bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Magnetostrictive Actuators
Authors: Ashley Steven
Published: July 2018

This article demonstrates that materials that change their shapes when exposed to magnetic fields can now be used to drive high-reliability linear motors and actuators. The concept of magnetostriction effect has been the focus of efforts by engineers at ETREMA Products Inc. in Ames, Iowa, to device simple, high-reliability linear motors and actuators. The development of compact, low-voltage motors will offer advantages in applications in which high-force, extended-stroke, high-precision, and fail-safe-operating characteristics are required. ETREMA researchers are looking to improve Terfenol-D using material characterization methods, schemes to enhance the available strain, and better magnetomechanical design techniques. In the Terfenol-D-actuated device, an advanced-design wing flap incorporates multiple deployment segments that would smooth the airflow over the upper surface. During manufacture, Terfenol-D is melted, cast, and directionally solidified to provide the crystalline microstructure required to produce large strains. The strain and actuation force available from Terfenol-D are superior to those of other smart shape-change materials.
Keeping Food Germ-Free
Authors: Valenti Michael
Published: July 2018

Growing concern over the safety of the US food supply could lead to more facilities that will irradiate meat to kill bacteria, larva, and other carriers of diseases. Fourteen Isomedix irradiation plants in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico currently sterilize disposable medical equipment and a broad range of consumer products, including baby-care products. If beef irradiation becomes an accepted practice, Isomedix hopes to build plants, which will serve a single beef-processing facility or to contract out for multiple processors. The article discusses that the most likely scenario for plant construction in the future is building dedicated food irradiation plants either at or as near as possible to the point of transportation and distribution, after the final packaging and labelling is complete, to prevent the possibility of recontamination after irradiation. Irradiation also delays the ripening of certain fruits and vegetables, including strawberries, tomatoes, and mushrooms, which are the main crops that are treated at Food Technology Service Inc, in Mulberry, Florida.
What Can Go Wrong
Authors: Bathe Klaus-Jürgen
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on some aspects of the reliability of finite-element methods and their accurate use. In order to illustrate, linear elastic solutions are considered and assumed that the algebraic finite-element equations are solved exactly. The mathematical model is based on assumptions made regarding the geometry, material conditions, loading, and displacement boundary conditions. The analysis problem is obtained by specifying the geometry and dimensions, support conditions, material constants, and loading. As a remedy in displacement-based finite-element methods, reduced integration is employed. This means that in the numerical integration of the element stiffness matrices, the exact matrices are not evaluated. The method is simple to program and requires less computation time to establish the matrices, and with experience acceptable results are frequently obtained. However, the technique can also lead to very large errors. As a conclusion, finite-element methods can now be employed with great confidence, however, only the methods considered reliable should be used.
Engineering a Rural Recovery
Authors: Valenti Michael
Published: July 2018

This article illustrates life works of Peter Cann, a mechanical engineer who helped foster three expansions and a relocation in Madison County, NY, boosting the employment rolls and tax base of a region that industry had left years previously. The state established the Madison Country Industrial Developl11.ent Agency (IDA) as a public-benefit corporation in 1976. Reduced energy costs helped convince Owl Wire & Cable to expand copper wire production at its existing manufacturing site in Canastota, New York. Low-interest loans and tax abatement encouraged Dielectric Laboratories to make additions to its existing capacitor-manufacturing facility in Nelson, New York, rather than relocating. Cann and the Madison IDA rallied local agencies and companies at a luncheon to provide incentives to Owl.
Pushing the Design Envelope with CAE
Authors: Halpern Mar
Published: July 2018

This article examines the growing usefulness of computer-aided engineering (CAE) programs for the design of electronics packaging. CAE combined with expert interpretation, can help manufacturers quickly satisfy demand for increasingly small yet reliable products. Currently, three classes of software specifically support electronics packaging design: integrated computer-aided design (CAD) CAE software, general-purpose CAE software, and specialty CAE software solutions. The integrated CAE software emphasizes automatic creation and updating of finite-element-analysis (FEA) models based on CAD geometry. The effectiveness of this associativity between CAD and FEA depends on the product behavior to be evaluated and the quality of implementation. CAE simulation can calculate the maximum acceptable loads on pins, as well as the vibration characteristics of components. Solids-based CAD helps detect interference problems across components, as in these exploded views of a disc drive and a headset. While several general-purpose CAE suppliers permit engineers to build customized environments for automating model creation, specialty suppliers such as Pacific Numerix deliver the specific automated capabilities and connector libraries.
Natural Refrigerants
Authors: Hwang Yunho , Ohadi Michael , Radermacher Reinhard
Published: July 2018

