Mechanical Engineering-CIME articles from October 2005

Mechanical Engineering-CIME archives from October 2005

Securing the homeland.(editorial)(Editorial)
October 1, 2005... Once again in this country's history the end of an otherwise unspectacular summer brings unforgettable tragedy. Four years ago, it was the attacks on September 11; this year, it is Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. Between the two tragedies...

Flow of language.(letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... To the Editor: In your April article on tire pressure measurement ("Pumped Up"), you wrote that one way to seal a pressure-sensing module "is to pot it with a fluid, such as silicone..." This substance is a liquid and I earnestly suggest that...

Demise has been exaggerated.(letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... To the Editor: Your cover title ("Future Shock") and lead article ("The End of the M.E.?" by Peter Huber and Mark Mills) in the May 2005 issue suggest the demise of mechanical engineering. The editor should have been more careful in his...

Not so hard.(letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... To the Editor: As an avid Florida runner, I read with interest the letter in your April issue from Henry Grills regarding the difference between running on asphalt and concrete. I too have heard this bit of folklore and often wondered exactly...

Nuclear redux.(letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... To the Editor: As an engineer who began in the nuclear industry in 1955, staying in it for over 30 years, I am hopeful Romney Duffey's article in the June issue of Power & Energy will help produce a revival of that technology. But, he didn't...

Power replay?(letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... To the Editor: Your article "Lighting the Countryside" (June) by John Varrasi brought back memories of that period. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, rural electricity was just coming to many of the rural communities in Ohio. I was working...

An air pioneer.(letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... To the Editor: I was thrilled to see in the March issue of Engineering Management an accurate 3-D model of Aurel Vlaicu's No. 2 airplane built in 1911. My disappointment came shortly after, when no reference to this Romanian early pilot and...

Solar stations.(constructions)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... The Stirling engine has long been touted as the next big thing: It s I not picky about fuel and has few moving parts. But its drawbacks--including long warmup times and the degree of precision machining needed to build it--has meant that the...

Eco city at Shanghai.(new construction project)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... An international engineering company has been hired to plan a fully sustainable city in China. The company, Arup, signed a contract last month with Shanghai Industrial Investment Corp. to plan systems for low energy consumption with minimum net...

Healthy hydrogen.(helath benefits of hydrogen-powered vehicles)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Most backers of hydrogen-powered vehicles tout the energy independence angle. Forgoing gasoline, after all, would mean not having to import oil from (among other places) Saudi Arabia. But a recent study by researchers at Stanford University in...

Turkish Airlines picks up Boeing option.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Seeking to open new markets in Europe and Central Asia, Turkish Airlines recently exercised options for eight Boeing Next-Generation 737-800s. The airplanes are scheduled for delivery in 2008 and are worth an estimated $542 million at list...

Even semiconductors feel Katrina's wrath.(news & notes)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Hurricane Katrina could impair global production of semiconductors, according to iSuppli Corp., an El Segundo, Calif., company that provides electronics industry intelligence. The recent hurricane has caused the shutdown of a New Orleans...

China's Ministry of Railways, Dalian Locomotive Works, and Electro-Motive Diesel Inc. of LaGrange, Ill., have signed an agreement for the supply of three hundred 6,000-horsepower locomotives, EMD's most powerful diesel-electric locomotive.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... China's Ministry of Railways, Dalian Locomotive Works, and Electro-Motive Diesel Inc. of LaGrange, III., have signed an agreement for the supply of three hundred 6,000-horsepower locomotives, EMD's most powerful diesel-electric locomotive. The...

ArvinMeritor Inc.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... ArvinMeritor Inc. of Troy, Mich., plans to close its light vehicle systems shock absorber assembly operation in Pulaski, Tenn. The company will transfer a portion of the production to its Detroit and Toronto facilities, with remaining business...

Hyundai and Kia Motors have selected Delphi Corp. to supply Euro V diesel common rail system on two engine families.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Hyundai and Kia Motors have selected Delphi Corp. to supply Euro V diesel common rail system on two engine families. Delphi will supply the pump, injectors, rails, and electronic control unit to help Hyundai-Kia meet Euro V emission standards.

