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Higher Education in Great Britain

There are 46 universities, 30 polytechnics and numerous colleges for more specialized needs, such as colleges of technology, technical colleges, of arts and agricultural colleges in England and Wales.

They all provide a wide range of courses from lower- level technical and commercial courses through specialized courses of various kinds to advanced courses for those who want to get higher-level posts in commerce, industry and administration, or take up one of a variety of professions.

Courses are a combination of lectures, seminars, tutorials and laboratory work. In a lecture the student is one of a large number of students. He listens to the lecturers, takes notes, asks no questions. In a seminar he raises problems and discusses them with his fellow students under the direction of one of the teachers.In a tutorial he is accompanied by only a handful of students and discusses his personal academic problems with a teacher.

Study in courses may be full-time and part-time. Full-time education includes sandwich courses in which periods of full-time study (for example, six months) alternate with full-time practical work and training in industry. Full-time and sandwich courses now are an important part of higher education in England and Wales. Part-time education may be taken during the day (for example, one day a week or full-time for short periods) or in the evening only. Particular feature of the higher education is its strong links with commerce and industry.

The system of higher education permits students to get whatever qualification they need.

An academic qualification

A degree is an academic qualification awarded at most universities and colleges upon completion of a higher educational course (a first degree) or a piece of research (higher degrees). If students pass their final exam at the end of a three-year course, they get their first degree. Students with a first degree become Bachelors of Arts or Science, and can put B.A.or B.Sc. after their names. If they want to go a step further and become Master of Arts or Science, they have to write an original paper, or thesis, on some subject based on a short period of research, usually soon after graduation. If students wish to become academics and perhaps teach in a university, then they will work for a higher degree, a Doctor of Philosophy-a Ph.D. For this they will have to carry out some important research work.

The Polytechnic, Wolverhampton

The Polytechnic, Wolverhampton, is a lage institution in the West Midlands and provides Higher Education for thousands of students from the United Kingdom and beyond. There are only thirty polytechnics altogether in England and Wales and Wolverhampton was one of the first to be designated. The Polytechnic was originally created in 1969 by uniting the College of Art with the College of Technology. In September 1977 the Dudley College of Education, the Wolverhampton Teachers’ College for Day Students and the Wolverhampton Technical Teachers’ College merged to form a Faculty of Education within the Polytechnic.

The Polytechnic thus is made up of six faculties: Art and Design, Engineering, Humanities, Science, Social Science and Education. Five of these faculties are located on the main campus in the centre of Wolverhampton; the sixth, the faculty of Education, is located at Dudley.

A wide range of degree, postgraduate, diploma and professional courses are offered at all six faculties. All faculties undertake research and all are served by the Polytechnical library. Nearly 4,000 students are on courses for three or four years, ranging from engineering and computer studies to social work courses. These courses are full-time, part-time and sandwich.

The teaching on the courses is partly by lectures but much of time is spent in smaller group work, in seminars and tutorials.

In addition to the higher degrees of MPhil (Master of Philosophy), PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) and MSc(Master of Science) the courses lead to a wide range of first degrees and diplomas.

A high proportion of students live away from home; over 1,300 being accommodated in Polytechnic residential units. The main campus has hostel places for 600 students.

The Polytechnic Students’ Union represents students on various Polytechnic Committees. It operates a number of national services for local students (such as accommodation, medical, financial, legal and other problems).The Students’ Union organizes and supports a wide range of social, recreational and cultural activities. A large number of clubs and societies are organized by it, which arrange entertainment. There are film, music, drama, poetry, blues and folk societies; rugby, judo, crosscountry running, badminton and horse riding clubs. In addition, there are academic, political and other societies at the Polytechnic.

 

Higher Education in the United States

There are more than two thousand institutions of higher education in the United States with the number of students ranging from fewer than a hundred to 40,000.

Young people who want to enter higher education must meet some requirements. They must have attended a high school for four years. No student is admitted to a college or university without having completed a four-year course in high scool.This means that a student who wants to study at the university or college must begin by doing good work in high scool. If his grades in high scool are satisfactory, he is admitted to a university or college, were he may take a Bachelor’s degree after a four-year course of study. About fifty three per cent of pupils who complete their high school course go on to a college or university.

