Well, someone from Hamerhead (who worked on the FX for the new Riddick movie) posted about the renderfarm they used and his experiences. Sounds like the original question got some answers....
Well, I would imagine the sudden loss of PSI (remember, the enclosure is pressurized to 10 atmospheres with He.) Should be easy to pick up, and you shut down the speaker. Remember that the 190db figure is inside what ammounts to a highly efficent echo-chamber which is under pressure. Change the conditions, even slightly and the sound pressure will drop a lot.
Could a thermoaccoustic AC unit be created? Sure, but it won't fix the problem of 3rd world AC. The electricity costs of a Thermoaccoustic AC unit would actualy be HIGHER then the costs for a conventional unit.
The issue here is not energy-efficency, it's abandoning ozone-depleateing refrigerants.
First off, the 190db figure is the sound level INSIDE the unit. Acording to the reporter, the sound level outside the unit was no louder then a standard cooling unit.
From the description of given, the tech sounds interesting. They use a powerfull speaker to create areas of high and low preassure in the chamber. In the areas of low preassure they place tubes which run to the cold case. In the areas of high pressure they place tubes which run to an external heat exchanger to vent the waste heat.
I can definately see this technology comeing into widespread use in the future, as stricter enviromental controls continue to restrict conventional refirgerants. I also wonder how well it would work in an automotive setting, where the high level of vibration makes coolant loss more of an issue.
I am a Computer Engineering Graduate from RPI (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), presently working in the electronics industry, and I can explain the diffrence between the three related majors (EE, CSE and CS) as they are taught at RPI. I have no idea if this is consistant across other top-teir engineering schools or not.
Electrical Engineering (EE) focuses on analog design and control systems. It deals with the "fundemental" aspects of electronics, along with ampllifier design and often radio comunication. There is a large math requirement attached to this dicipline, primarily Claculus and Differential Equations.
Computer and Systems Engineering (CSE) has exactly the same course requirements as EE for the first two years, with the possible addition of some software courses. This major then goes on to examine the digital side of the electronics world. Computers, digital controls, and assembaly programing, along with some design classes are included. The amount of math is the same as with EE, but there is more of a focus on discrete math and probibility. Both of the Engineering diciplines have only a few free electives alailible to them, and also have to take the basic engineering courseload. (Thermodynamics, physics, chemistry, MATH, intro to design, etc.) In addition, all majors have humanities and social science requirements to give the students some depth. (At RPI these courses tended to be fun and interesting without being too hard or time consumeing. That is not to say however that I did not feel that i learned a lot in them.)
Computer Science (CS) is part of the School of Science as opposed to the school on Engineering, as such CS majors do not have to take the basic engineering courseload, and instead can select from assorted classes in the school of science. This Major looks at computers from a more theoretical level. The focus is on the development of elegent algorithums (I appoligize for my spelling) and yes, on programing. However, as has been said here before, the specific language is not realy the point, the major goal of learning how to write code is to explore the various concepts you are learning about. CS majors are required to take less "Hard Math" then the engineers, however many use their free electives to take extra classes to get a minor or even double major in Math.
Full disclosure: I am a '99 B.S. graduate of RPI with a major in CSE. My knowledge of the other majors comes from several friends in each.
Didn't I hear a rumor a while back that transmetta was talking to IBM about having them build whatever it is that they are developing? I very well might be mis-remembering, so take this with a grain of salt.
I Know it's not a forgen country, but it is almost as far away. I know several recent EE, CSE and CS grads who started at about 45-50 kilo-dollers per year.
While 1m satelite imagery could be INCREDIBLY useful for a lot of things, I doubt that it would be all that usefull for tracking an individual on foot. First of all as was mentioned, the refresh rate has gotta be low. Second, these are LEO (Low-Earth-Orbit) satelites, which meens that they are moveing over the earth at a very high rate of speed. Meening that your TOT Time-Over-Target is not very long. Third, 1m is not good enough to pick one person out of a crowd, even it thay do happen to look directly up. It might be possible to track a car, but even this would be difficult due to the the (persumibly) low refresh rate.
