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Jun 24, 2019 | 01:53 am
The traditional engineering qualification is going through changes. Universities and technical vocational educational institutions are coming to grips with the changing nature of engineering. The world’s problems need solving, and they cannot be solved with one engineer from one discipline from one university anymore.Some universities and institutions understand that, and are determined to bridge the gaps between engineering disciplines. Other universities do not seem to grasp the idea of changing educational offerings at all - and produce future-proof-less engineers.With technology advancing at a rapid rate, universities are having to update their curricula with the most cutting edge research and technical information. What universities are wanting to do is instruct the prospective engineers in the kinds of knowledge that can help them help the world.One subindustry engineering has produced is the assistive technologies industry. This is an industry that sees engineers developing technologies for disabled and elderly people in hopes that[…]
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Jun 24, 2019 | 01:49 am
The offshore oil and gas industry is an industry well known for its high risk nature. Not only are the employees who work on the rigs putting their lives in danger, but so are the employees who work under it. These employees are the oil rigs’ deep sea saturation divers. They have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, walking on the bottom of the ocean floor.Deep sea diving operations are important to offshore oil and gas operations around the world. Engineers need them for oil well checks and changes, installation of new wells and decommissioning of old ones.Humans are utilized when diving up to depths of 200 meters. For anything past those points, specially engineered vehicles are required. These divers are subjected to ten times the atmospheric pressure humans experience every day.Source: Last Breath LtdThe dive support vessels are built around a pressurized saturation system. On the[…]
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Jun 24, 2019 | 01:37 am
Huawei. You have probably heard of them - you may even own one of their smartphones. They are the second largest multinational technology company in the world, coming second only to Samsung. With the enormous size of the company, and tremendous force of national pride in China, there are thousands of engineers working for them around the world.Huawei have been instrumental in implementing mobile internet technology infrastructure in many countries across the world, making them the world’s biggest supplier of networking technologies. However, U.S. intelligence figures are beginning to suggest that Huawei’s technology is being used to spy on its users on behalf of the Chinese government, a controversial finding when thinking of the growing trade war between China and the American government under the Trump administration.The US and China’s escalating trade war took a recent turn on the 17 May 2019. The Trump administration signed an executive order that[…]
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Jun 24, 2019 | 00:12 am
Engineering and politics are intricately linked. The prioritization of certain engineering disciplines and technologies may depend on where leading political parties lie on the political spectrum.In the United States, the Democrats were not supportive of the construction of a new phase of the Keystone Pipeline (an oil pipeline system between Canada and the United States), whereas the Republicans were practically racing to get it built. When Donald Trump won the Presidential Election, the hurdles that were keeping the Keystone construction back, were effectively cleared.Climate change, and the engineering technologies that cause the phenomena, have been heavily politicized - which left-leaning parties have been using to try and sway voters with.Source: The GuardianA similar situation recently played out in Australia. Two years ago, Australia’s then Treasurer Scott Morrison taunted the Opposition by carrying a lump of coal into the House of Representatives. It was to mock what they were saying were[…]
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Jun 21, 2019 | 07:31 am
Temperatures in Nairobi, Kenya, reach 35 degrees centigrade in the summer months. Over five hundred kilometers away is the town of Malindi, where a brand new photovoltaic solar project is kicking off. If Kenyan engineers are looking to work in renewable energy, their chance has arrived.The Malindi project will be the first utility-scale independent power project the country will see. Globeleq is a company hailing from the United Kingdom, and is heading up the project. They are also investing in renewable energy solutions in South Africa.The company will be selling electricity to Kenya’s national electricity provider Kenya Power, recently agreeing to a 20-year deal.Paul Hanrahan, Globeleq’s CEO, told media:“The attractive investment climate combined with strong local community support sets the stage for this important project as well as future investments in Kenya. We are extremely pleased to be making this investment into the Kenyan energy sector.”The construction will be complete[…]
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Jun 18, 2019 | 01:14 am
Triton Submarines have taken man to where no man has gone before...to the bottom of the ocean.Businessman and amateur pilot, Victor Vescovo, went down to what is believed to be the deepest point of the ocean a human being has ever travelled to. Its name is the Challenger Deep, located in the Pacific Ocean at the southern end of the Mariana Trench. From surface to seabed the underwater marvel is 10,928 meters deep and is the deepest point in the Earth’s hydrosphere. The vessel would have to sustain pressure equal to 50 buses pushing down on it. Descending nearly 11km in April 2019, Vescovo now holds the record for the deepest ocean dive made by a human. What he found on the ocean floor will shock you.Source: Triton SubsTriton has recently been working on creating prototypes of submersibles that are able to withstand incredible amounts of pressure atat significant ocean[…]