The first two years in an American college or university differ somewhat from a similar period in a European one. These years in American college are a continuation of secondary education. During this time certain courses in English, social sciences, natural sciences and so on must be completed before a student may begin an intensive study of this special field.

Nearly all of colleges and universities in the United States are coeducational. This means both men and women attend the same university.It is common for students to leave home to study, and only about 15% of all university students live at home while they study. Students may live either on the university campus in one of the dormitories or in private homes in the city in which the University is located.

University life provides a wide variety of recreational activities. Although a great deal of time must necessarily be devoted to study, students find time for recreation. There are football, basketball, and baseball games, teas and dances, concerts, debates, club programs and plays, to mention only a few of the many activities. Most recreational activities are not expensive for the student.

 

US Academia: Some Explanations

The American academic year usually runs from some time in September to the end of May. Most, although not all, scools run on a semester system. Achievement is measured by grades which are given on papers and tests during the course of the semester and a final examination at the end of the semester. The final grade is based on all of the work done for the course. At the university level, grades are usually given in the form of letters that correspond to numbers 1-4, with 4 indicating excellence. A grade point average (GPA) is determined at the end of a term to show overall achievement.

The degree programs contain several major courses and a certain number of credit hours is given for every course. A student must take a predetermined number of credit hours in order to graduate. One can drop or add a course in the beginning of the term but not in the middle of the semester. Withdrawing from a course midsemester will be noted on grade records. Students are ecouraged to discuss any academic problems or questions they may have with their academic adviser.

In the classroom, Americans are encouraged to ask questions and to voice their opinions, even if they differ from those of the professor. Also, professors expect papers to be typed and not handwritten.

 

American and European Systems Compared

Education in America is largely the business of the individual State, not of the Federal Government. Each of fifty states has its own system of education. There is no Minister of Education such as exists in many other countries, no national system of education. In addition to public schools, academies, colleges and universities, there is a great number of private institutions of education. The Federal Government of the United States doesn’t interfere in any way with public education within the States.

Americans tend to study a larger number of subjects than Europeans, in schools, and particularly at the university. Seven subjects are required for a first degree (Bachelor’s degree) in many colleges. In the USA wide, and sometimes superficial, knowledge is often valued more than specialization.

The aim of American education is to create a good citizen, rather than a scholar. That is why great emphasis is placed on social duties and obligations, on communicating with other people, and obtaining varied information, which will be of practical use in life.

The engineering Profession

Engineering is one of the most ancient occupations in history. Without the skills included in the broad field of engineering, our present-day civilization never could have evolved. The first toolmakers who chipped arrows and spears from rock were the forerunners of modern mechanical engineers. The craftsmen who discovered metals in the earth and found ways to refine and use them were the ancestors of mining and metallurgical engineers. And the skilled technicians who devised irrigation systems and erected the marvellous buildings of the ancient world were the civil engineers of their time.

Engineering is often defined as making practical application of theoretical sciences such as physics and mathematics. Many of the early branches of engineering were based not on science but on empirical information that depended on observation and experience.

The great engineering works of ancient times were constructed and operated largely by means of slave labor. During the Middle Ages people began to seek devices and methods of work that were more efficient than human. Wind, water, and animals were used to provide energy for some of these new devices. This led to the Industrial Revolution which began in the eighteenth century. First steam engines and then other kinds of machines took over more of the work that had previously been done by human beings or by animals. James Watt, one of the key figures in the concept of horsepower to make his customers understand the amount of work his machines could perform.

Since the nineteenth century both scientific research and practical application of its results have escalated. The mechanical engineer now has the mathematical ability to calculate the mechanical advantage that results from the complex interaction of many different mechanisms. He or she also has new and stronger materials to work with and enormous new sources of power. The Industrial Revolution began by putting water and steam to work; since then machines using electricity, gasoline, and other energy sources have become so widespread that they now do a very large proportion of the work of the world.

 

The Role of Science in Manufacture

Future improvements in productivity are largely dependent on the application of science to manufacturing. This depends in turn on the availability of large numbers of scientifically trained engineers. The higher schools can serve the needs of industry in two ways: by performing basic research and by training well-qualified engineers in the manufacturing field.

