Final United Taconite Presentation

On Thursday February 24th, 2011, the United Taconite (UTAC) Filter Wash team presented our project and findings to the steering committee at the United Taconite Pellet Plant located in Forbes, MN. The purpose of the steering committee is to approve funding for projects that the senior members of UTAC wish to implement into their plant. Therefore, this presentation of our project was a big deal for IRE.

Matthew and I were the speakers who presented our findings to the committee and the feedback was everything that we could have hoped for. We received many compliments on our work and it made the many late nights we put in working on the project all worthwhile. One of the compliments I would like to share:
"The level of design detail and experimentation goes beyond what we would have
gotten had the project been contracted out."
This was extremely rewarding to hear from someone who is highly regarded in the engineering community of the Iron Range.

To go along with this, I would like to talk a little about the preparation for the presentation and what we did as a team. First of all, practice makes perfect. Matthew and I rehearsed this countless times and at first, we received feedback from other members of the group as to what we could improve upon. After this, we gave the presentation to the faculty members of IRE so we could get some "expert" input as well. The day before the presentation, Matthew and I were the lunch speakers for IRE and had printed out comment sheets for all the students at IRE so that we could get even more feedback on our presentation and speaking skills.

In closing, UTAC stated that they are planning on budgeting the project so it can be implemented in the 2012 fiscal year. I feel this is a huge step for IRE in justifying that we become engineers by practicing being engineers.

Blue IRE logo for student use

Ok, since everyone is always asking me for a copy of the IRE logo, I am posting one here on the blog for you to copy/paste for your word documents, PowerPoints, and posters.

By the way, the colors for the logo were decided last week. This blue and grey style is the official color scheme.

I made this file in a PNG format. This means you will be placing only the words on your documents. In other words, it wont have a white box around and behind it, which means you can place it over pictures and colored backgrounds without looking unprofessional.

Instructions:

Click the logo to open it to full screen.

Then you can right click copy, then paste to your project, or in certain formats you can simply drag from the blog and drop it on your project.

If that doesnt work for you, try to right click and save as.

Time Management

Throughout my time at IRE, I have come to realize how important time management really is. This is true for both my personal and professional life; there has to be a balance, but projects also have to get completed effectively and efficiently.

The past week and a half have been a very hectic time for myself, and other members of Team United Taconite (this team had a project last semester for a local mine) because we have to present our project once again. This presentation is going to be given to senior members of the United Taconite Mining Company so we really want to "nail" it. Unfortunately for us, we are all now part of different teams and have to divide our work for our new projects, United Taconite, and our technical learning. This means that we have really been feeling a time crunch.

I deal with "time crunches" by creating something of a budget. I make a list of all the things that I need to get done within the next few weeks and I prioritize them. I know that some people also incorporate a time budget with the work that needs to get completed, but for me, I make a list of PRIORITES and then the BACK BURNER. I feel that this really helps me to see what I can get done, what I need to get done, and what is accomplishable in the time frame that I have.

I understand that not everyone is going to time budget themselves the way that I do, but I do think that it is important to understand how to budget a work load for a given time frame. This is something that I have gained experience in by attending IRE because of the industry partner projects I have worked on. As such, this gives me invaluable experience that I will be able to use in my career.

Proofed by Cory

Hib Tac Midterm

Hibbing Taconite group is progressing well, we have been drawing the counter weight structure in a 3-D drawing program. After this is done, we will perform finite element analysis on the structure with the added lifting equipment. We are also preparing our poster for speakers and visitors that are coming on Wednesday and in the future. This week’s main event is midterms! We are all busy working on our projects and getting our personal learning done in time before mid-terms end late next week. We are all very busy and trying to manage our time. After midterm, a group of students are taking a week long spring break trip with Florida as the end destination.

