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The E-type turns 50

February 9, 2011

The London Design Museum is putting on a special display to celebrate 50 years of the Jaguar E-type from its launch at the Geneva Motor Show in 1961. In the late 1960’s as an apprentice in England, the E-type represented the stuff of our dreams. But back then when my weekly wage as an engineering apprentice was £3- 10s per week, the £2,000 price tag was as unattainable as a date with Sophia Loren!

In the 1970’s when I could aspire to more,  I actually considered the Triumph GT6 – also known as the “poor-man’s E-type” – but instead I settled for a much more sedate Renault -12. And by the time I could consider its price tag the E-type was no longer in production and my tastes had a decided preference for the comfort of a Mercedes.

The Design Museum celebrates 50 years of the iconic Jaguar E-Type with a display in the Design Museum Tank.

Jaguar E-Type series 1, 1961

Originally launched at the Geneva Motor Show in 1961, the E-Type’s caused an instant sensation. With a 3.8 litre XK engine, a top speed of 150 miles per hour and a price of £2000, the E-Type was an accessible dream and signalled the new era of modernity of the 1960s. Between 1961 and 1974 over 70,000 E-Types were produced.

The bullet-like design of the E-Type was the result of the mathematical and engineering talent of Malcolm Sayer and the E-type was the first large-scale production road car to be developed from the study of aerodynamics. The founder of Jaguar, Sir William Lyons combined his flare for style and luxury with his business and marketing skills to ensure the E-Type became the car of celebrities from George Harrison of the Beatles to footballer George Best

The E-Type on display was manufactured in 1961 and has been provided by Classic Motors Cars Limited.

On its release Enzo Ferrari called it “The most beautiful car ever made”.

File:SeriesoneJag.jpg

Jaguar e-Type series one: image Wikipedia

The E-type was 4.4 m long with a 3.8 litre engine while the GT6 had a length of 3.7 m and a 2 litre engine. Technically and in looks the Triumph GT6 never came close to the E-type, but it looked fast. On the few occasions when I drove a friend’s GT6, my main memory is that it had a decided “tail-wag” when cornering.

File:1973.triumph.gt6.red.arp.jpg

1973 Triumph GT6: image Wikipedia

Bot nowadays my tastes are much more sedate and the Jaguar E-type remains the dream it always was. So I shall make do with my Mercedes E-class.

Mercedes E-class 2010: image via Flickr

 

 

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Wind Power capacity compromised in Texas: Rolling blackouts as Mexico supplies some back up

February 4, 2011

That wind power generating capacity is intermittent capacity and cannot be relied upon is obvious but sometimes escapes notice in the enthusiasm for “renewable energy”. That wind power must be backed up by other more reliable generating capacity for the periods when winds are too low or too high or when the weather is too cold is also often glossed over. That wind power must be used when the wind does blow irrespective of level of demand  and thereby displace more stable power (thus rendering it more expensive) is an inevitable consequence.

The following report comes as no surprise.

METEOROLOGICAL MUSINGS reports:

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas said 7,000 megawatts of generating capacity tripped [“tripped” means failed]Tuesday night, leaving the state without enough juice. That’s enough capacity to power about 1.4 million homes. By rotating outages, ERCOT said it prevented total blackouts.
“We have the double whammy of extremely high demand, given the lowest temperatures in 15 years, combined with generation that’s been compromised and is producing less than expected or needed,” said Oncor spokeswoman Catherine Cuellar. Oncor operates power lines in North Texas and facilitated the blackouts for ERCOT.
The article didn’t give a clue as to what generating capability failed, but I can make a pretty good guess: Wind energy…
For a time, Texas was bragging about being the #1 state for “wind power” (it still is) and we were bombarded with TV commercials and newspaper editorial touting the “Pickens Plan” for massive spending on wind energy. Pickens himself was building a huge wind farm in northwest Texas. He has now ceased construction.
Now, because of relying so much on wind power, the state is suffering blackouts.
Mexico is trying to help by shipping power to Texas, but it is not enough.

