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1500 questions
9
votes
5 answers
How can I measure the thickness of a sedimentation layer in a closed tank?
Biogas slurry often contains sand and grit and organic matter that eventually sediments. Clearing thetank from sedimentation is expensive (plant downtime, additional equipment) and dangerous. So it would be interesting to know how much sediment…
mart
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9
votes
2 answers
How can I approach the application of control theory to real control systems?
I am an engineering student and I took my second dedicated controls class last semester. It was cool math and whatnot, but after all was said and done: I still have no idea how to make an actual working control system.
In other words, there was no…
hakzatchel
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9
votes
1 answer
Automatic Shifting without Electronic throttle
I need to design an automatic shifting system, for a FSAE car. Clutch and shifts are electronically engaged and disengaged using a Pi Innovo engine control unit (ECU).
The issue I am worried about is downshifts, I would like to rev-match, for…
Adam
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9
votes
1 answer
How do you set up a PID-Control if the time constants of the controlled system are variable?
The common description for a continous PID-controller is written like this:
$$y(t)=K_p⋅e(t)+K_i\int_0^t e(τ)dτ+K_d\dfrac{de(t)}{dt}$$
The best value of the constants $K_p$, $K_i$ and $K_d$ for a given controlled system will depend on its time…
JHK
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9
votes
5 answers
How do electric companies supply electricity to homes in countries where energy is privatized?
Before I start, sorry if this doesn't make sense English is not my first language.
In my country electricity is nationalized so there is only one energy company and one grid. When you build new house you just connect your house cables to the…
gbd
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9
votes
3 answers
What are grads used for on a scientific calculator?
Every scientific calculator I've come across has a DRG button that controls whether trigonometric functions use units of degrees, radians or grads yet I've never seen or heard of any system that actually uses grads. When is the grads setting useful?
cup
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9
votes
4 answers
Can air conditioners/dehumidifiers exhaust their waste heat in their exhaust water?
If I understand correctly, both air conditioners and dehumidifiers conventionally exhaust waste heat through their exhaust air, though both also produce exhaust water. I'd like to know,
Are air conditioners or dehumidifiers currently being produced…
TomRoche
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9
votes
4 answers
Which is better: Defog a car windshield with cold or hot air?
So i had this experience when driving in a cold night, where my windshield just got all blurry. I knew that on the drivers manual they say you should turn the hot air and soon it will go off, but my friend that was on the passenger seat said the…
Alessandro Nardinelli
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9
votes
2 answers
Block diagram vs flow chart?
I was studying a book on control systems where I read that a block diagram is a specialized high-level type of flow chart.
What is the difference between a normal flow chart and a block diagram?
DSP_CS
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9
votes
5 answers
What instrument does a surveyor use to accurately find North?
The obvious answer is a compass. I have an old (1952) transit that has a compass which seems to be accurate to 15'. However, that doesn't seem too incredibly accurate at all. Furthermore, most modern digital theodolites I see don't appear to have a…
canadianer
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9
votes
2 answers
Air compressor that doubles as a pneumatic motor?
I am working on a compressed air energy storage system. The size and weight of the system are heavily constrained; nothing should (ideally) exceed a few pounds. For this reason, I would like to store the energy (compress the gas) and extract the…
MikeJava
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9
votes
2 answers
Why is tensorial shear strain half of engineering shear strain?
Small deformation shear strain $\gamma$ in engineering can be expressed as
$$\gamma_{xy}=\alpha +\beta ={\frac {\partial u_{y}}{\partial x}}+{\frac {\partial u_{x}}{\partial y}}$$
where $u$ represents the displacement of the edges of the…
S. Rotos
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9
votes
5 answers
Is systems engineer an IT profession or an interdisciplinary field of engineering?
The term Systems Engineer has always interested me as it generally involves many different fields of engineering.
Systems Engineer - Interdisciplinary
The definition I'm familiar with is usually defined as an interdisciplinary profession of…
Ben Winding
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9
votes
3 answers
Reading stepper motor datasheets to get torque and speed
I don't understand how to use the information in a stepper motor datasheet to understand how much torque it can generate. I was going to do a simple board and try to lift a small weight as an example but I realize I need to know how much torque the…
confused
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9
votes
4 answers
What is the umbrella-like thing surrounding this new structure?
Recently this water tank was constructed (poured concrete). (I presume it is a water tank, as they laid blue plastic/PVC water pipe, perhaps 24 in. dia., in the vicinity at the same time.) After the outside was finished, they erected this dark…
user20010
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