Nicer Weather - Time to practice self control

Well, there are only 4 full weeks left this semester! Many of us are working hard to make sure that we can pull through and get everything done. One of the hardest parts for all of us in the coming weeks is going to be looking outside and seeing shining sun and greening grass. Today weatherchannel.com is predicting the temperature in Virginia to hit 60. Many of us enjoyed at least two afternoons per week of football and other activities in the fall, but this was in the beginning of the semester. Now we are throwing the football in the room while deadlines are fast approaching.

Even though it is getting nicer as the days go by, we are all going to need to buckle down and resist the urge to blow off the extra time needed as deadlines approach. Ask most any professional working and he or she will usually tell you, "I work around 40 hours per week, but it can get pretty crazy around project deadline times." This is just another example of how IRE is more like the real world than people could have imagined.

Proofed by Brianna

Engineering Ethics

Today, students from IRE attended an ethics conference at Itasca Community College (ICC). We were joined by students from ICC engineering and Industrial Technology - Power Generation program (A new program given by ICC). This conference raised awareness of numerous ethical situations with poster boards that the students had made. Topics ranged from nuclear energy to building designs to hunting ethics. Most of the IRE groups chose to use ethics topics that deal with engineering. The topic that our group chose to do was genetic engineering. We thought this was a good topic because there only exists an area of grey. This caused a lot of discussion amongst the people that watched our poster presentation. Overall, the conference went well and relations between ICC and IRE grew.

Proofed by: Brianna Frey

Tesla Turbine Undergraduate Research Conference

The Tesla Turbine group was recently accepted to present at Mankato State Universities 2011 Undergraduate Research Conference (URC). On April 4th we presented at a poster session showing our accomplishments over the semester. The presentation went well but more importantly we got further experience presenting to both technical and non-technical audiences. There were inquiring minds about the Iron Range Engineering program as well as our Tesla Turbine project. We were glad to inform the people in attendance on both accounts.

While at the URC we had the opportunity to view some of the other student’s projects. One of particular interest was titled “Exploration of the Mesabi Iron Range”. The student presenter was Ryan Rague, a geology major working in conjunction with Cliffs Natural Resources. The URC project was about the extensive 20th century mining of high-grade iron ore and its depletion. The results from his geological experiments and subsequent data suggest that more high-grade iron ore is below previously mined areas. He is continuing his research in more mining areas.

From the positive feedback and interest we received along with what we learned, I am looking forward to attending the URC in 2012.



Proofread by: Matt Hudson

Tesla Turbine Update

Over the past two weeks, the Tesla turbine team has been developing a variety of models to simulate air pulsing at 500 Hz. The first idea investigated the use of an electric solenoid to control the pulse time. The team found that the solenoids available on the market had a maximum frequency of 10-15 Hz. After brainstorming additional ideas, three different models were developed. Various calculations were the preformed (include finite element analysis) to determine the optimal design. The design chosen is shown below:

The team then contacted several local machine shops to determine whether:

1. The design could be easily fabricated
2. Whether there should be any modifications
3. Estimated cost of delivery

Lehman’s Machine Inc. in Iron, Minnesota stood out by being very helpful with design suggestions in addition to having one of the lowest quotes. Today, the team visited Leyman’s and were greeted with great hospitality. The design was discussed in further detail and steps were laid on how next to proceed. Tomorrow, parts for the design will be finalized and ordered allowing construction at Leyman’s to begin early next week.

Proofread by Eric Schaupp

Trip to CAT in Peoria, IL

A group of IRE students along with students from the Eveleth campus of Mesabi Range Community and Technical College drove down to Peoria, IL on Sunday. We started in the snows of Minnesota and ended in the balmy 85 degree weather in Illinois. We visited four facilities in and around Peoria, including a production plant for track machines, a distribution plant, as well as a research and testing facility for Caterpillar. These were all highly informative and interesting tours, where we were exposed to some machines that only exist in a handful of locations in the world. The size and precision of the manufacturing processes employed by CAT in these plants are staggering, for instance one of the facilities, the one for storage and distribution of parts, has 51 acres under the roof.
Besides seeing the CAT plants in Peoria, we were able to get to know several of the industrial technology students from the Eveleth campus. We have started a relationship that could be very beneficial to both programs in the coming years.
On our way out of Peoria we were able to swing into Chicago and visit the science museum. It is a very interesting place, with hundreds of amazing exhibits. Bodyworks and a captured German sub from WW2 were two of the most notable exhibits, but they had everything from tornadoes and a cola mine to flight simulators and a toy manufacturing line. All in all, it was a very successful, interesting and educational trip.

Proofed by DP

Hydraulic Vendor

Today the Hibbing Taconite group met with a hydraulics vendor from Nott Company this morning. The vendor was able to walk us through the process of selecting a hydraulic cylinder and a possible pump package. We also learned what type of hydraulic flow controls are needed to control the system and what kind of safety equipment is needed to be put on the hydraulic cylinder. The vendor was able to work with us and come up with a line drawing of how hydraulic fluid will flow through the hydraulic system. Now with this new knowledge we are able to ask our contacts at Hibbing Taconite if these new specs will meet their needs.

Proofed by Tyler

A balance of stress and fun

Even though the semester is winding down at a very rapid pace, we are still making time to have a little fun. Now that spring is approaching, everyone's getting a little antsy to be done with school. With less than 5 weeks of school left, the stress is beginning to increase at an exponential rate…but here at IRE, we still make time for fun. Everyone has lots of work to do; learning all their competencies and finishing project work. Now that the sun is shining and the days are longer, there will plenty of fun outside, whether it be football games, soccer games or frisbee. Everyone can take a breather for an hour or two. We still continue to have our lunch speakers each week to give us valuable insight into working life and give us their stories of experience. Next week, some people will be going to the Society of Mining Engineers conference to learn about the mining industry that we are apart of and are funded by. Also, next week, IRE will be making the spring trip down to Target Field to watch the Twins take on the Kansas City Royals. The following week, stress will be pretty high with us taking the FE exam (only practice) on Thursday…but then we get a few days off to spend with friends, family…and lots of good food for Easter. After we come back from Easter "break," it's all about finals. To help the stress with those last 2 weeks, IRE will be going out for a round of golf and will hopefully be having a grill out. As Tyler stated below, crunch time is upon us.

Sprinkled in the last few weeks will also be some volunteering opportunities. With the snow melting, IRE has been keeping in contact with the city of Fargo. We are ready and willing to go help sandbag and do what they need to help protect the city. IRE has also adopted a portion of highway 53, so we will be taking time to go clean up the highway. And to help a little more locally, we will be doing one more campus clean up for Mesabi Community College.

Needless to say, the next few weeks are going to busy ones.

Proofed by Korpi