...A thermostat is a component of a control system which senses the temperature of a system so that the systems temperature is maintained near a desired setpoint. The thermostat does this by switching heating or cooling devices on or off. A thermostat may be a control unit for a heating or cooling system or a component part of a heater or air conditioner. Thermostats can be constructed in many ways and may use a variety of sensors to measure the temperature. The output of the sensor then controls the heating or cooling apparatus. A thermostat may switch on and off at temperatures either side of the setpoint. This prevents equipment damage from frequent switching. The earliest recorded examples of thermostat control were built by the Dutch innovator Cornelis Drebbel around 1620 in England. He invented a mercury thermostat to regulate the temperature of a chicken incubator. This is one of the first recorded feedback-controlled devices. Modern thermostat control was developed in the 1830s by Andrew Ure, a Scottish chemist, who invented the bi-metallic thermostat. The textile mills of the time needed a constant and steady temperature to operate optimally, so to achieve this, Ure designed the bimetallic thermostat, which would bend as one of the metals expanded in response to the increased temperature and cut off the energy supply. The first electric room thermostat was invented in 1883 by Warren S. Johnson of Wisconsin. Albert Butz invented the electric thermostat and patented it in...
Words: 326 - Pages: 2
...Learning Thermostat Liberty University BUSI 520-B06 October 2012 MMGP: Background Information Thermostats detect and control temperature changes for the purpose of maintaining the temperature in an enclosed area and generating electrical signals when the temperature exceeds or falls below the desired value (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2012). The U.S. Department of Energy and the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab research, proves that the energy bill for a single family home is estimated at $2,200 annually in which heating and cooling accounts for half of the bill. In an effort to cut energy consumption costs, programmable thermostats were developed in the 1970’s. Since their development, thermostats have proven to be complicated to use and program (Close-Up Media, 2011). Nest Laboratories, a company based in Palo Alto, California founded by Tony Faddell and Matt Rogers, with the backing of several investors such as, Generation Investment Management, Google Ventures, Intertrust, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Shasta Ventures, set out to apply advancements in technology to reinvent the thermostat. The team at Nest addressed the programming problem through a combination of sensors, algorithms, machine learning, and cloud computing (Close-up Media, 2011). They came up with a thermostat capable of learning a household’s daily schedule, and personal heating and cooling preferences; naming it the Nest Learning Thermostat. After...
Words: 12686 - Pages: 51
...Google Technologies Glass Google Glass is an electronic eye wear device that essentially is the ability to access Google and updates from your smartphone device through the computerized frames. While currently still in the stages of development and beta testing, Google Glass has already started making an impact on the development of new technologies and the way in which we are able to see things through another person’s eyes. When linked with a persons smartphone device, Glass enables one to send and receive text messages displaying the message in a small visual to the user; Glass also provides the sync ability to make calls, take photos, record videos, and provide navigation. As Glass is still within it’s beta testing and development stages the applications associated and current features are limited, but the possibilities for this device seem to be the main focus of Google and it’s developers before introducing Glass to the public consumer. Currently Glass has been making headlines, as Google reaches out to promote this new technology providing testers to Police Officers in New York, and to NBA teams, the purpose to help provide a wider means for the technology in development. (Stein, 2014) When considering Glass, and the association of the Police or Emergency response teams one can consider the positive impacts Glass can provide such as development of applications compatible with the device to pull up a persons driver’s information, vehicle reports, background information...
Words: 2904 - Pages: 12
...Q1. Rank in order the new actions according to how employees will react-for example, from that’s fine to that’s overkill to that’s insane?? Answer: - Thermostats protected by locked boxes, will set at 80* in the summer and 70* in winter. It represents these temperatures are the allowed ranges, not the actual set points. We usually set the temperature between 76 and 80 during the summer and between 66 and 68 in the winter when in heating mode. So, I would have opinion that employees would have find it ‘’OVERKILL’’. Few suggestions that would make a company to energy oriented usage. a. Keep the air conditioner not cooler then 78* and the heater not warmer than the 68*, set the AC temp higher or the heat temp. Lower when you are away, or turn it off completely if no required. b. Microwaves, personal refrigerators, and fans will be banned if any electrical cord found to be cut, THATS SEEMS TO BE INSANE. As it cannot be considered as the fault of all employees, it make occur by default as well. c. Use the ceiling fans found in all the rooms to stay cooler and to help AC do its job. As well as computers turned off after 7pm would make me feel THATS FINE, as it helps to save energy. d. Recycling barrels availability throughout the building seems to be impressive idea. So employees will consider it THATS FINE Q2. Then think about any actions that you and the local managers may be able to take that will offset some of the resistance of employees. For example, can...
