Notes from the 11 July meeting

We had a very productive meeting this afternoon, even though part of the group thought it was at 2 and the rest showed up at the normal time of 3:30. Such is life.

Two things went on simultaneously. I spent much of the time winding a coil and making a small coil gun actually work (estimated muzzle velocity of 2 m/s). Now we actually know what we are doing, and Emma did a great job taking apart some more cameras and figuring out how the other type works.

The other half was devoted to design work on the Solar Cart charging control system, with the help if Ivan Baggett, a local EE who owns his own company, Bagotronix. From what I could see, that went really well and we owe him a lot of thanks.

Anyone interested in learning more about the controllers he designs and the tools he uses can find some links from his company web site. Thanks again to Ivan and whoever networked with him.

PS -
I rather stupidly managed to wait until I was writing this at 11pm to think what a good idea it might be to have him talk to us about the challenges of running a small company. I know some of my recent alumni are interested in being their own boss. Would the Business club be interested?

Innovative Architecture - Engineering

Check out this story from the BBC about a planned building in Dubai where each floor will rotate independently under the command of its owner.

• Dubail plans moving skyscraper

The building has 80 stories and is 420 m high, which is more than a quarter mile. The video showing a simulation of what it could look like is quite amazing.

In addition, there are wind turbines built into the building so it will generate its own power. There is a set of wind turbine blades between each floor of the building.

VIEW from the CHAIR // FRIDAY MEETING 6/20/08 @ 3:30PM

Hello,

We have another meeting coming up this Friday (6/20/08) at 3:30 in SM 260 ‘the usual.’ Unfortunately I will not be able to attend. However we have everything in place that it should be fine.


We will be continuing the electronics exploration from last week.


The committee for the dolly rack will be reporting on the progress with the computer generated plans for the golf cart rack.


We are still building the club directory. If you would like your contact information in this directory email your desired contact information to babic541@mymail.tcc.fl.edu.

We have also finished our signup sheets which will be placed in the SM office for ease of access.


Have a great meeting,
Vernon Babich
TCC Engineering Club Chair

(850) 510-2473

MESSAGE FROM VERNON

Hey Everyone,

Our last meeting was a great success. Some new plans for the upcoming weeks have been established as well as for the future. We will be finishing up a few mechanical things on the cart such as the dolly rack and the fans. The panels will also be glued on with electrical safe silicon based glue. For the future we are planning on utilizing new batteries for an ongoing project.

Our future meetings will be based mostly on education and application of electronics. Since our goal in the solar project is to increase efficiency, it is essential that we all know how to use and improve the basics of the cart’s electrical set up. These classes are currently being headed up by Aaron Bauldree who we all appreciate very much for spending his time teaching us. They will be starting out basic and if anyone misses a meeting you should contact someone in the club or email me at babic541@mymail.tcc.fl.edu. By teaching each other, we all improve and of course get to know each other.

It also seems that a specialization approach to the projects in the future is an idea held by most of the club. It’s been really exciting to see everyone breaking up things by engineering discipline and forming committees. Currently we have one committee for the dolly rack but others seemed to be unofficially forming. The club also wants to be able to understand every part of the project.

So much more to come! I hope to see you all at the next meeting this Friday at 3:30 pm in SM 260 “the usual.”

Vernon Babich
Engineering Club Chair.


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Notes: The "last meeting" referred to above was on Friday, June 6, 2008 @ 3:30 pm in room SM 260. The next meeting will be Friday, June 13, 2008 @ 3:30 pm in room SM 260.
~~ DJ

SUMMER 2008 MEETING SCHEDULE

Click on the FLYER to ENLARGE.

Calculus and Physics

I Will Derive!



Doug sent around the URL for this YouTube video but didn't get around to embedding it in a post here. (My brother also sent it to me, from a different blog, so this has definitely gone viral in some part of the blogosphere.) If you click on the image to go to the YouTube site, you can read all of the lyrics in the "more info" area.

Obligatory math/physics comment:
This is a nice example of the application of calculus to motion in physics, a topic taken up in chapter 3 of the calculus textbook and chapter 2 of the physics textbook.

MEETING THURS 5/22 @ 3PM SM260.