/eng/ - Engineering

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File: 1421397066562.png (126.18 KB, 1200x1024, 75:64, 1415223738084.png)

Favorite Subdiscipline Anonymous 01/16/15 (Fri) 08:31:06 No.60 [Reply]

We can argue all day and night about best engineering field but what's your favorite area of study in your field?

I'm a mechanical engineer and I love mechatronics. I always thought electric motors were really cool and they're an inexpensive way to fuck around with side-projects.

Anonymous 01/16/15 (Fri) 13:19:53 No.61

>>60

I love 3D CAD e.g. Solidworks because you can let your imagination go wild.

If you can think of it then you can model it. You can get so close to seeing the part in reality without having to spend any money.

Just by the nature of engineering if you want to see your ideas in real life it's going to often cost an infeasible amount of money.

Mechatronics is next on my list of things to focus more on. I need motors and lots of them.

Anonymous 02/02/15 (Mon) 23:29:06 No.106

Best subdiscipline is electrical engineering. It brings life to things. You can design what you want in CAD and build it, but it is only some construction, which can have some repetetive motion. Electronics make it magical. Also all the stuff you can't see as communication systems.

Anonymous 02/05/15 (Thu) 18:30:11 No.110

>>106

I don't know if it's because I'm just a bad engineer or not but electrical engineering is just something I've never been able to get my head around properly.

I've done the coursework and passed the exams but none of it ever stuck and I could never think for myself about any of it, not in the same way was I could with mechanical.

I can explore thermodynamics in my head and have a wonderful time thinking and all. Electrical just feels like I'm being fucked in the ass with each thrust being a little bit drier than the last.

Anonymous 02/05/15 (Thu) 21:03:28 No.112

Chemical Engineer and either petroleum or plastics, never stops being interesting

Anonymous 02/05/15 (Thu) 21:22:46 No.113

>>112

Petroleum is fun because fires (obviously)

Why plastics though?

File: 1422920170843.jpg (150.41 KB, 1280x960, 4:3, 1280px-Homemade_fusion_rea….JPG)

Fusion 02/02/15 (Mon) 23:36:10 No.107 [Reply]

I know there are some alternative reactor designs to tokamak, stellerator and initial confinement.

One simple setup to create nuclear fusion is a fusor. You have two spherical metal grids. The inner one is charged negative. The outer one positive. Then you ionize hydrogen isotopes in between those spheres and the protons get accelerated towards the middle, where they hit. It is easy to reach the energy levels for fusion with this setup. However as many protons are lost in the grid it can not be used for power production. It is however used as a neutron source.

A concept to build a power producing variant is to replace the inner electrode by a cloud of electrons confined by a magnetic field. That is called a polywell.

Does anybody have some good resources on polywell research or on other alternative reactor designs?

Anonymous 02/05/15 (Thu) 18:20:40 No.109

>>107

I'm not really sure what any of that is but it sounds fun.

I kept glancing over this picture as just something that looked cool but now I realize that it's homemade and I really want one now.

I have a copy of Springer's "Handbook of Nuclear Engineering", it doesn't appear to say shit about fusion or polywells

File: 1420769574874.jpg (277 KB, 1154x988, 577:494, Cripple Golf.jpg)

Project Hotwheels Anonymous 01/09/15 (Fri) 02:12:54 No.51 [Reply]

A collaborative effort to create a fully functional design, from the ground up, for something to help disabled people.

People in wheelchairs can get cold and often have difficulties doing things. I think having hot drinks on tap would be a nice thing.

Idea #2: Cripple Golf. Golf cart/chair with a golf ball mortar.

3 posts and 1 image reply omitted. Click reply to view.

Anonymous 01/25/15 (Sun) 13:03:52 No.82

File: 1422191032006.png (43.61 KB, 993x617, 993:617, swerror.png)

>>81

Spoke too soon.

Flow simulation is crashing.

Fug.

Anonymous 01/26/15 (Mon) 20:56:26 No.86

>>78
>>82
>>81

I've had to go back to SW2012 to use flow simulation again.

Anonymous 01/30/15 (Fri) 14:54:49 No.91

Use KERS to generate a baseline of heat.

Anonymous 01/30/15 (Fri) 21:22:56 No.92

>>91

This should be a very simple calculation.

Kinetic energy of a wheelchairman reaching the bottom of a hill = Joules

Number of Joules to raise the temperature of 1000 mL 20ºC water to 99ºC = "Sneaky" Joules

Anonymous 01/31/15 (Sat) 11:47:00 No.93

>>92
>>91

PE = mgh

50kg person at the top of a hill with a total height of 10m = 50 * 9.81 * 10 = 4900J

It takes 1 kcal to heat 1L of water 1ºC

Energy required to heat 1kg of 10ºC water to 100ºC

90ºC * 1 * 1 = 90 kcal

1 kcal = 4184 Joules
90 kcal = 376,560 Joules
Post too long. Click here to view the full text.

File: 1422166463457.jpg (371.15 KB, 551x524, 551:524, I have a question.jpg)

wind turbines Anonymous 01/25/15 (Sun) 06:14:23 No.79 [Reply]

I was going to build a to scale wind turbine, but I can't seem to find key information about their dimensions, specifically about the blades, even more specifically about their airfoils. How many do they have? What is the size difference between those in different locations?

Anonymous 01/25/15 (Sun) 12:21:59 No.80

File: 1422188519516-0.jpg (38.01 KB, 484x321, 484:321, www.terramagnetica.com-siz….jpg)

File: 1422188519516-1.jpg (59.02 KB, 1127x669, 1127:669, scale.JPG)

>>79
>How many do they have?

The standard looks like 3. I've no idea why this is the case but it looks like everyone has decided they like 3.

My guess is that 3 is easier to keep dynamically balanced.

http://www.supergen-wind.org.uk/Phase1/research_y0.html

I don't really know the first thing about airfoil design

Anonymous 01/25/15 (Sun) 23:41:10 No.84

File: 1422229270666.png (200.61 KB, 946x938, 473:469, springer on wind turbines.png)

>>79

Whatever blade diameter you have there will be a theoretical maximum power available. Build whatever size you want and see how efficient it is compared to theory.

Theoretical max power in image.

File: 1421096743341.jpg (162.44 KB, 865x645, 173:129, 411.jpg)

The Practical Engineer Anonymous 01/12/15 (Mon) 21:05:43 No.59 [Reply]

Post a tool that you have

Describe what it is, its function and why you have it.

Tell us something you want and why.

File: 1419559184473.jpg (206.69 KB, 757x753, 757:753, mythbusters megamarathon.jpg)

Mythbusters Mega Marathon Anonymous 12/26/14 (Fri) 01:59:45 No.24 [Reply]

https://twitter.com/MythBusters

https://twitter.com/ScienceChannel

http://www.sciencechannel.com/tv-shows/mythbusters

They're streaming all Mythbusters episodes consecutively over the next 8 days.

Perfect opportunity to take notes, explore the science/engineering behind what they're doing and present your own ideas.

Anonymous 12/26/14 (Fri) 03:56:04 No.25

File: 1419566164410.jpg (456.65 KB, 1569x850, 1569:850, commission_homeworld_cland….jpg)

>>24

Not related to Mythbusters but an interesting reminder.

MOON MINING

http://www.sciencechannel.com/video-topics/space-videos/commercial-spacecraft-prepare-to-mine-the-moon.htm

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