Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station
The Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, commonly referred to as Palo Verde Power Plant, is a nuclear power plant located in Tonopah, Arizona, about 50 miles (80 km) west of central Phoenix, and is currently the largest nuclear generation facility in the United States, averaging over 3.2 gigawatts (GW) of electrical power production in 2003 to serve approximately 4 million people. Arizona Public Service (APS) owns the largest portion (29.1%) of the station and operates the facility. Other owners include Salt River Project (17.5%), El Paso Electric Co. (15.8%), Southern California Edison (15.8%), PNM Resources (10.2%), Southern California Public Power Authority (5.9%), and the Los Angeles Dept. of Water & Power (5.7%).
Palo Verde is the only nuclear generating facility in the world that is not located adjacent to a large body of above-ground water. Instead, it evaporates water from the treated sewage of several nearby municipalities to meet its cooling needs. The water consumed by the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station represents about 25% of the annual overdraft of the Arizona Department of Water Resources Phoenix Active Management Area.
via Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Grand Coulee Dam
The Grand Coulee Dam is a hydroelectric gravity dam on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington. In the United States, it is the largest electric power-producing facility and the largest concrete structure. It is the seventh largest producer of hydroelectricity in the world, as of the year 2008.
The reservoir is called Franklin Delano Roosevelt Lake, named after the United States President who presided over the completion of the dam. The foundation was built by the MWAK Company, a joint effort of several contractors united for this purpose. Consolidated Builders Incorporated, including industrialist Henry J. Kaiser, completed the dam. The United States Bureau of Reclamation supervised the contractors and operates the dam. Folk singer Woody Guthrie was commissioned by the Bonneville Power Administration to write songs about the Columbia Basin Project; the songs Roll On Columbia and Grand Coulee Dam are part of that series.
The Grand Coulee Dam is almost a mile long at 5223 feet (1586 m). The spillway is 1,650 feet (503 m) wide. At 550 feet (168 m), it is taller than the Great Pyramid of Giza; all the pyramids at Giza could fit within its base. Its hydraulic height of 380 feet (115 m) is more than twice that of Niagara Falls. There is enough concrete to build a four-foot wide, four-inch deep sidewalk twice around the equator.
via Grand Coulee Dam – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Fish Ladder
A fish ladder, also known as a fishway, fish pass or fish steps, is a structure on or around artificial barriers such as dams and locks to facilitate diadromous fishes' natural migration. Most fishways enable fish to pass around the barriers by swimming and leaping up a series of relatively low steps hence the term ladder into the waters on the other side. The velocity of water falling over the steps has to be great enough to attract the fish to the ladder, but it cannot be so great that it washes fish back downstream or exhausts them to the point of inability to continue their journey upriver.
via Fish ladder – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Richard Pearse
Richard William Pearse was a New Zealand farmer and inventor who performed pioneering experiments in aviation.
Pearse appears to have successfully flown and landed a powered heavier-than-air machine on 31 March 1903, some nine months before the Wright brothers. The documentary evidence to support such a claim remains open to interpretation, however, and he does not appear to have developed his aircraft to match the Wrights’ achievement of sustained, controlled flight. Pearse himself made contradictory statements which for many years led the few who knew of his feats to accept 1904 as the date of his first flight. The lack of any chance of industrial development, such as spurred the Wrights to develop their machine, seems to have suppressed any recognition of Pearse’s achievements.
Space Fountain
Just in case space elevators were too boring for your tastes…
“A space fountain is a proposed form of space elevator that does not require the structure to be in geosynchronous orbit, and does not rely on tensile strength for support. In contrast to the original space elevator design (a tethered satellite), a space fountain is a tremendously tall tower extending up from the ground. Since such a tall tower could not support its own weight using traditional materials, massive pellets are projected upward from the bottom of the tower and redirected back down once they reach the top, so that the force of redirection holds the top of the tower aloft. Satellite payloads ascend or descend by coupling with this stream of pellets or by climbing up the side of the tower. The space fountain has several key advantages over a space elevator in that it doesn’t require materials with extreme strength, can be located at any point on a planet’s surface instead of just the equator, and can be raised to any height required. Its major disadvantage is that it is an active structure, and so requires constant power input to remain aloft.”
Space fountain – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Telegrapher’s Equations
The telegraphers equations or just telegraph equations are a pair of linear differential equations which describe the voltage and current on an electrical transmission line with distance and time. The equations come from Oliver Heaviside who developed the transmission line model which is described in this article. The theory applies to high-frequency transmission lines such as telegraph wires and radio frequency conductors but is also important for designing high-voltage energy transmission lines. The model demonstrates that the electromagnetic waves can be reflected on the wire, and that wave patterns can appear along the line.
Telegraphers equations – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Badge engineering
Badge engineering is a term that describes the rebadging of one product (especially cars) as another. Due to the high cost of designing and engineering a totally new model, or establishing a new brand (which may take many years for it to gain acceptance), it is often more cost effective to rebadge a single product multiple times. However, excessive badge engineering can be problematic for car companies, and even detrimental (Plymouth and Eagle are examples). Having a single car sold under multiple identities may hamper overall sales, and can make marketing become difficult. It may also be an issue for a manufacturer to distinguish the differences between two models without damaging the one’s reputation.
While differences were originally confined to the badges used on the model, more typically it involves slight styling differences, usually limited to the headlights, tail lights, and front and rear fascias. The term derives from the pot metal trademark emblems fastened onto the outside of the car or onto the dashboard.
code electrical-engineering electronics engineering geek microcontroller plug
by Layne
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Plug: LED Bargraph
Abstract: This project is a precursor to my forthcoming accelerometer project. I wanted to be able to visualize an analog signal using LED bargraph displays. In this project I explore capturing and smoothing an analog input signal, pseudo-multiplexing of output, and using a transistor as a switch to switch more current than the microcontroller can handle.
General Description: The device I am using for this project, the PIC18F452, has an integrated Analog to Digital (ADC) converter. This allows the microcontroller to measure an analog signal between 0 and 5 volts, and convert it to a 10-bit binary number. I am using a variable resistor, also known as a potentiometer, to easily create an analog voltage at pin 1 (AN0). In my program, I measure this value 128 times in a row, and then calculate the average of these 128 samples. The average voltage is scaled to be an integer between -10 and 10, inclusive on both ends. An appropriate number of LED segments are lit to represent the value.
Cofferdams & Caissons
Two very related terms this time, Cofferdam and Caisson:
A cofferdam is an enclosure beneath the water constructed to allow water to be displaced by air for the purpose of creating a dry work environment. Commonly used for oil rig construction and repair, bridge and dam work, the cofferdam is usually a welded steel structure that is temporary, typically dismantled after work is completed. Its components consist of sheeting, wales, and cross braces.
Cofferdam – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In geotechnical engineering, a caisson is a retaining, watertight structure used, for example, to work on the foundations of a bridge pier, for the construction of a concrete dam, or for the repair of ships. These are constructed so that the water can be pumped out so the working environment is dry.