There is a growing need for engineers who are familiar with the fundamental problems in metal processing and manufacturing. In the near future many of the engineers will be recent university graduates. A few will come through courses of study in industry. Others, having a basic engineering knowledge, will continue additional studies at colleges to prepare themselves for work in industry. Therefore, an engineer does not finish his education when he receives his diploma, particularly in the fields of interest to tool engineers who are to study new developments constantly.

There are numerous ways in which industry and education can cooperate on problems of common interest. Scientists and research are engaged in work that is intended to provide a scientific approach to many purely industrial problems. These scientists and engineers can make a real contribution to engineering education or academic research. They can, for example, teach advanced engineering courses and they can actively participate in basic and applied research.

Similarly, large and complicated projects of new technologies could well be handled by institute researchers working on practical applications. This would often provide the most efficient approach to the solution of processing problems.

 

Four Industrial Revolutions

The history of mechanical engineering goes back to the time when the man first tried to make machines. We can call the earlier rollers, levers and pulleys, for example, the work of mechanical engineering.

Mechanical engineering, as we understand it today, starts from the first Industrial Revolution.

People have labelled as «revolutions» three episodes in the industrial history of the world and now we are entering the fourth.

The first industrial revolution took place in England between 1760 and 1840. Metal became the main material of the engineer instead of wood, and steam gave man great reserves of power. This power could drive not only railway engines and ships but also the machines which built them.

In the second revolution, from 1880 to 1920, electricity was the technical driving force. It provided power for factories that was easier and cheaper to control than steam. It was marked also by the growing importance of science-based industries such as chemicals and electrical goods, and the use of scientifically-designed production methods such as semi-automatic assembly lines.

The third industrial revolution coincided with the advent of automation-in its inflexible form. In this revolution, the main features were advances in the control of manufacturing processes so that things could be made more cheaply, with greater precision and (often) with fewer people. And this change, which occurred around the middle of this century, also featured a new machine that was to greatly influence the world, the electronic computer.

What is the fourth industrial revolution?

The fourth industrial revolution will be characrerized by automated machines that are versatile and programmable and can make different things according to different sets of computer instructions. It will be characterized by flexible, automated machinery, the most interesting example of which are robots.

 

The Wankel Engine

The Wankel engine is a form of heat engine that has a rotary piston.In other words,instead of going up and down the Wankel piston rotates in the cylinder.Boht cylinder and piston are quite different in shape from those of conventional engines.The Wankel piston is tringular with curved sides, the cylinder is roughly oval in shape.The piston has an inner dore which is liked through an eccentrik gear to the output shaft.The other end of the dore is toothed and engaged with a stationary gear fixed to the cylinder end.Their arrangement ensures that the piston follows an elliptical path round the cylinder so that the apexes of the piston,which carry gastight seals,are always in contact with the inside surface of the cylinder

The piston thus forms thrree crescent-shaped spaces between itself and the cylinder wall,which vary in size as the piston rotates.Fuel enters the cylinder through the inlet port when one of these spaces is increasing in size.The fuel trapped in this section is then compressed by the turning piston and ignited by the sparking plug.The expanding gases subject the piston to a twisting moment which makes the piston revolve further until the exhaust gases escape through the exhaust port.A fresh charge is then induced into the cylinder.Meanwhile the same process is being repeated in the other two spaces between the piston and the cylinder.

The Wankel engine has many advantages over the reciprocating piston engine.Fewer moving parts are necessary because it produces a rotary movement using a connecting rod and a crankshaft.Because of this rotary movement it has vibration.In addition it has no valves,it is smaller and lighter than conventional engines of the same power, and it runs economically on diesel and several other fuels.

Engine

An engine produces power by burning air and fuel.The fuel is stored in a fuel.The fuel tank is connected to a fuel pipe.The fuel pipe carries the fuel to a fuel pump.The fuel pump is connected to the carburettor.The fuel pump pumps the fuel into the carburettor.In the carburettor the fuel is mixed with air.The fuel and air are drawn into the engine cylinder by the piston.Then the fuel and air are compressed by the piston and ignited by the spark plug.They burn and expand very quickly and push the piston down.Then the power is produced.The burned fuel and air are expelled from the cylinder by the piston.

