Everything to do with the large-scale physical making of objects, but excluding buildings (See: construction). It also excludes artisanship, or small scale production.
It is standard practice on metric technical drawings to make all dimensions in millimeters. This eliminates the need to write mm everywhere, and it is assumed that the accuracy is within 1 mm. For metals, one should be using a metal measuring device that will automatically compensate for temperature changes, or work at a standard temperature.
Length
One secret of using metric lengths, is to physically separate meters from the remaining millimeters. I treat these as fractions of a meter. My experience as a teacher, is that many people are blind to large numbers. They may be able to understand 36 mm, or even 254 mm, but at some point numbers go off scale, and are interpreted in that person’s brain as a big, meaningless numbers. Taking the video’s example of a table at 1676 mm, it looks and feels like a large number, too large to understand. Therefore, I separate the meters, and write the length as 1 676. The space after the meter measurement is a key to understanding. In this case, there is 1 meter, and about 2/3 of a meter (676/1000). The reason I use a space rather than a comma, is that I live in a country that uses decimal commas, rather than decimal points. Space, comma, period it makes no difference, as long as one can see the separation.
Steve complains that the individual markings for millimeters on metric scales are confusing because the millimeter lines are the same length. I have to agree that the imperial measures are more readable because they have different line lengths for feet, inches, half inches, quarter inches, eighth inches and sixteenth inches. Metric tapes tend to distinguish 10 cm = 100 mm, 1 cm = 10 mm, 5 mm and 1 mm.
A dual metric/ imperial tape. The imperial measurements can be easier to read!
Volume
The same approach can be used with metric volume measurements. There are two important volumes, the cubic meter and the litre, where 1 000 liters = 1 cubic meter. Once again, by separating out the value with a space after three digits, one is able to process the information better visually.
For values less than one liter, the millilitre is used. Here, I use a decimal delineator – a . (period) rather than a , (comma) to separate the value. Once again, both approaches are used in different parts of the world.
I try to avoid all conventional units such as teaspoons, tablespoons, cups and even the notorious dash.
An Amusement
Looking for suitable units to use when discussing volume less than one litre, I tried to find something familiar to work with – Root beer! At one site, I came across the recipe for California Root Beer, and decided to have a look. Using the site’s automatic metric converter, here is the result for 1 serving of California root beer:
28.35 g Coffee Liqueur
28.35 g Herbal Liqueur
56.70 g Club Soda
28.35 g Cola
1 Splash(s) Bitter Beer
This recipe is amazingly accurate, right down to 0.01 grams. There are no scales in the house that are that accurate! The original units in the recipe were liquid ounces, however, so these values should have been expressed in litres, except for the splash of bitter beer, that remains the same in both systems of measurement. With this recipe, the only thing missing is the root beer!
An Aside:
Yes, I have written my last measurement of grain expressed in bushels. For those fortunate enough to grow up with the metric system here is a summary:
1 US bushel = 8 US dry gallons = 4 US pecks = 35.2391 litres
In school, these values, minus the metric equivalent, were memorized, but I had no idea what a bushel actually looked like until a librarian, and subscriber to this weblog, caught me cutting the grass one day, and commented that I had put the cuttings into a bushel basket, to transport them to our compost heap. Finally, at the tender age of 21, I was able to visualize a bushel!
Today, it was 20° C and sunny, and I accompanied Trish to Ystgård gartneri (nursery) in Straumen. The first thing that one has to be aware of is Ystgård’s domain name, gartneri.no. Somehow, this little company located in the village of our municipal centre, has managed to take possession of the generic name for an entire branch. Well done.
While Trish was admiring the plants, even asking for my input (“something red”) I was admiring other products, specifically the welded rebar on offer. Photos of which are attached for your visual pleasure.
The delightful arch in the foreground costs a mere NOK 1 300 = USD 160, while its more complex four sided neighbour, behind, costs NOK 2 000 = USD 245.
A Swing? This alluring two seater is available for NOK 6 000 = USD 737.
These captivating rebar masterpieces can be purchased for as little as NOK 700 = USD 86.
ISO Standard 12944 specifies corrosion classes described in the table below, with examples. These classes show the situations where iron and other metals are to given corrosion protection.
ISO 12944
Impact
Interior
Exterior
C1
Very low
Heated buildings with clean air, such as offices, shops, schools, hotels, etc.
None
C2
Low
Unheated buildings, where condensation may occur, such as warehouses and sports halls.
Atmosphere with low pollution. For example in the country.
C3
Middle
Buildings for production with high atmospheric humidity and some air pollution such as food manufacturers, breweries, dairies and laundries.
Urban and industrial areas, moderate sulphur dioxide pollution. Coastal areas with low salt content.
C4
High
Chemical manufacturers, swimming baths and ship- and boatyards by the sea.
Industrial areas and coastal areas with moderate salt impact.
C5-I
Very high – Industry
Buildings or areas with almost permanent condensation and with high pollution.
Industrial areas with high humidity and aggressive atmosphere.
C5-M
Very high
Buildings or areas with almost permanent condensation and with high pollution.
