Chattanooga Engineers Club Newsletter

NEXT MEETING________________________

Monday April 12 – Noon – DOUBLETREE HOTEL

407 Chestnut Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402

“Monday April 12 – Noon – “Kruesi ‘Spirit of Innovation ‘Award Finalists” Jim Frierson will introduce several finalists for the Kruesi award, including:

Don Lepard, Owner, President, With Mack Davis, Vice President, Partner, Global Green Lighting. Global Green Lighting is a Kruesi Award contender for designing and manufacturing a new LED (light emitting diode) street light fixture that exceeds the performance objectives established by the U.S. Department of Energy. "Last year Global Green Lighting launched its line of low energy lighting products that include induction and LED street lights that are 200 percent brighter and use up to 80 percent less energy than typical HPS (high pressure sodium) or MH (metal handle) lamps," said Don Lepard, GGL owner and president.

Deron Austin, VP of Marketing, Lectrus. Lectrus has developed the industry’s first blast resistant equipment center, a robust metal walk-in enclosure, that protects critical electrical equipment in the unlikely event of an explosion at a petrochemical processing facility.

"Outside of protecting personnel during a blast event at a refinery, nothing is more critical than sustaining the proper function of process-related automatic shutoff valves and critical power equipment, as well as water pumps for fire protection," said Deron Austin, Lectrus vice president of marketing.

Mike Casey, Director of Engineering, Thermal Transfer Composites Thermal Transfer Composites has developed a new generation of thermally conductive composites that have greater heat transmitting ability and lower thermal expansion than their predecessors. Automotive, computer and aerospace firms are among the potential and present customers for the composites which also have uses in new green technologies for mass transit and wind turbines, as well hybrid and electric cars.

"With the introduction of the Primex Ultra line of Al/SiC (alumni alloys and silicon carbide ceramics) composites TTC’s thermal performance has now increased by 42% and production costs are reduced by more than 30%," said to Dr. Dan White, chief executive officer and co-founder of TTC. "Now these new materials also provide lower thermal expansion and higher stiffness than any other Al/SiC composites currently on the market.

Monday April 19 – Noon – “Kruesi ‘Spirit of Innovation ‘Award Finalists” Jim Frierson will introduce additional finalists for the Kruesi award.

Wednesday April 28 – Spirit of Innovation Luncheon at the Convention Center

For more information see http://www.chattanoogachamber.com/newsandvideo/100323_Kruesi.asp

Monday April 26 – Noon – “B&W’s Modular Nuclear Reactor”

Speaker: Juan F. Villarreal, Director of Commercial Operations & Marketing,

Babcock & Wilcox - Modular Nuclear Energy

PREVIOUS MEETING____________________________

Energy Storage Overview” – Dale Bradshaw, Senior Program Manager and Consultant to National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), reviewed the use cases for energy storage including:

Shifting wind and solar to meet the peak energy demands.
Reducing peak demand and avoiding need for new capacity.
Buying low cost electricity during periods of low demand and selling during periods of high demand.
Providing for fast backup power to improve systems reliability.
Providing frequency regulation and spinning reserve.

The need to shift wind power to meet peak demands was illustrated using wind output power profile for the entire U.S. for 12 months and 24 hours per day. Wind power capacity tends to be greater at night and during the winter than it is during the day and in the summer, while peak loads often occur on summer afternoons.

Dale reviewed compressed Air Energy Storage Systems (CAES) which can be used to store energy produced by wind turbines. In the Central States, underground aquifers may be used to store compressed air. Other areas may use depleted oil fields or solution-mined salt domes. One CAES plant is located in McIntosh, AL,

Other storage systems were discussed including pumped-hydro, flywheels and batteries.

CHATTANOOGA ENGINEERS CLUB — CORPORATE SPONSORS______________

We gratefully acknowledge the corporate sponsorships listed below.

2010 — Robbins & Bohr, LLC

2009 — Coca—Cola

2008 — Alstom

2008 — Chattanooga State

MEETING LOGISTICS_______________________

The Chattanooga Engineer's Club meets at the DOUBLETREE HOTEL, CHATTANOOGA,
407 Chestnut St., Chattanooga, TN 37402. Free parking is available in the gated parking lot on the south side of the Hotel.

For noontime meetings, 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.

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 Ralph Boroughs by e-mail at rdboroughs@gmail.com or by phone at 423-227-0412. 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.

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