Proofed by Alex

Student Life: Wild Hockey Game

Yesterday, a number of IRE students traveled to the twin cities for a student life event. After arriving and checking into the hotel, the group walked a couple of blocks to Burger Moe's to eat before attending the hockey game. The Wild played host to the Vancouver Canucks, currently rated number one in their division (same division as the Wild). The game was tied one to one after the first period, but the home team came up short in the second and third giving up three goals losing by a final of four to one. The Wild played hard making for an entertaining game from a spectator standpoint. Today, students wanted to take advantage of the shopping opportunities of the Rosedale Mall located in Rosedale Center. The mall gave people a chance to get some breakfast before the ride ahead. A small group of us ate at Famous Dave's rib shack in Forest Lake before making the last leg of our trip back to Virginia. The trip was a great way to relax and recharge before the big push to spring break.

Proofed by Roth and Korpi

Blandin Paper Company Tour

In order to put context to the dryer optimization project for Blandin, myself and the rest of the Blandin team at IRE went on a tour of the paper drying section at the Grand Rapids, MN UPM Blandin site. This was extremely beneficial for us because we were able to connect many things we had learned from the KADANT seminar to the operations at the paper mill. The tour consisted of an overview of the plant operations from the DCS control room, an "inside" look of the dryer sections, and a trace of the steam piping system.

The tour also allowed us to ask questions of our Blandin contact on ideas for optimization that we were able to obtain from the KADANT seminar as well. This meeting was deemed as a "rescoping" meeting since we now had a deeper knowledge of the system components used for the optimization of steam.

All in all the tour and meeting at Blandin Paper Company was extremely helpful and the personnel involved were very happy to help answer any questions we had. I feel that because of the visuals that went along with the tour that I will be able to make an accurate model describing thermodynamics and heat transfer concepts that are occurring within the dryer section.

Hib Tac

Today the Hibbing Taconite group went to the Hibbing Taconite facility. Here we toured the two crusher drive houses. We took measurements and pictures of the counter weight system for the lifting device we have to design for the counter weight system. We have spent the last few weeks talking to vendors that deal with lifting equipment. The three different types of lifting equipment that we are looking into are screw jack, cable hoist system and hydraulic cylinder. We also have been talking to vendors about equipment prices and what are the limits of the equipment. We will be preparing for a presentation in the coming weeks.

Read by Alex Learmont

Tesla Turbine Update

Last week, Eric Schaupp and I travel led down to the cities to use the laser cutter at Century College in White Bear Lake, MN. The purpose of this trip was to design a functional prototype of the Tesla turbine. This week, we have been going to Itasca Community College to machine the shaft for the turbine. Next week, we will be conducting a multitude of experiments on the prototype to determine optimal turbine design. To build the prototype and machine the shaft, CAD drawings were made using Autodesk Inventor. At Century, we initially had problems exporting the drawings to CorelDraw to be printed but thankfully Tierney Putman (the lab technician) was a great help. A total of 72 pieces were cut on the laser cutter. Nick Esler and Tom Happy, the other two group members, have been working hard to determine how to calculate rotational velocity and torque of the turbine. By Monday, we should have a working prototype ready for testing.

Proofed by Eric Schaupp

IRE logo in PNG format for student use

Kadant Seminar

Yesterday, Team Blandin attended an all day seminar in Grand Rapids at the Sawmill Inn. The seminar was put on by Kadant. The seminar was about ways to optimize the dryer section. This was a great opportunity for the five of us in so many ways.

First of all we learned so much about the drying system. This was a very technical seminar and we were able to relate many of the processes to our learning competencies. Some of the things we learned were how heat is transferred through the dryer cans, how steam flow throughout the drying process, and then ways to reduce steam usage in the drying process. We learned much more but these were the three things that stuck out in my mind and related mostly to our project. This seminar also laid a great foundation for what we need to do to complete our project.

Second, we attended a conference with thirty other engineers who work in paper mills in northern Minnesota (Sappi, Blandin, Boise, and New Page). This allowed for us to visit and network with them. One question we received was if we were interested in working in paper mill and of course I answered yes. These companies would all be great places to work at. This opportunity allowed us to get some personal exposure to the industry.

