Design Engineering articles from January 2002

Design Engineering archives from January 2002

Three out of ten CAD/CAM users are now outsourcing.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Three out of ten UK CAD/CAM sites are currently outsourcing some part of the product design and development process, according to recent research conducted by The Business Advantage Group plc. These findings concerning current and planned...

CAD Fly. (Choice Quotes from Web for UMS).
January 1, 2002... Extract from www.cadchat.com Sharon - Would you recommend the upgrade from AutoCAD 2000i to 2002? Hangman - That depends on what you're doing. If you're heavy into ADT and the office is using it extensively for 3D views and...

www.polymerlibrary.com. (On-line).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Set up and maintained by Rapra Technology, this site is basically a library catalogue for the rubber and plastics industry containing over 750,000 abstracts for published literature, books, journal articles, conference proceedings etc. ...

www.visionengineer.com. (On-line).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Launched last year by a couple of engineering undergraduates from Imperial college, London, Visionengineer is primarily designed as a learning resource for A-level and University students. With a news section, discussion forum, and a...

www.ied.org.uk. (On-line).(Institiution of Engineering Designers)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... It is your website, the website of the Institiution of Engineering Designers, and in terms of sheer volume of information, it's a great resource. Unfortunately its usefulness is offset by its own ironically poor design. The front page seems...

http://iqx.ionichost.com/other/instest.html. (On-line).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Finally, if you fancy a laugh, turn your speakers up and check this one out.

Sign of PCB recovery?(Purcon-iPro report)(on printed circuit board industry)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... According to a quarterly report published by consultants Purcon-iPro there are signs that the past year's PCB slowdown may finally be level-ling off. After a year in which the PCB industry has experienced declines in excess of 25%,...

Dos Cervezas. (Editor's Comment).(exchange rates)(Brief Article)(Editorial)
January 1, 2002... If you thought business was slow last year be thankful you're not in the Bureau de Change business. The Euro-launch has left them with far fewer sweeties to sell. Sterling alone is probably keeping many Bureau de Change in business. The...

Mystery project revealed. (Design News).(Dean Kamen's high-tech scooter 'Segway Human Transporter')(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
January 1, 2002... After a year of rampant speculation and fevered debate, charismatic American inventor Dean Kamen has finally unveiled his mysterious IT project. Kamen's work prompted a media storm last year when industry gurus sworn to secrecy said that...

Boeing joins electric plane race. (Design News).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Following our November news item "Flying with fuel cells", aerospace heavyweight Boeing has announced that it also is getting in on the electric plane act. Boeing, working primarily through its new research and technology centre in...

X-ray specs. (News in Brief).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... According to a Wired News report, a biomedical engineer at the University of Pittsburgh has developed a handheld scanner that lets doctors look inside patients in 3D. Dr George Stetten's sonic "flashlight" is said to reveal organs, muscle...

LSD heightens the senses. (News in Brief).(lighting sensitive display)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... A team of researchers at New York's Columbia University have developed a computer display that automatically adjusts the appearance of its content according to the illumination of its surroundings. Most computer displays can't respond to...

Radiation proof hat. (Patent Watch).(to diminish health impact of electromagnetic radiation devices)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Western society is increasingly reliant upon technology like microwave ovens and computers that use electromagnetic radiation (EMR). While the jury is still out on whether EMR devices, particularly cellphones, can cause illnesses such as...

Smoke trapping system for tunnels. (Patent Watch).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Long tunnel safety is a pressing issue in mountainous countries. Tunnel fires such as the Mont Blanc disaster in 1999 in which 39 people were killed show that the present safety measures need to be strengthened. One proposal is a nozzle...

Forgery-proof polymer. (Patent Watch).(from AGFA)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... AGFA has developed a polymer (US6326082) that it claims will reduce the risk of forgery in important documents such as passports and driving licences. Most documents are laminated to prevent tampering and forgery; but the majority of...

Boost for data storage. (Design News).(Fujifilm's Nano Cubic technology)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Don't write off the humble floppy drive just yet, because Fujifilm has developed technology that it says will enable this ageing storage medium to hold 3 gigabytes of data. Dubbed Nano Cubic technology, the innovation uses an ultra-thin...