Coast and offshore areas with high salt content.
At the Unit One work space, it has been decided that class C4 offers sufficient protection for products produced and used. This means that from now on, all fastenings must offer class C4 corrosion protection or better.
This weblog post was updated 2021/12/21. to eliminate Needs from the title. This post formed part of a Needs, Seeds and Weeds website that belonged to my daughter, Shelagh. In addition, other things are also out of date, or my opinions have changed. Apart from the title, updating the text to a block format and other minor formatting changes, the text above this paragraph remains as it was before. Any significant content changes are found below this paragraph.
What right does an individual have to be transported in an inefficient and heavy pod? This, and other strategic questions, are ignored in discussions about electric vehicles. Debate focuses on narrow tactical issues, rather than those of strategic importance.
Yes, vehicles are necessary, but not all vehicles are necessary. Electrification of vehicles is a necessary transition if the world is to avoid the calamity of global warming. Unfortunately, it is probably an insufficient measure. This means that very shortly one must come back to the initial question about individual rights.
Nations and Cities
Much of the debate about electric vehicles has been left to vehicle manufacturers, who have a vested interest in the status quo. EV1 developed by General Motors was a pubic relations dream. Everything about the EV1 was orchestrated to show the impracticality of EVs, except for the fact that the consumers who used them loved them. In the end, GM used all means at its disposal to destroy all vestiges of the EV1. They didn’t succeed.
General Motors EV1 the iconic electric car loved by everyone except its maker who tried to exterminate every EV1 made, and largely succeeded.
While vehicle manufacturers have their own particular strategies, these will have to be harmonized with those of nations and cities where EVs will be operated. California requires manufacturers to sell EVs in order for them to be allowed to sell environmentally dangerous vehicles. They do so at a loss. Both Norway and the Netherlands have stated that they will not allow the sale of new fossil fuel vehicles after 2025 and 2030, respectively. Many other nations are talking about 2040. The Paris Accord may force these and other nations to react before then.
Consumers
It would be easy to be a vehicle manufacturer, if one could ignore customer needs and desires. Unfortunately, vehicles still have to be sold. This means that consumers are concerned with such matters as net acquisition costs, that is the cost of a vehicle after any government subsidies have been taken into consideration, and operating costs, especially the price differential between gasoline or diesel and electricity.
This said, a mid 21st century consumer may not be a private individual. It may be a ride-share company or other consortium of investors. The riders in that vehicle may not just consist of a vehicle owner and her immediate family.
Types of vehicles
With a little good will, there are six types of motive power in use. ICEV = internal combustion engine vehicles, found in two variants, gasoline and diesel. In addition, there are: HEV = hybrid electric vehicles, PHEV = plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, BEV = battery electric vehicles, and FCV = fuel cell vehicles.
Unfortunately, there is no reason why any of these variants should exist in 2040. WPTEV = wireless power transfer electric vehicles, are the future, especially if they are equipped with auxiliary batteries for “last kilometer” use, and as a safeguard against grid disruptions. In the future, the term hybrid may designate a WPTEV equipped with a battery.
Market segment
The European Union has divided the automotive market into nine segments, referred to by as single letter. These are (with 2011’s market share followed by 2015’s in parenthesis, to closest tenth of a percent) – A: mini cars (8.7/8.8); B: small cars (26/22); C: medium cars (23/20.6); D: large cars (11/9); E: executive cars (3/2.7); F: luxury cars (0.3/0.3);J: sport utility cars (including off-road vehicles) (13/22.5); M: Multi purpose cars (13/10.5); and, S: Sports cars (1/0.7). This leaves (1/2.8) not reported. While other segments show some change, SUVs have almost doubled in quantity. This trend was not noticed in Norway, perhaps because SUVs have already been overrepresented. Further information is found here.
While some electric vehicles target luxury segments, many are for the 99%, segments especially A to C. Low-speed neighbourhood vehicles are largely electric. A large number highway speed A-segment vehicles are found, including the Fiat 500e, VW e-Up and Smart ED. Only a few B-segment vehicles, such as the Renault Zöe, are battery electric. Choice is further restricted in the C-segment, which is dominated by the Nissan Leaf. The Tesla Model S is in either E or F. J-segment SUVs, such as the Hyundai Kona, are just coming onto the market. The Workhorse W-15 pickup prototype, indicates that electric vehicles may soon enter this market segment.
Manufacturing strategy
Automotive manufacturers tend to concentrate on what they perceive to be their core competencies. They insource everything from electrical components to car interiors from specialist manufacturers, such as Bosch (electrics) and Faurecia (interiors).
Strategic decisions have to be made regarding manufacturing platforms, as well as product design
Platforms
There are two approaches to platforms to produce electric vehicles. Either one can produce battery electric vehicles on existing platforms, or design a completely new platform for electric vehicles.
Product design
There are, similarly, two approaches to electric vehicle product design. Either one can adapt battery electric vehicles to existing ICE designs, or design a completely new product. While an adapted battery electric vehicle could be produced on either type of platform, a new electric vehicle design would almost certainly require the use of a new electric vehicle platform.
