How Stuff Works
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Does anybody know a good site that has articles on how stuff works. For example, the style of www.howstuffworks.com is fantastic i think, but it just doesnt have that many articles. Any others? I was trying to research Continuously Variable Transmissions but couldnt find anything good. -- David Wengier Sonork ID: 100.14177 - Ch00k
I haven't checked, but you might try searching for an online version of "Popular Mechanics" magazine. They used to publish articles of this kind every month. "What is it?" and he said, "I don't know. Let's kill it." - Ed Gadziemski
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If you are talking about the mechanical version, some of the motor sports sites might be more informative. Also a lot of CVT claims have been made and then disappear in my experience. :-( Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
More about me :-)
Colin Davies wrote: Also a lot of CVT claims have been made and then disappear in my experience Not sure if you know but CVT is actually being taken seriously now. Before it was never taken seriously as we did not have the materials and processes to create a durable and workable CVT for anything above a scooter or lawn mower. Now Audi have come out with powerful, full production cars that use CVT. They use a mesh chain like belt instead of a the normal fabric type materials. Apparently it works very well, though the supposed full saving features of CVT have not emerged. Frankly I like changing gears. I like the delusion of being a rally driver, switching gears at the right moment and having 100% control of the process. So for CVT to work at my market level they need to still have the gear changing ability with the supposed durability of CVT. Apparently this is what Audi have done, and BMW and Mercedes are in the process of doing. Now all we need is for Honda to make a workable Rotary engine :-D regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love, and to be loved in return - Moulin Rouge Tim Smith wrote: Over here in the third world of humor (a.k.a. BBC America), peterchen wrote: We should petition microsoft to a "target=_Paul" attribute.
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Colin Davies wrote: Also a lot of CVT claims have been made and then disappear in my experience Not sure if you know but CVT is actually being taken seriously now. Before it was never taken seriously as we did not have the materials and processes to create a durable and workable CVT for anything above a scooter or lawn mower. Now Audi have come out with powerful, full production cars that use CVT. They use a mesh chain like belt instead of a the normal fabric type materials. Apparently it works very well, though the supposed full saving features of CVT have not emerged. Frankly I like changing gears. I like the delusion of being a rally driver, switching gears at the right moment and having 100% control of the process. So for CVT to work at my market level they need to still have the gear changing ability with the supposed durability of CVT. Apparently this is what Audi have done, and BMW and Mercedes are in the process of doing. Now all we need is for Honda to make a workable Rotary engine :-D regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love, and to be loved in return - Moulin Rouge Tim Smith wrote: Over here in the third world of humor (a.k.a. BBC America), peterchen wrote: We should petition microsoft to a "target=_Paul" attribute.
Paul Watson wrote: Not sure if you know but CVT is actually being taken seriously now. No I didn't know that, I haven't really kept upto date with motor engineering. Volvo had a web belt system that was similar to CVT for a while and Porsche I think had a smart fluid drive. But the old CVT systems involved meshing conical shaped gears, Which were awesome to look at but couldn't live up to the stresses. Paul Watson wrote: Now all we need is for Honda to make a workable Rotary engine Are they going Rotary now ? Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
More about me :-)
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Paul Watson wrote: Not sure if you know but CVT is actually being taken seriously now. No I didn't know that, I haven't really kept upto date with motor engineering. Volvo had a web belt system that was similar to CVT for a while and Porsche I think had a smart fluid drive. But the old CVT systems involved meshing conical shaped gears, Which were awesome to look at but couldn't live up to the stresses. Paul Watson wrote: Now all we need is for Honda to make a workable Rotary engine Are they going Rotary now ? Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
More about me :-)
Colin Davies wrote: Are they going Rotary now ? Apologies, not Honda but rather Mazda. Mazda have always had a thing for rotary engines. They are not daft though and only offer rotary engines as an option, rather than a default. Still if they can make good on the theory of rotary... who knows :) Colin Davies wrote: But the old CVT systems involved meshing conical shaped gears, Which were awesome to look at but couldn't live up to the stresses. Conical gears? Wow that sounds amazing, imagine that thing coming apart at high speed :rolleyes: As far as I know the Audi system has this chain-link mesh belt with three tubes. Two at either end and one in the middle. The two at the end can come closer together or move apart, all depending on the third tube which moves perpendicular to the other two. That then controls the gearing of the drive. One favour. Since you are a man who knows much, can you explain why electric engines do not need gears while non-eletric do? I know it has something to do with the fact that you can have an electric engine running but not moving without "stalling" it or damaging it. While with a petrol engine if you did that the engine would stall or sieze. But why is that ok for electric engines? regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love, and to be loved in return - Moulin Rouge Tim Smith wrote: Over here in the third world of humor (a.k.a. BBC America), peterchen wrote: We should petition microsoft to a "target=_Paul" attribute.
