The Engineer's Kitchen: Bison Burgers with Apple Coleslaw

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Game On: Engineering the Bison Burger

It’s game time for this weeks blog. And by game time, I mean bison. How many engineering consulting firms can blog about that? Bison is a leaner and healthier alternative to the standard ground beef. While you tend to lose a little of that fat flavor, you get to taste the meat itself without being too gamey like some of the other wild meats. So we will start our dish today with two very important ingredients found this time of the year here at Glew Engineering Consulting; 75 degrees weather and a slight breeze. As long as you don’t burn the burgers, you really can’t go wrong starting from there.

For today’s menu, I kept it rather simple and went with a bison burger topped with fresh apple coleslaw and served with fresh fruit. This menu is a healthier alternative to the fast food place down the street.

Bison Burgers with Apple Coleslaw:

• 1 lb ground bison meat
• Salt
• Pepper
• Honey Whole Wheat Buns
• ½ head of cabbage shredded
• 1 large carrot shredded
• 1 Granny Smith apple fine julienne sliced
• 1 teaspoon cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup light mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons dry mustard

Divide the bison into four equal parts or ¼ lb each, and press into ½ to ¾ inch thick patties. Salt and pepper both sides. Next, fire up the grill and heat with the lid closed until the thermal temperature reaches 500 degrees.

While you are waiting for the grill to reach temperature, you can start prepping the slaw. In a medium bowl, combine the cabbage, carrots and apples. In another bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, dry mustard and vinegar until thoroughly combined. Add the wet mixture to the cabbage and taste. Add salt and pepper as needed or if desired. Rest the slaw in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Get the bison burgers on the grill and cook with the lid closed to keep the temperature up. Since the bison is not as fatty as normal ground beef used for burgers, the risk of flare-ups is very low. The meat will tend to cook more like a steak, so make sure that you do not overcook. As with leaner cuts of meat, you want to pull them off the grill a little early and let them rest. This will allow them to come up to the proper temperature as well as hold in more of the juices. For these patties, about 5 minutes per side yielded burgers with an internal temperature of about 160 degrees. I like to toss the buns on the grill at this point to get a nice toast on them. Once you have all your parts for the burger, it’s time to assemble 

I constructed this burger simply by placing the bison burger on the lower bun and topping with a large spoonful of the coleslaw mixture. Since this was going on a burger, I drained the excess liquid from the coleslaw to keep it dry and crisp. Top it with the other half of the bun and serve. I also served slices of tomato, lettuce and Dijon mustard along side, for those that wanted to go a little more traditional with their burger. It’s always nice to offer options when available. As a side dish, I went with diced fresh fruit consisting of pineapple, cantaloupe, honey dew melon and red seedless grapes. All in all, it was a simple meal taken to a slightly higher level. 

As with all of our cooking blogs, I welcome comments or variations on what you think might make this recipe just that much better.

Salud  

Engineering Designs: Chuck Heaters For The Semiconductor Industry

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Chuck Heaters Used In The Semiconductor Process

Chuck is a common term for the device upon which a semiconductor wafer rests during processing in a semiconductor processing tool.  The chuck heater is a device embedded in the chuck, designed with the intent of achieving thermal uniformity across the chuck surface, and hence the semiconductor wafer that rests upon it.  The heated chuck is an integral aspect of semiconductor chamber design.  The chamber is where the semiconductor processing takes place.  Heated chucks initiate or accelerate a physical or chemical reaction on a semiconductor wafer or workpiece. Temperature control is an important parameter in many chemical and physical reactions; therefore a well-designed heat source will improve the uniformity and stability in a reaction’s system.  

There are many chuck configurations.  A standard heat chuck comprises two main parts: a highly resistive heating element and a metallic plate which serves the purposes of providing support for the brittle heating wafer and aids in the uniform distribution of heat.  However, there are also ceramic chucks, typically made of aluminum oxide (ceramic) or aluminum nitride.  Two common types of heaters used in heated chuck applications are tubular and etched foil.[i]  A tubular heater utilizes a dielectric material, e.g. mica, inside a tube with a small coiled wire running through it. Due to the high resistivity of the wire, when a current passes through it heat is generated according to the relationship I2R, Joule heating. The thermal energy then transfers from the wire to the ceramic filler and then to the outer tube. These tubes typically form loops inside the chuck heater, with a similar pattern to an electric kitchen stove.  Some of the manufacturers of routine heaters make the high tech versions used in semiconductor processing.  Some tubular heating elements can reach temperatures of 870o C (1600o F). An etched foil heating system consists of a labyrinth of highly resistive foil.  Each sheet of foil is surrounded by an adhesive and dielectric material, such as polyimide or mica. A polyimide insulator can operate at 260o C with up to 75% plate coverage while mica heaters can operate at up 600o C but with only about 45% of the heating surface covered.[ii]  

