bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
U-Turn for NOx
Authors: Valenti Michael
Published: July 2018

DB Riley Inc., Worcester, MA, is developing a low emission boiler system (LEBS) supercritical boiler that integrates advanced low nitrogen oxide coal burners with furnace air staging and coal reburning, and with a proven U-fired slagging furnace configuration. In pilot-scale tests, the new boiler reduced NOx emission to less than 0.2 pound per million Btu on some American coals compared to 0.8 to 1.2 pounds per million Btu from conventional burners. For the US Department of Energy (DOE) LEBS project, DB Riley drew on the related experiences of the advisory board it formed of major utilities, state energy and economic agencies, and research organizations. The DB Riley engineers set a NOx emission limit of 0.2 pound per million Btu for the firing system alone to minimize the amount of NOx to be treated by the post combustion emissions control system. The U-fired design provides sufficient resident time for reburning to effectively reduce NOx.
A Weld in Time
Authors: Baumgartner Henry
Published: July 2018

This article discusses applications of computer simulations for restoring aging boiler vessels. Companies are using finite element analysis (FEA) to predict the intensity and distribution of these stresses, and hence the distortion magnitude and the residual stress state produced by the welding operation, so engineers can evaluate the structural integrity that a repaired component will have. The analysis can be applied to boiler tubes, pressure vessels, and chemical storage tanks. A particularly challenging application for weld-overlay FEA arises with the more complicated shapes found in boiler-tube waterwall panels, which consist of a row of hollow tubes connected by a membrane, a continuous layer of steel that connects the tubes. Such waterwalls are typically arranged to form a square box around a heat source that causes water in the tubes to boil and generate steam, which is then carried off to operate a turbine. Software from Algor can be used with linear and nonlinear material models to determine the stresses that the waterwall's distortion would place on the supporting buckstay structure.
Natural Design with Constructal Theory
Authors: Bejan Adrian , Lorente Sylvie
Published: July 2018

This article elaborates the constructal theory and its link with natural design. Constructal theory is the view that the generation of design (configuration, rhythm) in nature is a universal phenomenon, which is covered by a law of physics known as the constructal law. The constructal law is about direction in time. It provides a broad coverage of “designedness” everywhere, from engineering to geophysics and biology. The constructal law provides the student with strategy for how to pursue and discover design—the configurations or patterns—in both space and time. Constructal theory pushes design thinking closer to science and away from art. It tears down the walls between engineering and natural sciences. Because the configuration-generating phenomenon of “design” has scientific principles that are now becoming known, it is possible to learn where to expect opportunities for discovering new, more effective configurations. How to pursue these discoveries with less effort and time is the chief merit of the constructal law.
Best Intentions
Authors: Hutchinson Harry
Published: July 2018

This article discusses that tools of improvement do not always fit the hand in need. El Salvador lies in Central America. In the north–south split between the have and have-not countries, it clearly falls in the south. According to the World Bank, gross national income per capita is $2,200, compared with an average of a little more than $2,900 for all of Latin America and the Caribbean. In the developed world, per capita income is closer to $26,000. It is estimated that more than 40 percent of the 6.5 million people in El Salvador live below the poverty line; that is, they make so little that they cannot buy all the necessities of life. Backed by funds from Europe, the team finished three rural installations in the two and a half years between late 1999 and the middle of 2002. Rivas and the team are still working on the mechanical design. They have come up with a new adjustment mechanism that is easier to operate than the plate and pin system. This version uses a cable that attaches to hooks at various elevations on the support post to adjust the incline.
Soup to Nuts
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on that engineers probably know that the CAD programs they use every day serve a multitude of fields, most notably architecture, but they may be surprised to find just how broadly CAD is implemented. Fashion designers, video game creators, landscapers, and interior designers rely on the software for one purpose or another. Just as in engineering, CAD technology, in the past decade or so, has revolutionized fashion design. Essentially, designers use the technology to create the technical sketches of their clothing design, a job they traditionally did by hand. Just as in engineering, fashion designers use their CAD software to make lives easier by automating certain repeatable task; this way, they do not recreate again and again the shapes and designs they use all the time. Much like an engineering project, potential architectural designs need to be vetted by a number of individuals before they are approved. Architectural firms are only too familiar with one complication of the job, which engineers do not often face. CAD software helps out in this aspect, as well, because architects can show local government officials exactly how a finished building will look.
To Get to the Other Side
Authors: Hutchinson Harry
Published: July 2018

