There's no rat, but there's no Electrocharger either, and the plans to produce it are currently scrapped.
The connection between Sigma Automotive and Texas A&M is--in a word--me.
You can check out all this with google, here's the facts: I am a grad student at Texas A&M, and my name is David Hoelscher. I work on power electronics and motor drives under Dr. Ehsani. A year and a half ago we got a visit from a man named Michael Van Steenburg, and he had an idea to make retro-fittable hybrid electric vehicles, ala replacing the alternator. The reason he came to Texas A&M is because Ehsani specializes (or specialized?) in switched reluctance motor (SRM) drives.
As an aside: SRM drives are basically a rugged motor drive--they don't need any magnets, so there's no demagnetization problem. Basically the idea is that when you put a paramagnetic material in a magnetic field, the material will temporarily magnetize and align with the field as much as possible (you can find more on paramagnetic at Wikipedia). To achive this, the rotor has to have salient poles--that is, it must physically have a toothed surface. And when you combine a toothed surface and large magnetic forces, you get a loud noise, which is THE biggest problem with SRM.
Back to the subject at hand though...so Mike wanted to use SRM motors because the alternator is near the engine (which is hot) and there's nothing to demagnetize. Ehsani knows motors, but he doesn't manufacture them. In fact, not many companies manufacture them. In this case, he found an company, International USA, who could manufacture them. So things are looking good.
Summer 2004, I take off a summer to work with them, specifically sizing the battery/ultracapacitor pack and determining the best type of battery to use, etc. But every step of the way, the delivery date for the test motor drives is pushed back. The work by International was unfunded, as the company was incredibly small and funding was tight (you can see how small by checking out the contact page: http://www.ecolectrictechnology.com/contactus.htm and yes, I'm the Dave).
At some point, the web page information showed up on Sigma Automotive, and then on Slashdot--I admit, I was surprised when a lab mate told me he read about it in a major news outlet (I hadn't checked Slashdot yet on that day). FYI, the actual webpage for the company is www.ecolectrictechnology.com
We also went out to the SEMA show in Las Vegas, but the most we had to show was a mock-up on an engine--at this point, I had been back at school a few months and just answered questions here and there, maintained contacts, but was largely out of the day-to-day business.
About the start of 2005, key personnel for our product at International had left the company, so there was no one left to work on it, and even if there was, there still wasn't money to pay them.
Since then, the project has been dead in the water. As for me, I'm finishing up my research at A&M and starting the job hunt. If anyone's looking to hire a Masters EE with a power electronics/motor drives background, 5 years of experience building solar cars, and 6 years experience software development, feel free to email me at david dot hoelscher at gmail dot com
The original idea is still a good one, albeit a bit complicated. For example, to add much torque to the driveshaft, there needs to be a significant upgrade to the belt that used to run the alternator, which in turn (likely) requires a new pully, and changing out a lot of belts. The motor drive itself has to fit in the place of the old alternator, so there are size restrictions there. Also, the motor controller needs to go SOMEWHERE, preferably close to the motor but not in the engine compartment. Finally, a mass air flow sensor (or something) needs to be used to determine when to run the motor and when to regenerate. All that while keeping the costs reasonable.
Nah, that's not sensational enough for Slashdot. What must be happening is that Google bought out Fuddruckers as a means to finally start selling some Google Gulp. Nobody saw this one coming...
However, it might backfire and reduce the usefulness of Google. I noticed that if I go to Google and type in "fuddruckers" and then click "I'm feeling Lucky", I'm right back at Google again. If Google bought out EVERY web page (like how they apparently bought Fuddruckers), their relevance might reduce to nothing, which explains why they really wanted to sell off all those shares of stock.
Certainly not...I myself am from the country, and I did indeed graduate as Valedictorian. But it's a lot easier to be Valedictorian out of 57 people than it is to be Valedictorian out of 500+ people. If we scale the numbers up, there would have been about 10 people like me in a larger school--certainly my percentage would be similar (i.e. top 10 percent, for example), but I would have approximately 1/10th the probability of being the top graduate.
So no, country people aren't dumber, but there are fewer of them per school, so the odds of having a higher absolute placement go up.
If someone were the only student in their graduating class, they'd be guaranteed to be the valedictorian, regarless of their intelligence. But they're just as equally in the bottom 10% of their class. Which do you think they'll write on their college application (if they're inclined to go to college)?
He wasn't stranded in the lander--they just wouldn't let him back on Earth because his home country (Krakozia) broke into civil war. Also, his rescuer, Buzz Lightyear (not Buzz Aldrin, as NASA wants you to believe), flew him back down to earth safely--although Hanks claims it wasn't really flying but just "falling, with style".
Some positive things I can personally attest to about living in a rural area:
Your kids can graduate as Valedictorian or top 10% with relative ease
You can turn your TV/music way up and no neighbor cares.
Because it takes longer to get from A to B, you get a lot less visitors, particularly annoying visitors.
You actually take grass for granted (note: When I went to college, people were surprised at how I would cut across a grassy area without even thinking about it--apparently grass was respected if it was next to a sidewalk).
