Novosti

[woodooinstalater]

Dobro, taj na slici je taj Pakistanac, a evo slike SU-35s:E sad, na drugoj slici repovi stoje drugačije:Da li se to menja u toku leta i od čega zavisi položaj, zna li neko?

Domacine :) , ne znam zezas li se ili ne, ali avioni na tvojim slikama nemaju veze jedan sa drugim. Hocu reci da se radi o dva potpuno razlicita aviona. Na fotografiji, gornjoj, jeste Rus, ne vidim najbolje koji, a na donjoj skici je Amerikanac, nesto kao F-22....Sad, sta je u pitanju, ne znam. Osim da si se zeznuo kada si postavljao slike :P

[jms_uk]

SU-35 i F-22

[woodooinstalater]

Tehnoloski vrh vrhova; gde bi drugde nego tamo gde se petlja oko nafte.Polarcus, kompanija osnovana 2008. godine sa sedistem u Dubaiju, ponosi se programom razvoja moderne, ekoloski prihvatljive, flote specijalnih brodova za seizmicka istrazivanja, ultramoderne konstrukcije.Proslog decembra, prva 2 takozvana 3D broda za seizmicka istrazivanja, Polarcus Nadia i Polarcus Naila, izgradjena u brodogradilistu Drydocks World Dubai, predata su vlasniku. Za razliku od dosadasnjih konstrukcija koje su mogle da vuku najvise do 10 kablova – streamera – za potrebe seizmickih istrazivanja, Polarcus-ovi novi brodovi mogu da vuku svih 12, pa se ponegde oznacavaju i kao 3D/4D 12 streamer vessels.Brodovi, zasnovani na Ulstein-ovom SX124 modelu i prepoznatljivi po karakteristicnom Ulstein-ovom takozvanom X-bow pramcu, dugacki su 88.8 metara, siroki 19, maksimalnog gaza 6.6 metara, tonaze 6.570 GRT.Pogon je dizel-elektricni i sastoji se iz 6 Wartsila 9L20 glavnih motora koji razvijaju 1,800 kW pri 1,000 o/min sa 2 Schottel SRP 3030 propelera promenljivog koraka. Pored toga, raspolazu i sa jednim Brunvoll tunelskim pramcanim propelerom, snage 1,200 kW, ali i jednim, takodje Brunvoll-ovim propelerom na izvlacenje, snage 850 kW.Nose klasu DNV, a od znacajnijih klasifikacionih karakteristika imaju ICE-C klasu, sto im omogucava rad u polarnim vodama, ali i ekoloski hit, takozvanu CLEAN DESIGN klasu.Nose jedan Sikorsky S-61N/S92 helikopter.Vec ovog januara, Polarcus Nadia je angazovana na istrazivanjima podrucja povrsine 2,000 km2, dok je Polarcus sa jednom neimenovanom naftnom kompanijom vec potpisao ugovor o dvomesecnim istrazivanjima u blizini zapadnoafricke obale koja ce se obaviti u prvom kvartalu 2010. godine.Pored najmodernije komercijalno dostupne opreme za 3D istrazivanja, brodovi su opremljeni Ulstein-ovim integrisanim automatskim upravljackim sistemom (Ulstein IAS), Ulstein COM komunikacionim i infotainment sistemom, Ulstein NAV navigacionim i Ulstein PMS sistemom za upravljanje pogonskim sistemima.Brzina brodova je 15 cvorova, nose 1,540 m³ goriva, raspolazu kapacitetima za smestaj 69 osoba, od kog broja 23 imaju jednokrevetne kabine, dok im plovidbene sposobnosti omogucavaju rad i u najtezim uslovima i sirokom klimatskom opsegu.Takozvani seizmicki sistemi su Sercel-ovi i predstavljaju vrh danasnje tehnologije, od Sercel seizmickih G II dual source topova, preko Sercel Sentinel streamersa (u konfiguraciji 12 x 8,000 metara, 10 x 10,800 metara i 8 x 12,000 metara), pa do Sercel Seal Marine Data Acquisition sistema za prikupljanje i obradu podataka.

[расејан]

Један другар из Аустралије ми редовно шаље вести из нове енергије (пошто и сам нешто петља са тим, а видео да ме занима)... и ево новог броја часописа на ту тему.