Case study # 1 – Fiat-Chrysler
Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne is an EV skeptic. In November 2009, he disbanded Chrysler’s electric vehicle engineering team and dropped sales targets for battery-powered cars, that had been set as it was approaching bankruptcy and needing government aid. Its electric car program had been part of the case for a USD 12.5 billion federal aid package.
As late as August 2009, Chrysler took $70 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a test fleet of 220 hybrid pickup trucks and minivans. Chrysler’s previous owner, Cerberus Capital Management, had set up a special division in 2007 called “Envi” as in, environment, to develop hybrid technology.
Chrysler announced in September 2008, that it was developing three electric vehicles and would sell the first of the models by 2010. In January 2009, at the Detroit Auto Show, Chrysler pledging to have 500,000 battery-powered vehicles on the road by 2013, including sports cars and trucks. By November 2009, Chrysler’s five-year strategy made no mention of electric cars. It was the only one of the six top-selling automakers without a hybrid offering.
In May 2012, Marchionne urged people not to buy Fiat 500 EVs because the company loses about USD 10 000 on every sale.
A 1957 Fiat 500 and a 2014 Fiat 500e
What actually concerns Marchionne is a fear that increased use of electric powertrains will lead to car manufacturers losing control to vehicle components suppliers. Yet, his head-burying approach will lead precisely to that outcome.
Case study # 2 – Volkswagen
Currently, Volkswagen uses MQB, Modularer Querbaukasten, translated as “Modular Transversal Toolkit” or “Modular Transverse Matrix”. It launched in 2012 for all VW Group brands, including Volkswagen, Seat, Audi and Škoda. It covers the A0 segment to the C segment. It is flexible in terms of powertrains and vehicle’s chassis. Larger vehicles use MLB, which stands for Modularer Längsbaukasten, translated as “Modular Longitudinal Matrix”. This was officially launched in 2012, but has its origins in 2007, with the Audi A5.
MQB and MLB are not platforms, but production systems for transverse and longitudinal engine vehicles, respectively, regardless of production platform, model, vehicle size or brand. There is a core “matrix” of components. A frequently cited example is their common engine-mounting core for all drivelines (e.g., gasoline, diesel, natural gas, hybrid and battery electric) of the specific approach (transverse or longitudinal). In each system, the pedal box, firewall, front wheel placement and windscreen angle are fixed. Otherwise vehicles can be shaped to fit any body style and size range. Results from this approach include reduced vehicle weights (which reduces vehicle operating costs) and allows different models to be manufactured at the same plant, reducing production costs.
The only problem with MQB and MLB is that they were eclipsed by Dieselgate, the Volkswagen emissions scandal, revealed in September 2015. The challenge is that while catalytic converter technology has been effective since the early 1980s at reducing nitrogen oxide in gasoline engine exhaust, it does not work well for diesel exhaust because of the relatively higher proportion of oxygen in the exhaust mix.
In 2005, there was disagreement at Volkswagen regarding the use of Mercedes-Benz BlueTec technology. If they had opted for this, there would have been no scandal. Instead, starting in the 2008, Volkswagen began using a common-rail fuel injection system that failed to combine good fuel economy with compliant NOx emissions. Already about 2006, Volkswagen programmed the Engine Control Unit to switch from good fuel economy and high NOx emissions to a low-emission compliant mode when it detected an emissions test. This made it into a defeat device.
Dieselgate forced Volkswagen to re-think its options. It lied and deceived consumers as well as environmental authorities. In order to claw back its reputation, Volkswagen decided to position itself as a leading battery electric vehicle manufacturer, but without a significant number of battery electric models to offer the public. In this new world, the driveline approach of MQB and MLB became obsolete.
Welcome Modularer Elektrifizierungsbaukasten (MEB). In terms of vehicle size this approximates that of the MQB, but is is restricted to electric vehicles. The MEB is optimizing axles, drive units, wheelbases and weight ratios for battery electric vehicles. It is focusing on the design and position of high-voltage drive batteries. battery. Its flat placement on the vehicle floor free up interior space. Other changes allow the dashboard to be more compact, the position of the centre console to vary, and provide space occupants in an autonomous vehicle to work or enjoy leisure.
Volkswagen has released a time frame for five EMB vehicles. The first will be the 125kW, 500km ID Hatchback shown at the Paris Motor Show in 2016. It could/should be available in 2019. Europe will be the priority market for this model. At the far end of the spectrum with a 2022 debut, is the ID Buzz. This has been a long journey for Volkswagen, which has been teasing the public with such a vehicle since 2001, when it presented a Microbus concept vehicle. The ID. Buzz was first shown at the North American International Motor Show, in Detroit, in 2017. It has potential markets throughout the world. The Buzz may also play a significant role in Volkswagen’s upcoming Uber rival, MOIA, launched in December 2016.
