Design News articles from May 2008

Design News archives from May 2008

The Case of the Reluctant Radiator.
May 12, 2008... By Myron J. Boyajian, President, Engineering Consultants In the day, a major forklift manufacturer redesigned a forklift model for a product launch. This engine-powered unit received new controls, structural and cosmetic changes and a...

Find Me on facebook.
May 12, 2008... By John Dodge, Editor-in-Chief For many engineers, Facebook isn't news. After all, facebook as of this writing hosts 520 engineering organizations as diverse as the Roller Coaster Engineers to Engineers without Borders, Manitoba...

Best of the Engineering Marketplace.
May 12, 2008... Compiled by Elizabeth M. Taurasi and Sasha Brown-Worsham Lambda's ZPSA20 Series Elizabeth M. Taurasi, Sasha Brown-Worsham A 20W addition to PCB-mountable ac-dc power supplies The single output ZPSA20 Series accepts a wide input...

Military Beams Over New Non-Lethal Weapon.
May 12, 2008... By John Dodge, Editor-in-Chief Heads to Iraq this summer In the 1950s, movies featured space aliens firing ray guns at planet Earth. Wielding lethal hand-held ray guns, martians invaded our cities, but this was all science fiction....

Drag Racing's Electronic Edge.
May 12, 2008... By Charles J. Murray, Senior Technical Editor, Electronics 'Black boxes' boost drag racing performance Once considered the sole province of large commercial aircraft, data recorders have moved to the drag strip. By most measures, nearly...

Adhesives Start Assembly Revolution.
May 12, 2008... By Doug Smock, Contributing Editor, Materials and Fastening Rapid advances in adhesives technology will allow the design of significantly lighter cars and also enable use of thinner steels. Some new platforms are already employing the new...

Can Mars Support Life?
May 12, 2008... By Doug Smock, Contributing Editor, Materials and Fastening We'll soon know as the Phoenix Mars Lander conducts unique scientific experiments over the next several months Fifty years ago, Orson Welles terrified millions of Americans...

Who Are You Calling Large?
May 12, 2008... By Terry Costlow, Contributing Editor 'The world's largest' isn't generally a smart way to describe Alice. But CERN researchers on a project dubbed A Large Ion Collider Experiment (ALICE) say their Large Hadron Collider is the largest...

Steering Toward Conservation.(Brief article)
May 12, 2008... By Terry Costlow, Contributing Editor Electric steering systems offer fuel efficiency advantages and reduced CO2 emissions over hydraulic power steering systems that run nonstop. The compact Mazda 2's electric motors only respond when...

Stopping Flu in Its Tracks.(influenza)(Brief article)
May 12, 2008... By Terry Costlow, Contributing Editor When doctors or researchers are analyzing diseases, like flu, speed is critical. Veredus Labs. Pte Ltd. has created a molecular diagnostic test that can detect infection within two hours, providing...

Dual Cores Enable HDTV Recording.(high-definition television)(Brief article)
May 12, 2008... By Terry Costlow, Contributing Editor Dual-core micros are expanding their reach into the consumer world, helping in the transition to high-definition TV and digital movies. Silicon Imaging deployed Intel's Core2 Duo in its SI-2K...

Hybrid Technology Comes to SUVs.
May 12, 2008... By Terry Costlow, Contributing Editor Those who need big SUVs for towing or other reasons can now benefit from the fuel savings provided by hybrid drive trains. General Motors' full-size Chevy Tahoe Hybrid and GMC Yukon Hybrid both have a...

Case #120: Super-Powered Salad Spinner.
May 12, 2008... By Design News Staff Welcome to the water-fueled salad-spinner cake box. Here's a muscle-free salad spinner that works from the power of a sink faucet and rotates your salad greens faster than the manual version no matter how much muscle...

Honda Debuts Panic-Design Hybrid.(American Honda Motor Company Inc.)(Brief article)
May 12, 2008... By Rob Spiegel, Contributing Editor The American Honda Motor Co. Inc. has introduced a Honda Civic hybrid custom-designed and autographed by the pop act Panic at the Disco. The green car will hit the road with the band during its spring...

Rearden Commerce Launches Green Personal Assistant.(Editorial)(Brief article)
May 12, 2008... By Rob Spiegel, Contributing Editor Rearden Commerce has produced a green-focused personal assistant that provides business travelers and organizations with a 'Total Green Travel Experience' when booking travel and related services. The...

