Engineering news

Modern tests demonstrate soundness of old iron bridge

Technology / Engineering

1hour ago | not rated yet | 0

An unusual bowstring truss iron bridge that carried traffic across Roaring Run in Bedford County, Va. for almost 100 years is now a picturesque footbridge at the I-81 Ironto, Va. rest stop. Built in 1878, ...

Russian railways enter modern age with new express

Technology / Engineering

17 hours ago | 3.8 / 5 (4) | 0

Famed for the legendary trains that clank across seven time zones on its Trans-Siberian railroad, Russia this week entered the modern railway age with its first high-tech express train.

China Building 30-Mile Bridge Connecting Hong Kong to Guangdong Province

Technology / Engineering

Dec 18, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (10) | 3

China Daily reports the commencement of the 30-mile Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, the longest sea bridge under construction world-wide. The six-lane expressway will cut travel time from three-hours to around ...

New Automated Technique with Online Verification Eases Network Analyzer Calibration

Technology / Engineering

Dec 16, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

Verifying the accuracy of network analyzers—instruments that are used to measure key performance characteristics of electronic networks—was once an awkward process involving multiple steps and pieces of equipment.

Micromachined piezoelectric harvester drives fully autonomous wireless sensor

Technology / Engineering

Dec 15, 2009 | 5 / 5 (11) | 1

For the first time, a piezoelectric harvesting device fabricated by MEMS technology generates a record of 85μW electrical power from vibrations. A wafer level packaging method was developed for robustness. ...

Boeing's 787 Dreamliner set for maiden flight

Technology / Engineering

Dec 15, 2009 | 4 / 5 (1) | 2

Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner jet takes to the skies for the first time Tuesday, in a critical milestone for the problem-plagued aircraft seen as key to the future of the US aerospace giant.

Engineers help secure California highways and roads

Technology / Engineering

Dec 15, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

Sprays of dirt flew out of a soil box that held a retaining wall as it violently shook from a simulated 7.4 magnitude earthquake. The wall was put to test recently by engineers at the UC San Diego Englekirk ...

Virtual testing gives lightweight planes lift-off

Technology / Engineering

Dec 14, 2009 | 2 / 5 (2) | 1

Monash University aeronautical engineers are working with the world's leading aerospace company to fast-track the design and construction of a new generation of super lightweight and efficient passenger airplanes.

Low-cost temperature sensors, tennis balls to monitor mountain snowpack

Technology / Engineering

Dec 14, 2009 | not rated yet | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Fictional secret agent Angus MacGyver knew that tough situations demand ingenuity. Jessica Lundquist takes a similar approach to studying snowfall. The University of Washington assistant professor ...

Microscopic gyroscopes, the key for motion sensing

Technology / Engineering

Dec 09, 2009 | 5 / 5 (6) | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Tiny devices made possible by combining the latest advances in mechanical and electronics technology could be at the heart of next-generation personal navigation and vehicle stabilisation ...

A special kind of flight training

Technology / Engineering

Dec 08, 2009 | 4 / 5 (2) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new generation of flight simulators will attempt to make air traffic safer.

German researchers demonstrate diesel truck engine with barely measurable emissions

Technology / Engineering

Dec 07, 2009 | 3.8 / 5 (6) | 1

Just three months after the Euro 5 Norm for exhaust emissions went into force for all new car models, researchers at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM, Germany) have demonstrated an engine that is ...

India's Tata launches low-cost water filter for rural poor

Technology / Engineering

Dec 07, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (4) | 1

India's giant Tata Group on Monday unveiled a new low-cost water purifier, hoping to do for health what it did for motoring and provide affordable, safe drinking water for millions and cut disease.

Space technology optimises windmill efficiency

Technology / Engineering

Dec 07, 2009 | 3.7 / 5 (3) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A French start-up company from ESA's Business Incubation Centre in the Netherlands has developed a small instrument to measure wind speed and direction from the ground up to heights of 200 ...

Milling and drilling in cyberspace

Technology / Engineering

Dec 07, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

Machinists, NC programmers or mechatronics engineers -- trainees in engineering jobs often have to master complex equipment. In the future, trainees will practice and learn milling, turning, drilling and programming ...

New laser -- it's a gas, gas, gas... sensor

Technology / Engineering

Dec 04, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (4) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new generation of optical sensors is enabling the development of robust, long-lasting, lighting-fast trace gas detectors for use in a wide range of industrial, security and domestic applications.

Safe journey for works of art

Technology / Engineering

Dec 04, 2009 | 4 / 5 (1) | 0

Valuable paintings travel long distances when they are shipped from one place to another. To minimize damage, they are packed in special picture cases. In future, these will be equipped with sensors to detect ...

Flight of fancy: MIT autonomous mini-helicopter solves one tough challenge

Technology / Engineering

Dec 03, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (13) | 2

In its first 18 years, the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International’s annual aerial-robotics competition posed four successive challenges, which robotics researchers had to meet using entirely ...