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Well, someone from Hamerhead (who worked on the FX for the new Riddick movie) posted about the renderfarm they used and his experiences. Sounds like the original question got some answers....
Well, I would imagine the sudden loss of PSI (remember, the enclosure is pressurized to 10 atmospheres with He.) Should be easy to pick up, and you shut down the speaker. Remember that the 190db figure is inside what ammounts to a highly efficent echo-chamber which is under pressure. Change the conditions, even slightly and the sound pressure will drop a lot.
Could a thermoaccoustic AC unit be created? Sure, but it won't fix the problem of 3rd world AC. The electricity costs of a Thermoaccoustic AC unit would actualy be HIGHER then the costs for a conventional unit.
The issue here is not energy-efficency, it's abandoning ozone-depleateing refrigerants.
First off, the 190db figure is the sound level INSIDE the unit. Acording to the reporter, the sound level outside the unit was no louder then a standard cooling unit.
From the description of given, the tech sounds interesting. They use a powerfull speaker to create areas of high and low preassure in the chamber. In the areas of low preassure they place tubes which run to the cold case. In the areas of high pressure they place tubes which run to an external heat exchanger to vent the waste heat.
I can definately see this technology comeing into widespread use in the future, as stricter enviromental controls continue to restrict conventional refirgerants. I also wonder how well it would work in an automotive setting, where the high level of vibration makes coolant loss more of an issue.
I am a Computer Engineering Graduate from RPI (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), presently working in the electronics industry, and I can explain the diffrence between the three related majors (EE, CSE and CS) as they are taught at RPI. I have no idea if this is consistant across other top-teir engineering schools or not. Electrical Engineering (EE) focuses on analog design and control systems. It deals with the "fundemental" aspects of electronics, along with ampllifier design and often radio comunication. There is a large math requirement attached to this dicipline, primarily Claculus and Differential Equations. Computer and Systems Engineering (CSE) has exactly the same course requirements as EE for the first two years, with the possible addition of some software courses. This major then goes on to examine the digital side of the electronics world. Computers, digital controls, and assembaly programing, along with some design classes are included. The amount of math is the same as with EE, but there is more of a focus on discrete math and probibility. Both of the Engineering diciplines have only a few free electives alailible to them, and also have to take the basic engineering courseload. (Thermodynamics, physics, chemistry, MATH, intro to design, etc.) In addition, all majors have humanities and social science requirements to give the students some depth. (At RPI these courses tended to be fun and interesting without being too hard or time consumeing. That is not to say however that I did not feel that i learned a lot in them.) Computer Science (CS) is part of the School of Science as opposed to the school on Engineering, as such CS majors do not have to take the basic engineering courseload, and instead can select from assorted classes in the school of science. This Major looks at computers from a more theoretical level. The focus is on the development of elegent algorithums (I appoligize for my spelling) and yes, on programing. However, as has been said here before, the specific language is not realy the point, the major goal of learning how to write code is to explore the various concepts you are learning about. CS majors are required to take less "Hard Math" then the engineers, however many use their free electives to take extra classes to get a minor or even double major in Math. Full disclosure: I am a '99 B.S. graduate of RPI with a major in CSE. My knowledge of the other majors comes from several friends in each.
Didn't I hear a rumor a while back that transmetta was talking to IBM about having them build whatever it is that they are developing? I very well might be mis-remembering, so take this with a grain of salt.
I Know it's not a forgen country, but it is almost as far away. I know several recent EE, CSE and CS grads who started at about 45-50 kilo-dollers per year.
While 1m satelite imagery could be INCREDIBLY useful for a lot of things, I doubt that it would be all that usefull for tracking an individual on foot. First of all as was mentioned, the refresh rate has gotta be low. Second, these are LEO (Low-Earth-Orbit) satelites, which meens that they are moveing over the earth at a very high rate of speed. Meening that your TOT Time-Over-Target is not very long. Third, 1m is not good enough to pick one person out of a crowd, even it thay do happen to look directly up. It might be possible to track a car, but even this would be difficult due to the the (persumibly) low refresh rate.