EBME Forums Forums Free discussion Out of Hours Technology How's It Done?

There is a bit of difference in the two terms biomedical engineer and clinical engineer (atleast in UK) not just in title but in real work as well.
Medical Engineering or Biomedical Engineering
Clinical Engineer
I have worked with both so I know it's not the same.

OK, back to "How's It Done?" ... the next topic is:-

Metadynes! (and why not?)

I remember these from my youth. Not misspent, but rather well spent in places like Arborfield, and (later) in various tank parks and such like.

For those who have yet to hear of them, the metadyne was a "rotating amplifier", or "cross-field generator" with (IIRC) a shorted link at 90° or so to the main commutator brushes. They were used to control (for example) big guns in tanks and such like, and, I believe, as part of the traction control system in certain electric locomotives.

It was heavy duty stuff, and they really "sang" (or should that be "groaned"?) when the gun turret (etc.) was slewed. Externally, and to the lay person, they looked like "double-ended motors". But only one end was the driving motor, the other being the "cross-field generator". The output - DC, of course - (which could be zero to Big Amps in a matter of milliseconds) went off to the turret motor (etc.).

Kit like this could take a bit of stick (abuse, in other words) ... from hard-left to hard-right, and all the rest. But I don't remember one failing. Which was just as well, as I seem to recall that they weren't especially easy to get at (on the Chieftain tank at least). But do I also remember correctly that they were on the floor of the turret, under the gun, on the Centurion?

I hear that metadynes have been superseded by solid-state control systems these days. Can this be true (has anyone got a circuit diagram - big SCR's and such, I suppose) ... and, why?

Hey, Karl ... considering the state of some of the modern kit I have come across, maybe we should Airfix to that list, as well.

... or, better still, add Airfix to that list (glue it, even)!

Has someone been redacting my posts?

"The Lego Technics is part of an interview test."
I wonder if that will get my order past supplies for my Christmas present to myself?
Robert

I still reckon that Meccano was the best. I was forever running out of nuts and bolts. I seem to remember that gearboxes were my forte. Just take a look at the traditional motor-cycle gearbox, and then have a go at making ("modelling") one of those in Meccano (and I'm talking about proper - old British - bikes here, of course ... not the "all indirect" gearbox types common today). Or, better still, a fully functioning lorry chassis. Those were the days!

Mind you, I'm thinking back to the real Meccano, made in Liverpool, rather than the "modern" stuff made elsewhere.

This is a response to your original question. I have a friend a physicist who works for a company that makes these 'droids'. He says that the signal is bounced of a satellite at speed of light and there is no noticeable delay.

Also I liked technical Lego; they don't make that any more.

I beg to differ
Lego Technics
It's even more advanced these days. Although given the choice this is probably more up my alley, although I'm sure an amalgamation of the two should be possible.

Looks interesting, not seen these in the shops, may have to get some..... for... er......the kids.

Kids can't be trusted to get the full potential out of these things.