The History of Mechanical Engineering

 

Mechanical engineering is an engineering discipline that involves the application of principles of physics for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It requires a solid understanding of key concepts including mechanics, kinematics, thermodynamica and energy. Practitioners of mechanical engineering, known as mechanical engineers, use these principles and others in the design and analysis of automobiles, aircraft, heating & cooling systems, manufacturing plants, industrial equipment and machinery, and more.

Mechanical engineering could be found in many ancient and medieval societies, found throughout the globe. In ancient Greece, there were brilliant mechanical engineers such as Archimede (287 BC-212 BC), as well as Heron of Alexandria (10-70 AD). The mechanical works of the latter two deeply influenced mechanics in the Western tradition, although there were many others who contributed to early mechanical science. In anciant China, there were also many notable figures, such as Zhang Heng (78-139 AD) and Ma Jun (200-265 AD). The medieval Chinese horologist and engineer Su Song (1020-1101 AD) incorporated an escapement mechanism into his astronomical clock tower two centuries before any escapement could be found in clocks of medieval Europe, as well as the world's first known endless power-transmitting chain drive.

Before the Industrial Revolution, most engineering was restricted to military and civil uses. Engineers in the military, though not always referred to as such, designed fortification systems and various war machines. Civil engineers were responsible primarily for building and ground structures. «During the early 19th century in England mechanical engineering developed as a separate field to provide manufacturing machines and the engines to power them. The first British professional society of civil engineers was formed in 1818; that for mechanical engineers followed in 1847».

In the United States, the first mechanical engineering professional society was formed in 1880, making it the third oldest type of engineering behind civil (1852) and mining & metallurgical (1871). The first schools in the United States to offer an engineering education were the United States Military Academy in 1817, an institution now known as Norwich University in 1819, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1825. An engineering education is based on a strong foundation in mathematics and science; this is followed by courses emphasizing the application of this knowledge to a specific field and studies in the social sciences and humanities to give the engineer a broader education.

 

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Congestion

 

Congestion occurs when transport demand exceeds transport supply in a specific section of the transport system. Under such circumstances, each vehicle impairs the mobility of others.

The last decades have seen the extension of roads in rural but particularly in urban areas. Those infrastructures were designed for speed and high capacity, but the growth of urban circulation occurred at a rate higher than often expected. Investments came from diverse levels of government with a view to provide accessibility to cities and regions. There were strong incentives for the expansion of road transportation by providing high levels of transport supply. This has created a vicious circle of congestion which supports the construction of additional road capacity and automobile dependency. Urban congestion mainly concerns two domains of circulation, often sharing the same infrastructures:

Passengers. In many regions of the world incomes have significantly increased to the point that one automobile per household or more is common. Access to an automobile conveys flexibility in terms of the choice of origin, destination and travel time. The automobile is favored at the expense of other modes for most trips, including commuting. For instance, automobiles account for the bulk of commuting trips in the United States.

Freight. Several industries have shifted their transport needs to trucking, thereby increasing the usage of road infrastructure. Since cities are the main destinations for freight flows (either for consumption or for transfer to other locations) trucking adds to further congestion in urban areas.

Components: Delivery time (e.g. duration, possibility to fix delivery date); Reliability of delivery (e.g. availability of goods, order handling time); Flexibility of delivery (e.g. delivery date, delivery address); Quality of delivery (e.g. accurate delivery, condition of delivered goods). Unattended delivery problem: Mainly apply to parcel deliveries. Contradiction between working schedules and delivery schedules. Made worse by the growth of two income families.

Infrastructure provision was not able to keep up with the growth in the number of vehicles, even more with the total number of vehicles-km. During infrastructure improvement and construction, capacity impairment (fewer available lanes, closed sections, etc.) favors congestion. Important travel delays occur when the capacity limit is reached or exceeded, which is the case of almost all metropolitan areas. In the largest cities such as London, road traffic is actually slower than it was 100 years ago.

