29
Sep 13

Boeng 787 (Engine)

 

As we fly over to another country, or state, we usually use plane as a mode of transportation. However, how many of you really know about the machine that you are relying your life on and how they are made. We may think that the plane that we ride on are just a simple machine but I think they are one of the most complex machine in the world. Amongst all the parts in a plane, I would say that the engine itself is one of the most crucial part.

untitledRolls-Royce Trent 1000

untitled2GE GEnx-1B

These engines are made through different processes that includes precision engineering. Bcause this is a massive machine that requires extremely skilled engineers, that only two companies are capable in produce Boeing 787’s engines. They are GE and as most people know, Rolls Royce, one of the best car manufacturer.

With extremely complex work of art, the main component of the engines are made in 8 different sections of modules. However, ultimately, each enignes requires thousands of thousand components in order to build one.

What’s so special about the engine?

Well, basically in the past, what really distinguishes the old engines and Boeing 787 engine is the huge fan at the front. In the past, engines used to rely fully on the jet exhaust to thrust the plane forward. Unfortunately, this method was inefficient and was extremely noisy. With technological advancement and complex engineering design, they were able to achieve this new ideas of having a fan in front.

How does it work? As the jet exhausts, energy of the exhaust is harvested to turn these massive blade. Just for your information, each of the gigantic blade cost as much as a family car.  When the huge blades starts turning, they push huge amount of cold air quietly into the side of the engines which thrust the plane forward.

Many parts of the engine requires loads of designing and thinking but one changes that made from the past was the blade. Well, when you look at it, it looks like a simple piece of metal blade fitted into the engines. However, they are actually made of 3 sheets of metal (Titinium)  bonded together. However, they inner part of the blade is actually hollow to make it super light but super strong.

Furthermore, these blades must have a perfectly balanced for engines to turn perfectly and smoothly. Hence, each blade are measured, tested and weighed in order to improve the precision and balanced.

While assembling of the 5/8 sections are pretty simple due to the gravity assisting the engineers’ job, 3 remaining parts are regretfully much tougher and requires much more concentration as even small scratch could make a disasterous accidents.

Being a freshman in Engineering student and its my first time that I am actually evaluating and researching about designs, I am unable to elaborate any further. However, what I learnt is that although computers have the ability to do what humans are unable to do, they still need engineers in order to carry out their duties and most of extremley complicated duties. And that is the charm of being an engineer!

References

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy4A-z2WKhw

http://www.rolls-royce.com/news/press_releases/2013/19062013_787_9_first_flight.jsp

http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/articles/2012_q3/2/

http://www.rolls-royce.com/news/press_releases/2013/08082013_derby_flyover.jsp


28
Sep 13

Where’s the limits?

As technologies advances, the main objective mainly consist of the speed, and the quality of services provided to make our life comfortable. We all want faster car, comfortable chairs, house, faster smartphones, and faster Internet which I am going to elaborate about now.

Here is what I’ve got. As most people know, Korean has the fastest, world-leading technologies and telecommunication systems. Due to the extreme competition to attract more customers, KT, SK Telecomm and LG UPlus imposed different strategies. However, their main base was the speed of the internet that they could provide.

So, what’s so special about Korean Internet speed? Well, basically they have something called LTE A. It is another level of network system by using different network frequency that greatly improve the speed of the Internet speed on  a phone. LTE-A is known to be twice as fast as the originally fast LTE. It’s like a expressway of expressway by using another network systems. So far, only the latest phone released such as Galaxy S4 are capable of providing LTE-A to the users.

It all started with the bidding of a specific frequency for their networks. They all have different advantages but what’s common is that they provides extremely fast speed. Theoredically, it is known to provide 150mbps on a smartphone. This speed is equavalent to downloading 8 books, 1music video  and  17 images per second.

Many people are extremely fascinated by such speed available in Korea. However, I have a very different opinion about the speed that are available. What is the point when we are unable to process and absorb that much data available by our brains. People nowadays are exposed to too much information. With too much information available, there are always people who misuse these information. Likewise, with such technologies available, many people use it for their personal gain and interest.

In  a word conscience, we can separate the word, “con” and “science”. Con means to work together. It basically means when we are using technologies that are developed by the inventions through science, we have to know that we are sharing.

Furthermore, there must be restrictions to how fast these technologies gives us because we are not living to have a quick phase life. We need some freedom against the time restrictions and have some leisure. And that is how  i think is living a great quality of life.

Reference

http://blog.naver.com/poohlee2000k?Redirect=Log&logNo=50180062639

http://blog.naver.com/qhfk0719?Redirect=Log&logNo=50179126924

http://www.seoulfn.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=172902

 

 

 


22
Sep 13

Water supply for Singapore

Water recycling in Singapore began in 1974, but the experimental treatment plant was closed a year later because of costs and reliability issues.

In 1998, the Public Utilities Board (PUB) and the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) initiated the Singapore Water Reclamation Study (NEWater Study). The aim was to determine if NEWater was a viable source of raw water for Singapore’s needs.

In 2001, PUB initiated efforts to increase water supplies for non-potable use. Using NEWater for these would help reduce the demand on the reservoirs for potable water.

Many people may have this common question, that is why do Singapore need to invest so much on water supply that are available readily in America? This is because Singapore is a tiny island that is not sustainable by itself. The longest side of the country is merely 43km, and 23km wide. Hence, they do not have luxury of producing fresh water from the country itself.

Where do they get raw water supply?