Engineering Constraints Of A Chuck Heater

Following the heating element itself, the size, shape, and material of the chuck significantly impacts the temperature distribution, as does the of the metallic plate, if utilized.  If the heating element does not have a uniform heat output or not profiled well, then the thickness of the plate can be altered or increased to improve the uniformity. A thicker plate will increase the cross-sectional area for the heat to conduct laterally before it reaches the surface of the plate. The thickness of the plate is constrained because increasing the cross-sectional area causes the amount of surface on the plate to increase, thus requiring more energy input. In a plate with a tubular heating system the area near the heating element will be hotter than those that are in between the heating element. Increasing the thickness in the plate makes these hot and cold areas less evident. Other factors that can affect the thermal uniformity in the plate and therefore must also be taken into account are the mounting of the chuck heater, how to monitor the temperature, and how to mate the wafer handling mechanisms. Many of these constraints arise because a relatively cold spot forms wherever the plate is in contact with another surface. Even a temperature sensor, which needs to be in an area of high thermal conductivity, can have an effect on the heat transfer capabilities of the plate.[iii]

The Designing Of The Heaters

As an experiment with variation in design of a chuck heater, Glew Engineering has designed three possible layouts of the heating element. The first is a standard kitchen stove design, starting in the middle and spiraling outward. While this design is the simplest and has the smallest gaps between heating portions, it is not optimized for a chuck heater because it does not begin and end in the middle of the plate, as is a design requirement to ensure thermal uniformity. The second design is a series of towers that cover the area of the plate while the third is a series of circles. Each of these heating elements have been modeled utilizing 3D CAD software. Before the next blog is released each will undergo thermal finite element analysis (FEA) with the primary goal of understanding which creates the most uniform thermal output. These results will then be discussed in the following blog.

[i] Strehlow, Russell Minco “Designing Heated Chucks for Semiconductor Processing Equipment” 2008

[ii] Strehlow, Russell Minco “Designing Heated Chucks for Semiconductor Processing Equipment” 2008

The Engineer's Kitchen: Grill Style Panzanella Salad

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Some Italian Engineering at Work

Welcome to this week’s installment of The Engineer’s Kitchen. With the thermal temperatures outside registering in at a beautiful 75 degrees, this was a perfect day for outdoor grilling. Lately we have been grilling up heavier and more hearty dishes, such as the wine marinated tri tip and the steaks served up with mushrooms and mustard sauces. So this week we decided to go a little heart healthier and serve up more of a light type of lunch. Add in the fact that today we have a full staff of four legged interns in the office (you can see them hard at work by clicking on our Facebook page link above), and the decision to go with chicken was practically made for us.

It would have been easy to just toss together some salad greens, place some grilled chicken on top and call it a lunch, but that would have made for one boring blog as well as lunch. With that being said, today’s menu was created with a little Italian flair, as I did my spin on a Panzanella salad dish.

The traditional Panzanella is basically a salad made of stale bread and tomatoes and tossed with olive oil and vinegar. Today, depending on where you are regionally, it can include more ingredients such as, olives, capers, mozzarella and cucumber, just to name a few. I decided to keep it light and simple, just not completely traditional. The prep work on this is a little on the long side for a salad, but well worth the time.

Panzanella Salad with Grilled Chicken:

• 2 large boneless chicken breast
• 4 Roma tomatoes
• 1 large red bell pepper
• 8-10 fresh basil leaves
• Romaine lettuce
• 8-10 slices of sourdough baguette (1/2 inch thick)
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Vinaigrette:

• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic finely minced
• ½ teaspoon Dijon style mustard
• Salt and pepper to taste

To begin, get outside and get the grill fired up. While it is heating, brush both sides of the bread slices with a light coating of olive oil and set aside. Slice the bell pepper lengthwise into quarters. Grill the peppers on their skin side until softened and lightly blistered and the bread on both sides until lightly toasted. Remove from grill and set aside.