The flow of gases into and out of the cylinder is controlled by two valves.There is an inet valve allowing fresh fuel mixture into the cylinder and an exhaust valve which which allows the burnt gases to escape.

There are two clasic engine operating cycles:

the four-stroke cycle;

the two-stroke cycle.

The complete four-stroke cycle comprises:

the induction stroke (the piston moves downwards):

the compression stroke(the piston moves upwards);

the power stroke (the piston moves downwards);

the exhaust stroke (the pistone moves upwards).

Machines and Work

Defined in the simplest terms a machine is a device that uses force to accomplish something. More technically, it is a device that transmits and changes force or motion into work. This definition implies that a machine must have moving parts. A machine can be very simple, like a block and tackle to raise a heavy weight, or very complex, like a railroad locomotive or the mechanical systems used for industrial processes.

A machine receives input from an energy source and transforms it into output in the form of mechanical or electrical energy. Machines whose input is a natural source of energy are called prime movers. Natural sources of energy include wind, water, steam, and petroleum. Windmills and waterwheels are prime movers; so are the great turbines driven dy water or steam that turn the generators that produce electricity; and so are internal combustion engines that use petroleum products as fuel. Electric motors are not prime movers, since an alternating current of electricity which supplies most electrical energy does not exist in nature.

Terms like work, force, and power are frequently used in mechanical engineering, so it is necessary to define them precisely. Force is an effort that results in motion or physical change. If you use your muscles to lift a box you are exerting force on that box. The water which strikes the blades of a turbine is exerting force on those blades, thereby setting them in motion.

In a technical sense work is the combination of the force and the distance through which it is exerted.

To produce work, a force must act through a distance. If you stand and hold a twenty-pound weight for any length of time, you may get very tired, but you are not doing work in an engineering sense because the force you exerted to hold up the weight was not acting through a distance. However, if you raised the weight, you would be doing work.

Power is another term used in special technical sense in speking of machines. It is the rate at which work is performed.

In the English-speaking countries, the rate of doing work is usually given in terms of horsepower, often abbreviated hp. You will remember that expression resulted from the desire of inventor James Watt to describe the work his steam engines performed in terms that his customers could easily understand.After much experimentation,he settled on rate of 33,000 footpounds per minute as one horsepower.

In the metrick system power in terms of watts and kilowatts.The kilowatt,a more widely used term, equals a thousand watts or approximately 1 1/3 horsepower in the English system.

 

Components of the automobile

Automobiles are trackless, self-propelled vehicles for land transportation of people or goods, or for moving materials. There are three main types of automobiles. They are passenger cars, buses and lorries (trucks).The automobile consists of the following components: a)the engine; b)the framework: c)the mechanism that transmits the power-engine to the wheels; d)the body.

Passenger cars are, as a rule, propelled by an internal combustion engine. They are distinguished by the horse-power of the engine, the number of cylinders on the engine and the type of the body, the type of tpansmission, wheeelbase, weight and overall length.

There are engines of various designs. They differ in the number of cylinders, their position, their operating cycle, valve mechanism, ignition and cooling system.

Most automobile engines have six or eight cylinders, although some four-, twelve-, and sixteen-cylinder engines, are used. The activities that take place in the engine cylinder can be divided into four stages which are called strokes. The four strokes are: intake, compression, power and exhaust. «Stroke» refers to the piston movement. The upper limit of piston movement is called top dead centre, TDC. The lower limit of piston movement is called bottom dead centre, BDC.A stroke constitutes piston movement from TDC to BDC or from BDC to TDC. In other words, the piston completes a stroke each time it changes the direction of motion.

Engine operation

An automobile, powered by a petrol engine, begins to operate when the driver turns a flywheel connected to the engine crankshaft. As the crankshaft revolves, a mixture of fuel and air is drawn from a carburetor into the engine cylinders. The ignition system provides the electric sparks that ignite this mixture. The resultant explosions of the mixture turn the crankshaft, and the engine starts moving. By regulating the flow of the fuel and air with a throttle, the driver controls the rotational speed of the crankshaft.

