Chattanooga Engineers Club Newsletter Oct 25 -Corrected!

NEXT MEETING____________________

Monday, October 25 – 11:30am (Chattanooga Choo-Choo, 1400 Market Street)

“49^th Annual Association Conservation Engineers Conference”

The Association of Conservation Engineers (ACE) is an international professional organization of engineers and others in related disciplines that work with the natural environment and promote the application of sound engineering practices in the field of natural resource protection, environmental restoration and recreation development.

The organization's objective is to bring together the knowledge and experiences of engineers and other personnel employed by conservation and recreation agencies and consultants who have a community of specialized interests in the areas of fish, wildlife, parks, forests and related conservation and recreation fields. The program features three project awards that will be announced and profiled.

NOTE: CEC members are specially invited to attend and will be recognized. The cost of lunch is $15 per person (or $25 registration for the entire day) and requires an RSVP by Friday, October 22^nd to event coordinator Alice Anderson at alice@dallas42.com.

FUTURE MEETINGS ____________________

Monday November 1 – Anwar Zahid, - Arcadis

“Update on the New Orleans Inner Harbor Flood Control Project

Dr. Zahid is the Principal Structural Engineer for this project. He works from the Arcadis Baton Rouge office.

Monday November 8 – Dr Cliff Ricketts Middle Tennessee State University

“Running Engines off Sun and Hydrogen, using TVA’s Green Power Switch and Generation Partners Programs”

Dr Ricketts will describe how he uses solar panels to generate electricity, which then generates hydrogen for fueling a high performance car. He may show the vehicle as well.

Monday November 15 – Dale Bradshaw - Consultant to NRECA

“Fossil Plant Efficiency Improvements”

Monday November 22 – Michael J. Landguth, President & CEO - Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport Authority.

“Chattanooga Airport Plan” - Mr. Landguth will discuss plans for the Chattanooga Airport, and its economic impact on the area. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Aeronautical Science from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, and is a certified flight instructor, advanced ground instructor and a licensed commercial pilot. He came to Chattanooga in 1999 as Director of Airport Operations, and became CEO in 2004.

Monday November 29 – TBD

Monday December 6 – Dr Nasser Khalifeh - Memorial Hospital (invited)

“New Radiation Therapy Technology to Minimize Collateral Damage”

PREVIOUS MEETING____________________

Monday, October 25 – Superconductivity, – a Transformative Technology”

Dr. Rather compared superconductivity to other transformational technologies such as the AC power grid and nuclear energy. Low temperature superconductivity, which requires temperatures of 4.2 Kelvin, was discovered in 1911. It requires liquid helium coolant. High temperature superconductivity, which operates at 77 Kelvin, was discovered in 1987. It can use liquid nitrogen as coolant, which can dramatically lower capital and operating cost compare to low temperature equipment.

Current applications of superconductivity include MRI Imaging, and MagLev (Magnetically Levitated) Trains. Future uses include electric transmission lines and energy storage. MRI machines are becoming commonplace; however, there are only a few MagLev trains in the world. A system developed in Germany and being deployed in China uses does not use superconductivity, which increases cost significantly and limits the speed of vehicles because of the small clearance (~2 cm) between the vehicles and the track on which it operates. The Japanese system uses low temperature superconductivity and can maintain 10 cm of clearance and achieve higher speeds.

Dr Rather is working with Dr Jim Powell and Dr. Gordon Danby who have a series of patents that would use lower cost, high-temperature superconductivity in MagLev trains. At the same time, their inventions will reduce the impact of stray fields within the vehicles.

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. Lunch is $14. If you do not plan to purchase a lunch, please use the chairs around the perimeter of the room, and not those at the round tables.

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/