March 12th, 2010 by
Military & Aerospace Electronics editorial covers topics such as Navigation/Guidance, Avionics, Missile Systems, Communication Systems, Electronic Warfare, Simulation/ Training Systems, Unmanned Vehicles, Nanotechnology, Biometrics, Homeland Security, Shipboard Electronics, Reconnaissance Equipment and other relevant topics to military professionals in organizations such as the Department of Defense (DOD), NASA, FAA, CIA, FBI, NSA, Defense Contractors, Prime Contractors, Subcontractors/ Integrators, Electronics Manufacturers, Defense Systems Vendors, and R&D, among others. Request Free!
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February 24th, 2010 by engineering magazines
Many people love the freedom of riding a motorcycle as well as the economical value it offers, especially now with fuel costs at an all time high. However, some people just aren’t comfortable operating a motorcycle. A great alternative is to choose an electric scooter. They are also very economically as well as easy to operate. This is a great option for riding around town. I know many parents who compromise purchasing their teenager a scooter rather than an actual motorcycle. Scooters also cost less than a motorcycle.
Safety is still a necessity while operating an electric scooter. It is important that you wear a helmet as well as long sleeved shirts and pants to prevent road rash. You also need to follow the rules of the road. Too many people have the misconception that a scooter can be operated like a bicycle rather than a motor vehicle on the road. In many states you have to obtain a motorcycle license to legally operate one on the street. Children must be the legal age to drive one as determined by their state regulations.
Electric scooters are frequently referred to as mopeds as well. They are very environmentally friendly so you don’t have to worry about pollution issues. Many of the features on these scooters are similar to those of a motorcycle including the seat, brakes, tires, and turn signals. While scooters are definitely easier to learn to ride, they won’t offer you the same speed as a motorcycle. Don’t expect to get on one and take off like the wind. You also won’t want to ride them on the highway or interstate as they just aren’t designed for that type of speed or travel.
Depending on the type of electric scooter you purchase, you can anticipate spending from $200 to $1,000. The prices are very reasonable, so that your time finding one that fits you perfectly. There are many styles and colors available from a variety of manufacturers. Many women love operating a scooter as opposed to a motorcycle because of the weight difference.
You will also find scooters that feature a stand up or a sit down design. The younger kids definitely seem to favor the stand up type but it certainly isn’t going to be comfortable when you are on it for a length of time. You also won’t have the storage space if you need to carry anything with you.
Most electric scooters require very little maintenence, further adding to your transportation savings. In most cases you will be able to do the basic maintenance and even repairs on your own. You may be wondering how fuel efficient an electric scooter is. While the specific savings will vary by model, many of them can get 60 miles per gallon of fuel.
Since electric scooters don’t take up much space and they are light weight, may college kids prefer to use one instead of a car. They can even ride it around campus and secure it on the bike rack. Most of them can get up to 30 MPH so a quick trip to town or the grocery store is even possible with one.
Electric scooters have continued to grow in popularity in areas where the fuel is high and the weather is nice most of the year. Consumers are looking for an economical means of transportation and they have found in with electric scooters. You can find a great deal of information about them on the internet as well as motorcycle and electric stores.
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November 12th, 2009 by engineering magazines
Automobile is a vital object of your life and it is used for turning your life forward. To understand your car finer and make it intact you have to think your car as a absolute automatic system. And like all automotive systems it requires upkeep to make alive. Time we use cars or vehicles we rarely observance it as a absolute system. Just imagine how the things are structured and how this automotive system works. The variations introduced by vehicle manufacturers are nothing but making automotive systems finer and finer!
All the units in your car from keyless entry to power steering wheel, chrome alloy wheels to power windows, cooling system and engine adjustment all together form automotive systems. And upkeep of automotive systems is not an effortless thing. Today’s car is not a object of big machineries and parts; it is more or less like a computer; fine, fitted with smaller and brainy units. upkeep of it requires intelligence and knowledge. Without suitable knowledge and intent about the systems one cannot just cover the job of maintaining an engine perfectly. Hence it is very strategic for you to give an extra eye to upkeep of automotive systems.
Maintenance of your automotive systems must be done according to standards mentioned by manufacturers. Besides going for the proper upkeep of automotive systems, you can also cerebrate of certain enlistment in your car for improving automotive performance. Such enlistment and installation of parts in your automotive system will raise the performance of your vehicle and gain gas mileage. Given beneath are few accessories which can upgrade the performance of your car.
Reusable Air Filters: Reusable air filters are one of the good units you can buy for your car. It not only saves a favorable deal of money, but such filters have been found to amount acceleration of your vehicle. The use of reusable air filters have also a favorable outcome on environment. Such reusable air filter lasts longer for your car and keeps on keeping the performance uncastrated.