TRW Automotive Holding Corp. of Livonia, Mich., which makes active and passive safety systems, entered into a definitive agreement with Dalphi Metal Espana, S.A., or Dalphimetal, to purchase a 68.4 percent stake in Dalphimetal for 113 million euros, or approximately $137 million, plus the assumption of debt totaling 84 million euros, or about $103 million.(Briefly Noted)(Dalphi Metal Espana, S.A.)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... TRW Automotive Holding Corp. of Livonia, Mich., which makes active and passive safety systems, entered into a definitive agreement with Dalphi Metal Espana, S.A., or Dalphimetal, to purchase a 68.4 percent stake in Dalphimetal for 113 million...

Westport Innovations Inc. of Vancouver, British Columbia, has signed a letter of intent to form a joint venture with Beijing Tianhai Industry Co. Ltd.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Westport Innovations Inc. of Vancouver, British Columbia, has signed a letter of intent to form a joint venture with Beijing Tianhai Industry Co. Ltd. of China to sell liquefied natural gas tanks for transportation applications.

Lundstrom Design.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Lundstrom Design of Stockholm released TouchCAD 3.5, a software program that links 3-D modeling and parametric unfolding as an integrated unit.

Roland DGA Corp.( Packaging Prototyping System)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Roland DGA Corp. of Chicago has introduced its Packaging Prototyping System, a software application that allows manufacturers to produce packaging prototypes in about one day.

Avoid this robot.(Gladiator TUGV for defense)(Editorial)
October 1, 2005... A MILITARY-GREEN ROBOT resembling a large all-terrain vehicle recently climbed and tumbled over makeshift stacks of wood planks and piles of stone-filled dirt at a Pittsburgh site to show off its ability to move across all kinds of terrain. ...

Lean into the wind.(computing)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... BICYCLISTS PEDAL LIKE THE WIND, so it helps if their bikes are aerodynamically efficient. To that end, Trek Bicycle Corp. of Waterloo, Wis., is using computational fluid dynamics software in its product development to ensure that its bikes are...

Bouncing brain studies.(computing)
October 1, 2005... DURING ANY KIND OF TRAUMA to the head, the human brain acts more like a leaf at the end of a branch than like a ball trapped within a circular chamber, researchers have found. Doctors often use CAD software to model the human brain as an...

Games for quick thinking?(education in adaptive thinking, negotiation, conflict resolution, and leadership skills with help from a computer simulation to Special Forces)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... U.S. SPECIAL FORCES SOLDIERS are getting an education in adaptive thinking, negotiation, conflict resolution, and leadership skills with help from a computer simulation. The Adaptive Thinking and Leadership simulation uses computer game...

Simulating danger.(computing)
October 1, 2005... AFTER WE RAN THE AUGUST cover story on computional fluid dynamics, concerning simulations of contaminant dispersal across cities, we heard from Tayfun Tezduyar, the James F. Barbour Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Rice University, who...

Twisted in a snap.(electron beam-melting machine )(Editorial)
October 1, 2005... RESEARCHERS IN NORTH CAROLINA State University's industrial engineering department say their new electron beam-melting machine has the potential to advance biomedicine and space exploration. The EBM machine can fabricate functional 3-D...

Like a blade through air.(computing)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... HELICOPTER BLADES MOVE a great amount of air. That's why Eurocopter Deutschland GmbH runs two different types of computational fluid dynamics applications at its Donauworth, Germany, site. The company, which makes civilian helicopters, recently...

China should see PLM explosion.(computing)
October 1, 2005... ALTHOUGH SOME SAY THAT CHINA is set to become the manufacturing center of the world, its manufacturing sector isn't keeping up with product lifecycle management software, according to a market research company. According to the firm,...

Simplified Logic Inc. of Indianapolis has released NitroMation.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Simplified Logic Inc. of Indianapolis has released NitroMation, a Web service interface for creating and integrating applications with Pro/Engineer CAD software from PTC of Needham, Mass.