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Jun 18, 2019 | 01:04 am
We are only five months into 2019 and America has already seen 693 tornadoes tear across their sky. Just over the last couple of weeks, the American Midwest has been battered by over 100 tornadoes that have left several states with billions of dollars of damage to recover from. And so, with many buildings left destroyed, civil engineering is quick to come to into action.The immediate concern when any storm hits is flash flooding. Over the last 12 days Oklahoma has witnessed rivers and dams rise to levels that have never been seen before.Their streets were flooded due to drainage systems being overloaded and the natural earth simply not being able to absorb the amount of water falling from the sky. However what follows the flash flooding is far more worrying. When the sky turns an eerie shade of green, Americans known all too well what follows…a tornado.Last Wednesday, late[…]
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Jun 17, 2019 | 06:29 am
Engineering is transforming Kenya into an innovative hub of new technologies that are both helping the poorest of the poor and assisting the growth of the business sector.A startup from the Penn State College of Engineering, Kijenzi, has been training Kenyans in the art of 3D printing. The startup also helps address several key issues encountered in the rural medical facilities in Kenya.In Kenya, clinics are being faced with many issues like outdated machinery, unrefined supply chains, and limited access to equipment they need to ensure a healthy environment for patients. On Kijenzi’s website they explain how their 3D printers work:Source: MedtechKijenzi“At the most basic level, 3D printing is a form of additive manufacturing - the process of adding material to a product. The printers used by MK take computer-generated 3D models and, with a series of programs, translate the models into a form readable by the printer. With this[…]
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Jun 17, 2019 | 06:22 am
Sam Bates is a graduate of the Engineering Institute of Technology who recently earned his 52708WA - Advanced Diploma of Industrial Automation. He works in the automation industry in the United Kingdom and is employed as a controls engineer. But, it has been a journey to get to where he is today. Sam says:“I left school at the tender age of 16 and went to engineering college to learn the very basics in engineering. While I was there, I got offered an apprenticeship at a local engineering company called Finishing Design Services. They build special purpose machinery and wanted to employ me as a panel wirer with the option to progress in future years if I had the right attitude.”Leaving school as early as he did, and needing experience, he took the apprenticeship. He would go on to be a panel wirer for four years while he completed his National[…]
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Jun 17, 2019 | 06:05 am
In the 1800s the United States was industrializing to the point where New York and San Francisco, states that were quite literally on opposite sides of the country, needed to figure out a central point at which they could trade with each other. They would, via their respective railroads, meet in the middle at a trading port in New Orleans. However a lake stood in their way, Louisiana’s Lake Pontchartrain. The railway, at over nine kilometres long, is the longest railway crossing over water on earth and the longest railroad bridge in the United States. Engineers completed the bridge over 130 years ago. Back then, it was entirely made of wood. Now it is a concrete ballast deck bridge.Source: Impossible EngineeringThe bridge provides a pathway into New Orleans and is still to this day a vital piece of infrastructure for the trading of goods within the United States.However, with a low[…]
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Jun 17, 2019 | 05:41 am
Google I/O has kicked off in Mountain View, California. A keynote speech opened the conference, which will see software and hardware developers from all over the world descend on Silicon Valley to watch and learn how Google do what they do.Google CEO Sundar Pichai kicked the proceedings off by outlining Google’s Mission, which is to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”. They continued on to announce a plethora of notable additions to their product lines including new smartphones, and smart home devices, but it was an addition to their search engine that raised eyebrows.Source: CNETGoogle announced that they would be implementing augmented reality into their search engine through what is known as Google Lens. Google initially launched ARCore in 2018, a platform for building augmented-reality experiences, and now they have finally shown what is possible.At the conference, Google showed how the functionality work, but CNET[…]
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Jun 17, 2019 | 05:30 am
In 2017, the world got its first taste of the future of electric mobility and looked like something straight out of a science fiction film. An unmanned remote-controlled electric ‘jet’ prototype that took to the skies and experts were more than impressed. The engineers at Lilium, a Munich based startup, were providing the world a glimpse of what might one day be possible - a fully electric jet taxi.Fast forward to 2019 and the company announced their fully electric five-seater prototype jet, flying up to impressive speeds of 300km/h. On 4 May 2019, the engineers took their new unmanned prototype out to a launch pad in Germany to test the groundbreaking vehicle. It was a successful launch.Source: LiliumThe electric jet takes off like a helicopter, going straight up without the need for a runway - making it a more accessible technology for companies wanting to purpose these aircraft. The company’s[…]
