NEXT MEETING
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Monday, April 29- 11:00 a.m. to noon
Center Street near Shallowford Rd.
Field Trip: - A tour of Accurate Automation
Corporation
We will be treated to a guided tour of a company that
is a leader in aerospace research and development. Accurate Automation project
leaders will describe their topic of investigation including: unmanned avionics
vehicles, hypersonic flight shapes, plasma aerodynamics, neural network
applications to flight control, flight planning and specific commercial products
for avionics. These areas of investigation are unique in the world and are on
the cutting edge of aviation technology.
Vin Sharma, Director of the company's Aerospace Group, will be our host for
this tour and will provide us with an overview of the company's history and
future direction.
Directions from Chattanooga: Take Interstate 75
north to exit 5 (Shallowford Rd.), left over I-75, right onto Center Street.
Accurate Automation is the second building on the right (a one-story building).
It will have a sign in front of its offices. Park where you find a spot. Food
WILL NOT be provided. But plenty of eateries are near by (you pass Wendy's and
Ocean Ave Café both on your way to AAC.)
Note that the tour will begin at 11:00 a.m. Please plan to
be there a few minutes earlier to allow time for processing your visitor's pass.
OUR PREVIOUS MEETING April 22
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Thermochemical Energy Conversion
(TEC), an improved gas turbine technology -
An improved closed-cycle gas
turbine engine is being developed that uses a chemically active working fluids
such as compounds of nitrogen and oxygen to convert heat into power. Its
patented design promises compact, powerful, multi-fuel, quiet engines that can
be at least 25 percent more fuel-efficient than comparable energy converters.
Dr. George Courville, Chief Technology Officer for the Knoxville-based Ecotera
Energy, Inc., showed us a variation of the Brayton cycle where the fluid
disassociates when heat is added and reassembles when it is cooled. The increase
in cycle efficiency comes from the fact that with a chemically reacting gas the
net molecular weight of the gas during compression is less than during its
expansion. Also the disassociation of the gas provides increased pressure which
can then produce more work.
Ecotera is applying for Small Business Innovation and Research grant
funding and exploring the possibility of technology development support from
other local, state, and federal government initiatives. They are also actively
exploring strategic commercialization partners for applications incorporating
the TEC engine.
Here's a link to the story on this presentation which appeared in
The Chattanoogan
FUTURE MONDAY MEETINGS
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May 6 Topic: Round-Abouts and Traffic Circles -
New Features on the Chattanooga Landscape - John Van Winkle
May 13 Topic: Entrepreneurial Engineering -
Starting and Maintaining a High Tech Business - Katie Vandergriff, MKT
Technologies
May 20 Topic: Invasive Plants - A frightening
look at a some destructive invaders.
May 27 No meeting in observance of Memorial Day
June 3 Topic: Green Power - TVA
June 17 Topic: Hamilton County Regional Bike Plan
- Bill Allen
WHERE WE MEET _____________________________________
Except on field trips, our weekly meetings are usually held at the Cellar
Restaurant of the Tallan Building, Union Square, Downtown Chattanooga from 12:00
to 1:00 p.m. Our meeting room and luncheon service are open by 11:30 a.m. Lunch
buffet is $10.00 per person. No reservation is required. Free parking is
available in the Days Inn Motel (on Carter St. and MLK Blvd,) courtesy of the
Days Inn management. When you park there, be sure to place a note on your
dashboard indicating you are attending the engineers club meeting.