Syahmi's Blog

Summary To promote the development of road car-relevant technologies that are sustainable, the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) was introduced to Formula 1 (F1) racing in 2009, later becoming more prominent and used by all racing teams after 2011 (Abidi, 2022). Angadi (2023) states that when a car brakes, the kinetic energy that is lost as heat is harvested into electrical energy and stored in the battery for later deployment. The stored energy can then be used to boost the car by giving extra power to the engine for up to 60kW and releasing energy for up to 400kJ a lap, as governed by the regulations (Racecar Engineering, 2009). Motorsports aside, KERS is also present in road cars, such as the Volvo XC90. As compared to a petrol-electric hybrid system, a mechanical KERS is more compact and lightweight and it has a fuel efficiency that is similar to a hybrid, decreasing consumption by up to 25 percent (Jones, 2014). Thesis KERS incorporates an innovative approach to vehicular effi

Dear Professor Blackstone, I am Abdul Syahmi, a first year student currently undertaking your Critical Thinking and Communication class. I would like to introduce myself, in hopes of you getting to know me better. My interest in engineering piqued in secondary school when I studied Design and Technology (D&T), where I learnt various ideation and research methods. It also provides hands-on lessons, where I picked up skills like soldering and used workshop machinery like the lathe machine.  My performance in 'O' Level D&T and physics, together with my curiosity of how technology works, spurred me to pursue a diploma in Computer Engineering at Singapore Polytechnic. I had plenty of time to think about my future during my 2 years of national service in the army and concluded that I should broaden my skillset and explore a new area of engineering, which is why I am now studying Mechanical Design and Manufacturing Engineering at SIT. As the 3rd-in-command (3IC) of my section

 "I contend that we (engineers) are undervalued because of our widespread inability to explain what we do to the general public (and why it is so important). It is one of the hardest goals to accomplish, to be able to boil down difficult concepts into a short and easily understood presentation or elevator pitch." - Marybeth Miceli, President, Miceli Infrastructure Consulting, USA (2011) I think that this statement accurately describes the situation that engineers around the world face. Often time while we are able to understand the topic at a deeper level due to the background of knowledge that we have. Explaining it to investors or the general public might be harder as they might not have the same background of knowledge that an engineer has on the topic to be able to understand the concepts and technical details of certain inventions. For example, if we (engineers) explain about how we applied the concept of "Statics and Dynamics" into our robot project to a fitne