Marginal delays are thus increasing. Large cities have become congested most of the day, and congestion is getting more acute. Another important consideration concerns parking, which consumes large amounts of space. In automobile dependent cities, this can be very constraining as each economic activity has to provide an amount of parking space proportional to their level of activity. Parking has become a land use that greatly inflates the demand for urban land.

Daily trips can be either «mandatory» (workplace-home) or «voluntary» (shopping, leisure, visits). The former is often performed within fixed schedules while the latter comply with variable schedules. Mandatory trips are mainly responsible for the peaks in circulation flows, implying that about half the congestion in urban areas is recurring at specific times of the day and on specific segments of the transport system. The other half is caused by random events such as accidents and unusual weather conditions (rain, snowstorms, etc.).

As far as accidents are concerned, their randomness is influenced by the level of traffic as the higher the traffic on specific road segments the higher the probability of accidents. The spatial convergence of traffic causes a surcharge of transport infrastructures up to the point where congestion can lead to the total immobilization of traffic.

Not only does the massive use of the automobile have an impact on traffic circulation and congestion, but it also leads to the decline in public transit efficiency when both are sharing the same roads. In some areas, the automobile is the only mode for which infrastructures are provided. This implies less capacity for using alternative modes such transit, walking and cycling. At some levels of density, no public infrastructure investment can be justified in terms of economic returns. Longer commuting trips in terms of average travel time, the result of fragmented land uses and congestion levels are a significant trend.

Convergence of traffic at major highways that serve vast low density areas with high levels of automobile ownership and low levels of automobile occupancy. The result is energy (fuel) wasted during congestion (additional time) and supplementary commuting distances. In automobile dependent cities, five measures can help alleviate congestion to some extent:

§ Ramp metering. Controlling the access to a congested highway by letting automobiles in one at a time instead of in groups. The outcome is a lower disruption on highway traffic flows.

§ Traffic signal synchronization. Tuning the traffic signals to the time and direction of traffic flows.

§ Incident management. Making sure that vehicles involved in accidents or mechanical failures are removed as quickly as possible from the road.

§ HOV lanes. High Occupancy Vehicle lanes insure that vehicles with 2 or more passengers (buses, vans, carpool, etc.) have exclusive access to a less congested lane.

§ Public transit. Offering alternatives to driving that can significantly improve efficiency, notably if it circulates on its own infrastructure (subway, light rail, buses on reserved lanes, etc.).

All these measures only partially address the issue of congestion, as they alleviate, but do not solve the problem.

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The Urban Transit Challenge

 

As cities continue to become more dispersed, the cost of building and operating public transportation systems increases. For instance, only about 80 large urban agglomerations have a subway system, the great majority of them being in developed countries. Furthermore, dispersed residential patterns characteristic of automobile dependent cities makes public transportation systems less convenient for the average commuter.

In many cities additional investments in public transit did not result in significant additional ridership. Unplanned and uncoordinated land development has led to rapid expansion of the urban periphery. Residents may become isolated in outlying areas without access to affordable and convenient public transportation. Over-investment (when investments do not appear to imply significant benefits) and under-investment (when there is a substantial unmet demand) in public transit are both complex challenges.

Urban transit is often perceived as the most efficient transportation mode for urban areas, notably large cities. However, surveys reveal stagnation or a decline of public transit systems, especially in North America. The economic relevance of public transit is being questioned. Most urban transit developments had little, if any impacts to alleviate congestion. This paradox is partially explained by the spatial structure of contemporary cities which are oriented along servicing the needs of the individual, not necessarily the needs of the collectivity.

Thus, the automobile remains the preferred mode of urban transportation. In addition, public transit is publicly owned, implying that it is a politically motivated service that provides limited economic returns. Even in transit-oriented cities such as in Europe, transit systems depend on government subsidies. Little or no competition is permitted as wages and fares regulated, undermining any price adjustments to changes in ridership. Thus public transit often serves the purpose of a social function («public service») as it provides accessibility and social equity, but with limited relationships with economic activities. Among the most difficult challenges facing urban transit are:

§ Decentralization. Public transit systems are not designed to service low density and scattered urban areas that are increasingly dominating the landscape. The greater the decentralization of urban activities, the more difficult and expensive it becomes to serve urban areas with public transit.

