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| The latest information on CAD/CAM software and
technology
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August 12, 2009
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For a change of pace and off of the subject of CAD, we recently
offered a prize to the reader with the best reply to the blog item Death by Floor Mat? Here is the winning entry:
"I have a 1980 Corvette that resulted in a similar problem with
the cruise control. It has a single button on the end of thedirectional
signal lever. A push of this button sets the speed and a touch of the
brake pedal turns it off. Very easy to use.
I used this car every day, even in the winters of Northern Ohio with
no accidents.
One summer day, on a three lane high which was heavily patrolled by
the OSP, I set the speed at 50mph. As I approached a traffic light, a
tap of the brake pedal was supposed to turn the cruse off. It didn’t.
The more I pressed on the brake, the more the engine would work to
maintain the speed. I could feel the whole frame twisting to react
against the high torque. As a last effort to stop this, I switched off
the ignition. This worked, but it also locked the steering wheel. Never
used cruise control again on this car.
It taught me a good lesson… always have redundent STOP."
Questions? Comments? Send them in, and we might
publish them here!
— Leslie Gordon
leslie.gordon@penton.com
blog
twitter
LinkedIn
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In the interest of efficiency, Intelligent Fluid
Solutions used on-demand design, CFD, and optimization software
at dezineforce.com to create a
simplified CAD model of a wind turbine. The firm then used the resulting
data to simulate an entire wind farm. Read
the entire article
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CAD software has evolved to make the basic mathematics of product
design transparent to users. But design also requires frequent ad-hoc
calculations for everything from converting units to testing probability
models. These vital calculations were — and often still are — done
with calculators or manually on paper.
This manual approach suits organizations with simple
product-development processes and relatively obvious market demands. But
today’s typical company faces evermore- challenging competitors,
increasing product complexity and the number of globally dispersed teams
even while budgets tighten. Spreadsheets or manual engineering
calculations cannot scale to meet these demands.
A more-efficient approach is to automate and capture ad-hoc
calculations with engineering calculation software such as Mathcad,
which simultaneously performs and documents calculations using
standard math notation. Read the entire article
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Pro/ENGINEER No Compromise
Demonstration
 Check out the 3D CAD
design process of the Santa Cruz V-10 race bike! In 2008, there was a
Santa Cruz V-10 race bike on every downhill racing World Cup podium!
This 25-minute demo shows how Pro/ENGINEER 3D CAD/CAM/CAE solutions
helped them finish first, including SRAM’s advanced gear shifting
components to highlight core capabilities in Pro/ENGINEER.
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A degree from an accredited engineering school and a job in your
company’s engineering department lets you call yourself an engineer,
right? Think again. Professional engineers, a small fraction of the
engineering community, are attempting to own the word “engineer” and
are taking legal steps to have their way.
Read the whole article
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A free software update for the SpacePilot PRO 3D mouse from
3Dconnexion enhances the capabilities the device's full-color LCD
Workflow Assistant, which delivers quick access to important commands
and information without interrupting the design workflow. The software
update v3.7.18 is available with SpacePilot PRO products purchased since
September 2009. Download it at 3Dconnexion.com.
Read the rest of the article
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The Quadro Plex visual computing system from NVIDIA
handles ultra high-resolution, multi-GPU visualization applications,
targeting users who interact with 3D models and analyze large volumes of
data. Connecting two of the Quadro Plexes to a single workstation lets
users see images at a resolution of 36 megapixels, span visuals across
eight displays, and manipulate stereoscopic 3D content. One unit fits at
the desk-side or it can be mounted to any standard 19-in. rack.
Read the rest of the article
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An open-source dual operating system from Mentor Graphics Corp.
combines Linux and Nucleus to work on the Marvell Sheeva MV78200
dual-core embedded processor. The processor targets such applications as
enterprise printers, network controllers, and switches and routers. The
two OSs can manage separate functional requirements while easily and
reliably communicating with each other.
Read the rest of the article
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Check Out the New EET Website
Are you looking for more information on energy efficiency? EETweb.com
features the latest efficiency updates, information on the basics of
energy efficiency and products available for energy efficient designs.
Click here to
visit the site and learn more!
Machine Design Video Spotlight
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Learn more about Proto
Labs |
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See how Proto Labs, through its First
Cut and Protomold services, provides new product designers and engineers
with the easiest, fastest and least-expensive way to obtain real parts,
really fast. |
Now Available On-Demand
The Energy Efficiency Web Conference & Expo
Engineers saw and heard great educational content at the Energy
Efficiency Web Conference and Expo. If you missed the live virtual
event, don’t despair! An archive of the full day’s agenda is now
available.