This paper discusses engineering design ideas employed by P. Wirzius Heavy Assembly GmbH of Hinden, Germany, to transport heavy loads across states. In order to find a safe way to cross its bridges, Wirzius enlisted a specialist in getting heavy objects safely to their destinations, Greiner Vehicle Technology, an engineering company based in Neuenstein, Germany. Greiner says it designs systems for transporting large machinery by road or rail. Working with Wirzius, the Greiner company devised a plan to transfer some of the extraordinary vehicle weight to a temporary track system that would channel that part of the load directly to the bridge piers. Engineers working in 3D simulated the system in motion and avoided problems, like collisions, that would otherwise have needed correction later. Crews from Greiner and Wirzius tested the system at the former Butzweilerhof Airport in Ossendorf. A transport vehicle had to transport 295 tons of ballast across a 14S-meter track. The next day, they repeated the test as a demonstration for French motorway authorities.
Power Window
Authors: Winters Jeffrey
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on different ideas of generating power and reuse of waste heat. According to data from Global Energy Decisions, a consultant group based in Boulder, CO, USA, only about 35 percent of the 114 gigawatts of new electrical generating capacity already planned to come on line by 2010 is coal fired. Some other ideas ranging from redesigning factories to reusing waste heat to modeling a restructured electrical grid on the Arpanet, along with the first strike-proof network of defense-related computers, which was the precursor to the Internet, have been discussed in the article. The Electranet can give homeowners’ and business owners’ accurate and powerful tools to precisely measure how much energy they are using where and when, and identify opportunities for eliminating unnecessary costs and wasteful usage patterns.
Supply and Demand
Authors: Kania Eugene
Published: July 2018

This article discusses key aspects of resource management for the successful completion of a project. The article highlights that decision-making is the difficult, but necessary, last step to arrive at a portfolio of projects that do not overload resources and clog the engineering pipeline. The four-step resource management process that a company has implemented helps management visualize and understand the effects of their project decisions. It also helps engineering managers identify resource shortages. The key to implementing this system is to build solid communication processes, get key organizational participation, and have the discipline to keep at it every month. The article also suggests that if a company is to use a software tool to facilitate and enable the process, keep it as simple and effective as the process itself.
Tally-Ho the Vacuum
Authors: Woods Robert O.
Published: July 2018

This article presents the failure story of atmospheric railway, a 19th century attempt by British engineers to improve rail technology with the use of an evacuated tube. The atmospheric railway was conceived as a solution to both problems—public relations as well as mechanical. The atmospheric railway depended on vacuum. It was a system very much like the pneumatic conveyors that were common everywhere until recent years. The heart of the system was an evacuated tube about a foot in diameter. It was located between the tracks and stretched the entire length of the road. An elaborate zipper-like arrangement kept the tube sealed on the vacuum side ahead of the piston, and open for several feet behind it to allow air to enter. The tubes for the atmospheric railway were cast iron, delivered in nine-foot lengths and bolted together. The atmospheric railway was not a success and it cost a lot of people a great deal, both in money and in reputation. It failed because there were pieces missing.
Water on Fire
Authors: Shakerin Said
Published: July 2018

Engineers and artists have teamed to create combinations of fire and water that have dazzled people at tourist attractions, festivals, and the Olympic Games. At the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, mechanical engineering professor Ed Pejack and student Eric Eubanks designed a small-scale fountain for educational and demonstration purposes, adapting parts used in irrigation and a camping fuel can. Alan Robinson and Mark Fuller invented a fountain that illuminates water jets with colored flames. Kiki Pettit, a computer programmer, has designed, built, and installed water fountains that incorporate liquid fuel to produce floating flames that flow with water. The water in the Olympic cauldron serves functional and esthetic purposes. The water film flowing down the glass creates random wave patterns that ripple the image of the fire inside. A computer system controls the water flow rate based on temperature of the return water.
Easy On The Gas
Authors: Hutchinson Harry
Published: July 2018

This article presents details of a research that aims to make automobile industry run more efficiently. In order to reduce mass, Toyota is looking for new, lighter materials to replace traditional ones of comparable strength. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory is studying techniques to reduce the fuel burned for air conditioning of automobiles, and getting help from a dummy that sweats. The lab's heat test dummy is called ADAM (from ‘advanced automotive manikin’), a one-of-a-kind creation built by Measurement Technology Northwest in Seattle to the laboratory's specifications. The manikin communicates with a finite element analysis model of the human body developed by the lab using software from Ansys in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. The model predicts the body's response to its environment-skin temperatures, for instance, and other physiological information-and communicates it to the manikin, which can actually sweat. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado is winding up its work in a research project to develop hybrid technologies for heavy vehicles, especially the ones that spend much of the time running short distances between stops to deliver packages, to bus passengers, or to pick up the trash.
It's in the Timing
Authors: Hutchinson Harry
Published: July 2018