Words: 1064 - Pages: 5
...What They Don't Know Can Hurt Them: The Role of Prior Knowledge in Learning 01/31/2007 11:56 AM OHR Home | CTL Home | CTL Staff Directory Center for Teaching and Learning > Teaching & Learning Resources > Teaching Guides Faculty Programming Graduate Student Programming Consultations & Customized Workshops Resources for Nonnative English Speakers Online Workshops & Tutorials Teaching and Learning Resources About CTL Ask Us A Question What They Don't Know Can Hurt Them: The Role of Prior Knowledge in Learning Marilla Svinicki, University of Texas Admit it. You've watched the broadcasts of the Olympics and had your eyes glaze over while Dick Button waxed rhapsodic about the difference between a double axle and a triple lutz. They looked pretty much the same to you, didn't they? You were experiencing what many students face every day in our classrooms, a distressing lack of the prior knowledge necessary to help them understand or appreciate a new experience or content. Current research on learning has offered more and more evidence for the extent to which new learning is determined by what the learner already knows about the topic or related topics. The effect can be either positive or negative, positive if the pre-existing knowledge is correct and consistent with the new information or negative if it is full of misconceptions or conflicts with the new information. Prior knowledge & current learning Prior knowledge affects how the learner perceives new information. This phenomenon...
Words: 1659 - Pages: 7
...many organizations can say this, but Johnson Controls has three separate business units that through strategic planning and excellent customer communications continue to prosper despite present-day challenges. This paper will review the history of Johnson Controls including the founder’s values and call for innovative ideas, as a mutual fund manager review a SWOT analysis, and review Johnson Controls internal and external stakeholders and what is at stake for each identified group. History of Johnson Controls Johnson Controls today consists of three separate business units: automotive experience, building efficiency, and power solutions. Based out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Johnson Controls employs 162,000 worldwide with 2,500 employees at the corporate site, and 1,300 locations around the globe. The company’s founder, Warren Johnson successfully invented and patented in 1883 the first electric thermostat. His reason for such an inventory was to respond to the growing desire or need to regulate the environment of the individual room and reduce the cost of fuel in a more efficient way to save money to homeowners and businesses alike. In 1885 Johnson Electric Service Company officially went into business. With the success of the thermostat, Warren Johnson continued to develop his ideas with inventing the “first steam generator for auto-carriages” (Johnson Controls, 2012, p. na) as a way of competing with Henry Ford. This business did not prove successful as Ford’s ability...
Words: 1996 - Pages: 8
...little too fast and you pass a digital radar sign that says, “Your Speed Is…” and displays the current speed of your car as you pass. You might not expect it, but these signs are incredibly reliable and effective ways to change the behavior of drivers. On average, “Your Speed” signs decrease the driving speed by 10 percent. Not only that, but drivers continue to drive more slowly for miles down the road. 1 These signs are one example of a balancing feedback loop. The output of your current behavior (driving too fast) becomes the input for your new behavior (slowing down). The thermostat is another example: Imagine that you set your thermostat to 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius). When the temperature of the room dips below your setting, the heater comes on and warms up the room. When the temperature rises above your setting, the air conditioning kicks on and cools the room. The thermostat acts as a balancing feedback loop and keeps the temperature oscillating between a narrow...
Words: 1952 - Pages: 8
...Google Research and Development Projects TC American Public University System Google Research and Development Projects Google has an arm of their company called Project X that is tasked with researching and developing new and evolving technologies. When many people think about Google they simply think of the company as a search engine and web mail hosting company. The fact is that Google excels in those areas but is also on the forefront of new technologies that have the potential to change how people drive, how internet services are deployed in remote areas, how home environmental systems are controlled and how internet orders are delivered (ExtremeTech, 2015). In particular, Google’s self-driving car, DeepMind artificial intelligence, Project Wing drone, Project Loon balloon internet and Nest home automation technologies show promise to improve the quality of life for many in the world. Google’s research and development mission is to consolidate information from across the world from many sources and then make that data both useful and available to all internet users (Spector, Norvig & Petrov, 2015). Additionally, Google uses the technology to improve existing goods and services as well as improving the environment through clean energy initiatives. Google as a company is focused on rapidly developing and implementing new technology in all areas but the research but the research and development arm is hyper-focused on technology innovation (Research.google.com, 2015)...
