LETHAL COMBINATION - PART I

LETHAL COMBINATION –
PART I

by Doods A. Amora, PEE

In an environment of sanctioned violence, the Pacquiao-Diaz banner on June 29, 2008 (Philippine Time) is promising a feast on the gushing crimson fluid - to the pleasure of the bloodthirsty in boxing.

Incidentally, both are ‘never-say-die’ brawlers. Both are industrious and relentless. With work-rates constantly pumping aggression from the two fighters, the match-up has all the makings of an awesome explosion.

What a classic fight it should be! That’s how the Pacquiao–Diaz encounter beckons from the horizon.


DAVID DIAZ:

Simply put, David Diaz (34-1-1, 17 KOs) is the current World Boxing Council’s (WBC) lightweight champion. But his crown is at stake – a threat not from an ordinary mortal but a risk from the most popular boxer in the planet today.

“I have been watching Pacquiao’s last fight with Marquez and his first fight with Morales on video and we think we see some things we can expose. If Manny comes at me all crazy and relentless, then I will get a little crazy too because I can get crazy myself”, David Diaz as quoted by the media.

Objectively, David Diaz is a legitimate champion in the 135 pound territory. However, during the time when the lightweight division was ruled by the Diazes, David was perceived as the least menace. Erik Morales himself wanted to prove it when he challenged David in his quest for a fourth world title. But then Morales was wrong when he failed his date with history. Although Erik had some good moments when he floored Diaz somewhere in the first round, but David’s uncompromising hard work overtook what could have been Erik’s sweetest winning moments. The fight, by twist of fate, proved otherwise as the greatest victory so far by David Diaz.

Of course, David’s knockdown by Erik had put to serious issue the integrity of David's chin. But then in boxing, no one knows when the miscues and flashes of fortunes ensue when two boxers mix it up inside the square arena. Bumping into a hard cracking counter right hand, David Diaz wobbled and was knocked down in a round which could have been his. Durable as he was though, despite the knockdown David labored bravely till the final round to win the bout convincingly. And his work-rate was the key. An incredible toil reflective of the heart of a warrior – indeed!

Aside from being a natural lightweight, David’s body is big & wide – and capable of inflicting injury to whoever clashing his way. Can the Pacman withstand the blows of a lightweight? On the other hand, can the power of a super-featherweight jolt a much-bigger opponent? Or, moving up in weight - an advantage or disadvantage?

Either way I believe anyway, but Flash Elorde failed in his time. Can the Pacman succeed where Elorde failed? As anybody might have surmised today, Elorde in his own battle with Ortiz needed to work doubly hard as his power could be absorbed by the bigger opponent. But then there are limits as to one’s capacity. The Flash had to yield to reality – not once but twice, if my memory serves me right.

Beating a ‘smaller guy’ in Manny Pacquiao must have been a motivation to the psyche of Diaz. But Manny just recently had been quoted by the media, saying: “I don’t believe Diaz is stronger than me. I believe I am stronger than him. Moving up in weight is not a problem for me because I will maintain my speed and power.”

“I am doing well in training because I can eat more than when I was trying to make 130 pounds. I feel very good. I like to eat rice and vegetables when I am training. In the past when I was trying to make 130 pounds I was tired from not eating, and I felt less powerful. Now that I can eat a bit more I feel I have more energy.” This definitely is something Diaz has to worry.

But then, basing on the recent Diaz-Montano fight, many observers believe that David is not even near to Manny’s level. He is a slugger, always in front of his opponent, throwing punches endlessly but at the same time, absorbing blows in such a style that is ironically best suited to the hurricane combinations of the Pacman.

Will Lady Luck be with him this time? Let’s see…


MANNY PACQUIAO:

On the other hand, the challenger in Pacquiao (46-3-2, 34 KOs) who started his career as a 107 pounder will be testing the waters of an uncharted terrain at 135. Fresh from his recent crowning by the Ring Magazine as the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter, Pacquaio (just like Morales) aimed at special history to be the first Asian to win four world titles in four weight categories. And that’s not the end of the quest for more glory – the Pacman had already trained his sight to fight Hatton in a much-heavier division.

Is Pacquaio looking past Diaz? From the looks of it, it is. Wrong self-hypnosis...? Maybe yes, maybe not….

But whether or not Pacman can deliver another expectacular performance, this time and for the first time in the 135 pound class is the question.

What goes up, must come down. No Manny, not this time, please. But it seems that boxing enthusiasts are now in the belief that Manny’s phenomenal boxing career is on the downtrend basing on that rematch with Marco Antonio Barrera. Add to the list Pacquiao’s latest performance in the rematch against Juan Manuel Marquez in Unfinished Business II. As I wrote in my previous article; Marquez to me, won that fight! And I’m not posed to retract it.

Manny Pacquaio is now the WBC and Ring Magazine Super Featherweight Champion – the very titles he grabbed from Juan Manuel Marquez. But many of Pacman’s fans are concerned about the prize, if not, the hazards of being a superstar. Superstardom carries with it the swelling but intoxicating benefits arising from success. He is no longer as hungry as before as thought by many. Now super-rich, Pacquiao is seemingly the busiest celebrity and sportsman in-between fights. Probably preserving his multi-million assets, the Pacman, far from his usual signature, is now perceived as no longer exciting.

While Diaz did not stop his training regimen after the Montano fight, Manny reported for work late – to the displeasure of Freddie Roach. Has Pacman’s richness brought him to lethargy? Or is it over-confidence?

Maybe yes, maybe not… But then it happened in the Larios fight! Remember that scary third round? And who was Larios, by the way? Sad to say, Chololo was not in the company of Pacman’s class! Yet he almost ended the battle early.

In a more recent scene of the Unfinished Business II, Pacman had two months preparation, but Marquez had three full months. Nobody thought Marquez would last the distance, but Marquez showed the savvy of a world-class fighter that he is.


WHAT WILL HAPPEN:

When these two aggressive warriors collide, expect a loud blast. Pacquiao is known for his jaw-shattering punch carried-out in blinding speed and power. I can now visualize a perfect showcase of the secret ‘Marco Bolo’ technique which failed to appear in both the Pacman-Barrera II and Pacman-Marquez II. Moreover, David’s questionable defense is not known for counter-punching proficiency. I think Diaz’s chin would not last long. KO in the middle rounds! And there will be no debate about it.

However, if the bout goes the full distance, the effects of the natural weights will prevail. So with the effects of over-confidence on the part of Pacquiao!

Work, work & work! That’s the Diaz trademark. With stamina derived from focused training and conditioning, Diaz will be glorified by a split decision.

Diaz will then join in the mega-bucks rank. That’s the best guess I can make.


Doods/June 2008

UNDERSTANDING MAINTENANCE

UNDERSTANDING MAINTENANCE
by Doods A. Amora, PEE

In any facets in life, there is always what we call as “desired condition”. And Performance Standards have always been derived from these “desired conditions”...

Performance Standards of machines as goals in maintenance are often based on the workings of things when they are still brand new. In other words, it is often desired that performance of anything (capacity, process capability, efficiency, throughput, etc) must not degenerate in the entire lifetime of the machine. But reality is that there is always an end to any lifetime and that the likelihood of deterioration increases with age.

