Chattanooga Engineers Club

www.ChattanoogaEngineersClub.org

 

NEXT MEETING____________________________

Monday, December 7 – Noon – DOUBLETREE HOTEL, Inspiration Room (407 Chestnut Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402)

“Lithium-Ion Batteries – A Potential Solution for Advanced Vehicles” – Mark Hairr, UTC

The advanced vehicle industry is currently undergoing transformational changes as manufacturers race to deliver electric and hybrid-electric vehicles that reduce our reliance on imported oil and improve the quality of our air. The critical issue in determining success in this industry is battery technology, particularly the emergence of a battery that not only meets the energy requirements of a vehicle, but that is also safe, affordable and reliable. Lithium-ion batteries have not been deployed in wide scale use in advanced vehicles in the past, but this technology could emerge as the winner among the various battery technologies.

Mark Hairr’s presentation will examine the Lithium-Ion battery market and how this technology may be the key for mass market sales of advanced vehicles in the future.

Mark Hairr has served for the past three years as Research Program Director for the Center for Energy, Transportation and the Environment (CETE) at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.  Prior to joining CETE, Mr. Hairr served as General Manager of Knoxville Area Transit (KAT), presiding over a system that implemented numerous advanced technologies and experienced rapid growth in ridership.

 

FUTURE MEETINGS________________________

Monday, December 14 – Noon – Past, Present and Future: A Celebration of 85 Years of Chattanooga Engineers Club and 2009 First Lego Competitions

Highlights from the first 85 years of Chattanooga Engineers Club programs and events will be presented along with this year's successful First Lego Competitions.  Ed Chapin will showcase First Lego League involvement in Chattanooga.  Jim Schwall will lead us through the CEC 85th year retrospective.  Please come and bring guests to this program as we look to the holidays and the end of the 2009 CEC year. 

 

Monday, December 21 – NO MEETING

Monday, December 28 – NO MEETING

Monday, January 4 – NO MEETING

 

Monday, January 11 – Noon – “Renewable Clean Energy”

Speaker:  Sam Weaver, President of Proton Power, Knoxville, TN

 

PREVIOUS MEETING_______________________

Steve Hauke, Manager of Purchasing Materials, and Nolan Smith, Inventory Analyst, conducted the Roadtec plant tour for members of the Club.  Roadtec is a division of Astec Industries, a corporation known as a world leader in asphalt technology.

Roadtec began in 1981 in Dalton, Georgia, manufacturing paving machines under licensing agreements with 2 European asphalt paving machine manufacturers.  The company now employs 350 people in 2 Chattanooga facilities.  Roadtec has 3 production lines for asphalt paving machines, cold planers, and material transfer vehicles. 

Roadtec pavers are simply-designed and well-balanced for maximum tractive effort and can be equipped with a variety of screeds and controls. Roadtec is the first U.S. paver manufacturer to make electric screed heat standard equipment on all models. This insures that the screed plates are heated evenly from front to back and from end to end, eliminating the ”hot” spots found with diesel or propane burners.

Steve explained how cold planers reprocess old paving materials to make new pavement.  Fabrication of each machine requires about 8 days.  Steve demonstrated ABB Wolf Robotics welding robot which is used to weld the mill drum.

The Shuttle Buggy® material transfer vehicle offers the latest in pavement placement technology available world-wide. The Shuttle Buggy is a mobile, self-propelled surge bin with an anti-segregation auger design that remixes material to produce a consistent size and temperature. In addition, the surge capacity of the Shuttle Buggy allows for continuous paving by separating truck unloading from the paving process; trucks never come in direct contact with the paver and are able to unload material immediately and return to the asphalt plant.

Roadtec products are sold all over the world.  While Club members were touring the plant, a load of 3 shuttle buggies and 2 paving machines were shipped from the plant.

ITEMS OF INTEREST_______________________

The Chattanooga Engineer's Club meets at the DOUBLETREE HOTEL, CHATTANOOGA, Inspiration Room (407 Chestnut St., Chattanooga, TN 37402). Free parking is available in the gated parking lot on the south side of the Hotel. The gate will be open from 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Plan to arrive at about 11:30 a.m., if you intend to park in the limited space available. No additional parking is available in the pit east of the Hotel on Chestnut Street.

Looking for details on a local society meeting? Links to local engineering societies are available to you at: http://www.chattanoogaengineersclub.org/engineer

 

 

QUESTIONS and SUGGESTIONS______________

If you have any questions, items that would be of interest to the Chattanooga Engineers Club, or suggestions for future programs, please contact Joe Robbins by e-mail at jrobbins@robbinsbohr.com or by phone at 423-756-4430. You can find membership application forms, references to future programs, historical data, and other info at: http://www.ChattanoogaEngineersClub.org. To receive future meeting announcements by email, join the Chattanooga Technology Organization mailing list at: http://www.ChattanoogaEngineersClub.org/email.