bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Standard Measure
Authors: Jakuba Stan
Published: July 2018

This article provides an understanding of a metric system and a standard that describes a universal, international language of measurement. Essentially, all units created in modern times are metric in every country of the world, including the United States. The evolution is coordinated by an international committee in which the United States has participated since 1875. The modern system of measurement is properly called SI, not metric. Individually, they measure such basic physical quantities as length, mass, or time. Alone or in combination, they let mankind measure anything. Many derived units can be expressed in more than one form, but professional use usually settles on a single convention. The degree Celsius is an alternate name for the Kelvin when a temperature increment is meant. It is also a name that designates a temperature on the Celsius scale. If each symbol is written according to the SI rules distinguishing between uppercase and lowercase letters, and between the Latin and Greek letters—it will be intelligible anywhere, regardless of the script and language a nation uses.
From Helios to Our House
Authors: Sharke Paul
Published: July 2018

A study commissioned by Florida Power and Light Co. of Juno Beach reports that energy savings in Florida from ceiling fans came only with the raising of air conditioner thermostats. Making fans with high-efficiency motors offered one way of achieving that goal and aerodynamic blades offer another. Infrared thermogram of a typical ceiling fan shows heat generated by the motor. Temperature scale at bottom reads from coolest to hottest. With simulations having helped the decision on the choice of design, the engineer team set out to discover a building method for making the prototype blades. As work proceeded on the blades, Florida Solar Energy Center, in Cocoa, also considered what sort of control system would eventually operate a production version. Even after undergoing many redesigns from the original wooden-blade prototype development team tested back in 1997, the two production models offer substantial improvements in energy efficiency.
It’s All About Togetherness
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on various features of product data management system (PDM). A PDM system manages all forms of product data; that is, computer-aided design or text files, or anything else concerning product development. PDM systems also ensure that bills of material are generated on the design side. The bill of material describes exactly what parts will be used in each manufactured product. Using the bill of material (BOM), a manufacturing engineer determines the most efficient set of operations to manufacture a product and may request a design modification to streamline production. BOM development should logically take place in the PDM system at the same time the product is being developed and then should be released to the enterprise resource planning system—and thus to the manufacturing side—when the product design is complete. An enterprise-resource planning system is a company’s operational, planning, and control system used to manage the resources of the manufacturing part of the operation.
Advanced Nasal Operations
Authors: Raplee Jack
Published: July 2018

Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics and Surveillance Systems in Akron, Ohio, had shipped Sweden’s Air Force two full mission simulators as well as five multi-mission simulators by the end of 1999. A change of the simulator’s database for precision rather than speed and for tissue manipulation instead of aircraft tactics resulted in the development of Lockheed Martin’s endoscopic sinus surgery simulator. The virtual terrain thus became smaller—the human sinus instead of Northern Europe. Using an endoscopic sinus surgery simulator, doctors can practice a variety of complex nasal procedures and reduce the risk to patients. Using simulation technology originally designed for military applications, the simulator features a dummy named Martin and can simulate a broad range of situations, including the effects of medication on a patient. The simulator is designed to train nasal surgeons and ear, nose, and throat residents to evaluate new techniques, handle instruments more efficiently, and familiarize themselves with anatomy.
Not Without Engineering
Authors: Majumdar Arun
Published: July 2018

Recent experiments have shown that thermal conductivity of carbon nanotubes can be more than twice that of diamond. It should be noted that high mechanical strength often comes with high thermal conductivities. Recent experiments have shown that the thermal conductivity of carbon nanotubes can be as high as 3000 to 6000 W/m K at room temperature, which is more than twice that of diamond. It was recently shown by Alex Zettl and his group at the University of California, Berkeley that the relative motion between different shells of multiwall carbon nanotubes has some unique properties and can serve as excellent mechanical bearings that do not undergo any wear. Recent work has led to multifunctional probes, which, besides topography, can detect thermal, electrical, magnetic, and optical signals at nanoscales. The engineering challenge now is to develop microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)-based probes that integrate multiple functions on a single tip.
Detroit, We Are Here!
Authors: Valenti Michael
Published: July 2018

Automakers are using French-born manufacturing software to improve the machining and assembly of their vehicles. Carmakers use ILOG software to determine the order of building vehicles that will optimize production, maximizing return on investment. A more recent French software entrant in the Detroit area is ILOG, which opened a sales and technical support office in Southfield, Michigan, in May 2000, to serve the US automotive market. Delmia Corp.’s, a French company, labs in Troy, Paris, Montreal, Stuttgart, and Bangalore, India, customize software services to design, simulate, optimize, and control production activities, which account for up to 80 percent of the cost of manufactured goods. Delmia adapted three of its proprietary software tools to form the core software of the V-Comm Project. The Delmia Assembly Module enables users to evaluate alternative sequences of assembly to achieve the optimal lean solution. Toyota engineers working in V-Comm rooms at 20 Toyota locations in Japan, Europe, and North America use the Delmia software to create virtual prototypes that are projected on large screens, and to observe the visual data in three dimensions.
Making Sense
Authors: Sharke Paul
Published: July 2018

