Nuts and Bolts 31/10/13

Haven't done much Physics the last 2 months or so, been too busy with a Marine Engineering course I'm doing at the Hunter Institute - TAFE at Newcastle, this is towards getting my next Chief Engineer's licence. Some random photos below of the marine engineering workshop, Newcastle and the maritime action on the busy harbour (click for bigger versions). Impressive fleet of tugboats they have there. The wineyards up the Hunter Valley are also worth a visit.

 

 

                  

 

Internal Combustion Engines MIT OpenCourseWare now online‏

(24/09/09)

For those interested, MIT has released today free online course notes for internal combustion engines including diesel engines:

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Mechanical-Engineering/2-61Spring-2008/CourseHome/

Click on "Lectures notes" on the sidebar to donwload individual lecture notes or you can download the lot. Last lecture explains hydrogen fuel cells and other techonlogies. Attached today's harbour photos.

Learning resource for Marine Engineers‏

(04/09/09)

Anyone studying marine engineering subjects might find this website useful:

http://www.marinediesels.info/

Although it's geared towards the big ship engines, it has lots of relevant info for smaller ones and associated machinery with neat diagrams/animations.

First Hydrogen Fuel Cell Water Taxi‏

(03/09/09)

A few months ago you read about the first hydrogen fuel cell commercial charter boat and aircraft in Germany, here's the first water taxi launched in 2003 using this technology:

http://www.marinelog.com/DOCS/NEWSMMIII/MMIIIOct16d.html

Build some nuclear/solar/wind/ocean current power stations to make lots of electricity (these don't pump CO2 into the atmosphere) in order make hydrogen gas from sea water, hydrogen gas filling stations and you have a true zero emission transport system. Another option looked at is an engine that burns hydrogen gas(highly flammable) in a combustion chamber directly rather than using fuel cells to make electricity which drive electric motors:

http://www.atzonline.com/index.php;do=show/site=a4e/sid=5666422124a9fbc2f268fd257932636/alloc=1/id=9413

Photos attached: lifeboat drill today at the maritime museum. Note the plaque has a small typo, should read 21.2KW

World's first zero emission passenger boat‏

(21/05/09)

Checkout the world's first ZERO emission passenger boat (25.5m long) using hydrogen fuel cells:

http://www.zemships.eu/en/

Doesn't use diesel fuel, no emissions, fill up with hydrogen gas instead, a full tank of 50Kg of hydrogen will run the boat for 3 days, has twice the fuel efficiency of a standard boat with diesel engines, non-polluting and virtually silent (electric motor drives the propeller, some new ships use electric AZIPODs:

has been certified for commercial operations to carry 100 passengers. Where do you get hydrogen gas from? Water -> H2O. Where do you get water? Look over the side ;-) The only ding is you need lots of electricity to separate in commercial quantities the hydrogen from the oxygen in the water molecule however as you know there are lots of non polluting methods of generating electricity going around, wind, solar, ocean currents, nuclear etc... Of course hydrogen goes with a bang when ignited so they must have worked out lots of safeguards to keep the German Lloyd people happy...

http://www.archive.org/details/hindenberg_explodes

Should have one in Sydney Harbour going around, give it a test run...