More space for personal projects.
Less traffic (as pointed out in the article).
No "Homeowners Association"...if you want to do home improvements or park cars in the yard, have at it.
An excellent view of the night sky.
Those are just a few of the things I miss about living in a rural area...
Great, sign me up! Wait, what? Rural areas don't get cable, you have to use satellite for the TV channels? What about DSL...no?
Seriously, my parents live in a rural area and the best option they have for internet connections is dialup (even worse, they have AOL). Unless you also want to spend money on a satellite internet connection, be prepared to go back to the internet stone age. The only way to get around this currently is to BE a high speed ISP branching out to a rural area.
Hmm...I can't tell if you're Larry Page or Sergey Brin and rounding WAY down, of if you're Paul Graham and rounding your/. id way down (bugbear = 448,726). My bet is Paul Graham...you gave yourself away by putting 8 parenthesis in one post.
Size of investment matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my checkbook, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the GPL, and a powerful ally it is. Stallman creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Generous beings are we, not this crude proprietary code. You must feel the GPL around you; here, between you, me, the processor, the hard drive, everywhere, yes. Even between the user and the venture capitalist.
It's ok, it seems to be the way of things. Once we have lawyers upon lawyers, the laws of supply and demand will come into play. The average lawyer will be paid less, and you will eventually be able to get quality legal counsel/advice at a reasonable price.
And when all their cell phones and computers break, who will be there to save them? The technology sector, which will have dwindled and will thus charge more for services.
I've found it is almost always a good thing to resist following the crowd. That's why I'm glad I'm in engineering.
You know, this seems to explain why he pushed the whole "Hydrogen economy" thing (doomed to fail, 10 years out) instead of Hybrid vehicles or even biofuels...
Slashdot Mirror
There's no rat, but there's no Electrocharger either, and the plans to produce it are currently scrapped.
The connection between Sigma Automotive and Texas A&M is--in a word--me.
You can check out all this with google, here's the facts: I am a grad student at Texas A&M, and my name is David Hoelscher. I work on power electronics and motor drives under Dr. Ehsani. A year and a half ago we got a visit from a man named Michael Van Steenburg, and he had an idea to make retro-fittable hybrid electric vehicles, ala replacing the alternator. The reason he came to Texas A&M is because Ehsani specializes (or specialized?) in switched reluctance motor (SRM) drives.
As an aside: SRM drives are basically a rugged motor drive--they don't need any magnets, so there's no demagnetization problem. Basically the idea is that when you put a paramagnetic material in a magnetic field, the material will temporarily magnetize and align with the field as much as possible (you can find more on paramagnetic at Wikipedia). To achive this, the rotor has to have salient poles--that is, it must physically have a toothed surface. And when you combine a toothed surface and large magnetic forces, you get a loud noise, which is THE biggest problem with SRM.
Back to the subject at hand though...so Mike wanted to use SRM motors because the alternator is near the engine (which is hot) and there's nothing to demagnetize. Ehsani knows motors, but he doesn't manufacture them. In fact, not many companies manufacture them. In this case, he found an company, International USA, who could manufacture them. So things are looking good.
Summer 2004, I take off a summer to work with them, specifically sizing the battery/ultracapacitor pack and determining the best type of battery to use, etc. But every step of the way, the delivery date for the test motor drives is pushed back. The work by International was unfunded, as the company was incredibly small and funding was tight (you can see how small by checking out the contact page: http://www.ecolectrictechnology.com/contactus.htm and yes, I'm the Dave).
At some point, the web page information showed up on Sigma Automotive, and then on Slashdot--I admit, I was surprised when a lab mate told me he read about it in a major news outlet (I hadn't checked Slashdot yet on that day). FYI, the actual webpage for the company is www.ecolectrictechnology.com
We also went out to the SEMA show in Las Vegas, but the most we had to show was a mock-up on an engine--at this point, I had been back at school a few months and just answered questions here and there, maintained contacts, but was largely out of the day-to-day business.
About the start of 2005, key personnel for our product at International had left the company, so there was no one left to work on it, and even if there was, there still wasn't money to pay them.
Since then, the project has been dead in the water. As for me, I'm finishing up my research at A&M and starting the job hunt. If anyone's looking to hire a Masters EE with a power electronics/motor drives background, 5 years of experience building solar cars, and 6 years experience software development, feel free to email me at david dot hoelscher at gmail dot com
The original idea is still a good one, albeit a bit complicated. For example, to add much torque to the driveshaft, there needs to be a significant upgrade to the belt that used to run the alternator, which in turn (likely) requires a new pully, and changing out a lot of belts. The motor drive itself has to fit in the place of the old alternator, so there are size restrictions there. Also, the motor controller needs to go SOMEWHERE, preferably close to the motor but not in the engine compartment. Finally, a mass air flow sensor (or something) needs to be used to determine when to run the motor and when to regenerate. All that while keeping the costs reasonable.
If you factor in that t
Yes, but that has the unwanted side effect of throwing it into an infinite loop.
Maybe he was referring to that mysterious "night camouflage" that can be done in all black. Or maybe camouflage to hide you from blind people.
