OT, cool books about aircraft engines

They are hard to design too. Some details in the "Dependable Engines" book. I haven't started the second book yet.

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

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John Larkin
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There is often a diode junction accessable that can measure chip temperature, although usually a surface thermal image is all one needs. Transformers are easy: measure the copper resistance.

????

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

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John Larkin

Heck, I knew it was a Rolls movie; you can tell from their goofy accents. My engine guys have proper Connecticut accents.

Go spray some contact cleaner into a flakey guitar pedal; that always seems to cheers you up.

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

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John Larkin

Useful, but it's far from measuring the voltages & currents inside the chip.

You don't see a difference between doing a test and doing a test plus inviting a couple of hundred people from all over the world?

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

Since I don't have actual chip schematics, that would be meaningless.

But I can measure the voltage and current of any pin. If an ME asks "what's the pressure vs time in that part of the manifold?" it's not easy to get the answer.

The issue we discussed was cost, and it costs more to fly in and feed and bed down a couple hundred people. We have a customer or two come in to witness a test maybe once a decade.

The consequence of this difference in measurement access, electronics compared to mechanics, is why we have such progress in electronic gadgets, like a new generation of TVs and phones and oscilloscopes every couple of years. It took Pratt 20 years and ten billion dollars to develop the geared turbofan, which is merely a jet engine with a small gearbox stuck between the turbines and the compressor.

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

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John Larkin

Eh, it's better than a Corolla, if that's whacha mean, but it's not fancy. It could use more power. AFAIK, the engine is suitable for adding a turbo, which would be interesting. I don't have the stuff to do that, though.

As for beaters, think along the lines of "a true engineer". :^)

Tim

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Tim Williams

t

c.

hip.

why?

and

and

ou won't easily get a picture of the peak stress on each square millimeter of the cylinder head etc.

r

viting a couple of hundred people from all over the world?

flying people in is obviously not the same as doing a test

The car industry is very conservative. There's no lack of engine designs wi th better specs but they seldom touch them. One product failure can finish them off.

Electronics benefits from many things. Great circuit complexity and wide ra nging uses both permit advances in many areas. It also has fast changing pa rt technology. It also has much smaller manufacturing runs to recoup costs, making failures more tolerable. It also lacks the tight regulations that c ar engines must meet.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

I find most cars could use less power, less acres of plastic & foam, and less useless junk.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

But power is fun. I agree about the junk, especially electronic junk.

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

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The 90s were probably about the last decade of "simple" cars, in that the ECU and related higher functions were still tightly integrated and encapsulated, rather than everything and the dashboard sink being thrown on the CAN bus. Or worse (e.g. BT + Wifi today).

I have a couple computers in my car, they're well defined, enumerated in the manual, and do only those things, nothing more. I could replace the ECU with a Megasquirt if I wanted, or make my own stupid analog controller (might as well make it toob, ala BTTF, eh?).

And there's manual vs. automatic.

Tim

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Tim Williams

Tata are producing some minimalist vehicles.

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Jasen Betts

That's what people selling it say. I've always had far more fun in historic vehicles.

I object to being asked to pay a pile extra for crap I've no interest in, like OTT audio systems, powered windows, acres of plastic, foamed floors etc etc etc. Just so much junk.

Old cars don't have all that crap. Sadly they also don't have all the lifesaving crap.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

None that I know of suitable for the west. I don't want a load of junk but I do like crash testing, airbags etc. Also what little I've seen of their stuff is tiny as well as lethal.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

Well, if you're shopping for pre-70s cars, that'd be a problem... not many of those still rolling, though.

Tim

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Tim Williams

It's true for all eras of old cars, whether 10 years old or 1920s.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

Some of us still care enough to keep them running:

Here's what modern engineering has done with this classic design:

Clifford Heath.

Reply to
Clifford Heath

That is what Cuba is for.

Reply to
tom

My Audi is a mess; the controls are way too digital and have way too many internal states. Mo's Honda Fit is great; a few knobs do what you want them to do.

I've finally admitted that manual trannies are barbaric. The 6-speed dual-clutch works fine, and it's great on hills in the city.

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

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John Larkin

I'll take modern engine controls anytime. I also like a lot of the creature electronics. It's taken them a long time to get them right, though.

There are probably more pre-70s cars still rolling that 70s cars.

Reply to
krw

Tiny comes from removing "useless junk". Tata Pixel was apparenly available in europe

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