Next, lightly oil the chicken breasts to keep them from sticking to the grill. Lightly salt and pepper and then get them on the heat. While the chicken is cooking, it’s time to prepare the dressing.

In a medium sized bowl, add the vinegar, garlic and mustard and mix together. Slowly add the olive oil as you continue to whisk until the dressing is emulsified, or combined, completely. In this recipe, the emulsifier would be the mustard to help bind the dressing while adding a nice flavor. The basic vinaigrette, using only vinegar and oil, will not stay together, which is the reason you would need to shake it before using.

Let The Assembly Begin

Remove the chicken from the grill when done and set aside to cool a bit. Start the salad by dicing the tomatoes, pepper, and grilled bread slices into roughly 1/2 inch piece and place in a large mixing bowl. Roughly chop the basil and add to salad. Pour the vinaigrette over the salad and toss lightly to coat.

To serve, I place a large romaine leaf on the plate and top with the salad. I then slice the chicken and fan on it on top. You may reserve a few teaspoons of vinaigrette to drizzle over the chicken if you like, but the natural taste of the grilled chicken plays nicely with the tanginess of the salad behind it without being overpowering.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s blog. As usual, feel free to leave a comment if you have a spin on this recipe.

Salud

Optaining Energy from the Earth's Natural Heat

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Geothermal Energy

In a continuation of the current alternative energy series, this week’s blog will examine the engineering ideas behind geothermal energy. As the name would suggest, geothermal energy is energy harvested from the natural heat of the Earth. Below the Earth’s crust is a layer of hot, molten rock called magma. Magma continually produces heat from the decay of naturally radioactive materials such as uranium and potassium. The available heat within 10,000 meters of the Earth’s surface contains 50,000 times more energy than all of the oil and natural gas resources in the world.ⁱ The highest underground temperatures are found in places with active or young volcanoes. These areas occur at plate boundaries with some of the hottest spots occurring along the Pacific Rim, or the Ring of Fire. The Pacific Rim includes regions in Alaska, California, Oregon and Nevada. Earthquakes and magma movement break up the rock below the surface of the Earth, which allows water to come to the surface. One such famous occurrence is the geyser known as Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park. The water in geysers can reach temperatures of 430^o F.ⁱⁱ

Methods of Energy Generation

There are three types of geothermal energy power plants. The first is known as a dry steam power plant. These types of plants draw steam from underground reserves and pipe it directly into the plant. After entering the plant, the turbine, which is the primary component in the energy generation process, receives the steam to begin generating power. Currently there are only 2 known dry steam reserves in the United States, one at The Geysers of northern California and one in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. However, due to a national park’s protection from development, the only dry steam power plant is in California. The second, and most common, type of geothermal energy plant is known as a flash steam plant.ⁱⁱⁱ These plants use geothermal reservoirs of water that exist at 360^o F, which is possible due to the immense amount of pressure the water is under. The water flows upward through pipes under its own pressure. As it rises, the pressure decreases and some of the water turns to steam. This steam separates from the water and powers a turbine. The leftover water that did not convert to steam is then injected back to the reservoir. The third and final type of geothermal plant is known as a binary steam plant. Binary plants utilize water at lower temperatures, normally in the range of 225^o to 360^o F.^iv Instead of directly using the steam from the geothermal reserve, a binary plant uses the water to heat a working fluid. This working fluid is normally an organic compound with a low boiling point. As the working fluid vaporizes in a heat exchanger, the vapor spins a turbine. A pump then forces the water back into the original reserve so that it can be heated and the process can be repeated. This method has little to no emission because the water and the working fluid are kept separated the entire time.

