PRV-Engineering is constantly moving with the times and as part of the company’s recent £1.25million investment, managing director Simon Jones has added a vertical travelling column machining centre with full 5-Axis Synchronous milling ability.
Five-sided machining, also known as 3+2, is the process of setting up a part once and using a machine like the Mazak VTC800/30SR to machine five sides instead of machining the part one side at a time using a conventional 3-Axis machining centre.
The automobile industry has seen terrific change since the first car hit the road back in 1886. In fact, a quick comparison between the first car and today’s cars will tell you there are simply too many alterations to mention. Engines have developed out of all recognition, the bodywork has changed and a car’s interior is dramatically different too. Changes in fuels used, catalytic converters, turbos and injected engines have all been introduced. Big cars, small cars, cadillacs, two seaters, sports’ cars and Formula One cars. It’s an industry reluctant to stand still.
One of the major developments in recent times has been the introduction of the hybrid car – a vehicle that usually has two tanks for fuel – one for petrol and the other for hydrogen/ethanol or an alternative renewable fuel. Another step in the right direction. Another topic of conversation.
However, the industry was never likely to sit still after that, was it? The latest innovation sees the first ever self cleaning car.
Although the industry has suffered widespread criticism, there has been a general improvement in public attitude towards engineering.
Produced in March, the Public Attitudes report found that despite a lack of quality engineers, people now hold scientists and engineers in high regard. Ninety per cent not only believe engineers make a valuable contribution to society but view them as creative, interesting and open-minded people.
According to an article in The Engineer, this is borne out by Engineering UK’s annual Engineers and Engineering Brand Monitor, which found that for all age-groups ‘interesting’ has triumphed over previous descriptions for engineering, such as ‘dirty’ or ‘messy’ and even the more ambiguous term ‘challenging’.
For the past month or so the loss of the Malaysian Airlines flight, MH370, has dominated the headlines on every news channel around the world. Where is it, how did it get there and why is it taking so long to establish it’s whereabouts are the unanswered questions.
Helping with the search has been a state of the art unmanned submarine which has been probing the bed of the Southern Indian Ocean. Armed with some of the latest underwater imaging and navigation systems, experts believe the Torpedo shaped vessel represents the best chance of finding the missing plane.
If you talk to most engineering experts, they will tell you that 3D printing represents one of the most significant developments ever seen in the manufacturing industry.
For those who are still unsure about 3D printing or as it’s more professionally called, additive manufacturing, the following quote, perhaps, provides the best possible explanation.
“3D printing moves us away from the Henry Ford era mass production line and will bring us to a new reality of customizable, one-off production.”
CE Marking is the conformity marking for products sold in the European Union and has been a common requirement on things such as toys and electrical goods for many years. It consists of the CE-Logo and, if applicable, the four digit identification number of the notified body involved in the conformity assessment procedure.
By affixing the CE mark a person takes on responsibility for the conformity of the product. CE marking is a visible sign that the product complies with all relevant product supply law.Its presence together with the Declaration of Conformity gives the product to which it is affixed presumption of conformity with relevant product safety Directives. CE marked products are entitled to free movement throughout the European market.
The construction industry has gone through one of the most significant changes for a decade this year, when CE Marking of construction products became mandatory in all member states throughout the European Union and the European Economic Area. It’s also preparing itself for further change.
Electric Vehicles (EVs) first came into existence in the mid-19th century when electricity was among the preferred methods for motor vehicle propulsion, providing a level of comfort and ease of operation that could not be achieved by the gasoline cars of the time.
The internal combustion engine remains as the dominant propulsion method for motor vehicles, but electric power is certainly commonplace in other vehicle types, such as trains and smaller vehicles of all types.
UK scientists claim that by simplifying the power electronics they have developed a way to help Electric Vehicles travel further on a single battery charge. Lead by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) researchers have created a new material that they say can act as a more effective capacitor than those currently used in EVs, which require complex cooling systems.
Pushing the boundaries of technology is always an exciting event, and there is no better place to be able to do it than within the Formula one Motorsport arena. The McLaren Group is one of the leading motorsport engineering companies, and at their engineering works in Woking, Surrey, they are constantly on the lookout for any technological advancements that can get them onto that winner’s podium.
