Solutions…anyone?
John Gyorki
June 18th, 2008.
I have been a design engineer for many more years than my wife would like to admit. And during those years, I had fun designing new control systems, instruments, consumer products, and even a chemical process. At no time did I consider my job as being a problem that needed a solution, nor did I have a problem that needed a solution. When I created things, I used ordinary engineering tools, which consisted of pliers, screwdrivers, wrenches, soldering guns, oscilloscopes, digital signal analyzers, voltmeters, algebra, trigonometry, physics, and chemistry. You get the idea. I went to school and college to learn how to use these tools to design and make things. So where did the idea come from that I always had a problem that needed a solution? I think it started when my mother said, “Do your homework. Do your math problems.” There it is. Until then, I didn’t know math was a problem. I liked manipulating numbers, fitting them to equations, charts and graphs, and later, schematic diagrams. I liked designing circuits that eventually became radios, power controllers, vehicle computers, and more instruments. Where is the problem here that needs a solution? (more…)
Reader Feedback on Gas Bottles
Larry Boulden
June 03rd, 2008.
We’re always happy when a reader takes the time to write about one of our feature articles. So we were pleased to hear from Wayne Baldridge when he saw one way to improve a recent article on using gas bottles to supplement hydraulic accumulators.
Wayne wrote, “ Nowhere in the article was there a ‘reason’ given.
“The gas volume has an initial pressure which the incoming fluid must exceed in pressure to displace or assume the space. As the volume decreases, the pressure increases. The initial pressure and the pressure at fluid volume determine the useful volume of the accumulator as defined by working pressure.
“At half fluid volume the pressure must be 2X of the initial pressure. What the backup gas does is reduce the compression change of the gas so that the accumulator empty pressure and the full pressure are closer together. Working pressure then need not change as much to exchange fluid in the accumulator.
“A stand alone accumulator requires a working pressure change of 2X to access ½ of its volume. With a back-up gas bottle, that pressure change can be substantially less to access the accumulator’s full volume.
“For what it’s worth. Wayne.”
You can read the article, “Reduce hydraulic accumulator cost with backup gas bottles” in the current (May 08) issue of Design World, or on this website. Take a look, then let us know what you think.
–Larry B
Authors:
- John Gyorki (17)
- Larry Boulden (4)
- Leslie Langnau (4)
- Mike Emich (1)
- Scott McCafferty (2)
