GE's Shingijutsu Factory
GE's latest thinking on product manufacturing is he Shingijutsu philosophy or Lean production system. They have started applying this at the Louisville...
Useful Motor Technical Information
Sometimes it’s useful to be able to quickly lookup a piece of technical information. This note is a collection of information related to motors, and in...
Magicians of Engineering
The other day I was reading 'Night of the New Magicians' by Mary Pope Osborn with my son. The story is about a young boy and girl who travel back in time...
Variable Frequency Drive
Variable frequency drives are widely used to control the speed of ac motors. This note looks at the mechanisms which enable drive units to control the...
Paternoster Lifts
These lifts were first built in 1884 by J. E. Hall and called a paternoster ("Our Father", the first two words of the Lord's Prayer in Latin) due to its...
Batteries
A battery consists of one or more cells, each of which use stored chemical energy to produce electrical energy, There are many types of cells and these...
Lead us, Warleader
Delum, who had watched all in silence, his face empty of expression, now spoke in turn. ' "Lead us, Warleader, into glory."'
Reading is something I do...
Motor Insulation
Insulation on a motor prevents interconnection of windings and the winding to earth. When looking at motors, it is important to understand how the insulation...
What does N+1 mean?
The term 'N+1' relates to redundancy and simply means that if you required 'N' items of equipment for something to work, you would have one additional...
Lighting Design - An Introduction
From the earliest times, humans have found ways to create light. Pre-historic peoples used natural materials (moss, grass, etc.) soaked in animal fat and...