Volkswagen’s ID. vehicles based on MEB: Buzz, Hatchback, and Crozz (left to right)
MOIA was set up to redefine urban mobility. With offices in Berlin, Hamburg and Helsinki it aims to become a leading mobility service providers by 2025, including on-demand ridehailing and ridepooling services. It is investing in digital startups and collaborating with cities and established transport providers
Between these two vehicles, three other vehicles will be released. The next vehicle will be the ID Crozz crossover coupe. At 225 kW, it is more powerful, but will retain the same 500 km driving distance on a single charge. It will be available in Europe and China. The ID. Crozz was first shown at Shanghai Auto Show, in 2017. Perhaps the most important feature of the concept vehicle were the four roof-mounted laser scanners for autonomous driving mode, or in VW-speak, ID. Pilot mode.
After this come two additional vehicles with code names ID. Lounge and ID. AEROe. The Lounge could be a luxury car, possibly a promised Phaeton, whose second generation development was halted, then changed to an electric vehicle post Dieselgate. The AEROe could be a sporty four-door coupe.
In contrast to Fiat Chrysler, Volkswagen is focused on controlling its electric future.
This weblog post was updated 2021/12/21. to eliminate Seeds from the title. This post formed part of a Needs, Seeds and Weeds website that belonged to my daughter, Shelagh. In addition, other things are also out of date, or my opinions have changed. Apart from the title, updating the text to a block format and other minor formatting changes, the text above this paragraph remains as it was before. Any significant content changes are found below this paragraph.
Version 2: Includes the conclusion left out of Version 1, and some corrections.
Photograph used to illustrate Tim Page’s article on Digital Manufacturing. Not quite sure what is being manufactured, it looks like more service work, most likely maintenance of a helicopter, although I appreciate the gesture of ethnic and gender equality displayed. Photo credits: dunno, perhaps TUC?)
Does the world really need another meaningless abbreviation: DM&D? Probably not, but abbreviations are cheap, and give the impression that there are many users embracing the term, and the term is used so often that it is necessary to abbreviate it. The University of Buffalo, through Coursera (The MOOC organization) is offering courses in “Digital Manufacturing & Design”. They referred to something called opendmc.org (where dmc appears to stand for Digital Manufacturing Commons). This site only provides cryptic error messages, until one finds www.portal.opendmc.org, after which it is indeed possible to explore some of the site and meet a bunch of dead ends. Finally, one stated: “Our platform is currently in a closed beta.” So much for the openness of opendmc.org.
Now, the main reason I actually visited the site was to find out what distinguishes DM&D from CIM, Computer Integrated Manufacturing. This latter term has gradually won favour in all sorts of environments. It has been in continual use since 1973, with the publication of Joseph Harrington’s book, Computer Integrated Manufacturing. It has become the preferred term since 1984 when computer-integrated manufacturing actually began, promoted by machine tool manufacturers, and CASA/SME or the Computer and Automated Systems Association and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. So why change?
In a quest for greater insight and illumination (in the more abstract sense of the term) I turned to Wikipedia, and their article on Digital manufacturing: “Digital Manufacturing is an integrated approach to manufacturing that is centered around a computer system.” This sounded suspiciously like CIM, just with a more abstract digital replacing the more concrete computer. Yet more enlightenment followed, “Overall, digital manufacturing can be seen sharing the same goals as computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM), flexible manufacturing, lean manufacturing, and design for manufacturability (DFM). The main difference is that digital manufacturing was evolved for use in the computerized world.” One could only ponder. Does computer-integrated manufacturing only exists in some non-computerized world? Perhaps CIM is only some form of primitive virtual reality. Readers are left to cogitate: Digital Manufacturing is Computer-Integrated Manufacturing evolved for use in the computerized world.
What could be better than cloud computing, except cloud-based manufacturing? The same Wikipedia article on Digital Manufacturing, states: “Cloud-Based Manufacturing (CBM) refers to a model that utilizes the access to open information from various resources to develop reconfigurable production lines to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and improve response to customer needs.”
That quoted text contains any number of insights (although the most probable number is 0). Unfortunately, this reader lacks the ability to understand what the text actually means. Could women and men of insight please help me understand this text? I would be eternally grateful. Yet, inside of me, I know there is nothing to understand. These are simply empty words.
The major challenge with texts about computer/digital manufacturing is the role to be played by people. Dark factories want to prohibit people from even entering them, at least during the manufacturing processes. At the other extreme, there is the growing field of collaborative robotics which in some way wants to hook up (as it were) humans and robots in the workplace.
As expected, trade unions are pressing for a humanized working environment. Tim Page writes in The Fourth Industrial Revolution: a breakthrough that must be humanized, ” So we must put people at the heart of digital manufacturing. The German engineering union IG Metall has developed some clear priorities for the introduction of this production revolution. Alongside Industrie 4.0, the German name for digital manufacturing, IG Metall have called for Arbeit/Work 4.0. This should include:
Job security and fair remuneration
A reduction of workload
A revaluation of activities
Better professional development and learning opportunities;
More time sovereignty
Informational self-determination
Involvement and participation on an equal footing
The introduction of digital manufacturing must be accompanied by the relentless quest for new jobs, better jobs, empowering jobs. The German approach, introducing this with the full involvement of the future labour force, is the right approach. It means working constructively with trade unions and other civil society organisations. ” http://touchstoneblog.org.uk/2016/11/fourth-industrial-revolution-breakthrough-must-humanised/
These are all very nice sentiments, but the pathway from “Industrie 3.9” (or where ever we are now) to 4.0 is unclear.
