by: Buck
One word that every company strives to incorporate into their production and their product, whether they are in the packaging industry or not, is sustainability. This word's relevance increases over time, but it has never always been a part of the world we live in. But what does this word mean, and why is it so desired by companies? Also, what can be done by both the producer and the consumer to promote this idea of going green?
Sustainability, in the ideal state, is indefinite production. A product that is able to sustain itself during its making over and over again. What this means in the realistic world is often referred to as the Three Rs: reduce, reuse, and recycle. Companies are always looking for new ways to fulfill these Three Rs, but why? There can be a number of reasons why a company might do this, but the honest reason is that sustainability equals lower production costs. The company might use it as self promotion, as a way to reach out to a picky market, and this is fair, but the underlying reason behind it all is the money. Though being sustainable is more appealing to consumers and it does help with reducing the natural resources used, it is a key factor in creating a cheaper production cycle for a product.
So, what is done by the producer to promote sustainability? The Federal Trade Commission(FTC) has set certain requirements that a product must fulfill before it can be considered a "recyclable" product. I won't get into the details of these requirements, but it is important to know that these things exist to enhance how the U.S. maximizes its sustainability.
The truth is, the gap that separates the U.S. from where we are now to a near perfect sustainable economy lies in the consumer. The government does everything that it can to promote, make efficient, and make accessible the ability to properly recycle. Nearly 75% of the U.S. population has a form of curb-side recycling accessible to them (Sustainable Packaging Coalition). That being said, not enough people have the motive to do their duty and recycle their waste. Currently, the U.S. is only able to recover and reuse 5% of the plastics that are used, the remaining 95% is thrown away, where it cannot be recovered for reuse (Sustainable Packaging Coalition).
It is eminent that sustainability is a key factor in today's world. Companies can gain from it economically, but, more importantly, we can all gain from it environmentally. Recycling is a responsibility that we all owe to this world. Earth is the only planet we have yet to discover that can sustain human life, so why pollute it with plastics and glass that will slowly ruin the beauty around us? If we each do our part, be it a small part, we can help improve our own lives, as well as the lives of the future.
Sunday, October 23, 2016
The Emission System
By: Kevin Chung
As global
warming continues to be a pressing matter for us, systems and energy
conservative inventions have been created to reduce the amount of pollutants
released into the atmosphere. One of these is the emission systems in our cars.
The purpose of the emission system is to limit the amount of discharge of
noxious gases like carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and oxides of nitrogen, from
the internal-combustion engine. So, a variety of systems have been created to
deal with these emissions.
To control
the exhaust emissions, two types of systems are used: the air injection system,
and the EGR system (exhaust gas recirculation). In an air-injection system, the
engine drive pump combines air with unburned hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide
at high temperatures and continues the combustion process. This is so that unburned
hydrocarbons aren’t released into the atmosphere and conserves energy. Now in
an EGR, a portion of exhaust gas is taken back to the cylinder head. This is so
they’re combined with the fuel-air mixture for combustion. The recycled gas’
purpose is to lower the temperature of combustion, so that less nitrogen oxides
are produced during combustion.
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| Picture Credit: repairpal.com |
The crankcase-
a portion of the of the engine block below the cylinder where the crankshaft is
located- leaked gases are combined with ventilating air to be returned to the intake
manifold for re-burning. The part that performs this function is the PCV valve. The
PCV valve acts like a small calibrated vacuum leak, allowing it to siphon air
through the crankcase, taking moisture and leaked gases that would pollute the
atmosphere.
Lastly,
the catalytic converter, which is used for additional combustion. It has an
insulted chamber of a ceramic honeycomb structure coated with a thin layer of
metals like platinum. As the exhaust gases pass through the honeycomb structure,
the metal acts as a catalyst to convert the gases into water vapor, carbon
dioxide, and nitrogen, which aren’t as harmful to the environment. If you liked
this post or want to add something, leave a comment, and I’ll try to respond as
soon as I can.
Sources
"Emission Control System." Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2016.
Environmental Engineering
In this blog post I will
explain what is an environmental engineer, what they do, and the type of
education that you need to become one as well as talk about two important
people in the field of environmental engineering.
Environmental engineering is
the branch of engineering that protects people from the effects of adverse
environmental effects, such as pollution, as well as improving environmental
quality. These engineers use the principles of engineering, soil sciences, biology,
and chemistry to develop solution to environmental problems.
Environmental
engineers work to improve recycling, waste disposal, public health, and water
and air pollution. With the growth of cities and the development of large scale
farming and manufacturing, people have had to worry about the air quality and
soil contamination.
