Flush with excitement I just spent a week at a resort in Orlando. One thing I had never encountered before was a pressure assisted toilet. The thing flushed so forcefully I had to take a look in the tank, where I found a pressure vessel. This video explains how it works, and explores how a…
Why do I want to fit Principles into SCAMPER approaches? In a recent post (check it here first) I explore how SCAMPER can embrace the 40 Principles of Inventive Problem Solving. The goal is to wrap the complexity of the Principles in the approachability of SCAMPER. Put To Another Use defined in Applied Imagination Under…
Segmentation When gravity is absent and the fuel doesn’t naturally stay at the bottom of the bank, other schemes must be used to keep the propellant adjacent to the pickup. I’ve previously examined this issue here and here. What I love about this blog is it kindles my curiosity. I was inspired to look again…
“The refrigeration system makes one end cold and and one end warm.” Dave Pearson, Star Refrigeration This Youtube interview reveals some innovative thinking going into more renewable heating options for Scottish homes. The air conditioning systems we are familiar with in North America typically pump heat out of the building into the ambient air, so…
The Rutan VariEze I first saw this unique and ground breaking airplane announced in a Popular Mechanics magazine when I was a kid. It’s most striking feature is its canard, the stubby wing at the front. Whereas most airplanes use a tailplane (horizontal fins at the rear of the plane) a canard airplane has a…
The problem As I described in an earlier post, some elementary students in Ontario were suspended for incomplete immunization records. This series of posts is an effort to come up with ideas using each of the 40 Principles. Remember the cardinal rule: there are no stupid ideas, only ideas that may serve to inspire the…
Ups and downs Elevators typically move in one of two ways; electric motors or hydraulics. Traction elevators Tall buildings typically use an electric drive motor to move a cable attached to the elevator car at one end and a counterweight at the other. The cable is suspended over a pulley which attaches to the motor…
Announced in September, 2017, revamped versions of this Komatsu dumper truck will be the largest electric vehicle in the world, with a whopping 45 ton empty weight and a battery pack with 700 kWh capacity. Toiling in a Swiss cement quarry, the truck will transport material down from a mountain ridge into a valley. Every…
Rejecting heat Typical air conditioners use a pump to compress refrigerant. This compression makes the refrigerant very hot, making it easier to reject the heat in a heat exchanger to the outside air. As the hot gas is cooled it becomes a liquid. The compressor and this heat exchanger are the condensing unit. The now…
Electric fuel pump New Zealand’s company Rocket Lab has an Electron rocket that uses a similar layout to SpaceX’s Falcon rocket. Both have a nine engine first stage and a single engine second stage. Both use liquid oxygen and RP-1, a refined form of kerosene. The most notable difference is scale – the Falcon is…