Performance Chips: Most brand new cars are operated by computer chips and those chips terminate the torque and h.p. to be displaced. Recalibrations or performance chips are highly in use these days to improve automotive performance. Installing performance chips will help you amount the torque and h.p. of your vehicle significantly.
Performance Exhaust Systems: This is another way to take care of automotive performance. The catalyst back exhaust system is a extraordinary way to free cornered force and loose the h.p.. This automotive system incorporates larger width exhaust pipe and low restriction muffler tips into your vehicle which lowers the exhaust back pressure. Another favorable gain of this system is a sound impression of your vehicle which is really awesome.
Cold Air Intake: This upgrade system is under the bonnet mod which is utilised to reduce the temperature of air entering the car to amount power of engine. This installation enhances your engine looks besides increasing its power. This object too makes the sound of engine appealing.
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October 26th, 2009 by engineering magazines
Revolutionary advancements to automotive engineering and design have incorporated the use of engine computers to enhance the efficiency of engine operations. Along with the use of electronic engine sensors, computer-assisted engine system operations have established greater engine power and performance perfect for daily driving applications. For high performance driving applications, you can simply employ a cost effective Pontiac performance chip to do just the trick in taking your vehicle’s overall engine performance a level up notch. The chip carries a program that is designed to upgrade the critical factory performance settings of your engine. Aside from that, the incorporation of application tested technologies backed up the dyno-test proven results of the fuel efficiency as well as the performance gains offered by premium performance chips. Souping-up serious power train has never been easier. The secret to enjoying practical and convenient solutions to unleashing your vehicle’s overall level of performance lie on the functionality of a single unit of sophisticated performance enhancing device.
Tuned towards delivering your vehicle’s peak performance and fuel efficiency, the sophisticated and neat technology used in manufactured premium Pontiac performance chip has long been developed to offer greater possibilities to boosting combustion efficiencies. With the help of electronic sensors, it breaks your engine free from the restrictions of critical factory settings for performance. At specified RPM range, the product is designed to meet the exact demands of sustaining smooth operations as specific driving applications. Add that up to the product’s simplest and easiest installation specifications and you simple get pure convenience of continually enjoying the gains of re-establishing the fuel efficiency status of your engine absolutely hassle-free. While it is intended to be wired directly to your engine control unit, the product automatically makes all the necessary adjustments to optimize fuel combustion efficiency. It intelligently improves drivability by simply helping your engine computer keep up with the intensity of engine operations you require so following the course of your driving style will be absolutely fail-proof.
With today’s age of technological advancements, you never will need to crawl under the hood just to upgrade the performance of your vehicle. Back in the days, you need to hope of the best results when fondling with carburetor settings and distributor advance curves just to squeeze more engine power out of the standard yielded output. By combining aggressive fuel and timing settings, plug and play Pontiac performance chip applications eliminates all the dirty works of juicing more power from your engine. By remapping your engine systems for more power and torque, it simply acquires better stance in terms of drivability and fuel economy. Because performance chips are highly advanced car accessories as well as cost effective performance enhancers, chip manufacturers take leverage on more advanced chip features connected with their chips. Whatever type or brand of performance chip you decide to have your ride equipped with, make sure that the product is custom tailored to your vehicle’s specific year and model of application. Otherwise, you might face sever engine computer problems due to imprecision. Finding the best fitting Pontiac performance chip for your vehicle has been made easier as online automotive stores improved the availability of performance chips not just to your country but all over the world.
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October 22nd, 2009 by engineering magazines
It turns out all those fancy automotive safety devices cannot only help save lives, they can also save cash. According to The Economic Impact of Motor Vehicle Crashes, roughly $230.6 billion was exhausted on motor vehicle crashes in 2000 in the U.S. Nearly 42 thousand people perished that year, and 28 million vehicles were damaged.
The same government report also revealed that 5.3 million individuals suffered non-fatal injuries, 39% of all traffic-related deaths were attributed to alcohol and such substance-induced accidents cost about $51 billion. Public tax revenues, amounting to $21 billion, paid the costs incurred by 9% of crashes. That’s $200 for each household in America.
But wait. There’s more. Lost market productivity was estimated at $61 billion, property damage at $59 billion, medical expenses at $32.6 billion and the cost of travel delays at $25.6 billion. Each fatality produced a discounted lifetime cost of approximately $977,000.
Active and passive safety systems developed by automotive engineers and their colleagues may be a bigger part of the answer than we might suspect. Systems currently being developed are addressing both the monetary and safety concerns of our roadways through devices that have automatic responses to dangerous conditions or events. For instance, adaptive cruise control adjusts the speed of the vehicle to maintain a preset time gap from the vehicle ahead. Active night vision uses infrared illuminators to help drivers to see better when driving at night and electronic stability control improves the safety of a vehicle’s handling, helping the driver maintain control of the vehicle.