This article discusses about latest developments in handling medical wastes. The article highlight features of Ecolotec, which is a large autoclave equipped with a system of blades to churn and chop the waste. The waste treatment system is in its final stages of testing and could be on the market soon. Currently, Ecolotec is studying blades of SAE 4140 chromium-molybdenum steel. The blades are sharpened daily with a belt sander, and the company may package one with the system when it reaches the market. Computer control is provided by an Allen-Bradley programmable logic controller (PLC) with a waterproof keyboard. The PLC has a wireless Internet card so, if a customer chooses, Ecolotec will be able to diagnose equipment from its headquarters. Ecolotec's executives say that, at an operating cost of 11 cents a pound, their machine costs considerably less than a waste disposal service.
Seaching Deeper
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This article presents the history of Alvin, the first US-built, manned deep-ocean submersible. The 42-year-old submersible, which is operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute is heading toward retirement. According to one of the expert, Alvin had one of its periodic overhauls recently; however, the craft cannot be upgraded to do much more than it does now. In its lifetime, the little submersible has located a lost hydrogen bomb in the Mediterranean Sea, explored deep-sea hydrothermal vents, surveyed and helped photograph the Titanic, and accidently gave scientists vital feedback about decay in the deep. Alvin has made more than 4000 dives. On a 1977 expedition, researchers aboard Alvin near the Galapagos Islands explored vents emitting superheated water at depths of 7000 feet. The lunches that spent the months in Alvin's hold remained strangely intact, including a barely decomposed bologna sandwich. This led researchers to the discovery that matter decomposed differently in the deep, which in turn gave conservationists arguments against dumping waste in the sea.
It's What You Know
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This article explains the use of data acquisition in different fields of work apart from engineering. The article also presents a case study to research on disease transmission. A step-by-step feeding chart gives researchers an obvious way to see exactly how and when the disease is transferred, a crucial tool they can use in their quest to end that point of contact. In another case study, a piano maker is gathering waveforms with data acquisition hardware and software, but to a much different end. Sound engineers at Czech piano maker Petrof use an extensive acoustic measurement system to assure that the sound quality of Petrof pianos is top of the line. Many manufacturers turn to personal computers running Windows software. Petrof engineers got around the problem by implementing data acquisition hardware that lets them collect data continuously and interpret it in tandem in accompanying software. They use hardware from Microstar Laboratories of Bellevue, Washington, and MATLAB visualization software from MathWorks in Natick, Massachusetts.
The Free Range
Authors: LaMarca Robert
Published: July 2018

This article discusses various aspects of open-source product development. The open-source business definition is the development of a product using components that are not restricted in their use by others. Open source is still novel in the world of mechanical engineering. In software, however, its influence has been quite pervasive, both at the corporate and individual levels. Influence of open source has begun to be felt in publishing, the sciences, and education. According to a professional mechanical engineer, an open-source low-emission car is another possible project. Samir Nayfeh, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, briefly investigated open source in the late 1990s, and expects that it would appeal to buyers in markets like machine tools, where customers do not like being locked into a vendor. The current market penetration of open source owes a great deal to individuals who would participate for their own reasons, sometimes for a moral idea, or for inclusion in a community of their professional peers, or to develop better skills.
Streamlined from the Start
Authors: Miller Scott , Richmond James , Bowman Aron
Published: July 2018

This article discusses the importance of lean product development in the manufacturing industry. Lean manufacturing is a concept developed by Toyota more than 30 years ago. It was motivated by the desire to build better and more innovative products with lower costs. The result was the evolution of what is commonly known as the Toyota production system. This system increases efficiency and reduces waste in each area of the production process by eliminating unnecessary efforts and empowering all levels of the workforce. Lean product development is based on the theory of lean manufacturing. The processes focus on simplicity and effectiveness. Lean product development allows for communication between multi-departmental teams, simplifying and keeping the development process moving forward. Using lean product development to manage projects puts accountability on the project owners.
Efficiency is its Own Reward
Authors: Winters Jeffrey
Published: July 2018

This article illustrates features of a state-of-the-art semiconductor factory called RFAB that Texas Instrument (TI) is building. When fully operational, the $3 billion fabrication plant will make TI's most advanced digital signal processors, destined for cell phones, disk drives, and anti-lock brakes. The white roof of the RFAB under construction in Richardson, Texas, reflects away some 85 percent of incoming sunlight, reducing cooling loads. Daylight reflected-off of window shelves in the administrative wing reduces the need for artificial lighting, while the Ergolights hanging from the ceiling are designed with sensors and will shut off automatically when no one is in the office. Due to technological advances in Asia over the past two decades, facilities in China, Korea, or Japan can turn out high-tech devices that are virtually indistinguishable from those made in the United States or Europe.
Beginning the Transformation
Authors: Williams Mark , Samuelsen Scott
Published: July 2018

