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Analysis
Jon Titus

Made by Monkeys
Poor Lamp Socket Design Sparks Danger
Jon Titus, Contributing Technical Editor
4/10/2012  0
A three-way socket on my bedside lamp gave out recently, but not without first overheating and causing a burned-phenolic-like odor.

Alexander Wolfe

Wolfe's Den
Slideshow: Top Cars From 2012 New York International Auto Show
Alexander Wolfe, Content Director
4/9/2012  3
Have automobiles become electronics platforms with engines and transmissions thrown in as afterthoughts? One might be forgiven for thinking so. At the 2012 New York International ...

Robert Nepper

Made by Monkeys
Broken Toaster Had Hidden Fix
Robert Nepper
4/9/2012  7
Some years ago, I purchased a Sunbeam Radiant Control Toaster at a salvage store. Lately, it stopped automatically accepting and toasting the bread. I found, through trial and ...

Dave Palmer

Guest Blogs
Understanding Fatigue Failures
Dave Palmer, Failure Analysis Expert
4/9/2012  10
Without a doubt, the most common failure mode I see in my lab is fatigue. Unlike overload failures, which occur more or less immediately when a load is applied, fatigue failures are ...

Karen Lightman

Guest Blogs
MEMS Sensors Driving Smart Automotive
Karen Lightman, Managing Director, MEMS Industry Group
4/9/2012  4
Rapid advances in intelligent automotive systems were showcased during the first European edition of the MEMS Executive Congress. Such systems can tell whether a child is in the ...

Charles Murray

Captain Hybrid
EV Batteries: Solid Concept, but Not Ready for Prime Time
Charles Murray, Senior Technical Editor, Electronics & Test
4/6/2012  45
Despite a spate of recent setbacks, plug-in hybrids are here to stay, and consumers and automakers need to be patient as the technology struggles toward competitiveness.

Ann R. Thryft

News
Robotic Bugs Tested for Tactical Operations
Ann R. Thryft, Senior Technical Editor, Materials & Assembly
4/6/2012  13
The US government is testing two small tactical robots from rough-terrain robot pioneer Boston Dynamics whose movements are based on those of a flea and a cockroach. The Sand Flea ...

Geoffrey Orsak

Blog
'Google Goggles' Make Augmented Reality Personal
Geoffrey Orsak, Dean, Lyle School of Engineering, SMU
4/6/2012  15
Something fascinating happened during a football game between the Bengals and Ravens in 1998. It seemed a little gimmicky at the time, but now it is indispensable: The yellow ...

Beth Stackpole

CAD/CAM Corner
Dassault Deal Brings Social Media to Design Table
Beth Stackpole, Contributing Editor, Design Hardware & Software
4/6/2012  6
Veteran CAD and PLM vendor Dassault Systemes made a recent acquisition that's bound to confuse a lot of traditional engineers still scratching their heads over where the Web and ...

Features

DESIGN West News Feed
3/19/2012
 9
Tech news from UBM's DESIGN West conference, March 26 through 29 at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, Calif.

Time for Obama to End Timidity on US Tech Manufacturing Jobs
1/27/2012
 77
President Obama laid out a "blueprint for an American economy that’s built to last" during his election-year State of the Union address this week. Good. When do we start?

Slideshow: 11 Top iPad Engineering Apps
11/28/2011
 38
Here are 11 iPad apps in automation, CAD, and technical reference for mechanical, industrial, and design engineers.

Case Study: Building Your Own 20kW Hydroelectric Power Plant
11/16/2011
 49
Using automation components from AutomationDirect, this small-scale hydroelectric system generates 20kW of power from a nearby lake.

Slideshow: 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Preview
11/10/2011
 14
The 2012 International Consumer Electronics show has innovative designs of interest to mechanical engineers. Check out our CES slideshow.

Slideshow: Messiest Engineering Desks
10/26/2011
 36
Here's a slideshow of the messiest engineer's desks submitted by readers of our sister site EETimes.

Top 5 Roadblocks to Digital Factory of the Future
10/24/2011
 29
The digital factory of the future faces challenges of cost, compatibility and programmability as PLCs and PACs lurch towards a fulling integrated production cycle.

Slideshow: Apple iPad 2 Teardown
10/5/2011
 7
UBM TechInsights conducted a teardown of the Apple iPad 2 3G version tablet.