Depends...if you're Google, then it's called "Beta"
"Coleman and company have conducted a web based survey regarding how workers spend their 'non-productive' time at work"
That's easy, they all read Slashdot...
Gbay, perhaps?
Nah, that's not sensational enough for Slashdot. What must be happening is that Google bought out Fuddruckers as a means to finally start selling some Google Gulp. Nobody saw this one coming...
However, it might backfire and reduce the usefulness of Google. I noticed that if I go to Google and type in "fuddruckers" and then click "I'm feeling Lucky", I'm right back at Google again. If Google bought out EVERY web page (like how they apparently bought Fuddruckers), their relevance might reduce to nothing, which explains why they really wanted to sell off all those shares of stock.
The evil bit has been FLIPPED!
You're thinking of the Tracer Bullet stuff, it's hilarious. Here's a link: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/1961/ch_trac er.html
Google gets jealous and destroys what they can't archive, and Slashdot gets a sense of humor.
Did I miss some article announcing AI breakthroughs? These properties seem to be uncharacteristic of mere websites...
With all these websites and news outlets that want to opt out of Google's searches, I suppose in hindsight that was a poor management decision, eh?
It's ok, I didn't see your subscription money anywhere on Google, so it too shall be destroyed.
I wouldn't worry too much, your stuff should still be safe. I hear it takes them awhile to get these things out of Beta...
Certainly not...I myself am from the country, and I did indeed graduate as Valedictorian. But it's a lot easier to be Valedictorian out of 57 people than it is to be Valedictorian out of 500+ people. If we scale the numbers up, there would have been about 10 people like me in a larger school--certainly my percentage would be similar (i.e. top 10 percent, for example), but I would have approximately 1/10th the probability of being the top graduate.
So no, country people aren't dumber, but there are fewer of them per school, so the odds of having a higher absolute placement go up.
If someone were the only student in their graduating class, they'd be guaranteed to be the valedictorian, regarless of their intelligence. But they're just as equally in the bottom 10% of their class. Which do you think they'll write on their college application (if they're inclined to go to college)?
A few details were left out of the parent post...
He wasn't stranded in the lander--they just wouldn't let him back on Earth because his home country (Krakozia) broke into civil war. Also, his rescuer, Buzz Lightyear (not Buzz Aldrin, as NASA wants you to believe), flew him back down to earth safely--although Hanks claims it wasn't really flying but just "falling, with style".
Who is this "Wilson" fella? Is he the man in the moon I've heard so much about?
Maybe you know how to have fun with Universal Translators in ways that I don't. As for me, wake me up when we get phasers and/or lightsabers.
Heck, no dreaming necessary. My wife always get to jump in the car for a relaxing nap on long drives, I just wish I could too.
Incidentally enough, if my wife actually witnessed how I drive, her naps would probably cease to be relaxing.
Some positive things I can personally attest to about living in a rural area:
Your kids can graduate as Valedictorian or top 10% with relative ease
You can turn your TV/music way up and no neighbor cares.
Because it takes longer to get from A to B, you get a lot less visitors, particularly annoying visitors.
You actually take grass for granted (note: When I went to college, people were surprised at how I would cut across a grassy area without even thinking about it--apparently grass was respected if it was next to a sidewalk).
More space for personal projects.
Less traffic (as pointed out in the article).
No "Homeowners Association"...if you want to do home improvements or park cars in the yard, have at it.
An excellent view of the night sky.
Those are just a few of the things I miss about living in a rural area...
Great, sign me up! Wait, what? Rural areas don't get cable, you have to use satellite for the TV channels? What about DSL...no?
Seriously, my parents live in a rural area and the best option they have for internet connections is dialup (even worse, they have AOL). Unless you also want to spend money on a satellite internet connection, be prepared to go back to the internet stone age. The only way to get around this currently is to BE a high speed ISP branching out to a rural area.
Hmm...I can't tell if you're Larry Page or Sergey Brin and rounding WAY down, of if you're Paul Graham and rounding your /. id way down (bugbear = 448,726). My bet is Paul Graham...you gave yourself away by putting 8 parenthesis in one post.
Size of investment matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my checkbook, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the GPL, and a powerful ally it is. Stallman creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Generous beings are we, not this crude proprietary code. You must feel the GPL around you; here, between you, me, the processor, the hard drive, everywhere, yes. Even between the user and the venture capitalist.
For your own sake, I hope you never lock yourself out of the house and resort to breaking or crawling in through a window...
It's ok, it seems to be the way of things. Once we have lawyers upon lawyers, the laws of supply and demand will come into play. The average lawyer will be paid less, and you will eventually be able to get quality legal counsel/advice at a reasonable price.
And when all their cell phones and computers break, who will be there to save them? The technology sector, which will have dwindled and will thus charge more for services.
I've found it is almost always a good thing to resist following the crowd. That's why I'm glad I'm in engineering.
You know, this seems to explain why he pushed the whole "Hydrogen economy" thing (doomed to fail, 10 years out) instead of Hybrid vehicles or even biofuels...
At least not until Netcraft confirms it...