Engineering a Turbine

For many years after the first turbine was designed in 1830, the design could not be perfected because metallurgy did not yield a strong enough product. It wasn’t until 1884 when Charles Parsons utilized new steel developments to design a turbine that could handle the stress from such rapid rotation. His design was able to spin at nearly 18,000 revolutions per minute.^v These advances in materials science, particularly metallurgy, enabled the advance of turbine technology. In modern design, mechanical engineers also utilize computational fluid dynamics, CFD, to perform thermal analysis, heat transfer analysis, fluid analysis, and finite element analysis, FEA, to determine the stresses on the turbine. Technology advances have allowed today’s turbines to be designed with rocket technology in order to increase their electrical output and limit the level of CO₂ emitted. One example of recent developments is cooling the inlet air before compressing it in the compressor. A lower temperature cases the air to have a higher density and therefore a higher mass flow rate through the turbine. This heat transfer processes, allowing for the higher mass flow rate, results in increased energy output. Modern steam turbines are made of a stationary set of blades,called nozzles, and an adjacent set of moving blades, called rotor blades. The stationary blades accelerate the steam to a higher velocity by expanding it to a lower pressure. The rotating blades change the direction of the steam flow, which creates a force on the blades, and because of the wheel geometry creates a torque on the shaft which the bladed wheel is mounted. This combination of torque and speed is what generates the output power of the turbine. While today's turbines are tuned to specific gas densities, molecular weights, and viscosities, the main engineering ideas behind them are very similar to the turbine designs of 100 years ago.

_______________________________________________________________________________

i Union of Concerned Scientists CleanEnergy “How Geothermal Energy Works” December 2010

ii Union of Concerned Scientists CleanEnergy “How Geothermal Energy Works” December 2010

iii National Renewable Energy Laboratory Learning About Renewable Energy “Geothermal Energy Production” May 2012

iv Elliot Group “Steam Turbines” 2010

v Energy and Environmental Analysis “Technology Characterization: Steam Turbines” December 2008

Alternative Energy Advances: Methane

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Methane Energy

To continue the current blog series, this week will be exploring the alternative energy potential of capturing methane gas.   Similar to carbon dioxide, methane is a naturally occurring greenhouse gas; however, methane is 21 times more capable of trapping heat within the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, the CO2 equivalent (CO2e or  CDE) is 21. [i]  For at least this reason, it is important to control the amounts of methane being released into the atmosphere.  The processed food output from animals (and humans) decompose to form methane, as does organic-laden municipal solid waste with kitchen scraps and yard recycling.   The main factors that affect this form of methane production are: the waste’s environment, length of decomposition, and packing density.   Some landfills lack an abundance of organic materials and instead have large amounts of construction and demolition debris making them poor methane producers.   Methane is odorless; the noxious smell experienced at landfills and farms is actually caused by hydrogen sulfide, which is another byproduct of the breakdown of organic matter.   Another possible source which could yield a large supply of methane is the gas trapped in permafrost, and in the crust of the Earth.   When permafrost melts, then methane is slowly released; it is not currently captured.   As for the methane in the crust, it is believed to be at depths of 100 to 200 km and exists from the inorganic reactions between water and rock, instead of from decomposing organic matter.   The challenge harvesting these reserves is that even the deepest of oil and gas wells are only between 5 and 10 km deep, and the safety and viability of a 200 km well is unknown. [ii]   One benefit to collecting methane for use as an alternative energy source is that it burns cleanly, as opposed to fossil fuels, and therefore has a very minute impact on the environment.

The Energy Generation Process Using Methane

Currently there is not a highly effective method of retrieving pure methane from the landfill.  It is extremely difficult to separate methane from the hydrogen sulfide and the carbon dioxide present. The current most commonly used process of capturing methane gas begins when anaerobic bacteria digests organic waste.   This releases methane, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and small amounts of nitrogen.   In order to capture the gas before it is released into the air, engineers drill a series of wells in the ground.   These wells connect via a system of channels that connect laterally to a large vacuum pump.   This vacuum pump draws in the methane gas, pressurizes it, and forces it through another series of pipes into the compression facility.   Blowers force the gas through a series of heating and cooling chambers, ranging from 99 ° F to 30 °  F.   During the final phase the gaseous mixture passes through a fine filter, approximately 1 micro-meter,  in an attempt to remove the maximum amount of impurities.   In order to generate power at the compression facility, the gas is typically pumped into six 20-cylinder combustion engines, which power several generators.  In one scenario, each engine can produce 1.6 megawatts of electricity, totaling 9.6 megawatts for the engines combined.   [iii]

The Next Step in Production and Storage

In order to discover a more successful method of isolating pure methane, researchers use computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to test thousands of materials for their methane absorption rates.  This is an application of mechanical engineering.  One material that shows good potential is zeolite, a porous mineral commonly used as an absorber.   This is an application of materials science engineering.  The pattern of the zeolite’s pore structure varies depending on the concentration of methane in the air.   At very low levels the material must have a high affinity for methane because the gas only becomes flammable at 5% concentration.   At higher concentrations, methane molecules interact with each other and are more easily absorbed.   Once the gas is at 60% concentration it becomes very easy to transport and liquefy.[iv] Using the zeolite material, a refinery can repeat this cycle and create an even higher concentration.   