This article explains that substances such as air, water, ammonia, hydrocarbons, and carbon dioxide may provide solutions to the problem of finding environmentally acceptable refrigerants. The search for new and environmentally benign refrigerants to replace the existing chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC) has led to the introduction of hydrofluorocarbons (HFC). HFCs could be useful as short- and mid-term replacements, but may ultimately not be suitable, owing to their high global-warming potential (GWP). Natural refrigerants still have several technical and safety challenges to overcome, and each has its unique advantages and disadvantages. Refrigerant, carbon dioxide offers a clear advantage over CFCs and HCFCs from the environmental impact standpoint. In addition to its environmental advantages, carbon dioxide also offers certain attractive thermal characteristics that can help it provide substantial potential as a long-term replacement if energy efficiency challenges can be addressed.
A Tale of Two CAD Systems
Authors: Henry Michael
Published: July 2018

Walter Lorenz Surgical Inc., Jacksonville, FL, specializes in the medical devices known as rigid fixation implants. Lorenz Surgical was purchased by Biomet Inc. of Warsaw, Indiana in the year 1992, which resulted in Lorenzo owning two computer-aided design (CAD) systems. In 1996, with the completion of Lorenz Surgical's new manufacturing facility in Jacksonville, all Lorenz operations were transferred back to Florida, including all the manufacturing equipment and its three seats of Unigraphics, which by then were running on Windows NT workstations. The company's management feels it could have stayed with Unigraphics and accomplished its goals, but that adding Solid Edge was a good move. It gave Lorenz flexibility in hiring, allowed it to buy more CAD seats than it could have if it had stayed with Unigraphics alone, and provided a very productive tool. Lorenz's surgical instruments are currently designed exclusively in Solid Edge. Instruments can be modeled in either CAD system, but the job goes faster in Solid Edge. The creators of Solid Edge put a lot of effort into usability, and this shows in how few mouse clicks are needed for common operations. Products that have many standard features, such as a screwdriver consisting of m any cylinders, are very quickly modeled in Solid Edge.
A Fan for All Seasons
Authors: DeGaspari John
Published: July 2018

This article discusses high-volume low-speed (HVLS) fans that keep industrial units cool. High ceilings, heat generating motors and furnaces, and poor ventilation often work together to keep industrial spaces hot. The idea behind the HVLS fan originated several years ago from a class project at the Cooperative Extension of the University of California at Riverside, which develops applications for the state’s agriculture industry. HVLS fans rotate slowly, at 25 to 125 rpm, powered by a motor of less than one horsepower. The concept behind the HVLS fan is to move large amounts of air slowly. The fan produces a soft, cooling breeze that is effective in mixing the air in the plant. A single 20-foot HVLS fan costs $3,750. With average operating costs as low as five to 10 cents an hour, depending on utility rates, HVLS fans offer a simple, low-cost approach to keeping big industrial spaces comfortable.
Delivering the Goods
Authors: DeGaspari John
Published: July 2018

This article presents a review on two conveyors at the Ford Motor Co.’s Wayne, MI, assembly plant that use the same technology to meet two very different requirements. One system handles fully dressed, pallet-mounted engines in packages weighing up to 1600 pounds, while the other deals with pallet-mounted instrument panels having a total package weight of 80 pounds. The conveyors, supplied by Bleichert Inc. of Sterling Heights, Mich., use a roller drive mechanism that allows them to adapt to the different application requirements. Ford accomplishes the engine/chassis marriage by lifting completely dressed engines into the vehicle from below. The pallet-mounted engines are transported on a cart, called a moon buggy by Wayne plant personnel. The drive motor can be positioned anywhere along the length of the conveyor. It uses a gear reducer and timing belt to transmit power to the driveshaft. Each of the one-meter-long driveshaft sections is linked to the next one by a coupling to complete the modular drive system.
Shuttle Diplomacy
Authors: Morrison Gale
Published: July 2018

The article highlights key points of a special National Research Council (NRC) committee on Space Shuttle upgrades’ ‘Upgrading the Space Shuttle’ report. The NRC committee reviewed two $1 billion-plus proposals for changing what NASA uses to propel the orbiters to space, and found that these could be broached only if more flights were planned, much more design review was done, and the Shuttle would be in service after 2012. The committee used NASA's grouping of the proposed upgrades into phases, with one being the least expensive, time-consuming, and risky, and four being the most costly, long term, and risk-prone. The committee studied another upgrade that would eliminate a hazardous material. The upgrade would modify the Shuttle's orbital manoeuvring and reaction control systems to use liquid oxygen and ethanol propellants instead of current engines' toxic N2O4 and monomethyl hydrazine propellants.
Going With the Flow
Authors: Posey Stan , Kremenetsky Mark , Jassim Ayad
Published: July 2018