§ Fixity. The infrastructures of several public transit systems, notably rail and metro systems are fixed, while cities are dynamical entities. This implies that travel patterns tend to change and that a transit system built for servicing a specific pattern may eventually face «spatial obsolescence».

§ Connectivity. Public transit systems are often independent from other modes and terminals. It is consequently difficult to transfer passengers from one system to the other.

§ Competition. In view of cheap and ubiquitous road transport systems, public transit faces strong competition. The higher the level of automobile dependency, the more inappropriate the public transit level of service. The public service being offered is simply outpaced by the convenience of the automobile.

 

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Automobiles

 

1. The difference between spark ignition engines and diesel engines. Just before burning their fuels, both engines compress air inside a sealed cylinder. This compression process adds energy to the air and causes its temperature to skyrocket. In a spark ignition engine, the air that's being compressed already contains fuel so this rising temperature is a potential problem. If the fuel and air ignite spontaneously, the engine will «knock» and won’t operate at maximum efficiency.

The fuel and air mixture is expected to wait until it’s ignited at the proper instant by the spark plug. That’s why gasoline is formulated to resist ignition below a certain temperature. The higher the «octane» of the gasoline, the higher its certified ignition temperature.

Virtually all modern cars operate properly with regular gasoline. Nonetheless, people frequently put high-octane (high-test or premium) gasoline in their cars under the mistaken impression that their cars will be better for it. If your car doesn’t knock significantly with regular gasoline, use regular gasoline. A diesel engine doesn’t have spark ignition.

Instead, it uses the high temperature caused by extreme compression to ignite its fuel. It compresses pure air to high temperature and pressure, and then injects fuel into this air. Timed to arrive at the proper instant, the fuel bursts into flames and burns quickly in the superheated compressed air. In contrast to gasoline, diesel fuel is formulated to ignite easily as soon as it enters hot air.

2. An automatic transmission in a car. An automatic transmission contains two major components: a fluid coupling that controls the transfer of torque from the engine to the rest of the transmission and a gearbox that controls the mechanical advantage between the engine and the wheels. The fluid coupling resembles two fans with a liquid circulating between them. The engine turns one fan, technically known as an «impeller», and this impeller pushes transmission fluid toward the second impeller. As the liquid flows through the second impeller, it exerts a twist (a «torque») on the impeller.

If the car is moving or is allowed to move, this torque will cause the impeller to turn and, with it, the wheels of the car. If, however, the car is stopped and the brake is on, the transmission fluid will flow through the second impeller without effect. Overall, the fluid coupling allows the efficient transfer of power from the engine to the wheels without any direct mechanical linkage that would cause trouble when the car comes to a stop.

Between the second impeller and the wheels is a gearbox. The second impeller of the fluid coupling causes several of the gears in this box to turn and they, in turn, cause other gears to turn. Eventually, this system of gears causes the wheels of the car to turn. Along with these gears are several friction plates that can be brought into contact with one another by the transmission to change the relative rotation rates between the second impeller and the car’s wheels.

These changes in relative rotation rate give the car the variable mechanical advantage it needs to be able to both climb steep hills and drive fast on flat roadways. Finally, some cars combine parts of the gear box with the fluid coupling in what is called a «torque converter». Here the two impellers in the fluid coupling have different shapes so that they naturally turn at different rates. This asymmetric arrangement eliminates the need for some gears in the gearbox itself.

3. The difference between internal and external combustion engines. External combustion engines burn a fuel outside of the engine and produce a hot working fluid that then powers the engine. The classic example of an external combustion engine is a steam engine. Internal combustion engines burn fuel directly in the engine and use the fuel and the gases resulting from its combustion as the working fluid that powers the engine. An automobile engine is a fine example of an internal combustion engine.