BMW’s Z9 study car combines a haptic input device, on the console, with a display screen. With the long-range problem in view, BMW began speaking to the engineers at Immersion about the possibility of designing a mouse for the car. The target vehicle would be the 2001 7 series. An actual computer mouse in a car is one of those products that probably would cause a crash. According to an expert, strength of the mechatronics discipline is its notion of multivariable optimization, the idea of trying to solve the problem in the right place. Although the medical trainers for which Immersion provides tactile feedback look similar when seen from Schena’s favorite zoomed-out perspective, up close they are fundamentally distinct.
A Frontier for Engineering
Authors: Roco Mihail C.
Published: July 2018

This article kicks off an initiative by mechanical engineering magazine to delve into the topic of nanotechnology. Because of the high-risk/high return and interdisciplinary nature of the research and development, and the potential social implications, the National Nanotechnology Initiative has received the government’s support. The essence of nanotechnology is the ability to work at the atomic, molecular, and supramolecular levels, in a scale of about 1 to 100 nanometers, to create, manipulate, and use materials, devices, and systems that have novel properties and functions because of the small scale of their structures. There has been an explosion of discoveries in the last few years, and development is expected to accelerate in the next decade. Many scientific advancements exceed the projections made just one year ago, in areas such as molecular electronics, guided self-assembly, medicine, and DNA processing. Nanoscale science and engineering promise to restructure almost all industries toward the next industrial revolution, and to assure the quality of life in an increasingly crowded planet with shrinking energy and materials resources and less environmental endurance.
Relay Races
Authors: Chalmers Peggy
Published: July 2018

This article illustrates that micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) promises relief to designers seeking a smaller electromechanical option. A MEMS relay could offer the true ON/OFF characteristics of its conventional electromechanical equivalent in a device small enough to be integrated on the same die with semiconductor circuits. Raytheon Co.’s radio and terminal business in Fort Wayne, Ind., a unit of the Command, Control and Communication Systems division, believes MEMS will help produce highly efficient, software-controlled, digital radios for the military. The MEMS devices would replace solid-state switches and their associated components used to switch frequencies in communications systems. With fewer components, size, weight, and power consumption will shrink. The pursuit of a MEMS relay has developers experimenting with various actuating mechanisms and researching the materials and fabrication challenges associated with those mechanisms. Radant Technology plans to incorporate the Analog Devices design in a balloon-borne radar antenna that will scan for incoming cruise missiles from a height of 15,000 feet.
Hell on Wheels
Authors: Rogers Larry , Reschovsky John
Published: July 2018

Accuride Corp. runs an aggressive research and development program at its Corporate Engineering Center in Henderson, Kentucky. Accuride engineers at this facility test and analyze contemporary designs, and conduct tests to verify the quality of products coming off the production lines. Some of the work involves accelerated fatigue testing in which wheels are subjected to very high loads for extended periods of time to determine where fatigue cracks might start and how they would propagate. Loaded and ready, an Accuride wheel has sensors in place for a test run. Information from the sensors is transmitted to a stationary receiver in the cab of the truck. One approach that Accuride employed to collect data from wheel strain gauges was to mount a data acquisition device directly to the wheel. This device obviated the need to transmit the data from the rotating wheel to a stationary receiver. Digital rotor telemetry offers several advantages for the testing team at Accuride Corp. Because the data are digitized before transmission, they are virtually immune to electrical noise. This means the signal is much clearer and cleaner than an analog system.
Engineering Art
Authors: Shakerin Said
Published: July 2018

This article discusses how besides its life-supporting and other essential applications, water has been combined with hydraulic systems for aesthetics, amusement, and relaxation since ancient times. Al-Jazari in Mesopotamia designed several ingenious fountains with moving objects in the late 12th century, improving upon the earlier works of the Banu Musa. Three brothers, the Banu Musa worked as engineers and scientists under the patronage of the caliphs of Baghdad in the ninth century. Today, many municipalities incorporate fountains to beautify their streets. Amusement parks and resorts invest millions of dollars to build fountains that create special effects to attract visitors. Home improvement centers and interior design firms market indoor fountains to provide a calming effect in our spaces. The advances made in computer-controlled devices allow impressive controls to be used in the fountain design and operation. Mechanical engineers can play an important role in the design of new fountains, especially in large-scale units, where knowledge of hydraulic systems and other skills come into play.
Small Packages
Authors: Peterson Richard B.
Published: July 2018