Smallest ever Flapping-Wing Machine.
January 1, 2002... Caption: This is a computer model of the smallest ever flapping-wing machine. Developed at the University of California, Berkeley, the robotic fly has a wingspan of just three centimetres and weighs 300 milligrams The US Department of...

New era of home PCs. (Design News).(Intel Corp.)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
January 1, 2002... Intel has just unveiled the pentium4, its fastest ever microprocessor. Systems based on the processor, which runs at 2.2 GHz, are available immediately. The processor is built with Intel's 0.13-micron fabrication process and uses...

The art of analogue. (RF Design).(wireless devices)
January 1, 2002... Don't let the downturn in the mobile phone market fool you. The future's definitely wireless. It has already brought about a revolution in mobile telecommunications, and it will be at the heart of new consumer and industrial paradigms....

Numerical Prediction of Cavitation. (Pumps).(Sulzer Pumps)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Improving Pump Design: Increased demand for power-per-unit of volume for modern centrifugal pumps has made cavitation the main limiting factor in pump design writes PHILIPPE DUPONT. Sulzer Pumps has taken account of cavitation in the design...

Pneu robot to end electric era? (Pneumatic Robotics).(Festo B.V.)
January 1, 2002... A specialist development team from Festo, used advanced pneumatics and dosed-loop control at the core of a new and advanced robotic handling system. DESIGN ENGINEERING discovers how the 'kinematic robot', with modern pneumatic technologies,...

Let's get medical. (Medical Device Focus).(ninth annual Medical Device Technology show)(United Kingdom)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Strap on your stethoscope and reach for a scalpel - It's time for the ninth annual Medical Device Technology show. Running from 13-14th February 2002 in hall 12 of Birmingham's NEC, MDT is now regarded as one of UK industry's healthiest...

Averting a crisis. (Medical Device Focus).(PDD Ltd.)(medical device technology)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... PDD (Stand 200) is a product development consultancy with a vast amount of experience in the medical device industry. Here, PDD's head of technology Saeed Zaheedi considers our current healthcare crisis. With predictions that in 4 years time...

Instron announces test systems for high stain rate testing.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Instron Ltd, a leading provider of testing equipment designed to evaluate mechanical properties of materials and components, announces its VHS8800 Series of high rate servohydraulic test systems for the automotive industry. Instron's VHS8800...

Como drills.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... MFA/Como Drills offer highly cost effective standard and customised solutions to drive problems with miniature and sub miniature motorised gearboxes and accessories. * 4 ranges, ratios from 2.5:1 to 3000:1 reduction. Spur Gear &...

The key to the CAD highway. (Product News).(CADKEY Corporation)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... CADKEY Corporation has announced the release of CADKEY GraphXP2; Version 20 advanced mechanical drawing software for drafters, mechanical Design Engineers and manufacturing engineers. Built on a new architecture, the product allows users...

Users bitten by the Galaad fly. (Product News).(CAD/CAM package from Unimatic)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
January 1, 2002... Galaad, a new CAD/CAM package from Unimatic has been developed to help companies reduce design development and production costs. Galaad is a 2.5D package and is said to be ideal for functions such as milling, profiling, engraving and sign...

Simulation Innovations. (Product News).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Simulation expert ANSYS has announced the first release in its new Al Solutions advanced technology suite. Al Workbench is an application development platform designed to bring customised simulation solutions and web collaboration to the...

Vellum's new family. (Product News).(Vellum Software )(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Cambridge-based Vellum Software has announce the UK availability of Designer Elements', a new family of aggressively priced CAD products, each tailored to specific professional requirements. The line includes drafting software, solid...

New kernel on the way. (Products News).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Autodesk has begun the development of a dedicated 3D modelling kernel named Autodesk ShapeManager that will be incorporated into all of its design software. Based on the ACIS 7.0 kernel ShapeManager will says the company enable users...

Optimisation strategy -- the pros cons. (Optimisation).
January 1, 2002... The field of structural optimisation contains many different technologies, which are applicable to particular stages of the design process or a particular physical response of the system (e.g. liner elastic or highly nonlinear). ROYSTON JONES...

Shooting from the hip. (Exclusives).
January 1, 2002... Q What is FTC's greatest product? A Historically speaking, PTC's greatest product has undoubtedly been Pro/ENGINEER The introduction of Pro/ENGINEER in the late 1980s changed the customers approach to computer-aided design, positioning...