Another question that we got from many of the engineers was what our program was like. This was a perfect opportunity to explain how Iron Range Engineering worked and get word of the new program out. All in all this day benefited our team in many ways.

Moving On

Since IRE began, we have had the invaluable assistance of Nick Lefebvre, our Program Coordinator. Nick, a mechanical engineer fresh out of school, dedicated himself to the betterment of this program. He arranged unique opportunities, from tours and lunches, to a spring break trip to the west coast. He would solve problems before anyone else knew they existed, while making sure we as students had everything we need. Nick did all these things and many more, and recently he has taken a well deserved opportunity to advance his career, with an engineering position at Hibbing Taconite. Nick brought his determination, problem solving skills, and so much more to IRE, which has shaped it in ways we may never fully know. He will bring this to every job, and make himself and his company better for it.

I worked as an IRE Intern for one summer, where I had the opportunity to learn from Nick. His actions and advice helped me to significantly develop my professionalism and problem solving skills. The example he set will help me for years to come.

Tesla Turbine

This semester, there are two entrepreneurial group projects. Our group is known as the Tesla Turbine Group and includes Nick Esler, Tom Happy, Matt Hudson and myself. The Tesla Turbine group has been very busy these first few weeks brainstorming and researching a magnitude of different project possibilities. Our ideas have ranged from water conservation and renewable energies to sterling engines and power production. As a group we have narrowed down our focus to power production that is eco-friendly. We plan to utilize a Tesla Turbine as the means for producing a lightweight and low-pollution power generation system. The plan for the semester is to develop three sets of prototypes. The first will be made out of acrylic and cut with a laser cutter at Century College. The second will be made from sheet metal and cut using a CNC mill. The final prototype will combine the results from the first and second prototypes and will be submitted to the MN Cup. By the next time I post on the blog I hope to have a synopsis of our experiments from the first prototype as well as several pictures.

Proofed by: Matt Hudson

Rapids Energy Center

A tour of Minnesota Power’s Rapids Energy Center was taken on Thursday, 2-3-11, by the Blandin project team. The tour was taken to acquire background information about the steam generation process which supplies the steam consumed by the line six paper machine dryer can section. This information will aid us in our project objective, which is to provide Blandin with possible ways to optimize the consumption of steam used in the cans. As a part of our education, we also have other learning objectives we need to meet. One way to fulfill all learning objectives is to tie in different aspects of the project that might not pertain directly to the project but still have educational value and real world application. As a result, most of us students on the Blandin team will be taking Advanced Thermodynamic Power Cycles as one of our competencies for the semester.

Rapids Energy Center (REC) cogeneration steam process consists of four boilers and two steam turbine generators. Two boilers are wood and coal fired units, while the other two are fueled by natural gas. Blandin is the sole customer of Rapids Energy Center, but they are interdependent operations. The paper mill also provides REC with river water used for cooling various equipment and wash down needs, along with fire protection water. They also supply the fuel needed to operate REC, which is waste wood created in the paper making process. This waste wood supplies roughly 1/3 of the total daily wood burned. On the other side, REC provides the mill with steam, electrical, and pneumatic energy sources necessary for paper production.

Proofed by Felicia Levchak

Manage Your Time

I recently read the Manage Your Time book by Tim Hindle. It is part of the essential managers collection. After my reading was completed, I gave some thought to what the book was trying to say. It gave 101 tips to help save time in an everyday setting. It gave advice on everything from how to greet co-workers differently if you have time and if you dont, how to arrange an office space for optimum efficiency, how to stay clutter free, and how to calculate what your time is worth to managing the time of others around you. Many of the points the author brought up have been brought up at IRE. I have heard many times: don't spend time on tasks with no benefits, don't try to do everything by yourself, do make a time log, do use the resources on hand and available to you. After these conclusions, I feel this book was worth my time to read and I would advise to others looking for help in managing their time.



Proofed by: Jesse Stanton