This paper discusses the development of high-temperature fuel cells for stationary industrial and residential power generation applications. The system can operate on hydrogen, extracted by an internal reformer, and on a fuel comprising carbon monoxide. The technology enables fuel flexibility and, in addition, the high temperature provides high-quality co-generation of a thermal product and an ultimate overall efficiency exceeding 80%. Alone, high-temperature fuel cells show tremendous promise. Through hybridization, however, high-temperature fuel cells have a novel capability to achieve a quantum jump in fuel-to-electricity efficiency. In a hybrid configuration, high-temperature fuel cell technology promises new means to provide hoteling or propulsive power for ships, locomotives, long-distance trucks, and civil aircraft.
No Mesh, No Fuss
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This paper highlights the design of finite element analysis (FEA) without the finite element. The analysis can use the same information, the CAD system used to create the geometry in the first place. The geometry as well as the analysis fields-like displacement or temperature all uses the non-uniform rational B-spline mathematical representation. Software makers generally use the NURBS mathematical model to generate curves and surfaces in a digitized image. The framework lets mechanical engineers run quick, what-if scenarios to determine how changing a piece of a subassembly would affect the entire assembly. The full assembly need not be remeshed.
Fantastic Voyages
Authors: Decuzzi Paolo , Ferrari Mauro
Published: July 2018

This paper describes the use of nanotechnology in detection of disease at its earliest stage. Nanotechnology makes it possible to envision new devices that can deliver a 100-fold and even larger increase in sensitivity over current diagnostic techniques. Very small-scale diagnostic devices have been designed depending on the transduction mechanism—mechanical or electrical—of the biomedical stimulus. Devices that use nanocantilevers, nanowires, and nanoparticles have been built and tested, and are currently under development. The nanowire-based devices are nanometer-wide semiconductor wires coated with molecules arranged in parallel on the bottom of a microfluidic chamber where a blood sample is introduced for analysis. The binding event among the molecules on the wire and the biomarkers in the sample produces a change in the electrical conductivity of the wire that can be measured in real time and related to the amount of biomarkers in solution.
Clears Glass
Authors: Woods Robert O.
Published: July 2018

This paper describes the progress made in lens making for telescopes. The use of rotating equipment was an important innovation in lens making, although it is possible to grind lenses entirely by hand. After grinding, the lens was polished, sometimes using the same lap that had been used to shape it. It required preparing the lap surface to remove roughness. In some cases, it was done by overlaying the surface of the lap with a specially prepared paper. Pitch was poured on the lens surface and, when it hardened, was removed, creating a tool exactly matching the curvature of the lens. When it became possible to make generalizations about the performance of telescopes, it became obvious that the spherical aberration due to the shape of simple lenses was a factor that limited optical quality. The vast majority of amateur-made telescopes are reflectors.
No Small Risk
Authors: Winters Jeffrey
Published: July 2018

This paper assesses the risk posed by nanotech products in endangering human health. Material characteristics that have little bearing on health effects in bulk materials, such as surface area, may become important when trying to measure the hazard from trace amounts of nanomaterials. Nanotoxicologists may have to use a separate and unique set of metrics for determining what the safe exposure to various nanomaterials. The precision control that engineers have in making nanoscale materials may also amplify their effect. Naturally occurring nanoscale materials, such as particles formed in combustion exhaust, are formed over a wide range of sizes. Any given particle size will make up only a small part of the overall sample, diluting the potential ill effects. Nanoengineered materials come in a tight range of sizes. Research that helps lay out the basic parameters of the problem-figuring out which characteristics of nanoscale particles are most important.
Pros and Cons of CAD
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This paper describes the pros and cons of computer-aided design (CAD). CAD packages lack features to easily make the intuitive, complex shapes so pervasive in modern products. It is much easier with CAD to create a part with square features and rectangles and straight lines and round things. Even in a current design project, engineers will sculpt the design in clay, scan it with a digitizer, bring it back into the CAD package, then change it into a solid model and refine that. One of the biggest criticisms of CAD systems is that digital design is slower than sketching and that inhibits the brainstorming process. Today’s systems are not equipped to let engineers play with a design. Engineers start with a basic design and they can change parameters as they draw, but cannot change complete concepts midstream or cut and paste ideas between designs. Most CAD packages include features that track design changes so engineers working collaboratively can see what's been changed, where, when, and why.
Power Points
Authors: Winters Jeffrey
Published: July 2018