A separate development involves using methane as a storage system for other forms of alternative energy.  Scientists at Pennsylvania State University have discovered that a certain bacteria, when combined with carbon dioxide, can convert electricity to methane.   This means that any surplus power generated from alternative energy sources (solar, wind, tidal etc.) can be stored as methane at about an 80% efficiency rate.  [v]

Footnotes:

[i] Dulalab Environmental News and Information “Methane” 2011

[ii] Dulalab Environmental News and Information “Methane” 2011

[iii] CPS Energy “Landfill Gas—Turning Waste into Usable Energy” 2013

[iv] Irfan, Umair Scientific American “Methane Proves Hard to Capture” April 23, 2013

[v] Felsinger, Alex Clean Technical “Bacteria Turns Excess Clean Energy Into Methane” April 5, 2009

The Engineer's Kitchen: Wine and Pepper Tri-Tip

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Engineering the Official Summer Starting BBQ

Welcome back to our mid week lunch blog. As the outside thermal temperatures start to rise, we can feel that summer is close and the grill will be tested. I know we have had some grilling blogs already this year, but everyone keeps telling me that the summer BBQ season does not officially start until Memorial Day Weekend. Well, seeing that we were able to take a little time off and enjoy a wonderful three day weekend with our family and friends, we held our official summer kick off BBQ today. It was a perfect time to go big with our mid week lunch menu as we had quite a full office to feed. It was also a time to make the statement that Silicon Valley / Bay Area BBQ is not something you will find too often East of California. Northern California in general is known for many things such as technology and fine wineries. While grilling an apple would seem appropriate from the technological viewpoint, the keyboard can be quite hard to chew. Instead we decided to go the other route. For our lunch menu today we bring you the following:

• Napa Wine and Pepper Encrusted Tri-Tip
• Bourbon baked beans
• Home-style Potato Salad
• Fresh Baby Spring Green Salad

Why Engineer A Marinade?

Using a mild acid in a marinade will help to tenderize the meat. This can be achieved by using a citric acid such as lemon juice, or acetic acids like those found in vinegar. A chemical reaction known as the Mallard Reaction denatures, or changes the structure of the proteins found in the meat. The similar reaction happens when the proteins are cooked. This is what gives cooked meats a better flavor and color, as well as texture, compared to their raw versions.

Crushed black, green and pink peppercorns along with dried thyme, rosemary and course sea salt, make a simple but effective dry rub, as it allows for the marinades and the natural meat flavors to stand out. I prefer to add part of the dry rub to the tri-tip and let stand for about 10-15 minutes before adding the marinade and then re-dusting with the remainder just before grilling. You can use a basic marinade consisting of:

• 1 cup Red Wine
• 3 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 2 teaspoons each Lemon and Lime Juice
• 2 teaspoons Dried Rosemary or Oregano

The acidic values of the red wine help to break down and tenderize the meat, while the citrus juices and rosemary combine for a savory yet bright flavor to compliment the wine. Let the meat marinade for somewhere between 2 to 4 hours.

You can’t go wrong serving up a side of potato salad with any BBQ. The coolness of the salad displays a good contrast and balances out the pepper flavors of the tri-tip. The better potato salads, I prefer, will have a creamy texture spiked by the slight crunch of petite diced vegetables. I also like to keep it simple. Please feel free to comment on the following recipe, as I know there are many variations handed down generation to generation and this is what I would consider the basis for those variations.

2 pounds of russet potatoes

1 cup light mayonnaise

2 tablespoons sweet relish

1-2 teaspoons mustard

1 teaspoon white vinegar

2 tablespoons finely diced celery

1 tablespoon finely diced pimento

1 teaspoon of fresh diced parsley

Salt and pepper to taste

Boil off the potatoes until tender but still able to keep their shape. You do not want them to fall apart easily. Once cooled to the touch, peel and dice potatoes into ½ pieces. And place in large bowl. In a medium bowl, combine the remaining ingredients until well mixed. Add the wet mixture to the potatoes and toss gently to coat. Refrigerate salad for about an hour before serving.