This article reviews the micro technology-based energy and chemical systems (MECS) that help miniaturizing and integrating the components necessary for advanced energy and chemical systems. Researchers in the field view this idea as a way of improving traditional energy systems while addressing the challenges of new applications. This aim is analogous to what occurred when discrete electronic components were integrated on the same substrate. MECS are typically mesoscopic, that is, approximately between the size of a sugar cube and a fist. Thus, MECS are systems made up of smaller components brought together to form a larger package. Miniature energy and chemical systems rely on the small scales because heat and mass transfer rates increase by the inverse square of the reduction in size; that is, going to smaller sizes greatly enhances both heat and mass transfer rates. As MECS technology matures, the ideas and concepts presented here may result in exciting new applications that could include fuel cell-powered cars that fill up on gasoline, or power cartridges for portable electronics having 10 times the life of current batteries.
Rapid Transit to Manufacturing
Authors: Sharke Paul
Published: July 2018

This article reviews that an ultimate goal of 3D printing is direct manufacturing. A critical element to the commercial acceptance of 3D printing is the need to make high production rates. Theriform benefit derives from the way in which a tablet can be built layer by layer in any number of configurations. Concentric rings of pharmaceutical can be interspersed between rings of inert powder and thus create timed release in a lone oral tablet. The Theriform process requires a different approach to pill-making than most pharmaceutical manufacturers are used to. Soligen builds ceramic molds for metal casting with 3D printing, eliminating the pattern-making step. TDK is investigating the production of ceramic components for electronic devices. Z Corp. makes 3D printers for building rapid prototypes from inexpensive and benign materials. Using the Z Corp. printer, a designer can print out a model of a part with as much effort as it takes to generate a paper drawing.
Beyond PDM
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This article discusses recent changes in the definition and capabilities of product data management (PDM). The term “collaborative engineering” generally is applied to the newfound ability of engineers to design together across the miles using computer-aided design software that is linked by a PDM system and Internet technology. The system uses software and servers that take advantage of the Internet and an intranet, and include a common Web-browser interface that lets employees at a company and their suppliers interact, even if they are in separate locations. PDM systems are quickly becoming more than ways to archive past product designs and link engineers via their CAD systems. But the many uses of such systems can easily be confusing or overwhelming to the everyday user. Advocates, including Turk, Strom, and Bourke, argue that the movement to expand PDM systems beyond their initial use can make for a tighter design cycle and a bigger profit for engineering companies that take advantage of the possibilities.
Keeping the Flow in Nuclear Plants
Authors: DeGaspari John
Published: July 2018

This article reviews that the US Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, WA, is developing the self-diagnostic monitoring system (SDMS) with the aim of improving the situation for plant operators. The SDMS differs from current monitoring systems in two ways: its wireless and it has predictive capability. SDMS uses multiple sensors that are housed on radio-frequency tags, each with its own power source. The system monitors current conditions and by focusing on the root causes of degradation, the sensors identify problems and help predict failure of components. The SDMS as well as decision support for operations management (DSOM) systems include protocols in which the sensors can self-check, to make sure that data sets are logical. Potential data corruption from electromagnetic interference in the plant can be dealt with by data encryption as well as by other means, such as using more than one sensor or running current or voltage checks to ensure that sensors are functioning correctly.
Expert Built-In
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This article discusses the growing trend among providers of computer-aided engineering analysis tools to market different types of analysis software packages, many of them integrated with computer-aided design packages and all of them accessible to engineers without special training. Common computer software tools offer speed and ease of use to designers who must make repetitive calculations. Engineers who use analysis programs nowadays use those programs to complement their CAD software. In other words, without design there is generally no need for analysis. The reasons engineers use CAD software are usually the same much like the reasons they turn to analysis software. Analysis reduces the number of prototypes necessary and further not only reduces development costs and but also shortens the design cycle. Additionally, such an analysis can decrease the time and cost of testing both virtual and actual prototypes. By decreasing testing and prototype time, the product gets to market quicker.
Two Phases, Three Runs
Authors: Krawczyk John
Published: July 2018

Premcor Port Arthur Refinery, part of the Premcor Refining Group has been expanding the capacity of a vacuum tower processing almost one million pounds per hour of heavy hydrocarbon feed. The feed is deficient in lighter, more volatile components and is extremely viscous at room temperature. The process is intended to squeeze as much useful fuel as practical out of the oil feed. During the past 5 years, CFD has become noticeably more widespread in solving single-phase flow problems, but progress in solving multiphase flows has been much slower. There are at least three primary solution methods currently available to solve a dispersed multiphase flow problem. The contract with Premcor called for the use of a Eulerian method. Later, as an in-house test, Flow Simulations studied the model of the tower using two other methods.
Sun Machines
Authors: Sharke Paul
Published: July 2018

