Is there any one thing that governs it? any ideas?
unclejake,
May 27, 9:37pm
Yes, design.
widespec,
May 27, 9:58pm
unclejake wrote: Yes, design.[/quote lol nice!. ok. and within that design would there be something that would determine its efficiency? say you had the most efficient machine in the world. what would make it so? is there any one thing?
widespec,
May 27, 10:01pm
kinda like a unified field theory sort of thing.
brapbrap8,
May 27, 11:20pm
Friction (both friction from air and other sources) is the biggest challenge for efficiency. If it weren't for friction then a vehicle would only need power to accelerate to a speed, or maintain speed up a hill. The power could then be captured again when slowing down or going down hill so effectively there would be no energy loss, AKA perfect efficiency.
widespec,
May 28, 12:14am
ok now it looks like we have two but in reality we have only one so far, as brapbrap8 states, it is the non existence of friction that makes for efficiency but since this would not exist as it would be absent, then design is king atm
widespec,
May 28, 12:19am
btw i thought friction but upon reflection design does win in my mind
widespec,
May 28, 12:21am
and does the same apply to a battery? is it the lack friction that makes for a long lasting battery, or its design? or both?
curlcrown,
May 28, 3:51am
Without friction a wheel driven vehicle would not be able to accelerate or go up a hill in the first place.
bigfatmat1,
May 28, 5:42am
physics
mm12345,
May 28, 6:38am
Internal combustion engines are remarkably inefficient. Even when running at optimum rpm and load, 65% of the energy potential of the fuel is wasted as heat.
tintop,
May 28, 6:53am
Design and operation.
An efficient design will not be if it is operated away from its design parameters.
A wasteful design will never be efficient no matter how careful it is operated.
tintop,
May 28, 6:58am
That is not always so - there are engines that are now better than 50% efficient at optimum conditions. But hardly practical except for their own specialised application :)
Don't forget the management system which will make the best of what's available, or the human operator whose thought processes may or may not contribute to overall efficiency.
beno,
May 28, 2:47pm
energy in, power out.its called the carnot cycle. give me several hours with a whiteboard and i'll demonstrate how it works.
Since the public registrations are closed, you must have an invite from a current member to be able to register and post in this thread.
Have an account? Login here.