[nesha taxista]

Zanima me za te brodove gore kako uopšte plove kad je ceo trup postavljen naopako ili je možda ispod vode to prelomljeno. Postoji li negde slika celog broda?

[woodooinstalater]

Zanima me za te brodove gore kako uopšte plove kad je ceo trup postavljen naopako ili je možda ispod vode to prelomljeno. Postoji li negde slika celog broda?

Nista bitno se nije menjalo u podvodnom delu trupa, pa ni pramca:(Ulstein) je sa ovim krenuo negde 2005. godine, i to na takozvanim radnim brodovima, kao sto su brodovi za snabdevanje i podrsku naftnih platformi (OSV), radove na podvodnim cevovodima itd.... To, doduse, jesu zahtevne konstrukcije, ocekuje se da rade i u najtezim vremenskim i drugim uslovima, ali sve do ove godine i projekta kontejnerskog broda, je i ostao na tome. Sve je to uredno i patentirao, sta ce dalje biti, videcemo. Brodogradnja ima svoju modu, nesto se primi i zadrzi, nesto ostane moda. Dok je moda.Ulstein tvrdi da je ovim postigao optimizaciju linija trupa, manje otpore i manju potrosnju goriva. Uz to, pod 2 i vecu sigurnost posade (svi prostori na pramcu, oko sidrenih vitala, cekrka i ostale skalamerije su sada ’pod krovom’, umesto da, kao do sada, budu na otvorenom. Ono, sto jes’ – jes’ tu na pramcu i jeste najvise mokro.Tvrde, dalje, da su postigli ’meksi’ ulaz u talase, redukovali vibracije i jos, kako to vec ide 300 cuda...Bourbon Orca je bila prva, 2006. godine, brod za manipulaciju sidrenom opremom i snabdevanje (anchor handling tug/supply vessel), dobila je silne nagrade za dizajn, itd, itd...Stoji da im narudzbe rastu, stoje i prednosti koje navode, mada, mislim da ovo kod velikih brodova nema ili nece imati mnogo smisla, iz prostog razloga sto su jednostavno dovoljno veliki da se sa talasima nose na drugi nacin. Bice da je granica negde 100-ak metara i koriscenje na brodovima posebne namene.Oni se doduse nadaju i primeni na velikim kontejnerskim, nesto i rade po tom pitanju, ali ovde prednosti i nisu bas tolike. Naime, nije sve bas tako dobitno. Kod ovog njihovog kontejnerskog, osim poboljsane vidljivosti (kod klasicnih kontejnerskih brodova je gomilanje kontejnera ispred nadgradja, mosta, bilo toliko da je pocelo ozbiljno da ugrozava vidljivost preko pramca, pa su pali i neki propisi koji to ogranicavaju), nema tu neke bitne porednosti. Nadgradje napred je nepopularno zato sto zahteva duge linije komandi od mosta do masinskog prostora i kormila, mada i kod brodova Fly-by-Wire radi svoje, nema tu vise gvozdjurije kod koje najlaksi deo tezi 100 kg :) Pogon je, inace, zadnjih 20-ak godina napravio revoluciju i to takozvanim Azimut pogonom, koji sada kopiraju drugi, na sve strane.Poceli su Finci, Masa Yard, Wartsila tacnije, bankrotirali, sada je to ABB, uspelo je preko svih ocekivanja, ja mislim da se vise i ne grade putnicki (brodovi za krstarenja) sa nekim drugim pogonom - za crnce kao sto su teretni brodovi je jos skup - ali su prednosti neverovatne: u delu sa elisama je smesten elektromotor, struju dobija iz dizela u trupu, dakle stedi se prostor, nema vise klasicnog kormila, odnosno peraja, elisa se okrece gde hoces, brod moze na svaku stranu, pa i bokom, u rikverc skoro isto toliko brzo koliko i napred, krug okretanja se skoro prepolovio... Velike snage nisu problem...Sad svi to kopiraju, krste drugacije, naravno, ali da vredi - vredi.

