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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glossary of mechanical engineering | 2/12 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_mechanical_engineering | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T07:51:05.490215+00:00 | kb-cron |
== A == Abrasion – is the process of scuffing, scratching, wearing down, marring, or rubbing away. It can be intentionally imposed in a controlled process using an abrasive. Abrasion can be an undesirable effect of exposure to normal use or exposure to the elements. Absolute zero – is the lowest possible temperature of a system, defined as zero kelvin or −273.15 °C. No experiment has yet measured a temperature of absolute zero. Accelerated life testing – is the process of testing a product by subjecting it to conditions (stress, strain, temperatures, voltage, vibration rate, pressure etc.) in excess of its normal service parameters in an effort to uncover faults and potential modes of failure in a short amount of time. By analyzing the product's response to such tests, engineers can make predictions about the service life and maintenance intervals of a product. Acceleration – In physics, acceleration is the rate of change of velocity of an object with respect to time. An object's acceleration is the net result of any and all forces acting on the object, as described by Newton's second law. The SI unit for acceleration is metre per second squared (m s−2). Accelerations are vector quantities (they have magnitude and direction) and add according to the parallelogram law. As a vector, the calculated net force is equal to the product of the object's mass (a scalar quantity) and its acceleration. Accelerometer – is a device that measures proper acceleration. Proper acceleration, being the acceleration (or rate of change of velocity) of a body in its own instantaneous rest frame, is not the same as coordinate acceleration, being the acceleration in a fixed coordinate system. Accuracy and precision – In measurement of a set, accuracy is closeness of the measurements to a specific value, while precision is the closeness of the measurements to each other. More commonly, accuracy or trueness is a description of systematic errors, a measure of statistical bias, while precision is a description of random errors, a measure of statistical variability; the two concepts are independent of each other. Alternatively, ISO defines accuracy as describing a combination of both random and systematic observational error, so high accuracy requires both high precision and high trueness. Ackermann steering geometry – a geometric arrangement of linkages in the steering of a car or other vehicle designed to solve the problem of wheels on the inside and outside of a turn needing to trace out circles of different radii. It was invented by the German carriage builder Georg Lankensperger in Munich in 1817, then patented by his agent in England, Rudolph Ackermann (1764–1834) in 1818 for horse-drawn carriages. Erasmus Darwin may have a prior claim as the inventor dating from 1758. Acoustic droplet ejection– (ADE) uses a pulse of ultrasound to move low volumes of fluids (typically nanoliters or picoliters) without any physical contact. This technology focuses acoustic energy into a fluid sample in order to eject droplets as small as a picoliter. ADE technology is a very gentle process. This feature makes the technology suitable for a wide variety of applications including proteomics and cell-based assays. Active cooling – an active cooling system is one that involves the use of energy to cool something, as opposed to passive cooling that uses no energy. Such systems circulate a coolant to transfer heat from one place to another. The coolant is either a gas, such as in air cooling of computers, or a liquid such as in a car engine. In the latter case, liquid is pumped to transfer heat from the engine to the radiator, which in turn is cooled by passing air over it. Other active cooling systems make use of a refrigeration cycle. Actual mechanical advantage – The actual mechanical advantage (AMA) is the mechanical advantage determined by physical measurement of the input and output forces. AMA takes into account energy loss due to deflection, friction, and wear. Adjoint equation – is a linear differential equation, usually derived from its primal equation using integration by parts. Gradient values with respect to a particular quantity of interest can be efficiently calculated by solving the adjoint equation. Methods based on solution of adjoint equations are used in wing shape optimization, fluid flow control and uncertainty quantification. For example
d
X
t
=
a
(
X
t
)
d
t
+
b
(
X
t
)
d
W
{\displaystyle dX_{t}=a(X_{t})dt+b(X_{t})dW}
this is an Itō stochastic differential equation. Now by using Euler scheme, we integrate the parts of this equation and get another equation,
X
n
+
1
=
X
n
+
a
Δ
t
+
ζ
b
Δ
t
{\displaystyle X_{n+1}=X_{n}+a\Delta t+\zeta b{\sqrt {\Delta t}}}
, here
ζ
{\displaystyle \zeta }
is a random variable, later one is an adjoint equation. Aerodynamics – the study of the motion of air, particularly its interaction with a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It is a sub-field of fluid dynamics and gas dynamics, and many aspects of aerodynamics theory are common to these fields. Agitator (device) – a device or mechanism to put something into motion by shaking or stirring. Agitators usually consist of an impeller and a shaft; an impeller is a rotor located within a tube or conduit attached to the shaft, which helps enhance the pressure in order for the flow of a fluid be done. Air handler – an air handler, or air handling unit (often abbreviated to AHU), is a device used to regulate and circulate air as part of a heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system. Air compressor – a device that converts power (using an electric motor, diesel or gasoline engine, etc.) into potential energy stored in pressurized air (i.e., compressed air). By one of several methods, an air compressor forces more and more air into a storage tank, increasing the pressure. When tank pressure reaches its engineered upper limit the air compressor shuts off. The compressed air, then, is held in the tank until called into use. Air conditioner – Air conditioning (often referred to as AC, A/C, or air con) is the process of removing heat and moisture from the interior of an occupied space, to improve the comfort of occupants. Air conditioning can be used in both domestic and commercial environments. Air preheater – (APH) any device designed to heat air before another process (for example, combustion in a boiler) with the primary objective of increasing the thermal efficiency of the process. They may be used alone or to replace a recuperative heat system or to replace a steam coil. Airflow – Airflow, or air flow, is the movement of air from one area to another. The primary cause of airflow is the existence of pressure gradients. Air behaves in a fluid manner, meaning particles naturally flow from areas of higher pressure to those where the pressure is lower. Atmospheric air pressure is directly related to altitude, temperature, and composition. In engineering, airflow is a measurement of the amount of air per unit of time that flows through a particular device. Allowance – a planned deviation between an exact dimension and a nominal or theoretical dimension, or between an intermediate-stage dimension and an intended final dimension.