Gadget Freak Case #210: Digital Timer ...
When Doug Conner couldn't track his time while night ...
Gadget Freak Case #209: Gradually ...
Auxiliary incandescent lamp that fades out as CFL ...
GM Robo-Glove
Automaker hopes the glove will reduce the risk of ...
Ford Hands-Free Liftgate
The technology uses capacitive sensors to recognize the ...
Gadget Freak Case #208: Glove-Operated ...
The Glove-Operated Digital Hand is a mechanical device that ...
02:37
Gadget Freak Case #207: Android ...
Al Linke's tiny breathalyzer is stored in an Altoids box, ...
Gadget Freak Case #206: ...
By connecting electroluminescent wire to his Android ...
02:24
Clippard Demonstrates Pneumatic Guitar
Guitar uses 62 pneumatic valves and 62 pneumatic cylinders, ...
Gadget Freak Case #205: Colorado Smart ...
A group of Colorado State University engineering students ...
05:04
GMC Acadia Center Air Bag
GMC Acadia chief engineer Susan Eckel explains how ...
Gadget Freak Case # 204: Self-Starting, ...
Doug Conner's self-starting, solar-powered Stirling engine ...
LEDs Light Up Dodge Dart
Jeff Gale talks about the use of LEDs on the back end of ...
Cadillac Cutting Mass 1 Gram at a Time
How engineers reduced mass of the body structure on the new ...
Ford Showcases Its First Plug-in Hybrid
The technical choices that Ford made on its new C-Max ...
Tesla's Model S Nears Production
Khobi Brooklyn of Tesla Motors talks about the advantages ...
Gadget Freak Case #203: Smart Recycle Can
This recycler determines the type of material being entered ...
What's Next. Right Now.
Mouser urges you to ensure your product life span by not ...
Environmental Commitment
Mouster stresses identifying EOL, obsolete, and NRND products.
Chevy Volt Structure Enhancements
To help the Chevy Volt handle side impacts, GM engineers ...
01:01
Voyager Belt Actuator Lengths up to 6 ...
50mm wide steel reinforced belt and 20mm profile rail and ...
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First Stop
Gadget Freak Case #210: Digital Timer for ...
When Doug Conner couldn't track his time while night swimming, he created a digital timer with ...
Gadget Freak Case #209: Gradually Dimming ...
To get immediate lighting while still conserving energy, Dick Bipes used an auxiliary ...
Gadget Freak Case #208: Robotics Unleashed ...
The Glove-Operated Digital Hand is a mechanical device that can be controlled remotely. It was ...
Slideshow: More Best of Gadget Freak
Here's a slideshow with links to our best homebrew engineering projects, drawn from the Design ...
Gadget Freak Case #207: Android Breathalyzer ...
Al Linke's tiny breathalyzer is stored in an Altoid's box and the results can be sent to his ...
Poor Lamp Socket Design Sparks Danger
It's time for a new approach to lamp socket design, especially when choosing materials and ...
Broken Toaster Had Hidden Fix
After tearing apart the broken toaster, we found a simple control on the bottom would have ...
Shop Brass Damaged the Clipper Ship
Shop brass -- a cheap version of bronze -- may not be strong enough to hold a clipper together.
Homeowner Overrides Three-Speed Fan Switch
One tug on the chain of a three-speed fan should turn it on at slow speed, right? Not this time.
Monoxide Detector Balky About Batteries
In order to put the batteries in this carbon monoxide detector, you have to break it.
Case of the Fried Solar Heater Controller
The solar water heater quit working, but some handy debugging by Sherlock Ohms gave it new life.
Broken Switch Shocks Engineer
Make no assumptions that an on/off switch actually works. You could end up making a shocking ...
Case of the Silent Sound
When the sound chip doesn't work on a computer board, a DOS debugger might come in handy.
Case of the Oil Fire Damper
If you could remove the fuel source -- in this case, oil -- you could put out the fire.
Case of the Dirty Water Backflow
The dirty water at the end of the wash cycle may not be a problem with the washer itself.
Understanding Fatigue Failures
Designing for fatigue is not as simple as designing for overload, and by understanding basic ...
MEMS Sensors Driving Smart Automotive
Automotive panelists at MEMS Executive Congress Europe wowed conference attendees with ...
Flexible Manufacturing Critical to US Innovation
The US must continue to innovate to regain ground in sectors like manufacturing. But the formula ...
Design Decisions: Choosing the Right Silicone ...
Silicone adhesives deliver flexibility and high-temperature resistance in demanding applications.
Petroski on Engineering: Anticipating Failure ...
Failures can provide lessons and wisdom in a newly proposed design, plan, or policy.
The Continuing Education Center offers engineers an entirely new way to get the education they need to formulate next-generation solutions.
Apr 9 - 13, Wireless Networks in the Factory


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Against a backdrop of mounting product complexity and a need to keep a lid on development costs, companies are recognizing a need to make simulation a more integral part of the design process. In response, vendors in the CAD world are building out CAE functionality as part of their CAD suites while simulation vendors are building tighter integrations to leading CAD tools. Keith Meintjes, Ph.D., Practice Manager, Simulation and Analysis at CIMdata, Inc., joins Design News CAD Editor Beth Stackpole in this radio program to explore the new face of integrated CAD and CAE, how companies are benefitting from this tighter partnership between platforms, and how integrating CAE earlier in the development cycle pays off in optimized product designs.
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