[kapetanm]

Ovo još nije fotografisano, a priča deluje suludo:[Dodaj u kliping]Leteće ćilimomM. NIĆIFOROVIĆ, 23.01.2010 20:41:43 Ocena:4.60 (Glasova: 15) [Oceni] Komentara: 4 [Postojeći komentari]Ako sve bude teklo po planu, najkasnije do leta 2013. na „letećem ćilimu“ vinuću se iznad Novog Pazara i Peštera, a odmah potom, kao u bajci iz „Hiljadu i jedne noći“, preleteću Saharu i kanjon Kolorada. Za moj „revolucionarni proizvod“, na kome radim duže od pet godina, vlada veliko interesovanje, posebno među arapskim šeicima, koji će najverovatnije biti sponzori mog prvog poletanja.Ovo za „Novosti“ priča inženjer Ensan Salihagić, poznati novopazarski konstruktor i inovator, koji se pročuo inovacijama utekstilnoj i ćilimarskoj industriji - konstruisao je desetine najsavremenijih razboja. Salihagić je jedan od viđenijih članova Udruženja pronalazača (JUPIN).- Proračuni, projekti, materijali, delovi... Sve je odavno gotovo. Iza mene je hiljade sati crtanja, računanja, merenja i projektovanja. Mnogo su mi pomogle kolege iz vazduhopolovne i elektronske industrije. „Leteći đilim“ će biti izrađen od specijalne tkanine na principu paukove mreže, a leteće uz pomoć vodonik-peroksida - priča Salihagić. - Postoje i neki koji tvrde da je moj „leteći ćilim“ nemoguća misija.Sa laicima, kaže, koji nemaju pojma o ćilimarstvu, tehnici i vazduhoplovstvu ne želi da polemiše - da su umni i talentovani slušali takve, svet bi danas bilo na nivou srednjeg veka.Salihagićev „leteći ćilim“ napajaće se sunčevom energijom. Ćilimom će upravljati sam putnik, koji će nositi kacigu sa koje će se komande prenositi u senzor utkan u ćilim. Putnik će biti zaštićen i posebnom magnetnom pločom. „Pilot“ će podešavati visinu i brzinu - minimalna visina je pet, a maksimalna 800 metara. Princip poletanja i sletanja biće sličan kao kod helikoptera.POMAŽU STRANCIInŽenjer Salihagić kaže da je u stalnom kontaktu sa petoricom prijatelja - inženjera iz Meksika, Japana, Belgije i Arapskih Emirata, koji prate njegov rad na „letećem ćilimu“, daju mu sugestije i pomažu da ovaj izum bude što bolji. Upoznao ih je, kaže, na skupovima inovatora po svetu

[woodooinstalater]