They do have some natural reservoir that stores up some amount of rain water. Despite setting aside about 30% of its extremely limited land, it is not self-sustainable in order to provide its 5 million population. Hence, the Singapore Government invested a huge amount of money to build infrastructures to desalinate sea water, and a filter systems to purify raw water.

The main source of water is provided by the its neighbor, Malaysia. These two countries are connected by two bridge where commuters are able to use it freely. As you cross the bridge, you will probably notice two huge pipes. These pipes provides Singapore with raw water that are treated for safe usage while the other, rather unusual, to provide Malaysia back with clean water.

Main water supply

Unfortunately, Singapore do not have a reliable water supply from Malaysia as there is always a treat that Malaysia could cut off their water supply that is vital for its supply. Furthermore, the treaty to sell water to Singapore by Malaysia only last until 2061. Hence, Singapore Government aimed to reduce their over-reliance on one of the most vital component for its survival on foreigners’ hand and for their long term needs. Therefore, Singapore’s main objective is to recycle used water and desalination to meet the people’s need.

The reclaimed water was given the brand name “NEWater.” NEWater is purified using dual-membrane and ultraviolet technologies in addition to conventional water treatment processes. This processes helps to kill most of the microbacteria, and filters almost all harmful substances. However, Singaporeans are reluctant to drink the NEWater despite the fact that it was scientifically proven that it is safe for human consumption. This is due to the fact that many people feel uneasy about drinking used water thinking that they are still dirty and unhygienic. Hence, NEWater are usually used in industry that requires high purity water ( Yes, That’s how clean the NEWater is!)

Reference

http://growingblue.com/case-studies/newater-in-singapore/

http://www.edb.gov.sg/content/edb/en/industries/industries/environment-and-water.html

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120812080620AA80qKf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEWater

 


15
Sep 13

Pagani Huayra, One of the best designed car

 

Most of us are aware that there are comapanies called “Ferrari” , “Lamborghini”, “BMW”, ” Audi”, “Mercedez Benz”, “Hyundai” and so many well-known car producer around the world. However, if you hear the word “Pagani”, will you be able to match a picture with a car? I doupt so because unless you are a car enthusiasts, this word “Pagani” is rather unheard of.

So, What is Pagani?

Pagani Automobili S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of sports cars and carbon fibre. The company was founded in 1992 by the Argentinian Horacio Pagani, and is based in San Cesario sul Panaro, near Modena, Italy.

Horacio Pagani, who formerly managed Lamborghini’s composites, founded Pagani Composite Research in 1988. This new company worked with Lamborghini on numerous projects, including the restyling of the 25th Anniversary Countach, the Lamborghini LM002, the P140 design concept, and the Diablo. In the late 1980s, Pagani began designing his own car, then referred to as the “C8 Project”. Pagani planned to rename the C8 the “Fangio F1” to honour his friend, the five-time Argentinian Formula One champion Juan Manuel Fangio.

So, why am I introducing about this Pagani, rather than choosing Laborghini, Ferrari, and many other manufacturers? It is because their designs are much more sophisticated, and most importantly it has a feature that other companies, were unable to apply in  different way like Pagani did, the Spoiler. I am not saying that other manufacturers’ cars have crappy designs but I am saying that Pagani invest much more time on designing, and rather than mass producing, but to build a car that is engineering marvel and a work of art at the same time. Aiming to create a car that is considered a masterpiece that is perfect, this man of perfection has no constraint on time.

What is so special about Pagani, Huayra?

Amonst so many special features about this car such as equipping with Boshis ESP electronic stability program, its powerful engine, as an Aerospace Engineering student, I would like to focus more about its Aerodynamic “Flaps” and its body shape.

To begin with, Huarya’s body was first designed to resemble a wing of an aircraft. A high performance car must maximize downforce but also minimize the drag. With the design that resembles the wing of an aircraft, Huayra was able to acheive this criteria without facing any problem.

However, with extremely powerful engine, it has to have a system to control the power. Hence, Pagani came up with this idea of having spoiler on a car. He was first inspired by the flaps of an aircraft. Many Sports car do have a spoiler at the back. However, it interrupts the aerodynamics of the car when they are not needed at low speed. After some time rethinking about the design, they came up with this solution of a full 4 independent retractable aerodynamic “flaps” that come into action only when they are needed. These four flaps helps to increase the downward force, giving extra grips, helps to act as a braking system. How does it work? Being independent allowed this flaps to be used at different situation. For example, when the driver applies brake, the flaps automatically rises to increase surface area and drag, disrupting the aerodynamics of the car.

One of the most important use of the flaps is when the car is turning a curve at a high speed. At a high speed making a  curve, a car tends to have upward force at the inner body resulting a roll. However, with these four automatic independent flaps, they were able to reduce the chance to roll by couteracting to create even greater downward force by the inner flaps. By doing so, these flaps were able to reduce the chances of having a roll and hence it is much safer but at the same time faster since the driver do not need to reduce speed at a corner.

Ultimately, Pagani convinced me that they are one of the best car manufacturer since they are the perfect example of the philosophy of art and engineering. Not only did they use the most advanced technology, without compromising the beauty of designing world, it is one of the design that everyone would crave for. I would say Pagani, Huayra is an extremely rare piece of mechanical art, part aeroplane, part car, a unique piece of engineering design. pagani-Huayra-frontal-289B8-1

Reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagani

http://www.pagani.com/it/huayra/default.aspx

http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/How-the-Pagani-Huayra-is-made-2012-03-12?module=best&utm_expid=12261766-9.n3UKns_sT6uGHKlagvv2qg.1&utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.topgear.com%2Fuk%2Ftags%2FPagani-Huayra

 


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