We hoped you enjoyed our kick off to summer menu and hope to see you back next week to see what we have cooking up our sleeve.

Salud

Nuclear Energy as an Alternative Energy Source

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Nuclear Engineering

Continuing with the alternative energy series, this week’s blog will examine another rapidly expanding idea in green alternatives with nuclear energy, or the naturally occurring energy found in materials such as uranium. In its most basic understanding, nuclear power comes from nuclear power plants which refines atoms in order to produce electricity. Many nations have been working with nuclear energy for more than five decades and are just starting research the fourth generation of reactor technology to meet an increased demand and efficiency level. The first generation of reactors were designed in the 1950s-60s and are only still used in the United Kingdom. The most common reactor in use today is the second generation which is the main design of the US and French nuclear systems. Generation 3 (and 3+) are the most advanced current reactors and are mainly used in Japan.ⁱ Finally, Generation 4 reactors are currently being designed but aren’t likely to be seen constructed until well after 2020. Third generation reactors differentiate themselves from previous reactors by having a simpler design and therefore lower construction costs. They also have a longer operating life of about 60 years. The main goal in designing the next generation of nuclear reactors is to create an “inherent” or “full passive” safety system. Current safety designs are considered “active” in the sense that they involve electrical or mechanical operations such as a pressure relief valve. An inherent safety system would be one that relies on naturally occurring phenomena such as convection or gravity.

Understanding Nuclear Energy

Nuclear fission and fusion are both nuclear phenomena that release a massive amount of energy, but they are independent processes which produce very different results. Fusion takes place when two atomic nuclei are fused together to form a heavier nuclei. Extremely high temperatures are required, about 1.5*10^{7 o}C ⁱⁱ, which then results in large amounts of energy being released when the nuclei fuse together. As opposed to nuclear fusion, nuclear fission takes place when atom’s nucleus splits into two or more smaller nuclei. This is an exothermic process which releases the fission products, nuclear photons, alpha particles as well as kinetic energy and gamma radiation. The process of fission is considered a form of element transmutation because it changes the number of protons in the element which technically changes the element from one into another. Nuclear fission happens naturally every day. Uranium constantly undergoes spontaneous fission at a very slow rate, hence why the element constantly emits radiation. The decay of a single Uranium-235 atom (the most common isotope) releases about 200 MeV (million electron volts), which may not seem like much, but when the amount of atoms in a pound is considered the amount of electricity being produced is a viable amount. For example, a pound of enriched uranium can power a nuclear submarine for the equivalent time at the equivalent power as approximately a million gallons of gasoline. In power plants, enriched uranium is formed into two-inch long pellets. These are then arranged into bundles and submerged in water inside a pressure vessel. The water acts as a coolant because on its own the uranium would overheat and melt down. In some cases, the steam produced from the water will go through a heat exchanger to convert a second loop of water into steam. This keeps the radioactive water and steam from contacting the turbine and causing wear to occur faster.

Recent Applications

Currently a well-known application for nuclear energy is the Mars Curiosity Rover. The Mars Curiosity Rover is powered by both solar and nuclear power, so it can venture to the dark side of the planet for sustained periods of time. One of the problems with nuclear energy is that it is still not considered completely stable, as most recently seen in the Japan meltdown of 2011; which has many worried that it will never be suitable for vehicle applications. However, current advancements in nuclear energy and the potential that future advancements could bring, have give this alternative energy source the potential to replace a large portion of our dependence on fossil fuels.

The Engineer's Kitchen: Peach Cobbler

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Engineering Memorial Day Desert

Over the last few weeks, we have shared some recipes in regards to the lunch menu here at Glew Engineering. While the weather is still beautiful and the grill is sitting there begging to be fired up, I am afraid that this week, due to business demands, (yes we do still run a business in between lunches) we are not going to be able to have our normal Wednesday company lunch menu available to share. We will be returning for our technical lunch time cooking blog next week, and we hope to see you back then.

