Wired: Top 5 Reasons It Sucks to Be an Engineering Student
Archive for the ‘It’s Science’ Category
Top 5 Reasons It Sucks to Be an Engineering Student
Tuesday, May 13th, 2008HP researchers solve 37-year mystery of the memory resistor, the missing 4th circuit element.
Saturday, May 3rd, 2008The Mysterious Case of the Memristor: The Fourth Passive Circuit Element
Researchers at Hewlett Packard labs claim to have found a mythical fourth circuit element to join the trinity of resistors, capacitors, and inductors. Some engineers think that the so-called memristor will be the key to building neural networks that work less like a microprocessor and more like a brain.
1 May 2008—Anyone familiar with electronics knows the trinity of fundamental components: the resistor, the capacitor, and the inductor. In 1971, a University of California, Berkeley, engineer predicted that there should be a fourth element: a memory resistor, or memristor. But no one knew how to build one. Now, 37 years later, electronics have finally gotten small enough to reveal the secrets of that fourth element. The memristor, Hewlett-Packard researchers revealed today in the journal Nature, had been hiding in plain sight all along—within the electrical characteristics of certain nanoscale devices. They think the new element could pave the way for applications both near- and far-term, from nonvolatile RAM to realistic neural networks.
…Chua [IEEE Fellow and nonlinear-circuit-theory pioneer] calls the HP work a paradigm shift; he likens the addition of the memristor to the circuit design arsenal to adding a new element to the periodic table: for one thing, “now all the EE textbooks need to be changed,” he says.
…Williams is in talks with several neuroscience/engineering labs that are pursuing the goal of building devices that emulate neural systems. Chua says that synapses, the connections between neurons, have some memristive behavior. Therefore, a memristor would be the ideal electronic device to emulate a synapse.
…The HP group is also looking at developing a memristor-based nonvolatile memory. “A memory based on memristors could be 1000 times faster than magnetic disks and use much less power,” Williams says, sounding like a kid in a candy store.
Amazing Underwater Sea Life
Monday, April 28th, 2008David Gallo shows jaw-dropping footage of amazing sea creatures, including a shape-shifting cuttlefish, a pair of fighting squid, and a mesmerizing gallery of bioluminescent fish that light up the blackest depths of the ocean. He focuses on the work of two scientists: Edith Widder at the Ocean Research & Conservation Association, and Roger Hanlon at the Marine Biological Lab.
http://www.ted.com/index.php
I recommend downloading the 480p video and watching that version
http://ted.streamguys.net/ted_gallo_d_2007_480.mp4
thanks to bob for the link
Cow Power, Hog Power and Moon Power! Oh, my!
Sunday, April 27th, 2008Any other ideas? Seemingly anything can be used to generate electricity these days.
PG&E begins tapping into cow power
PG&E customers will get natural gas from cow manure for the first time today.
In a ceremony at Vintage Dairy, a 1,700-acre dairy farm in Riverdale, not far from Fresno, officials from the utility, the state’s Department of Food and Agriculture and the Energy Commission will join David Albers of BioEnergy Solutions to turn a valve that will send the first of 3 billion cubic feet of natural gas a year into a pipeline.
That’s enough gas to create electricity for 50,000 California homes, and comes from 5,000 cows. The potential for turning waste to energy is vast. “There are nearly 2 million dairy cows in California,” said Jennifer Zerwer, a Pacific Gas & Electric spokeswoman.
PG&E calls it “cow power,” capturing methane released from covered lagoons of cow manure and sending the natural gas into pipelines where it’ll be burned to generate electricity. It’s all part of a state-mandated push to get more energy from renewable sources.
Learn more about this and other programs on PG&E‘s Clean Energy Solutions web page.
N.C. hog farms to produce electricity
Swine farm operators in North Carolina can now register to participate in a methane capture pilot program. North Carolina is the second largest hog producing state in the country; in 2006, hog populations topped 9.5 million.
Members of the swine industry first voiced interest in methane-capture programs to state legislators which spurred legislation requiring a percentage of renewable energy to be generated by methane from hog farms.
The Swine Farm Environmental Performance Standards Act of 2007 authorized a methane capture pilot program that will allow up to 50 swine farm operators to sell electricity generated from methane held in onsite lagoons. The program was passed by the state senate in July 2007 as part of Senate Bill 1465.
I would never have guessed that NC is #2 in hog production. Does anyone know who is #1? The 9.5 million hogs slightly outnumber the 9 million humans also living in the state.
Moon Power:Finavera Renewables Granted FERC Preliminary Permit For Proposed 100MW Coos County Wave Energy Project in Oregon
Finavera Renewables Inc., is pleased to announce it has been issued a Preliminary Permit for its proposed 100MW Coos County, Oregon wave energy project. The permit approval was granted by the United States Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”). The preliminary permit is valid for a period of three years, and allows Finavera Renewables to conduct various studies, including analyses of oceanographic conditions, commercial and recreational activities, and other impacts potentially associated with the planned project. The company will rely on the studies and stakeholder consultations in framing its application to FERC for a project operating license.
Alla Weinstein, Director and General Manager, Ocean Energy said, “The Coos County project is part of the next step along our path to the commercialization of wave energy. Permitting activities for this project will be based on our experience gained in the Makah Bay pilot project, which is the first wave energy project to file for a FERC operating license. This project is designed to meet the State of Oregon’s policy to invest in and support the growth of clean and renewable energy sources for the people of Oregon. We look forward to working closely with the local community to ensure a successful project.”
