Partial Indirect Extrusion (PIE)

The extrusion process, is a technology in which a metal material (usually heated to below melting point, or worked cold) is pressed in a sppecially designed container with one opening , which is the forming die. Through the opening the metal flows outward in a prism form with section similar to the designed die hole.

There are two major extrusion technologies, each with advantages and inconviniences.First and most widely used, is the Direct extrusion (DE). In the Direct extrusion process the metal block (called Billet in the industry) is placed in a cylindrical shaped container and pressed fom one side, thus it exits from the other side through the die which has a reduced cross section. The second technology is Indirect extrusion (IE), in this alternative approach the die is pushed against the billet inward and thus the metal flows from the die opening in the other direction.

An advatage of DE is that it is more stable and faster compared to IE; and the extruded profile can have width in any direction close to the general billet diameter. Disadvantage of DE is that the entire billet of metal compressed at high pressures moves forward in the container and thus friction occurs on the entire contact surface. Friction is of course a major loss of energy and efficiency (About 20% of Energy is lost due to friction).

Advantage of IE is that the Die is compressing the billet, there is no relative movement between the Billet and the Container and thus no friciton occurs, so IE is more efficient in terms of energy. The problem with IE is that the mechanical system pushing the Die inward is in the shape of beams in compression, which could cause buckling due to less stiffness and thus there is a limit on the proces speed (forces occuring) and the extruded profile passes inside the push beam hollow structure (which has to be smaller that the container diameter to go through it) and thus there is a limit on the profile dimensions.

Now that the general available technologies are explained, It should be pointed out that there are other processes with minor differences, also what is called the Hydrolic press which has its own problems too.

The process being suggested here, tries to use the advantages of both IE and DE and to get rid of the disadvantages. Any new system though would also have its own disadvantages, which I leave to the reader to point out. The design presented here, is only a concept design, there could be many details needed for having a final functional model.

In the first picture you could see the Die in green, connected to “Pull rods” also in green because they move in the same direction. In red is the metal material in form of large diameter Billet and smaller cross section extrudate. 

Figure 1 Partial Indirect Extrusion system

Now, how is the Die connected to the “Pull rods”? it might be asked. The picture below shows the connection. It is another cross section of the same exact device in a similar plane parallel to the main axes , but rotated ninety degrees (90°) from the first section plane. This design is thus not axis symmetric, but makes use of the freedom of geometry to achieve this “Partial Indirect extrusion” concept.

Figure 2 Partial Indirect Extrusion Pull Rods

The last picture below, isolates the “Pull rods” structure connected to the Die. it entirely moves backward thus forcing the metal to flow forward through the Die Hole.

Figure 3 Isolated Pull Rods and Die

Advantage:

1- The Billet will not move relative to the container in a major part of the surface. The percentage of relative moving surfaces depends on the exact dimensions of the container surface relative to the “Pull rods” contact surface. This is expected to reduce the energy loss and thus increase efficiency.

2-The profile could have width close to the Billet Diameter, as it is not limited by the “Pull Rods” geometry  (It does not pass through like the IE).

3-The process can be run as fast as DE because the “Pull Rods” do not risk buckling in tension.

Standard-Helical Hybrid Wind Turbine

Most small to extremely large wind turbines installed in the world, are designed in the same way similar to a plane propeller, with three blades as most common number. They reorient facing the strongest wind by the help of sensors and then rotate by the force of the wind, connect the rotation energy through a shaft to an alternator which generates electric energy and feeds it to a collecting battery or directly to the electric grid.

Other designs have emerged during the last few decades, one of them seemed to catch more attention and it was called the Vertical Turbine or Helical Turbine. This design collects wind energy from all directions and can also be more efficient at lower wind speeds. The problem with that design is that, relative to its area, it does not collect as much energy as the standard propeller design, so its return on investment is low.

What I am presenting here is a Standard-Helical Hybrid turbine, which uses some of the advantages of Helical with the advantages of standard design. Three Helical blades are connected on a central hub and rotate around the hub like standard blades, but also rotate around their center like Helical blades. The rotating hub, increases the relative wind speed and thus increases the efficiency of the Helical blades. The central hub can be connected to the blades by mechanical gears, or could be independent and controlled by a motor driver.

A further investigation of the concept is needed of course. This mechanism needs to be simulated and the geometry of the blades and Hub can of course be optimized for improved aerodynamics and energy collections. What you see in the video below is a concept drawing without accurate proportions.

Quantum Computing using Human Processors

It does not always occur to a person walking on the street, that every individual passing by carries a powerful processor,the brain, mostly using it to navigate in the surrounding space while browsing on the mobile phone (In the field of quantum that phone is in a state of  "Iphone 6S" or "Samsung Galax S6" other states are less probable). As I sat in the library today, again I noticed many people around me sitting and using their brains to the least requirement in a place where people are supposed to be learning, thinking, creating.

If you show a person a banana and ask for its color, the chances are that the answer would be "Yellow" but also with less chance is to obtain an answer of a different color starting by "Green" and then less banana common colors and finally the answers of least chance are of non color answers like "Round". After receiving a hundred answers from a hundred person you could be more assured that the right answer is "Yellow" by statistical analysis.

Now imagine you have a more complex mathematical problem , design problem , or even Estethic Form (lets say a haute couture dress or a car design). If we could develop an algorithm which can disect any of those problems into a thousand smaller problem and send each to a large number of Mobile App user. Each user will use his brain (processor) to solve the small simple problem with whatever hint of subjectivity there is. The mobile app would collect all answers to all fragments of the problem and then through statistical approach of quantum generate the answer of the major problem, we would be creating a quantum computer based on human brain.

In concept:
Suppose the problem P = A + B + C + D where A = 1 + 2 , B = 4 - 2 and so on.
A group of users will recieve problem A and then provide their answers, the collecting server would determin the answer 3 to be the right answer (as it is the most occuring).
Now imagine P to be a car design , A is the front light shape, B is the Rims shape, C is the side mirror.
P = A+ B + C ...
The users can be presented with several options for A, B and C... and the most occurring selections would be gathered into the shape P. 

Another potential of such computing concept is to include the human subjectivity, human perception factor into the equation and then that would result with a more human oriented solution.