This article discusses various aspects of nanoscale materials that are seen to revolutionize energy storage. Teams of researchers working around the globe are finding that as the materials in batteries and capacitors become more finely engineered, they increase their energy storage capabilities. Within a decade, nanomaterial-based batteries and capacitors could find themselves not just in power tools and cell phones, but in uninterruptible power supplies, electric vehicles, and even the electric grid, to help handle wind and solar energy. The new lithium-ion battery relies on nanoparticles in its electrolyte to provide greater energy density and longer cycle life than conventional batteries. As batteries are playing such a prominent role, researchers are working hard to improve them, eliminating such headaches as recharge memory and packing more energy into each cubic inch. Studies show that distributed electricity generation from solar panels or combined heat and power systems could be backed up with a refrigerator-size capacitor unit that could store excess energy. The promise of nanotechnology-enhanced energy storage is enough to make anyone see a limitless future. A123’s Fulop cautions that nano-based storage systems ought to be looked at with optimism tempered by caution.
Engineering Meets Manufacturing
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This article discusses the future of software that links engineering and manufacturing. Companies are seeking a natural link between engineering and manufacturing, even if some aspects of it may be restricted. According to experts, giving manufacturers direct access to that design information would help them isolate potential manufacturing problems earlier in the cycle, cut product development time by stepping up design-manufacturing communication, and ensure that products will comply with government regulations. The article also describes that by allowing for quick communication and updates to an already existing computer-aided design model, product lifecycle management (PLM) can help speed these products to market. Engineers are putting efforts to bring PLM information to the factory floor to cut production time. Though the day of easy integration has yet to arrive, many companies are using PLM to reduce cycle time. Pushing PLM to the factory floor would help, according to an engineer. However, that's not an option for many until integration software comes to the fore.
Machines for Life
Authors: Brown Alan S.
Published: July 2018

This article provides details of various smart prosthetics that have been developed in last few years. Behind smart prosthetics are many technologies powering consumer products-faster microprocessors, more powerful batteries, wireless technology and new control systems that use the body’s nerves and muscles. A new bionic hand enables users to move the thumb and index finger independently of the remaining three fingers, a significant advance in dexterity over prior claw-like mechanisms. The bionic ear transmits sound and power wirelessly to electrodes implanted deep in the ear, allowing the deaf to hear. The Rheo Knee uses force and position sensors that monitor speed and load more than 1000 times per second. This information goes to an artificial intelligence program that emulates the feedback a natural knee would receive from the body’s central nervous system. However, researchers believe that despite outstanding progress, the future holds more challenges; a second looming issue involves sensory input. At Brown University, neuroscience professor John Donaghue has teamed with Peckham to develop ways to activate nerves from within the brain itself. Their goal is to develop within five years a brain-controlled system that will let a tetraplegic take a glass of water, lift it, and bring it to his or her mouth.
The Substance of Our Styles
Authors: Jablokow Kathryn
Published: July 2018

Different approaches to problem solving are needed along the way, ranging from those that strengthen and refine the systems recreate to those that shake up those systems and replace them. In problem solving today, diversity is critical to success. According to research and the experience of practitioners, one of the first things on the new need-to-know list is a functional understanding of how the brain solves problems and the key variables that make it work. Two of those key variables are problem solving level and problem-solving style. Michael Creed, president and CEO of McKim & Creed, Pennsylvanian, an engineering firm specializing in the design of environmental infrastructure, is a staunch supporter of Kirton’s Adaption-Innovation theory and its application in engineering management. The article highlights that getting diverse teams to collaborate effectively takes an understanding of their unique styles. The article suggests that the challenge for a leader is to manage the level and style diversity of the team in ways that balance the value of its members’ diversity and keep the ultimate resolution of its goal in mind.
Very Light and Fast
Authors: Brown Alan S.
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on the developments in materials, production methods, and turbine designs that have spawned a new class of jets. Cessna’s Citation Mustang became the first very light jet to reach commercialization. According to market leaders, the development of computerized cockpits with simplified displays has also been huge. Composites also let engineers combine lots of parts—panels, framing, rivets—into a single part. The fewer parts, the easier and cheaper it is to assemble and the more reliable the finished airplane. Every aerospace company is looking for bolt-on components that simplify assembly and maintenance. Adam Aircraft seeks to simplify production by making large composite parts. The second mechanical advance that makes very light jets possible is the compact, reliable turbofan. While Pratt is well-known for huge turbines that power commercial passenger jets, the company produces several small turbines. Pratt uses blisks and other technologies to simplify production. The result is a new type of jet, one that makes jet airplanes far more affordable.
Give it Time
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This article discusses that data acquisition techniques give researchers insights into fields outside the realm of machines. The methods that mechanical engineers most frequently call upon in their work have never been strictly confined to the province of machinery. Patterns may indicate the need for preventive maintenance or they may warn that a key piece of equipment is on the verge of failure. Time-series analysis has found uses in the important and potentially lucrative-intersection of engineering and medicine. Engineers commonly look at the relationship between time and response. But in biology that time relationship is not well characterized because it is hard to isolate and look at living systems over time. Currently, cell response is often studied on the macroscopic level.
Pressure's On
Authors: Wicks Frank
Published: July 2018

