Engineering

What do you make of this? http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/crowdfarm-0725.html Apparently, a couple of grad students at MIT proposed a way to power things by the movement of people, in what is called a "Crowd Farm". This is supposed to harness the mechanical energy of the movement of people and convert it into electricity. The way its supposed to work is that you have some sort of mat that, when you step on it, it depresses slightly and this would generate power through the Dynamo Process. Ideas for use range from train stations to concert theaters.

I just watched a show today on the science channel which was about the new spacecraft that is being designed by NASA. The spacecraft, called Orion, is intended to replace the shuttle by the next decade. The show was called Starship Orion. What they talked about here was about the design phase of the spacecraft and how they are progressing so far. They focused a lot on the reentry vehicle as that will be crucial for returning to Earth. I found the show pretty interesting. They talked about data that was collected while testing it in the vacuum chamber, wind tunnel, and even subjecting the material it will be built from to temperatures comparable to that of the su…

can you answer the question mentioned above? thanks!

This might seem supid. How would I make a tracking system using Infa-red or laser and the brain would be a BASIC Stamp 2 that would control four servos retomely?

Hi all. What is the pressure the ice would exert to a rigid hermetic strong enough container if fully filled with water and exposed to freezing ? Miguel

I read an article by ScienceDaily which goes over the possibility of controlling robots and machines by thought alone. Of course, controlling computers via brain-computer interface is nothing new. But in this particular case, these people are exploring controlling a robot, whether it be an arm, or a humanoid one, UAV, etc. Also, invasive brain surgery would not be needed because an EGG would translate the brain signals into digital commands. This article deals mostly with control over a humanoid ones. Here are some of the details: "Objects available to be picked up are seen by the robot's camera and conveyed to the user's computer screen. Each object lights up ra…

Hey guys, As I promised, I have another question in the series of "Help me be a good equipment-mastah" topic I have a question that goes as follows: At work, we have about 20 chargers for magnetometers (we have more devices, but they're not all charged at once) and about 30 for motorola 2-way radios. Up until a few days ago, almost all of the chargers were connected to about 2 electricity sockets. I changed that for now to have about a limit of approximately 8 devices per socket (out of - for now - limitations of room, sockets and chargers). How do I figure out how many chargers can "sit" on the same socket without us waiting a few DAYS for the device to …

How do machines like robots and spaceships detect damage when it is done? Do they have some type of mechanical or robotic nerves that give it the ability to detect damage amongst itself?

Ever witnessed a flying saucer (sometimes called "UFO") which flies at extremely high speeds and pulls off right angles and maneuvers that would tear any other flying machine into a million pieces? Read on... Many people report that the UFOs they have witnessed glow bright colors, sometimes they even have high voltage lightning shooting off of these ships. Often the UFO (space ship) will glow purple, green, orange, or red. The key is that you realize electricity at high voltages can cause the air around an electrified device to glow different colors, all depending upon what sort of atmospheric gases are around the flying craft. (in much the same way your flourescen…

Hello, I am currently engaged in building a prototype. The main problem I am having is my battery running out of juice too quick. The main component is using a 5v brushless motor. I dont know much about batteries and I have been using a standard 9 volt in my rough prototypes. I need between 2 to 4 hours of run time to make it viable and so far I have been able to eek out 45 mins on a fully charged 9 volt. I have also been looking into rechargeable battery packs like the ones in cell phones and even the ones that are like 5 AA wrapped up and put out 6v. My question is what type of battery should I be using for battery life to get me as close as possible to my goal with out…

I`m sure most car owners have heard of these or have seen them in TV shows or in movies. often as a tank under the seat and switch on the dashboard that gives instant extra acceleration. now from what I understand the Nitrous Oxide simply provides extra Oxygen to the fuel mix. so why isn`t Oxygen itself used!? it would last loads longer as all you need to do is Up the 21% oxygen already in the air, so a slow input of pure O2 into the carb taking the percentage up a few points to say 25% should do the same thing surely?