Pacific Energy Center in San Francisco offers building designers access to its heliodon. A machine that imitates the rotation and orbit of the Earth, a heliodon helps architects wanting to analyze passive solar heating options, site solar panels, or control solar heat gain. Sun machines are likely to always have a part in architecture. As instrumentation improves, sky simulators will see their roles increasingly directed toward comparative analyses. A silvered mesh, for example, while difficult to describe optically, could be tested easily in a sky simulator. Then, designers could feed the material’s optical characteristics into a program like Radiance, and proceed to simulate its effect on a room’s light. The heliodon provides an almost intuitive method of studying the sun as it makes its way across the seasonal skies. Into the sun machine are built the mathematics of solar position and seasonal variation, of night and day.
Power of 42
Authors: Sharke Paul
Published: July 2018

This article discusses that higher automotive voltages may one day empower a car full of drive-by-wire applications and amenities. This move could save gas, too. For starters—literally-42 volts supply sufficient oomph to turn over a stopped engine at a traffic light with a touch of the gas pedal (or a release of the brake), and so move a driver briskly away from a standstill. Such stop-start, or idle-stop, systems deliver gas mileage improvements and emissions reduction, especially in city traffic. Toyota has already introduced the first production version of these so-called mild hybrids. Besides improving efficiency and decreasing emissions, 42-volt systems make implementing electromechanical valve trains easier. For vehicle control, 42-volts might speed the adoption of brake- and steer-by-wire systems. Toyota’s mild hybrid system uses a belt-operated motor generator to restart a stopped engine, move the vehicle while starting, operate auxiliary equipment when the engine is stopped, generate power while motoring, and recapture energy from braking.
Better Storage Through Chemistry
Authors: Sharke Paul
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on production of a hydrogen fuel system for a DaimlerChrysler fuel cell minivan by Millennium Cell Inc., a developmental-stage company based in Eatontown. Millennium Cell’s hydrogen-on-demand system stores hydrogen in the form of sodium borohydride, a chemical whose chief use today is for bleaching paper. Mixed with water, the chemical makes a fuel that can be stored as a liquid in plastic vessels under ambient temperature and pressure. The mixture is neither flammable nor explosive. Millennium Cell continues its research. It is attempting to drive down catalyst costs. Improving catalyst durability is another constant challenge. The company continues making key changes in the packaging of its hydrogen-on-demand technology to reduce the space it occupies. As for Millennium Cell’s researchers, their desks filled with abundant technical challenges, they undoubtedly have plenty to do besides worrying about the future.
Speed for Uncle Sam’s Cargo
Authors: Valenti Michael
Published: July 2018

This article discusses the logistical agility of the United States armed forces that enables the nation to project its power into countries as remote as Afghanistan. The aircraft, artillery, and vehicles deployed on the battlefield are effective as long as the flow of anul1unition, fuel, and spare parts reaches them in good order. For that reason, Uncle Sam is a major sponsor of innovative technologies that rely on mechanical innovation, automation, and vision systems to improve the transport of vital equipment. These breakthroughs are often commercialized to benefit private sector transport as well, as was the case with the Direct Acquisition Rail-to-Ship spreader bar system (DARTS) designed to transfer military cargo directly from railcars to vessels, and now used in commercial shipping. The designers based the DARTS on Bromma’s standard AST -6 telescoping spreader bar, which uses a single electric motor to drive the hydraulic pump that extends or retracts the bar’s reach.
Risky Business
Authors: DeGaspari John
Published: July 2018

This article reviews risk analysis in process engineering. Process plants must be inspected and maintained more diligently as they age. Risk analysis methods, along with post-construction standards currently being developed, are evolving tools aimed at helping companies maintain plants better and save money. Risk analysis is routinely used in the nuclear power industry to identify areas of a plant that have the highest likelihood of failure and pose the most serious consequences. Post-construction standards, a current project of ASME, are focused on mechanical integrity, and will provide guidelines on what, when, and how to test and inspect. Risk assessment has proven itself to be a useful tool in making industries safer and more reliable, and could have larger societal benefits as well.
MEMS' Rocky Road
Authors: DeGaspari John
Published: July 2018

