Archive for September 2011
Aircraft Technology Applied to Trucks
Several aerodynamic improvements and flow control techniques are used in jet aircraft wings in order to allow a better movement through the air and thus enhance the overall performance of the airplane. The Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta is now working on using these same techniques with trucks and trailers. According to the latest tests using a full-size truck show clearly how the techniques enhance fuel efficiency reducing fuel costs by as much as 12 percent. The techniques can also improve directional control and breaking, enhancing this way safety as well on the roads.
Robert Englar, principal research engineer of Aerospace, Transportation and Advanced Systems Laboratory of the Georgia Tech Research Institute said that they have resolved unknowns from previous testing, and that they have demonstrated that this technology functions in trucks as well as it does in airplanes, and they expect that the trucking industry will consider an estimated 12 percent of fuel expenditure reduction worthy of pursuing. This amount will improve fuel economy resulting in approximately 2,400 million gallons of fuel worth of savings for the United States heavy truck fleet.
The techniques employed in this technology include aerodynamic improvements made possible by geometry modifications in the trucks that generate savings of up to 6 to 7 percent. These modifications include rounding aft trailer corners, installation of fairings, as well as other modifications that smooth air flow over the boxy trucks. The additional savings of 5 percent are achieved through pneumatic devices that blow air from vents at the rear of the vehicle to prevent separation of air flow.
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
By 1900, only 124 years after declaring independence, the United States had grown and expanded into one of the most prosperous and influential countries in the world. The economy was strong, driven by the power of steel locomotives, steam engines, electricity, and the beginning of automated manufacturing. But the burgeoning economic productivity, along with the complexity of 20th century machinery, created problems when different manufacturers had to work together. Disagreements arose over the units of measurement and how to apply them. For example, one company’s “gallon” might not be the same as another company’s. Without standards, the parts or containers made by one company did not fit another company’s items, resulting in chaos.
On March 3, 1901, the U.S. government chartered the National Bureau of Standards to remedy this problem. Beginning with a staff of 1 2, the new bureau quickly went to work, improving the standards of length and mass measurements, and establishing new standards of temperature, time, and light. Time was especially important, as it synchronizes the activities of so many people. How do railroads, radio and television networks, and other time-conscious organizations know what time it is – and keep the same time? The bureau has provided time signals from a radio station, WWV, since 1 923. Governing this timekeeping is an atomic clock so precise that it will not gain or lose a second in 60 million years!
The National Bureau of Standards changed its name to the National Institute of Standards and Technology in 1988. Today, the NIST has facilities in Gaitherburg, Maryland, and Boulder, Colorado, and employs about 2,800 scientists, engineers, and staff. The NIST continues to improve measurement technology and standards, helping promote economic and technological progress. Laboratories at the NIST include the Building and Fire Research Laboratory, the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, the Information Technology Laboratory, the Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory, the Physics Laboratory, and others.
West Virginia University Institute of Technology
West Virginia University Institute of Technology is situated in Montgomery, West Virginia. This institute is a 4-year college. It is one of the biggest regional college grounds of West Virginia University as well as separately recognized from the major university grounds of West Virginia University that is in Morgantown. Being a branch of West Virginia University. Locals usually call the institute WVU Tech, simply Tech or West Virginia Tech. In 1895, Montgomery Preparatory School founded this college, which is a sub-college school of West Virginia University. In 1917, this school was estranged from WVU as well as renamed as West Virginia Trade School. In 1966, the school intermingle a Community College and began to reward the postgraduate degree in 1978, in engineering. The college turns out to be a regional college ground in 1996 of West Virginia University. In 2007, WVU became a WVU Tech.
West Virginia University Tech provides various baccalaureate degree courses in high-demand study fields like Nursing, Engineering, Business Management, Printing Management, Computer Science, Life Sciences, Health Service Administration as well as many more. In Control System Engineering also this university provides a postgraduate degree program. Community and Technical College offers many courses like Industrial Technology, Engineering Technology, and Electronic Technology. The athletic teams are called as Golden Bears that compete in NAIA Mid-South Conference. Before 2006 this team competed in NCAA Division 2, in WVIAC.
The women’s basketball team of WVU Tech earned a starting point in NAIA National Tournament by winning the conference tournament. The committee structure of West Virginia University consists of Board of Governors that has 5 committees: Finance and Operation Committee, Regional Campus Committee or Community and Technical College, Audit Committee, The Planning and Policy Committee, and Executive Committee. The Planning and Policy Committee includes Master Planning, Strategic Planning, Supervision, Control, Capital Planning and educational policies as well as affairs management.
West Virginia University Institute Of Technology offers many master degree programs in engineering that prepares students to apply scientific and mathematical principles towards the development, design as well as operational evaluation regarding total systems and solution to the huge range of engineering difficulties, including the combination of human, energy, physical, communications, information, and management requirements as desired. In 1978, this university began to award degrees in masters in engineering in 1978. In 1996, this college was re-merged under its present name in to West Virginia University.