Mechanical Engineering-CIME articles from December 2007

Mechanical Engineering-CIME archives from December 2007

Showcasing innovation.(editorial)(Editorial)
December 1, 2007... What do you get when you combine an organic composite with a human scanning device and a nano-scale drug delivery system? The answer: innovation. These diverse concepts represent the entrepreneurial spirit and innovative drive of some of...

A before C.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2007... To the Editor: I got a laugh from your "Creative Impulse" article's (September) unintentionally hilarious commingling of an emphasis on cultivation of a "warm, inviting atmosphere" with morale-destroying prejudices, such as, "With A students...

Powers to change.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2007... To the Editor: I agree with Messrs. West and Kreith ("The Road Not Yet Taken," April) on the advisability of rapidly developing alternative transportation energy resources. However, they seem confused about the connection between its...

Restating units.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2007... To the Editor: I would like to take this moment to enhance the clarity of some articles within Mechanical Engineering magazine. Regarding "Right on Track" from June 2007, on page 28 the author states, "According to Strang, a 5 mm crack can...

All-American steamer.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2007... To the Editor: Below is an excerpt that I "Googled" regarding Colonel John Stevens's contribution to steamboats. Frank Wicks neglected to mention anything about Col. Stevens in his article ("Pressure's On," October). This is an ironic...

Recycling fuel.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2007... To the Editor: It is finally becoming apparent that nuclear power must assume an ever-larger role in our country's energy future if we hope to sustain our lifestyle and preserve/ improve our environment. Yet, it is a little known fact that only...

Solar for the masses.(news & notes)
December 1, 2007... Demand for silicon from various industries, including semiconductor and computer chip manufacturers, has not only sent prices skyrocketing, but has also made wait times for solar panels prohibitively long. Couple that with the slow, meticulous...

Bouncing bullets.(news & notes)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Pulletproof vests can't actually repel the force of bullets. Instead, they absorb the force, which can still gravely injure the wearer in the process. New research in carbon nanotechnology, however, could be used to create jackets that...

Green gasoline.(news & notes)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... ASME was a cosponsor with several other professional organizations of a recent Congressional briefing on alternative gasoline. The briefing, called "Green Gasoline: An Alternative Alternate Fuel," was held in conjunction with the House...

Web survey studies product development.(news & notes)
December 1, 2007... A consulting and software company, International TechneGroup Inc. of Milford, Ohio, is conducting a study to determine best practices in new product development. The company says it will attempt to establish measures for performance with regard...

Aerospace acquisition.(news & notes)
December 1, 2007... Parker Hannifin Corp.'s Parker Aerospace unit has acquired Shaw Aero Devices Inc., a producer of aerospace components and equipment. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Based in Naples, Fla., Shaw Aero Devices was founded in 1956 and has...

Sequestration demo.(news & notes)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants have been linked to global warming, but they have something else in common with weather as well: Everyone talks about them, but no one does much about them. That situation is about to...

The Babcock & Wilcox Co. has received a 220-megawatt coal-fired boiler and selective catalytic reduction system contract valued at more than $50 million.(Briefly Noted)
December 1, 2007... The Babcock & Wilcox Co. has received a 220-megawatt coal-fired boiler and selective catalytic reduction system contract valued at more than $50 million. The order is for a new power plant to be owned by Public Power Generation Agency, a...

ArvinMeritor, or of Troy, Mich., announced that its Body Systems business unit within the light vehicle systems business group has been awarded new business to supply more than four million window regulator motors annually to Hyundai Motor Co, worldwide.(Briefly Noted)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... ArvinMeritor, or of Troy, Mich., announced that its Body Systems business unit within the light vehicle systems business group has been awarded new business to supply more than four million window regulator motors annually to Hyundai Motor Co,...

Siemens PLM Software.(Briefly Noted)
December 1, 2007... Siemens PLM Software of Plano, Texas, has released its Teamcenter 2007 product lifecycle management software in China.

Algor Inc.(Briefly Noted)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... The Santa Clarita, Calif., office of Algor Inc. of Pittsburgh has expanded and now provides direct customer service to Algor users in California. Algor makes finite element analysis software.

Earth-friendlier skies.(computing)
December 1, 2007... YOU MAY NOT BE TRAVELING by flying saucer in the near future. But within the next 20 years you just might hop a plane that slightly resembles the prototypical method of space-alien travel. And it'll be more environmentally friendly than...

PLM to track suppliers.(computing)(product lifecycle management system)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... A SOFTWARE SYSTEM that allows engineers to work together on design and to track design progress also has application across the supply chain. In an era of newsmaking product recalls, a company's product lifecycle management system offers a...