4. Why are there pistons in an engine? The pistons in a gasoline engine compress the fuel and air mixture before ignition and then extract energy from the burned gases after ignition. When the engine is operating, each piston travels in and out of a cylinder with one closed end many times a second. The piston makes four different strokes during its travels. In the first or «intake» stroke, the piston travels away from the closed end of the cylinder and draws the fuel and air mixture into the cylinder through an opened valve.

During the second or «compression» stroke, the piston travels toward the closed end of the cylinder and compresses the fuel and air mixture to high pressure, density, and temperature. The spark plug now ignites the fuel and air mixture and it burns. During the third or «power» stroke, the piston travels away from the closed end of the cylinder and the expanding gases do work on the piston, providing it with the energy that propels the car forward. During the fourth or «exhaust» stroke, the piston travels toward the closed end of the cylinder and pushes the burned gases out of the cylinder through another opened valve.

5. An internal combustion engine. An internal combustion engine burns a mixture of fuel and air in an enclosed space. This space is formed by a cylinder that's sealed at one end and a piston that slides in and out of that cylinder. Two or more valves allow the fuel and air to enter the cylinder and for the gases that form when the fuel and air burn to leave the cylinder. As the piston slides in and out of the cylinder, the enclosed space within the cylinder changes its volume. The engine uses this changing volume to extract energy from the burning mixture.

The process begins when the engine pulls the piston out of the cylinder, expanding the enclosed space and allowing fuel and air to flow into that space through a valve. This motion is called the intake stroke. Next, the engine squeezes the fuel and air mixture tightly together by pushing the piston into the cylinder in what is called the compression stroke. At the end of the compression stroke, with the fuel and air mixture squeezed as tightly as possible, the spark plug at the sealed end of the cylinder fires and ignites the mixture. The hot burning fuel has an enormous pressure and it pushes the piston strongly out of the cylinder.

This power stroke is what provides power to the car that's attached to the engine. Finally, the engine squeezes the burned gas out of the cylinder through another valve in the exhaust stroke. These four strokes repeat over and over again to power the car. To provide more steady power, and to make sure that there is enough energy to carry the piston through the intake, compression, and exhaust strokes, most internal combustion engines have at least four cylinders (and pistons). That way, there is always at least one cylinder going through the power stroke and it can carry the other cylinders through the non-power strokes.

6. A steam engine. Like the internal combustion engines used in automobiles, a steam engine is a type of heat engine--a device that diverts some of the heat flowing from a hotter object to a colder object and that turns that heat into useful work. The fraction of heat that can be converted to work is governed by the laws of thermodynamics and increases with the temperature difference between the hotter and colder objects. In the case of the steam engine, the hotter the steam and the colder the outside air, the more efficient the engine is at converting heat into work.

A typical steam engine has a piston that moves back and forth inside a cylinder. Hot, high-pressure steam is produced in a boiler and this steam enters the cylinder through a valve. Once inside the cylinder, the steam pushes outward on every surface, including the piston. The steam pushes the piston out of the cylinder, doing mechanical work on the piston and allowing that piston to do mechanical work on machinery attached to it.

The expanding steam transfers some of its thermal energy to this machinery, so the steam becomes cooler as the machinery operates. But before the piston actually leaves the steam engine’s cylinder, the valve stops the flow of steam and opens the cylinder to the outside air. The piston can then reenter the cylinder easily. In many cases, steam is allowed to enter the other end of the cylinder so that the steam pushes the piston back to its original position. Once the piston is back at its starting point, the valve again admits high-pressure steam to the cylinder and the whole cycle repeats. Overall, heat is flowing from the hot boiler to the cool outside air and some of that heat is being converted into mechanical work by the moving piston.

7. What is the purpose of pistons in an engine? The piston moves in an out of a cylinder, moving the air, fuel, and exhaust about and extracting work from the burned fuel and air. Without the piston, there would be no way to obtain energy from the gasoline.

 

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