Mechanical Engineering-CIME articles from March 2005

Mechanical Engineering-CIME archives from March 2005

Getting a handle on costs.(editorial)
March 1, 2005... Even at a quick glance, there's no mistaking what this month's cover story is about. China has been linked to outsourcing as much as Ford has been tied to automobiles. But the article, "The China Road," tells us that the outsourcing option...

Tax for roads.(letters)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2005... To the Editor: It was disturbing to read Frederick Singer's letter in the October 2004 issue. Despite his seeming agreement with the rationale for an increase in gas tax to discourage excess consumption of gas, his animus towards taxes was...

Old wheels.(letters)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2005... To the Editor: I found the article "Tutankhamen's Tribology" (November 2004) to be most interesting and informative, in my book, a work in progress on the subject of gears, I will list the significant dates and events affecting their...

Different choices.(letters)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2005... To the Editor: The "Freedom of Choice" article in October 2004 objectively compares advanced powertrain designs for cars and light trucks. It is a very useful survey addressing pros and cons of various systems. It is interesting to...

Reading the clouds.(news & notes)(weather forecasting)
March 1, 2005... Weather forecasters earn their living--and sometimes the ire of television viewers--by predicting rain or shine over a few days. Climate scientists predict weather patterns on a scale of decades. In a role that's akin to astronomers' observing...

Eye on hydrogen storage.(news & notes)(Sandia National Laboratories)(General Motors Corp.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... In a $10 million cooperative program funded by General Motors Corp., Sandia National Laboratories will work with GM's Advanced Hydrogen Storage Program in developing metal hydride [H.sub.2] tanks. A goal of the four-year program is the...

Only on M.E. magazine online.(news & notes)
March 1, 2005... Responses to the February Question of the Month: How much do federal regulations and tax policy hinder the development of alternative energy? The March Question of the Month is: In what areas does your company use data mining? Please visit...

Mining with gas.(news & notes )(Energy Developments Ltd. and Westport Innovations Inc. to use natural gas engine in large mining vehicles)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... An Australian company specializing in distributed power generation is planning to explore the use of a heavy-duty natural gas engine in large mining vehicles. Energy Developments Ltd., headquartered at Eight Mile Plains in Queensland,...

Big wind.(news & notes)(Turbine industry)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Wind power accounts for more than a quarter of the electricity consumed in northern sections of Germany. But RE Power of Hamburg thinks that wind can get bigger still. In February, the company inaugurated a mammoth 5 MW turbine designed for...

John Deere.(Briefly Noted)(Deere & Co.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... The John Deere tractor assembly plant in Waterloo, Iowa, will begin filling the fuel tanks of the products that it ships with a 2 percent biodiesel blend starting this month.

ASME B46 Committee on Classification and Designation of Surface Qualities.(Briefly Noted)
March 1, 2005... The ASME B46 Committee on Classification and Designation of Surface Qualities will meet in Chicago on April 22, beginning at 8 a.m. with a review of International Standards activities. Guest speaker is Peter Joshua, president of Solarius...

Lockheed Martin.(Briefly Noted)(Cape Canaveral Air Force Station)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Lockheed Martin has delivered an advanced Global Positioning System satellite to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. Scheduled for a May launch, the satellite is the first of eight from the company that will provide significantly improved...

MSC.Software Corp.(Briefly Noted)(MSC.Fatigue 2005)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... MSC.Software Corp. of Santa Ana., Calif., has released MSC.Fatigue 2005, to help engineers evaluate durability and damage tolerance of components and systems.

Alias.(Briefly Noted)(Alias Systems)
March 1, 2005... Alias of Toronto has upgraded its Maya software package, which allows engineers as well as those in the gaming and film industries to create animated details from large datasets.

Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has agreed to permit the city of Compton to pump 2,289 acre-feet of water into a local aquifer.

A shape for every bottle.(computing)(packaging design of plastic bottles)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... CONSIDER ALL THE SIZES AND SHAPES of the plastic bottles at your local supermarket, from the two-liter soda bottle on down to the basic shampoo bottle. Now consider the designer and the analysts behind all those sizes and shapes. Rather...