The Sakhalin-1 Project includes three offshore fields of the north-eastern Sakhalinshelf in the Russian Far East: Chayvo, Odoptu, and Arkutun Dagi. Exxon NeftegasLimited (ENL) is the operator for the multinational Sakhalin-1 Consortium(ExxonMobil interest 30%). Co-venturers include the Japanese consortiumSODECO (30%); affiliates of Rosneft, the Russian state-owned oil company,RN-Astra (8.5%) and Sakhalinmorneftegas-Shelf (11.5%); and the Indianstate-owned oil company ONGC Videsh Ltd. (20%).Sakhalin-1 potential recoverable resources are 2.3 billion barrels of oil and 17.1 trillioncubic feet of gas (or 307 million tons of oil and 485 billion cubic meters of gas).Sakhalin-1 is one of the largest single foreign direct investments in Russiaand an excellent example of the solutions the industry has to apply to meetthe challenges of the growing world energy demand.The Project benefits to Russia include direct revenues to the Russian state at overUS$ 50 billion in taxes, royalty payments and state share of oil over the lifeof the Project. Commercial development brings with it a contribution of US $ 100million to the Sakhalin development fund over a five-year period. Russia will alsoreceive US$ 45 million in production bonuses. Additionally, the project is investingover US$ 200 million in infrastructure improvements.The value of contracts awarded to Russian companies has reached approximatelyUS$ 3.8 billion. Two out of three dollars invested in Sakhalin-1 are spent withRussian companies or joint ventures with Russian participation.The Project brings with it the application of advance technologies pioneeredby ExxonMobil, which allows developing energy resources in the frontier areasof Russia, such as the Arctic and offshore oil and gas fields, which could not bedeveloped in the past due to the technical and technological limitations.Another important Project benefit to Russia is the supply of Sakhalin-1 naturalgas to customers in the Khabarovsk Krai in the Russian Far East. The salesagreements are the first ever concluded between investment project participantsunder a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) and domestic Russian gas buyersfor long-term gas sales based on international market pricing and commercialterms. Deliveries of gas to Khabarovsk Krai started in October 2005 withthe production start-up at Chayvo. These gas supplies have helped bring fuelstability to the Khabarovsk Krai and represent a major step in support of Russia’sFar East Gasification Program. Sakhalin-1 domestic gas supplies are expectedto fully cover the existing demand in natural gas in Khabarovsk Krai until 2025.The Sakhalin-1 Project is executed in phases. The initial phase developsthe Chayvo field. Production from Chayvo started in October 2005. The Projectwas initially producing up to 50,000 barrels (6,300 metric tons) of oil per day,which were sold to Russian Far East domestic customer before commissioningof the Project export system. Natural gas production initially averaged 60 millioncubic feet (1.7 million cubic meters) per day in October 2005 and was suppliedto domestic customers in the Khabarovsk Krai.With the start up of the Onshore Production Facility (OPF) and the crude oilexport system commissioning the Project reached its targeted peak productionrate of 250,000 barrels (34,000 metric tons) of oil per day in February 2007.Natural gas supplies to Khabarovsk Krai more than doubled to 134 million cubicfeet (3.8 million cubic meters) per day to address increasing demand duringwinter season.The future phases of the Sakhalin-1 Project involve development of Chayvo gasreserves for exports, as well as development of Odoptu and Arkutun-Dagi fields,which will be timed to maintain facility/export system capacity. These later Projectdevelopments are expected to sustain production from all three fields to 2050.Flexible stepwise development approach with a focus toward capital efficiencythat was used during the initial Chayvo development phase will allow to applyexperience, lessons learned, and technical enhancements to future phases.The Sakhalin-1 Project oil export system commissioning and export sales to theworld markets initiated in August 2006. Construction was completed on a 24-inch, 140 mile (225 kilometer) pipeline to transport crude from the OPF acrossSakhalin Island and the Tatar Strait to the newly-constructed De-Kastri terminalin the Khabarovsk Krai. The tanker loading operations began at De-Kastri exportterminal in September 2006. With the commissioning of the export system thecrude produced by the Project is now supplied to international markets, to thegreater benefit of the Sakhalin-1 Consortium and the Russian state.The Chayvo field is developed from both offshore and onshore facilities.The Chayvo Yastreb land rig construction was completed in June 2002. The rigwas engineered exclusively for Sakhalin-1 and is the most powerful land rigin the industry. It is designed to drill extended reach wells to offshore targetsfrom land based locations.The state-of-the-art Extended Reach Drilling (ERD) technology reduced the highcapital and operating costs of large offshore structures and at the same timeminimized the environmental impact in this sensitive near-shore area. InJune 2003, ENL initiated the shore-based ERD program to install wells underthe seabed at distances exceeding 11 kilometers to tap the northwestern flankof the main Chayvo oil zone. ERD wells drilled from Yastreb, set records by depth,horizontal reach and drilling speed.….Dedicated fleet of double-hulled Aframax class tankers carrying up to 720,000barrels (100,000 tons) of crude is used for year-round exports of crude oil from theDe-Kastri terminal to world markets. The initial tanker began loading at De-Kastriin September 2006.Up to 250,000 barrels (34,000 metric tons) of the Sakhalin-1 crude named Sokolis exported daily with tankers departing every three-four days on average.The Sakhalin-1 Consortium members market the crude individually and the crudeis sold on a delivered basis.….The Sakhalin-1 Project continues work on implementing a comprehensiveRussian content strategy to identify and contract qualified Russian companiesand organizations with the skills and experience required to conduct the work ina safe and environmentally responsible manner. Key features of the Sakhalin-1strategy have included the launch of the Project website to communicate Projectinformation to Russian contractors and suppliers; holding Project seminars inMoscow, Khabarovsk and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk; encouraging active involvementof Russian design institutes in the Project design; developing a comprehensiveRussian contractors’ database; and tailoring major contract packages toencourage Russian participation. The Russian content of contracts awarded todate for the Sakhalin-1 Project has reached approximately US$ 3.8 billion, orabout two-thirds of the total.….Sakhalin-1 and its contractors currently employ hundreds of Russian nationals.Approximately 350 Sakhaliners work on the Project. Many of them have receivedand will continue to receive professional training in Russia, USA and Canada.During the peak of the Project construction activities at Chayvo in summer 2005,the Project employed approximately 8,000 people, including direct employeesand contractors. ENL is taking steps to increase the share of Russian nationalsworking for the Project to 80% of the entire Sakhalin-1 Project workforce by theyear 2010.Sakhalin-1 has demonstrated world-class safety performance with the LostTime Injury Rate, (or LTIR) to date being nine times better than the oil and gasconstruction industry average.Izvor: Parker Drilling CompanyInace, kljucna rec je Jastreb, ime najvece platforme svoje vrste za eksploataciju nafte...Cirka 22 sprata visoke.