Formula 1 is one of the highest, fastest innovators in the hi-tech engineering sector. Within the span of one racing season, over 90% of a car’s engine is redesigned by the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Formula 1 racing team. Anything that can help them in pushing the boundaries of the technology is always pounced on and scrutinised with great alacrity. Just lately, the focus has been turned onto the inspection function.
The art of engineering has now reached the stage where it can produce engineered art. A new Powermill CAM software program is being used in the film industry, together with a 5 axis router, by film set maker Golden Era Productions. They use it to replicate works of art for film set props. It enables complex works of sculpture like Rodin’s “The Thinker” and “The Kiss” to be recreated in all their glorious detail – with one difference of course.
Whereas Monsieur Rodin would have taken many months to have completed one of his stunning works of sculpture, the latest application of the art of engineering can do it in hours. It’s surely enough to be making him turn in his grave.
A solar disruption threat has once again been made headline news in some science circles. It has become a major topic of conversation; so much so that a need has arisen to separate science fiction from science fact in order to see just how much of a threat a solar superstorm might pose
Solar Superstorms
The problem with events that take place in the world of astronomy is that the time space in between events is often too large to scientifically chronicle. Things like tracking the return of comets relies on previous sightings that sometimes took place centuries ago. The question then has to be asked as to how accurate the original information was, and therefore how accurate any extrapolations made from that data might be. The same is also true of solar storms, and in particular solar superstorms. Are they a real bona fide disruption threat, and if so, when might we expect the next one?
The Carrington Event
Scientists believe that solar superstorms only take place once every 100 or 200 years. In actual fact the largest ever superstorm on record was back in 1859. It was called the Carrington event after astrologer Richard Carrington. It was he who observed intense solar activity taking place on the sun’s surface, the effects of which would be felt on the Earth some hours later. Telegraph poles erupted in showers of sparks, as did telegraph machines, electrocuting operators and setting papers alight. All around the world, different coloured auroras were being reported. At the time, many people thought it was the end of the world!
In those days of course electrical engineering was in its infancy. But what effect would that sort of event have today, with our far more advanced and sometimes delicate electrical and electronically engineered infrastructure? Would it be the sort of catastrophic solar disruption threat that has recently been headlined, (perhaps misinterpreted), following the release of a recent report by the Royal Academy of Engineers.
Scaremongering
As with any sort of threat, be it a solar disruption threat or a pandemic disease, there is always a certain amount of scaremongering that takes place, particularly in the popular press. Irresponsible scaremongering can of course lean to panic setting in, and events can be blown out of proportion such as a complete communication blackout, aeroplanes losing GPS positioning and homing signals causing mid air collisions etc. It’s the real stuff that disaster movies are made from. However, when things are put into perspective, and analysed coolly and calmly, things would not be as catastrophic as they have been portrayed.
Canadian National Grid Partial Failure in 2003
One of the major ways in which the solar disruption threat of a solar superstorm would manifest itself, would be to induce more current into the national grid. In theory this would overload the transformers, knocking them out and bringing the grid down. Intense solar activity can also increase the amount of energy produced creating an induction effect which would also result in grid overload and failure. This actually happened on a small scale back in 2003 when the Canadian national grid was partially disabled. But the warning signs were heeded and since then transformer design has been modified and safeguards have been already been introduced into most networks. Here in the UK, the National Grid now forecast that more than 6 out of the 800 super grid transformers across the UK would be disabled.
Satellite Disruption
The other solar disruption threat that has received some publicity is the damage that would be done to satellites orbiting the Earth. Because these satellites operate outside the ionosphere, they would be more susceptible to damage from a major solar event. Situations have been publicised whereby we would lose over 90% of our satellite communication network. But it turns out that this too is a gross exaggeration.
Because satellites are designed to work in outer space, they already have in-built protection from a solar disruption threat. The reality is, according to most space engineering experts, that we might only temporarily lose approximately one out of every 10 satellites – a far cry from the doomsday predictions that some people would have us believe.
To Boldly Prepare……..
So the truth of the matter is that whilst the major solar disruption threat would undoubtedly create some problems for us down here on the Earth, it would not be catastrophic. However between now and the next major solar superstorm, the Royal Academy of Engineering advises that we should be planning ahead. They have proposed the formation of a body to be called the UK Space Weather Board. Its job, to monitor space weather, and to boldly propose the engineering of what no man has engineered before – stronger anti solar disruption threat safeguards!
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