IEEE Consultants' Network of Long Island

The Verizon Show - John Dunn, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

I simply cound NOT have made this up.

My phone stopped working yesterday, so I tried to report the problem to Verizon using their web site. However, the part of the site I needed to use didn't work. Two links were inoperative, one of them giving an "Error 404" response, the other one simply not there.

Therefore, I contacted their "customer support", also by way of that web site. Oohhhhh boy!!

Sometimes, I have to wonder what drives me to bother, but this exchange of e-mails should at least be good for a chuckle or two.

REHASH OF WHY BER—Carl Schwab

BER is short for Brake Energy Recovery. We need to conserve the oil for fuels needed by transportation, particularly airplanes and the military AND we should NOT use #2 domestic oil for heating IF natural gas, NG or LP fuel are available.

How much energy is there to be concerned about? Using the basic equation for kinetic energy, KE.

KE=1/2 x M x V^2
Where:  M=W/32

Using old engineering, non-metric units, W is in pounds, V is in feet/second, and KE is in (ft-lbs). This helps get ones arms around how much energy (in easy to comprehend ft-lbs) is wasted in mechanical brake pads as heat.

Conversions
Hp-hr= 1,980,000 ft-lbs   Kwh=2,655,223 ft-lbs=3.6 megaJ 
Energy in 1 gal of gasoline=132 megaJ=36.67 Kwh     J=watt-sec
Energy in 1 gal of diesel   = 148 megaJ=41.11Kwh

Efficiency of conversion
Gasoline      Eff=2.84/36.37/0.4=.194 or 19.4%
Diesel          Eff=3.18/41.11/.254=.305 or 30.5%

Ain't So - Dick LaRosa

I had a simple analog circuit showing four resistors in series representing, respectively, the Yucatan Channel, Loop Current, Florida Straits, and Florida Current (YC, LC, FS, FC respectively.) The flow is dominated by turbulent friction, so the hydraulic head drop (voltage drop) of each resistor is proportional to the square of the volume transport (current). The LC resistor was shown as variable because its length can change, depending on how far the LC intrudes into the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). In trying to replace monthly averages of mean sea level (MSL) derived from tide gages on Grand Cayman Island (GC) and Settlement Point (SP) on Grand Bahama Island, I was closely examining the two map products offered on the Internet by the GoM Near Real-Time Altimeter Data Viewer.

The first map product gives the sea surface height (SSH) contours caused by the current with all of the static gravitational background (Geoid) subtracted out. According to the simple analog, the current should enter the GoM on one of the SSH contours and descend steadily down to successively lower contours until it exits at SP. But the map shows only the path between the YC entrance to the GoM and part-way through FS, so we lose the perspective that would be afforded by the full path. Also the contours are too close together to decide where the current path is centered. This would be where the contours are closest together, indicating maximum transverse SSH gradient. There are places along the LC where you can see contours spreading apart, indicating a slowing of the LC. At these places, you can see a shift of the LC to higher contours. The ride is more like a roller coaster than a steady descent. This is not consistent with the simple resistor analog equivalent circuit. Maybe a simple analog does not exist.

I just came across a paper that shows SSH contours as far upstream as Grand Cayman Island. This will help me to understand how the current speeds up to go through the narrow Yucatan Channel. Further study may enable me to replace the tide gage data that is no longer available.

An Experiment in How We Think

 

At the September 1, 2010 meeting of LICN, we all participated in an experiment pertaining to our thinking processes.

 

After performing an experiment, you should write it up... which I did. I tried to adhere to the accepted format that we learned in school, but I did allow myself some liberty to deviate.

 

Since we all participated as co-experimenters, I invite you to present you own thoughts, conclusions, discussions, etc.

 

I also want to take this opportunity to thank you for your participation and the lively discussions. It was fun.

 

Murray Kleiner 

 

Click the "Continue reading" below for the complete report

Economics of an Electric Car Scheme - by Dave Rost

In his talk at the last meeting, Murray Kleiner referred to the Israeli guy who wants to set up a business changing batteries in electric cars.  I woke up earlier this week thinking about just this idea; I think it was because I had read a few days earlier that he was familiar with a machine that could handle bombs on an F-16 in three minutes and that he figured changing a battery could be easier.  I didn’t think of all of the following before I got up, but just the beginning:

If cars are operating on a limited access highway with three second headway (as typically recommended by defensive driving class), the number of cars per hour per lane would be:

3600 seconds/hour / 3 seconds = 1200 cars/hour/lane

If it is a two lane highway, there would be 2400 cars/hour

If the batteries last two hours, the number of batteries to be changed would be:

2 * 2400 = 4800 batteries every two hours, or

2400 batteries/hour

SOMETHING DIFERENT IN HYBRIDS?--Carl Schwab

Some 3-4 years ago the writer spent time documenting how one could approach converting a conventional car into a hybrid. What was conjectured was conversion of a 1998 Mercury Marquis. What was postulated was to reconfigure the drive train that viewed from the rear axle, could be driven by (or drive) a Motor/Generator OR the output end of a 6-speed automatic transmission through an electric clutch into the current ICE, OR both. This approach was different and easier to understand than TOYOTA hybrid system and the 2-MODE system planned by CHRYSLER, GM and BMW.

HYUNDAI has decided NOT to pay royalties to TOYOTA or the 2-MODE group and engineered something similar to what was just described above. It is differs in the way the clutches are used. What HYUNDAI has done is use a 6-speed electric operated transmission and the electric operated clutch BUT have placed the Mot/Gen between the ICE and the transmission in the physical space that was occupied by the Torque/Converter. Two electric clutches allow using the Mot/Gen as a starter/gen OR to drive the 6-speed transmission to the rear wheels directly. In this manner they have electric only (in the city) up to 60 mph. At that point the forward clutch starts the ICE and the ICE can assist OR take over the powering.