Mechanical Engineering

A mechanical engineer understands the key concepts including mechanics, kinematics, thermodynamics and energy. They work in varied fields which use mechanical systems including automobiles, aircraft, heating & cooling systems, manufacturing plants, industrial equipment and machinery, medical devices and more. The specializations include in areas like thermal engineering, design, and production engineering etc.

The industry offers a wide choice of options extending across many interdisciplinary interdependent specialties. Mechanical engineers also do research, develop, design and test tools, engines, machines, and other mechanical devices. They work on power-producing machines such as electric generators, internal combustion engines, and steam and gas turbines as well as power-using machines such as refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment, machine tools, material handling systems, elevators and escalators, industrial production equipment and robots used in manufacturing. The Mechanical engineers may work in production operations in manufacturing or agriculture, maintenance, or technical sales; many are also absorbed as administrators or managers. They share interests with many other engineers like Civil Engineers in structures and stress analysis; Electrical engineers in electronics, computing and control theory; Aeronautical Engineers in fluid flow and turbo machinery etc and also design tools needed by other engineers for their work.

The most important attribute of mechanical engineers lies in the combination of abilities that they possess. They are able to understand and follow the laws of science while simultaneously being able to engage in the creative process of design to fashion new artifacts and products. Mechanical Engineering students acquire an understanding of the fundamentals of mechanics and of the thermal energy sciences. They learn to perform interactive design tasks using computers and to select the most appropriate materials for a specific application. They also become familiar with the chemical and electrical sciences, which are often essential to the total design and realization of a mechanical system. And they also learn to keep the ecosystem in mind when designing solutions to technical problems.

Career

With the rapid rate of expansion in the industrial sector, the employment potential for mechanical engineers is very high. Mechanical engineers are needed in various public and private sector companies including the automobiles, chemical, electronics, steel plants, oil exploration and refining, technical wings of armed forces, space research organization and many other fields.

Candidates with post graduate degree or an additional management degree could find work in administrative and managerial positions in government departments or public and private sector industries or do research as well as teaching in Research and teaching institutes. Aeronautical, agricultural, automobile, chemical, and power plants, as well as the railways, need mechanical engineers to design and maintain their machinery.

Government sector recruits various positions like

• Junior Engineers

• Assistant Engineers

• Assistant Executive Engineers

• Executive Engineers

• Superintendent Engineers

Famous personalities

Granville Woods

anville was born on April 23, 1856 in Columbus, Ohio. He started developing his skills through a machinist and blacksmith apprenticeship in a machine shop. Granville taught himself electronics. He later worked in a mill. He also did a mechanical engineering course in an eastern college. Later he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio and started his own machine shop. He and his brother Lyates founded the Woods Electrical Company. Granville was a talented electrician and an inventive genius. He patented over thirty-five mechanical and electrical inventions. Granville invented fifteen appliances for electric railways. In 1884, he received his first patent for an improved steam boiler furnace. He patented the Synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph in 1887, which made it possible to communicate between trains and between train stations from moving trains. This particular invention made train movements faster and prevented a number of accidents and collisions. He also invented an electric incubator, which incubated fifty thousand eggs at a time. Granville died on January 30, 1910 in New York City.

Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel (1858-1913)

A German engineer and inventor who contributed to the advancement of technology with his internal-combustion engine. Although he was best recognized for his invention of the pressure-ignited heat engine that bears his name, Rudolf Diesel was also an eminent thermal engineer, a linguist, a "connoisseur" of the arts, and a social theorist. Diesel pursued his education in England and at the Polytechnic School in Munich. He worked as a mechanic and parts designer for two years at the Sulzer Machine Works of Winterthur in Switzerland. In 1880, he returned to Paris and began his career. He joined the Linde Refrigeration Enterprises and worked as a refrigerator engineer.

During the year 1885, Rudolf established his first shop-laboratory in Paris and began his 13-year ordeal of creating and developing his distinctive engine. He moved to the Berlin branch to continue his search for an efficient internal-combustion engine, in 1890. In 1892, he received a patent for his internal-combustion engine, which utilized auto-ignition of fuel. His ideas for a machine where the combustion would be transported within the cylinder were published. On August 10, 1893, in Augsburg, Diesel's prime model, which was composed of only a 10-foot iron cylinder with a flywheel at its base, operated on its own power for the first time. For ten years he developed various heat engines, including a solar-powered air engine. Diesel spent two more years at improvements and in 1896; he presented an enhanced model that was very successful commercially .He constructed the first successful diesel engine, employing low-cost fuel while he was associated with the Krupp firm in Essen. His "rational heat motor" demonstrated the first compression-ignition engine in 1897. Commercial manufacture was delayed another year and began at a very gradual pace. However, by 1898 Diesel became very wealthy from franchise fees in great part international. His engines were utilized to power electric and water plants, pipelines, automobiles and trucks, and marine craft, and soon after were employed in applications that included oil fields, mines, factories, and transoceanic shipping. Rudolf spent most of his life at his factory in Augsburg.On September 29, 1913, while on a voyage to London, England, Diesel was lost overboard from the steamer Dresden and drowned in the English Channel.

Horoscope - Career for Zodiac Signs

So if you are inclined to take up your career in this discipline then just check out these sun signs which are in favour of mechanical engineering.

Aries

Virgo

Capricorn

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Institutes : Some of the prominent institutions offering courses in Mechanical Engineering can be had from the following links.. Click here for more information