This article discusses the steamboat has been described as America’s first great invention. The river steamboat helped shape the United States and the world we live in. Steamboats and engines came to define many disciplines of mechanical engineering, and ultimately led to mechanical engineering education and the formation of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. After two centuries of service, the steam engine created its own obsolescence as it provided the springboard technologies for internal combustion engines, turbo machinery, and electric power. Fulton’s steamboat was a dramatic success. Scheduled passenger and transport immediately followed the first voyage. It was named the Clermont, for the huge Hudson River estate of Robert Fulton’s partner, Robert Livingston, who had funded the project. Robert Fulton’s steamboat and steam engines became things of the past, but we feel their influence all around us. They were the machines that helped create many industries, and were forebears of the marvelous engines and machines of our modern world.
Landmark in the Air
Authors: Wicks Frank
Published: July 2018

This paper reviews contributions of John Montgomery toward controlled glider flight. It was recognized that a glider descending in still air is converting potential energy into motive power equal to the product of its weight and rate of sink. John Montgomery concluded that more basic research was needed. During the next few years, he designed an ingenious test apparatus in which water with suspended particles would flow around surfaces that represented various wing shapes. He also took photographs of the flow patterns. He was able to combine measurements, observations, and analysis. Montgomery had devised a technique to control pitch with a linkage to a pivoting tail section. The California Institute of Technology and other universities established advanced programs to support the increasingly challenging needs of the aircraft industry.
The New Point of View
Authors: Brown Alan S.
Published: July 2018

This paper emphasizes on various aspects of human factors engineering. Researchers believe that superior design creates demand for new products. According to a human factor engineer, a design succeeds because it improves the user’s experience, defined in this case as time to complete a procedure. Metaphase Design’s new paintbrush for Shur-Line looks cool and uses human factors research to improve control and reduce forearm stress. Studies show that a parent’s voice wakes children better than an alarm during a fire. Hospitals and clinicians will pay a premium so they can work faster and more efficiently. Today, a growing number of designers have embraced human factors techniques, while extending those techniques to include emotion and cognition to shape the experience of the user. There is a need for a powerful user experience along with good looks for a product to be successful. The paper concludes that despite all the emphasis on human factors, personality and product profiling, and collaboration, the thinking behind it remains a very human and very personal vision.
Information Aging
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This paper emphasizes on the importance of keeping aging information in a format that can be used readily and understood by everyone. In order to get up-to-the-minute access to older engineering information, managers need to be ever vigilant about ensuring that legacy data exists in a format, which can be easily understood and accessed. Today a number of new software applications and technologies can help even those companies with seemingly the most outdated of computers, the mainframe. In recent days, software developers have introduced innovative ways in which companies can speedily retrieve legacy information, whether it is stored in a format for a desktop computer or a mainframe. These methods involve migrating or upgrading information or installing middleware, all at some cost. Some companies may choose to move legacy data to the open XML format and use a number of software tools, such as database query methods, to quickly retrieve information. Legacy documents that can be written into XML can include blueprints, CAD designs, change orders, materials specifications, assembly instructions, and cost estimates.
Web Mining for Innovation
Authors: Engler Joseph , Kusiak Andrew
Published: July 2018

This article reviews a way to automatically mine the Web for innovative requirements. Websites now commonly host user reviews filled with opinions about a product’s strengths and weaknesses. Publication of user reviews is so ingrained in the Web that it has spawned an entire field of study known as collaborative intelligence. Collaborative intelligence gathers the collective reasoning of multiple users to achieve some goal. While user and expert reviews offer a wealth of information about the needs and desires of the market, they are not the only source of requirements for innovation. Much the same method can be used to search patent databases for the same type of product attributes and requirements for innovation. Patent databases provide both complete and summary descriptions of already-envisioned inventions and offer a great deal of information about trends in current innovation. Requirements for innovation are changing in time. To keep up with these changes and to aid in the market acceptance of an idea, the mining of current requirements for innovation is crucial.
To Go Beyond
Authors: Reisz Aloysius I.
Published: July 2018