Hence, we need maintenance engineering in the plant. Maintenance is actually making plant facilities and production lines operate at acceptable levels for a long period of time - even surpassing people’s lives. Given a nice-looking new industrial plant without maintenance and the plant will crumble in just a few years. But then, there are industries that last for centuries! And there are machines that outlive generations.


MAINTENANCE – ‘A DIFFERENT THING TO DIFFERENT PEOPLE’

Maintenance, per se, did not change much. But approaches to its management had evolved significantly. For instance in today’s management concepts, the philosophy that “maintenance is 50% production job and production is 50% maintenance job” has now brought maintenance as a condition to production while conversely, production a condition to maintenance. Note that in the past, maintenance is merely seen as a “necessary evil service department” – not a condition to production.

Furthermore, implementation of maintenance differs. For instance, the British, Japanese, American, Swedish and Filipino styles of maintenance are not exactly in the same terms. Usually, a manufacturing concern tailor-fits its own maintenance system to the management philosophy of the business, to the culture of the people and the conditions prevailing the business environment. Thus, even in the modern times, according to notable experts, “the function of maintenance still means different things to different people” (John Peter Koss, Beverage World International, Feb. 1999 issue).

A Large Maintenance Shop (picture courtesy of the Internet)

A Just-In-Time (JIT) type of maintenance may fit the Japanese environment, but might not be ideal to Philippine conditions. Japanese JIT-practicing companies do not believe in stocking spare parts (cost of space in Japan is very prohibitive) but then, their parts suppliers or manufacturers are just next door. They order now through computer links and the spare parts are there in minutes! In the Philippines, it might take 6 months. JIT means just-in-time in Japan. In the Philippines, it means, “almost late…?"

On the other hand, the concept of Corrective Maintenance was previously defined by practitioners as, emergency maintenance. Arguably, to other practitioners this may not be exactly true today because corrective maintenance can also be planned. Corrective Maintenance covers all maintenance activities carried out to correct or repair a fault in the equipment. The above statement says that as long as the activity needs repair, it is classified as, corrective. A timely changing of car engine oil for having just about losing its correct properties after an inspection is in fact, correcting a fault. But this correction of fault is not an emergency situation because the breakdown has yet to happen. Corrective maintenance therefore can be both preventive and breakdown maintenance.


IMPLEMENTING MAINTENANCE

To implement a maintenance system for a plant, all personnel without exception - from the top managers, production personnel, maintenance practitioners to the last janitor, must speak in the same language. It is therefore necessary to go through how different maintenance practices are defined in any plant context and application.

The term maintenance is defined as:

“Maintenance covers all activities undertaken to keep equipment, machineries & facilities in a desired state or condition to include all other services done to return the equipment or facilities back to that desired condition.”

IEEE on the other hand, defines maintenance as: “The act of preserving or keeping in existence those conditions that are necessary in order for equipment to operate as it was originally intended”.

There are two general classification of maintenance: :

* Breakdown Maintenance (BDM)
* Preventive Maintenance (PM)


BREAKDOWN MAINTENANCE

Breakdown Maintenance (BDM’s) are maintenance services carried out to bring a faulted equipment or machine back to its productive state.

Tell tale signs of breakdown maintenance are the following: a) emergency activity, b) unplanned services, c) production stoppages, d) lost production opportunities, e) large product rejects, f) fighting fires, g) costly.

In this mode, there must be equipment breakdowns to fix - or fires to put out. In other words, breakdowns in a production plant are states of emergencies. And no management wants a series of emergencies in the plant.


PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE

Maintenance practitioners declare that the best maintenance must be the preventive & proactive one. Breakdown maintenance is fighting fires and therefore not desirable. In agreement, maintenance managers say that “an ounce of prevention is much better than a ton of cure”. Breakdowns are always costly – not only on the physical damage of the machine but on the cost of lost opportunity.

Preventive Maintenance (PM) is defined as maintenance activities that cover all programmed services carried out to control deteriorating conditions that lead to the occurrence of failures. These activities must be performed before these deteriorating conditions develop into a breakdown or disturbance in production. Note that a maintenance activity can only be PM if it is programmed or planned. This means that PM’s are services decided in advance.

The practice of Preventive Maintenance can be further classified as:

1) Time - Based Maintenance (TBM
2) Condition - Based Maintenance (CBM)
3) Improvement Maintenance (IPM)

Time-Based Maintenance (TBM):

* regular, periodic, cyclic as attributes
* having fixed-time frequency (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly …)
* usage-based activities (running hrs, flying hrs, mileage …)

Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM):

* services that follow after tests & measurements
* planned correction of a certain condition
* services resulting from condition monitoring
* planned & programmed

Improvement Maintenance (IPM):

* redesigns to improve equipment performance
* environmental controls & improvements
* systems improvements

In real life, Preventive Maintenance can be a combination of TBM’s, UBM’s CBM’s and IPM’s. In advance countries today, Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM), also called Planned Corrective Maintenance (PCM) is the one identified as the most cost-effective type of maintenance. It becomes too expensive to replace spare parts just because it reaches the scheduled frequency. With condition monitoring activities made regular, “touching a running machine” becomes justifiable only when the condition of the machine is the one calling for it. But effective surveillance to these abnormalities is the key. Abnormalities must be detected before they develop into full-grown failures. Thus, surveillance on the health of the equipment is what we refer to as Condition Monitoring.

Improvement Maintenance (IPM) in Japan is termed as "Maintenance Prevention" or ‘MP’. Some other literatures call it “Design-Out Maintenance”. Modifications into the machine itself or making changes in the system or environment are common scenes in IPM. Enclosing and providing air-conditioning to a high tech control centre full of electronics components to manage environmental conditions as dust intrusion, humidity and temperature inconsistencies are examples of IPM. To operate a control centre heavy in electronics components without environmental control is facing everyday troubles & breakdowns. Providing it with the right environment to free up these pestering troubles is Improvement Maintenance.


CONDITION MONITORING

Condition-Based Maintenance or the so-called Planned Corrective Maintenance can not succeed without Condition Monitoring. Practitioners of modern-day maintenance systems discovered that most machine failures do have the so-called FDT or “Failure Development Time”. If most failures have to undergo FDT’s (as in most mechanical & electrical equipment) before actual seizures, then these failures can be detected in advance through Condition Monitoring. Results of condition monitoring will trigger implementation of Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM's) or Planned Corrective Maintenance (PCM) in the first window of opportunity to do so. With advance diagnostic instruments & testing equipment, other practitioners refer these activities as Predictive Maintenance.

Condition Monitoring leading to Predictive Maintenance services can be done in four (4) different ways:

* Subjective Condition Monitoring
* Objective Condition Monitoring
* Continuous Condition
* Statistical Process Control

Subjective Condition Monitoring are regular surveillance activities on the health of equipment and machines by means of human senses (sight, smell, touch, taste, hearing and “the sixth” sense). Being the first line of defense against deterioration, it is the domain and responsibility of the operators.

This type of condition monitoring is putting great demands on the individuals performing the activity. However, experience of the operators & technicians on the operating behavior of their machines internalized over the years is a wealth of expertise that can not be under-estimated. The Taong-Bahay or the car driver normally knows what’s happening to his ward if there is a shift in performance. The awesome resources of our operators are just there waiting to be tapped. Even in advanced countries, 70% to 80% of condition monitoring is done subjectively.