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Jun 17, 2019 | 03:49 am
Anglo American’s coal mining operations in Mpumalanga, South Africa, are becoming more efficient and safer. They are starting to roll out underground Wi-Fi and equipping their miners and engineers with smartphones. It’s a setup that will cost only $690,000..Currently in South Africa, telephones are used inside mines to communicate above and below the mine, but they are not immediately available to everyone involved in the mining operation. Communications is just one of the many benefits of the new underground Wi-Fi. Miners can now send photographs and videos to fellow miners and engineers so they can troubleshoot any problems in the mine.Anglo American’s Edgar Simfukwe told the media:“We’re working in an environment where safety and productivity are paramount. The introduction of underground Wi-Fi is a game-changer. It allows our miners to communicate more easily, thereby making mines more productive. The main benefit is that breakdowns can be reported and resolved faster[…]
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May 23, 2019 | 05:46 am
Jessica Ann Mckenty is an Apprentice Communications Technician at Ergon Energy. She is a noteworthy graduate of the Engineering Institute of Technology. In October of 2018, Jessica graduated with a 52782WA - Advanced Diploma of Industrial Data Communications, Networking & IT. Jessica completed the Advanced Diploma in the final eighteen months of her apprenticeship at Ergon Energy. Through her academic endeavors and her apprenticeship, Jessica became equipped with everything she needed to make sense of the industry she was entering into. She said:"I have been fortunate enough to get exposure to a wide range of applications of communications. This includes fiber splicing, tower rigging, mobile vehicle installation, radio communications maintenance and installation. I have also worked on upgrades of protection signaling paths (microwaves and fiber), removal of old SACS systems and installation of RTU's in their place, as well as installing and configuring communications modems and switches at remote sites."Previously, Jessica[…]
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May 9, 2019 | 07:22 am
At the end of the 80s, in the far west of outback New South Wales, in an inland mining city known as Broken Hill, Cindy McGeorge embarked on an Electrical Fitting apprenticeship. And now, with a 52726WA - Advanced Diploma of Applied Electrical Engineering, she is an alumnus of the Engineering Institute of Technology.Her life has been defined by becoming a mother, relocating, pursuing further education and her dreams in the electrical engineering industry. What follows is an interesting window into the world of a woman in the energy distribution world.After her apprenticeship Cindy worked both above and underground at the local mines in Broken Hill and graduated to working with the mines’ SCADA systems. After spending some years there she felt it was time to move on. She said:“After 10 years I went to work in the south west Queensland oil and gas fields as a contractor as well[…]
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The traditional engineering qualification is going through changes. Universities and technical vocational educational institutions are coming to grips with the changing nature of engineering. The world’s problems need solving, and they cannot be solved with one engineer from one discipline[…]
The offshore oil and gas industry is an industry well known for its high risk nature. Not only are the employees who work on the rigs putting their lives in danger, but so are the employees who work under it.[…]
Huawei. You have probably heard of them - you may even own one of their smartphones. They are the second largest multinational technology company in the world, coming second only to Samsung. With the enormous size of the company, and[…]
Engineering and politics are intricately linked. The prioritization of certain engineering disciplines and technologies may depend on where leading political parties lie on the political spectrum.In the United States, the Democrats were not supportive of the construction of a new[…]
Temperatures in Nairobi, Kenya, reach 35 degrees centigrade in the summer months. Over five hundred kilometers away is the town of Malindi, where a brand new photovoltaic solar project is kicking off. If Kenyan engineers are looking to work in[…]
Triton Submarines have taken man to where no man has gone before...to the bottom of the ocean.Businessman and amateur pilot, Victor Vescovo, went down to what is believed to be the deepest point of the ocean a human being has[…]
We are only five months into 2019 and America has already seen 693 tornadoes tear across their sky. Just over the last couple of weeks, the American Midwest has been battered by over 100 tornadoes that have left several states[…]
Engineering is transforming Kenya into an innovative hub of new technologies that are both helping the poorest of the poor and assisting the growth of the business sector.A startup from the Penn State College of Engineering, Kijenzi, has been training[…]
Sam Bates is a graduate of the Engineering Institute of Technology who recently earned his 52708WA - Advanced Diploma of Industrial Automation. He works in the automation industry in the United Kingdom and is employed as a controls engineer. But,[…]
In the 1800s the United States was industrializing to the point where New York and San Francisco, states that were quite literally on opposite sides of the country, needed to figure out a central point at which they could trade[…]