This article discusses experiments with an advanced electromagnetic engine that aims for high-speed, long-distance transportation to reach farther into space. Experimental work at Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama is attempting to develop an electromagnetic engine designed to achieve higher velocities than current space-engine options and to last longer, too. Space engines with higher specific impulse will sense new science from deep space exploration quicker. In a way, higher specific impulse quickens our intelligence acquisition. Reisz Engineers and the University of Michigan are investigating the propulsive performances of an experimental advanced electromagnetic engine configuration. This electromagnetic propulsion configuration has a magnetic nozzle and the engine performance can be throttled. Electromagnetic propulsion systems can also be configured for operations in Earth space environment, and for lunar robotic and lunar mapping missions. Electromagnetic and fusion space engines promise fast and reliable propulsion systems, which will be needed if mankind is to pursue its exploration of the outer realms of our solar system and beyond.
Keeping Up Long Distance
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This article discusses managers who must not discount everyday collaborative tools—like phone calls and instant messaging. To help far-flung team members bridge the distance and feel like part of a team while they hash out ideas, engineering managers must call upon a rich technological arsenal of collaborative tools. To keep up with personal events like that and to let team members have the water-cooler confabs necessary for team building, Garton advocates instant messaging. This type of quick back-and-forth messaging encourages relationship building. To ensure participation, trainers call upon a number of interactive features offered within the tool itself. With all advances of the Web, it can be tempting for managers to overlook hardware advances as they seek to build virtual teams. But new approaches, like a recent newly introduced HP Blade Workstation, which allows all team members’ designs to reside on a server rather than on their individual desktops, can keep teams functioning at top speeds.
Trade Secrets 101
Authors: Tesk Kirk
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on advantages to protect intellectual property by keeping it under wraps. There are some things that just cannot keep from getting out. Probably nothing in the law breeds as many myths as trade secrets. One positive aspect of trade secrets is that they can protect things patents cannot, since the general definition of a trade secret is any information that is in some way valuable, provided that reasonable efforts are used to maintain the secret. Trade secret protection can also last indefinitely. Patents, by contrast, expire 20 years after they are filed. The problem with trade secrets begins when engineering managers rely on trade secrets without understanding their limits or use trade secrets as a fall-back business decision. Conducting regular trade secret audits is a mechanism where a trade secret specialist gains an understanding of a company’s secrets, ensures that they are sufficiently defined, and that they are adequately protected. After the product is released, its high-level functionality is no longer a trade secret, but could be protected via a patent. Marketing literature and data sheets are also no longer trade secrets because they are usually made public.
Custom Motor? Give Us Two Weeks
Authors: Brown Alan S.
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on a US motor manufacturer who keeps its products out of the commodities competition. Motors consist of a variety of stock parts, like cast metal housings, shafts, bearings, end plates, rotors, and stators. The size of the components and the winding of the stator determine specifications. Most manufacturers keep an inventory of parts on hand. For most companies, it is not efficient to set up tools to make only one or two motors at a time and then switch to another set of parts and tools. To keep plants operating efficiently, manufacturers essentially stockpile orders for similar motors until they reach an economical order quantity. Flex Flow makes extensive use of information technology. Each factory work cell has its own computer. As parts move through the system, the computer provides each operator with a list of materials and instructions for the component that will be built next. Baldor invests heavily in training, and this is where it really pays off, since workers can shift effortlessly from one type of motor to another.
Harvest of Motion
Authors: Hendrickson Brian S. , Brown Stuart B.
Published: July 2018

This article discusses that a small-scale generator uses a catch-and-release strategy that can turn a casual stroll into useful electric energy. Many devices now require fractions of a watt continuously, often with occasional bursts of 1 to 10 W during peak activity. However, batteries occupy device volume and have limited life. Even rechargeable batteries can withstand only a finite number of charge cycles and, perhaps most important, recharging them can be inconvenient or expensive. Engineers must develop strategies to harness the abundant energy in low-frequency, time-varying motion before energy harvesting can achieve its greatest potential. Water waves, swaying and bouncing structures, and biomechanics are potential environmental energy sources that are largely out of the reach of the current vibration-inspired, motion harvesting technologies. Being able to economically convert low-speed motion to electricity will be a key to realizing practical long-term power generation for distributed devices. The Veryst energy-harvesting concept is one approach that intends to do just that. As with other energy harvesting projects, much work remains, but initial research and development suggest strong potential.
The Genesis of the Steamboat
Authors: Woods Robert O.
Published: July 2018