DotSoft.(Briefly Noted)(SuperScript)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... SuperScript is an AutoCAD script generator that allows users to select multiple drawings, along with quick generation of script files to apply to files. The application has been released by DotSoft of Ewing, Ky.

SolidProfessor.(SolidWorks Advanced Concepts)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... SolidProfessor of San Diego is shipping SolidWorks Advanced Concepts for users of the SolidWorks CAD program. The tool trains users on how to enhance their SolidWorks skills.

MSC.Softwares Corp.(MSC.Marc 2005 revision 2)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... A maker of simulation software, MSC.Software Corp. of Santa Ana, Calif., has released MSC.Marc 2005 revision 2, a general-purpose nonlinear finite element analysis application.

QuadriSpace.(Document3D)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... QuadriSpace of Allen, Texas, is now shipping Document3D, a 3-D desktop publishing package for creating interactive Adobe portable document format files that include 3-D objects, without the need for JavaScript programming or intermediate...

CNC Software.(computer-aided machining software)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... CNC Software of Tolland, Conn., has released Mastercam X, CAD and computer-aided machining software.

2005 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition Preview.
October 1, 2005... November 5-11, 2005 Orlando, Florida USA With more than 500 sessions and 2,000 presentations, the Technical Program of the 2005 ASME Congress offers depth and diversity. For details on this program, log onto:...

Design display on desktop.(software exchange)
October 1, 2005... Capability: Modelpress Desktop displays a variety of 3-D file formats in a common user interface. Engineers can view 3-D files, even if their computers don't house the application used to create the file. Formats supported include AutoCAD,...

Comparing models.(software exchange)
October 1, 2005... Capability: SimDiff compares two Simulink model files looking for additions, deletions, and changes to blocks, lines, configuration parameters, model properties, subsystems, and annotations. Simulink from The MathWorks Inc. of Natick, Mass., is...

Molding on screen.(software exchange)
October 1, 2005... Capability: Using the ClayTools system for Maya software, engineers can mold detailed models by touching their computer screens. They create models much as they would mold clay. Maya is a 3-D graphics software application from Alias Systems...

CAD from scratch.(software exchange)
October 1, 2005... Capability: The parametric-design software IronCAD has been upgraded to version 8. Designers who use the program don't have to know their full design intent before beginning their work, says the developer. They can tinker as they go. The...

Technical computing.(software exchange)
October 1, 2005... Capability: A technical computing program, Mathematica 5.2 combines numeric, symbolic, and graphing capabilities with programming language and an interactive document system for applications development. The software can handle giga-size...

Into the wind.(instrumentation and control)
October 1, 2005... Manitoba, which is part of the vast North American prairie, is prime real estate for wind. So an independent power provider, Algonquin Power, is building windmills to generate electricity at St. Leon, in the southern part of the province. If...

Pick up the laser and go.(portable laser tracker)
October 1, 2005... The portable laser tracker is picking up in popularity. It may not be on the scale of sliced bread or canned beer, but Ford, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman, for instance, have tried them and liked them well enough to order more. The portable...

Motorcycle tire safety.(instrumentation and control)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Tire pressure monitoring has become a hot topic since the U.S. National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration mandated it on new passenger cars and light trucks. But adequate tire pressure is arguably even more serious for motorcycles,...

The petroleum bomb: our nation's dependence on imported oil leaves it dangerously vulnerable to attack.(FEATURE FOCUS: HOMELAND SECURITY)
October 1, 2005... four years ago, on the eve of Sept. 11, 2001, the need to reduce radically our reliance on oil was not clear to many and, in any case, the path of doing so seemed a long and difficult one. Today, both assumptions are being undermined by the...

Renewable rechargeable remarkable: flow batteries can turn intermittent wind power from a utility manager's headache to a green and reliable energy source.(POWER & energy)
October 1, 2005... It is sometimes harder to tell which is stronger: the public's love affair with clean energy, or the headaches that utility planners experience when they contemplate integrating these relatively new energy sources into their already-stressed...