[woodooinstalater]

Something must be done about the skills shortage The oil and gas industry has a serious problem that needs to be addressed. Words come cheap. What is needed is a solution.Authorlain Percival, consultant and educator Retired Royal Dutch Shell Group Chief Petroleum EngineerHere was a lot of talk at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) last year about the skills shortage being faced by the oil and gas industry. And that chorus echoed through die Offshore Europe show in September. In fact, it is a refrain the industry has been singing for the past few years.Though everyone seems to be aware of the problem, few companies are investing in the many university students in UK universities seeking placements and dissertation/diesis topics related to die oil and gas industry. In fact, 2009 will go down as the year of lots of noise and very little action.In March 2009, Ayman Asfari, CEO of Petrofac as principal speaker and guest of honor at the Scottish Oil Club Annual Dinner in Edinburgh, talked about die shortage of skills becoming available as a potentially negative impact on North Sea developments. In May at OTC, a panel of very senior executives from Shell, Total, ConocoPhillips, and Technip discussed issues widi die management of large proj¬ects, agreeing dial shortages in (project) engineering staff would lead to bottle¬necks in execution capacity. At Offshore Europe, a headline in Upstream stated that players operating off the UK are strug¬gling widi an acute shortage of qualified personnel.This point was underscored by Lee Tillman of ExxonMobil at a panel session titled, "The Next Trillion Barrels." He identified the critical importance of having available the skills and capabilities bolstered by effective knowledge transfer (from the departing generation) to pursue the finding and production of tiiese barrels. In response to a question from the floor, Tillman agreed there is a need for closer and better-structured industry/university partnerships to deal with the issue of capability development.Widi this as a background, one would reasonably expect that in academic year 2008-2009 companies large and small — operator, service, contractor — would have been falling over themselves to work with universities and colleges to give stu¬dents relevant industry experience and sponsor/enable degree- or diploma-related project work. In other words, one expects them to turn talk into action.Unfortunately, this was not die case.All of die universities in die UK engaged in oil- and gas-related degree programs reported gready increased difficulties in securing meaningful projects or research/dissertation topics for delivery in 2009. Widi a number of honorable exceptions, the industry pulled in its horns by way of not coming through on promises made, leaving many students in an unnecessary state of panic and understandable disenchantment widi the industry. The reasons cited were the hoary old chestnuts of being busy, staff cutbacks in such lough times, and a squeeze on discretionary expenditure.In Other words, the relatively trivial amounts of time and money required to execute such activity were regarded as an avoidable cost and not as a necessary investment.In October 2007,1 wrote a concluding, possibly prescient remark to an article I audiored for the SPE 50di anniversary edition of the journal of Petroleum Technology (JPT)."Unfortunately, all too often over the past 30-plus years, die core skills required to find and produce hydrocarbons have been treated as a cost and not as an investment of strategic importance. It is my hope tiiat the industry will not revert to past poor practice, thereby disenabling die drive to replace reserves and build production, disen¬chanting a generation of petroleum engineers and geoscientists, and making the job of selling die industry as a career in schools and universities even more of a challenge."In my time working as a petroleum engineer for Shell in Oman and Brunei, there was always the obligation to take on significant numbers of nationals studying at university for summer industry experience or to work on degree-related projects. The experience was rewarding both for die trainees and for die Shell staff charged with mentoring, guiding, and supervising them. Of course, there was no choice — this was an obligation, but one taken up gladly, not only with die students, but also widi die relevant universi¬ties around die world in the structured approach endorsed by Lee Tillman.Industry participants busy offshore die UK do have a choice, but it should be one guided by self interest — die interest expressed by the words I heard and read in die course of 2009. As we move through die academic fear 2009-2010,I urge all of die players operating and working in die North Sea to support the Energy Talent Development initiative taken by ITF (Industry Technology Facilitator) supported by SPE, the UK Institute of Energy, and Scottish Enterprise.Details can be found on www.oil-itf. com/index/energy-talent-development. Iain Percival can be contacted at [email protected]