Implementation of parallel processing in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is shortening the time required to design products and systems, and is bringing once-elusive problems under a new measure of control. Parallel processing, which is making ever larger models practical, is based on an idea called domain decomposition. The software divides the flow domain into segments of roughly equal computational work. The technology is influencing automotive and aerospace testing by getting more and more work out of the wind tunnel and onto a computer, where it costs less to perform. DaimlerChrysler in Stuttgart, Germany, explored the aerodynamics of its Mercedes E-class sedan with a 10 million cell model. Besides saving time and money by parallel processing, CFD simulation permits review of arbitrary locations in a flow field, including particle tracking, and can rapidly highlight areas of concern about heat build-up. There are several factors that can inhibit a high degree of parallel scaling. Domain decomposition algorithms affect the load balancing between processors. Imbalances slow the system because the solution isn't in until the last processor is finished
The Electronic Push
Authors: Weisberg David E.
Published: July 2018

This article explains the concept and various aspects of mechanical design automation (MDA). The use of computers for mechanical design is often referred to as MDA. Serious commercialization of computer graphics for design and drafting began in 1969 with the founding of Computervision and Application. The commercial market picked up significantly in 1975, when new 19-inch storage tube display terminals became readily available from Tektronix. These units could be used with minicomputers without custom interfaces, and they could display substantially larger drawings than the older, 11-inch units. The 1980s saw tremendous growth and change in mechanical design automation. While the predominant computer continued to be the 16-bit Digital PDP-11, there was growing interest in Digital’s 32-bit VAX 11 /780. Display products were starting their transition from Tektronix’s storage tube units to raster displays, with color raster just around the corner. The 1990s was a decade of constant movement for the MDA industry.
The Quest for a Better World
Authors: Petroski Henry
Published: July 2018

This article highlights the pervasiveness of the products and processes of engineering in having improved the quality of life in the developed countries of the world. The airplane and its associated infrastructure of airports and ticketing schemes have come a long way since the Wright Brothers’ first flight in 1903, and the ensemble that goes under the rubric ‘airplane’ certainly warrants recognition as achievement. All the engineering achievements that have been identified as among the greatest of the past century leave room for improvement. Air conditioning and refrigeration are among the more domestic achievements of 20th century engineering, but at exactly what stage they became so is hard to say. Refrigerators especially came a long way in the second half of the century. Well-controlled air conditioning, for all the technological progress made in the field since air was fanned over a block of ice, seems to remain one of the great open problems of mechanical engineering. All achievements, engineering and otherwise, are relative to their time and circumstances.
Tracking Africa’s Inferno
Authors: Valenti Michael
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on instruments aboard an orbiting satellite and high-flying aircraft study grass fires that straddle a continent. NASA designed its $1.3 billion Terra to be the flagship in a new series of Earth-observing satellites that will study phenomena affecting the climate. The instruments carried by Terra that were most active during the Safari 2000 field experiment were Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectro-Radiometer (MODIS), Multi-Angle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer (MISR), and Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT). MOPITT accomplishes its mission by using gas correlation spectroscopy to measure rising and reflected infrared radiance in three absorption bands of carbon monoxide and methane. The Terra’s Safari 2000 observations were augmented by measurements taken by instruments aboard several aircraft, including the high-altitude Lockheed-Martin ER-2 that NASA flew from Pietersburg, South Africa, as part of the African field experiment. The South African Weather Bureau contributed two Aerocommander 690A aircraft to Safari 2000. One of the twin-engine, turboprop planes was used for aerosol research, while the other one helped validate the carbon monoxide measurements obtained by MOPITT.
Can They Take the Heat?
Authors: Valenti Michael
Published: July 2018

This article describes that fire researchers apply old and new tests to assure that materials meet safety requirements. Baltimore-based Hughes Associates Inc., a fire research firm, uses standard tests and computer modeling, and, in some cases, will develop tests to ensure that new building products satisfy the safety requirements of existing building codes. Hughes Associates also facilitates contact between its client and the appropriate code-making organizations, whether local, state, federal in the case of governmental agencies, or internationally through its offices in Singapore and in Milan, Italy. The data derived from the small-scale tests are also used in flame spread computer modeling testing. These tests use a series of proprietary computer modeling programs to predict the behavior of the product’s flames—for example, how high the flames would reach, and how quickly they would spread. The development of amusement park attractions is driving fire testing to prove that these attractions meet the stringent public assembly provision in fire codes.
Speedy Design
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

Engineers must make changes on the fly to keep race cars up to speed on the track. Westcoast, based in Anaheim, CA, designs and manufactures specialty components, mainly for the internal combustion engine industry. Engineers design the fixtures that hold the engine block in place during tooling in the same computer-aided design (CAD) program that they use for the block itself. Racing league rules prevent Nissan from changing key parts of the engine design, like the distance between the cylinders, but the company can vary other elements of the engine, such as deck height, oil passage diameters, and the main bearing journal diameters. By working out machining variables to ensure that production will go smoothly and quickly, Westcoast manufactures parts at the lowest cost possible, with no wasted production time. Westcoast is currently designing and manufacturing the most recent engine block upgrade, which will be ready for a spin around the track in May.
The Many Favours of Open
Authors: Brown Alan S.
Published: July 2018