Molecules on rye?(computing)(Cluster molecules research)
March 1, 2005... ALTHOUGH IT MAY NOT SOUND very appealing gastronomically, magnetic sandwiches on the molecular level could revolutionize computer storage capabilities. Three collaborating institutions are currently exploring the magnetic properties of...

When will welds fatigue?(computing)(Welding research)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... MOST FATIGUE-LIFE CALCULATION methods are tied to highly detailed computerized models of structures. The more detail, the better the calculation. Now Battelle researcher Pingsha Dong says he has developed a method that predicts fatigue...

Better than a color pen.(computing)(SmartDraw)(Computer aided design)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... UNTIL VERY RECENTLY, most electricians at the custom yacht company where Billy Gill works drew their schematics by hand using color pens. They then sent the schematics to an in-house architect who loaded the drawings into a computer-aided...

High-speed beer handling.(computing)(Angelus Sanitary Can Machine Co.)(seamers or closers )(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... IT'S A FEAT EVEN Homer Simpson couldn't carry out. Attaching a metal lid to a frill can of beer is a two-stage mechanical operation that must be done at high speed without spilling a drop. The machines that do this are called seamers or...

Enlarging artwork.(computing)(Johnson Atelier uses engineering software)
March 1, 2005... FORGET THAT RONCO TRACING DEVICE. Artists who seek to make a large-scale copy of their three-dimensional designs now rely on computer technology. For instance, artisans at Johnson Atelier Technical Institute of Sculpture in Mercerville,...

What time is it?(computing)(synchronization of individual pieces of watches)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURERS RELY on extremely sophisticated manufacturing equipment to churn out the latest microchips. That equipment has a problem with its timing. All the individual pieces must synchronize their watches, which is easier said...

Come together on CAD.(computing)(Weatherford International Ltd)
March 1, 2005... A RAPIDLY GROWING COMPANY is good. But technology headaches can be a byproduct of its growth. After a series of mergers and acquisitions, one Houston oilfield service company found itself with a variety of CAD systems that frustrated...

3D Systems Corp. of Valencia, Calif., which makes rapid 3-D printing, prototyping, and manufacturing devices has teamed with SolidWorks Corp.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... 3D Systems Corp. of Valencia, Calif., which makes rapid 3-D printing, prototyping, and manufacturing devices has teamed with SolidWorks Corp. of Concord, Mass., to allow SolidWorks CAD users automatic integration with the InVision 3-D Printer.

Invention Machine Corp.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Invention Machine Corp. of Boston has released the next version of Goldfire Innovator, which brings a structured process to problem-solving by offering problem definition and analysis capabilities combined with solution-generating methodologies...

Lattice3D.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Lattice3D of Mountain View, Calif., has released a suite of software applications that let manufacturers send 3-D processes, instructions and directions across the enterprise. The new products are called Lattice3D Embed, Lattice3D Composer, and...

A maker of 3-D publishing software, Right Hemisphere of Fremont, Calif., has licensed its 3-D viewing technology to Adobe Systems Inc.(Briefly Noted)
March 1, 2005... A maker of 3-D publishing software, Right Hemisphere of Fremont, Calif., has licensed its 3-D viewing technology to Adobe Systems Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif., for use in Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader 7.0 software.

Intergraph Corp.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Intergraph Corp. of Huntsville, Ala., is shipping SmartSketch 5.0, which is parametric 2-D design, production-drafting, and diagramming software.

Fluent Inc.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... One firm that makes computational fluid dynamics software, Fluent Inc. of Lebanon, N.H., has opened an office in Austin, Texas, to be the worldwide headquarters of its Icepak division.

History-free CAD.(software exchange)
March 1, 2005... Capability: The 3-D computer-aided design software tool OneSpace Designer is based on history-free CAD architecture, which lets engineers make design changes to 3-D models without knowing how the designs were originally created. The...