Objective Condition Monitoring is when the condition of the machine is being determined with the aid of portable diagnostic instruments. State-of-the-art diagnostic instruments may be in the form of photo-thermal, vibration-based, ultrasonic, laser-based, temperature-based, shock pulse, infrared scans, or electronics-processing techniques that could provide timely information on the integrity of the equipment in relation to failure modes. Overheating, leaks, joints & weldment failures, insulation deterioration, moisture intrusion, cracks, excessive vibration, bearing condition, material wear and many more failure modes can be detected in advance while they are still undergoing FDT’s. Again, other practitioners call them, Predictive Maintenance.

Continuous Condition Monitoring is a form of a self-diagnostic objective condition monitoring, but in this case, instruments are attached permanently in the machine and their sensors imbedded or built-in the machine system. Normally computer-based, the system gives out alarms and automatically prints-out schedule for its maintenance should an operating parameter is nearing to or beyond specified limits. This needs large investments that require a careful study on the benefits of this technique to justify the capital outlay. Even in highly industrialized countries, condition monitoring is 75% subjective, 20% objective and 5% continuous. Unless the equipment in question is very vital, dangerous and exceedingly expensive as in nuclear plants, large turbines or steel mills; “continuous condition monitoring" may not be justifiable. But as technology becoming cheaper, new generation diesel power plants are now sporting this type of condition monitoring and their number is increasing.

Statistical Process Control: The increasing popularity of the practice of Statistical Process Control (SPC) where quality monitoring of the product output of the machine is a built-in process, has paved the way for a more reliable monitoring of the equipment. A variation of the quality of the output product means a questionable process capability of the machine. A questionable process capability means that there’s something wrong in the machine. Any significant variation of product quality therefore means an immediate requirement for maintenance services.


“IF AIN’T BROKE, DON’T FIX IT”

It is worthwhile to mention that many maintenance practitioners believe that PM is to take out the equipment from operation after a certain time interval for disassembling and replacement of large number of parts, as what old plant engineering handbooks had recommended. Experience showed that when the equipment is re-assembled and brought back to operation, problems oftentimes occur because the repairmen had transferred faults into the equipment. In modern maintenance management, PM is something more than disassembling and changing of parts. MGruppen Consultants of Sweden left us with a saying: “NEVER TOUCH A RUNNING MACHINE”. Same way that Americans say, “IF AIN’T BROKE, DON’T FIX IT”. This means that teardowns could only be done if there’s strong reason to do it. And that strong reason must be established first.

How? Through Condition Monitoring leading to Condition-Based Maintenance services…

DAA: June 2008

(Note: All pictures - courtesy of the Internet)

HIGH VOLTAGE GENERATOR

HIGH VOLTAGE GENERATORS


Have you heard of a generator at 400 kV? Sounds fantastic, but ABB broke through with world's first high-voltage generator… 10 years ago! The first unit was installed in a Swedish power plant in 1998.

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In an Internet article dated February 25, 1998 released in Zurich, Switzerland, ABB, the international electrical engineering company, presented the world’s first high-voltage generator. Called the Powerformer, it was the first generator able to supply electricity directly to the high-voltage network, without the need for transformers.

The Powerformer can generate electricity at voltages between 30 kV and 400 kV. The first operational generator, with a rating of 45 kV, 11 MVA at 600 rpm, was successfully installed at a power plant in northern Sweden owned and operated by the Foundation Porjus Hydro Centre. The Center, which serves as a development and training facility for hydro power technology, is run by the Swedish energy company Vattenfall, Kvaerner Turbin and ABB.


HISTORY OF POWERFORMER

Today’s high-voltage generators are constructed in such a way that limits their output voltage to a maximum of 30 kV. The power grid with voltages up to 800 kV or more can not be directly supplied by those generators - a reason why large power plants nowadays are using power step-up transformers in order to transform their generated voltage to a higher voltage level suitable for the interface with the transmission grid.

During the last century, a number of attempts were made at developing a high-voltage generator that could be connected directly to the power grid, i.e. without going via the step-up transformer. However, generators are presently constructed for voltages up to 30 kV only. The step-up transformer imposes great drawbacks on the power plant as a whole, starting from reduction in efficiency, high maintenance costs, more space, less availability and not to forget the increased environmental impact of the plant.

ABB has developed in close co-operation with Vattenfall (the Swedish state-owned power utility) a new high-voltage generator with innovative features that enables it to be connected directly to the transmission grid; its output voltage can reach levels up to 400 kV. With the new technology, future transformer-less power plants can be constructed leading to a new concept of energy systems.

The new apparatus has been named Powerformer; its benefits such as higher efficiency, better availability, lower maintenance costs and reduced environmental impact are straightforward consequences of transformer-less power plants.


INNOVATIVE DESIGN

The Powerformer represents a completely new concept in generator technology. Powerformer has been designed with several unique features that allow it to exceed the 30kV limit, including a winding consisting of XLPE power cables and an innovative stator design.


Conventional generators produce electricity at voltages that are too low to be efficiently transmitted over long distances. Linking them to the high-voltage transmission network requires large transformers to boost the voltage. The Powerformer uses advanced cable technology to generate high-voltage directly, eliminating the need for a transformer and other associated equipment.

The Powerformer’s unique design has a number of operational and environmental benefits. Because the total installation is smaller and more efficient, it also reduces maintenance costs. It can be custom-built to provide any output voltage, and other aspects of its design contribute to greater network stability and more reliable performance during periods of short-term power overload.

Powerformer Windings: The magnetic circuit of Powerformer makes certain demands on the winding. The winding consists of a power cable with solid insulation and two semiconducting layers, one surrounds the conductor and the other outside the insulation, the semiconducting layers serves as an equipotential surface that forces the electric field to be uniform around the circumference.


The insulation material is cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE), a material successfully used in high-voltage power cables since the 1960s. The cables are threaded through the stator slots to form a winding that produces the desired high-voltage. The use of high-voltage cables in Powerformer windings offers major advantages over conventional designs. Firstly, in conventional generators maximizing the current loading in the machine favor the use of rectangular conductors in order to obtain maximum copper packing density for the stator windings. These conductor shapes are, however, characterized by an uneven field distribution having high field concentrations in the corners of the conductors.


THE FIRST POWERFORMER

"The new high-voltage generator represents a major innovation," said Göran Lindahl, ABB’s President and CEO. "It radically changes a 100-year old technology and establishes a new class of rotating machines. With its unique design the generator provides our customers with substantial benefits, such as better system performance, higher efficiency, lower maintenance costs and reduced environmental impact."

The Powerformer was developed by ABB Corporate Research and ABB Power Generation in cooperation with Vattenfall. ABB employs approximately 1,200 scientists and technicians in 8 corporate research centers in Europe and America. A further 17,000 engineers spread across ABB’s global business areas are also engaged in research and development. The ABB Group employs approximately 216,000 people.

WORLD'S LARGEST TIDAL ENERGY GENERATOR

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Doods’ Note:

I would like to share this article which is published in the web sites: ecoGizmo and MetaEfficient. This is about the world’s largest tidal energy generator…

MetaEfficient is run by Justin Thomas, an efficiency enthusiast and theoretician. Special thanks to MetaEfficient & ecoGizmo for this information and likewise the photos showing how awesome these tidal turbine generators are...