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Does anybody know a good site that has articles on how stuff works. For example, the style of www.howstuffworks.com is fantastic i think, but it just doesnt have that many articles. Any others? I was trying to research Continuously Variable Transmissions but couldnt find anything good. -- David Wengier Sonork ID: 100.14177 - Ch00k
I'm a big fan of Tim Hunkin's Rudiments of Wisdom|[^] - More of a general encyclopedia rather than a "way stuff works" site, but has brilliant cartoons describing everything :) -- Help me! I'm turning into a grapefruit!
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Colin Davies wrote: Are they going Rotary now ? Apologies, not Honda but rather Mazda. Mazda have always had a thing for rotary engines. They are not daft though and only offer rotary engines as an option, rather than a default. Still if they can make good on the theory of rotary... who knows :) Colin Davies wrote: But the old CVT systems involved meshing conical shaped gears, Which were awesome to look at but couldn't live up to the stresses. Conical gears? Wow that sounds amazing, imagine that thing coming apart at high speed :rolleyes: As far as I know the Audi system has this chain-link mesh belt with three tubes. Two at either end and one in the middle. The two at the end can come closer together or move apart, all depending on the third tube which moves perpendicular to the other two. That then controls the gearing of the drive. One favour. Since you are a man who knows much, can you explain why electric engines do not need gears while non-eletric do? I know it has something to do with the fact that you can have an electric engine running but not moving without "stalling" it or damaging it. While with a petrol engine if you did that the engine would stall or sieze. But why is that ok for electric engines? regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love, and to be loved in return - Moulin Rouge Tim Smith wrote: Over here in the third world of humor (a.k.a. BBC America), peterchen wrote: We should petition microsoft to a "target=_Paul" attribute.
Paul Watson wrote: One favour. Since you are a man who knows much, can you explain why electric engines do not need gears while non-eletric do? I know it has something to do with the fact that you can have an electric engine running but not moving without "stalling" it or damaging it. While with a petrol engine if you did that the engine would stall or sieze. But why is that ok for electric engines? An electric engine (at least the ones used for cars'n'stuff) have an interesting feature that is by design. The tourge delivered has a 1/n relation to the rotation speed, so when the engine is at full stop and the electricity is switched on (if you are waiting for a traffic light the electricity will be taken off the engine or it will get overheated) you will get an enormous tourge, Actually all of the HP are available from 0 to the max rpm (tourge *rotationspeed=HPM) so no gearing is needed. A non-electrical (or at least a combustion engine) has a tourge that needs a little rotation speed, then moves to a max and drops off again, so gearing is needed to stay in spec. Regards Rutger
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Paul Watson wrote: One favour. Since you are a man who knows much, can you explain why electric engines do not need gears while non-eletric do? I know it has something to do with the fact that you can have an electric engine running but not moving without "stalling" it or damaging it. While with a petrol engine if you did that the engine would stall or sieze. But why is that ok for electric engines? An electric engine (at least the ones used for cars'n'stuff) have an interesting feature that is by design. The tourge delivered has a 1/n relation to the rotation speed, so when the engine is at full stop and the electricity is switched on (if you are waiting for a traffic light the electricity will be taken off the engine or it will get overheated) you will get an enormous tourge, Actually all of the HP are available from 0 to the max rpm (tourge *rotationspeed=HPM) so no gearing is needed. A non-electrical (or at least a combustion engine) has a tourge that needs a little rotation speed, then moves to a max and drops off again, so gearing is needed to stay in spec. Regards Rutger
Rutger Ellen wrote: A non-electrical (or at least a combustion engine) has a tourge that needs a little rotation speed Thanks for the explanation. Now my next question (there are always more :).) How do you explain torque vs. that other thing (speed?) I know when torque is needed and when "speed" is needed. e.g. You need good torque to pull away or to take on a hill, but you need this "speed" thing for straights etc. I know that bit, but I can never actually explain what they are in words or what the actual difference is. regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love, and to be loved in return - Moulin Rouge Tim Smith wrote: Over here in the third world of humor (a.k.a. BBC America), peterchen wrote: We should petition microsoft to a "target=_Paul" attribute.