Words: 4049 - Pages: 17
...Planets, One Earth Overview Astronomers have discovered dozens of planets orbiting other stars, and space probes have explored many parts of our solar system, but so far scientists have only discovered one place in the universe where conditions are suitable for complex life forms: Earth. In this unit, examine the unique characteristics that make our planet habitable and learn how these conditions were created. Surfaces of Mars, Moon, Venus, Earth. Source: NASA Sections: 1. Introduction 2. Many Planets, One Earth 3. Reading Geologic Records 4. Carbon Cycling and Earth's Climate 5. Testing the Thermostat: Snowball Earth 6. Atmospheric Oxygen 7. Early Life: Single-Celled Organisms 8. The Cambrian Explosion and the Diversification of Animals 9. The Age of Mammals 10. Further Reading Unit 1 : Many Planets, One Earth -1- www.learner.org 1. Introduction Earth's long history tells a story of constant environmental change and of close connections between physical and biological environments. It also demonstrates the robustness of life. Simple organisms first appeared on Earth some 3.8 billion years ago, and complex life forms emerged approximately 2 billion years ago. Life on Earth has endured through many intense stresses, including ice ages, warm episodes, high and low oxygen levels, mass extinctions, huge volcanic eruptions, and meteorite impacts. Untold numbers of species have come and gone, but life has survived even the most extreme fluxes. To understand why Earth...
Words: 8890 - Pages: 36
...Alternative Energy or Alternative Future Throughout the course of history, technological breakthroughs have paved the way for human advancement in all areas. Civilization has advanced so fast that the results from the breakthroughs are now having an impending damaging effect on the environment. Environmental degradation has long been a threat but presently this threat is exponentially greater since it has been compounding within the last century. These threats have forced the hand in researching and developing alternative technologies to maximize the potential of renewable energy sources. The requirement to reduce harmful emissions, toxins and pollutants needs to be a main concern. The ongoing change of this world deserves a modified stance on how it needs to be guarded. This world needs to shift priorities in order to develop alternative energy sources further so reliance on fossil fuels will decrease to prevent any additional environmental ruin. A key approach to alleviating the process of the evolving global warming issue is to reduce the GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions released in to the environment. Global warming causes a slow increase in the temperature worldwide. The continued temperature increase will cause drastic ecological changes affecting the world. According to Mckibben from Sojourners Magazine, “Global warming isn't happening slowly, and it's not a problem (just) for the future. We've already burned enough coal and gas and oil to increase the temperature...
Words: 1423 - Pages: 6
...in: R.A. Meyers (ed.), Encyclopedia of Physical Science & Technology (3rd ed.), (Academic Press, New York, 2001). Cybernetics and Second-Order Cybernetics Francis Heylighen Free University of Brussels Cliff Joslyn Los Alamos National Laboratory Contents I. Historical Development of Cybernetics....................................................... 1 A. Origins..................................................................................... 1 B. Second Order Cybernetics............................................................ 2 C. Cybernetics Today...................................................................... 4 II. Relational Concepts................................................................................ 5 A. Distinctions and Relations........................................................... 5 B. Variety and Constraint ................................................................ 6 C. Entropy and Information.............................................................. 6 D. Modelling Dynamics .................................................................. 7 III. Circular Processes................................................................................... 8 A. Self-Application......................................................................... 8 B. Self-Organization ....................................................................... 9 C. Closure .....................................................................................