I sense that few viewers or contributors look at and consider examples of either existing Engineering or proposed solutions as posing either poor results or needing improvement through further consideration. In less words, as an Engineer, I look for, and often find, examples of engineering results in products which are poor or improvable, and that troubles me. Would it not be valuable for both up-and-coming Engineers, as well as established ones, to discuss method and product improvement possibilities in this Board? imp

Hey guys The people in my workplace use a bunch of electrical utilities that is - currently - equated to a bunch of crap, due to mishandling and bad maintainance. Since I repaired a few malfunctions, my boss has decided to put me in charge on the equipment in general. The problem is that my knowledge is limited So. I must have some help, so expect a few questions from me in the next few weeks, months, years, however long it'll take to fix the pile of rotten metal to make it appear to be a functioning equipment set. First order of business - Batteries. We work with magnetometers and when I opened them I found most of them are using a pack of 7 recharg…

i've got an old x8 cockroft walton voltage multiplier in a parallel config, i'm looking to get it running again after it fried my oscillator on a number of occasions. what type of oscillator would i be able to run it off? considering it tends to drop it's guts through the oscillator lead as well as the output. it's limited to 100v due to the caps i used

A detonable material, such as ammonium nitrate for example, dissociates extremely rapidly into its basic constituents. This process is generally referred to in terms of "detonation velocity". Does anyone have some ready information regarding what means are used to determine detonation velocity? Is it actually measured? I cannot imagine laying out a mile-long length of detonating cord and measuring its "disappearing time". imp

is a trend nowadays. I know of several schemes that have already been employed in production, not experimental or prototypes, to allow for speed variation between front and rear wheels. The AWD mini-vans of early 1990's, Ford and Chevrolet, offered as optional, used differing approaches. Similarly, SUV's are being sold with AWD. The earliest I recall here in the U.S. were called "full-time" 4WD. They were, typically, the Ramcharger, Jeep, and Blazer. These used a transfer case containing a third differential, and were driven using a chain, which seemed to be the "weak link". Full-time died out, but AWD resurrected it, basically. GM used a fluid clutch in the trans…

Does anyone know a bit about making tennis balls? The process once was very labor-intensive, involving many separate operations. Has it been mechanized/automated to any reasonable degree, I wonder? Are figures available for total tennis ball production world-wide? imp

The engineer who designs things often is responsible for choosing, specifying, purchasing, and using many types of often complex devices which may be designed and built by others. Therefore, he or she must also be something of a fortune-teller to predict suitability of others' products from a standpoint of life- that is, others' product might cause premature failure of the engineer's end product. Often, experience and guts will be all-important. If the engineer works for a company which sells the things he designs, cost-consciousness is the prevalent theme. Unfortunately, cheapness designs-in early failure. On the other hand, if the engineer designs things for USE by …

About how far do you think a 500 mw FM transmitter would effectively broadcast?

I need to find out where I can obtain: - A Isolation Transformer : 220VAC, 50 hz - 500 Watt Dimmer : 220VAC - Capacitor : 3uF 660VAC Polypopylen Capacitor - Car Ignition Coil : Preferably Ducellier but almost any will do - HV Tripler : 30 or 40 KV - Resistor : 470 kOhms, 5 Watts I am building a power source for my lifter, and this seems like the best way of going about it. Can I find these components in any old cars, TV's, computers, heaters, or any easy to find electrical devices? Please feel free to comment!

Hi Buddies, Have anyone any idea about the ranges of factors in which electromagnetic polarizations, in waveguides, have a considerable effect in propagation of EM waves; material and designal ones? I am just doing a research in that issue to help in advance. Thanks.

Electromagnetic Books, I am just asking here, what is the most book used now in Electromagnetics and Wave Guides. Is there any book that treats special waveguides from QFT, or even semi-QFT point of view? Thanks for support, in advance.

Anyone here have an interest in this subject? Basically, a space elevator is, well, an elevator that goes into space. The object or thing thats in space would follow a geosynchronous orbit (meaning it would orbit in such a way that it stays at the same point above the Earth), and things would be tethered to a rope made of some superstrong material (carbon nanotubes have been hypothesized). here is a link for basic general info on it: link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Elevator

These seemed potentially revolutionary to me, when I first heard them announced (circa 2000 I believe) Rather than burning fuels like gasoline or ethanol, they could be converted to a chemical that can be run through a fuel cell which generates electricity. So it'd be like a hybrid, only much more efficient (thanks to a fuel cell rather than a gas-burning "heat engine") and also emit minimal CO2 in comparison, with water vapor as its only waste product. And while water vapor is also a greenhouse gas, it has this tendency to precipitate, as opposed to CO2... we don't see it doing that very much. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone knew about the state of this idea.…

http://jnaudin.free.fr/lifters/files/ElectrograviticsElectrokineticsValone.pdf Thought it would be interesting to make a lifter there are guided flight ones on the net. http://jnaudin.free.fr/lifters/main.htm