Fire Destroys People and Property In Southern Africa - Graphic Pictures

Last week was on the red fire danger alert. But this was not a veld fire. In three separate incidents, fire showed its dangerous side. Watch these photos.

In BeitBridge, Zimbabwe's border with South Africa, the warehouse for the customs went in flames.

This incident was following one in which an Eagle Liner bus heading for Zimbabwe went in flames. Fortunately the passengers had vacated the bus.

The most gruesome incident was when trucks at the border for DRC caught fire killing several drivers.

Be grateful for each day.

Salary Survey for Electrical Engineers in Zimbabwe

This is what I found out from the CV people Africa survey on salaries. the survey was taken from 8 practicing engineers of both genders.

The maximum salary for a highly experienced engineer is appalling.

Week Joke- Engineer and talking frog

An engineer was crossing a road one day, when a frog called out to him and said, "If you kiss me, I'll turn into a beautiful princess." He bent over, picked up the frog and put it in his pocket.
The frog then cried out, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a princess, I'll stay with you for one week and do ANYTHING you want."
Again, the engineer took the frog out, smiled at it and put it back into his pocket.
Finally, the frog asked, "What is the matter? I've told you I'm a beautiful princess and that I'll stay with you for one week and do anything you want. Why won't you kiss me?"
The engineer said, "Look, I'm an engineer. I don't have time for a girlfriend, but a talking frog, now that's cool."

This was taken from http://www.tickld.com/x/10-jokes-only-engineers-will-understand

There are many of these jokes on that site

Working with MS Visio - Manipulating Shapes

When you drag and drop your shapes in the page, you need to move them and position them using the guides and rules. The platform allows you to move your shapes in any way and also to resize them.

 Once the shapes have been moved and joined together, you may find out that some blocks may remain behind when you move others. To get over this, you select all the blocks which you want to be always together and then you group them.

All the basics have been covered. We will then draw block diagrams in groups as given in the Visio platform. Below is a typical block diagram you can produce. Its very nice and spices up your presentation.

Keep Checking as we grow through this powerful tool.

Working with MS Visio - Aligning Drawings and blocks

In many drawing applications it is difficult to properly align block. In Ms Visio, the use of rule and grids make this very simple.

Guides are even more visible than grids and rules as they draw lines on your block and you can easily align your blocks.

Next we will look at how you can move and group shapes then we will do an exemplary step by step approach. Keep checking for updates.

Working with MS Visio - Connectors

After arranging your shapes in order for the program flow or chart or circuit, you uses connectors to connect the blocks.

You can make connections in the two ways shown below.

You can use auto-connect while you drag the shape

You can also use auto-connect with shapes already on the page

If you do not want to use auto-connect, you can disable it.

In the next issue we discuss how to use the Rules and Grids.

Working with MS Visio - Working with Shapes

We have introduced Visio and now its time to get into its use. Visio has a rich pack of predefined shapes that make drawing easier. The shapes are available in groups. The predefined elements are shown below

The shapes are manipulated using the handles available in visio. The handles are shown below and are used to customize the shapes.

The Shapes are contained in stenciles which group them according to applicability. However, one can use shapes from different categories.

 The following diagram shows how you can navigate through the Visio interface to get the shape that you want to use.

In the next issue we look at how to connect the shapes.

Microsoft Visio For Perfect Diagrams and Flow Charts

Drawing good diagrams can be a challenge using Microsoft word and thank to Visio which allows the fine presentation of diagrams that can be exported or linked to MS word.

 What is Visio? 

Microsoft Visio is a program designed to assist users in the creation and illustration of
idea’s, processes, and systems.

What does Visio do? 

Through the use of Visio templates the user can create:
 Calendars
 Timelines
 Organizational Charts
 Networking Diagrams
 Building plans
 Pert Charts
 Gantt Chart
 Brainstorming diagrams
 Block Diagrams
 Charts & Graphs
 Electrical & Mechanical Engineering Diagrams
 Flowcharts
 Maps
 Networking Diagrams
 Data Base Diagrams
 Business Process Diagrams
 The user also has the option to create a new blank Visio Drawing  and use the shapes and symbols from the above templates to create  their own diagram.

The visio Interface

There are many shapes which can be used in Visio and that is our next discussion. Using Visio, you can make a state of the art presentation of figures that would require and expert is you were using MS Word.

Vector Controlled Three Phase Induction machine

The block below shows the steps and stages in implementation of Vector control in three phase induction machine. It is very important to understand the Space Vector Theory before understanding the  Vector Control strategy.

JMAG Simulation of Rotating Magnetic Flux in Induction Motor

This video shows that poly-phase and multi-phase induction machines really produce a rotating magnetic field in the air gap. The moving magnetic field is responsible for the induction of rotor emf and resultant rotor currents.

The establishment of a rotating flux explains why the poly-phase and multi-phase induction machines are self starting.

Observe how the current density changes together with the magnetic flux density.

Trapezium Rule

The trapezium rule is a method used in calculus to calculate the area under a curve. In calculus language, the area under a curve is the integral of the function defined by the curve.

The integral is given by:

                     Considering the figure below, it implies that the above expression can be used to get a summation of the individual are components bound by the curve. If equal widths are used, then x2-x1=Ts.

The new expression then becomes 

However, Simpson's rule is more accurate when the curve is parabolic. 

Big Brother 2014- Extravaganza

Butterphly Magic Wins all extravaganza tasks

Big Brother Africa 2014 Screen Shots- How JJ Scooped the HOHship

J J Wins the Head Of House Task. 

Vector Calculus Fundamental Theorems and Formulae.

This is for quick revision when you are facing an engineering mathematics exam.