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TIDAL ENERGY GENERATOR BUILT IN NORTHERN IRELAND

June 28, 2007: from ecoGizmo

The tidal motion of water offers us an amazing source of energy - it's immensely powerful, predictable, reliable and can be harvested with no emissions and very little impact on the environment. Following successful testing off the coast of Devon, Marine Currrent Turbines is set to begin construction of the world's largest ever tidal turbine system off the coast of Northern Ireland - kind of like a wind farm that sits underwater. The 1.2MW generator will push enough power back into the commercial grid to supply 1000 homes, and will serve as a prototype commercial test of this clean, sustainable energy source.

Marine Current Turbines has confirmed that installation of its SeaGen commercial tidal energy system will commence during the week of August 20th in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough. At 1.2MW capacity, SeaGen will be the world’s largest ever tidal current device by a significant margin, and will generate clean and sustainable electricity for approximately 1000 homes. It is also a world first in being a prototype for commercial technology to be replicated on a large scale over the next few years.

The installation of SeaGen in Strangford Lough will be carried out by A2SEA A/A of Denmark, one of Europe's leading offshore installation contractors. The SeaGen 1.2MW commercial demonstrator has been developed on the basis of the results obtained from SeaFlow, the world’s first full-size tidal developed on the basis of the turbine installed by Marine Current Turbines Ltd off Lynmouth Devon in 2003. It has taken the subsequent four years for Marine Current Turbines to design and build SeaGen and secure the necessary environmental and planning consents.

SeaGen is a commercial demonstration project with permission to operate in Strangford Lough for a period of up to 5 years. It is intended as the prototype for commercial applications of the technology that will follow.

Martin Wright, Managing Director of Marine Current Turbines said: “SeaGen’s installation is a very significant milestone for both Marine Current Turbines and the emerging marine energy sector. Following from our previous experience with SeaFlow, our 300kW experimental test system installed in 2003 off the north Devon coast, we are confident that SeaGen will show that tidal energy can be truly competitive with other forms of power generation. Decentralised tidal current energy is fundamentally predictable and sustainable. It is also environmentally benign.”

Commenting on the future prospects for tidal current energy, Martin Wright added: “We will build on the success of SeaGen to develop a commercial tidal farm, of up to 10MW in UK waters, within the next three years. With the right funding and regulatory framework, we believe we can realistically achieve up to 500MW of tidal capacity by 2015 based on this new SeaGen technology.”

Recognizing the special marine environment of Strangford Lough, MCT has undertaken a comprehensive environmental monitoring programme managed by Royal Haskoning, a leading environmental consultancy, working in partnership with Queen’s University Belfast and the St Andrews University Sea Mammals Research Unit. The programme is overseen by an independent body, chaired by David Erwin, a former Chief Executive of the Ulster Wildlife Trust.

The A2SEA jack-up barge, “JUMPING JACK”, is planning to mobilize from Belfast’s Harland & Wolf shipyard, where SeaGen is already complete and waiting, to Strangford Lough on August 20th. It is expected that the drilling of a single pile into the seabed and the installation of the twin-turbine device will take 14 days, with commissioning and power generation to the local grid shortly afterwards.

Martin Huss, Sales & Marketing Director of A2SEA said: “We are delighted to be working with MCT on this important and challenging project and hope it is the start of a long and rewarding relationship as tidal technology enters the market place in the UK.”




From: MetaEfficient
Published April 8, 2008

WORLD'S LARGEST TIDAL TURBINE SUCCESSFULLY INSTALLED

The world’s largest tidal turbine, weighing 1000 tonnes, has been installed in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough. The tidal turbine is rated at 1.2 megawatts, which is enough to power a thousand local homes. It was built by Marine Current Turbines, and it will be the first commercial tidal turbine to produce energy, when it begins operation later this year.

The turbine has twin rotors measuring 16 meters in diameter. The rotors will operate for up to 18-20 hours per day to produce enough clean, green electricity.

The turbine will be positioned 400 meters off of shoreline in Strangford Lough, which is known for its fast tidal current, and protection from severe weather. The rotors on the SeaGen turbine turn slowly: about 10 to 20 revolutions per minute. A ship’s propellers, by comparison, typically run 10 times as fast. The risk of impact from SeaGen rotor blades is small, because the marine creatures that swim in strong currents tend to be agile, and can avoid slow-moving underwater obstructions.


Commenting on the future prospects for tidal current energy, Martin Wright, Managing Director of Marine Current Turbines said: “We will build on the success of SeaGen to develop a commercial tidal farm, of up to 10MW in UK waters, within the next three years. With the right funding and regulatory framework, we believe we can realistically achieve up to 500MW of tidal capacity by 2015 based on this new SeaGen Technology.”

The Controversy Surrounding
Agapito Flores’ Fluorescent Lamp

(as lifted from the web files)


From Mary Bellis, Your Guide to Inventors.

The Agapito Flores controversy continues - Filipino Agapito Flores has been acclaimed by some as being the inventor of the first fluorescent lamp. However, the dates are all wrong for this being possible. The following points have been taken from "The History of Fluorescent Lights"

· In 1857, the French physicist Alexandre E. Becquerel who had investigated the phenomena of fluorescence and phosphorescence, theorized about the building of fluorescent tubes similar to those made today.

· American, Peter Cooper Hewitt (1861-1921) patented (U.S. patent 889,692) the first mercury vapor lamp in 1901. The low pressure mercury arc lamp of Peter Cooper Hewitt is the very first prototype of today's modern fluorescent lights.


· Edmund Germer (1901 - 1987) who invented a high pressure vapor lamp also invented an improved fluorescent lamp.

· In 1927, Edmund Germer co-patented an experimental fluorescent lamp with Friedrich Meyer and Hans Spanner.


So What Is True About Agapito Flores?

Agapito Flores was born in Guiguinto, Bulacan, Philippines on September 28, 1897. He worked as an apprentice in a machine shop and later moved to Tondo, Manila where he trained at a vocational school to become an electrician.

It has been reported that Agapito Flores received a French patent for a fluorescent bulb and that the General Electric Company bought Flores' patent rights and manufactured and sold his fluorescent bulb (making millions from it). However, all the inventors named above and more predate Agapito Flores' possible work on any fluorescent bulb.

According to Dr. Benito Vergara of the Philippine Science Heritage Center, "As far as I could learn, a certain Flores presented the idea of fluorescent light to Manuel Quezon when he became president. At that time, General Electric Co. had already presented the fluorescent light to the public."

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The History of Fluorescent Lights

By Mary Bellis

When most people think of lighting and lamps, they think of the incandescent light bulb developed by Thomas Edison and other inventors. Incandescent light bulbs work by using electricity and a filament. Heated by electricity, the filament inside the light bulb exhibits resistance that results in high temperatures that causes the filament to glow and emit light. Arc or vapor lamps work in a different way (fluorescents fall under this category), the light is not created from heat, the light is created from the chemical reactions that occur when electricity is applied to different gases enclosed in a glass vacuum chamber.