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Rutger Ellen wrote: A non-electrical (or at least a combustion engine) has a tourge that needs a little rotation speed Thanks for the explanation. Now my next question (there are always more :).) How do you explain torque vs. that other thing (speed?) I know when torque is needed and when "speed" is needed. e.g. You need good torque to pull away or to take on a hill, but you need this "speed" thing for straights etc. I know that bit, but I can never actually explain what they are in words or what the actual difference is. regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love, and to be loved in return - Moulin Rouge Tim Smith wrote: Over here in the third world of humor (a.k.a. BBC America), peterchen wrote: We should petition microsoft to a "target=_Paul" attribute.
Paul Watson wrote: Now my next question (there are always more .) How do you explain torque vs. that other thing (speed?) I know when torque is needed and when "speed" is needed. e.g. You need good torque to pull away or to take on a hill, but you need this "speed" thing for straights etc. I know that bit, but I can never actually explain what they are in words or what the actual difference is. Torgue is N/m,(in metric system at least) so this is the power that is purely avaliable (the pushing speed as you wish), it is a time independant power (so there is no per second in the formula's). This means that it has no speed factor. The HP (horsepower) is actually the enery delivered by the system per second, so if an engine is capable of delivering 100 N/m and it delivers this 100N/m for every rotation, independant of the rotation speed, it will be able to deliver more energy as the rotation speed of the engine rises (2x the speed =2x the power). Speed is basically kinetic energy (movement power) you will have to put in a certain amount of energy to get a certain speed, with air resistance even more. If your engine has a big HP (assuming a combustion engine for a moment) this is mostly somwhere high in the rpm's. This is due to the fact that from a certain rotation speed (somewhere around 2000rpm) the torgue is constant, below this point combustion & burning are not in an ideal state upward the breathing of the engine becomes the problem. Electrical engines deliver a constant amount of energy so here the torgue varies. ps You did not ask me this to point out that I misspelled torgue did you? :)
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Rutger Ellen wrote: A non-electrical (or at least a combustion engine) has a tourge that needs a little rotation speed Thanks for the explanation. Now my next question (there are always more :).) How do you explain torque vs. that other thing (speed?) I know when torque is needed and when "speed" is needed. e.g. You need good torque to pull away or to take on a hill, but you need this "speed" thing for straights etc. I know that bit, but I can never actually explain what they are in words or what the actual difference is. regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love, and to be loved in return - Moulin Rouge Tim Smith wrote: Over here in the third world of humor (a.k.a. BBC America), peterchen wrote: We should petition microsoft to a "target=_Paul" attribute.
Yeah I concur with tha basics of what Rutger is saying. Remember these motors age generally Direct Current type. And having seperate motors on each driving wheels connected in Series allows you have a form of an "electrical differential" Most combustion engines also have a "powerband" or level of rpms that the engine operates most effectivly, this cannot be reproduced in Electric motors. Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
More about me :-)
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Does anybody know a good site that has articles on how stuff works. For example, the style of www.howstuffworks.com is fantastic i think, but it just doesnt have that many articles. Any others? I was trying to research Continuously Variable Transmissions but couldnt find anything good. -- David Wengier Sonork ID: 100.14177 - Ch00k
David, I recommend you The Code Project. Browing this site you can understand how computer programs work. ;) ;) :) Best regards, Alexandru Savescu