Aid for joint assembly.(software exchange)
March 1, 2005... Capability: The fastener and joint analysis software package BoltFast helps users confirm the upper and lower torque values and the capabilities of their connections. By combining a database of fastener and interface materials and their...

Fluid transport properties.(software exchange)
March 1, 2005... Capability: FluidProp uses physical models to calculate the thermophysical and transport properties of a variety of fluids and fluid mixtures. Along with the usual properties, the software also calculates the partial derivatives usually needed...

Surface analysis.(software exchange)
March 1, 2005... Capability: The surface profile analysis package OnmiSurf includes standard roughness, waviness, and profile parameters as well as several advanced geometries, including aspherics, which is used in optics. In addition to standard Gaussian...

Technical computing.(software exchange)
March 1, 2005... Capability: This technical computing software combines numeric, symbolic, and graphing capabilities with programming language and an interactive document system. The Mathematica 5.1 application can handle giga-size numerical data sets. The...

Vacuum punch-up.(Power Transmission And Motion Control)(Victrex USA Inc.)(Dyson Appliances Ltd.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Fatigue resistance and toughness made polyetheretherketone the choice of Dyson engineers for the company's newest vacuum cleaner. Dyson, based in Malmesbury, U.K., needed those properties for its 100,000-rpm fan that's driven by a switched...

Quiet, please--appliances at work.(Power Transmission And Motion Control)(Johnson Electric Company Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Speaking of vacuum cleaners, engineers at Hong Kong-based Johnson Electric S.A. have muted some of the noise from appliance motors with a brushless dc design. According to a spokesman, Roger Baines, a single electrical phase, rather than the...

Round it goes.(Power Transmission And Motion Control)(SpaceAge Control Inc.)
March 1, 2005... Draw wire transducer maker SpaceAge Control Inc. of Palmdale, Calif., has developed a cable guide that tracks the movement of a point anywhere within the sphere bounded by the cable's length, making the device insensitive to alignment....

Spring change.(Power Transmission And Motion Control)(Reell Precision Manufacturing Corp.)(Porter Engineered Systems )(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Auto seat maker Porter Engineered Systems improved reliability of a seat back adjuster by switching to wrap springs from Reell Precision Manufacturing Corp. of St. Paul, Minn. The move saved money by reducing the number of parts scrapped for...

From part to art.(Power Transmission And Motion Control)
March 1, 2005... Not satisfied with the service you're getting from your bearing vendor? You might try Manhattan's newly reopened Museum of Modern Art, which sells its own version of a 4-inch-diameter ball bearing on line. Billed as a paperweight, the $180...

Bicycle built for three.(Power Transmission And Motion Control)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Recumbent tricycle maker Big Cat Human Powered Vehicles of Orlando, Fla., selected plastic spherical rod ends from Igus Inc. of East Providence, R.I., to connect its Catrike's front steerable wheels with a single tie rod. The move permitted...

Fuel cell hose.(Power Transmission And Motion Control)(Flexfab Horizons International)
March 1, 2005... An Asian automaker has picked a silicone hose from Flexfab Horizons International Inc., of Hastings, Mich., to supply critical cooling water to its fuel cell hybrids, the company said. By using a food grade silicone, Flexfab was able to provide...

Less wriggle room.(Power Transmission And Motion Control)
March 1, 2005... Calling his invention a ball worm, a mechanical engineering professor at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University has coupled a low-friction ball screw to a speed-reducing worm gear. The result is a precision, high-ratio gearbox so low in friction...

Clearing the air.(Washington window)(Column)
March 1, 2005... I sincerely wanted to write a column about how excited we are in Washington to have a baseball team again, but I lack the imagination to successfully connect that to mechanical engineering. Still, there is lots of excitement about the return of...

Up to snuff: companies find that "product lifecycle management" can mean steering through the regulatory tangle of their business.
March 1, 2005... These days every manufacturer seems to have one agency or another looking over its shoulder. Whatever your company makes, you can be sure there are regulations governing what it can contain, how it must be distributed, or how it may be...