In 1857, the French physicist Alexandre E. Becquerel who had investigated the phenomena of fluorescence and phosphorescence, theorized about the building of fluorescent tubes similar to those made today. Alexandre Becquerel experimented with coating electric discharge tubes with luminescent materials, a process that was further developed in later fluorescent lamps.

American, Peter Cooper Hewitt (1861-1921) patented (U.S. patent 889,692) the first mercury vapor lamp in 1901. The low pressure mercury arc lamp of Peter Cooper Hewitt is the very first prototype of today's modern fluorescent lights. A fluorescent light is a type of electric lamp that excites mercury vapor to create luminescence.

The Smithsonian Institute states that, "Electrical inventor, Peter Cooper Hewitt built on the mid-19th century work of German physicist Julius Plucker and glassblower Heinrich Geissler. By passing an electric current through a glass tube containing tiny amounts of a gas, Plucker and Geissler found they could make light. Peter Cooper Hewitt began developing mercury-filled tubes in the late 1890s, and found that they gave off an unappealing bluish-green light. The amount of light, however, was startling. Hewitt realized that few people would want his lamps in their homes, and so concentrated on developing a product for other uses." That purpose turned out to be lighting for photographic studios and industrial use. George Westinghouse and Peter Cooper Hewitt formed the Westinghouse-controlled Cooper Hewitt Electric Company to produce the first commercial Mercury lamps.

Marty Goodman in his History of Electric Lighting states, "In 1901, a now-forgotten inventor named Peter Cooper Hewitt invented an arc lamp that used mercury vapor. The vapor was enclosed in a glass bulb. This was the first enclosed arc-type lamp using metal vapor. In 1934, a high pressure variant of this was developed [by Edmund Germer], which could handle a lot more power in a smaller space...

...The low pressure mercury arc lamp of Peter Cooper Hewitt is the very direct parent of today's modern fluorescent lights. It was found that these low pressure [mercury] arc lamps would put out large amounts of ultra-violet light. Folks then figured that if they coated the inside of the light bulb with a fluorescent chemical (one that absorbed UV light and re-radiated that energy as visible light) they could make an efficient light source."

Edmund Germer

Friedrich Meyer, Hans Spanner, Edmund Germer - fluorescent lamp patent U.S. 2,182,732

Edmund Germer (1901 - 1987) invented a high pressure vapor lamp, his development of the improved fluorescent lamp and the high-pressure mercury-vapor lamp allowed for more economical lighting with less heat. Edmund Germer was born in Berlin, Germany, and educated at the University of Berlin, earning a doctorate in lighting technology. Together with Friedrich Meyer and Hans Spanner, Edmund Germer patented an experimental fluorescent lamp in 1927.

Edmund Germer is credited by some historians as being the inventor of the first true fluorescent lamp. However, it can be argued that fluorescent lamps have a long history of development prior to Germer.

George Inman & Richard Thayer - The First Commercial Fluorescent Lamp

George Inman led a group of General Electric scientists researching an improved and practical fluorescent lamp. Under pressure from many competing companies the team designed the first practical and viable fluorescent lamp (U.S. Patent No. 2,259,040) that was first sold in 1938. It should be noted that General Electric bought the patent rights to Edmund Germer's earlier patent.

According to The GE Fluorescent Lamp Pioneers, "On Oct 14, 1941 U.S. Patent No. 2,259,040 was issued to George E. Inman; the filing date was Apr 22, 1936. It has generally been regarded as the foundation patent. However, some companies were working on the lamp at the same time as GE and some individuals had already filed for patents. GE strengthened its position when it purchased a German patent that preceded Inman's. GE paid $180,000 for U.S. Patent No 2,182,732 that had been issued to Friedrich Meyer, Hans J. Spanner and Edmund Germer. While one might argue the real inventor of the fluorescent lamp, it is clear that GE was the first to introduce it."

WORLD'S LARGEST WIND TURBINE

New Record:
World’s Largest Wind Turbine
(7+ Megawatts)

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Doods’ Note: I would like to share this article which is published in the web site: MetaEfficient. MetaEfficient is run by Justin Thomas, an efficiency enthusiast and theoretician. Special thanks to MetaEfficient for this information and likewise the photos showing how awesome these wind turbines are...

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February 3rd, 2008: The world’s largest wind turbine is now the Enercon E-126. This turbine has a rotor blade length of 126 meters (413 feet). The E-126 is a more sophisticated version of the E-112, formerly the world’s largest wind turbine and rated at 6 megawatts. This new turbine is officially rated at 6 megawatts too, but will most likely produce 7+ megawatts (or 20 million kilowatt hours per year). That’s enough to power about 5,000 households of four in Europe.



The turbine is being installed in Emden, Germany by Enercon. They will be testing several types of storage systems in combination with the multi-megawatt wind turbines.

These turbines are equipped with a number of new features: an optimized blade design with a spoiler extending down to the hub, and a pre-cast concrete base. Due to the elevated hub height and the new blade profile, the performance of the E-126 is expected to by far surpass that of the E-112.



The E-126 has no gearbox attaching the turbine blades to the generator, in fact, the generator is housed just at the widest part of the nose cone, it takes up the entire width of the nacelle to generate power more efficiently, and provide longer service life with less wear.

Also like small turbines, these have inverters instead of synchronous generators, that is to say, a separate controller that converts the wild AC generated into something the grid can use. This means the rotor can run at more optimum and varied speeds.



Again like small turbines, this one does not shut right off at a predetermined speed due to gusts or just very high wind speeds. It simply throttles down by turning the blades slightly away from the wind so as to continue to generate power though at a lower production rate. Then the instant the wind is more favorable, it starts back up again. Many smaller wind turbines do something similar except have no blade pitch control, they use a technique called something like “side furling” where the whole machine, excepting the tail, turns “sideways” to catch less wind but continue operating.



Big things are cheaper per unit production. If you have 3 of 2 MW generators, you have to have three (at least) cranes to put them up, build three foundations, have to maintain three machines, and have three times the parts to fail. If you have one, it is larger and more expensive in itself to move, but not as expensive as having to move three smaller ones.

It only turns at 12 rpm. That means it takes five seconds to complete one revolution. That is slow but this is much bigger and easy to see compared to the whirring blades of old. The Altamont Pass turbines gave wind turbines such a bad name because they were built in the middle of the natural habitat of rare birds, the turbines were the small fast spinning type, and they were built using lattice towers, the kind birds love to nest in. These are slowly being replaced and all of the new ones are of the slower rotating kind. In the end, it comes down to this. Stationary buildings and moving cars kill literally millions of times more birds than wind turbines. And things like the Exxon Valdez spill kill millions of everything. So let’s go with the best option.


Send efficient comments to:mailto:info@metaefficient.com

POWER LINES SAFE FROM RADIATION: TRANSCO

Monday, April 07, 2008 (As published by SUNSTAR ON-LINE)

POWER LINES SAFE FROM RADIATION: TRANSCO
By Mark D. Francisco

CAGAYAN DE ORO - The National Transmission Corporation (Transco) assures the public that all its electrical pylons and facilities are safe from radiation overexposure.

In a paper presented during a forum on electromagnetic fields on Sunday in Cagayan de Oro, Transco environmental management department head Julia W. Echavez said extremely low frequency electric field and magnetic field radiation emitting from its electric power lines are well below the international exposure limit.