The computer assist: in less than 40 years, a novelty has grown into a mainstay of engineering practice.(ASME: THE FIRST 125 YEARS)
October 1, 2005... Sometime after the developmental programs for the lunar excursion module and the F-14 fighter jet, Thomas J. Kelly, a vice president at Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp., summoned his engineers to find out the reason behind their repeated...

First in mass production: five and half centuries ago, the printed bible needed a lot of letters.
October 1, 2005... We have become accustomed to regarding machine-made products as essentially identical. No one worries, for example, that the new razor blades will not fit the razor. Such interchangeability is the hallmark of mass production. Eli Whitney...

Compact cabinet coolers[TM].(Instrumentation & Control)
October 1, 2005... Protect against expensive shutdowns caused by overheated electronics in sealed indoor and outdoor enclosures and panels. Compact Cabinet Coolers keep electronic components cool, clean and isolated from contaminants. They last thirty years,...

Volume MMV 5th Edition of the Flow, Level and Environmental Greenbook[R].(Instrumentation & Control)
October 1, 2005... Volume MMV 5th Edition of the FLOW, LEVEL AND ENVIRONMENTAL GREENBOOK[R] has over 1500 pages of the latest flow, level, and environmental products to meet your every need, including a comprehensive product selection of industrial, field and...

Megascope[TM] OS533RS-DM handheld infrared thermometer.(Instrumentation & Control)
October 1, 2005... Upgrade your OMEGA[R] IR gun with the new field installable distance measuring option. The new, upgraded, portable and rugged OS530 series infrared thermometers offer solutions for many non-contact temperature measurement applications. The...

Bearings improve material handling equipment design.(Power Transmission & Motion Control)
October 1, 2005... Kaydon RK and MT Series bearings offer de signers and engineers exceptional design efficiency and flexibility A single bearing, for example, can often replace traditional king post designs reducing the number of components and simplifying...

Temperature Handbook and Encyclopedia Volume MMV[TM] 5th Edition.(Instrumentation & Control)
October 1, 2005... Omega is pleased to announce the release of Volume MMV[TM] Temperature Handbook 5th Edition. It offers detailed information and specifications on over 40,000 products for process measurement and control featured on over 1,800 pages. The new 5th...

Stock Power Transmission Components Q460.(Power Transmission & Motion Control)
October 1, 2005... New Catalog from QTC features Econobelt timing belts and pulleys in 11 different profiles: MXL, XL, L, HTD3 HTD5, HTD8, T25, T5, T10, AT5 and AT10. The belts are made from fiberglass reinforced neoprene and the pulleys are made from steel,...

DFS Version 4 is here!(Engineering Tools)
October 1, 2005... DFS Version 4 solves problems more quickly, includes both control valves and pressure regulator valves integrated utilities allowing the user to readily view, create, or modify data files directly, improved local area network performance,...

Design products faster with FEA and multiphysics.(Engineering Tools)
October 1, 2005... ALGOR provides a wide range of FEA-based simulation capabilities, including full multiphysics and Mechanical Event Simulation for combined motion and stress analysis within an easy-to-use, single-user interface that is fully associative with...

Rotating electrical connectors.(Materials & Assembly)
October 1, 2005... Liquid metal wetted connectors are superior to conventional slip rings and feature sealed ball bearing construction. Durable, compact connectors offer increased reliability, low electrical noise and less than 1 milliohm resistance. Ideal for...

ANSYS[R] 10.0 features superior technology.(Engineering Tools)
October 1, 2005... Taking full advantage of the ANSYS Workbench[TM] infrastructure for integrated CAE, ANSYS 10.0 features a more seamless approach for meshing and modeling, simulation and analysis, and post-processing. The latest release builds upon and is...

New Optics catalog.(Materials & Assembly)
October 1, 2005... 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 concave mirrors, absorption...

