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Aeronautical engineer Clay Coons joins us to discuss the many applications of diesel engines.
- Adam’s Kubota BX tractor is powered by a 23 HP diesel engine.
- During his high school years, Jeff learned that gasoline (petrol) engines don’t run too well on diesel fuel.
- Ska Punk music often features horns, as evidenced on a song Carmen remembers from his youth, Sugar in Your Gas Tank by Less Than Jake.
- Our guest for this episode is aeronautical engineer Clay Coons, who joined us previously on episodes titled Travel and Engines.
- Diesel engines use compression, rather than a spark, to ignite air-fuel mixtures.
- Modern diesel engines use turbocharging to compress the intake air being fed into the combustion chamber.
- Diesel fuel contains about 14% more energy per unit volume than does gasoline.
- Diesel engines operate at a rotational speed that is nearly half of that for a comparable gasoline engine.
- Due to their relatively heavy weight, it is rare to find a diesel engine used for aircraft propulsion.
- While nearly half the automobiles sold in Europe have diesel engines, that number is closer to 3% in the United States.
- Anemic performance and poor reliability, associated with Oldsmobile diesel engines sold during the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, has been blamed for retarding North American diesel car sales over the past thirty years .
- Adam asks about the use of diesel exhaust fluid (DEF).
- In mining applications, a diesel engine can operate 25,000 to 30,000 hours between rebuilds.
- Many heavy-duty trucks use the SAE J1939 standard for sharing information between vehicle components.
- Our guest speaks highly of the cask ales he tried on a recent trip to Scotland.
Thanks to Ilya Plekhanov for use of the photo titled “BelAZ 75600 on Bachatskom Coal Mine, Kemerovo Region.” Opening music by John Trimble, and concluding theme by Paul Stevenson.
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Bronwyn Bell joins Adam, Brian, Carmen, and Jeff to discuss the challenges and responsibilities of an environmental engineer working in the mining sector.
- Carmen likes to help out local beer brewers in harvesting hops, but he’s not sure what makes for a good hops growing season.
- Environmental engineers plan, design and manage projects associated with environmental protection or remediation.
- Our guest for this episode is Bronwyn Bell, an environmental engineer from Western Australia with extensive experience in the Mining & Resources economic sector.
- An unfortunate early experience with Super Glue, while building a popsicle stick bridge, convinced Brownyn that she’d rather not be a civil engineer.
- Subsectors within the environmental engineering field include wastewater treatment, air pollution control, waste disposal, recyling, and public health management.
- Bronwyn managed to make spending time at a nearby beer brewery an integral part of her engineering studies.
- Our guest has worked in coal mines, iron mines, and diamond mines… and has also visited a number of gold mines.
- Kimberlite is an igneous rock that may contain diamonds.
- Alluvial diamond mining is usually associated with smaller-scale mining operations.
- Browyn has done a lot of work in the Pilbara region of Australia, which contains some of the Earth’s oldest rock formations.
- Tailings are the materials that remain after ore is processed to remove its more valuable components.
- Brian jokes about differences in pronouncing the thirteenth element on the periodic table.
- A metric ton, or tonne, is a mass equivalent to 1,000 kilograms.
- Bronwyn notes that a good environmental solution is often a good financial solution, as waste reduction aids both.
- One of our guest’s projects received financial relief due to the presence of Asian green mussels.
- Our guest can be reached via email: billson.bell -=+ at +=- gmail dot com.
Thanks to Stephen Bowler for use of the photo titled “Ducklings.” Opening music by John Trimble, and concluding theme by Paul Stevenson.
Practical insights for the engineering crowd
Aeronautical engineer Clay Coons joins us to discuss the many applications of diesel engines.