The proposed Coos County project would use interconnected clusters of the company’s patented AquaBuOY wave energy devices. The project would have a generating capacity of 100MW, and total annual generation from the project is estimated to be approximately 175 gigawatt-hours per-year, which is sufficient electricity to power approximately 15,000 American homes.
Here’s a video about the technology.
Learn more about Finavera Wave Projecs and Wave Technology.
Micro technology news from IEEE
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008Can engineers and scientists reverse engineer the human brain? With fly brains? In a fly rave?
How to build a robotic fly (video)
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles – MAV surveillance to take flight with “Black Hornet”
Bendable, stretchable circuit sheets
RFID-based people tracking systems
CES 2008: Eye-Fi wireless SD camera card (video) – wireless download from the SD card to computer/network/web, www.eye.fi
Insert into camera, and viola!
Send pictures from your camera sans wires!
For car enthusiasts – examples of the latest developments in engine efficiency and interior technology
Green Machines By John Voelcker
This year’s top tech cars
+ We (the US) are finally getting the awesome Nissan GT-R!
Power Plant: 358-kW (480 hp) 3.8-L twin-turbocharged V6
Transmission: Rear transaxle with sequential 6-speed; paddle shift
Inventor of the Super Soaker discovers new way to generates electricity from heat
Thursday, March 27th, 2008Lonnie Johnson, the inventor of the Super Soaker, has invented a device that can generate electricity from heat differentials (a thermoelectric generator).
Johnson says it has the potential to be the best-ever method of converting solar energy into a form that we can use. Among the potential applications are at utility-scale solar thermal farms and for plug-in hybrid vehicles, in which the device would use waste heat from the car’s internal combustion engine to help power the car’s electric motor.
Johnson says a prototype of the heat engine, called the Johnson Thermoelectromechanical Energy Conversion System, or JTEC, will be ready in a few months. It could, ideally, be 78 percent Carnot efficient. But what sets JTEC apart is its all-solid-state design. The lack of moving parts such as turbines and pistons eliminates nearly all of the parasitic losses that, in machines like an automobile engine, greatly lower efficiency.
In contrast, photovoltaic devices have net conversion efficiencies in the teens and thermionic (or thermoelectric) chips reach only a little higher than 20 percent of Carnot when converting heat to electricity.
“Johnson has opened up a fundamentally new pathway to generate electricity from heat,” says Paul Werbos, program director for power, control, and adaptive networks at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). Werbos, an IEEE Fellow, says the NSF is funding Johnson’s heat-engine research because of the strong chance that it could cut the cost of solar power in half. Werbos acknowledges that the product’s development is still at an early stage where unforeseen problems might creep in. “But I don’t see any showstoppers,” he says.
Find out all the gory details in this IEEE Spectrum article.
Johnson’s page for JTEC, Johnson Thermoelectric Energy Conversion System.
In his hometown of Marietta, Georgia, February 25, 1994 was declared “Lonnie G. Johnson Day” in his honor
Amazing Mechanical Pack Mule
Thursday, March 20th, 2008The “Big Dog” is an amazing mechanical mule that may accompany soldiers one day in the future.
Watch the video and be awed.
Courtesy of IEEE’s Automaton blog.
Xcel to regulate wind power with massive batteries
Saturday, March 8th, 2008Minneapolis-based utility Xcel Energy will begin testing a wind power storage system of massive batteries located in Luverne, MN, which is in the far southwest corner of the state. The test will be run in partnership with the University of Minnesota, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Great Plains Institute.
Xcel plans to install 20 50-kilowatt batteries, about the size of two semi trailers, this spring and connect them to an 11-megawatt wind farm owned by Minwind Energy. The batteries are expected to go online in October.
When the wind is blowing, the batteries will charge, and when the wind diminishes, the batteries — which can discharge one megawatt of power — will supplement the flow of electricity to Xcel.
While two other U.S. utilities use the batteries to supplement peak power needs, Xcel said it would be the first to use them for a wind project.
The University of Minnesota group is also conducting related research on storing energy in flywheels.
I say, why not use wind to power pumps to store water at pumped hydro plants, like the Rock Mountain facility near Rome, Georgia, to store wind energy?
Bird enthusiasts should be sure to check out Xcel’s Bird Cam site.
More details from TwinCities.com & Reuters.
I Found the Nap Room
Saturday, March 8th, 2008Unfortunately, it’s on the 24th floor of the Empire State Building! Read all about the sleep pods in this Salon article.
Isn’t there a better place for the guy in the photo to read his files than leaning against an occupied sleep pod? Show some respect for the napper!
P&G’s take on them:
“MetroNaps professionally trained our employees and showed us both the theoretical and practical benefits of PowerNapping. We have been very satisfied with the services which was also demonstrated through the positive survey results.”
Dr Steffen Hitzeroth
Medical Director, Procter & Gamble Germany
Always doubt your GPS nagigator
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008I’ve had the opportunity of using a GPS navigation unit on two trips in the last year or so and found that most of the time their directions were very helpful. However, here are plenty of humourous examples why you should always doubt your GPS aggravator (signs are already up warning motorists: “Ignore your Sat Nav”).
And here’s a word of advice to anyone using a GPS to find a quick meal near an airport – they obviously don’t filter the restaurants inside the airport terminal from the search results. Maybe they think you might need to use your GPS to navigate the airport to find the shortest route from concourse A to B via Chili’s? Our team in MN found that out when the GPS unit tried to steer us to the McDonald’s located inside the Minneapolis airport while we were driving around waiting to pick up a co-worker.
More on bad GPS directions at The Map Room.
