IEEE Consultants' Network of Long Island

Coil Shielding Choices - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

The choice of which conductive material to place near to or far away from a coil can affect that coil's electrical behavior. The effect on a particular coil of wire of placing a non-ferrous metal (a twenty-five cent coin in this case), placing nothing at all and a placing small piece of ferrous metal is illustrated as follows: 

ILOD IMPLEMENTATION-----Carl Schwab

ILOD is an acronym for “Injection Locked Oscillating Detector”. The schematic below shows on the left side figure the ILOD Block Diagram, while the right side figure show the actual circuit implementing the ILOD concept to develop a +- dc error voltage. In this implementation ILOD circuits were used to demodulate 4 subcarriers to produce dc error signals to drive analog servos.

HYBRID&EV STUFF---Carl Schwab

About 2+ years ago I opined that maybe we should consider GPM, Gallons Per Mile rather the MPG. Further I raised the point that fuel cost per mile was a more meaningful measure and made comparisons between conventional, hybrid and EV more relevant. With gasoline and diesel fuel near $4.00 per gallon it is worthwhile to expand.

A second point is that since I wrote the blog about 2+ years ago, I have made it a practice to reset my TRIP odometer when I refill the gasoline tank. At that refill time I note the miles recorded and using the ticket from the filling I can now get reminded how the fuel cost impacts the (cents/mile) fuel cost. This is becoming pretty astonishing and I mean OUCH.

SOME EXAMPLES---- Consider my Mercury Sable Station Wagon. On LOCAL driving it makes about 18 mpg which converts (4.00/18) =22 cents/mile. Next let’s consider a new generation PRIUS which yields about 52 mpg. This computes (4.00/52)=7.7 cents/gallon. BIG difference.

BUT now let’s consider say a Nissan Leaf. Here on LI we have the highest electric utility rates in the US exceeded only by Hawaii and a county in Alaska. The Leaf has a 24 kWh battery and delivers 75 miles on a useable charge. This converts into (24 x .220/ 75=.07 cents/mile. Now however if you are upstate NY the kWh cost is 14 cents/kWh hence for the Leaf the per mile cost becomes (24 x .14/75)= 4.5 cents/mile. Shocking!! BTW over the continental US electric cost per kWh ranges from 6 cents to 14 cents.

BUT in no small part, I believe, this explains why by the end of 2013 there will be no less than 11 EV only model cars sold in the US. This will include 2 by Ford, the VOLT and one other by GM, Toyota, Honda, and Mitsubishi plus others.

INTERESTING---

Gas-To-Liquid-----Carl Schwab

Gas-To-Liquid (GTL) is a refinery process to convert natural gas into longer-chain hydrocarbons such as gasoline or diesel fuel. Gas-To-Liquid or GTL is the most recent version of the Fischer-Tropsch process first advanced about 1923. Why the interest now? Simply put it is because of the vast amount of methane gas, CH4 that is available.

 A simple look-----CH4, methane is the shortest of the paraffin series hydrocarbon chains that satisfy the formula --------CnH(2n+2). You can satisfy this by substituting n=1 and voila CH4. Now for car gasoline the values of n range from 4< n <9. For diesel the range is 9< n <15. BTW fuels manufactured in this manner are free of extraneous materials i.e. more pure.

Dual-Resonance Coil Testing - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

If you need to measure a transformer winding inductance in situ, while the transformer is all hooked up to its operating circuitry, that surrounding circuitry may interfere with getting the measurement done if there is a large capacitance present across the winding in question. An LC meter I once tried to use in that way simply could not ascertain a transformer winding's inductance because there was a large capacitance being reflected into that winding from the transformer's other windings.

However, there is a way out of this problem using the test fixture as sketched below. 

Morgan Oil - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

When our two boys were very small, my wife came down with a flu that took her temperature up to 103°F and I had to tend to her needs plus take care of the two boys. In the middle of all this, the telephone rang and when I picked up the receiver, I heard: "Hello, Mr. Dunn. This is Marcia from Morgan Oil. I'm calling...." and then I interrupted her: "Marcia, I have no time or  interest in taking this call. Do not call this number again." and I hung up the phone.

About an hour later, the phone rang again and when I picked up the receiver, I heard: "Hello, Mr. Dunn. This is Carol from Morgan Oil. I'm calling...." and then I interrupted this caller: "Carol, I already told your colleague Marcia not to call this number again and now I'm telling you. Do not call this number again." and I hung up.

ADHD for All - Dick LaRosa

I have noticed recent articles on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), which was formerly associated with kids from ages 6 to 12. The age range has been expanded to 4 to 18. The recent articles are mainly concerned with whether and when to medicate. I have looked in vain for mention of other problems, such as dyslexia, which can cause behavior similar to ADHD when the student becomes frustrated because of inability to process printed text. In working with my grandson on this problem, I discovered that regular and special education teachers, as well as school administrators, would never use the word "dyslexia". I think that this was the result of an education law that said that all students must be taught in a manner appropriate for their respective learning abilities.

 

Julius Sumner Miller - John Dunn, Consultant Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

Have you ever heard of this man, Julius Sumner Miller (May 17, 1909 – April 14, 1987)?

He was a physics teacher extraordinaire! 

 

He made several television appearances on the Steve Allen Show with physics demonstrations that were just fantastically entertaining and instructive.

Please start getting to know his work by looking at Sumner Miller video and then go look at his other videos.

You'll really enjoy them.

Focal Length - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E, P.C.

The following simplified sketch illustrates the concept of the "focal length" of a convex lens. Emissions from a light source located at one distance, call that "d1", will come to a focal point on the other side of the lens at the distance called "d2" and vice versa as well. 

Quiet Time in the Loop - Dick LaRosa

From 2/26/2012 to 3/10/2012 no new eddies seemed to be arriving from the North Brazil Current. The Loop Current (LC) intrusion into the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) extended about 550 km from the coast of Cuba and the average width of the U-shaped intrusion was about 270 km. The sea surface height (SSH) contours inside the Loop path had a single peak which was 70 cm high at the start of the period and decayed to 65 cm on 3/9/2012. I could see water draining out of the peak and flowing toward Cuba. At the coast, it split, and some went downstream toward Key West while the remainder flowed along the coast toward the western tip of Cuba where it was incorporated into the LC.