This article highlights that there is potential demand for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices across a range of industries. In 2002, the five leading applications of MEMS will use 21.5 million disposable blood pressure sensors, 28.7 million manifold absolute pressure sensors for engines, 85 million packaged airbag accelerometers, 425 million inkjet printer heads, and a whopping 1.58 billion read/write magnetic heads for computer hard drives. In MEMS, process is driven by design, so it is important for companies seeking to commercialize a micro device to evaluate the capabilities of a foundry. Industry groups are starting to recognize standardization as an issue, and are focusing on fabrication. The MEMS Industry Group, a trade association based in Pittsburgh, identified standardization as a key challenge in its 2001 annual report. The Group plans to issue a report on foundries and fabrication sooner.
Feature Focus: Rapid Prototyping: Rapid Evolution
Authors: DeGaspari John
Published: July 2018

This article highlights the striking facts about rapid prototyping; a process that fabricates physical objects directly from computer-aided design sources. The use of rapid prototyping as a replacement for injection molding is still the overwhelming exception and may always be limited to a very narrow niche. Three-dimensional printing has also seen the introduction of materials that improve the durability and appearance of conceptual prototype parts. Z Corp. of Burlington is incorporating new pigments into its binders for its starch- and plaster-based materials. The pigments result in truer and brighter colors and replace the dyes that were previously incorporated into the liquid binders. The company has recently introduced a urethane infiltrant that increases part strength significantly and allows parts with delicate geometries to be.
Feature Focus: Offshore Innovations: Raising the Kursk
Authors: Chalmers Peggy
Published: July 2018

This article reviews the 10,000-metric-ton Russian nuclear submarine Kursk, with two nuclear reactors and 20 missiles aboard, had gone down in August 2000 following a pair of explosions approximately two minutes apart. Explosions had left the bow so deformed it was impossible to attach lifting devices, and there were serious doubts about the structural integrity of what remained. At Roslyakovo, the 21-tonne Giant was lifted clear of the water by two auxiliary pontoons. The pontoons, 100 meters long with a 15-meter beam, were sunk below the barge, winched into position beneath it, and then pumped out in order to raise the Giant-Kursk combination. This extra lift, in addition to deballasting of the drydock, provided the clearance the strand jacks needed to lower the sub on the stocks. Once the Kursk was positioned, the Giant 4 released its load and was withdrawn from the drydock.
Organ on the Wall
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This article reviews liver surgeon, Rory McCloy’s operations that are guided by a four-foot, three-dimensional virtual profile of a patient’s liver that rotates at his command on the operating room wall in front of him. Using a specially outfitted mouse and his lap top computer, McCloy can manipulate the virtual liver to find the exact location and extent of a tumor before he makes even one incision in the patient’s actual liver on the table below. The high-powered graphic are available to McCloy by remote access on his decidedly non-supercomputer, with the help of a software called OpenGL Vizserver, also from SGI, which allows the data from the supercomputer to be shifted to other computers, even much less powerful ones, via a network link. The trick in making the technology useful for the operating room lay in finding a way to manipulate the images with one hand while performing the surgery with the other of the school’s computing center.
Keeping in Touch
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This article reviews product life cycle management (PLM) software. The PLM technology used in product creation can be reactivated farther down a product’s life. Some companies couple PLM—which allows engineers and manufacturers to exchange design files and communicate about product development—with a mix of other technologies to forecast a product’s life and to come up with more environmentally friendly products. Because mechanical and manufacturing engineers, designers, marketers, and many others are involved in creating a product, a PLM system helps these people exchange plans and ideas via the Internet, whatever their location, to brainstorm design and manufacturing. PLM technology, often thought of as a tool that is useful in the first stages of product design and manufacture, is now being used to project a product’s life, to follow a product even after it is sold, and to ensure an environmentally sound product in the first place. This article reviews product life cycle management (PLM) software. The PLM technology used in product creation can be reactivated farther down a product’s life. Some companies couple PLM—which allows engineers and manufacturers to exchange design files and communicate about product development—with a mix of other technologies to forecast a product’s life and to come up with more environmentally friendly products. Because mechanical and manufacturing engineers, designers, marketers, and many others are involved in creating a product, a PLM system helps these people exchange plans and ideas via the Internet, whatever their location, to brainstorm design and manufacturing. PLM technology, often thought of as a tool that is useful in the first stages of product design and manufacture, is now being used to project a product’s life, to follow a product even after it is sold, and to ensure an environmentally sound product in the first place.
Powering Down
Authors: Hutchinson Harry
Published: July 2018

This article reviews that after a half century of safety testing for the nuclear industry, a key heat-transfer lab is losing its home. Columbia University’s Heat Transfer Research Facility has been the only place to go for key safety testing. Since the days of the Atoms for Peace program during the Eisenhower years, the lab has tested generations of nuclear reactor fuel assemblies. The lab’s clients over the years have included all the designers of pressurized water reactors in the United States and others from much of the world. The tests are primarily concerned with one small, but significant feature of a reactor core. A core contains as many as 3000 fuel assemblies, bundles of long, slender rods containing enriched uranium. Controlled fission among the bundles heats water to begin the series of heat-transfer cycles that send steam to the turbines that will drive generators.
Mixing it Up
Authors: DeGaspari John
Published: July 2018

