Cellar Restaurant at Union Square

Downtown, Chattanooga

Topic: "The UTC - Astec Industries Senior Design Project"

• by Students Lee London, Jennifer Smith, and Sheril Varghese

Astec Industries, Inc. of Chattanooga, Tennessee designs and manufactures a soil remediation system for the treatment of contaminated soils. Because so many variables effect the heat transfer throughout this system, engineers at Astec industries have asked members of the UTC senior design team to devise a method that will determine the heat transfer coefficients throughout this system. Knowledge of the coefficients will allow Astec engineers to adjust their remediation equipment to properly treat the contaminants, to avoid overheat the contaminated soil and to reduce operating costs.

To determine the proper heat transfer coefficients, the Astec design team developed a device that models the functions of the remediation system at a much smaller scale but yet one that produces reliable and consistent data. The team also developed a mathematical model that incorporates the test data, scaling factors, and thermodynamic properties to calculate the heat transfer coefficients. The design students will present us with a general overview of the development of this device, as well as the design of a bench top model that was used to test some original concepts and design techniques.

AT OUR LAST MEETING _______________________________________________

Monday, March 19 "Electric Vehicles - Concept or Reality?"

Electric-powered vehicles are ready to hit the road, according to our speaker, Kenneth Cox, Research Engineer of the Electric Transit Vehicle Institute (ETVI). In fact, he said they are already in production and their demand is so great that most models on the market today are on at least a four-month back-order. The current generation of electric vehicles is the so-called "hybrid" that is powered by a combination of gasoline-fired engine and electric motor. The motor provides most of the power during city driving while the engine runs during highway operation. The switch between power modes is automatic and seamless. There is also no need to recharge the batteries when you get home at night. The engine does that while you drive. What’s more, the gas mileage is phenomenal. The four-door Toyota Prius that Ken brought for test-driving is rated at 52 mpg in the city and 46 mpg on the highway (yes, mileage is better in the city). Honda’s smaller Insight is rated around 62 mpg in both city and highway. And what about the pickup, you ask? The proof was in the road tests that some of our members had a chance to take after the meeting. The unanimous consensus was a resounding "Great!" Our thanks to Kenneth for a thrilling test-driving experience.

You can find more information about ETVI at: www.etvi.org

FUTURE MONDAY MEETINGS ______________________________________

April 2: "Improvements in Outdoor Lighting for Safety and Astronomy"

-by Bobby Thompson, Director of UTC’s Jones Observatory.

April 9: "Tenn. Dept. of Transportation Selects a Civil Engineering CAD Program"

• A Presentation of its features by the selected software developer, Geopack.

April 16: UTC Senior Design Presentations of their Roadtec Project.

April 23: UTC Senior Design Presentations of their AVS Project.

April 30: Field trip to Sequoyah Nuclear Plant

May 5: "Nuclear Power: Today and in the Future"

– Dr. Harold Dodds – Director, UTK Nuclear Engineering Department

GREAT NEWS _______________________________________

The management at the Days Inn across the street from the Crystal Building (M.L. King Blvd and Carter Street) has consented to let us park in their parking lot during our monday meeting times from about 12 to 1. It is free of charge. They do ask, however, that we leave some type of note on our car’s dashboard to indicate that we are attending the Chattanooga Engineers Club. Your copy of the snail-mail bulletin will probably do well as marker. Also, it would be nice to stop by the reception desk and tell them you have parked your car there and are going to the Engineers Club meeting.