[расејан]

and Technip discussed issues widi die managementdial shortages in (project) engineering staffthe UK are strug¬gling widi production of tiiese barrelsWidi this as a backgrounddie universities in die UKthis was not die case.Widi a number of honorable exceptionsdisenchantment widi the industry.I audiored for the SPEthereby disenabling die drivedie Shell staffdie students, but also widi die relevant universi¬ties around die worlddie academic fear 2009-2010

Најбољи случај акутног оцровања за ову петолетку. Једино га шије, колико памтим, "server" оцровано као "sewer".

[woodooinstalater]

Најбољи случај акутног оцровања за ову петолетку. Једино га шије, колико памтим, "server" оцровано као "sewer".

Da je biserno - biserno je, sta ces. Sto je brzo to je i kuso ili vec tako nekako, ne znam samo zasto kuso:

[No7]

Ево једне замиљиве технологије.

Russia to build submarine-detecting satellite Russia could build a satellite for the detection and tracking of submarines from space, a defense industry spokesman said on Thursday.Vladimir Boldyrev, of the Kosmonit science and technology center, said the group had developed a space satellite module that could carry out remote sensing of the sea and "detect submerged submarines.""Hopefully, it will be tested in space as early as 2011," he said, adding that work on the module started over a decade ago.He offered no indication as to when the new satellite would enter service with the Russian Armed Forces.Boldyrev added that the dual-use module would be used for both defense and civilian purposes, in particular, providing meteorological data.

Поставља се питање како може да детектује нешто што је испод површине?Да ли користи детектор магнетских аномалија? СССР је одавно вршио експерименте. Мислим да су неке радили и на Свемирској станици "Мир".

There is some misunderstanding of the mechanism of detection of submarines in water using the MAD boom system. Magnetic moment displacement is ostensibly the main disturbance, yet submarines are detectable even when oriented parallel to the Earth's magnetic field, despite construction with non-ferromagnetic hulls. For example, the Soviet-Russian Alfa class submarine, whose hull is constructed out of titanium to give dramatic submerged performance and protection from detection by MAD sensors, is still detectable.The Alfa's detectability has led some analysts to deduce that the MAD's name is an intentional deception, so effective that the Soviet Union decided to construct the Alfa and even consider building the Typhoon class submarine SSBN out of titanium at one point. Since titanium structures are detectable, MAD sensors do not directly detect deviations in the Earth's magnetic field. Instead, they may be described as long-range electric and electromagnetic field detector arrays of great sensitivity.

Међутим постоји неколико проблема а међу њима је удаљеност сателита од подморнице. Edited July 17, 2010 by No7

[Roger Sanchez]