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Posted in Energy, Environment, Technology, US, Wind power | 5 Comments »

Okhotsk rescue over and icebreakers end operations

January 30, 2011

Ria Novosti today:

Russian icebreakers end rescue effort in Sea of Okhotsk

MOSCOW, January 30 (RIA Novosti) 18:45 30/01/2011

The Russian icebreakers Krasin and Admiral Makarov have rescued the ice-trapped mother fishery ship Sodruzhestvo ending the month-long operation in the Sea of Okhotsk.

“The operation to rescue the Sodruzhestvo mother ship out of ice trap has been completed,” Russia’s Ministry of Transport said in a statement on Sunday.

The icebreakers resumed towing the vessel, stuck in the Sea of Okhotsk, toward clear waters on Wednesday. The rescue operation was earlier suspended due to poor weather conditions.

The Sodruzhestvo, Bereg Nadezhdy ship and the Professor Kizevetter research vessel, carrying altogether over 400 people, got stuck in two-meter-thick ice in the Sea of Okhotsk on December 31. Two other ships, the Mys Yelizavety and the Anton Gurin, became trapped a few days later.

The Admiral Makarov released the Professor Kizevetter and the Mys Yelizavety vessels from the ice trap, while the Anton Gurin managed to cope on its own. The Bereg Nadezhdy was successfully towed to clear water on January 24.


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25 years since Challenger exploded; almost 8 years since Columbia was destroyed

January 28, 2011

The Space Shuttle Challenger’s maiden flight was on 4th April, 1983, and it completed nine missions before breaking apart 73 seconds after the launch of its tenth mission, STS-51-L on 28th January, 1986.

A sombre anniversary today.

A special ceremony is taking place at the Kennedy Space Center’s visitor complex this morning. Members of the NASA family and the public will gather to honor those who died aboard space shuttle Challenger.

Twenty-five years ago the STS-51L crew boarded Challenger for a six-day flight. It was just after liftoff when things went wrong. Challenger was in the air for 73 seconds before the orbiter exploded. …. According to investigators’ findings, the cause of the explosion was an O-ring that failed in one of the solid rocket boosters. Cold weather was cited as a contributing factor.

File:Challenger explosion.jpg

The breakup of the space shuttle Challenger: 28th January 1986: Wikipedia

Challenger crew; El Onizuka,Christa McAuliffe, Greg Jarvis, Judy Resnik, Mike Smith, Dick Scobee, Ron McNair: image christa.org

Today is also 4 days short of 8 years since the space shuttle Columbia was destroyed during rentry.

Space Shuttle Columbia (NASA Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-102) was the first spaceworthy Space Shuttle inNASA’s orbital fleet. First launched on the STS-1 mission, the first of the Space Shuttle program, it completed 27 missions before being destroyed during re-entry on February 1, 2003 near the end of its 28th, STS-107. All seven crew members were killed.

The investigation found that 82 seconds after launch a large piece of foam insulating material from the external tank broke free and struck the leading edge of the shuttle’s left wing, damaging the protective carbon heat shielding panels. This damage allowed super-heated gases to enter the wing structure during re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere and caused the destruction of the Columbia.

Columbia was commanded by Rick Husband and piloted by William McCool. The mission specialists were Michael Anderson, Kalpana Chawla, David Brown, Laurel Clark; and the payload specialist was Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon: image NASA

Currently the 3 operational orbiters are the

Space Shuttles Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour.


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Once again: Qantas + RR engine + B747 = return to base

January 26, 2011

The Rolls Royce Engine Syndrome (RES) strikes again.

This time – one very thirsty engine

Qantas

Another drama ... A Qantas 747 was forced to return to Bangkok yesterday. image: http://www.news.com.au

Flight QF2 carrying 352 passengers was about 30 minutes into its flight from Bangkok International Airport when one of its engines began “consuming fuel more quickly than normal” a Qantas spokesman said.
It was forced to return to Bangkok where it landed safely about 7pm local time (11pm AEST). Affected passengers are expected to spend a second night in temporary accommodation with Qantas scrambling to send a replacement engine from Sydney for the troubled Boeing 747 today.
“As far as possible we will try and get passengers who need to return to Sydney urgently on other flights but that will be dependent on availability on other airlines,” the spokesman said.