Valve design in hours.(computing)(The Selma)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... BY MOVING FROM two- to three-dimensional design, Fresno Valves and Castings shaved weeks and, in some cases, months off the production cycle for its line of irrigation products, which range from garden hose faucets to hydroelectric dam gates....

Superfast supercomputer.(computing)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION is helping to create a powerful supercomputer that will make arithmetic calculations at more than one petaflop--or 1,000 trillion operations--per second. "The system will provide U.S. scientists and engineers...

Liquid and solid.(computing)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... SHARP LABORATORIES EUROPE of Oxford, England, recently began using fluid dynamics software specifically integrated with its CAD system. The new software gives engineers a hand in designing and digitally prototyping their models of liquid...

Draft, design, CAM.(software exchange)
December 1, 2007... Capability: The three-dimensional computer-aided design program Alibre Design has been upgraded to version 10. The upgrade includes an integrated computer-aided manufacturing add-on that supports 2.5- and 3-axis numerically controlled...

Technical drawing.(software exchange)
December 1, 2007... Capability: SmartDraw 2008 helps engineers create circuit diagrams, engineering schematics, mechanical engineering diagrams, and logic diagrams. The technical drawing tool includes more than 50,000 symbols, images, and templates. For instance,...

Electromagnetic analysis.(software exchange)
December 1, 2007... Capability: The electromagnetic simulation tool Opera has been upgraded to version 12. It can now perform what-if analyses to speed the virtual prototyping of electromagnetic equipment. The application features a range of solvers for purchase...

Learn NX.(software exchange)
December 1, 2007... Capability: There is Web training for the NX 5 Free Form Modeling and NX 5 Advanced User Express CAD packages. The NX 5 Free Form Modeling course teaches users how to enhance designs using free-form features and advanced curves. The NX 5...

Visual fluids.(software exchange)
December 1, 2007... Capability: 2DFlow is a program for visualizing flows induced by the distributions of point and line singularities, such as vortices, dipoles, and sources. It graphically illustrates flow theory by simulating a range of fluid mechanics...

[H.sub.2] going for distance.(technology focus: FLUID HANDLING AND FLUID POWER)(research on high-pressure cryogenic tank)
December 1, 2007... A team of researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California is claiming the world's record for distance in a hydrogen-fueled car, thanks to a new high-pressure cryogenic tank they have developed. The group ran a Prius around...

A case of the vapors.(technology focus: FLUID HANDLING AND FLUID POWER)(Boehringer Ingelheim Chemicals Inc. installed fieldbus architecture )
December 1, 2007... Installing fieldbus architecture can be like giving a plant a brain. It tells plant managers what's going on and helps them keep processes flowing. Of course, it requires electric current to work, and if the plant is a designated hazardous...

Having a blast.(technology focus: FLUID HANDLING AND FLUID POWER)(methods to remove protective coatings and rust)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... From the Pulaski Skyway to the Golden Gate Bridge, millions of lives depend daily on the integrity of steel structures that take a constant beating. As the bridge collapse four months ago in Minneapolis so severely reminded everyone, those...

Smart ventilation.(technology focus: FLUID HANDLING AND FLUID POWER)(Delta T Systems Inc. introduced 600-DCT1-24 dc fan control system )(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Proper ventilation plays a key role in the efficient functioning of an engine room. Thus, the new 600-DCT1-24 dc fan control system from Delta "T" Systems of Riviera Beach, Fla., is designed to automatically manage temperature and ventilation....

Hard case of stainless.(technology focus: FLUID HANDLING AND FLUID POWER)
December 1, 2007... A manufacturer of fluid control devices says it has developed a process for surface hardening stainless steel without compromising corrosion resistance. The treated steel has been used in its products, and now the company wants to treat steel...

Engineering meets manufacturing: software that links engineering and manufacturing may be around the corner, but it's not here yet. However, many companies are finding ways to cope.
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Companies could cut their production expenses and time by tying the manufacturing floor to the product lifecycle management system used by mechanical engineers, according to researchers. But linking the...

Machines for life: smart prosthetics grow in their power to restore lost human abilities.(FEATURE FOCUS: BIOENGINEERING)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," the science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke once wrote. If that is true, then a new generation of smart prosthetics--systems that combine...

Turnaround: what's driving the need to revise ASME's bioprocess engineering standard after only two years? Progress--and the desire for better quality control.(FEATURE FOCUS: BIOENGINEERING)(American Society of Mechanical Engineers)
December 1, 2007... To Michelle Gonzalez, a biopharmaceutical engineering consultant based in Thousand Oaks, Calif., the bioprocessing equipment standard is not a cold, technical document. It's personal. "My mom benefited from the progress of the...