In the absence of a Philippine or a United Nations (UN) law, the Department of Health (DOH) follows the exposure limit set by an international private group of scientists - the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).

Physicist Agnette Peralta, who sits as one of ICNIRP's 15 commissioners, represents the Philippines in the organization.

According to the group, the ideal tolerable maximum exposure of magnetic field for people working near the facilities should only be 4200 milliGauss and 8.3 kilovolts per meter electric field. For the public, on the other hand, the ideal tolerable maximum exposure of magnetic field near an electrical facility should only be 833 milliGauss and 4.2 kilovolts per meter electric field.

Echavez presented the magnetic field and electric field exposures of its transmission lines.

For its 69-kilovolt line, the magnetic field is said to be 60.78 milliGauss and the electric field is 0.961 kilovolt per meter, while for the 138-kilovolt line, the magnetic field is 30.63 milliGauss and the electric field is measured at 1.28 kilovolts per meter.

For the 230-kilovolt line of Transco, Echavez said its magnetic field was registered at 186.44 milliGauss and 3.58 kilovolts per meter electric field.

Along this line, Echavez explained that all Transco facilities are monitored regularly by a team composed of representatives from Transco, DOH, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), National Academy of Science and Technology, ICNIRP, World Health Organization (WHO) and its distribution utilities like the Cagayan Electric Power and Light Company (Cepalco).

Overexposure to extremely low frequency can cause stimulation of peripheral nerves and muscles. According to the late British physiologist William Richard S. Doll in his 2001 research contracted by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety, "the possibility remains that intense and prolonged exposures to magnetic fields can increase the risk of leukemia in children" despite the absence of supporting laboratory evidence.

Supporting studies by the ICNIRP showed that the UN's International Agency for Research on Cancer and the National Institute of Health in the United States did not also find any laboratory evidence linking extreme low frequency overexposure to any chronic disease.

But for the group and members and those from the Health department, it's better to be safe than sorry, resulting to the imposition of the radiation limit in the country.

(Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro/Sunnex)

POWER OUTAGE CRIPPLES PHILIPPINES AIRPORT

Agence France-Presse - 3/25/2008 8:51 AM GMT

Power Outage Cripples Philippines Airport

A power outage crippled Manila's main domestic air terminal Tuesday causing more than 50 flights to be delayed, officials said.

Hundreds of travellers were left stranded in the run-down domestic terminal where services were brought to a standstill for most of the day.

Some 54 flights by domestic carriers Asian Spirit and Cebu Pacific were delayed, the Manila International Airport Authority said in an advisory.

"We are experiencing a technical problem at the Manila domestic airport," the advisory said. "We appeal to the public to bear with us as we try to put into place our rehabilitation programme for the old domestic terminal," it added.

The power outage was caused when the airport's main circuit breaker malfunctioned at dawn, and electricity was cut off from the domestic terminal.

"The circuit breaker short-circuited, we are now trying to fix it to restore power supply," said Bing Lina, the airport's assistant general manager for operations.

He said back-up generators were providing limited electricity but computers were still not functioning.

Television footage showed visibly irate and perspiring passengers spilling onto the waiting area outside the terminal.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS - PART II

THE FIGHT OF ALL TIME – PART 2
by Doods A. Amora, PEE

Finishing the UNFINISHED BUSINESS at the Mandalay Bay last Sunday morning (in the Philippines) turned out to be BUSINESS STILL UNFINISHED!”… And a mouth-watering Pacman payday of US$ 6,000,000 ++ (PhP 246,000,000 ++) or more is dangling for a delicious trilogy!

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Last Sunday, my mind stuck. Fingers jammed… There was no mood to write...

The war designed to finish the unfinished ended with more questions than answers. The first Unfinished Business was a controversial draw, and this fight may just turn out to be as controversial.

I was unhappy, disappointed, albeit relieved…

Unhappy - because Marquez won!

Disappointed - because Pacquiao lost!

Relieved – because Michael Buffer roared… “The winner by split decision… the NEW… WBC Super Featherweight Champion of the World: Manny, the Pacman Pacquiao!”

My cohorts and I screamed in glorious chorus but oddly for a short moment only. Then a restrained jubilation followed…

Yes! Pacquiao grabbed the WBC and the Ring Magazine titles. That’s official – now etched in the milestones of history, forever and ever. Judge Jerry Roth scored the match 115-112 for Marquez, while Duane Ford scored it 115-112 for Pacquiao. Breaking the draw was Tom Miller, with 114-113 for the Pacman.

As a Filipino, I joined with the bulging of the national pride. With me in the same fervor were Pareng Ricky, the big boss of SMC Mandaue Brewery, Big Bro Noel, the plant top honcho of East Asia Utilities, Brother Ely, PEPSCOR’s president, Jun El Terrible, the Fil-Mexican of APO Cement, Cesar the Czar, the Pinoy-Japanese Mestizo of Taiheyo Cement and Roland, ‘The Tunnel That Never Was’ – all electrical engineers witnessing PPV on wide screen. We were all part ingredient of a nation that was enchanted of Pacquiao’s victory!


WHO ACTUALLY WON THE FIGHT?

Ironically, never has the nation been so divided. Never mind the bad politics in the meantime – this time, I mean the euphoria of the aftermath of that classic battle. In retrospect, none of the press pre-fight recipes hyped for a knock-out triumph turned out to be adjacent to reality, but a split decision that would continue to generate verbal arguments in the days and weeks to come. Except for the third round, the fight was non climactic – there was a lone knockdown but no knock-out, the excitement thus short of reaching the highest gear of expectations. But alas in its stead, the ensuing restlessness, the apprehensions and the anxieties when Marquez beyond belief nailing series of explosions to the fright not on Pacquaio himself but to the multitudes of Filipinos glued to the TV screens.

Even in the web’s Paclandia where talking opposite to pacmanism is mortal sin, thoughts are at odds – and the consensus seems to drift to the question, “who really won the fight”?

Forgive me before one soul hisses in disagreement, but I am not convinced on whether the Pacman had really done inarguably enough to lord it over & above his crafty Mexican rival.

To be honest, my own score card shows a 115 – 112 for Marquez, this despite Marquez’s third round knockdown. In my book, the 10-8 score for Pacman in the third just evened up the score at 28-28 after the third canto. Back to square one, in other words, the battle had just begun in Round 4.

In the end, my notes bared three points for the Dinamita over the Pacman. Where did I err? But Yahoo had it with the same verdict. ESPN’s Dan Rafael & Darius Ortiz had Marquez won, along with other respected scribes in the international press. Tony Aldeguer, the country’s top boxing sage gave it to Marquez. Even the Filipino commentators covering the actual fight in Las Vegas had split opinions on who won! Yes, the boxing bible Ring Magazine awarded its belt to Pacquaio, lest declared Marquez to have won the fight.

Of course several other notable boxing analysts had it for Pacquiao, foreign sports journalists included. Manny as ever was awesome, strong and determined. I urged myself to watch again the fight and re-score it objectively as possible. But then it’s water under the bridge. The Pacman won, and that’s what matters most.