Surprisingly, perhaps, these are just basic safety features – ranking amongst car navigation systems, keyless entry and hybrid cars as, yes, technological innovations, but old news to vehicle manufacturers. Lane departure and forward collision warning, pre-crash mitigation systems, side alert, pedestrian and road sign recognition systems are part of the new wave. These systems “read” the road using electronics, cameras and sensors. They alert drivers when they are drifting out of the intended lane, have another vehicle in their blind spots, are in danger of crashing or are distracted. These technological gems even respond to unavoidable crashes by enacting safety precautions, such as pretensioning motorized seat belts and applying brakes during the last 400 to 500 milliseconds before a crash, when there is little a driver can do to stop it.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 50% of all crashes involve “driver inattention.” It’s impossible to pinpoint how many crashes could have been avoided if there had only been some alert system warning drivers to pay more attention during critical moments. How many crashes could have been avoided by a single alert, some notification that another vehicle was in a driver’s blind spot? By shaving off four or five miles per hour before a crash by applying the brakes?
And while saving lives and preventing injuries is of the most concern, we cannot, in all reality, ignore the financial repercussions of roadway accidents. Billions upon billions of dollars are lost every year because of these crashes. Medical expenses, property damage and lost productivity are passed on to the average citizen in the form of higher taxes and insurance premiums. What if some percentage of this cost – even if slight – could be lessened by safety systems? One percent of hundreds of billions of dollars, after all, is nothing to scoff at.
Automotive engineers are critical contributors to advancing projects with aspirations of making roads safer. Without their expertise, none of the technology currently available would have been possible and neither would future innovations. What’s more, these talented individuals are integrating these devices so they are more affordable and, thus, more accessible to the masses.
In the near future, a modestly priced vehicle could have a myriad of safety features – forward collision and lane departure warning, road sign and pedestrian recognition, adaptive cruise control, pre-crash mitigation, electronic stability control, side alert. All of it. So kiss some automotive engineers today – hiding in their offices – and tell them you’re proud. They could just save your life … and at least a few bucks on your insurance policy.
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October 18th, 2009 by engineering magazines
FriCSo, Inc., a provider of patented, environmentally friendly nanolayer-based technology for friction reduction between moving parts, announced the success of its efforts which were aimed at improving automotive engines.
Earlier, a test was conducted by the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and it was found that FriCSo’s Surface
Engineering Treatment (SET) was involving FriCSo’s product lines. According to the results, FriCSo’s technology reduces particulate matter emissions, increases engine mechanical efficiency, and reduces fuel consumption.”This test is further proof that FriCSo’s SET introduces a new era in energy efficiency and environmental protection,” said Amir Weisberg, the CEO of FriCSo, Inc. “FriCSo is setting a new standard for friction and wear reduction, and enables manufacturers to offer superior products to meet market demand, with unprecedented performance.”
FriCSo’s breakthrough SET technology reduces the friction between moving parts through a ground-breaking polymer-based machining process. SET creates an oil-retaining organic nanolayer that is chemically bonded to the metal surface. As a result, it increases surface hardness and enhances surface topography. The technology is expected to bolster the efficiency of auto parts like the brakes and, at the same time, the overall performance and functionality of the vehicle.
Technion’s Mechanical Engineering Faculty performed the tests on a 4-cylinder tractor diesel engine at its Internal Combustion Engine Laboratory. The test consisted of two runs. The first test served as the baseline. It is done without any treatment of surfaces. The second test was consequently made after replacing the engine’s main friction parts like the cylinder liners, rocker shafts, piston pins, and valves with new parts treated with FriCSo’s SET.
Technion’s test results show that using the SET treatment leads to a fuel consumption reduction of 0.4 to four percent, depending on engine RPM and load. Additionally, SET treatment resulted in a significant cut of particulate matter emissions, about 43 to 46 percent, while oil consumption was reduced by 48 percent compared with the baseline case. In addition, SET treatment led to an improvement of about two percent in the engine’s mechanical efficiency.
According to S. Sumithra, a Frost & Sullivan research analyst, “FriCSo’s solution is an innovative device, which could potentially replace existing non-environment friendly coatings in the field of automotive coatings.”
FriCSo’s surface treatment delivers coating-like performance. SET comprises one or two of the following processes: high performance polymer lapping as a single treatment, and two-step treatment involving surface texturing using vibro-grooving followed by polymer lapping. “FriCSo’s solution is an innovative device, which could potentially replace existing non-environment friendly coatings in the field of automotive coatings,” said Sumithra.
Amir Weisberg, the CEO of FriCSo, Inc., said, “FriCSo’s solution is not a coating but delivers coating-like performance at a fraction of the time, cost and maintenance required by traditional solutions. Metal parts treated with SET enjoy high wear resistance and improved energy efficiency in the engines. SET is cost effective compared to using exotic metals for metal-pairs design, DLC and other coatings and bushings, and even offers superior performance in certain applications. Being environment friendly, this technology does not produce any toxic waste and complies with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) restrictions.”
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