Martin Ford in Rise of the Robots: Technology and the threat of a jobless future, sketches a new economic paradigm in his tenth, and last, chapter. He writes about diminishing economic returns from education, cites Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows, which Ford regards as anti-automation. He then writes warmly about a basic income guarantee, especially from Friedrich Hayek’s perspective. This warmth continues as he writes about markets as renewable resources. Many other proposals are taken up, but in the end Ford presents no other solution than a basic income, bread and circus for the 21st century. Even though I gave it a 5 on Goodreads, the last chapter of Ford’s book was a depressing read.
There seems to be no need for yet another phrase (digital manufacturing) to replace Computer Integrated Manufacturing. Yes, manufacturing processes have matured, or at least aged, these past 45 years, but that is no reason to discard a perfectly good term. We still call a 2017 laptop a computer, even if it differs significantly from a Digital Equipment PDP-11/20 mini-machine from 1970.
The first house in the world to use electric lighting and the first to use hydroelectric power. The residence of Joseph Swan, Underhill, Kells Lane, Low Fell, Gateshead, England. (photo: C. Baldwin, 2012)
Incandescent lighting
Historians Robert Friedel and Paul Israel list 22 inventors of incandescent lamps prior to Joseph Swan (1828-1914) and Thomas Edison (1847-1931). Friedel, Robert, and Paul Israel. 1986. Edison’s electric light: biography of an invention. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. pages 115–117.
While Swam may have placed the first incandescent lamp into a house, Edison’s invention was better. It used an effective incandescent material, a higher vacuum, and a higher resistance that made power distribution from a centralized source economically viable.
Historian Thomas Hughes is less concerned about the lamp, than Edison’s integrated electric lighting system. The lamp was only one component, that combined with the Edison Jumbo generator, and the Edison main and feeder distribution system. See: Hughes, Thomas P. (1977). “Edison’s method”. In Pickett, W. B. Technology at the Turning Point. San Francisco: San Francisco Press. pp. 5–22
Regardless of who is credited with its invention, the implementation of an incandescent electrical lighting system made a major contribution to improving society ever since 1880. Alas, after almost 140 years, LED technology is quickly displacing any remaining incandescent bulbs.
LED lighting
In the early 1960s, early LEDs were low-powered, producing red frequency light. Bright blue LEDs were first demonstrated in 1994. This led to the first white LEDs, which used a phosphor coating to convert some of the emitted blue light to red and green frequencies. Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura were awarded the 2014 Nobel prize in physics for the invention of the blue LED.
Nanophotonic lighting
A nanophotonic incandescent light bulb, such as this one made at MIT, could someday replace LED lights. (photo: MIT)
Incandescent light is created by heating a thin tungsten wire to about 2 700 °C Celsius, that emits black body radiation, a broad spectrum light with warmth and a faithful rendering of colors. By surrounding an incandescent filament with a special crystal structure in the glass, energy can be recycled to the filament to create more light. This photonic crystal had to be designed for a very wide range of wavelengths and angles. It is made as a stack of thin layers, deposited on a substrate.
Luminous efficacy is a measure of how well a light source produces visible light, taking into account human eye response. The luminous efficiency of conventional incandescent lights is between 2 and 3 percent, that of fluorescents is between 7 and 15 percent, and that of most commercial LEDs between 5 and 20 percent, the new two-stage incandescents could reach efficiencies as high as 40 percent.
Research into this process is being done by Marin Soljačić, John Joannopoulos, Gang Chen, Ivan Celanovic, Ognjen Ilic and Peter Bermel at MIT.
This means that there could be a new round of lighting technology introduced at some time in the future, which results in another halving of the cost of lighting. This, however, is not a viable product for the moment, and will not be considered further.
The cost of electricity
I began researching this post by looking for rates in Vancouver (Canada), San Francisco (California) and North-Trøndelag (Norway). This research confirmed what I already new. There is no simple formula. However, I did find that the average consumer in San Francisco pays about USD 0.1534 per kWh. In North-Trøndelag it is about NOK 1.07, which is converts to USD 0.1301 per kWh. So, there is not much difference between the two locations.
The cost of light bulbs
It is becoming increasingly difficult to compare the purchase price of incandescent and LED bulbs. Incandescent bulbs just aren’t being sold in Norway. Online stores in the US assure me that 60 W incandescent bulbs can be purchased for about USD 1 each. In North-Trøndelag, a 9 W LED bulb costs about NOK 45, which converts to USD 5.45 (let’s be generous, and raise it to USD 5.50).
Assumptions & Calculations:
It is not unreasonable for a light in a residence to be used 1 000 to 3 000 hours a year, which is 2.25 to 6.75 hours a day. This would give a LED bulb a lifespan of between 30 and 10 years.