This article discusses that it takes a team of experts and a great deal of cross-fertilization to produce successful MEMS. MEMS devices are produced by a team effort, in which electrical and mechanical engineers bring their own brands of expertise to bear on a number of tasks that often run concurrently. Different companies, from giant electronics firms to small start-ups, have their own unique ways of doing this. Companies that have successfully produced micro-scale devices talk of an environment in which teams of specialists work together toward a common goal. Recently, Motorola introduced two MEMS products, a tire pressure sensor and a low-g accelerometer. Products start out as a potential market opportunity; proposals are taken to a program steering group that often consists of general management and marketing. Good communication between disparate groups is a critical component to designing and producing MEMS. This can only become more important as micro technology reaches new applications. Companies are trying to provide an environment that allows engineers with very specialized skills to collaborate on aspects of a project.
A Whole New Heart
Authors: Ehrenman Gayle
Published: July 2018

This article discusses recent developments in artificial heart devices. The latest artificial heart devices are intended for patients suffering from the most severe form of heart failure, in which the heart is no longer capable of pumping blood at all. Currently in clinical trials, the AbioCor Implantable Heart, from AbioMed of Danvers, is the first completely self-contained artificial heart available. When the first AbioCor was implanted in 2001 at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, the procedure marked the first artificial heart transplant in close to two decades. Unlike the earlier Jarvik-7, the AbioCor heart is fully implantable. The patient is not tethered to controllers, external pumps, or monitors. The AbioCor is a hydraulically driven pump. A gear inside the pump spins at 10,000 revolutions per minute to create pressure. AbioMed expects to file for US Food and Drug Administration approval for a Humanitarian Device Exemption to allow sale of the AbioCor for use in a clearly defined subset of patients who qualify for heart replacement.
Coal Cell
Authors: Winters Jeffrey
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on coal mining that is incredibly disruptive, and coal is heavy and bulky, involving rumbling freight trains to transport it. The idea that fuel cells are every bit as clean as coal is dirty is just as widespread. Fuel cells, after all, take hydrogen and oxygen, and combine those elements to make electricity and water. The program, called the Clean Coal Technology Program, was, in part, an effort to promote commercial-scale integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) coal power plants in the United States. Molten carbonate fuel cell stacks routinely weigh in at 250 kW. For the Wabash River demonstration, eight stacks will be combined for 2 MW. It will be the largest carbonate fuel cell power plant operating on coal in the world. FuelCell Energy has been planning for this sort of project for more than 20 years.
Raise the Umbrella
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This article reviews how information systems can keep track of multitudes of design changes and avoid problems in the issuing of bills of materials. Sometimes, as in the automaker’s case, engineers find a novel way to make available software perform a second job. The DaimlerChrysler technology fitted a second need, which engineers did not even know they had until they put two and two together: a system that kept track of documents could keep track of equipment, too. As information technology people layer and link a company’s various software systems, they create a full-blown digital umbrella that works for the company. Most companies layer their technology systems, first implementing one, then another, and then finding a way to link the two. In other words, companies first identify a need that technology can fill, then purchase new technology or find new uses for what they have, as in DaimlerChrysler’s case.
Between the Horse and Car
Authors: Wicks Frank
Published: July 2018

This article highlights that the world is now celebrating the centennial of three internal combustion engine-driven milestones. Wilbur and Orville Wright achieved controllable and powered flight at Kitty Hawk, with a barely adequate 16-horsepower gas engine they had made in their bicycle shop. Henry Ford in Detroit founded his motor company that rapidly made the horse obsolete and revolutionized our way of life. And in Milwaukee, the 22-year-old William Harley and 21-year-old Arthur Davidson sold their first motorcycle to schoolyard pal Henry Meyer. There is a unique uneven rhythm to a Harley-Davidson engine. In 1994, the company filed a widely publicized application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to register the sound as a trademark. Management decided to withdraw the application in 2000. The motorcycle is fuel-efficient, easy to park, and can maneuver through congestion. It can enhance the quality of life by providing the rider with a unique form of relaxation and enjoyment.
Stacking Up
Authors: Von Spakovsky Michael R.
Published: July 2018