So with Memorial Day approaching this weekend, I thought this would be a good opportunity to share with you one of my favorite deserts that has a minimal prep and cook time, yet retains that certain wow factor. This type of desert allows you to spend less time in the kitchen and more time with company. The following recipe is pretty basic and allows for multiple tweaks and changes to suits just about anyone’s tastes. Please feel free to comment and let me know if there are changes that you have made or have questions about making. Any feedback and criticism is welcome.

Simply Delicious Peach Cobbler

What you will need:

6-8 peaches peeled and cut into thin wedges

¼ cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

Dash of Cinnamon

Dash of nutmeg

Dash of allspice

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons arrow root

1 cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

dash of salt

6 tablespoons butter, chilled and cubed

hot water

3 teaspoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon                                                

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C)

In a large mixing bowl, combine sugars, spices, lemon juice and arrow root. To remove the skins from the peaches, place them in boiling water for about 1 minute, remove and place in an ice bath. This technique will loosen the skins and allow them to come off easily. Slice the peaches and add to mixture. Gently toss to cover peaches completely. Let the peaches macerate together for about 5 minutes and then transfer mixture to a 2 quart baking dish and place in oven for about 10 minutes. This will allow the juice from the peaches to release and combine with the sugars to create a light simple syrup.

Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt in another mixing bowl. Cut in the butter using a fork or pastry blender. Make sure that the butter is cold ad you don’t over work it in this phase. If the butter is allowed to heat up and melt, the dough will become too dense and fall apart in the next step. Once the mixture is crumbly and coarse, slowly add hot water and mix until just combined and thick.

Remove peaches from oven. Using a large spoon, add drops of dough mixture to peaches until covered. Combine remaining sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over top and return to oven. Bake desert for approximately 30 minutes or until the topping is golden brown.

Let cobbler rest and thicken slightly. Traditionally, the cobbler is plated simply with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. To dress it up, I like to serve the peaches over vanilla ice cream in a large shallow bowl, top it with fresh sweetened cream and drizzle lightly with a caramel or chocolate sauce. I then and garnish with fresh mint.

Everybody at Glew Engineering Consulting would like to take this time to wish everyone a happy and safe Memorial Day.

Decreasing Our Environmental Impact Through Biofuel Energy

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Biofuels

Continuing with the alternative energy series, this week’s blog examines a popular idea in green alternatives with biofuel, a type of fuel energy that is created through biological carbon fixation. This can include fuels derived from biomass conversion, solid biomass, liquid fuels and various biogases. Carbon fixation is the process through which an inorganic compound, such as carbon dioxide, is converted to an organic compound by a living organism. A common example of this is photosynthesis. The most common biofuels are bioethanol and biodiesel. Bioethanol is produced through fermentation of carbohydrates found in sugars and starches and is widely used in both the US and Brazil. Biodiesel is made from animal fats and vegetable oils, and in its purest form can be used as fuel for modified vehicles. More commonly however it is used as an additive to diesel to reduce levels of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon particulates. The process by which biodiesel is produced is known as transesterification and is common in Europe. The International Energy Agency has a goal of biofuels supplementing more than a quarter of the world’s demand for transportation fuels by 2050.

How Does it Work

While Ethanol is currently the most common biofuel, it lacks certain qualities to make it the most desirable. For example, ethanol produced from biomass in the US has a high production cost and just 2/3 the energy density of gasoline, causing cars running on E85 (which is 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline) to get about 30% lower gas mileage.ⁱ Therefore, the most prevalently researched method of creating biofuel is using bacteria to convert plant matter directly into isobutanol. Isobutanol is beneficial because it can be used in regular car engines due to its higher heat capacity and similar consistency to gasoline.ⁱⁱ While isobutanol is produced through fermentation, there are many other methods that can lead to the formation of biofuel such as catalysis, cellulosis, hydroprocessing and synthetic biology. Catalysis is a reaction which is only made possible by catalysts, which lower the activation energy required for a chemical reaction. By lowering the activation energy a catalyst in turn increases the rate of the reactions; this leads to reliability and large production volumes. Cellulosis has a large advantage over other processes because it has an abundance of possibilities in terms of raw materials; however a larger amount of energy is required to produce ethanol through cellulosis than through fermentation. The two main methods of creating biofuels using cellulose are  gasification and acid hydrolysis. Gasification is the process by which a solid biomass is deconstructed through a high temperature, high pressure system and converted into smaller particles. Recent achievements in the gasification processes have lead to eliminating more harmful impurities, such as carbon dioxide, which results in a cleaner and more efficient synthetic gas. Hydrolysis is a water based chemical reaction which converts polysaccharides into many simple sugars. Acids are used to catalyze reactions in which one fragment of the polysaccharide gains a positive hydrogen ion and the other group collects the remaining OH- ion. Hydroprocessing is not a single phase, but a generalized term for any chemical engineering process which breaks down heavy hydrocarbons into light fractions with the addition of hydrogen. Hydroprocessing is most commonly used for breaking down animal fats, such as beef tallow and chicken fat, that can produce a wide variety of fuels. Lastly, synthetic biology is a new form of biofuel creation which refers to biological components and systems that do not exist in the natural world and the redesign of existing biological systems.ⁱⁱⁱ