No run of the mill: the business of engineering to order has challenges of its own.(Feature focus: product development)
March 1, 2005... A veteran of three earlier software implementations, David Beitz raised his hand when company principals said the time to purchase new business software had come. Beitz volunteered--he volunteered--to head up the show. Vindication for...

The China road: the outsourcing option isn't as cheap or as easy as it looks.
March 1, 2005... Everyone knows the cheap-imports stories: Automated plants closed. Old line producers now distributing imports. Counterfeit imported goods. Mass layoffs as more production moves overseas. Any discussion about how U.S. companies are outsourcing...

The greater good: as the 20th century began, engineering professionals started to see themselves as agents of change for the better.(ASME: the first 125 years)
March 1, 2005... When the Wright brothers flew their first airplane at Kitty Hawk in December 1903, newspapers paid little attention to what would become a world-shrinking technical innovation. In the same year in Toledo, Ohio, nobody paid much attention,...

Leading or managing?(editorial)
March 1, 2005... Managers have subordinates and leaders have followers. The two terms, "managers" and "leaders," are not interchangeable. In some companies, engineering and otherwise, there may be a dearth of leaders and too many managers, or vice versa....

Improv and innovation.(editorial)(practice of engineers and their training)(Brief Article)(Editorial)
March 1, 2005... Engineers have often been accustomed to people questioning their creativity. As if someone who calls upon mathematics daily can't also come up with a new idea. Or, in today's parlance, think out of the box. Managers get it even worse. There's...

Making sense of change: in a world of rapidly advancing technology, someone has to keep things under control.
March 1, 2005... THE FIELD OF ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT HAS developed rapidly in the last 50 years. That's not too surprising in light of the increasing role that engineering and technology have played in people's lives over that time. As a formal study,...

Improv engineering: a comedy producer imparts some idea-generating tips he's learned on the job.
March 1, 2005... QUESTION: What do engineers and improvisational comedy have in common? ANSWER: More than you might think. Or so says one Minneapolis comedy entrepreneur. Whether they're creating a new product or a joke based on the political snafu of...

Experiment ... early and often: to create a truly innovative product, you have to be willing to tinker. But establishing a culture to support that can be surprisingly hard.
March 1, 2005... Wouldn't it be great if you knew at the very beginning of the design cycle that a final product would work perfectly? If you knew that it would instantly meet marketplace approval? There'd be no need to mess around with pesky design details or...

Developmental overload: how does it happen? How can you manage it?
March 1, 2005... HOW MANY OF US HAVE BEEN IN THE SITUATION where there are just too many projects under way for the people available? How does it happen? Why do senior managers continue to add development projects so that they have a "rich" portfolio, until...

Pre-insulated tubing.(new products)
March 1, 2005... SWAGELOK CO., SOLON, OHIO. The company's electric and steam traced pre-insulated bundled tubing provides process fluid freeze protection and temperature maintenance in a variety of analytical and process instrumentation applications, including...

Flow control valves.(new products)
March 1, 2005... CLIPPARD INSTRUMENT LABORATORY INC.. CINCINNATI. OHIO. Combination needle and check valve flow controls are typically used to control airflow from air cylinders, thereby controlling the speed at which the piston strokes, either while extending...

Electromechanical actuator.(new products)
March 1, 2005... DUFF-NORTON CO., CHARLOTTE. N.C. The industrial-duty SuperPac electromechanical linear actuator is for demanding applications for load capacities up to 2 tons in tension and compression. Travel speeds are available up to 50 in. per minute....

Peak pressure monitoring.(new products)
March 1, 2005... PCB PIEZOTRONICS INC., DEPEW, N.Y. The Model 400B20 peak pressure monitoring system from the company's pressure division combines a dual mode amplifier module, a peak voltage monitoring module, and an ac power supply module into one integrated...