This article reviews that efficiency on a small scale and a means of curbing emissions make fuel cells an investment for the future. The Connecticut Clean Energy Fund put up the $1.25 million to purchase the fuel cell-power plant from a local company, Fuel Cell Energy Inc., in Danbury. The motive for funding fuel cells goes beyond boosting for local industry, though. As pressures mount on available resources and the environment, fuel cell systems can play a major role in the future of stationary and mobile power generation. Many adherents believe that fuel cell systems promise to provide benefits in a variety of applications. Systems based on PEM and direct methanol technology promise to make power more portable and convenient, and proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology also promises to provide a more efficient, cleaner technology for the automotive industry. PEM, phosphoric acid, molten carbonate, and solid oxide fuel cells are likely to be applied in cogeneration applications that use the exhaust heat.
Tracking Fusion
Authors: Hutchinson Harry
Published: July 2018

This article highlights that fusion holds out hope for an abundant supply of clean energy, fueled by forms of hydrogen drawn from seawater, with no emissions into the atmosphere of CO2, no oxides of nitrogen or sulfur, and no mercury or cadmium. Talk of a future hydrogen economy has raised the profile of fusion research, and the field has gotten a couple of boosts during the past few months. The arsenal is aging, and the major powers have agreed not to set off any nuclear weapons, even for safety testing. By studying the physics of inertial confinement fusion and the response of weapon materials placed near a fusion fuel capsule, the caretakers of the bombs and missiles can better understand the aging process. Fusion energy has been a long time coming and still has a long way to go. There are skeptics who question whether it can happen at all.
Under The Capitol Dome
Authors: Woods Robert O.
Published: July 2018

This article discusses the engineering concepts used in constructing the dome of The Capitol. It is a product of high-grade 19th century engineering. It is really cast iron painted to look like marble, a counterfeiting that provoked controversy before the dome was built. The controversy over the iron dome was a long time in dying. As late as 1904, a movement was still afoot to replace the cast iron with marble. A study was undertaken to explore the idea. The internal structure resembles present-day steel truss work; however, it is really a series of cast iron modules, some as much as 10-feet deep and weighing 10 tons. The castings that were finally adopted show impressive attention to detail and, to a visitor's eye, remarkable dimensional tolerance. Unlike marble, which has corrosion problems of its own, cast iron is prone to rust. In order to support this program, an elegant finite element analysis of the entire structure was performed; it was published in the October 2000 issue of Civil Engineering magazine.
Digging Deeper in New York
Authors: Ehrenman Gayle
Published: July 2018

The Army Corps of Engineers' New York District has undertaken a series of estuary initiatives with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the states of New York and New Jersey to deepen the channels of the third-largest container port in the nation. Part of this work involves deepening the Kill Van Kull channel, which connects Upper New York Bay with Newark Bay, and serves as the main route for ships docking at the busy New Jersey harbors of Port Newark and Port Elizabeth. In the Kill Van Kull, they're dredging nine diverse types of materials, each of which poses its own engineering challenge. Where the harbor composition makes it possible, the Corps is drilling and dredging. Materials that the Corps is dredging include glacial till, which was left by the glaciers as they receded; red-brown clay, which is hard to dig; and four varieties of rocks. The project is using a liquid explosive for the blasting, and trying to do that during the day, so as not to disturb residents.
New Retinas for Old
Authors: Ehrenman Gayle
Published: July 2018

This article reviews retinal prosthesis that is a seeing-eye chip with as many as 1000 tiny electrodes to be implanted in the eye. It has the potential to help people who have lost their sight regain enough vision to function independently in the sighted world. The Artificial Retina Project is a collaboration of five US National laboratories, three universities, and the private sector. The interface module and the antenna for future versions of the retinal prosthesis will all be implanted in the eye, instead of outside the eye. The retinal prosthesis will help patients who still have neutral wiring from the eye to the brain. One of the challenges in developing the device is creating a microelectrode array that conforms to the curved shape of the retina, without damaging the delicate retinal tissue. Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, is the lead lab on the Artificial Retina Project. They're the folks responsible for fabricating and testing the electrodes, and making sure they're up to the challenge of being implanted long term in a human body.
Bug Off
Authors: Leaf Jeffrey
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on innovations done by engineers for spying. If there has been espionage, engineers have been a part of it. In World War II, infiltrators and downed pilots had to be able to find their way behind enemy lines. Compasses were hidden in cufflinks, pencil clips, and buttons. Maps were printed on rice paper so they wouldn't rustle when opened. British pilots wore special flying boots with cutaway tops that, when removed, left normal-looking shoes. Bugging is another method of the spy. The purpose of a bug is to detect sound vibrations in air or in other materials, such as wood, plaster, or metal. A good bug must reject unwanted noise, be easily concealed, and be energy efficient. The United States had an entire listening kit in the 1950s and 1960s with an assortment of accessories like a tie clip and wristwatch microphones.
Not a Drop to Drink
Authors: Ehrenman Gayle
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on innovations done by engineers for spying. If there has been espionage, engineers have been a part of it. In World War II, infiltrators and downed pilots had to be able to find their way behind enemy lines. Compasses were hidden in cufflinks, pencil clips, and buttons. Maps were printed on rice paper so they wouldn't rustle when opened. British pilots wore special flying boots with cutaway tops that, when removed, left normal-looking shoes. Bugging is another method of the spy. The purpose of a bug is to detect sound vibrations in air or in other materials, such as wood, plaster, or metal. A good bug must reject unwanted noise, be easily concealed, and be energy efficient. The United States had an entire listening kit in the 1950s and 1960s with an assortment of accessories like a tie clip and wristwatch microphones.
Finite Elements, Roman-Style
Authors: Woods Robert O.
Published: July 2018

