Hello Future Engineer,
TerraPower claims to have come up with an idea to generate electricity from depleted uranium. Depleted uranium is a by product of enrichment process and is popularly known for its use in armor piercing shells.
According to TerraPower's website, the Traveling Wave Reactor (TWR) converts depleted uranium into usable fuel without need for further enrichment or reprocessing. Considering huge stockpiles of depleted uranium resulting from nuclear fuel enrichment, there is virtually an inexhaustible source of energy waiting to be used!
You can read more about it at TerraPower's website. You can also watch a video clip about it at the bottom of the aforementioned link.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Voyager 1: Alive & Kicking!
Hello Future Engineer,
It is with great joy that I would like to inform you that Voyager 1 is still functioning. Voyager 1 is now 33 years old and outside the solar system. You can read more about what Voyager 1 is doing here.
Perhaps, you may not be aware but the spacecraft Voyager's route was discovered (calculated) by Prof. Gary Flandro, when he was a graduate student at Caltech. Currently, he is an emeritus professor at UTSI.
It is with great joy that I would like to inform you that Voyager 1 is still functioning. Voyager 1 is now 33 years old and outside the solar system. You can read more about what Voyager 1 is doing here.
Perhaps, you may not be aware but the spacecraft Voyager's route was discovered (calculated) by Prof. Gary Flandro, when he was a graduate student at Caltech. Currently, he is an emeritus professor at UTSI.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Myth vs Fact about some energy issues
Hello Future Engineer,
You may have heard the buzzword green/renewable energy a lot since last few years. But are you sure you can identify myths related to the green energy? Maybe you can, but it doesn't hurt to read this article and confirm your knowledge about green energy.
You may have heard the buzzword green/renewable energy a lot since last few years. But are you sure you can identify myths related to the green energy? Maybe you can, but it doesn't hurt to read this article and confirm your knowledge about green energy.
Engineers investigate cancer from a mechanistic perspective
Hello Future Engineer,
These days biomedical engineers are not only assisting surgeons with their tools and devices, but also investigating the cause and cure for diseases from engineering/mechanics perspective. Please meet Dr.Mauro Ferrari (click on his name), and read his article on how some engineers are investigating cause and possibly a cure for cancer.
These days biomedical engineers are not only assisting surgeons with their tools and devices, but also investigating the cause and cure for diseases from engineering/mechanics perspective. Please meet Dr.Mauro Ferrari (click on his name), and read his article on how some engineers are investigating cause and possibly a cure for cancer.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Solar Highways
Dan Burton (a former student of mine and a future biomedical engineer) emailed me a nice link today. It is about how to pave a highway with solar photovoltaic cells (of special type) to harness solar energy. You can enjoy this video here.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Vibrating Wind Turbine Generator
Hello Future Engineer,
You may have seen many a type of wind turbine, and a common feature must have been that somehow wind energy caused rotation of the shaft that was coupled to a generator. The rotor of the generator rotates in a magnetic (or an electromagnetic) field, thus generating electricity. Of course, there is more physics to it, but I will spare you the details to continue on to something more interesting.
Shawn Frayne came up with a vibrating wind turbine, one that does not require any rotating parts. It works on the principle of aeroelasticity (von Karman vortex shedding causing the structure shedding vortices to vibrate), wherein vibration of the conducting membrane in a magnetic field generates electricity. In case if you wonder about benefit of this idea, please click on his name above and find out!
There is one apparent drawback to this device in that eventually metal fatigue will cause the membrane to fail. But that is easy to fix compared to a broken solar electric panel.
You may have seen many a type of wind turbine, and a common feature must have been that somehow wind energy caused rotation of the shaft that was coupled to a generator. The rotor of the generator rotates in a magnetic (or an electromagnetic) field, thus generating electricity. Of course, there is more physics to it, but I will spare you the details to continue on to something more interesting.
Shawn Frayne came up with a vibrating wind turbine, one that does not require any rotating parts. It works on the principle of aeroelasticity (von Karman vortex shedding causing the structure shedding vortices to vibrate), wherein vibration of the conducting membrane in a magnetic field generates electricity. In case if you wonder about benefit of this idea, please click on his name above and find out!
There is one apparent drawback to this device in that eventually metal fatigue will cause the membrane to fail. But that is easy to fix compared to a broken solar electric panel.
From Super Soaker Squirt Gun to Affordable Solar Power
Hello Future Engineer,
You may have never heard of Lonnie Johnson, who invented the super-soaker squirt gun. You can read about his invention here. But today I am going to tell you of his another breakthrough that might make solar power affordable for all of us. It involves using thermodynamics (instead of solar cells/photovoltaics) to harness solar power efficiently. I will now leave you to read about it on his website.
You may also derive inspiration from learning about his childhood as an African American in Alabama in 60s. This is to be found in the article published in The Atlantic Monthly.
You may have never heard of Lonnie Johnson, who invented the super-soaker squirt gun. You can read about his invention here. But today I am going to tell you of his another breakthrough that might make solar power affordable for all of us. It involves using thermodynamics (instead of solar cells/photovoltaics) to harness solar power efficiently. I will now leave you to read about it on his website.
You may also derive inspiration from learning about his childhood as an African American in Alabama in 60s. This is to be found in the article published in The Atlantic Monthly.
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