Heat rejection unit.(new products)
March 1, 2005... PARKER HANNIFIN. LONG BEACH. CALIF. An HRU-1000 heat rejection unit provides a minimum 1,000 watts of cooling power in a small package. It has an advanced motor driver and an automatic digital system controller that manages coolant flow and fan...

Cool pump.(new products)
March 1, 2005... CLARK SOLUTIONS, HUDSON. MASS. Miniature piezoelectric pumps are suitable for liquid and gas pumping in both portable and fixed applications, such as circulating water in a spacecraft, transporting coolant through firefighters' jackets, and...

Five-parameter tachometer.(new products)
March 1, 2005... E INSTRUMENTS GROUP LLC. LANGHORNE, PA. The Mini Speed Pro-CT50 is a portable tachometer accurate to within [+ or -] 1 percent of reading. It Optical or contact data is available as meters, feet, inches, revolutions, or turns per minute. The...

A little control.(new products)
March 1, 2005... DANAHER INDUSTRIAL CONTROLS, CHICAGO, ILL. The Plus series of industrial controllers is suitable for temperature control in plastics extrusion, thermal forming, and industrial or laboratory ovens and furnaces. Setpoints--analog voltage or...

Infrared heater.(new products)
March 1, 2005... SCHWANK INC., WAYNESBORO. GA. STS-JZ is a commercial and industrial infrared radient tube heater that offers uniform heat distribution in warehouses, industrial plants, service garages, loading docks, and other buildings that require efficient...

Rupture disk.(new products)
March 1, 2005... OSECO INC., BROKEN ARROW, OKLA. PRO+, a rupture disk with a 95 percent operating ratio, is suitable in pressure applications for gas and liquid services, with burst pressure ratings from 8 to 750 psig. The one-piece design uses no cutting...

Down the drain.(new products)
March 1, 2005... KEASER COMPRESSORS INC., FREDERICKSBURG. VA. An automatic magnetic drain discharges contaminated condensate, but not compressed air. A large orifice drain valve eliminates clogging, according to the company. A fluid level gauge monitors fluid...

Flat cables.(new products)
March 1, 2005... C&M CORP., WAUREGAN. CONN. The company now manufactures flat-profile cables for industrial robotics and factory automation. A reduced-bend radius and low profile allow more severe flexing in OEM equipment or in-plant installations. Twelve- to...

Feeding time.(new products)
March 1, 2005... ERIEZ, ERIE, PA. A new line of small vibratory feeders is available with a magnetic drive circuit. Feeders are totally enclosed for dust and moisture resistance and are ac controlled. Single feeders or groups of feeders can be controlled from...

Up on the roof.(new products)
March 1, 2005... MCQUAY INTERNATIONAL, MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. The RoofPak evaporative condenser rooftop system is designed to save energy costs using the cooling effects of evaporation. Evaporative condensers use a water spray that evaporates and cools the...

A gripping story.(new products)
March 1, 2005... SMC CORP. OF AMERICA, TUSTIN, CALIF. To save space and reduce bending moments, the MHF2 air gripper--approximately one-third the height of conventional air grippers--remains close to the manipulator to which it is attached. Ball bearing guides...

Heat exchanger.(new products)
March 1, 2005... ITT STANDARD, BUFFALO, N.Y. Compact heat exchangers are made using a brazing process that bonds 316 stainless steel plates together with a corrugated design, eliminating the need for gasketed or rolled joints. The product is suitable for...

Case palletizer.(new products)
March 1, 2005... FKI LOGISTEX. ST. LOUIS, MO. New designs and interfaces are available for the Alvey 780 case palletizer, which is suited for single-line applications in the food and consumer goods industries. High-level infeed and right-angle pattern...

Vibration monitor.(new products)
March 1, 2005... INTONIX CORP., ROSEVILLE, MINN. The machinery vibration monitor for hazardous areas provides continuous machinery screening by detecting, evaluating, and announcing vibration problems to operators as they develop. It uses 96-frequency band,...