The
work environment of an environmental engineer varies because of the nature of
tasks that they do. When these engineers are working with other engineers and
urban and regional planners, they are likely to be in offices. When they are
carrying out solutions for construction projects, they are likely to be at
construction sites.
In
order to become an environmental engineer you must have bachelor’s degree in
environmental engineering or a related field, such as civil, chemical, or
general engineering.
It
is said that the first environmental engineer was Joseph Bazalgette. In an
article of the Postgraduate Medical Journal, Bazalgette oversaw the
construction of the first municipal sanitary sewer system in London in the mid-
19th century. In this time, they were cholera epidemics, as
well as a persistent unbearable stench, that was caused by the discharge of raw
sewage into the Thames River, which was also the main source of drinking water
in the city. This lead to the Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli to ask for 3.5
million pounds to improve the city’s sewage disposal system.
Another
notable name in the field of environmental engineering is Ellen Henrietta
Swallow Richard, she was a 19th century pioneer who was an
industrial and environmental chemist. She was the first woman admitted to the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and later, an instructor in
sanitary chemistry there. She worked with many local and national groups
dealing with water supplies and public health problems.
Sunday, October 16, 2016
Engineering Applied to Traffic
By: Buck
For those of you that live in a big city, I am sure you know the stresses of commuting to work every day while slowing lugging through traffic. Sitting in what resembles a parking lot but is truly the freeway, you eye the clock, making calculations in your head trying to determine if you will make it to work on time. This problem was looked at through the eyes of engineers at Kennesaw State University, and a potential solution has risen.
The solution to this problem is a simple bus system, except it is not just any bus system that runs behind schedule and overcharges its passengers. This is a system of reliable, timely, efficient, electric, and semi-self driving buses. They are called Slim Modular Flexible Electric Buses, or SMFe-buses. Associate electoral engineering professor Bill Diong has been working on this idea and leading the research. The idea is that a slimmed down electric bus with a human driver is given its own custom lane on the free way, thus making it a quicker and reliable source of transportation. On top of this, the human driven bus will be followed by multiple electric buses, except these ones are different. The buses that follow the first bus are all self-driving buses, programmed to keep within a certain distance of the bus in front of it while still keeping up. This allows for a larger scale of transportation, with no gas to cut down prices, as well as less drivers needed to also cut down on the pricing. This is expected to add up to a 20 percent savings compared to current busing systems.
The key to this innovative form of transportation lies within the sensors in the self-driven cars. These sensors have to be extremely accurate in order to both insure the safety of the passengers and to maximize efficiency. Diong, as well as some of his graduate students, are working on these sensors to perfect their performance. The team is designing these buses to reach 65 miles per hour, which is impressive for a self-driving vehicle of that size and weight.
Hopefully, with this new engineering, the hours spent sitting in a car while commuting to work can be drastically reduced for Americans in big cities. Diong and his team plan on utilizing this innovation fully to benefit the consumer. The team already has a patent being processed for the SMFe-bus concept and hopes that it won't be long until the public gets to see this invention put to the test.
For those of you that live in a big city, I am sure you know the stresses of commuting to work every day while slowing lugging through traffic. Sitting in what resembles a parking lot but is truly the freeway, you eye the clock, making calculations in your head trying to determine if you will make it to work on time. This problem was looked at through the eyes of engineers at Kennesaw State University, and a potential solution has risen.
The solution to this problem is a simple bus system, except it is not just any bus system that runs behind schedule and overcharges its passengers. This is a system of reliable, timely, efficient, electric, and semi-self driving buses. They are called Slim Modular Flexible Electric Buses, or SMFe-buses. Associate electoral engineering professor Bill Diong has been working on this idea and leading the research. The idea is that a slimmed down electric bus with a human driver is given its own custom lane on the free way, thus making it a quicker and reliable source of transportation. On top of this, the human driven bus will be followed by multiple electric buses, except these ones are different. The buses that follow the first bus are all self-driving buses, programmed to keep within a certain distance of the bus in front of it while still keeping up. This allows for a larger scale of transportation, with no gas to cut down prices, as well as less drivers needed to also cut down on the pricing. This is expected to add up to a 20 percent savings compared to current busing systems.
The key to this innovative form of transportation lies within the sensors in the self-driven cars. These sensors have to be extremely accurate in order to both insure the safety of the passengers and to maximize efficiency. Diong, as well as some of his graduate students, are working on these sensors to perfect their performance. The team is designing these buses to reach 65 miles per hour, which is impressive for a self-driving vehicle of that size and weight.