MJT Lewis has published a work that is a combination of classical scholarship and pragmatic experimentation, Surveying Instruments of Greece and Rome. Among other things, he has undertaken a comprehensive study of the limits of accuracy that are attainable using modern reconstructions of ancient instruments. Graceful Roman arches, built about 2,000 years ago, held up a carefully crafted water course more than 50 km long, from a rural spring to the city of Nimes. The chorobates was a tool used to get a horizontal reference by sighting along the top. A modern writer, who tried it, doubts its usefulness. The Roman practice of reducing a problem of irregular shapes to a series of manageable-sized orthogonal blocks may have been primitive; however, it got remarkable results. The recent interest in applying modern analytic and experimental techniques to the study of ancient engineering has inspired a good deal of research. Hubert Chanson, a reader in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Queensland in Australia, has published several papers on the subject and has mounted an introductory website, ‘Some Hydraulics of Roman Aqueducts’. The site gives numerous references to other literature, including experimental work by himself and V Valenti in 1995.
Engineering with a Conscience
Authors: Ehrenman Gayle
Published: July 2018

Volunteers are using low-tech engineering to have a high impact in developing communities. Volunteer teams of civil and environmental engineering students from the University of Colorado at Boulder and their professor installed a water delivery system that used no electricity. Engineers Without Borders (EWB) pairs professionals with volunteer engineering students to design and build an infrastructure project that a developing community has identified as a pressing need to help provide training, and to improve the quality of life for people in developing communities. In Santisuk, Thailand, EWB-USA volunteers installed a multipart filtration system, a covered spring box and new leach fields to clean up the contaminated water supply. Making more progress on the organizational level is the current goal of EWB-USA. The non-profit enterprise is working on getting a baseline organization in place that’s funded, so it can adequately control the quality of its project.
Not Even the Kitchen Sink
Authors: Sharke Paul
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on the increasing commercial application of capillary force vaporization. Possibilities range from fuel oil burners to the sophisticated kerosene heaters that are popular in Japan. A new stove will introduce capillary force vaporizing as a way of atomizing fuel, stepping away from cartridge and metal-tank stoves that dominate the market. Researchers in the United States are also exploring the technology’s suitability to diesel and homogeneous charge compression (HCCI) ignition and engines. A capillary force vaporizer’s ability to vaporize low-volatility diesel fuel at atmospheric temperatures and pressures gives the technology an edge over air-assist or other methods that produce small droplets. A capillary force vaporizer could be applied to a Heel engine in the manifold between turbocharger and intake valves or a vaporizer could be installed in the combustion chamber itself. Jetboil Inc. of Guild, N.H., integrated a pot, burner, heat exchanger, canister, and insulator into a single unit to promote efficient fuel use. As a result, the stove uses less fuel in the field, which is about half that of a conventional pot-and-stove setup that lacks an engineered interface.
HIP Action
Authors: DeGaspari John
Published: July 2018

The success of hip implants with elderly recipients has encouraged surgeons to increasingly perform hip replacement surgery on younger, more active patients as well. The condition that causes hip prostheses to loosen is known as osteolysis. While the problem affects only a relatively small set of recipients now, it may well grow as hip replacement surgery encompasses a wider range of eligible patients. A research group at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom says it has patented a ceramic-on-metal hip prosthesis that produces one-tenth the wear particles of currently available hip replacement joints. The prosthesis has been licensed to a prosthetic manufacturer and is about to enter clinical trials in Europe. Some companies produce highly cross-linked polyethylene, either by thermal treatment or by radiation. Stryker Orthopaedics has Crossfire hip implants using highly cross-linked polyethylene cups against a metal ball. The company developed a ceramic-on-ceramic joint replacement, which it commercialized in 2003. The new Trident joint uses bearing surfaces of alumina ceramic. The company claims it has scratch resistance, low wear rates, good wettability for lubrication, and no ion release.