Simulate convection with ALGOR for coupled fluid flow and heat transfer.(Engineering Tools)
October 1, 2005... ALGOR's multiphysics software features coupled fluid flow and heat transfer analysis to simulate natural, forced or mixed convection, as shown on this glass globe and light bulb model. Includes full CAD associativity; a suite of modeling tools;...

Single stop solution for your CAE analysis.(Engineering Tools)
October 1, 2005... Solve your need for a single, integrated CAE product development environment with ANSYS* Workbench[TM], the integration tool for advanced physics capabilities enabling users to model applications from simple to complex. The integration of ANSYS...

AFT Fathom 60 adds new capabilities and available add-on modules.(Engineering Tools)
October 1, 2005... * XTS--eXtended Time Simulation * GSC--Goal Seek & Control * CST--system CoST calculations to analyze first and life cycle costs AFT Fathom is one of a suite of solutions including AFT Arrow for compressible flow systems, AFT...

C-FLEX.(Engineering Tools)
October 1, 2005... --Frictionless --Backlash Free --Self-Centering --Repeatability --Simple Installation --Low Hysteresis --Vacuum Applications --Innovative Solutions to Limited Angle Rotation Applications 104 Industrial...

Piping system design & analysis.(Engineering Tools)
October 1, 2005... Brochure describes COADE's CAESAR II program for evaluating piping systems. CAESAR II applies rules of all major piping safety codes. Along with piping analysis you receive related NEMA, API and WRC assessments; buried pipe analysis; structural...

Fundamentals of rotating machinery diagnostics, by Donald E. Bently with Charles T. Hatch.(Engineering Tools)
October 1, 2005... A practical text covering the fundamentals of machinery diagnostics for anyone who works with rotating machinery. Written for operators managers design engineers and machinery diagnosticians. This comprehensive book thoroughly explains and...

New! Clippard pneumatic control devices catalog.(Engineering Tools)
October 1, 2005... Clippard recently released their all-new full-line catalog with new products technical information, product applications and more If includes features specifications color photographs and technical drawings for over 5,000 standard products....

Pressure vessel and heat exchanger software.(Engineering Tools)
October 1, 2005... COMPRESS and sister programs design and mechanically rerate pressure vessels and TEMA/ASME-UHX heat exchangers, design flanged and flued expansion joints, analyze lifting lugs, perform finite element analysis on nozzles, flanges, and...

Optimize flow and thermal performance.(Engineering Tools)
October 1, 2005... Developed for design engineers and our MCAD-centric process, CFdesign tackles every sort of flow and thermal challenge including hydraulics, pneumatics, pumps valves, fans, compressors, manifolds heat exchangers power generation, electronics,...

Pressure vessel analysis.(Engineering Tools)
October 1, 2005... Brochure describes PVEIte and CodeCalc--Coade software for the design and evaluation of pressure vessels and their components, using the rules of ASME Section VIII (Div. 1 & 2), BS5500, TEMA, and other industry standards. Use CodeCalc for...

Welding software.(Engineering Tools)
October 1, 2005... Fast, Flexible and Friendly. Welding Pro-Write makes maintaining welder continuity, WPQs, PQRs, and WPSs a quick and painless process. With built-in Code checking, you'll never question the accuracy of your ASME documents. Our new report...

New! COSMOSDesignSTAR 4.0.(Engineering Tools)
October 1, 2005... COSMOSDesignSTAR[TM] is a powerful design analysis program that combines high-end analysis tools with an easy-to-use, intuitive interface. Using COSMOSDesignSTAR's advanced features throughout the design cycle en-ables engineers to create...

LapFEA 2005--integrated FEM/FEA.(Engineering Tools)
October 1, 2005... LapFEA is an integrated finite element package that is utilized for design, analysis, and optimization in the aerospace, automotive, marine, and medical industries * Tutorial and PDF documentation with bookmarks * Extensive...

