? Any tips of castle model making would be helpfull as well because i have created only planes. (I don't think that making castle is harder than flying toy plane... ) Any help is welcome. Best regards Markus

Hey Everyone! I'm building a custom lightsaber with my pal, antimatter. We're going to use an 8" chrome bicycle seat post neatly superglue strips of black vinyl to make a grip slide a few gaskets on the pipe to advance the grip throw on a switch add a 28" tranluscent PVC tube with cap, and cram 4 D-Cells and LED's into the hilt. However, I was wondering what type of LED to use. We thought of using K2 High-Intensity LED's, but will this create the sacred "red halo around white blade" effect? Thanks for taking the time to answer, or just to consider the question!

I was playing video games for once and started wondering: are [acr=Heads Up Display]HUDs[/acr] feasible? I was thinking of maybe a clear flexible [acr=Organic Light Emitting Diode]OLED[/acr] on the inside of the mask to display a "radar" and other things such as battery life and air pressure for the gun. For the "radar", I was thinking a [acr=Global Positioning System]GPS[/acr] combined with an [acr=Ifrared]IR[/acr] detector to sort of detect hotspots and calculate their position. This information (and similar information gathered from teammates via wireless communication) could be used to place dots where there is known to be an object with a temperature around that of t…

I'm debating whether or not to take the Automotive Engineering and Computer Science double degree, or just the engineering part alone. Most of the subjects taught in Computer Science will be Algorithms, Java, Operating Systems, Data Structures, etc. How much Computer Science of this sort is used in Engineering?

I perform functional tests on turbine auxiliary power units (APUs) and accessories. I am acquiring equipment for specific tests and I have an adjustable spark gap with ball tips that I want to use for testing ignition exciters. My problem is that the OEM specifies voltage setting points of their spark gap and I do not have any scale on mine, just a distance that I can measure. The exciters I test are rated at 18kV. The test specifies 15kV and 24kV points. I may need to go higher and/or lower with units I will be testing from other engine models. Does anyone have a table or reference formula for setting a spark gap for a specific DC voltage in air? I know that…

I want to know what device is shown in this video: What is the name of the sphere device?

I have a diesel Nissan Vanette that was recently involved in a little ‘accident’ and will probably not pass its inspection next year, the engine however is in good condition. I have this crazy idea that I could take the engine out and couple it with a generator head to make a generator set. I have a feeling this is gong to be a biggish project but I can’t bear to throw out a perfectly good engine. I did some searching and I found that a 30 kW generator set costs around $10,000, but a 30 kW generator head only costs $1,000 - $2,000. So I want to use the engine to make a relatively cheap generator set. My biggest concern is the governor mechanism (voltage regulator)…

from their website... "RED Water Temperature Requires 2 1/16” hole for mounting with back clamp provided. Range is 70-260F. Features ‘Hi” and “Lo” scrolling warning and user adjustable “flashing” warning. Available with high and low memory recall feature. Requires Cyberdyne temperature sender shipped with gauge." I'd like to use this gauge for a project but am unable to use the temperature senders that the company provides. I need to make my own. This will be a low temp water cooling circuit. Would one of the LM34 units described at National's site most likely work OK for this? http://www.national.com/mpf/LM/LM34.html Would the plastic LM34DZ…

I recently enjoyed a demo riding the Segway one-person gyro-controlled conveyance or whatever to call it. It is quite impressive and I enjoyed feeling dumb like a six-year old as I fell off making a backup turn. Clearly it would be useful in some circumstances, with a battery range of more than thirty kilometers, and one can mount two hardshell carrying cases for a moderate amount of groceries. My question: are folks finding these things useful or are they just a "rich man's toy?" Are you Europeans whizzing around towns on them, or even back and forth to towns?

Hi, I have seen a lot of videos of bedini motors, and I always have seen a white plastic where you put the magnets. It seems to be a special plastic. Is a special plastic or it doesn´t matter what kind of plastic do you use?

What's the difference between the three and what are the advantages of each? Thanks! (I just know that this is some dumb question that slipped my mind)

I want to build a homemade wind turbine and I would to know what affects to get more or less watts. The size? The wire resistance? Velocity? The number of coils? It´s supposed that I want to get MORE watts. What do you suggest?

I was looking online for some cheap robotics to play with, and I came across several kits to make robotic arms. For some reason I then remembered that a while back someone made a PS2 controller that uses brainwaves. It only seems logical to me to combine the technologies and creates brain controlled prosthetic limbs. Has this been done? edit: Apparently, this company is working on a way to give some sensory perception back to amputees, but I've not yet seen anything about brain controlled prosthetics.

So I am making a ballista for history class and I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions or ideas. This needs to be as historically accurate as possible (wood, ropes, ect.) and is about 10' wide at max. Thanks for any help.

Is that possible? And I have a question... when I charge a capacitor... Is possible to use that energy that the capacitor has by using it little by little, or when you discharge a capacitor, the capacitor discharges in the same moment that you use the energy?

Hello i'm sorry if i'm posting this at the wrong forum but i really need help with this particular competition and the deadline is on 31st of March T__T I posted in this forum before regarding my science competition last year and i have received a good feedback resulting me winning my 1st place to NASA in US so i'm really grateful. So now, i decide to join another competition (yeh i'm a very competitive freak -.-) and i hope you guys can help me in this one. The question of the compeition is: How is technology and engineering driving change in a country of your choice? Further information: http://www.independent.co.uk/student/the-independentbosch-technology-horiz…