This article highlights that a National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) studies the problems in exchanging CAD models that makes at least $1 billion in profits from the US automotive industry every year. CAD has long been familiar to most engineers and designers. CAD systems design, model, and maintain engineering representations. The resulting models may describe something as simple as a screw or beam, or as complex as an automobile or aircraft. Companies now test and revise designs before building even a single physical mockup. CAD developers are discovering a demand for more interoperable programs. Private developers are rushing into the breach with a variety of programs that enable users to begin managing translation and healing. It is certainly a step in the right direction—and one that may eventually allow companies and their collaborators, customers, and suppliers to work together to design, analyze, simulate, test, manufacture, and assemble products electronically before anyone bends the first piece of metal.
Life Force
Authors: Rastegar Sohi
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on bioengineering practices that is one of today’s most exciting and rapidly growing fields of engineering. The field of bioengineering was developed primarily in the latter half of the 20th century, although its roots can be traced back to the work of early scientists such as Galileo and Newton. Another characteristic of the 20th century was the Age of Specialization. We now have come to a point where creative contributions and major advances are made at the interface and the cross section of fields. Bioengineering provides a fantastic model for such an interface. Computational bioengineering is proceeding from the genetic level to the organic. The major advances in biology, such as the field of genomics, have created a tremendously fertile ground for discovery and application. Engineering methods and principles have a vast opportunity to make an impact. There is a need to develop experimentally based computational models and tools to address problems ranging from regulation of gene expression to subcellular and cellular interactions, to tissue and organ function. This is a field at the intersection of biotechnology and information technology.
And I Alone Survived
Authors: Raplee Jack
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on the black box that is becoming smaller, smarter, and more useful as a safety tool in the aviation sector. Although endurance regulations have gone virtually unchanged for several years since the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) first required the units on all commercial aircraft, the most notable has been the advent of digital recording technology. Digital recorders can record more parameters over longer periods of time using less energy than older magnetic tape recordings. Today, this kind of information is used not only to investigate an aviation accident, but to increase the safety of flying at a time when air traffic has grown significantly. The FAA is conducting a FOQA Demonstration Study in cooperation with major U.S. airlines. Based on digital flight data recordings, the study provided information on items such as unusual autopilot disconnects excessive rotation rates on takeoff, unstabilized approaches, and hard landings.
It's a Cool Story
Authors: Nagengast Bernard
Published: July 2018

This article discusses about domestic refrigeration and comfort air conditioning. Refrigeration engineers introduced eccentric shaft, closed-crankcase reciprocating compressors, replacing crosshead or crank types, allowing higher operating speeds and smaller size. Leaky stuffing boxes were replaced with rotary mechanical shaft sea is that minimized leaks. Thermostatic controls were applied to refrigeration systems, making them responsive to the vagaries of system load that varied with room temperature, frequency of door opening, and so on. Engineering brought us those old refrigerators in the garage that still run after 50 years. Those that we buy now we plug in and forget—except when the power goes out. Engineering brought us indoor environmental systems that operate so well and are so well hidden that one might think heating or cooling were nothing more than a thermostat on the wall. From impossible dream to luxury, and finally to necessity, refrigerators and air conditioners were indeed a feat of modern technical alchemy that made our lives better.
Trash and Burn
Authors: Valenti Michael
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on synthetic gases derived from industrial and municipal wastes enable fuel cogeneration plants in Europe. The modern version of the fabled philosopher’s stone is gasification, a process typically used to convert high sulfur coals into a synthesis gas, or syngas that can be burned cleanly. Basically, the coal is prepared and fed into a reactor, or gasifier, where it is partly oxidized with steam under pressure. GE has developed co-firing capability that allows the power plant to produce full electrical load on the backup fuel, providing electric power availability up to 95%. Waste-fueled IGCC plants are being built in countries other than Italy and Germany. Asian petrochemical plants are also bullish on waste-fueled IGCC. GE is working with Exxon in Singapore to gasify the residues from steam cracking operations at a major olefins plant in the island nation. In addition to providing power and steam, gasification will produce all the hydrogen feedstock the plant needs for olefin processing when it begins operations.
The Big Chill
Authors: DeGaspari John
Published: July 2018