Design engineers are required to integrate energy efficiency into their
designs while maintaining lower costs, the highest reliability or both.
The editors of Machine Design understand these challenges
and have developed this conference to help engineers understand the
recently imposed energy mandates. The information presented at this
educational event will help engineers compare the different technologies
and product related to energy efficiency. Attendees will gain access to
the technical information needed to help them make the best decisions
without having to travel or take time away from current projects.
Visit the archive to:
- View informative webinars on energy efficiency
- Visit interactive booths where you can contact suppliers
- Peruse the Resource Center where you can download or link to
additional pertinent energy efficiency information
Register Now!
ARCHIVED WEBCASTS AVAILABLE FOR FREE VIEWING
Click
Here for a list of archived Machine Design webcasts.
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ANSYS Webinar explains
implicit-explicit simulation
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ANSYS is hosting
a free Webinar on Thursday, August 13, 2009, at 4 pm EDT called
"Implicit to Explicit Structural Simulation." According to the
company, implicit simulation tools work well for static and linear
problems and for long-duration nonlinear problems. Explicit simulation
tools suit short-duration, high-deformation nonlinear dynamic events.
However, there are simulations that require both tools, such as
pre-stressed impact studies typical in the aerospace industry. The
Webinar will show how to use ANSYS Mechanical and ANSYS AUTODYN for an
implicit-explicit approach that is interactive and quickly learned. Register for the August 13 session
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ACIS kernel supports
parallelism
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Spatial Corp.
says its well-known ACIS kernel now includes thread-safe capabilities.
(Thread-safe is a term used to describe a program routine that can be
called from multiple threads without unwanted interaction between the
threads.) "Using the software let us gain a nearly three-time speed-up
on a quad core computer," says Allan Spence, Associate Professor of
Mechanical Engineering at McMaster Univ. "Leveraging parallelism has let
us boost the performance of a machining tool-path optimizer and a rapid
prototyping wall-thickness verification program." For compute-intensive
operations, results are said to be near linear performance scaling on
multi-core systems.
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National Instruments and SolidWorks
Collaborate on a Virtual Prototyping Solution
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National
Instruments, a developer of control design and embedded systems,
and Dassault
Systèmes SolidWorks Corp., a developer of mechanical design
software, announced their collaboration on a mechatronics tool that
helps mechanical and control engineers work together, lowering the cost
and risk of motion system design. The tool seamlessly connects
NI LabVIEW graphical system design software and
SolidWorks 3D CAD software to help engineers and
scientists design, optimize, validate, and visualize the real-world
performance of machines and motion systems before incurring the costs of
physical prototypes.Because LabVIEW is used for controlling the virtual
prototype, engineers and scientists can deploy their graphical software
to physical NI hardware with little to no change to the code.
“The increasing complexity of machine designs demands better
collaboration between different engineering disciplines including
mechanical, electrica,l and control,” says Jeff Ray, CEO of DS
SolidWorks. “SolidWorks and National Instruments have developed a
prototyping solution that dramatically shortens the gap between idea and
reality.”
“We live in a multi-domain world, so designers should have access
to best-of-class tools in each domain,” says James Truchard,
president, CEO, and cofounder of National Instruments. “By combining
two of the most powerful design tools, LabVIEW and SolidWorks, we are
giving engineers and scientists a new way to collaborate more
effectively and innovate more quickly.”
Visit ni.com/digitalprototyping to learn more about the
tools available for virtual prototyping.
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Protomold
"Designing for Moldability" is a quick-reference user guide for rapid
injection molding, great for engineers and designers of plastic parts.
Download this invaluable guide today!
First Cut
New to the prototyping field or an expert, we’ve created a white paper
you shouldn’t miss, Prototyping Processes: Choosing the best
process for your project.
Visit www.firstcut.com/prototypingprocesses
Free Multiphysics Presentations CD
It's here - The 2009 Edition of the COMSOL Conference CD, packed with
multiphysics presentations from our recent conferences in Boston and
Hannover. Included are over 400 contributed papers, slides, videos and
more. Get your
complimentary copy of the CD right now at: www.comsol.com.
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Contact Information
Editorial questions: Leslie Gordon
216-931-9242
Advertising/sponsorship opportunities: Virginia Goulding
216-931-9893
Machine Design
1300 E. 9th St.
Cleveland, OH 44114
©2009 Penton Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
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