“It was not actually an engine failure, (the pilots) did not shut the engine down they just reduced the thrust.” However one passenger on the flight says the engine “blew”.

The spokesman said there were no other replacement Qantas aircraft available in Bangkok.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/another-engine-problem-for-qantas/story-e6frfq80-1225994833407#ixzz1C7bLqCgl

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Sea of Okhotsk: The saga continues…..

January 23, 2011

From Itar-Tass today:

from Itar-Tass

VLADIVOSTOK, January 23 (Itar-Tass) – An unusually strong ice nipping in the Sakhalin Bay of the Sea of Okhotsk impedes the efforts of the Admiral Makarov and the Krassin icebreakers to lead to clear waters The Bereg Nadezhdy transport refrigerator and the Sodruzhestvo floating factory.

The fishery ships got stuck in the ice December 31, 2010, and the caravan did not manage to move a single mile forwards since Saturday morning. It is still mired at a distance about 30 miles away from the areas of open floating ice, the Far-Eastern Shipping Line said.

The rescue operation is multi-stage and complicated, as the Admiral Makarov and the Krassin will first have to free the refrigerator from the ice trap, after which they will have to return for the floating factory, deadlocked in the ice together with the 348 crewmembers aboard.

Awaiting the caravan at the edge of the ice shield are the icebreaker Magadan and the tanker Viktoria. The latter will have to refuel the two icebreakers before they start the voyage back into the ice-packed spaces of the sea.

 

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Ships and crew safe but Sea of Okhotsk rescue suspended for bad weather

January 20, 2011

The Okhotsk saga continues: http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15874433&PageNum=0

MOSCOW, January 20 (Itar-Tass) – The operation to rescue the Shore of Hope refrigerator ship and the Sodruzhestvo mother ship, ice-nipped in the Sea of Okhotsk, has been suspended as weather conditions have deteriorated, sources from the press service of the Russian Transport Ministry report.

According to the source, the operation to get the ships out of a heavy ice zone by the Admiral Makarov and the Krasin icebreakers began at 21:30 Moscow time on Wednesday.

“However, the deterioration of weather conditions (a cyclone is hovering over Sakhalin, and there is no transport connection) has suspended the active phase of the operation to get the ships out of ice,” the source said, adding that an abnormally bad weather is characterized by zero visibility, the strengthening of winds and ice compression.

Now the ships are relatively safe, and nothing threatens the crews, the sources said. As soon as weather conditions improve, the active phase will be resumed.

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Posted in Engineering, Environment, Russia, Technology | 2 Comments »

No “peak” gas in sight as IEA doubles estimates of gas reserves

January 20, 2011
United States shale gas plays

Image via Wikipedia

Known reserves of Natural gas were  thought to be sufficient for 60 to 120 years. Now with shale gas being produced in large quantities, the IEA has revised known reserves upwards to 250 years — and they could be further revised upwards.

Yet another scare scenario of resource depletion bites the dust!!

From the BBC:

The world may have twice as much natural gas than previously thought, according to the rich nations’ think tank the International Energy Agency (IEA). The world may have 250 years of gas usage at current levels thanks to “unconventional gas” from shale and coal beds, Anne-Sophie Corbeau, senior gas expert at the IEA told BBC News.

Estimates may even be revised upwards. Studies are underway into newly-recoverable sources, Ms Corbeau said. But she stressed that the totals were highly uncertain, and depended on price, technology and the accessibility of supplies.

“The gas story is huge,” she told BBC News. “A few years ago the United States was ready to import gas. In 2009 it had become the world’s biggest gas producer. This is phenomenal, unbelievable.” The US achieved the change through a technological breakthrough in which firms found a way of using tiny explosions to free gas previously trapped in a common rock – shale.

Miss Corbeau said other nations were now rushing to replicate the US success by exploiting gas currently trapped in various types of rock where it was thought to be impossible to access.