An incandescent bulb burning for 30 000 hours will use $270 worth of electricity. (30 000 h x 60 W x $0.15/ kWh).
Tablulated data
800 lm comparison
Incandescent
LED
Watts
60
9
Bulb costs (USD)
1
6
Lifespan (hours)
1 200
30 000
Bulbs for 30k hours
25
1
Capital costs (USD)
25
5.50
Electricity costs (30k hours in USD)
270
40.50
Total costs (USD)
295
46
Conclusions
LED lamps reduce the cost of lighting by over 84% in comparison to the use of incandescent bulbs.
This weblog post was updated 2021/12/21. to eliminate Deeds from the title. This post formed part of a Needs, Seeds and Weeds website that belonged to my daughter, Shelagh. In addition, other things are also out of date, or my opinions have changed. Apart from the title, updating the text to a block format and other minor formatting changes, the text above this paragraph remains as it was before. Any significant content changes are found below this paragraph.
Three nervous men. Illustrating Philip K. Dick’s Autofac. (Illustration: Dirk Wachsmuth)
Why provide lighting when the workers are robots?
One could ask, why the workers should be robots, when work is a source of joy for many people? The reply is almost Holmesian, “Economics, my dear Watson!” People are too expensive. Robots provide a better return on investment, work at a uniform speed without breaks, sleep or vacations. They work reliably, precisely and repeatedly without becoming bored. This ensures product consistency. Other benefits include better utilization of floor space, more efficient work flow, optimal raw material usage, and decreased waste.
The dark factory is reality today. Perhaps the most famous example is FANUC, the Japanese robotics company, that has had a dark factory in operation since 2001. Robots build other robots at a rate of about 50 per day, and can operate without human supervision for up to 30 days.
I await the day when every product features a safety warning, “No humans were harmed in the production of [product category] since [date]. Work spaces will be safer, when humans are no longer permitted to perform dangerous tasks.
Perhaps it is better if day to day drudgery is left to robots. Canadian futurist, George Dvorsky in, 12 Reasons Robots Will Always Have An Advantage Over Humans (2014) (https://io9.gizmodo.com/12-reasons-robots-will-always-have-an-advantage-over-hu-1671721194), lists the following:
Massproduction and self-replication.
Mind transfer from one robot to another.
Advanced intelligence.
Easier to upgrade.
The absence of evolved psychological predispositions.
Dramatically reduced energy needs.
The potential for moral superiority.
Immunity to damaging and burdensome biological functions.
Technologically enabled telepathy
Dynamic morphologies
Superior space travellers
Expendability
Returning to Sherlock Holmes, one is tempted to add, that a reply is not an an answer. Dialog, especially in whodunits, is used to conceal more than reveal.
“The long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead. Economists set themselves too easy, too useless a task if in tempestuous seasons they can only tell us that when the storm is past the ocean is flat again.” John Maynard Keynes, The Tract on Monetary Reform (1923).
Keynes is incensed with economists who view the economy as a system that returns to equilibrium with patience and freedom from government interference. In The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (1935) he noted that the economy could slip, and during the great depression, had slipped into an equilibrium of long term underemployment that demanded governmental intervention.
Un(der)employment is the great scourge of economic life, harming individuals and families, not only in the short term, but in the long term as people become unmotivated, and lose their skill sets.
What is to be done with all the redundant humans? While the answer may appear to be to offer “bread and circus”, this is not what people want. People thrive when they are creative and productive.
There must be work spaces, such as that offered at Unit One, that emphasize brightness. Brightness in two senses: a light-filled space, but also an intelligent yet caring space. A space dedicated to fostering human values. To overdramatize, to stop production to partake in a meal is not an economic catastrophe, it is a human necessity that is also a source of joy.
There is no fredags fika in a dark factory, as there is at Unit One. We can even hold a Friday Coffee on a Saturday, laughing at the contradiction, and celebrating human frailty.
Perhaps it is time to read Autofac, Philip K. Dick’s 1955 short story. A world war has devastated the Earth. Uncontrolled autofacs monopolize planet resources, but supply humans with a minimum of goods to survive. The future of humanity and the planet in uncertain. The story tells of human survivors stealing supplies and searching for a way to take back control of production.
In the Unit One library we have two books by David Pye: The Nature & Aesthetics of Design (originally, The Nature of Design) (1964) and The Nature and Art of Workmanship (1968).
Workmanship of risk, is “workmanship using any kind of technique or apparatus, in which the quality of the result is not predetermined, but depends on the judgment, dexterity and care which the maker exercises as he works.” (The Nature and Art of Workmanship, p. 20)
According to Pye, people make things to effect change. Most designed objects are palliative, unable to enable new activities and behavior. Design is limited by economy, not technique. It is a trade off and thus a failure. Much of design assumes that tools can bring happiness. Pye feels that tools can only help us avoid unhappiness.
The advantage of having robots make palliative products, is that humans can refocus their energies on areas of risk. Even if we allow for some economic constraints, people can push the boundaries. We can even make things, just to have fun.
