Propeller head
Ask any engineer about electric motors and most of us visualise low- or medium-voltage three-phase equipment, either precision synchronous motors, driving machines or, more likely, standard asynchronous induction motors running pumps, fans and sometimes compressors. We see them everywhere, on all manner of industrial and utility plant, as well as heating and ventilating systems.
Novel torque sensors aid tidal turbine development
Novel non-contact torque sensors are playing an interesting part in the development of commercial-scale in tidal turbines, being built by Irish marine technology firm, OpenHydro.
It’s the engineering conundrum, stupid
As election fever (or torture, depending on your political outlook) starts to take hold, politicians and pressure groups are already piling on the pressure to persuade the populous and each other to their ways of thinking.
Making the case
Plant engineers have serious value to add, way beyond their primary function. Brian Tinham talks to E.On's Ian Jackson about the need to stand up and be counted
Environment - Powered up for the green challenge
Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station was constructed during the late 1960s, with the final unit being commissioned during 1970. All units have achieved over 230,000 running hours; at present they are required to operate to a mixed running regime, where plant can be required to generate continuously (base load in winter time), two shift operation (during summer) or peak lopping (at holiday periods). Since that time, the station has had to meet the challenges arising from developments in environmental legislation.
Flixborough revisited
At about 5.00pm on Saturday 1 June 1974, the Nypro plant at Flixborough near Scunthorpe, manufacturing caprolactam for nylon, exploded. 28 people lost their lives, 53 workers were hospitalised, and 1,821 houses and 167 shops and factories were damaged as the blast wave, felt more than four miles away, ripped through the community. Had the plant office block been occupied, the figures for deaths and injuries would have been far, far worse. The ensuing fires burned for 10 days and £250 million of plant assets (in today's terms) were reduced to twisted metal.
Bright sparks
Skanska and Volvo Construction Equipment have been testing the viability of an ‘electric site’ at a quarry near Gothenburg, Sweden. The results are in...
Game,set and match
The famous Wimbledon sliding roof is often held up as a triumph of engineering ingenuity. Brian Tinham takes us behind the scenes, with its designers
Turning the tide
While wind farms, for most of us, are the iconic, if not entirely friendly, face of renewable energy, there's a quiet revolution readying itself for launch on an unsuspecting public. The new talking point will be marine turbines. Not only could they challenge wind, but also nuclear plants - and soon. As we go to press, a full-scale commercial marine turbine, designed to harness tidal energy, has been installed and commissioned on the Irish coast, and is undergoing final tests before running up initially to 1.2MW electricity generation.