This article reviews the improvement of wear resistance of steel that can amount to found money, particularly in industrial uses such as stamping dies and machine tools. Quenching converts most of the austenitic microstructure to the martensitic phase, which is finer and denser. Martensite, the chief component of quenched steel, consists of hardened carbides that provide the higher hardness and wear resistance. Cryogenics has attracted the interest of others who want to improve wear resistance in wider applications. As a follow-on treatment to conventional heat treating, cryogenics should be seen as the very last step in the process. After wear tests, in which cryogenically treated parts were run against an abrasion wheel, it was found that weight loss on several steel grades improved by factors of two to five. It was also found that the overall hardness of the treated steel did not change noticeably.
Rx For Medical Waste
Authors: Valenti Michael
Published: July 2018

This article reviews many hospitals and medical centers have found it more economical to replace their on-site incinerators with alternative waste treatment technologies, primarily microwave systems or steam autoclaves, or send waste to treatment companies that are equipped with disinfection technologies. Sanitec International Holdings of West Caldwell, NJ, illustrates the in roads that alternatives are making to medical waste incineration. The entire Sanitec disinfection system is enclosed in all-weather steel housing, and is connected to the hospital’s electrical and water systems. Hospital workers bring collected waste in carts to the automated lift and load system, which raises the cart and empties it into the infeed hopper. The MediWaste system at Laredo is designed to treat up to 200 pounds of material per hour, which is more than sufficient to treat the 700 to 800 pounds of waste generated per day. Although incineration alternatives appear to be gaining popularity, combustion is still used to disinfect and reduce much clinical waste.
The Legacy of the Cutaway Man
Authors: Wicks Frank
Published: July 2018

Russell Porter, artist, explorer, engineer, turned his hobby into an observatory of unprecedented scale in California. Although he was a trained architect, Russell Porter is known as a scientist, photographer, surveyor, and inventor and played a pivotal role in the development of the Palomar Observatory. Though he never foresaw telescope design in his career plans, Porter was intimately involved in the design and other aspects of the Glass Giant, the 200-inch-diameter telescope on Palomar Mountain. In 1915, Porter returned to MIT as a professor of architecture. When the United States entered World War I, Hartness advised the National Bureau of Standards to retain Porter to develop manufacturing techniques for optical instruments, including prisms and reflecting surfaces. Russell Porter’s work remains visible on the Cal Tech campus in Pasadena. A visit to the corridors of the astrophysics building reveals spectacular cosmic images of distant galaxies and nebula along with 30 of Porter’s more than 1000 cutaway design drawings of telescopes.
Rolling Stock
Authors: DeGaspari John
Published: July 2018

This article discusses features of a new friction management system, which is intended to boost efficiency on the railroad. Friction Management Services LLC of West Chicago, Illinois, has developed a friction management system, called TracGlide that consists of a synthetic polymer and computerized application equipment, installed on the locomotive at the front of the train. Unlike conventional lubrication schemes, the TracGlide system applies a friction modifier, not a lubricant, to the top of the rail. Although railroads usually avoid treating the tops of rails to avoid traction problems, the TracGlide polymer tends to increase the coefficient of friction when needed. The friction modifier is applied on both rails after the last axle of the last locomotive at the front of the train passes by. The application is computer controlled, based on factors such as the train’s weight, track curvature, speed, and temperature of the lubricant, which are constantly changing.
Coming to a MEMS Near You
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

A new process developed at the Argonne National Laboratory in Argonne, Illinois, for growing diamond films promises to bring the superior mechanical and thermal properties of diamond to the rapidly expanding field of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). Many of the visionary applications of MEMS, such as tiny weather satellites and deep-space craft, require moving mechanical assemblies that can operate for years or decades. Diamond films acquire an adsorbed surface layer of hydrogen or oxygen, and- if the film is smooth enough- this layer serves as a lubricant. Films produced by other methods than that used at Argonne are rough, and the surface irregularities negate the effect of the adsorbed antifriction layer. The Argonne scientists have developed an ultrananocrystalline technology that makes the MEMS components of diamond film that has the smoothness, detail, and structural stability necessary for practical use. The laboratory scientists are now working on a multilayer deposition method to allow the complete fabrication of full devices without the need for them to be assembled manually.
Tiny, Tuned, and Unattached
Authors: DeGaspari John
Published: July 2018

Work is under way to create high-end integrated microsystems that can sense, crunch data, and communicate wirelessly—in a package the size of a sugar cube. Research is under way to bring wireless communication down to the micro level, laying the groundwork for next-generation sensing systems. Wireless sensors assume low manufacturing costs, low power use, and an elevated level of integration. Power dissipation must be low enough to permit an acceptable lifetime for the device. One effort working to make this vision a reality is the Wireless Integrated Microsystems (WIMS) project—a research consortium funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). WIMS is one of about 20 Engineering Research Centers funded by the NSF and is the only one focused on wireless microelectro-mechanical system (MEMS) devices. The NSF has pledged financial support for up to 10 years.
Packaged For The Road
Authors: Irving Robert R.
Published: July 2018