TRAINING & PHYSICAL CONDITIONING

As I said in the previous article, to beat the Pacman, Marquez must be in super-explosive physical condition. Last Sunday he defied nature by showcasing an incredible stamina no other human with 34 birthdays can accomplish. From round one up to the end, he fought like a sleek stinging cobra in defense while instantaneously transforming himself as a lion attacking a buffalo in offense. Yes, his perfect counter-punching appeared again – this time crispier, stronger and faster. And they didn’t come in one but three or four explosions in utter consistency.


His worth-awing resilience and durability derived from literally non-stop training and discipline brought him controlling the fight. “If you rest, you rust”. I should have heard it from Juan Manuel. That could have been the secret why the infinitesimal compared to Pacquiao’s semi-wholesale reduction rate in weight.

Marquez was down in the third, in a round that should have been his. But typical to this warrior, he came back strong, more poised and more potent. He was cut by an accidental clash of heads in the seventh. But while taking all that Pacquiao can give, Marquez dished out enough to stun the Pacman, whose head snapped and whose legs wobbled in the eighth.

Pacquaio then had his share of a cut in the eighth, but by a legitimate blow. What a fight, that was!


WORK-RATE & EFFICIENCY

Another yardstick mentioned in my previous blog was the so-called “work-rate”. To recall, I said, “Juan Manuel has to be super-active in the first round and his trainer Nacho must have done his homework. In order to be effectively active, it means a work rate high enough from the very first round till the end.”

True enough, the stats released by compuboxonline.com showed that Marquez landed and connected more blows than Pacquiao during their vicious 36-minute brawl.

Although Marquez threw less number of punches as Pacquiao (511-619), but Marquez performed the better throughput, connecting 172 times for 34 percent. On the other hand, Pacquiao landed 157 punches for 25 percent. In the jab department, Pacquiao had a total of 314 jabs and connected 43 times. Marquez threw his left jab only 201 times but found the target 42 times.

In the power-punches department, Marquez was also ahead, throwing 310, 130 of which landed as compared to Pacquiao’s only 114 out of 305.

What does it mean? Accomplishing close to Pacquiao’s legendary work rate is marvelous. But Marquez’s work-rate was not only superb but came with uncanny accuracy and efficiency. We expected him to run, but he didn’t! We wished him to back-pedal but instead fiercely mixing it up with sweeping left hooks.


PACMAN’S MOMENTS

Manny Pacquiao admitted it was the hardest bout he ever fought. “I became too over-confident,” Pacquiao was quoted saying so. “I felt I could handle his punches but I became too confident,” he added.

In fact, Pacquiao didn’t appear to be able to comprehend the Mexican’s fight strategies as he seemed to have never solved Marquez accurate counters. With Marquez as opponent, he didn’t quite get his target range right – that’s Juan’s Nacho Beristain’ homework is all about. With Marquez’s five-inch reach advantage, Pacman often got tagged with irritating jabs when trying to initiate contact.

Nonetheless, what was revealing to watch in the fight was the excitement when Pacquiao fought like an injured tiger. When he jabbed & boxed as in the earlier stages of the fight, he was losing the rounds. When fighting like an injured tiger as he reverts back to himself, yes, although not very methodical, not very efficient, but he is winning the rounds. As we saw, Pacquiao withstood the furious assaults to the head and body in the middle rounds then came to life in the late going to eke out a split decision.

To be honest, when Pacquiao elected to box, we saw him as ‘lethargic’ and not doing his job. As my Pareng Ricky quipped, “Now very rich, Pacquiao seemed to be preserving his assets. He is now more of a businessman than a boxer,” …a liner worthy of contemplating, indeed. And we, all in the group agreed.

In fairness to the Pacman, the ‘pallid’ performance while playing boxer-counter puncher in some rounds may not be totally correct. As many had observed, Pacman himself was the one who established a high standard of excitement – that’s what supposedly the Pacman should be! Deviating from this self-imposed performance standard may have been perceived as mediocre but may actually be the call of the situation. Probably, we were unreasonably salivating for more blood; probably we were wanting for the unreachable given the compulsion of the time. Remember that Marquez was not just an ordinary mortal in that fight. The toughest hombre Manny had ever fought was in his best to deliver a finely rehearsed counter-offfensive trap, given the opportunity. After two rounds, Manny must have felt it and a reckless swarming over his opponent may only bring him to the lion's den.

On the other hand, as the dust cleared, Pacquiao could not also be denied of victory as he landed probably the more telling blows in the entirety of the fight. To recall, he staggered and almost knocked down Marquez again in the 10th round. Recovering from two big scary moments, one in the second chapter when Marquez hurt him with combos and those drilling body shots & head-zapping straights in the eighth and ninth, Pacquiao came back with his own bombs following those rounds.

In adversity, we saw that Pacman after all knew how to rise to the situation. Summarily, Pacquaio reverting back to his old self had turned the tide of the fight. But then, his eventual triumph is still arguable.

THE CONCLUDING PART

By giving Pacquiao two of his hardest & scariest fights in his professional career, Marquez proved he is the best featherweight as soon as Pacquiao leaves the division. To me, Juan Manuel Marquez is even better than Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales, both of whom suffered knockout defeats by our Champion!

But then, one fight more..., as Big Bro Noel said, “Business as Usual is Business”.

Thereafter, retirement will be looming in the horizon. Not bad, after all… in business.



DOODS
3/18/08

UNFINISHED BUSINESS - PART I

THE FIGHT OF ALL TIME - PART 1

by Doods A. Amora, PEE
March 10, 2008

March 16 (in the Philippines): It’s no ordinary deal. It’s unfinished business aching to be closed. It is history itself beckoning to resolve history, once and for all…

Pacman Vs. Dinamita - Part II. Yes! The Tension of the Century!

THE FIRST ENCOUNTER

Forty six months ago, Pacquiao and Marquez had clashed once in twelve perplexing rounds. In the first canto, the dynamite faltered and did not explode while the Pacman for three times in a row like a hungry python seemed set to devour the Mexican in one whole piece. After three knockdowns, Game Over! But it didn’t! The bell rang and the dynamite stuck in Marquez’s frame sought sanctuary from total ‘defusement’.

To recall, the one-minute break after the first round was a wonder. Marquez and his handler Nacho Beristain appeared to have solved the puzzle, quickly enough. While the first of the twelve sticks of dynamite fizzled out, most of the next 11 rounds found them detonating – some in full blast, some in medium flash and some in coughs. On the Pacman’s side; a blistering foot getting worse, a left hand hurting increasingly round after round.

In the end, it was a draw! To Marquez’s camp – it was a robbery; to Pacman’s side – an errant judge’s score! Both claimed victory. Both combatants sleepless and itching for an immediate rematch. But the money just didn't bite and boxing economics did not warrant. That was almost 4 years past.

The waiting is over. Now, the Philippines and Mexico have to conclude the Unfinished Business.


THE PACMAN

Manny Pacquiao, 45(35KO’s)-3-2, is on the road to immortality as a global star. He had been crowned several times at the expense of Mexican big names - foremost of them Morales and Barrera. In epic battles, the boxing legends in the division have already been disposed of, except for Juan Manuel Marquez, the last Mexican standing. By plain sense, winning over Marquez is a conclusion to a chapter. To Manny, a victory opens the gate for more mega-lucrative opportunities in the heavier divisions.