She said conventional natural gas supplies were assured for 60 years – with maybe a further 60 years if engineers could get to other supplies. She admitted there is great uncertainly about how much unconventional gas is possible to exploit, but said the best estimate is that new sources will stretch gas supplies to 250 years at current levels.

“The resources are really huge,” she said.

“We probably have 920 trillion cubic metres – that is more than 300 times the current annual demand for gas. “Not all of this will be recoverable, but any country that develops new gas supplies will have a global impact on gas availability and price, as gas markets are all inter-connected.”

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Dreamliner delayed again and Qantas dramatics continue – now with B747 engines

January 19, 2011

Boeing has delayed the Dreamliner again — for the seventh time!

The Telegraph reports:

Boeing told investors on Tuesday that the 787 will now be delivered to launch customer All Nippon Airways in the third quarter of the year, rather than the first, after a fire on one of the test planes in November. All test flights were suspended for six weeks after the fire.

The 787, which seats 210 to 250 passengers and has a list price of $202m, promises to be the company’s greenest and most efficient airliner yet and uses advanced composite materials to achieve these savings. However, technical problems have pushed the aircraft behind schedule and it is now into its third year of delays. Boeing is under pressure to deliver the 787, which has become the company’s fastest-selling airliner.

Shinichiro Ito, the president of All Nippon, said last week the airline is having a “hard time” dealing with the delay. Boeing has secured 847 orders for the 787, which took its maiden flight in December 2009. Boeing insisted the latest setback will not have a “material impact” on its results, something investors appeared to agree with.

Meanwhile Qantas experiences further problems with its Rolls Royce engines . AFP reports on two Boeing 747 Qantas flights with engine problems:

A Qantas passenger jet bound for New York made an unscheduled stop in Fiji after it developed a problem with one of its engines, the Australian airline said Wednesday.

Qantas said flight QF107, a Boeing 747, carrying 375 passengers from Sydney to New York via Los Angeles, touched down in Nadi on Tuesday for repairs to a fuel valve supplying one of its engines…..

…… The hitch comes just days after another Qantas Boeing 747, QF11 to Los Angeles, experienced a contained engine failure on the runway of Sydney airport due to a turbine blade defect.

Media reports on that incident said that passengers heard “a loud bang” and saw black smoke pour from the affected engine, with the captain reportedly telling those on board that the engine had “cooked itself” over the plane’s intercom.

The “contained”  engine failure is the more serious issue. The Boeing 747 long-reach aircraft flown by Qantas uses  Rolls-Royce RB211-524G-T engines. The “T” at the end signifies that it includes some of the Trent modifications. The Trent 900 engines are used on the Airbus A380s while the Trent 1000 is  planned for the Boeing Dreamliner.

A Trent 1000 experienced an uncontained failure on the test-bed last year while the Trent 900 has had an uncontained failure and a number of other difficulties on the A380.

Related:

https://ktwop.wordpress.com/2010/09/28/rolls-royce-trent-1000-fix-is-defined/

https://ktwop.wordpress.com/2010/10/25/in-flight-failure-of-rb-211-524-engine/

https://ktwop.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/qantas-a-380-suffers-in-flight-rr-trent-900-engine-failure/

https://ktwop.wordpress.com/2010/11/05/trent-900-vs-gp7200-competitive-pressures-getting-too-hot/

https://ktwop.wordpress.com/2010/11/07/further-boeing-dreamliner-delays-and-rolls-royce-shares-feeling-the-heat/

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Sea Of Okhotsk rescue not quite over yet

January 19, 2011

While the icebreakers had broken through the worst of the ice, the rescue is not yet over and my previous post was a little premature.

A report of the latest news is available here: http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2011/01/its-not-over.html

I was not expecting to be writing about the Okhotsk Sea today, but in yesterday’s account there were warnings that the crisis was not quite over. And indeed that is the case, with Voice of Russia observing that the rescue operation “will not be over today”. Conditions appear to have deteriorated sharply and, last night, the four-ship convoy covered “no more than three miles”. A helicopter is out reconnoitring the ice situation today.

The convoy in the Sea of Okhotsk

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