Chattanooga Engineers Club

NEXT MEETING____________________________

Monday, December 14 – Noon – DOUBLETREE HOTEL, Inspiration Room (407 Chestnut Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402)

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. Jim Schwall will lead us through the CEC 85th year retrospective and Ed Chapin will showcase First Lego League involvement in Chattanooga.

This will be a time of celebration of Chattanooga Engineers Club past, present and future. Did you know that the Engineers Club once hosted Gerald Ford for E-Week and was instrumental in the establishment of the UC-UT Graduate Engineering Program? We will also honor CEC members with the longest tenure in the club.

Since 2002, the Chattanooga Engineers Club, through Chattanooga Robotics, has participated in the First Lego League competitions. Created by FIRST (usfirst.org), the First Lego League to serve the age range from 9 to 14, there are now more than 5000 teams. Chattanooga Robotics (Chattabot.org) promotes the benefits of STEM (Science-Technology-Engineers-Math) education through "hands on" programs, using robots. In 2008, we had eleven FLL teams in Chattanooga from two private schools, three public schools, five home school groups, and one community group. Under the capable leadership of Ed Chapin, over 300 students were touched. This year, the cooperation with the TVA Partners-In-Education program has moved us to about 18 local teams and a goal of more than 400 students participating. Ed will give us a report of the 2009 teams and their OUTSTANDING performance at the state competition in Cookeville.

Please come and bring guests to this program as we look to the holidays and the end of the 2009 CEC year. No reservations are necessary, but If you know that you will bring a guest, please send an e-mail to Jim Schwall at: jimgineer@comcast.net

We want to make sure we have enough places set for lunch!

FUTURE MEETINGS________________________

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_______________________

Mark Hairr, Research Program Director at the UTC Center for Energy, Transportation and the Environment, addressed the use of Lithium Ion batteries to power advanced vehicles. Mark described Lithium Ion as having the highest specific energy of all common batteries and a long cycle life. Lithium Ion batteries can store up to 150 watt hours/kg. Lithium Ion batteries have their advantages; however, they have their disadvantages as well, including being more expensive than lead-acid batteries, thermal instability, poor overcharge tolerants in some variants, etc.

Major deposits of Lithium are found in Chile and Argentina. China is rapidly tapping its deposits to expand production.

Toyota has been the major player in the deployment of hybrid electric vehicles and has 80% of the market with GM, Nissan, Honda and Ford sharing the other 20%. On average, hybrid vehicle cost $2,700 more than conventional Internal Combustion Engine autos.

There have been announcements by 14 auto manufacturers of new electric vehicles coming to market beginning in 2010, all of which would use Lithium Ion batteries. By 2020, estimates show that up to 50% of all automobiles produced may be electric powered. The market for Lithium Ion batteries could reach $18 billion/year.

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.