This article discusses use of metal matrix composite materials in electronic packaging. Composites can have higher thermal conductivity than traditional materials, low thermal stress, and tailorable coefficients of thermal expansion. They can reduce weight by as much as 80% and size by as much as 65%. They can also be used in low-cost, net-shape fabrication processes. The silicon carbide content can be adjusted to differing percentages to vary the composite's coefficient of thermal expansion. Traditional microelectronic packaging materials used to achieve low coefficients of thermal expansion include blends of copper and tungsten or of copper and molybdenum, and a nickel–cobalt–iron alloy called Kovar, a trademark owned by CRS Holdings Inc., a subsidiary of Carpenter Technology Corp. of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. A key firm involved in promoting pyrolytic graphite in packaging is Advanced Ceramics Corp. of Cleveland. An expert predicts that, in the future, many of these materials will also be used in the optoelectronics industry. This will be a new market for the materials, but one with enormous potential.
Shake, Rattle, and Roll
Authors: DeGaspari John
Published: July 2018

This article highlights that airbag has been a boon to MEMS business. Sales of the tiny accelerometers that sense when the bags should deploy have helped to drive down prices significantly since the devices were first implemented. Now, the high volumes, low costs, and dependable performance of micro devices are opening the way to new applications. Sneaker companies are looking at MEMS accelerometers in running shoes to act as speedometers of sorts. Advantage of the MEMS accelerometer is that it has a wide bandwidth, capable of reading high as well as low frequencies. High-frequency data provides information about thin reservoir zones, faults, and changes that are taking place as fluids are being drained from pores in the rock, said Denver. Higher frequency signals are critical to accurate interpretation. Low-frequency signals are useful in identifying the type of rock, be it sandstone, shale, or carbonate, for example. The VectorSeis is as rugged as a conventional geophone and can be successfully deployed in down-hole environments to get a closer reading of a reservoir.
Making the Cut
Authors: Valenti Michael
Published: July 2018

This article discusses the electrochemical machining (ECM), a noncontact technology that spares both tool and part from machining wear, and the ECM finishes some parts in half the time of conventional mechanical machining techniques. The Sermatech Manufacturing Group, a leading user of ECM, is researching new applications for the technology, which the company uses principally on turbine components and various aircraft parts. In the ECM process, the DC power source charges the workpiece positively and charges the tool negatively. As the machine slowly brings the tool and workpiece close together, perhaps to within 0.010 of an inch, the power and electrolyte flow are turned ON. Everite engineers developed a thinner cutting wheel version of its ECG machines to cut fine stainless steel tubing for medical devices without burrs. Other tiny medical devices made by Everite machines include biopsy needles, nickel titanium threading catheters, and cobalt–chrome alloy joint implants.
Engineers for an Icon
Authors: Lampert-Greaux Ellen
Published: July 2018

This article highlights the restoration of Radio City Music Hall that returns a landmark to its original glory with a number of updates. At the height of its glory, the hall was a glamorous showplace for first-run films and live entertainment on a stage that measures 144 by 66½feet. When the army of architects, engineers, and consultants attacked the restoration of Radio City Music Hall, they discovered that many of the technical systems in the building were the same ones that were in place when the building opened more than 65 years earlier. The goal of architectural lighting throughout the building was twofold: to restore everything that was there and to upgrade everything to meet modern expectations. To reduce maintenance and increase reliability, the designers re-engineered the marquee to use smaller transformers, with fewer lamps per transformer.
Stepping Up CFD
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This article highlights that computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software has become a widely used tool in engineering, biomedical, and environmental research and development in the past few years. CFD might be coupled with multiphysical applications, so users can solve for more than one phenomenon at a time. CFD methods can predict the areas of a component that will see the most damage from the sand, The CFD-based erosion model let the component manufacturer predict the areas of highest erosion and take steps to either reinforce those areas with a suitable material or else redesign the component. CFD will be used even more widely across disciplines and different types of technologies than it is now, but the computational method is already invaluable to many engineers working with varied, unrelated applications.
Changing Times
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This article discusses product data management PDM technology. This technology is a key to communicating with the suppliers and ensuring accurate design and manufacturing and allows designer and supplier to share documents and communicate back and forth. To meet the trend, a system that tracks design changes and allows engineer and designer to study them together becomes crucial. The vehicle maker wanted to standardize the way products are designed across both its truck and bus divisions. The technology is intended to help designers and engineers work more closely together, even if they are working in separate locations on unrelated parts of a truck or bus, and to keep track of changes in the highly customized part models. As a method of doing business changes, so does the technology needed to do that business. Although the answer is not in yet on PDM’s role in a changing marketplace, answers about how it fits into new supplier–customer business models are expected over the next few years.
Old King Coal
Authors: Hutchinson Harry
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on the US Energy Information Administration estimates that coal generates 34 percent of the world's electricity today and will still account for more than 30 percent in 2020. The backers of coal say that systems can be—and must be—developed to make coal more efficient to burn and less troublesome to the biosphere. The United States is also a supporter of the International Energy Agency and is one of the member countries that support IEA Coal Research, a program based in London. The plan for a gasification plant feeding a combined-cycle generating station is still in the demonstration stage in the United States. Although the process squeezes more efficiency out of coal and scores points for cleaner air and corporate goodwill, prospective buyers have yet to form a line around the block. New sources in Venezuela, which has South America’s mother lode of petroleum, have come onto the market, and competition is driving down coke prices.
Tools of Change
Authors: Papazian John M.
Published: July 2018