This paper discusses that it is easy to fall into the habit of thinking that the Founding Fathers brought about the American Revolution and then faded into some sort of oblivion. The work described here occurred a quarter of a century before Robert Fulton demonstrated the Clermont, the boat that led to his being regarded as the inventor. Steamboat development was a logical evolution of Newcomen’s engine, which had been reduced to practice around 1710. Fitch and Rumsey both used some variant of the Newcomen engine, although each started with a different concept. Franklin’s report had the effect of setting back development by several years because he argued convincingly that paddle wheels would not work. Rumsey’s death in 1792, shortly after having delivered a lecture to Britain’s Society of Mechanic Arts, ended the exchange, although the controversy goes on to this day. The Rumseian Society that was formed in the 1780s to rise funding was re-established in 1906 and exists today in Shepherdstciwn, where a replica of Rumsey's boat has been constructed. The steamboat was finally raised to financial success in August 1807 by Fulton.
Technical Negotiation
Authors: Cheimets Peter , Cordon Joshua , Tull Janus
Published: July 2018

This paper discusses that today product development is about teamwork and there are teachable skills to provide more influence to engineers in group decisions. Though engineers may prefer working alone, a significant quantity of a team’s work takes place in a group. The impact that each team member has in these group settings, and therefore on the member’s own career, has as much to do with how one interacts within the team as it does with one’s technical skills. The development of negotiation training courses for professionals working with technology began before the authors developed their course. Both advocacy and inquiry, when well-practiced, are powerful negotiation skills. When properly used, they foster an inclusive environment, illuminate choices, and steer the conversation toward valuable options. A successful negotiation maintains relationships by ensuring that all parties to the negotiation feel included in the process. As a result, the team is more invested in the result as well. This helps team morale, which in turn, helps the employer.
Reining In Patent Costs
Authors: Teska Kirk
Published: July 2018

This paper focuses on that one can make a fortune if one holds a patent for something that everybody wants; and when one is rich and the patent expires, then in general, the society can benefit from what one invented. According a 2007 survey, the average cost for a utility patent application in the United States is around $12,000. By the time the patent is granted, the total cost could easily exceed $20,000. As for basic patent application drafting information, provide any information that the attorney will need to set the deadline for filing the application. List the names, residential addresses, and citizenship of all the likely inventors. List and provide a copy of all relevant prior papers and patents you know about that are related to the invention. Many companies use “invention disclosure” forms for these purposes. If the patent attorney is willing, ask for a discount for multiple applications and/or fixed cost applications. The overall cost may not be that much lower, but at least the cost is known ahead of time and can budget the patenting efforts accordingly.
S Marks the Spot
Authors: Winters Jeffrey
Published: July 2018

This study highlights that wind and geothermal power are now a better investment than coal. Biofuels startups are tapping millions in venture capital funds; and techniques for drawing power from wind, ocean, and solar energy have also seen an influx of R&D dollars. According to Schilling, both wind and geothermal power are poised to become more economical than fossil fuel, needing just a relatively small infusion of additional capital. When people teach innovation and strategy in economics, the S-curve is given. Although electricity-generating technologies are subject to different economic forces than, say, disk drives or semiconductors, Schilling says the S-curve model should apply to them as well. When Schillings fit the performance versus investment data on an S-curve, the technology appeared just at the beginning of a long period of improvement. In the near term, wind and geothermal power have the best potential for performance growth, according to Schilling’s analysis, and make the best sense for additional R&D.
Fitting a Pitch
Authors: Langston Lee S.
Published: July 2018

This article discusses gas turbine efficiency, which is an essential but often unappreciated aspect of turbomachine design pitch. To an engineer, the pitch of a turbo machinery blade is the angle at a representative blade cross-section between the blade chord line and the plane of the blade’s rotation. An axial flow gas turbine consists of many rows of rotating blades, interspersed with rows of stationary airfoils, called vanes or stators. The gas turbine compressor (whose first row of rotating blades in a jet engine may be a fan) draws in air, which after passing through a combustor to add energy to the air flow, powers the turbine which drives the compressor. Most modern commercial jet engines are turbofan, with a front mounted fan, whose size is indicated by the bypass ratio. During the 1990s, jet engine companies developed and tested variable pitch turbofans, with cycle studies showing between 6 and 14% fuel savings. If fuel savings could spread through the airline industry, changing the pitch could lead to air carriers singing a happier tune.