Lighting Science and Tech Lighting Team for Green LEDs.(Lighting Science Group Corp.)(Brief article)
May 12, 2008... By Rob Spiegel, Contributing Editor Lighting Science Group Corp., an LED lighting producer, and Tech Lighting, a company that produces light fixtures for architects and interior designers, have launched a full line of LED-based lighting...

Engineering Education for the 21st Century.
May 12, 2008... By Kevin C. Craig Our economy, national security and indeed our everyday lives are increasingly dependent on scientific and technical innovation. The quality of engineering education has a direct impact on our ability as a nation to...

Anatomy of the Delayed 787 Schedule.
May 12, 2008... By John Dodge, Editor-in-Chief Project Manager Pat Shanahan lays it on the line In the most detailed explanation yet, 787 (http://rbi.ims.ca/5711-528 ) Program Manager Pat Shanahan described the steps Boeing is taking toward the first...

NXP Rolls Out FlexRay Compliant Transceiver.
May 12, 2008... By Charles J. Murray, Senior Technical Editor, Electronics Transceiver will be interoperable, sets stage for drive-by-wire A fault-tolerant databus took a step toward broader automotive implementation recently, as NXP Semiconductors...

Laser System Speeds New Molded Interconnect Devices.
May 12, 2008... By Doug Smock, Contributing Editor, Materials and Fastening Integrated electronics boost range of RFID system developed by Harting Mitronics compared to 'smart labels' made from film Eight materials' producers are supplying compounds...

Cleaner Diesels Head Off-Road.
May 12, 2008... By Joseph Ogando, Senior Editor, Motion Control With off-road diesel engines facing stricter emissions standards, they're starting to look more like their on-highway counterparts Emissions requirements haven't just tightened up for cars...

SolidWorks Builds ECAD-to-MCAD Bridge.(SolidWorks Corp.)(Brief article)
May 12, 2008... By Beth Stackpole, Contributing Editor, Design Tools New module lets users integrate ECAD files directly into their 3-D models SolidWorks Corp. stepped up efforts to bridge the gap between electronic CAD and mechanical CAD software by...

A Lament for Engineers.
May 12, 2008... By Mike Rainone, Co-founder, PCDworks The driving force behind our nation's innovative achievements Recently, our country marked National Engineer's Week 2008 (Feb. 17-24), a time to celebrate our nation's brilliant engineering minds...

Hysteresis Blocks Magic.
May 12, 2008... By James Bryant Q. Can I recalibrate my precision analog circuits to achieve higher accuracy? A. There is no magic¹ process for upgrading the precision of analog circuitry. A phenomenon known as hysteresis limits just how...

Nanotech Wages War on Infections.
May 12, 2008... By Jack McMaken, President and CEO, AcryMed SilvaGard helps prevent hospital-acquired illness The medical community faces mounting pressure to prevent hospital-acquired infections, says Jack McMaken, president of Oregon-based AcryMed....

Medical's 'Mini' Revolution.
May 12, 2008... By Lawrence D. Maloney, Contributing Editor From microscopic devices to new minimally invasive procedures, 'less is more' when it comes to medical technology Increasingly, the world of medicine is taking the 'minimalist' route,...

Designing Custom Implants More Efficiently.(Biomet Inc.)
May 12, 2008... By David Chen, Contributing Writer Virtual touch, electronic 3-D approvals speed the process All medical product design processes are complex, but creating custom implants and prosthetics further lengthens the workflow to assure a...

Safeguarding Reliability in Implants, Medical Equipment.
May 12, 2008... By Del Williams, Contributing Writer Medical device manufacturers are working hard to secure their products Failure is not an option when it comes to medical equipment. From critical or sensitive devices like lasers, MRI scanners, knee...

USB Instruments Move Ahead.(Universal Serial Bus)
May 12, 2008... By Jon Titus, Contributing Editor Unbelievably useful info on data measurement, collection and analysis from the test expert Test and measurement engineers have seen a succession of instrumentation buses, from the venerable...

The Mythical Battery in the Basement.
May 12, 2008... By Charles J. Murray, Senior Technical Editor, Electronics Electrochemists are still struggling to create a battery for a pure EV At a recent social gathering, a lawyer told me the 'truth' about electric vehicle (EV) batteries. 'A...