Cooling, electrical ignition and lubrication systems are of great importance for the good performance of a car. The lights, radio and heater add to the flexibility, comfort and convenience of the car. The indicating devices keep the driver informed as to engine temperature, oil pressure, amount of fuel, and battery charging rate.

Brakes are of drum and disk types. The steering system consists of a manually operated steering wheel which is connected by a steering column to the steering gear from which linkages run to the front wheels. It is difficult to turn the steering wheel, and special hydraulic power mechanisms are used to lessen this effort. Suitable springings are used against shocks. These are leaf springs, coil springs, torsion bars and air suspensions.

 

Disel engines

The oil engine (diesel engine)is also a form of internal combustion engine. It has the usual arrangement of cylinder, piston, connecting rod, crank, inlet and exhaust valves as we find in petrol engine. In place of carburetor and sparking plug it has an injection pump and a fuel injection valve (injector).Unlike spark-ignition engines it uses the heat of compression to fire the fuel and is, therefore, called compression-ignition engine.

It utilizes a fuel known as diesel oil, which is forced in the form of a fine spray through a suitable nozzle directly into the combustion space. No mixture of fuel and air is introduced into the cylinder, the compression-ignition (CI)engine draws in pure air only. This air is then compressed by the ascending piston to a high pressure. As a result of it the temperature of the air is raised considerably so that the fuel oil injected into the cylinder ignites rapidly. Thereafter the gaseous products expand providing the energy for the power stroke.

The high-output oil engines are nearly all of two-stroke type. The charge is filled into the cylinder by means of a blower which assists both the intake and exhaust processes. One cycle completed within one revolution, i.e. in two strokes-compression and expansion.

 

Air-cooled engines

All vehicle engines are air-cooled to some degree. Even in water-cooled engines heat is transmitted first from cylinder to water and afterwards, in the radiator, from water to air. This method of cooling is not difficult to accomplish, because the heat taken off the hot cylinder walls by water can be distributed without difficulty upon the large cooling surface of the radiator, and so easy transmission of air is made possible.

Reciprocating engines used in aircraft are almost entirely air-cooled. Aircaft engines cooled by air are manufactured today in sizes ranging from 50 to 3500 hp and they superseded water-cooled engines. The principal advantages of air-cooled aircraft engines are low weight, and greater reliadilim reliability in operetion. Modern motor-cycles are also designed almost exclusively with air-cooled engines.

New designs of air-cooled vehicle engines are notable for their easy maintenance, reliability and economical operation.

 

Power engineering

Volta made his experimental cell in 1800,producing for the first time a steady reliable electric current. During the nineteenth centrury, the development of practical applications of electrical energy advanced rapidly. The first major uses of electricity were in the field of communications-first for the telegraph and the telephone. They used not only electric current but also electromagnetic effects.

Thomas Edison’s invention of the electric light bulb was perhaps the most momentous development of all, but not because it was such a unique invention. It was momentous because it led to the creation of an electric power system which has since reached into nearly every corner of the world. Actually, other people were working simultaneously on the same problem, and Edison’s claim to the invention was disputed. Perhaps Edison’s most important claim to fame is his pioneering work in engineering, which helped to provide for New York City in 1882.

The application of electricity has grown to the point where most of us lead electrified life, surrounded by a variety of devices that use electric energy. Less visible, but probably more important, are the thousands of ways industry has put electric energy to work. The direct-current machine is one of the most important ways.

 

Turbines

The turbine is a machine for generating mechanical power from the energy of the stream of fluid. Steam, hot air or gaseous products of combustion, and water are the most widely used working fluids.

A steam turbine may be defined as a form of heat engine in which the energy of the steam is transformed into kinectic energy. It consists of the following fundamental parts: a) a casing or shell containing stationary blades: c) a set of bearings; d) a governor and valve system for regulating the speed and power of the turbine. The main types of steam turbines are axialflow turbines and radial-stage turbines.