Gridgen[R] reliable CFD meshing.(Engineering Tools)
October 1, 2005... Gridgen is reliable software for making hybrid CFD meshes It is known for its ease-of-use, high quality grids and expert technical support. Use it to create triangular, quadrilateral, prismatic, tetrahedral, pyramidal, and hexahedral cells in...

Disasu software.(Engineering Tools)
October 1, 2005... * Design * Analyze * Re-rate * Estimate * Automated Drawings * Towers * Jacketed Vessels * Vertical Vessels * Horizontal Vessels * Tanks * Heat Exchangers * Stacks Purchase/Lease Single &...

Multi-physics modeling.(Engineering Tools)
October 1, 2005... LS-DYNA is an advanced general-purpose nonlinear finite element program that is capable of simulating complex real world problems. LSTC provides two additional analysis tools that work seamlessly with LS-DYNA. These tools include LS-OPT for...

FARO laser ScanArm: an industry first.(Engineering Tools)
October 1, 2005... Users can collect simple point variations with the Arm's hard probe, then laser scan (up to 13,000 peints/sec) the sections requiring larger volumes of data--without adding/removing attachments, untangling cabling, or needing a separate CMM to...

Zebulon FEA and materials analysis software.(Engineering Tools)
October 1, 2005... Zebulon is a general purpose nonlinear FEA package with emphasis on materials problems. Capabilities include 3D contact, state of the art material models parallel domain solver, flexible boundary conditions, material simulation, optimization,...

Cequel[R] chemical equilibrium in Excel.(Engineering Tools)
October 1, 2005... Cequel is an Excel Add-In that solves chemical equilibrium problems as a spreadsheet function. It is based on NASA Glenn's CET and CEA codes. Use Cequel to perform cycle analyses and optimizations, evaluate experimental thermodynamic data,...

CAEPIPE piping stress analysis.(Engineering Tools)
October 1, 2005... What's Unique to CAEPIPE? Our users say: * Properly addresses analysis issues * Models unique geometries (ball joints) * Simultaneously displays Input, Graphics & Results * Easy to relearn * Fast analysis speed for...

Low-cost Vibration Test Systems and Digital Controllers.(Engineering Tools)
October 1, 2005... 100 lbf System $5557 with Vibrator base, blower, low-distortion near amplifier, cables & hose. Digital Controller Packages convert PCs to Vibration Controllers-Sine $3995. Random $4,995. 4-Channel Swept-Sine, Random & Classical Shock with...

Metric stroke.(new products)
October 1, 2005... HAYDON SWITCH & INSTRUMENT INC.. WATERBURY. CONN. The company is making available a new metric stroke of 31mm on its Z26000 captive linear actuators. The simplified design and metric dimensions make the Z26000 series useful for the global...

Motion controller.(new products)
October 1, 2005... BALDOR ELECTRIC CO., FORT SMITH, ARK. A high-performance PCI-bus motion controller features very fast communications and response capabilities for up to 12 axes. Known as NextMove PCI-2, it offers extensive digital and analog I/O and provides a...

Platen bushings.(new products)
October 1, 2005... EPCO LLC, FREMONT, OHIO. Split movable platen bushings with weld rings are intended to replace a machine's platen bushings without removing the tie bonds, according to the company. The bushings are made of 660 bronze material, instead of molded...

Gaskets.(new products)
October 1, 2005... W.L. GORE & ASSOCIATES INC., ELKTON, MD. TriGuard gaskets are a sealing solution for municipal water and wastewater plants, as well as other facilities that handle chlorine gas in their operating processes. The chlorine is typically supplied...

Torque flange sensor.(new products)
October 1, 2005... MAGTROL, BUFFALO, N.Y. The robust construction of Magtrol's new TF Series torque flange sensor allows for its use in harsh environments. The TF sensor can be used for torque measurement of transmissions, powertrains, wind generators, gas...

input output in an Octopush's garden.
October 1, 2005... Forget about the skates and padding. Strap on a diving mask, fins, and snorkel, and start playing hockey underwater. Underwater hockey, also known as octopush, is an aquatic sport played in a swimming pool. English diving instructor Alan Blake...