Applications

The long term goal for all alternative energy sources is to replace our dependence on fossil fuels and move toward a sustainable and environmentally friendly society. With current advancements in biofuel energy engineering, it is likely to assume that vegetable and animal fats could become a main source of power. Even though retrofitted cars can currently be powered by biofuels, new advancements will soon allow all cars to be powered by both gasoline and biofuels. When oil is no longer abundant or necessary it will be the other energy sources that are called upon to produce the energy that we need, and if biofuels production continues to improve we may have little concern.

The Engineer's Kitchen: Steak with Mushrooms

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Engineering Lunch : Steak and Mushrooms

Welcome to our third installment of Cokking for Engineers. We hope everyone had a great Mothers Day and were able to try out last weeks recipe. Now that we are having another great weather day here at Glew Engineering, the grill is just begging to be used. On the menu today, we have grilled sirloin filet steaks with a sautéed mushrooms and Dijon mustard sauce. We rounded out our meal with a simple fresh green salad and a vintage 2013 Coke Zero®.

We thought to ourselves, what kind of engineering company would we be if we didn’t wire up the grill and steaks to the good ol’ thermocouple? So we did. Any back yard cook can just go get a thermometer, but leave it to the engineer to grab something that can take readings and be analyzed. While our graph and study will not make it into any technical papers, it does shows basic temperature readings of the grill temperature as well as the steaks internal temperature. Why go and wire it all up for just that data you might ask? Because we can.

Looking at the graph above, we can see that we that it took just under 20 minutes to get our grill up to temperature and that it was a beautiful 74 degrees outside. Once we added the steaks to the grill, you can then see how the effect of the steaks causes the grill temperature to fluctuate slightly. Around the 9 minute mark of cooking time, you can see where we had the grill open for an extended period of time to check the steaks and turn. In that 4 minute period, we had lost 76.9 degrees. We see that in this instance it took 8 minutes for us to increase 14.5 degrees on the internal temperature and to get the grill marks of the steak while only 13 minutes after turning to increase 64.7 degrees to reach the desired resting temperature. With the temperature of the meat higher and not removing the lid to check the steaks, the temperature of the grill was able to steadily increase and allow for a quicker cooking time.

The results from this testing did give us the results we were looking for. It resulted in one fantastic lunch and possibly a slightly less productive hour of work following. Enjoy the following recipe and come back to see what’s cooking next week.

Pepper Steak with Sautéed Mushrooms:

3 – 4oz top sirloin fillets
1 cup Button mushrooms (Sliced)
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup beef stock
1 tablespoon Dijon Mustard
Salt and Pepper (to taste)
2 sprigs Fresh Thyme
2 Sprigs Fresh Rosemary

I prepared the steaks very simply with salt and pepper. This allows for the true taste of the meat to come through. Without the heavy combinations of spices this allows for the sauce to compliment the meal in its own right. Grill steaks to your preference. For us it was medium rare, which is a reading of 140 degrees of the internal temperature. Remember that meat will continue to cook once it is removed from the grill, so removing the steaks when the internal temperature reaches about 5 degrees less than desired should allow for a perfect serving temperature. Resting the steaks before cutting will also result in a steak that retains more juice and not be dry.

You can get the sauce going while the steaks rest. In a medium sized skillet, melt the butter and add the mushrooms. Cook down until just tender. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower heat and continue to stir until sauce thickens. Serve sauce over rested steak and garnish with fresh thyme.

Salud