This article discusses reconfigurable forming dies that increases the efficiency of small-lot production. Manufacturers have long desired single universal tools that could make many different shapes. Patents for reconfigurable “discrete-die” tooling—dies composed of movable elements such as pins or plates—date back nearly to the inception of the patent office. In forming large sheet metal parts, elastic springback can cause unacceptable part shape errors if the part is formed on a tool whose shape mirrors that of the finished part. Two approaches to tool shape correction have been developed for use with the reconfigurable tool. In one, an iterative technique calculates the correct die shape based on two initial guesses. In the other, a predictive technique uses finite element analysis to model and correct for elastic springback. Cost and benefit analysis has shown the attractiveness of reconfigurable tooling based on the initial investment alone. An even greater benefit could be realized through lowered assembly costs and shortened turnaround time for small production lots. Small-lot production shops are likely to profit by replacing fixed-shape forming tools with reconfigurable tools.
All in the Family
Authors: DeGaspari John
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on reconfigurable machining systems. These systems have lately caught the attention of some manufacturers who need something that is more flexible than a dedicated line and produces goods faster than a shop of CNC machines. The lines are called reconfigurable because they consist of modules and, once they are programmed, can be switched quickly to turn out different, but similar pieces from a family of products. Proponents say that reconfigurable machining systems have carved out a niche between two other alternatives—dedicated transfer lines, which are optimized for producing large volumes of specific parts, and computer numerical control machine tools, which have a high degree of flexibility but are slower to finish products. Reconfigurable machining systems have been developed for the automotive industry, for instance, as car companies have increasingly outsourced their production to tier-one suppliers and demanded price reductions.
Tighter Air Control
Authors: Andersen John A. , Fulton Stephen D. , Andersen John H.
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on an engineered system that uses the advantages of available modern technology, including Global Positioning System satellites, inertial reference systems, flight management systems (specialized computers), and autopilots. More than a decade ago, 85 member states of the International Civil Aviation Organization endorsed a global Communications, Navigation, Surveillance, and Automated Traffic Management concept. This concept, called Future Air Navigation System II, advocates a change from terrestrial-based technology to space-based technology and digital communication. Extensive use is made of satellites for both navigation and communication. In 1995, the first-generation system was placed in use over the Pacific, where aircraft were out of range of the older radio control systems for lengthy time periods. Perhaps the evolution in aviation technology has parallels in the past, when ASME codes for safe boilers and pressure vessels, as well as elevators and escalators were voluntarily adopted and, eventually, legislated into practice. Aviation is a vital national and international service. Problems of safety and efficient use of assets require solution.
Feature Focus: Offshore Innovations: Teaching Rover New Tricks
Authors: Valenti Michael
Published: July 2018

This article highlights that manufacturers have been designing remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) that are directly powered by electric motors to improve their energy efficiency, and to reduce their weight and size. Alstom Schilling Robotics developed the Quest to compete with 100- to 150-hp hydraulic ROVs in such underwater tasks as offshore construction support, remote tool deployment, object recovery, salvage, surveying, and mapping. The Quest’s Sea Net communication and telemetry system carries signals over a single optical fiber to and from modular hubs affixed to the ROV, TMS, and accessories, including sensors, cameras, lights, thrusters, and tools. The greater mass of hydraulic-powered ROVs gives them an advantage over electric vehicles in rough seas, where greater stability is needed. To operate in looser soil that cannot support the trencher, the tracks can be removed and replaced with skids, so that the trencher’s power can be directed to its thrusters.
So Long, Pump Monkey
Authors: Sharke Paul
Published: July 2018

