Mechanical Engineering - Essay Example

A senior design essay for mechanical engineering Introduction Mechanical engineering is considered to be one of the oldest engineering disciplines. Mechanical engineers work on the principles of material, energy and mechanics for designing and manufacturing devices and machines of almost all types. They create systems and processes that may support in driving the technology as well as the industry. The major aspects of this profession are the flexibility, breadth and individuality that it offers. The individual choices made by the mechanical engineers most probably help them in defining their career path. Mechanics, engineering sciences, heat and energy, mathematics, manufacturing and designs are the areas that are considered to be the base of the mechanical engineering. Mechanics deals with fluid ranging from water to the hypersonic gases that flow around the space vehicles. Mechanics is also concerned with the motion of things ranging from a particle to complex structures such as machines. Designing is considered to be the most satisfactory job for mechanical engineers. For the purpose of designing and building a brand new car, the engineers must give importance to its weight and the amount of power it consumes. Other aspects that must be considered while designing a car are the size and shape of the car, the material, safety and reliability. Synthesis occurs when an engineer pulls together all the factors required in the design for manufacturing a new car. Design problems can be quite challenging for the engineers as most of these problem are open ended with one or more best answer present. Mechanical Engineering and Human Behavior One of the biggest challenges for mechanical engineers is that people usually suggest them that they find it hard to adopt a sustainable lifestyle because individuals present around them are not doing the same. They want the collective movement with the individuals present around them who are taking the same measures as them to protect the environment, otherwise somebody alone performing the duty feels as if he is being self-sacrificed. The responsibility can however be transferred when it is said that there is a need to develop a centralized system before the individuals may opt to live a fully sustainable lifestyle backed by technology using the sustainable mechanical engineering techniques. Mechanical engineers are traditionally known for solving problems. For example if we are looking forwardto increasing the industrialization of a particular area or probably a whole nation, engineers provide us infrastructure and ways for exploiting the natural resources present in a specific area for achieving economic gains. Take the example of transportation where mechanical engineers are constantly working to improve and develop more energy efficient means for transporting people or goods from one place to the other. Another example can be that there is a constant need of growing more food because of the growth rate of population.Therefore for this purpose the engineers follow the “more with less approach”, that is they develop means through which less energy would be consumed while sowing and harvesting. The mechanical engineers are trying to come up with ways that would help in the better storage and distribution of crop. It is a fact that not all sustainability problems have technical answers. In the timeline of human development, at a certain point we must control our desires of always wanting more at the cost of our future and we should move towards the condition where sustainability is considered to be “living a lifestyle that can be sustained indefinitely”. In financial aspect we must turn the transition from the living off the capital to the state known as living off interest. The individualshave complete autonomy of selecting the kind of lifestyle they want to follow but these are the engineers that help them to find a technical solution for their problems[Rup12]. In UK a large proportion of energy is used for the purpose of heating. Biomass heating may help in the meeting the energy requirement of UK to a great extent but because of the restrictions imposed on the production of Biomass it is difficult to meet the energy requirement of UK through this source. Therefore electric heating will definitely be requiredas a source of renewable heating, by the help of heat pump mostly. This may serve as an advantage for permitting wide buffering of the interruption of renewable energy production, grating them the thermal inertia that is mostly used for the purpose of heating buildings. When the heating is switched off, the building temperature does not change quickly as its takes time for the building temperature to drop; however in some of the electrical appliances such as in televisions, power dip may have a significant impact. It depends on the behavior of the human being that what type of heating system they want to choose for matching their lifestyle. Heating system can be automated but the individual is allowed to choose the temperature setting as well as the timings of heating[Ric06]. Sustainable Mechanical Engineering We live in a world where it is highly essential to produce and convert energy into beneficial form so that it can be consumed by people. Mechanical engineers are concerned with almost all the aspects related to the conversion and production of energy from one form to the other. They are also concerned with designing and operating hydroelectric, fossil fuel, co-generation power plants and engines nuclear. They are also involved in designing combustion engines for vehicles and also for marine use and for running electrical power generation. Mechanical engineers have now started addressing the need of sustainable development. Sustainable development is defined as development that helps in addressing the needs of today without compromising the needs of the future. Sustainable development has currently becomethe major objective of the environmentalism in an industrialized society. However it is still a global debate that not all industrialized societies believe in practicing sustainable development. Improving the overall condition of the environment is considered to be the objective of the developing global economy. Sustainable engineering in the context of the mechanical engineering is considered to be applying sustainable practices to the processes as well as the products. For e.g. the objectives of sustainable development, which the engineers adopt include the creation of the new means of production for increasing the carrying capacity of the world, for meeting the requirements of the increased consumptions and population trends. Tempering with the desire to increase the carrying capacity of the worldis considered to be a holistic approach, as it ensures the wellbeing of the environment by not exceeding the capacity of the global system of absorbing and recycling the waste generated by human beings[Sar12]. A peer society named American Institute of Chemical engineers is responsible for maintaining the Sustainable Engineering Forum. The duty of this forum is to provide stimulus that define the roles, which the mechanical engineers may play for achieving a sustainable development. The focus areas of American Institute of Chemical engineers (AIChE) include defining properly the metric for incorporating environmental and social benefits and sustainability in the process, product and service designs. The focus of the area of AIChE also includes determining impact of processes, products and services and designing environmental friendly technologies, for example the green chemistry. Green chemistry emphasizesparticularly on the designing, manufacturing and the minimum usage of chemicals for decreasing or eradicating pollution. Thermal principles and basic mechanics may turn sustainable by improving the efficiencies of the system. Tremendous design opportunities exist in the field of mechanical engineering for developing products that most probably consume sustainable material thatstays sustainable even when they reach to an end of their sustainable life. For ensuring the sustainable use of energy the products must be operated at their peak efficiencies. It is the responsibility of the mechanical engineers that while designing the products and processes one must consider the energy requirements as well as the sustainable material being used. Design for sustainable environment must also be included in other objectives i.e. designing for reliability, designing for manufacturing and designing for testing, etc. Micro-technology as well as nano-technology must be considered to be a sustainable guideline for minimizing the impact of waste and materials on the environment. There are many opportunities presented by the sustainable mechanical engineering for the society and also for its members for taking the leading role in the new improved methods. Conclusion The mechanical engineering department is trying to develop new designs that would support the idea of sustainability, keeping in mind that what exactly are the needs and wants of the individuals. Research also suggests that sustainable designs created by mechanical engineers may create greater product innovation. As the mechanical engineers are growing to understand the significance of sustainable designs and the benefits attach to it, the society is expecting from them to embrace more sustainable designs. Another challenge that mechanical engineers may face is to find out ways of making cost reduction and sustainable innovative designs synonymous as it would help them in attracting more individuals opting to adopt a sustainable life style. Work Cited Rup12: , (Blackstone), Ric06: , (Ciocci), Sar12: , (Krasley), Read More