Manufacturers of penetrating oil like to speak in code. The name WD-40, for example, refers to Water Displacement, 40th formula. It was developed in 1953, by the Rocket Chemical Company to protect the paper-thin outer skin of the balloon tanks on Atlas missiles from rust and corrosion. AV0-19 is another code, referring to Acetone – Vegetable Oil in a ratio of 1 to 9, respectively.
Even though I have been a devoted user of WD-40, I have probably purchased my last container. The reason being is that scientific tests indicate that AVO-19 is a superior product. See: https://www.engineeringforchange.org/how-to-make-penetrating-oil/
The optimal mixture is 10% acetone with 90% vegetable oil. It uses less than 55% of the torque to free rusted bolts as WD-40. It costs about 15% of the price of WD-40. While not as effective as the 1 to 9 ratio, and considerably more expensive, a 30 percent acetone mixture still works better than WD-40.
Engineering students at Drexel University, under the direction of Alex Moseson, conducted comparison tests of vegetable oil mixtures, WD-40 and automatic transmission fluid. Here are some of the results.
Lubricant
Price/liter
Torque required (Nm)
WD-40
$20.55
68.5
Acetone 30% vegetable oil 70%
$5.48
48.4
Acetone 20% vegetable oil 80%
$4.52
42.0
Acetone 10% vegetable oil 90%
$3.58
36.6
Adam Davies, looked at the overuse of WD-40 in 2010: http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/how-to/a6064/wd-40-vs-the-world-of-lubricants/
He discovered that WD-40 was second best (or worse) in several important areas. PB Blaster is best at loosening rusted nuts or bolts; Marvel Mystery Oil is best at freeing up rusted compression rings; Finish Line Cross Country is best at lubricating and protecting bicycle chains; while, Permatex White Lithium Grease is best at silencing squeaky door hinges.
Once their workshop is in operation, Unit One will be making its first batch of AVO-19. If you would like some, contact a persona at Unit One.
Ginnunga Gap Polytechnic is undoubtedly the best faux institution of higher education that never existed. You can earn a Wonderment Diploma from Ginnunga Gap’s Mechatronics and Robotics program (WD-40)! The program will start in January 2018 and run for two years until December 2019. It is available at the Unit One work space in Ginnunga Gap, otherwise known as Vangshylla.
There will be two participation levels, superficial and exhaustive.
Superficial is designed for people who simply want an overview of the field of mechatronics and robotics.
Exhaustive is at the other extreme, with time devoted to solving problems, theoretical as well as practical.
Even if a Wonderment Diploma isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on, the education on offer will, at the exhaustive level, be as close as possible to a clone of the mechatronics and robotics program offered at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Given the opportunity to study at BCIT in Burnaby, you will undoubtedly receive a better education there than you will get at Ginnunga Gap. However, if you are unfortunate enough to be stuck in Greater Ginnunga Gap, and lack the funds to pay international tuition fees, the education offered by Ginnunga Gap Polytechnic may be good enough.
The following description of the Mechatronics and Robotics program is a ruthless plagiarism of BCIT’s promotional materials.
WD-40 will provide you with insights into a world where mechanical products contain computers and electronics for monitoring or control. This integration of mechanical and electronic components (mechatronics) makes it possible to design intelligent, reliable, versatile electromechanical systems such as industrial robots, medical devices, aircraft simulators, automated assembly lines, building control systems, and autonomous vehicles.
(Image: Florida State University)
THE PROGRAM
The Mechatronics and Robotics program at Marmot University focuses on the automation of electromechanical devices and the application of robotic manipulators. You’ll receive hands-on, interdisciplinary training in:
Programmable logic control
Microcontrollers and electronics
Computer Aided Design (CAD)
Mechanical Systems
Computer and Robot Programming
Interfacing Sensors and Activators
The Mechatronics and Robotics program can open many doors. It will provide an advanced education in electromechanical systems and give the benefit of small
class sizes so you can master complex topics by taking advantage of the one-on-one time with instructors. After two years you will earn a wonderment diploma and have the skills to make a good living.
JOB OPPORTUNITIES
Mechatronics and robotics gives many interesting job possibilities. Because it is multidisciplinary, it also prepares for leadership roles in the design and creation of innovative mechatronics products for a variety of applications, including designing
and building automated equipment for the movie industry, medical devices,
production equipment, or submarines.