Words: 12122 - Pages: 49
...Engineering Graphics & CAD Assignment Content Content | Page | Content | | Abstract | | Introduction | | Procedure | | Drawing | | Discussion | | Conclusion | | Reference | | Abstract This assignment is aimed to show how does a product looked like when it is dismantled and in this project, we are doing rice cooker. By dismantling the rice cooker, we are required to produce the sketches of any 12 parts of the rice cooker using multi-view and isometric techniques, and also 2D drawing using Auto-CAD. In other words, this project also helps us to be a step closer in becoming engineers by teaching us how to implement the engineering drawing techniques from sketching and then translating those sketches into the final product. In this project, 3 of us are required to produce drawings of 12 parts found in a rice cooker. We are also required to measure the parts using suitable apparatus in order to obtain the most accurate measurements possible. After getting the measurements of each dimension, we are required to sketch the parts in multi-view and isometric perspectives. We are, then, required to make 2D drawing of each part using Auto-CAD with its dimension. Introduction Rice cooker is an electric kitchen appliance that is used to boil or steam rice. The essential components that are in the rice cooker are the heating element, the aluminium inner bowl, the ceramic-based outer body, the cover, the switch, the fuse and the heat sensor. Background ...
Words: 1741 - Pages: 7
...Executive Summary MGT/307 January 18, 2011 Monica Neloms Executive Summary During Team As discussion First Tennessee Bank, Hunter Fan Company, Federal Express and Parsam Technologies are the companies discussed. Points of discussion were the companies’ organizational mission, fiscal policies, competition, economy, customer demands, restructuring and globalization. Restructuring Upon discussion, Team A found that First Tennessee Bank was restructured in 1987. This was said to have been done to allow its sixteen regions to have more authority. This would allow each bank to better serve its specific communities and the customers. Team A also found that the restructuring of this organization proved to create a positive effect on First Tennessee. Today, this bank is known as one of the fifty largest bank holding companies in the United States. Similar was the restructuring of Parsam Technologies. Parsam Technologies was acquired by Harland Financial Solutions in December 2010. This acquisition will allow Parsam Technologies to become part of a large corporation and still be a leader in the industry. Hunter Fan Company has closed many of the company’s locations throughout the United States. This restructuring has allowed the company to cut operational cost and bring all areas of the business into the company’s head quarters. Hunter Fan plans to continue in the area of restructuring evaluation the positions within the corporate office and making the...
Words: 1536 - Pages: 7
...Innovation is the application of better solutions that meet new requirements, in-articulated needs, or existing market needs. This is accomplished through more effective products, processes, services, technologies, or ideas that are readily available to markets, governments and society. The term innovation can be defined as something original and, as a consequence, new, that "breaks into" the market or society. A definition consistent with these aspects would be the following: "An innovation is something original, new, and important in whatever field that breaks in to a market or society".[1] While something novel is often described as an innovation, in economics, management science, and other fields of practice and analysis it is generally considered a process that brings together various novel ideas in a way that they have an impact on society. Innovation differs from invention in that innovation refers to the use of a better and, as a result, novel idea or method, whereas invention refers more directly to the creation of the idea or method itself. Innovation differs from improvement in that innovation refers to the notion of doing something different rather than doing the same thing better. In business and economics, innovation is the catalyst to growth. With rapid advancements in transportation and communications over the past few decades, the old world concepts of factor endowments and comparative advantage which focused on an area’s unique inputs are outmoded for today’s...
Words: 1548 - Pages: 7
...Universal Design and Why it is Important. By 2030 there will be over 70 million people over the age of 65 living in the United States. This is over 20 percent of the United States population! With improvements in medicine and positive lifestyle changes, people are living longer than at any other time in history. That being said, it is becoming increasingly logical to build houses that can sustain us even if our mobility decreases with age, debilitating disease, or injury. Universal design is a concept developed by a wheelchair bound architect, Ronald Mace, who felt that all buildings should be designed for everyone regardless of age or ability. Building with access and comfort for all in mind, means a space is useable for anyone; young, old, able bodied, disabled and/ or in a wheelchair alike. Take for instance the “baby boomers”, or the 75 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964, in a recent survey conducted by AARP, 75 percent say that they strongly agree that they want to grow old in their homes as opposed to assisted living housing. They like anyone, want to “age in place” with their familiar surroundings and not in an institutionalized nursing home. The fact is that approximately 65 percent of older people that are in nursing homes today, are there because their own homes have been deemed unsafe for them to live in anymore. Their home is just not accessible. Maybe the home has steps leading up to the door or maybe the doors are not wide enough for the wheelchair...
Words: 779 - Pages: 4