This article reviews the use of the electric car around town, and save gas and short-trip abuse to gasoline-powered mainframe. With gasoline so cheap, making the case for CNG vehicles and home filling is difficult based on economics alone. A person would have to log quite a few natural gas miles before he would have recovered the cost of the home fueling station. Engineers seeing the big picture on the hydrogen economy know that hydrogen has to be made, generally either by electrolyzing water or reforming hydrocarbons. Most of the time, that will mean burning coal or natural gas to produce the electricity needed for electrolyzing water—or reforming natural gas. Natural gas with home refilling makes better sense for daily commuting. Use of an alternative fuel vehicle rewards the choice with a waiver for a single-occupant vehicle to ride in the HOV lanes. Plug-in hybrids can double fuel economy in city and highway cycles operating solely in the gasoline-sustaining mode. Trips made on batteries alone are, of course, pure EV allies. Plug-in hybrids remain experimental.
Sealing Science
Authors: Sharke Paul
Published: July 2018

This article reviews an edge-seal gasket that begins its final manufacturing stage stacked together with about a hundred identical paper frames. Each die-cut frame matches, edge for edge and hole for hole, the parts between which it will form a sealing interface. Midway between bolts marks is one of the best places to test gasket performance because that is where bolts in assembly exert the least amount of clamping force. Any gasket leakage is likely to begin where the clamping force is lowest. Thermal cycling and the expansion rates of dissimilar metals are particularly stressful to gaskets in engine service. The thermal tests try to do to the gaskets what engines can do routinely: displace the gasket as the adjoining engine components expand and contract. But with high tack properties, the edge polymer grabs tenaciously to each surface and holds on even as the two components move at different rates.
Planning a Plant
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on the efficient planning involved in the manufacturing plant. Factory simulation software gives a sense of whether or not such a bottleneck would occur if the factory process were laid out as planned. It extrapolates problems of a particular line layout and forecasts the costs of a problem like a bottleneck. The digital factory software allows manufacturers to simulate factory layout digitally, in order to see how the plant would function under the proposed arrangement and to realize potential problems on the line. In addition to robots, employees themselves can be represented in a digitized version. In this way, engineers can figure out where employees should stand on the line and design workstations for them to both optimize their movements and to ensure they are not under any kind of ergonomic stress. Virtual factories can be planned together by people in different locations with the help of software that allows for fly-through.
No More Sweat or Tears
Authors: Sharke Paul
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on the fact that automated guided vehicles are making inroads on safety and the bottom line. More sense prevails in the controlled environment of a U.S. Postal Service processing facility in Fort Myers. There, at least, pedestrians are granted their rightful way. The heavily automated facility is a test case for the post office’s experiment in integrated mail processing. The automated guided vehicles (AGV) move pallets and wheeled containers between the sorting equipment and the loading dock. For the Fort Myers AGV project, personnel installed a grid of reflectors in the building. The vehicles, bouncing laser light off these reflectors, triangulate their x-y coordinates and their headings. A confidence factor helps the vehicle place either more faith or less in its knowing where it is, thereby accounting, say, for variations in a scan off a dirty reflector.
The Telltale Heart
Authors: Ehrenman Gayle
Published: July 2018

This article describes features and functioning of left-ventricular assist devices (LVAD). LVADs are the fastest-growing category of mechanical heart devices and are the only category of mechanical heart-assist devices to be approved in the United States, Canada, and Europe as a commercially available treatment. The current generation of LVADs and implantable artificial hearts represent a major technological step. However, by all accounts, these devices have a long way to go before they are as mechanically sound and user-friendly as they need to be to be widely accepted as a destination therapy for more than just the sickest of the sick. Thoratec Corp., Pleasanton, CA, has received Food and Drug Administration approval of its HeartMate SnapVE LVAD and an updated model, the HeartMateXVE, for use as a long-term, permanent treatment for end-stage congestive heart failure patients who don't qualify for heart transplantation and have a life expectancy of less than two years. These devices, the best known of which is the Abiocor, from AbioMed of Danvers, Massachusetts, are still considered experimental.
Birth of a New Product
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This article reviews engineering challenges in building a motorized surfboard. Bob Montgomery, a former professional surfer, founded a company named Powerski International in San Clemente, California, to help bring surfing to the masses. The motorized surfboard invented by Bob Montgomery includes a 330-cubic-centimeter engine, known as the SuperTorque XT, specially designed to fit within the hull's profile. Between the first design on paper and actual production, Powerski engineers made thousands of changes to the hull, engine, and other components. Montgomery found that designing a new engine had to be done within a computer-aided design (CAD) package to allow for the complexity of the parts. Although the hull of the Powerski Igniter 330 was designed by hand, engineers imported the physical prototype into the company's CAD system, which is from PTC. Montgomery expects jet boarding to become a popular water sport, akin to surfing. The jet board design puts the center of gravity under the rider's feet, rather than behind or in front of the rider. Controls under the bottom of the hull also put the pivot point directly under the rider's feet, for high-speed planing and turning, much like a surfboard.