Chattanooga
Engineers Club Newsletter
http://www.chattanoogaengineersclub.org/
Monday September 6 – No Meeting in Observance of
Labor Day
FUTURE
MEETINGS ____________________
Monday
September 13
–
Dale Bradshaw – Consultant to NRECA
“Algae
for CO2 Capture”
Dale will be providing an overview of the use of algae to capture CO2
and will provide an update on recent developments and the promise of algae to
capture and sequester CO2 base on recent R&D at the National Rural Electric
Cooperative Association (NRECA) Cooperative Research Network (CRN)
Dale
has a BS in Engineering Physics and an MS in Mechanical Engineering from the
University of Oklahoma, and an MBA in Finance from the University of
Tennessee. He retired from TVA in 2004 after 29 years of service, including
Senior Manager of R&D for Transmission.
Monday
September 20
–
Gordon Smith III (Tripp) - The Lighting Gallery
“Deepwater Horizon Oil
Spill”
Tripp
will give an overview of the oil exploration and development process, well
design, petroleum reservoirs. BP has several great videos that talk about
drilling the relief well and the capping operation to help visualize what he
will describe. Since time is limited, he will show the key parts from
each video and take questions from the audience.
Gordon
Tripp Smith worked for many years in the oil business.
Monday
September 27
–
Richard Parsons - Engineering Services
“Geothermal
Heat Pump Installation at Riverview Animal Hospital”
Richard
Parsons will discuss the advantages of ground source heat pumps in general, and
the installation at Riverview Animal Hospital in particular.
Monday
October 4
–
Dale Bradshaw– Consultant to NRECA
“Advanced
Battery Developments”
Dale
will discuss a number of advanced battery concepts, with a deeper dive into
Zinc Bromide batteries.
Monday
October 11
–
No Meeting - in Observance of Columbus Day
Monday
October 18
–
Dr John Rather - Rather Creative Innovations Group
Inc.
“Superconductivity,
a Transformative Technology”
Dr
Rather will describe some of the important uses of superconductivity, with a
special focus on MagLev applications.
Dr.
Rather earned a BS from UT, and an MA and PhD in Astronomy at UC Berkeley.
Early in his career, Dr. Rather performed hands-on research work at the Oak
Ridge and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories and the National Radio
Astronomy Observatory. In his mid-30s, he progressed to senior management
positions that included two Vice Presidencies in the aerospace industry.
Subsequently, he held Senior Executive Service appointments in the U.S.
Government that required deep, comprehensive knowledge of science and
technology. After a decade in medical and microelectronic research in an
academic setting, he founded RCIG in 2006.
Monday
October 25
–
TBD
PREVIOUS
MEETING____________________
Monday
August 30 –
Matt McKee and Gerald Street – Komatsu Plant Tour
Komatsu
is a world leader in building Construction and Mining equipment. The
Chattanooga plant focuses on assembly of Hydraulic excavators and a line of
Forestry Machines.
About
25 people attended a tour of Komatsu’s Chattanooga Assembly Plant. McKee
and Street guided us through two assembly buildings. The first had over a ¼
million square feet with 113 overhead cranes, welding robots, and paint
booths. The second, smaller building was dedicated to their Forestry line and
had similar equipment.
The
parking lot was filled with newly assembled construction machinery. They
currently manufacture eight complete units per day with existing capacity to
expand to fifteen units per day. Komatsu is the second largest manufacturer of
construction equipment. They have a corporate office and mining machine
assembly plant in Peoria Illinois. They also have assembly facilities in South
America and Russia. About 15% of the parts used in Chattanooga are imported
from Japan, but the remainder comes from U.S. plants. Imported parts are
shipped worldwide from Japan to each of their international facilities and
include pumps, cylinders, high pressure tubing and controls that are unique to
Komatsu. Equipment manufactured here is shipped by truck and rail to primarily
U.S. destinations . Occasionally, this plant will help meet production needs
in South America. They have training areas for welding and assembly at this
plant, and a large multipurpose conference/training room. New hires are given
weeks of training here and then work on the line along side an experienced
mentor.
In
Cartersville Georgia, Komatsu has about 600 acres where they showcase one of
each of their machines and an occasional competitor's machine. At the
Cartersville Training Center their sales people and customers can safely
showcase, demonstrate, and operate the equipment.
Matt
McKee is a Tennessee Tech graduate with over two years at the Chattanooga facility.
He has recently been promoted to product and business development. Gerald
Street has been there for many years and is their safety coordinator.
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,
407 Chestnut St., Chattanooga, TN 37402. Free parking may be
available in the gated parking lot on the south side of the Hotel. Plan
to arrive before 11:30 a.m., if you intend to park in the limited space
available. Late arrivals may need to pay for parking on the street or in
a nearby public parking garage.
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.
Links
to local engineering societies are available to you at: http://www.chattanoogaengineersclub.org/engineer/
For
a calendar of local technology related events see: http://chatc.org/