As if “human possessed”, nobody can beat Pacquiao these days, as many observers say. Manny’s hard work again is seen not only legendary but this time, incredible, and there’s that magic in Freddie Roach behind the scene. The Pacman has been training very seriously, this time – in full two months. And there’s no more night shooting of movies & commercials, night pool games, trips to derbies and the perennial distractions. Notably gone was the habit of just preparing himself up to the par or the skills of his opponent. Remember Fahsan, Larios, Solis and the second Barrera fight?

This time, Manny is not taking Marquez lightly. And this must be bad news to the Mexican.

After the second Pacquiao-Barrera fight, in an article “The Will to Win – Part 2” posted in this blogsite, this writer asked, “what if Manny faced Juan Manuel Marquez in the same night”? That was an off-shoot to the scary moments on the issue of weight when Pacquiao struggled to meet the 130 pound limit at weigh-in. In boxing, reporting for work overweight is reflective of the quality of training and preparation for a big fight. The boxing world then was not so happy of the near-boring match.

However today, the weight issue has seemed erased. In a recent conference call, Pacquiao confirmed that he was not at his best in his latest fights. "I realized I had not been as hungry as I had been before," said Pacquiao, "I'm hungry now, hungry enough to win... Before, I was 50 percent or 60 percent. Now I am 100 percent dedicated to boxing and to the training."

“I think that Marquez is still strong and still a good fighter, even at 34. I won’t underestimate him. I’m expecting Marquez at his 100% best. He is hungry for a victory in this fight because he’s the only Mexican left who has a chance to beat me. He wants to make a name by beating me. He needs to win this fight, that’s why he will do his best to win. I won’t let him do that. I have trained hard and prepared for this. It’s going to be a good fight,” Pacquiao declared.

No fighter had belittled the powers & skills of the Pacman except the Marquez camp. Having tasted some degree of success in the first fight, Marquez is out to expose Pacquiao. But then, "we have plans A and B and it would depend on what Marquez does and on how he wants to fight us. If he is aggressive, we are ready for that and if he wants to counter-punch, we are also ready for that", said Freddie Roach.


THE DYNAMITE MARQUEZ

On the other hand, Juan Manuel Marquez 48(35 KO’s)-3-1 believes he’s the thorn that will prick the Manny Pacquiao bubble as assassin of Mexican ring stars. “I have prepared myself to win,” declared the World Boxing Council super featherweight champion in a recent interview. ''I'm more of a technical fighter, in better condition, and I proved it in the first fight,'' Marquez said. “Watching the first fight, I saw Manny Pacquiao getting tired, and I wasn't. I was in my prime throughout the fight. So, I can tell you I consider myself better than Manny Pacquiao -- because I'm a better boxer, a better fighter.''

While Pacquiao considers this fight more personal, Marquez made it very clear that he is fighting for Mexico to avenge a string of Mexican fighters who all tasted defeats in the hands of the Filipino warrior. That is a palpable motivation for Marquez to resolve this Unfinished Business with Pacquiao.

To prove his point, Marquez started his training regimen early. While his Filipino challenger started punishing the mitts at the Wild Card Gym eight weeks ago, the Mexican champion set off his training camp one month earlier at the Romanza Gym in Mexico City.


MARQUEZ’S CHANCES

Is the Pacman beatable? Although Juan Manuel Marquez is officially the champion, it’s Pacquaio who is the man to beat. The odds are showing so. How can Juan Manuel defeat Manny?

To beat Pacman, Dinamita must be in super-explosive physical condition. Marquez himself admitted it as part of his game plan. With three months training, that no doubt has been achieved.

Physical conditioning did it to his fight with Barrera. If memory serves me right, Barrera was in control of the fight and winning in the earlier rounds. In the later rounds however, Barrera’s work rate dwindled and his power waning - thus allowing Marquez to unleash his own bombs. In the end, even if the knockdown was counted, in my book, the late rounds cost Barrera the fight.

But conditioning is not enough for an opponent such as the Pacman. Pacman has metamorphosed into a two-fisted technical machine himself that would outswarm the fuses of the dynamite. And the Pacman in all indications is prepared to exchange leathers for 15 rounds or more.

Hence, one option is style. Whatever happens, Marquez has to go back to his best comfort zone – his perfect counterpunching. Although he did display some offensive initiatives when fighting Rocky Juarez & Marco Antonio Barrera; those were reasonable because he can afford to do so. With Pacman, he must be extra careful. He would experiment for sure but whatever happens he should be ready to run.

VISIONS OF FIGHT SCENES

Now note that Marquez in a recent press conference declared that he would not allow Pacquiao to duplicate the intimidating first three minutes of their previous fight. So then, he has to be super-active in the first round and his trainer Nacho must have done his homework. In order to be effectively active, it means a work rate high enough from the very first round till the end. But then as expected, Pacquiao’s offense must also be in high gear from the beginning to end. And remember, Pacman’s defense is his offense. With stamina now out of question, matira ang matibay, the best of the two from within has yet to come, but expect a Marquez knockdown within the first two rounds.

As my previous articles say, when Pacquiao attacks, back-pedaling by the opponent is mortal sin. Marquez will surely be caught drowned by flashing combinations saturating the oxygen he breathes. By experience, Juan himself knows it best. But Marquez is capable of coming back strong as the previous fight revealed.

The first two rounds will therefore be critical. But I expect neither fighter is endangered to be knocked out, at this stage. Both fighters are in superb condition. The best part has yet to come.

As a sidebar to recall, Barrera engaged only with Pacman when endangered.

In the third and fourth rounds, I’d like to believe Marquez would do the same as Barrera did. He himself had done this before. But this time, I am convinced that Nacho had devised Marquez a special counter game plan. It’s now worth contemplating what could happen if Pacquiao leaps forward just as Marquez throws a perfectly timed right uppercut lead from an unexpected angle.

Thud! Pacman could be down in the fourth but not out!

The fifth round will see Pacman in more composed poise. Roach must be instructing Manny to implement series of 'one-two-three-four combos' they had countlessly rehearsed in the gym. To my hunch, it will be the same “Marco Bolo” combinations which failed to take center stage during the Pacman-Barrera II fight. With longer training & preparation, Pacman now must be able to perform and deliver the stings to textbook precision. With the right hooks, I see Marquez staggering two times and the score favors the Pacman.

Now here comes the pivotal sixth round. As Pacquiao lunges forward, Marquez stoops down low past Manny’s straight lefts & rights, suddenly upping his head thereafter clashing its full inertia to Manny’s face. There you are gentlemen, a head butt which looks like an accident! As the crimson fluids leak profusely blinding Pacquiao's eyes, the ensuing bleeding face will be reminiscent of Morales-Pacquiao I. And history repeats itself, I’m afraid – the 'headbutt' also happened in Pacman-Solis fight.

The texture of the fight would then change. In the end, as the dust of war cleared, Michael Buffer barks: "... and the winner by split decision ... still...!"

This is not a prediction as my crystal ball is erring these days. I am just expressing my fears. I have said this once, in my previous article. Thank God, it did not happen in Pacman-Barrera - Part 2.

But my fear is still there. Because to me, this is only the way Marquez can defeat our hero.


Doods