Hopefully, with this new engineering, the hours spent sitting in a car while commuting to work can be drastically reduced for Americans in big cities. Diong and his team plan on utilizing this innovation fully to benefit the consumer. The team already has a patent being processed for the SMFe-bus concept and hopes that it won't be long until the public gets to see this invention put to the test.
Fuel Systems
By: Kevin Chung
As the
gasoline is pushed out of the gas tank, it goes into the fuel lines. These
lines are created from metal and are used to connect the gas tank from the
back, to the engine in the front. The reason they run along parts of the
vehicle is so they won’t be damaged by the element and so that they don’t get
too hot from other components of the car.
In this
article, I’ll explain how fuel systems starts within a car and how the system
ends. I’ll first start out explaining the main parts that operate within the
system, which are the fuel pump, fuel line, and the fuel filter. Then lastly,
the fuel injection. In the last part I’ll explain both the electrical and mechanical
fuel injectors in how they work and how they differ from one another.
A cars
gas tank is responsible for holding all the gas used in the fuel system, but if
first has to go through some steps before it reaches the engine.
The gas
first enters the fuel pump. The fuel pump is what physically pushes the gas out
of the gas tank and into the fuel lines. Some vehicles do have multiple fuel
pumps, ant the advantage to have multiple pumps is so that the gas doesn’t
slosh from one end to the other inside the tank when the car is making a sharp
turn, or is on an incline, helping to keep the fuel pumps dry.
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| Picture Credit: protecautocare.com |
But
before the gasoline can reach the engine, it has to go through the fuel filter.
Its job is to remove any impurities or particles that are inside the gasoline
so that when it enters the engine, it won’t damage it.
The
gasoline finally enters the engine, but it has to enter engine through fuel injectors.
A fuel injector is a valve that sprays the pressurized fuel into the motors
intake manifold. Where the gasoline will then be mixed to create a combustion
to run the vehicle Now there are two kinds of fuel injectors, mechanical and
electrical.
Mechanical
fuel injectors work by physically metering the amount of air going into the
engine and the amount of fuel that is going into the injectors. This system
makes it much harder to calibrate. These systems were used on high performance
sports cars and sports saloons back in the 1970s and 1980s. So they’re not
really used any more.
Now most
modern cars these days have electronic fuel injectors, which are controlled by
a computer inside the car. This kind of method is much more efficient because
it provides consumers with better fuel mileage and a consistent performance. If
you like this article or you have something to add, please leave a comment and
I’ll reply as soon as I can.
Source
Swan, Ian. "How Does the Fuel System Work in a Modern Car? |
YourMechanic Advice." How Does the Fuel
System Work in a Modern Car? | YourMechanic Advice. N.p., 24 Nov. 2015.
Web. 17 Oct. 2016.
A Branch of Civil Engineering
by: Noemi Melo
Civil engineering deals with
design, construction, and maintain of the physical and naturally built
environments for example including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and
buildings. Civil engineering is the second oldest engineering discipline. As
many of you might not know that civil engineering has many branches to it for
example including environmental, structural, architecture, construction, and
materials engineering. The branch of civil engineering that I will talk about
in this blog post is structural engineers and what a structural engineer does
and what it takes to be a structural engineer.
Structural engineering has
been amongst the oldest types of engineering. One of the main things that
structural engineering’s do is getting involved in the design planning of
building, tunnels, bridges, etc. As a structural engineer you are the
consultant of many architect or contractors. There main objective to calculate
the load (forces of mother nature wind, snow) that’s best fitted for the
building. These kind of loads can be a variety of materials that can range from
steel and concrete to wood and masonry. When dealing with these kind of
situation that have to think about where the building is going to be located at
and what kind of weather will be impacted. With this they have to do
calculations of how they want to build the structure and how much it can hold
from the forces of mother nature. One of the unique aspects of being a
structural engineer is that they can also be involved in being in demolition
jobs or dismantling of a certain structure.
In order to become a
structural engineer, you need a bachelor’s degree in structural or civil
engineering. You will need skills in math’s and science and be good at problem
solving. You must be interested in designing and structuring a building and
have a lot of creative ideas.
If you’re interested in
building anything from hospital’s to sport stadiums, bridges, and oil rigs,
then you might want to consider structural engineering.
"How to Become a
Structural Engineer." Civil Engineering Careers Comments.
N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.
"SEAOC." What
Is a Structural Engineer. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.
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