Crash course: the test dummy in a virtual world.(FEATURE FOCUS: BIOENGINEERING)
December 1, 2007... There's a cartoon by Gary Larsen called "Night of the Crash Test Dummies." It shows a group of dummies that have come to life and are getting their revenge by shoving lab technicians into a test car. It's not the only crash test dummy...

Intelligent safety: newly mandated electronic stability control takes over braking to prevent spinouts--and promises smarter, safer vehicles in the future.
December 1, 2007... Traffic accidents occur with mind-numbing regularity. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, more than 10 million vehicles were involved in 6.2 million accidents in 2005. Of that, 1.8 million collisions injured nearly 2.7 million...

Rehearsal for the moon: the contractor says it's a new relationship with NASA; a physical and a digital mockup work together to refine the design of the next idea in space travel.
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Orion has sparked the human imagination for a long time. There's a theory that, before it entered Greek mythology, the name originated in Mesopotamia millennia ago, as Uru-anna, usually translated as "Light of...

Miniature infrared transmitters OS101E.(the ME the resource file)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] OMEGA's new OS100E Series miniature infrared transmitters measure a temperature range of -18 to 538[degrees]C (0 to 1000[degrees]F). All models feature a remotely mounted infrared sensor head connected to a...

Paperless recorder--RD 9900 series has standard Ethernet and USB communications interface.(the ME the resource file)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] OMEGA's new paperless recorders are network compatible, high performance and easy to operate. Their 5.6" LCD display allows for high visibility and its large capacity for data memory and recording methods enable a...

Bunting Magnetics Co.(the ME the resource file)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Bunting Magnetics Co. designs and manufactures some of the beat magnetic conveyor equipment in the industry. Our Material Handling Products save time, labor, and expenses in a wide range of industrial applications....

New flow, level and environmental Greenbook[R].(the ME the resource file)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Volume MMV 7th Edition of the FLOW, LEVEL AND ENVIRONMENTAL GREENBOOK[R] has over 1,500 pages of the latest flow, level, and environmental products to meet your every need, including a comprehensive product selection...

New Optics catalog.(the ME the resource file)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Rolyn Optics announces its new catalog, "Optics for Industry." 140 pages of product data, photos, performance graphs, and ordering information. Simple and compound lenses, prisms, optical flats/flat glass, flat and...

Barracuda[TM] software.(the ME the resource file)
December 1, 2007... BARRACUDA[TM] ENGINEERING SOFTWARE solves highly-coupled particle flow problems inside industrial systems. Its breakthrough numerical method, computational-particle-fluid-dynamics, CPFD[R], makes it both fast and powerful. Barracuda is proven...

Single-stop solution for CAE analysis.(the ME resource file)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Bring Simulation Driven Product Development to your organization with leading technology from ANSYS, Inc. The suite offers advanced physics capabilities, enabling you to model applications from simple to complex. By...

Plant design suite.(the ME resource file)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This brochure describes Coade's CADWorx plant design suite. CADWorx Plant models piping, steelwork, ducting and HVAC in full 3D, with collision checking and fabrication deliverables. CADWorx P&ID produces intelligent...

Software for Engineering Design, Analysis and Reference, Engineers Toolbox (ETBX) features integrated computational modules for solid mechanics, dynamics, controls, fluid flow, heat transfer, fatigue and fracture mechanics.(the ME resource file)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Software for Engineering Design, Analysis and Reference, Engineers Toolbox (ETBX) features integrated computational modules for solid mechanics, dynamics, controls, fluid flow, heat transfer, fatigue and fracture...

Reliable CFD meshing.(the ME resource file)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Pointwise's Gridgen has been used for CFD preprocessing for over 20 years. Now we have combined our reliable CFD meshing with modern software techniques to bring you the eponymous Pointwise--a quantum leap in...

Low-cost vibration test systems and digital controllers.(the ME resource file)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 100 lbf System $5,865 with Vibrator, base, blower, low-distortion linear amplifier, cables & hose. Digital Controller Packages convert PCs to Vibration Controllers--Sine $3,995. Random $4,995. 4-Channel Swept-Sine,...

Free multiphysics Webinar.(the ME resource file)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Is your product's behavior affected by multiphysics interaction? At this Webinar, learn about SIMULIA's open platform for multiphysics simulation such as fluid-structure interaction plus the fully-integrated...

Oh, what a Web we punch.(input output)(Joseph Jacquard's punched-card controller for textile looms)(Column)
December 1, 2007... Most mechanical engineers, if they are involved in computer applications, will sooner or later read a statement to the effect that Joseph Jacquard's punched-card controller for textile looms was the "beginning of the computer age." The remark...