Sedmice, hrabar budi i stisni zube! -_-

[hazard]

http://www.economist.com/node/21553017

ManufacturingThe third industrial revolutionThe digitisation of manufacturing will transform the way goods are made—and change the politics of jobs tooApr 21st 2012 | from the print edition THE first industrial revolution began in Britain in the late 18th century, with the mechanisation of the textile industry. Tasks previously done laboriously by hand in hundreds of weavers’ cottages were brought together in a single cotton mill, and the factory was born. The second industrial revolution came in the early 20th century, when Henry Ford mastered the moving assembly line and ushered in the age of mass production. The first two industrial revolutions made people richer and more urban. Now a third revolution is under way. Manufacturing is going digital. As this week’s special report argues, this could change not just business, but much else besides.A number of remarkable technologies are converging: clever software, novel materials, more dexterous robots, new processes (notably three-dimensional printing) and a whole range of web-based services. The factory of the past was based on cranking out zillions of identical products: Ford famously said that car-buyers could have any colour they liked, as long as it was black. But the cost of producing much smaller batches of a wider variety, with each product tailored precisely to each customer’s whims, is falling. The factory of the future will focus on mass customisation—and may look more like those weavers’ cottages than Ford’s assembly line.Towards a third dimensionThe old way of making things involved taking lots of parts and screwing or welding them together. Now a product can be designed on a computer and “printed” on a 3D printer, which creates a solid object by building up successive layers of material. The digital design can be tweaked with a few mouseclicks. The 3D printer can run unattended, and can make many things which are too complex for a traditional factory to handle. In time, these amazing machines may be able to make almost anything, anywhere—from your garage to an African village.The applications of 3D printing are especially mind-boggling. Already, hearing aids and high-tech parts of military jets are being printed in customised shapes. The geography of supply chains will change. An engineer working in the middle of a desert who finds he lacks a certain tool no longer has to have it delivered from the nearest city. He can simply download the design and print it. The days when projects ground to a halt for want of a piece of kit, or when customers complained that they could no longer find spare parts for things they had bought, will one day seem quaint.Other changes are nearly as momentous. New materials are lighter, stronger and more durable than the old ones. Carbon fibre is replacing steel and aluminium in products ranging from aeroplanes to mountain bikes. New techniques let engineers shape objects at a tiny scale. Nanotechnology is giving products enhanced features, such as bandages that help heal cuts, engines that run more efficiently and crockery that cleans more easily. Genetically engineered viruses are being developed to make items such as batteries. And with the internet allowing ever more designers to collaborate on new products, the barriers to entry are falling. Ford needed heaps of capital to build his colossal River Rouge factory; his modern equivalent can start with little besides a laptop and a hunger to invent.Like all revolutions, this one will be disruptive. Digital technology has already rocked the media and retailing industries, just as cotton mills crushed hand looms and the Model T put farriers out of work. Many people will look at the factories of the future and shudder. They will not be full of grimy machines manned by men in oily overalls. Many will be squeaky clean—and almost deserted. Some carmakers already produce twice as many vehicles per employee as they did only a decade or so ago. Most jobs will not be on the factory floor but in the offices nearby, which will be full of designers, engineers, IT specialists, logistics experts, marketing staff and other professionals. The manufacturing jobs of the future will require more skills. Many dull, repetitive tasks will become obsolete: you no longer need riveters when a product has no rivets.The revolution will affect not only how things are made, but where. Factories used to move to low-wage countries to curb labour costs. But labour costs are growing less and less important: a $499 first-generation iPad included only about $33 of manufacturing labour, of which the final assembly in China accounted for just $8. Offshore production is increasingly moving back to rich countries not because Chinese wages are rising, but because companies now want to be closer to their customers so that they can respond more quickly to changes in demand. And some products are so sophisticated that it helps to have the people who design them and the people who make them in the same place. The Boston Consulting Group reckons that in areas such as transport, computers, fabricated metals and machinery, 10-30% of the goods that America now imports from China could be made at home by 2020, boosting American output by $20 billion-55 billion a year.The shock of the newConsumers will have little difficulty adapting to the new age of better products, swiftly delivered. Governments, however, may find it harder. Their instinct is to protect industries and companies that already exist, not the upstarts that would destroy them. They shower old factories with subsidies and bully bosses who want to move production abroad. They spend billions backing the new technologies which they, in their wisdom, think will prevail. And they cling to a romantic belief that manufacturing is superior to services, let alone finance.None of this makes sense. The lines between manufacturing and services are blurring. Rolls-Royce no longer sells jet engines; it sells the hours that each engine is actually thrusting an aeroplane through the sky. Governments have always been lousy at picking winners, and they are likely to become more so, as legions of entrepreneurs and tinkerers swap designs online, turn them into products at home and market them globally from a garage. As the revolution rages, governments should stick to the basics: better schools for a skilled workforce, clear rules and a level playing field for enterprises of all kinds. Leave the rest to the revolutionaries.