The reciprocating steam engine came into its own during the nineteenth century, when it found greatest use in mills, locomotives and pumping systems. The modern steam turbine, developed last century, is rapidly replacing the reciprocating engine for large installations. Gas is used as the working fluid in gas turbines. The basic theory underlying their design and their operating characteristics is identical with that for steam turbines. The energy of water is converted into mechanical energy of a rotating shaft in hydraulic turbines. Power may be developed from water by three fundamental processes: by action of its weight, of its pressure or of its velocity; or by a combination of any or all three.

 

Boilers

A boiler is a closed vessel in which water, under pressure, is transformed into steam by the application of heat. Open vessels and those generating steam at atmospheric pressure are not considered to be boilers. The furnace converts the chemical energy of the fuel into heat. The function of the boiler is to transfer this heat to the water in the efficient manner.

Progress in steam-boiler development has been rapid. The first boilers were very crude affairs, as contrasted with our present-day standards. The greatest number of contributions have been made in the last half century. The field of application is diversified. Boilers are used for heating, supplying steam for processes, furnishing steam to operate engines, etc.

Maintaining the correct boiler water level is the most important duty of the boiler operator. It is of the utmost importance that the manufacturer supply suitable and reliable devices for indicating the water level. Coal as well as liquid and gaseous fuels are used for boiler firing. The ideal boiler must be of correct design, sufficient steam and water space, and good water circulation.

 

Electric motors

There is a wide variety of d.c. motors.There are shunt motors, series motors, synchronous motors, induction motors, single-,two-,and three-phase motors. They are used to drive various machines.

Direct-current motors are of three principal kinds, and sre named according to the manner in which their field coils are connected to the armature. Thery are named respectively: series, shunt, and compound.

In the series motors the field windings and armature are connected in series with each other. All the current wich passes through the armature passes through the field coils. The field windings are therefore composed of a few turns of thick wire. Starting under heavy load, a series motor will take a large current to provide the huge torque required.

The field coils of shunt motors are connected direct across the brushes, hence they have the full voltage of the mains applied to them. The shunt motor may by called a constrant speed motor, and is suitable for driving machine tools, lathes, wood-working machines and any machines requiring a steady speed.

A compound motor has both shunt and series field windings and therefore partakes of the nature of both types of motors.

 

A. C. Electric motor

Motors for alternating-current circuits may by either single-phase or polyphase (two-or three-phase).They may again be divided into two kinds, named respectively:1.Synchronous;2.Non-or asynchronous, ordinarily called induction motors.

The most widely used a.c. motor is the induction motor. It has two main parts: a)the stationary winding or stator, which sets up a rotating magnetic field, and b)the rotating part of the motor, i.e. the rotor. The rotor of a commercial a.c. motor consists of an iron core with large copper bars placed in seots around the circumference and connected at both ends to copper rings. This is called a squirrel-cage rotor. When a rotor is placed in a rotating magnetic field, a large current is induced in it.

A.c.motors are exactly similar in construction to a.c. generators and may be called inverted alternators, since the same machine may be used as either a generator or motor.

Synchronous motors are very suitable for large powers, where the machine can be started up without load, and once started run for long periods.

For supplying direct-current power networks, the supply comes first from an alteernating-current source and is converted to direct current by synchronous convertors or motor-generator sets.

 

New Energy from Old Sources

The resources of fossil fuel which made the industrial revolution possible and have added to the comfort and convenience of modern life were formed over a period of 600-million years. We will consume them in a few hundred years at current rates.

But energy is available to use in practically unlimited quantities from other sources. Large amounts of energy can be received from ocean tides and currents, from huge underground steam deposits, from the power of wind and from the heat of the Sun.

Most solar-heating systems coming on the market use a black surface to absorb the Sun’s heat. Engineers cover the surface with glass which lets in the rays, but holds heat. The heat is transferred to water that runs through small pipes. The hot water is then circulated through the house. It is estimated that 40 million new buildings will be heated by solar energy by the year 2000.

The solar cell is another way to produce power from the Sun. It converts sunlight directly into electricity. These cells are used with great success in the space program, but remain far too expensive for wide-spread application.

Putting the wind to work researchers are showing great interest in the age-old windmill. Several big companies are now studying windmills ranging from 100 to 2,000 kilowatts. The smallest would provide sufficient electricity to power several homes, the largest could provide electricity to a small village.