Proximity sensors.(new products)
March 1, 2005... IFM EFECTOR INC., EXTON. PA. The company's inductive proximity sensors are designed for mobile machines that are used in off-road applications. The sensors have 316 stainless steel housings and are rated to ensure a high level of protection...

Engineering Disasters--Lessons to Be Learned.(ME bookshelf)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Engineering Disasters--Lessons to Be Learned. Don Lawson. ASME Press, Three Park Ave., New York, NY 10016-5990. Co-published with Professional Engineering Publishing, U.K. 432 pages. 2004. ASME members, $119; list, $149. ISBN 0-7918-0230-2. ...

Bicycling Science. Third Edition.(ME bookshelf)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Bicycling Science. Third Edition. David Gordon Wilson, with contributions by Jim Papadopoulos. The MIT Press, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 5 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142. 477 pages. 2004. $22.95. ISBN 0-262-73154-1. This...

Handbook of Metallurgical Process Design.(ME bookshelf)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Handbook of Metallurgical Process Design. George E. Totten, Kiyoshi Funatani, and Lin Xie, editors. Marcel Dekker Inc., 270 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016. 966 pages. 2004. $250. ISBN 0-8247-4106-4. Reviewing an array of procedures in hot...

Reverse Logistics: Quantitative Models for Closed-Loop Supply Chains.(ME bookshelf)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Reverse Logistics: Quantitative Models for Closed-Loop Supply Chains. Rommert Dekker, Moritz Fleischmann, Karl Inderfurth, and Luk N. Van Wassenhove, editors. Springer-Verlag New York Inc., 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010. 436 pages. 2004....

Crack Dynamics.(ME bookshelf)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Crack Dynamics. A. Ivankovic and M.H. Aliabadi, editors. Published by WIT Press, Southampton, U.K. Distributed by WIT Press, 25 Bridge St., Billerica, MA 01821. 224 pages. 2004. $133. ISBN 1-85312-948-8. The last two decades have seen...

Bayesian Nonparametrics via Neural Networks.(ME bookshelf)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Bayesian Nonparametrics via Neural Networks. Herbert K.H. Lee. Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, 3600 University City Science Center, Philadelphia, PA 19104-2688; American Statistical Association, 1429 Duke St., Alexandria, VA...

Convection Heat Transfer. Third Edition.(ME bookshelf)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Convection Heat Transfer. Third Edition. Adrian Bejan. John Wiley & Sons Inc., 111 River St., Hoboken, NJ 07030. 2004. 694 pages. $130. ISBN 0-471-27150-0. The third edition of Convection, Hear Transfer chronicles how the field of heat...

Unified Strength Theory and Its Applications.(ME bookshelf)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Unified Strength Theory and Its Applications. Mao-Hong Wu. Springer-Verlag New York Inc., 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010. 2004. 412 pages. $139. ISBN 3540-43721-5. The unified strength theory is a completely new one, dealing with the...

Loneliness of the long distance glider.(input output)(Submarines)
March 1, 2005... The term "glider" may bring to mind something simple made of balsa wood. Maybe you tossed one out of a second-story window to see what kind of distance you could get. On the other hand, when the glider in question is expected to travel...

Generational sandwich.(editorial)(Brief Article)(Editorial)
March 1, 2005... A LOCAL RADIO AFFILIATE IN NEW YORK LAST MONTH BEGAN A SERIES on what is termed the Sandwich Generation--those of us sandwiched between aging parents and our own children, who both need our care. It's not an easy predicament; I can personally...

From start to finish.(editorial)
March 1, 2005... IN MOST CASES, THE DESIGN PROCESS starts with an abstract concept and moves toward the concrete. Of course, progressing from the germ of an idea to a finished product is often a long and arduous journey. For a team from the Boeing Payload...

Hybrids and hydrogen.(news & notes)
March 1, 2005... Alternative vehicles are making some headway at Ford. As a follow-up to its prize-winning Escape hybrid, Ford Motor Co. plans to expand its hybrid vehicle lineup over the next few years. Ford also has its first customer for new hydrogen-powered...