[bigvlada]

Jedi Hover Bike Is as Awesome as It Looks, But You’ll Never Fly One
By Keith Barry

When we saw the video of a hover bike that looked like it’d flown straight out of Return of the Jedi, we knew we had to get in touch with its creator. Luckily, Mark DeRoche of Aerofex was more than willing to talk about the bike his company built. Unfortunately, he made one thing pretty clear: These aren’t toys, and unless you’re a humanitarian doctor or border guard, you’ll probably never get the chance to act out your Skywalker fantasies.

“Where we see the biggest market would come in agriculture, search and rescue, border control and transportation,” DeRoche told Wired. “When I say transport, I don’t mean you and I taking one of these to go to the grocery store. I mean places where there’s very little ground infrastructure – the Australian outback, East Africa, a doctor going between villages.”

That’s exactly the target audience Aerofex had in mind when it first started work on a low-altitude tandem duct aerial vehicle eight years ago. Previously, the aerospace company had designed everything from imitation military helicopters for movie sets to cargo plane interiors optimized for transporting horses. An early prototype briefly got off the ground in 2008, but it took until January of this year for the team to build a fully working unit.

“I thought we were perfectly suited to make a product for that market,” DeRoche said. “I never expected it to take so long.”

The videos that made the rounds online were from tests in the California desert that took place last January. That vehicle was powered by a rotary engine and was covered in weights that allowed engineers to adjust trim in the field. Aerofex is already working on an improved version that’s properly trimmed, and they expect it to come out in October.

“We have all the molds in house, and [the next] one is coming out in a matter of a couple of months,” DeRoche said, so we’ll keep an eye out for more videos. As production ramps up, he said, the cost of each vehicle should fall somewhere between $50,000 and $100,000.


The vehicle itself uses ducted fans instead of exposed rotors. That prevents dust and debris from flying up, which is an important concern at low altitudes in the desert. In unmanned versions of the vehicle, it also allows ground crews to literally grab hold of it if something goes wrong. While the most recent prototype ran with a rotary engine and offered 20 minutes of flight, DeRoche said the design is “engine agnostic.” Ideally, he’d wants a low-emissions powerplant that could run for an hour and a half.

 

There are obvious defense uses for an unmanned vehicle that flies at altitudes of between 5 and 15 feet and can carry payloads of up to 800 pounds, but DeRoche said most of the interest so far has been from the agricultural sector, who want low-flying, easily controllable, unmanned vehicles for crop dusting. Current aircraft aren’t great at flying low over fields – think North by Northwest – and require an experienced pilot.

According to DeRoche, piloting the vehicle feels like nothing he’d ever imagined. “It’s a rush, there’s no doubt about it, but you get really used to this floating sensation. You don’t have tires that are holding you down,” he said.

“What is really exhilarating is the wind. Imagine you’re going into the wind and you do a banked turn at 180 degrees and you’re going downwind, it doubles your speed. Since you’re only 5 feet off the ground, you get this sensation of speed.”

That sure sounds like fun, but DeRoche insists he wouldn’t sell a hover bike to someone who wants it for fun. First of all, he thinks they’d be best used “for the greater good,” and that it “wouldn’t help the cause by giving it to some guy who later kills himself” while hooning around the desert. We suspect his future investors wouldn’t want that to happen, either.

Most importantly, though, he said they’re just not that fast. “When you’re only 5 or 15 feet off the ground, you can’t tell the difference between us an an ATV.” Indeed, even George Lucas had to play with the frame rate to make the speeder bike chase scenes look fast.

Though DeRoche can’t see a racing series with hoverbikes, he says they’ll be an integral part of transportation in the very near future. “Given time, I think these things will be prevalent,” he said. “I can’t imagine a future where they’re not there, but I don’t think they’re going to be driving to work.”

As for the Star Wars resemblance? “It’s probably a tribute to George Lucas’ team that we ended up doing something that looks what they did,” DeRoche said. “He had good vision.”

 

 

http://www.wired.com/2012/08/aeroflex-jedi-hover-bike/