Here is what we will be working on:
Level 1 (15 weeks)
Credits
COMM 11
Technical Writing 1 for Robotics
3.0
ELEX 11
DC Circuit Analysis for Robotics
6.0
ELEX 12
Digital Techniques 1 for Robotics
6.0
MATH 11
Technical Math for Robotics
6.0
MECH 11
Computer Aided Design
4.0
PHYS 11
Physics for Robotics 1
5.0
Level 2 (20 weeks)
Credits
ELEX 21
AC Circuits for Robotics
6.5
ELEX 22
Digital and Electronic Circuits
8.0
MATH 21
Calculus for Robotics
8.0
MECH 12
Manufacturing Processes
5.5
PHYS 21
Applied Physics 2 for Robotics
6.5
ROBT 11
C Programming
6.5
Level 3 (15 weeks)
Credits
ELEX 31
Electronics Circuits 2 (Robotics)
6.0
MATH 31
Transform Calculus (Robotics)
4.0
MECH 31
Fluid Power 1
4.0
ROBT 31
Robot Applications
6.0
ROBT 32
Automation Equipment
5.0
ROBT 33
Controller Systems
6.0
Level 4 (20 weeks)
Credits
COMM 21
Technical Writing 2 for Robotics
4.0
ELEX 41
Feedback Systems
8.0
MECH 00
Ethics for Technologists
0.0
MECH 41
Fluid Power 2
4.0
OPMT 11
Industrial Engineering
5.5
ROBT 41
Sensor Interfacing
8.0
ROBT 42
PLC Applications
4.0
ROBT 43
Mechatronics Project
6.5
Total Credits:
142.0
While it is a long time before students will be working on their Mechatronics Project, Unit One is looking for opportunities to make devices capable of monitoring the marine environment in Skarnsund and Børgin, in cooperation with the local chapter of Friends of the Earth.
While Ginnunga Gap Polytechnic has fake application forms, and mock procedures to select students, the best way to come on board is to speak directly to one of the phony personas at Unit One.
PS. Your bogus Wonderment Diploma will be printed in A3 format. Its massive size should intimidate friend and foe alike.
A not-yet-famous historian reminds me that history is not a series of inter-related anecdotes. I am not going to let this or any other fact interfere in the telling of this vision of the future.
Anecdote #1
The story begins at the dawn of the current millennium, when three students taking their teaching qualifications had to find a project. The project selected resulted in the construction of a presentation program that systematically showed the process of making ciabattas using pictures, a few words and audio tracks. It should be noted that the baker for whom this presentation was made, had some learning issues.
Before the existence of the presentation program, the baker would be helped by one of a group of teachers (for lack of a better word) who could remind the baker of the steps to be followed. Unfortunately, there could be some procedural inconsistencies between the different teachers, that the baker found disconcerting.
Using the presentation program, inconsistencies were eliminated in the mind of the baker. More importantly, after three months the presentation program itself could be eliminated, because the baker had managed to implement the procedures into her brain.
For some consistency is a more important attribute than for others. It is an extremely desirable characteristic in robots.
Anecdote #2
Building a shelving unit for the gardener, I am trying to follow the spirit of the accompanying instructions. The instructions are more literary than most novels, relying on descriptive paragraphs, rather than bullet points, to inform. The next sentence gives a possible explanation for this approach. It reads, “Remember the mid-shelf braces.”
This instruction does not tell me, with any precision, what I am supposed to do with these braces. The braces have tabs at both ends, each has to be bent and inserted mid-shelf into the two shelf supports at the front and back of the unit, respectively.
Perhaps the most important skill computer programming has taught me, is to analyse what has to be done, and to implement it using code.
Anecdote #3
Billi Sodd is lazy, inconsistent and easily distracted. As a robot, Billi is a complete failure! However, since Billi is just about the only person who can actually make paving stones in our neighbourhood, I have to put up with his weaknesses.
I am considering giving Billi a new role. Rather than just using his labour, I want to use his knowledge of making paving stones to automate the production process. So, Billi has become not just head janitor, but paving stone informant.
Anecdote #4
The official chronology of Local Motors https://localmotors.com/heritage/ is interesting, not so much in terms of what is presented, but what is missing. Back in 2012, LM was interested in two types of production facilities – Minifactories, such as one built in Phoenix, Arizona, and Microfactories, in the form of 40 foot long containers that could be shipped anywhere, used to produce one or more vehicles, then moved on again. These microfactories have entered Local Motor’s “forgetting book” (Yes, that’s a Norwegian expression, Glemmebøken, which is where all forgotten lore ends up).
Reboot
A potential micro paving stone factory.
10 foot high cube container, Something like this could become home to a micro paving stone factory. (Photo: containertraders.com.au)
Why would anyone want to house a paving stone factory in a container? The main reason is that each residence only needs a limited number of paving stones. So, after x square meters have been made, the equipment can be given or sold to others.
The inside of the container would contain hoppers filled regularly with cement, sand and water. The content would be transported inside the container at even more frequently intervals, to a mixing area, where 30 kg batches would be prepared, mixed then poured into forms.
I envisage the production facility of consisting of a 1800 x 1800 mm surface, divided into nine 600 x 600 mm work areas, as shown in the following diagram. As before, station 1 is used to prepare the forms using a release agent, potentially Pam or vaseline. Station 2 is for the filling of the forms, with concrete as well as rebar, along with vibration. At stations 3, 4, 6 and 7 nothing happens. Waiting is a virtue. At station 5 the surface of the paving stones are textured. At station 8, the paving stones are removed from the forms. They must still be stored and allowed to cure, for up to several days.
7
8
1
6
Mixer
2
5
4
3
Sand hopper
Water hopper
Cement hopper
Here are some specifications for a 10 foot (3 meter) container:
