mech engineering 201108
TRANSCRIPT
Replacing lost fi ngers
Global GasTurbine News
Freezingin place
THE MAGAZINE OF ASME
SPLITDECISIONS
E iciencies improve when
the engineer and project manager
see eye to eye.
VOL.133/NO.8 AUGUST 2011 | WWW.MEMAGAZINE.ORG
52339 (8/11)
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02
35 PATENT TROLLSEven those who make and sell nothing
are devising new ways to make money
from U.S. patent laws.
By Kirk Teska
39 EVERYDAY FINGERSProsthetic limbs have been around a long
time; but until Dan Didrick came along,
working artificial fingers didn’t exist.
By Jean Thilmany
Focus on Plant Engineering
42 ALTERNATIVE MEASURESWhen instruments can’t reach the pump,
there’s another way to go with the flow.
By Ray Beebe
44 A FREEZE IN TIMEAn ASME post-construction standard leads
a refinery maintenance team through an
unfamiliar but efficient repair.
By Jaan Taagepera and Nathan Tyson
48 A PUMP WAR STORY:
BACK TO BASICS By Gary Wamsley
72 INPUT OUTPUT Awards Show Off Robot Advances
By Alan S. Brown
2 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | August 2011
featuresdepartmen
ts
6 Editorial
8 Letters
12 News & Notes
16 Washington Window
18 Global Window
20 Computing
23 Software Exchange
24 Tech Focus Fluid Handling & Fluid Power
61 ME Bookshelf
62 New Products
64 Resource File
67 Positions Open
69 Ad Index
70 ASME News
Focus on Engineering Management30 SERVING
TWO MASTERSIt takes judgment and thought to
balance the ethical engineer and
capable project manager.
By Brian Porter
ON THE COVER08 11
VOLUME 133/NO.8
Special supplement
IGTI’S GLOBAL GAS
TURBINE NEWS
49-60
✲
ME-Vol51-3-Aug2011_ME-Vol51-3-Aug2011 6/28/11 10:49 PM Page 49
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4 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | August 2011
Mechanical Engineering (ISSN 0025-6501) is published monthly by The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Three Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016-5990. Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y., and additional mailing offi ces. POST-MASTER: Send address changes to Mechanical Engineering, c/o The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 22 Law Drive, Box 2300, Fairfi eld, NJ 07007-2300. Return Canadian undeliverable addresses to P.O. BOX 1051, Fort Erie, On, L2A 6C7. PRICES: To members, annually $32 for initial membership subscription, single copy $7; subscription price to nonmembers available upon request. COPYRIGHT © 2011 by The American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Canadian Goods & Services Tax Registration #126148048. Printed in U.S.A. Authorization to photocopy material for internal or personal use under circumstances not falling within the fair use provisions of the Copyright Act is granted by ASME to libraries and other users registered with the Copyright Clearance Center Transactional Reporting Service, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923. Request for special permission or bulk copying should be addressed to Reprints/Permissions Department.
vault
THIS MONTH IN ASME.ORG
What’s your engineering degree worth, and how much are your peers earning? Find out in the 2011 Engineering Income and Salary Survey conducted by ASME and ASCE.
Hydrodynamic models of large bodies of fresh water may be helpful to the public in understanding ecosystems and how pollution affects them.
ON.FB.ME/MEMAGAZINE | MEMAGAZINEBLOG.ORG | MEMAGAZINE.ORG | ASME.ORG
Re: The FDA is opening a dialogue on nanotechnology by publishing proposed guidelines on how the agency will identify nanomaterials in FDA-regulated products.
If this initiative were to be correlated with the joint efforts of existing worldwide
standardization entities, we soon would have appropriate regulations in this
challenging area.
Re: President Barack Obama is making a push to train 10,000 new American engineers a year.
Major engineering companies will continue to outsource. Having a bunch of
new engineers won't help any unless there is some sort of domestic policy to keep
engineering services domestic.
Does he mean that he will retrain the thousands of engineers that are out of
work or in temporary jobs while they look for jobs in their fi eld? Or does he mean that
he will fi nd work for the 2008, 2009, and 2010 graduates that are looking?
Our modern culture does not promote (or even value) the work ethic that is
required to earn a degree in mechanical engineering. The obsession with
entertainment, computer games, and materialism has deceived many young people into thinking that adult life will be easy—a simple extrapolation of the
carefree indulgences of youth.
Much of what made our country great (and I believe will continue) is our
entrepreneurial ethic and the environment to incubate and create new opportunities. I would propose that encouraging students
to harness the DIY spirit that, I believe, is having a recent renaissance will lead
to capable engineers who can create new technology, new businesses, and ultimately jobs and demand for engineers—and new
engineering fi elds!
From ASME LinkedIn groups
The art of producing sheet-metal stampings from a fl at sheet while cold has made marked progress in recent years, and many articles are now made of sheet metal which were formerly produced by casting or forging, or in a lathe, milling machine, drill press, or at the bench.
Forming and stamping operations especially have in many classes of work become very complex, and the art of draw-ing sheet metals, stimulated by the enormous demand of the automobile industry in particular, calling for most intricate shapes, has reached a state of perfection hardly imagined possible a few years ago. The results achieved by the ingenuity of the present-day press and die designers, and to no small degree also by the metallurgist, who comes into consideration through his improvements of the physical qualities of the metals used, are indeed revelations in economy of production, strength of stamped articles, and the absolute interchange-ability and beauty of appearance of the fi nished products. ...
At the same time the economical production of motor cars was made possible solely on account of the ability of the press and die manufacturers to successfully control the fl ow of the cold sheet metal into certain forms and shapes.
Editor’s note: The author was one of several who delivered papers on the subject at the Spring Meeting, held under the auspices of the ASME Machine Shop Practice Division. A selection of the papers was published in the August issue.
The Infl uence Exerted by the Automobile on the Machine-Tool Industry
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editorial
BUILDING COLLABORATION
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU’RE
HIRED. Now you’re in charge of a large engineering team. It’s the job you always wanted.
You hold an engineering degree from a good school, and you have 15 years of excellent appraisals under your belt. You’re a good engineer, and you’ve had plenty of experience on how not to manage from all those boneheaded bosses you’ve had along the way. The ones you swore had no clue how to manage people.
The H.R. manager who gave you the good news about the 18 percent raise that comes with the job tells you the fi rst thing you’ve got to do is focus on getting the technical team and the project management folks to see eye-to-eye. Upper manage-ment, she says, is afraid of another “Deepwater Horizon thing”—a new catchphrase in today’s engineering reality for a failed system.
“Good luck, don’t mess up,” she says as you leave her o, ce.
Managing people, under the best of circumstances, is hard enough, but navigating between those concerned with safety and those on the other side of the fl oor who push for e, ciency is even harder. Over the past 50 years, engineers have realized they must balance budgets and meet business demands, says Brian Porter, who we commissioned to write this month’s cover story, “Serving Two Masters.” The require-ments to meet technical needs such as specifi cations, public safety, and reliability, and the business require-ments such as budget and schedule “are frequently confl icting in na-ture, even when they theoretically serve one another,” Porter says.
Getting workers to collaborate e/ ectively is part science, part art,
and part voodoo.A recent Harvard Business Review
article stresses that getting every-one on your team to share a purpose does not come simply from a corpo-rate statement, or even from a single charismatic leader. It comes from a combination of often intangible ele-ments that create a long-lasting and e/ ective work culture.
One way to do that is to collabo-rate at all levels of the enterprise. You can’t expect people on your team to get along if you don’t engage in similar behavior yourself.
The HBR article recounts the story of Microsoft’s ill-fated tablet com-puter that could have preempted Apple’s iPad by more than a decade —if it hadn’t been for internal com-peting divisions at Microsoft that conspired to kill the project. Micro-soft had not learned to collaborate with itself.
Certainly inciting collaborative behaviors among workers is saddled with many complex dimensions that include personal convictions, cultural values, and the particular enterprise’s operating norms. But when it comes to complex systems, “Demands to sacrifi ce performance are out of the question,” Porter says. “Learn from the past; use it today, for a successful future.”
Now that you’ve been on the job a few months you realize that managing teams isn’t as easy you thought. You also realize the importance of collabo-ration in the process. Not to put more pressure on you, but the stakes are high. Failure is not an option.
6 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | August 2011
Editor-in-Chief John G. Falcioni
Executive EditorHarry Hutchinson
Associate EditorsAlan S. Brown, Jean Thilmany,Jeffrey Winters
Electronic Publishing EditorBenedict Bahner
Art & Production DesignerTeresa M. Carboni
Director, Advertising Sales and Publishing DevelopmentNicholas J. Ferrari
Marketing and Promotion ManagerAnthony Asiaghi
Classifi ed and Mailing List Manager(212) 591-7534
Circulation CoordinatorMarni A. Rice
Managing Director, Publishing & Unit Support Philip V. DiVietro
Online www.memagazine.org(212) 591-7783; fax (212) 591-7841E-mail: [email protected]
The American Society of Mechanical EngineersPresident Victoria A. RockwellPresident-Nominee Marc W. GoldsmithPast President Robert T. SimmonsGovernors Richard C. Benson, Betty L. Bowersox, Julio Guerrero, Said Jahanmir, Robert N. Pangborn, Thomas D. Pestorius, Edmund J. Seiders, J. Robert Sims Jr., Charla K. Wise
Executive DirectorThomas G. Loughlin
Deputy Executive DirectorMichael K. Weis
Secretary and TreasurerWilbur J. Marner
Assistant SecretaryWarren R. Leonard
Senior Vice PresidentsCenters Clark McCarrellStandards & Certifi cation Kenneth R. BalkeyInstitutes Dilip R. BallalKnowledge & Community Thomas G. LibertinyStrategic Management Stacey Swisher Harnetty
ME Editorial Advisory BoardRobert E. Nickell, Chairman; Harry Armen; Leroy S. Fletcher; Richard J. Goldstein; Thomas G. Libertiny
For reprints, contactEdward Kane, (866) 879-9144, [email protected]
Opinions expressed in Mechanical Engineering magazine do not necessarily refl ect the views of ASME.
John G. Falcioni, Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]/johnfalcioni
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8 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | August 2011
letters
HeadquartersASMEThree Park AvenueNew York, NY 10016-5990(212) 591-7722fax: (212) 591-7674www.asme.org
Information CentralService CenterASME22 Law DriveFairfield, NJ 07007(973) 882-1170; fax: (973) 882-1717In U.S., toll-free (800) THE-ASME;international (973) 882-1167e-mail: [email protected]
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To the Editor: I enjoyed and agree with some
of the points and suggestions made in the ar-
ticle “Has the U.S. Lost Its Technical Edge?”
(May). We as a country have probably not
done our best to promote science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM—or
should it be STEAM?). Perhaps we have lost
our steam.
STEM education at the middle school levels
can only help. However, I believe there are other factors being overlooked.
One of the most influential factors in young teens’ lack of interest in STEM-
related programs is the media and public interest in rock stars, celebrities,
athletes, and Wall Street tycoons.
It appears to be more than just interest; it’s closer to worship. And the com-
mon denominator is money and flash—quite intoxicating to middle school
teens or even old engineers.
As a teeny bopper would you want to be Justin Bieber or Joe Engineer? The
rock stars, etc. get recognition, respect, status, and reward.
What does Joe Engineer get? If anything, Joe Engineer gets a bad rap when
a pipeline blows up, or an oil rig spews oil, or even when commuter trains col-
lide. I’ve managed a few multi-disciplined engineering groups, and it’s been
my observation that for the most part engineers feel they lack respect, rec-
ognition, status, and reward within their companies and with the general
public. They feel this way because that’s the way it is.
So, if we want to home grow technical talent, we must at least match the
status that engineers and scientists receive in other countries. A tough task.
RUSSEL KOELSCH, P.E.
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, CALIF.
To the Editor: In reply to Delores Etter’s piece in the May issue, I will certain-
ly laud her—and others’—desire to advance technical careers and help America
keep its technological edge. I love my job as a mechanical engineer and tell my
wife that most days I go to work and play; that’s how much fun I have at work.
Yet missing in all this is the demand-side. Kids are not stupid. They look at
factories closing all around them. They go to stores and see “Made in X,” with
X not being U.S.A. They watch the news, and hear of more and more jobs being
sent overseas where the labor rates are cheaper.
A recent issue of another engineering magazine had several letters from en-
gineers discussing the lack of respect they received in their positions, and all
strongly discouraged engineering as a profession.
And while “I don’t get no respect” is a comedic line, the universal head-
nodding at the antics of the Pointy-Haired Boss in virtually every Dilbert
cartoon points to a serious problem with management bred in business
schools, with no knowledge of the actual product and a belief that people are
but “talent” or “human capital,” and completely interchangeable and ex-
pendable assets.
STEM careers are rewarding, but nobody can deny that achieving academic
success in these fields is di.cult. There is a lot of work, and a lot of classes.
Engineer vs. Rock Star
MESHING
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10 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | August 2011
COOLING WITH GAS
To the Editor: The author of “Remov-
ing Heat From a Reactor in Shutdown”
(May) writes as if light water reactors
were the only reactors in the world.
Indeed most of the world’s 442 reactors
are LWRs—but not all. Britain’s historic
Magnox and AGR reactors, along with
the high-temperature gas reactor in the
U.S. are not. LWR evolved from the U.S.
Navy submarine program of Admiral
Rickover. LWR technology today re-
mains nearly the same as in the 1950s
when it was designed: very high power
density, low heat capacity metal clad
fuel in a fixed geometry maintained by
zirconium alloy under fixed tempera-
ture limits. As temperatures rise, the
alloy changes phase and loses strength,
becoming reactive with its water cool-
ant, H2O. That reaction created the free
hydrogen that combusted at Fukushi-
ma, and was also problematic at Three
Mile Island.
Although compact and comparatively
cheap in contrast with other technolo-
gies, the LWR has one fundamental
weakness—metal clad fuel. Indeed, at
both Three Mile Island and Fukushima
Dai-ichi, the two principal variants—the
pressurized water reactor and boiling
water reactor—both su2ered cata-
strophic failures. Economic losses that
resulted from undercooling following
shutdown caused as much anguish as
nuclear meltdown fears to their owners
and financiers. Other reactor types don’t
have these limitations. For example,
the high-temperature gas reactor has a
nonreactive coolant (helium), high heat
capacity core (graphite), and ceramic
fuel particle coating analogous to clad-
ding. The structural graphite heat sink
performs well at very high temperatures
compared with metal cores. These reac-
tors are not as susceptible as LWRs to
loss of cooling events, and retain fission
products better in unpredictable sce-
narios like Fukushima.
Perhaps one positive aspect of Fuku-
shima will be that the world’s reactor
designers reconsider non-metal core
reactor designs. They o2er much di2er-
ent and potentially safer performance
in unpredictable “beyond design basis
events.”
J.K. AUGUST, P.E.
ARVADA, COLO.
Editor’s note: The author chairs the
American Nuclear Society’s Committee 28
on gas reactors.
ACID AND MERCURY
To the Editor: I was shocked that Dmit-
ry Paramonov (“Some Aspects of the
Fight Against Climate Change,” ASME
Nuclear Engineering Division News,
May) would say in his article on climate
change as it relates to the consump-
tion of fossil fuels: “... consequences of
global warming are not necessarily bad
for all countries or social groups.” Two
things he failed to consider in making
that statement were ocean acidification
caused by CO2 absorption, and mercury
that is often emitted along with CO2 from
coal-fired plants.
Both of these things will increasingly
and negatively impact the quantity and
quality of food we are able to harvest
from ocean sources, not to mention the
rivers and pristine streams that are ex-
hibiting increased mercury levels as well.
Thus it is doubtful that anyone on this
Earth will ultimately be immune from
the consequences of global warming as it
relates to the burning of fossil fuels.
BOB BALHISER
HELENA, MONT.
Letters to the Editor
Mechanical Engineering
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Letters can be typewritten or
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author’s full name, address, and
telephone number. Address your
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+
With companies so eager to send those
jobs overseas, why would a rational per-
son examining a future career invest so
much for such a risky proposition?
Make engineering jobs more secure,
more respected, and create technical
career paths for those not interested
in management, and you will see more
people interested in STEM careers.
DAVID HUNT, P.E.
NASHUA, N.H.
FROM WHALES TO OWLS
To the Editor: I genuinely enjoyed read-
ing “From Whales to Fans” (May). Alan
Brown did a wonderful job following
the evolution from inspiration to mar-
ket. It’s valuable for younger readers to
observe that great ideas may take years
to make their way into production, and
that to do so takes persistence, drive,
and an ability to sell your ideas.
I do however have one small point to
add with regards to the history of the
discipline’s understanding of such lead-
ing edge features. Although it is perhaps
somewhat obscure, Paul T. Soderman
produced a rather comprehensive study
(NASA TM X-2643) of the e2ects of
leading edge features in the 7-foot x
10-foot wind tunnel at NASA Ames at
Reynolds numbers of 1 million and 2.3
million. It would appear that the study
was originally inspired by the desire
to reduce the acoustic signature of the
wing passing through the air, and many
of the leading edge features rather
strongly resembled owl feather leading
edge combs.
I do not o2er up this reference to deni-
grate in any manner the tenacity or ex-
tent of the work of Dr. Fish and his col-
leagues, which I have admired for years.
None of the leading edge features tested
by Soderman resembled the sinusoidal
and three-dimensional nature of whale
fin tubercles and their abstractions
tested by Dr. Fish and his colleagues.
I simply believe that the evolution of
the idea and the history of such lead-
ing edge features had been so well ex-
pressed in the story that it would have
been a shame not to mention the exten-
sive work done by Soderman at NASA
Ames back in 1972.
AARON ALTMAN
DAYTON, OHIO
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The U.S. Department of Energy
in June selected six projects to
split some $7.5 million to work
on advanced designs for wind
turbine drive trains.
Among the companies receiving awards
is GE Global Research, which will design
and test a 10 MW direct-drive generator
employing low-temperature supercon-
ductor technology, and Advanced Mag-
net Lab of Palm Bay, Fla., which is devel-
oping a new drivetrain coil confi guration.
Another company receiving an award,
Clipper Windpower of Carpinteria,
Calif., will be testing a drivetrain design
intended to increase serviceability.
Any advances that make turbines more
reliable and e* cient will help drive down
costs of wind power.
Other organizations receiving DOE
funds are Boulder Wind Power of Colo-
rado, Dehlsen Associates of Santa Bar-
bara, Calif., and the National Renewable
Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo.
While the DOE program is aimed at
developing American manufacturers
of wind turbine technology, interna-
tional companies are already deploying
some advanced turbines of their own.
In June, Siemens installed the fi rst
prototype of its new direct-drive wind
turbine.
The SWT-6.0-120, which was
deployed in Høvsøre, Denmark, fea-
tures a rotor 120 meters in diameter
and is rated at 6 MW.
The new turbine design, which is
intended for use in o. shore wind farms,
is less massive than other turbines of
similar power, weighing in at just 350
metric tons. The hope is that a lighter
nacelle will enable the turbines to be
installed on thinner towers, reducing the
cost of construction.
Siemens plans to install other proto-
type wind turbines for testing over the
next couple of years. If all goes according
to plans, the advanced turbines could
begin production in 2014.
JEFFREY WINTERS
12 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | August 2011
Next-Generation Wind Gets a Boost
NEWS&NOTES
SIEMENS
A new report from the National
Research Council recom-
mends that regulations
covering offshore wind farms
focus on performance goals rather than
prescriptive rules in order to accom-
modate future innovation. The recom-
mendations cover structural integrity,
environmental performance, and power
generation.
U.S. Department of the Interior’s
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management,
Regulation, and Enforcement, which
regulates offshore wind farms, asked
the NRC to develop the recommenda-
tions. The resulting report is Structural
Integrity of Offshore Wind Turbines: Over-
sight of Design, Fabrication, and Installa-
tion. It draws on the offshore experience
of European wind farms and U.S. oil,
gas, and marine industries.
The committee found that offshore
wind farms pose signifi cantly lower
risks to safety and the environment
because they are unmanned and do not
handle hazardous substances. There-
fore, they do not require as stringent a
regulatory approach as other offshore
industries. The committee calls for
industry to propose specifi c standards,
guidelines, and recommended prac-
tices to meet the bureau’s performance
requirements.
Industry can build on the procedures
pioneered in Europe, where more than
800 offshore turbines are connected to
the grid.
The United States operates some of
the world’s largest wind farms. Most sit
astride the wind belt that stretches from
Texas to the Dakotas. While land there
is cheap, the cost of building transmis-
sion lines to urban centers is high.
Offshore facilities, located where winds
are higher and more consistent, would
sit relatively close to major population
centers and existing transmission lines.
The Cape Wind project, the fi rst
offshore facility to win U.S. approval,
suggests what is coming. The 468 MW
farm will consist of 130 wind turbines.
Each tower will rise 258 feet tall, and the
blades will rise 440 feet above the water
surface. The farm will lie just off Cape
Cod in Massachusetts.
In addition to suggesting the Bureau of
Ocean Energy set performance targets
and allow industry to set standards, the
report recommends that certifi ed third-
party evaluators review project propos-
als. One reason is that the bureau lacks
the workforce and expertise to take on
that role. ALAN S. BROWN
Study Proposes Goal-Driven Regulations for O" shore Wind
▲ Installing the rotoron Siemen’s new turbine
me.hotims.com/34756-08 or circle 08
August 2011 | MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 13
One Global Code Symbol ASME is taking steps to replace its
current 28 separate product certi-
fi cation marks with a single certifi -
cation mark.
The primary reason for the change is
the global success of ASME Standards
and Certifi cation programs. There are 28
ASME code symbol stamps in use by vari-
ous certifi ed companies in 75 countries.
Having them use a single certifi cation
mark will greatly help ASME monitor its
trademark around the world.
The new mark was introduced in the
2011 Addenda to the Boiler and Pres-
sure Vessel Code published in July. Cer-
tifi ed companies may request and use
the new mark immediately, and they will
have the option of using the old marks
until Jan. 1, 2013.
After that date, the
new certifi cation
mark becomes
mandatory and
the old stamps are
to be returned to
ASME.▲ The new mark.
Just as we receive feedback about
the world through more than just
our eyes and fi ngers, so too—one
day—will robots.
Scientists at Technical University of
Munich in Germany are developing
an artifi cial skin for robots that they
said will provide important tactile
feedback about its world to the robot
to supplement perceptions formed by
camera eyes, infrared scanners, and
gripping hands.
The sense of touch gives robots one
more sense on which to rely as they
fi nd their way around a room or new
environment, said Philip Mittendorfer,
a scientist who is helping develop the
artifi cial skin at the university’s Insti-
tute of Cognitive Systems.
As with human skin, the way the
artifi cial skin is touched could lead the
robot to retreat when it hits an object
or cause it to use its machine vision to
search for the source of contact, he said.
Retreating or looking for the source
of contact is especially important for
robots that work as helper machines for
people who live in constantly changing
environments, even if that environment
is their own apartment.
The centerpiece of the robotic skin—
which is actually a series of plates worn
by the robot—is a circuit board about
the size of a penny. Each board contains
four infrared sensors.
“We thus simulate light touch,” Mit-
tendorfer said. “This corresponds to our
own sense of the fi ne hairs on our skin
being gently stroked.”
The artifi cial skin also contains six
temperature sensors and an accelerom-
eter that allows the robot to register the
Sensitive Skin for Robots
Continued on page 15
“Innovation distinguishes between
a leader and a follower.”
- Steve Jobs
As the leading manufacturer of OEM pumps
and compressors, our innovation in design and
technology has helped our customers create
new innovative products and become leaders
in their marketplace.
For more information on
how Thomas innovation
can help you lead
your industry, go to
gd-thomas.com/me8.
Improving lives through innovationTM
me.hotims.com/34756-09 or circle 09
NEWS & NOTES
Spatial Corp. of Broomfield, Colo., has
released its Convergence Geometric
Modeler, a 3-D geometry kernel that of-
fers a consistent interface, foundation-
based tolerant modeling to maintain
geometrical and topological precision,
and large-model capacity. /// West-
port Innovations Inc., a developer of
alternative-fuel engine technologies,
has entered into an agreement with
General Motors to develop natural
gas engine controls, emissions, and
performance strategies for light-duty
vehicles. Westport said it plans to open
a technical center in Michigan. The
company has about 15 employees in
Farmington Hills, Mich., and plans to
expand there as demand grows for
natural alternative-fuel vehicles.
BRIEFLY NOTED
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The ASME standard Hydraulic
Turbines and Pump-Turbines has
been published in a new edition,
PTC 18-2011, which includes
updated test techniques for continuous
performance improvement.
It defines methods for measuring
flow rate, head, and power, from which
e*ciency may be determined. It also
specifies requirements for pretest
arrangements, types of instrumenta-
tion, methods of measurement, testing
procedures, methods of calculation, and
contents of test reports.
The standard, which replaces the 2002
edition, also includes revised illustra-
tions and new tables. Some older test
methods, such as the volumetric and
pressure-time Gibson flow-measure-
ment method, have been deleted.
PTC 18-2011 Hydraulic Turbines and
Pump-Turbines is available for pur-
chase online at www.asme.org. The
price is $140.
Grid-Positive CollegeA community college in northern
California believes that it has be-
come the first college in the United
states to become “grid-positive.” That
is, it expects the value of the electricity
it generates to exceed the cost of the
electricity it consumes.
The school, Butte College, is in Oroville.
The campus has 25,000 solar panels,
which are expected to generate more
than 6.5 million kilowatt-hours of elec-
tricity a year.
Michael Miller, the director of facilities
planning and management for the Butte-
Glenn Community College District,
which runs the college, said the installa-
tion cost about $24 million after rebates.
The system will generate electricity
during the day, when rates are at their
highest. Excess electricity will be sent
to the grid, and the college will receive
credit for that power at the day rate.
The evening rate is about half the cost
of electricity during the day. When the
sun goes down, the college will draw
electricity from the grid, but the total
cost will likely be lower than the credit it
earned during the day.
movement of individual limbs and in
that way determine what body parts it
has just moved.
“We try to pack many di1erent
sensory modalities into the smallest of
spaces,” Mittendorfer said. “In addition,
it is easy to expand the circuit boards to
later include other sensors”
For the machine to have detection
ability, the signals from the sensors
must be processed by the central com-
puter that controls the robot, he added.
Only a small piece of skin is currently
complete. But the principle has already
been demonstrated to work, Mittendor-
fer’s supervisor, Gordon Cheng, said.
The scientists will place the plates that
constitute the skin together to form a
honeycomb-like, planar structure to be
donned by the robot.
“This will be a machine that notices
when you tap it on the back. Even in the
dark,” Cheng said.
JEAN THILMANY
Editor’s note: Prosthetic fingers covered by
artificial skin are the subject of the feature,
“Everyday Fingers,” on page 39 of this issue.
Test Code Updated for Hydro Turbines
Sensitive SkinContinued from page 13
August 2011 | MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 15
The Bureau of Ocean Energy
Management, Regulation, and
Enforcement said it is mak-
ing improvements in the oil
and gas permit application process.
Improvements include publication
of a permit application checklist to
assist o$shore oil and gas operators in
submitting complete applications to
drill, the implementation of complete-
ness checks by bureau personnel before
significant sta$ time is spent reviewing
an application, and the development of
clear permit review priorities that will
expedite agency reviews.
According to the U.S. Energy Infor-
mation Administration, oil production
in the Gulf of Mexico has been rising.
In 2010, nearly 600 million barrels of
oil were produced, the highest level in
three decades.
There are currently 24 permits pend-
ing and 18 permits have been returned
to operators with requests for additional
information, particularly information
regarding containment. The proposed
changes may reduce the number of per-
mits returned to operators.
Exxon Mobil announced in June that
it had identified a substantial oil and gas
source in 7,000 feet of water, and about
230 miles from the nearest shoreline in
the Gulf of Mexico.
Two bills, S.512 and S.1067, before
the Senate Energy and Natural
Resources Committee seek to
establish research programs to reduce
the cost of nuclear plants by using small
reactors.
Advocates of small modular reac-
tors, designed to generate less than
300 MW, believe they can reduce the
costs of nuclear plant construction.
The committee has received testimony
from proponents who said that modular
construction techniques will permit plant
subassemblies to be built which can be
delivered and assembled on site.
Costs are a major issue in large nuclear
plants. The cost of a nuclear power plant
with a 2,000 MW capacity can exceed $14
billion.
The Committee also received testimony
on S.937, which includes a number of
provisions that would seek to increase
the use of transportation fuels that are
not petroleum based. While there was
agreement that diversifying the nation’s
transportation fuels would be a clear
benefit to both national and economic
security, there were concerns raised that
some of the bill’s provisions might have
high environmental costs.
16 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | August 2011
Agency to Expedite O#shore Drilling Applications
Senate Votes to End Ethanol Credit
WASHINGTON WINDOW
WHITE HOUSE WEIGHS
IN ON THE SMART GRID
The White House has released
a 108-page report, “A Policy
Framework for the 21st Century
Grid: Enabling Our Secure
Energy Future,” which specifies
various smart grid initiatives.
The report was prepared by
the National Science and
Technology Council.
The initiatives include $250
million in loans for smart-grid
technology deployment.
The report is aimed at closely
monitoring and guiding energy
policy. It also clearly explains
where the newly budgeted
federal dollars will be going and
what the administration hopes
to achieve.
The policy report aims to set up
a framework for implementing
that technology e.ciently, secur-
ing the connected power grid
from cyber threats, and creating
an energy framework that will
put more control in the hands of
consumers using energy.
Senate Bills Back Modular Reactors
This section was compiled by ASME Govern-
ment Relations. Links to more information at
http://bit.ly/MEWashingtonWindow
The Senate has voted 73-27 to
adopt an amendment to the
Economic Development Revital-
ization Act of 2011 that e1ec-
tively repeals the $5 billion blender’s tax
credit enjoyed by industry as part of the
nation’s ethanol mandate.
The amendment was introduced by
Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Tom
Coburn (R-OK). “The 73 votes sent a
powerful message that the days of big
subsidies for ethanol are coming to a
close,” Sen. Feinstein said. “We must be
serious about addressing the debt and
deficit, and this is a good first step.”
The amendment would eliminate both
the 45-cents-per-gallon tax credit that
refiners get for blending ethanol in gaso-
line, as well as the 54-cents-per-gallon
tari1 on imported ethanol.
Ethanol also is mandated by provi-
sions contained in the Energy Indepen-
dence and Security Act (P.L. 110-140).
The law mandates that 36 billion
gallons of biofuels must be in use by the
country by 2022. The House has not yet
followed suit, although House Appro-
priators did manage to successfully
adopt an amendment to the fiscal year
2012 agriculture appropriations bill,
H.R. 2112, by a vote of 283-128, which
would prohibit the use of funds for the
construction of an ethanol blender
pump or an ethanol storage facility.
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“Crops consume large
amounts of water, so is
there enough to meet
future demand or will
supplies run out? ... Of the 110,000 km3
of rain that falls annually on the earth’s
surface, 36 percent ends up in the sea;
forestry, grazing lands, and fisheries, and
biodiversity consume 57 percent; towns,
cities, and industry use just 0.1 percent
(11 km3); while agriculture consumes 7
percent (7,130 km3). Some 22 percent of
agriculture’s water consumption (1,570
km3) is ‘blue water’—water withdrawn
from rivers, streams, and groundwater for
irrigation purposes. Most of agriculture’s
water consumption (5,560 km3) is green
water—water available to crops from
rainfall stored in the soil root zone.
“Predicting future water demand is
fraught with difficulties. Forecasts made
less than 10 years ago have already been
proved inaccurate because no one accu-
rately predicted the rise in energy prices
nor the world recession and the impact
these factors would have on food prices.
The impacts of climate change are now
only beginning to unfold as are the stress-
es of population growth and water scar-
city. But the simple answer to the question
is—yes we have enough water but only if
we act now to improve how water is used,
particularly in agriculture which is the
main consumer. What is certain is that the
future of food security and water security
are inextricably connected.
“If water usage continues at the present
rate, global water consumption will almost
double by 2050. However, a more optimis-
tic assessment suggests it may rise from
7,130 km3 to 8,515 km3/yr by 2050. This is
not only based on predictions of population
increase but also on improving socioeco-
nomic conditions and nutrition—both of
which demand more water. The greatest
change over the past 30 years has been
the shift away from starch-based diets to
meat, eggs, and dairy products to a point
were livestock products account for about
45 percent of the global water embedded
in food products.”
From “Water for Food: Innovative
water management technologies for
food security and poverty alleviation,”
United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development, Current Studies on Science,
Technology, and Innovation, No. 4.
18 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | August 2011
Looking at Water: Is There Enough?
GLOBAL WINDOW
This report was prepared in part by ASME's Asia Pacific LLC office.
The Finance Minister of China, Xie
Xuren, told a session of the National
People’s Congress that the country's
central government expenditures
exceeded revenue in 2010 by the equiva-
lent of about $123.5 billion U.S., accord-
ing to a report by Xinhua, the o*cial
news agency of the People’s Republic of
China. According to Xinhua, Xie said the
deficit was about $7.7 billion less than
the annual budget.
Xie reported the figures during the 21st
session of the Standing Committee of the
11th National People’s Congress.
He said revenues totaled more than
$655 billion, about $277 billion more
than the budgetary figure, and expendi-
tures reached nearly $780 billion, $128
million more than the budgetary figure.
The total central fiscal expenditure
included about $246 billion of central
government spending, and more than
$498 billion of tax rebates and transfer
payments to local governments, Xie said.
China’s Government in the Red for 2010
China’s current account surplus,
a measure of the country’s for-
eign trade, reached the equiva-
lent of $29.8 billion U.S. in the
first quarter of this year, an 18 percent
decrease from the quarter a year earlier,
according to the State Administration
of Foreign Exchange. This includes sur-
plus in commodity trade worth $20.8
billion, a service trade deficit worth
$10.2 billion, a revenue surplus worth
$7.6 billion, and a current transfers
surplus worth $11.6 billion.
The surpluses under the current and
capital and financial accounts raised
China’s international reserve assets
by $141.2 billion in the quarter, and
$138 billion of that was kept as foreign
exchange reserves.
By the end of March, China’s foreign
exchange reserves had reached $3,040
billion, up 24.4 percent from a year ear-
lier, according to figures from China’s
central bank.
China’s Account Surplus in First Quarter Reaches $29.8 Billion
BRIEFLY NOTED
Tang Rongyao, director of China’s
State Electricity Regulatory Com-
mission, said that the provincial grids
in ten provinces, including Beijing,
Shanghai, Hebei, Jiangsu and Zheji-
ang, are experiencing power supply
tensions. The vice general manager of
the State Grid Corp. of China, Shuai
Junqing, predicted that electricity
shortages will reach 30 million kW in
peak periods, the highest shortages
ever recorded. /// Li Canrong, assis-
tant to China’s Minister of Commerce,
said that China’s export situation will
remain complicated this year. He said
that China should accelerate the trans-
formation of the foreign trade develop-
ment model, promote internationaliza-
tion of strategic emerging industries,
and entirely improve the quality and
benefits of international trade.
me.hotims.com/34756-11 or circle 11
An Australian industrial design firm,
Design+Industry, recently gave shape to
what a client hopes could be the next big
thing in automobiles: a three-wheel, high-
performance vehicle. Design+Industry
designed it with the help of 3-D modeling,
painting, and rendering software.
Strike Motors Australia, an automotive
company, asked Design+Industry to turn its concept for a
three-wheel vehicle into a commercially manufacturable
automobile. The result is Trike, a half-car, half-motorcycle
that seats two people and combines quick acceleration
with ride stability and cornering capability, said Ben Car-
roll, industrial designer at Design+Industry.
Design+Industry designers took the specs for the car and
used the creative tools and modeling and rendering capa-
bilities in the software package modo 501 from Luxology of
Mountain View, Calif. Their aim was to create a design that
would appeal to car enthusiasts and style-minded drivers,
and catch the attention of bystanders with a sleek, futuris-
tic design, Carroll said.
“We began using modo when clients started requesting
features we were not able to provide with the visualization
software we were using at the time,” Carroll said.
Whether it’s a software
developer, manufac-
turer, or food pro-
ducer, businesses of
all stripes are looking to implement
sustainability standards. But what
standards should they adopt?
To help, researchers at the National
Institute of Standards and Technology,
in Gaithersburg, Md., have adapted the
so-called Zachman framework, a for-
mal approach developed in the 1980s
to define organizational structures and
to classify and organize specifications
and data accordingly, said Rachuri
Sudarsan, a lead researcher for the
project and a NIST computer scientist.
Recently, the Zachman framework
has been used to describe and catego-
rize complex health-care and cyber
security standards. But NIST research-
ers have prototyped an adapted frame-
work to help organizations of all types
sort through the welter of choices and
evaluate and implement sustainability
standards most appropriate for them,
Sudarsan said.
Business leaders can call upon the
customized framework to view sustain-
ability standards from their particu-
lar business perspective. Complex
standards are broken down into six
different levels of detail—from the con-
textual view used by planners down to
discrete data levels—and distilled into
categories to answer six questions:
what, how, when, who, where, and why.
Results are arranged in a 36-cell
matrix, Sudarsan said.
NIST is pilot testing the framework on
its new Sustainability Standards Portal
at www.mel.nist.gov/msid/SSP/.
Many incentives motivate businesses
to improve sustainability efforts. These
range from concerns like cutting costs
and reducing scrap, to compliance with
regulatory and customer requirements,
to corporate citizenship. But businesses
must be able to identify applicable
standards across entire lifecycles of
products, processes, and services,
Sudarsan said. NIST intends the frame-
work to help leaders identify gaps and
overlaps in sustainability strategies.
How Sustainable?
20 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | August 2011
COMPUTING This section was written by Associate Editor Jean Thilmany.
Three-Wheeling
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D T
EC
HN
OLO
GY
m The Trike, designed by a firm of industrial engineers in Australia with the help of rendering software, seats two people and combines the benefits of car and motorcycle.
m Software from NIST helps businesses evaluate sustainability standards.
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August 2011 | MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 21
Brainy AntennasJust as too many cooks spoil the broth, too many users
may interrupt the Wi-Fi signal.
To ease signal interference, researchers in the new
Smart Antenna and Radio Laboratory at Gonzaga Uni-
versity in Spokane, Wash., are investigating reliable high-
bandwidth wireless communications via Wi-Fi.
The researchers aim to overcome wireless signal inter-
ference caused when many users try to communicate
simultaneously over the 2.4 GHz band used for wireless
communication, said Steven Schennum, an engineering
professor at the university, who helms the research.
The smart technologies developed by the team will
allow antennas to focus on one user signal at a time. For
example, for a Wi-Fi user working on a laptop with a weak
or cross-polarized signal, a smart antenna system would
use algorithms to optimize the signal to that individual
laptop.
Software from Ansys Inc. of Canonsburg, Pa., will
enable the university to test the performance of antenna
designs virtually, to reduce time and costs associated
with build-and-test methods, Schennum said.
“We’re creating a state-of-the art anechoic chamber for
testing our physical antenna prototypes, but even the
best antenna test chambers are limited in their size and
shape, the performance of their absorptive materials, and
the range of frequencies they can accommodate,” Schen-
num said. “By simulating electromagnetic fi elds and cur-
rents in a virtual environment using Ansys software, we
can test the performance of our antenna designs for any
location, plane, or geometry—and over a limitless range
of frequencies—before moving to the prototype stage.”
The new laboratory was funded with the help of a nearly
$1.2 million award from the National Science Foundation.
Researchers from the RAND Corp. have come up
with a new way to analyze opinions culled from a
large group of experts and laypeople to aid com-
plex decision-making.
“Expert panels have long been used to pursue research
across a broad area of policy,” said Siddhartha
Dalal, a lead researcher on the project and
chief technology o- cer at RAND, a nonprofi t
research organization in Santa Monica, Calif.
“This new system allows expert panels to be
done online in a robust way that resembles
face-to-face meetings, but with lower costs and
easier analysis of the information gathered.”
The online system and its associated method could
have applications within public policy, health care,
fi nance, and marketing, where expert panels are fre-
quently used to help solve problems or predict an unknown
future, Dalal said.
The system, called ExpertLens, incorporates elements of
well-known forecasting approaches.
Options for gathering opinions usually include convening
meetings of experts where opinions are expressed face to face
(the nominal group technique), organizing panels of experts
who share their opinions without meeting in person (the Del-
phi method), and putting out an open call for input to a large
community of people (the crowdsourcing method), he added.
Each of the approaches has certain strengths and
weaknesses, he said. Face-to-face meetings
can be expensive and di- cult to organize.
In addition, such e0 orts usually are lim-
ited to small groups of people with narrow
areas of specialization and can become
dominated by a small number of strong
personalities.
While crowdsourcing methods can reach
large groups of people online, they also can be inef-
fi cient and unfocused unless there is clear direction and input
is monitored, Dalal said.
ExpertLens leverages the advantages of both Delphi method
and the nominal group technique. It also uses modifi ed
principles of crowdsourcing to o0 er a means to elicit opinions
from a broad and diverse pool of experts who are in di0 erent
locations, Dalal said.
In general, in the fi rst phase of an ExpertLens process par-
ticipants answer a series of questions. In the second phase,
What Do You Think?
Continued on Page 22
me.hotims.com/34756-12 or circle 12
Researchers at North Carolina
State University in Raleigh
have developed a new way to
use multi-core chips, which
they said will help computers more
e#ciently process models of biological
systems.
Computer models of biological sys-
tems have many uses, from predicting
potential side e%ects of new
drugs to understanding the
ability of plants to adjust to
climate change, said Cranos
Williams, an assistant profes-
sor of electrical engineering at
the university and a research-
er on the project.
The new technique has improved
the e#ciency of algorithms used to
run models of biological systems
more than seven-fold, creating more
realistic models that can account for
uncertainty and biological variation,
according to Williams.
Developing models for living
things is challenging because, unlike
machines, biological systems can have
a significant amount of uncertainty
and variation, he said.
“When developing a model of a
biological system, you have to use
techniques that account for that
uncertainty, and those techniques
require a lot of computational power,”
Williams said. “That means using
powerful computers. Those comput-
ers are expensive, and access to them
can be limited.
“Our goal was to develop software
that enables scientists to run biologi-
cal models on conventional computers
by using their multi-core chips more
e#ciently,” he said.
The brain of a computer chip is its
central processing unit, or core. Most
personal computers now use chips
that have between four and eight
cores. However, most programs only
operate in one core at a time. For a
program to use all the cores, it must
be broken down into separate threads
so that each core can execute a di%er-
ent part of the program simultane-
ously, Williams said.
The process of breaking down a
program into threads is called paral-
lelization, which allows computers to
run programs very quickly.
In order to parallelize algorithms for
models of biological systems, Wil-
liams’s research team created a way
for information to pass back and forth
among the cores on a single chip.
“We used threads to create locks
that control access to shared data,”
Williams said. “This allows all of the
cores on the chip to work together to
solve a unified problem.”
The researchers tested the approach
by running three models through
chips that utilized one core, as well as
chips that used the new technique to
utilize two, four, and eight cores. In all
three models, the chip that used
eight cores ran at least 7.5 times
faster than the chip that used
only one core.
“This approach allows us to
build complex models that better
reflect the true characteristics
of the biological process, and do
it in a more computationally e#cient
way,” Williams said.
“In order to understand biological
systems, we will need to use increas-
ingly complex models to address the
uncertainty and variation inherent in
those systems.”
Ultimately, the researchers want to
see if this approach can be scaled up
for use on supercomputers and wheth-
er it can be modified to take advantage
of the many cores that are available
on graphics processing units used in
many machines, Williams said.
22 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | August 2011
COMPUTING
BRIEFLY NOTED
Structural engineering software developer, CSC, of Chicago, has released an update of its structural calculation software, Tedds. The update provides compatibility with Word 2010. /// Design Science of Long Beach, Calif., has released MathType 6.7 for Macintosh, featuring support for Microsoft Office 2011 and Mac OS X Lion. The appli-cation helps communicate math on the Web and in print. /// Skew Matrix Software LLC of Louisville, Colo., has upgraded its OpenSceneGraph, which powers 3-D graph-ics rendering in visualization, simulation, virtual reality, and other 3-D applications. /// The recently released SimulationX CAD interface from ITI Group of Dresden, Germany, allows assemblies to be imported into Creo Elements/Pro CAD software from PTC of Needham, Mass. /// NEi Software of Westminster, Calif., has released an embedded Nastran solution for Creo Parametric, also from PTC. The software allows engineers to perform finite element analysis using Nastran technology within the Creo environment.
Quicker at the Core in Parallel
What DoYou Think?
they review the group’s responses and
discuss their answers using online
discussion boards. In the third phase,
participants re-answer phase one ques-
tions based on the information
they received during the
feedback and discussion
in the second phase,
Dalal added.
The online nature of
ExpertLens allows the results to be
rapidly compiled and the findings to be
analyzed quickly, said Dmitry Khodya-
kov, another ExpertLens developer
and an associate behavioral and social
scientist at RAND.
“The process of breaking down a program into threads is called parallelization, which allows computers to run programs very quickly.
”
Continued from Page 21
August 2012 | MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 23
materials. Imported data can be selected
by appearance, part, body, or face and
new layers can be created to highlight
specific parts of the design.
Hardware: PC running the Windows
operating system and the SolidWorks
CAD system.
Developer: Luxology LLC, 2525 East
Charleston Road, Suite 104, Mountain
View, CA 94043-1636; (650) 336-1380;
fax (650) 336-1386; www.luxology.com.
Cost: $299.
www.me.hotims.com/34756-71 or circle 71
DATA CONVERSIONCapability: MultiCAD Direct Import
XVL converters translate all major
CAD and 3-D data formats into XVL.
The converters access CAD models
through the user’s respective CAD sys-
tem. They express the model as highly
compressed 3-D surfaces that maintain
the accuracy and the visual integrity of
the original data. The converters can
compress 3-D data up to 0.5 percent
of its original size. All converters on
o3er can perform post-processing com-
mands after conversions. Direct CAD
file input into the vendor’s XVL Studio
solution is available via the MultiCAD
Direction Option for XVL Studio.
Hardware: PC running supported
CAD system.
Developer: Lattice Technology
Inc., 582 Market St., Suite 1215, San
Francisco, CA 94104; (415) 274-1670;
fax (415) 274-1671; www.lattice3d.com.
Cost: $2,495.
www.me.hotims.com/34756-72 or circle 72
MESH ITCapability: The Inventor Mesh Enabler
is a technology preview that enables
Inventor 2011 and 2012 users to work
with imported mesh data. The 3-D CAD
application can import mesh data from
Catia files. The Mesh Enabler adds the
ability to post-process the imported
mesh data to convert the mesh features
to Inventor base features. The base
features are then available for further
operations, including drawings and
measurements.
Hardware: PC running Inventor 2011
or 2012.
Developer: Autodesk Labs, 111 McInnis
Pkwy., San Rafael, CA 94903; (800)
964-6432; http://labs.autodesk.com.
Cost: Free. Preview will expire on Jan.
31, 2013.
www.me.hotims.com/34756-73 or circle 73
PHONE SCANCapability: The iPhone app
Trimensional from a research sci-
entist in Georgia Tech’s College of
Computing, allows users with an
iPhone 4, iPad 2, or a recent iPod Touch
to make 3-D models of everyday objects
from photos and share them by e-mail.
With the latest update, users can also
e-mail animated videos of their 3-D
models. For a few dollars more, artists
and designers can even export their
creation to CAD programs or 3-D illus-
tration applications. It produces a full
3-D model users can zoom into, pan
around, and view from any angle.
Hardware: iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad.
Developer: Grant Schindler, Georgia
Institute of Technology, 801 Atlantic
Drive, Atlanta, GA 30332-0280; schin-
Cost: 99 cents, available through the
iTunes app store.
www.me.hotims.com/34756-74 or circle 74
LOOKS REALCapability: KeyShot 2.2 is a ray-tracing
program that creates photorealistic
images from 3-D CAD models. It sup-
ports the SolidEdge, Autodesk Alias,
and Pro/engineer CAD programs.
Users can see results at the same time
they make changes to the image. The
regular edition includes 2.1 megapixel
real-time resolution and 4.1 megapixel
o8ine rendering resolution; the pro-
fessional version includes unlimited
real-time resolution, unlimited o8ine
rendering resolution, and 360-degree
turntable animation.
Hardware: PC running Windows 7,
XP or Vista, or Macintosh OS 10.5 or
higher.
Developer: Luxion, 18201 Von Karman
Ave., Suite 970, Irvine, CA 92612; (949)
274-8871; fax (949) 266-9523; www.
keyshot.com.
Cost: $994; Keyshot Pro $1,995.
www.me.hotims.com/34756-70 or circle 70
CLEAR VIEWCapability: The modo for SolidWorks
Kit simplifies the importation of
SolidWorks CAD models into Luxology
LLC’s modo 501 3-D modeling, paint-
ing, and rendering software. The kit
includes additional options for import-
ing parts and assemblies. Inside the
visualization software, users are pre-
sented with a SolidWorks-style layout
and navigation controls along with drag-
and-drop support for changing materi-
als and selecting lighting environments.
Tools included within the visualization
software allow imported models to be
reorganized so that it’s easier to apply
SOFTWARE EXCHANGE
Describe the software program
in detail, following the format
shown here.
You may include artwork.
Send your submissions to:
Software Exchange
Mechanical Engineering
Three Park Avenue
New York, NY 10016-5990
fax: (212) 591-7841
e-mail: [email protected]
ME does not test or endorse any software
program described in this section.
+submissions for software exchange
LUXION
l Photo quality images from CAD models.
A pharmaceutical plant in Ireland is using
Emerson Process Management’s Smart
Wireless technology to keep track of
the water it uses. By going wireless,
we’re told, the company saved money on
installation costs, and it has the option
of expanding its network in the future at
reasonable cost.
The plant, operated in Cork by
GlaxoSmithKline, produces active
ingredients that are used in the
formulation of prescription drugs.
The Cork plant found that its
water storage facility was too
small, so it added two new storage
tanks along with a new pipework
infrastructure.
According to Emmett Martin,
GlaxoSmithKline’s site services
and automation manager, “Water
is a considerable overhead to the
plant so it is important that we
monitor fl ow rates to manage con-
sumption, and to help identify any
usage trends.”
The tanks are about 300 meters
from the main control room and
there was no instrumentation or
cabling in place. A wired installation would have required
the addition of power and data cables buried in trenches.
The company avoided the acquisition and installation
costs of cables by opting to try Rosemount wireless fl ow
and pressure transmitters on the new storage tanks.
According to Emerson, wireless communication lets a
plant create a network and inexpensively add process
instrumentation.
GlaxoSmithKline installed ten Smart Wireless devices:
six Rosemount pressure transmitters, two Rosemount fl ow
transmitters, and two Rosemount
level transmitters. The Smart
Wireless technology integrates
with the plant’s automation
equipment. Flow data is trans-
mitted every 30 seconds and
pressure and level data every 300
seconds to a Smart Wireless Gate-
way positioned on the control
room roof.
The Gateway is connected using
a serial connection to the Del-
taV digital automation system
that controls the plant utilities.
From here the fl ow and pressure
measurements are sent to a data
historian and are available to plant
operators for regular monitoring
and reporting.
GlaxoSmithKline said it is able
to identify water usage for di+ er-
ent areas of the plant and has improved its understanding
of the costs. The company said the information puts it in a
position to consider changes.
EM
ER
SO
N P
RO
CE
SS
MA
NAG
EM
EN
T
Wireless Monitoring of Water Usage
n Wireless technology monitors GlaxoSmith-Kline’s water usage.
24 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | August 2011
TECHFOCUS This section was edited by Executive Editor Harry Hutchinson
Fluid Handling & Fluid Power
Two British companies—Victrex
Polymer Solutions and Magma
Global Ltd.—are cooperating to
develop technology designed to
support increasingly deep subsea oil
and gas extraction.
Magma Global introduced at the
Offshore Technology Conference in
Houston earlier this year a trade-
marked product called m-pipe, which
is intended for risers, fl ow-lines, and
jumpers in very-high-pressure and
extreme-temperature environments.
Victrex Polymer Solutions, a division
of Victrex plc, supplies Magma Global
with a proprietary PEEK polymer
formulation that is the key ingredient
of m-pipe.
Magma Global describes m-pipe
as carbon polymer pipe that offers
improved reliability, increased perfor-
mance, lighter weight, and longer life
than conventional unbonded fl exible
pipe or steel alternatives. Magma Glob-
al is marketing m-pipe as a solution
to meet the challenges faced in harsh
environments where existing technolo-
gies are reaching their limits, particu-
larly in very deepwater applications.
According to Magma Global, m-pipe’s
weight in water is one-tenth that of
steel risers and withstands opera-
tional temperatures to 390 °F with
no effect on corrosion or fatigue
performance. The company said it is
currently designing m-pipe to opera-
tional pressures of 20,000 psi. Surface
roughness averages 0.05 µm.
The product is available with internal
Polymer Piping Aims for Greater Sea Depths
m John Crane dry-running split seal.
August 2011 | MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 25
BY VIC LUNDBERG
Sealing the agitator shaft entry
point in a tank used for high
temperature mixing of tita-
nium tetrachloride (TiCl4) at
its Henderson, Nev., plant was a crucial
worker-safety issue for Titanium Met-
als Corp. (Timet). TiCl4 is an aggressive
chemical that has a tendency to fl ash o(
to form a potentially noxious vapor and
toxic white cloud. In addition, when the
chemical comes into contact with water,
it can become hazardous.
In late 2010, Timet sought out the
engineering team at Quadna to advise
the best way to seal the mixer shaft
entry point. We faced two major
challenges in developing an e( ective
solution.
The fi rst was to determine how to
maintain a strong positive seal. The seal
design was of paramount importance
and there were critical metallurgy
issues as well. Previously, the system
employed a double mechanical seal with
a mineral-oil barrier fl uid that provided
lubrication between the inboard and
outboard faces.
Timet wanted to use a split mechani-
cal seal instead—because its installa-
tion and eventual replacement takes
far less time. However, to enhance the
operation, a dry seal was needed.
The problem? At the time, no manu-
facturer was producing a dry-running
split seal.
The second obstacle was the length
of the shaft. The mixing operation uses
a long unsupported shaft, where it is
common to experience excessive shaft
run-out at the mechanical seal.
We recommended installing
a sleeve bearing made of
DuPont Vespel CR6100
polyimide. The additional
sleeve would help the long
shaft run true and mini-
mize shaft run-out at the
mechanical seal.
The typical clearance
for a steady bearing for a
shaft of the diameter used
for this mixer (3 to 5 inches)
is 0.020 in. of total clearance.
The Vespel sleeve bearing
was machined for a total
clearance of 0.007– 0.010 in.
The reduction in clearance between the
bearing and shaft allowed the Vespel
sleeve bearing to act as a primary seal
as well as to keep shaft run-out well
below maximum acceptable levels.
The reduction in clearance was pos-
sible because of the unique coe4 cient-
of-thermal-expansion properties of
Vespel. Thermal growth is largely
confi ned to the z direction (along the
shaft)—growth in the x and the y
directions is extremely small. In addi-
tion, the material is chemically inert to
TiCl4 and can operate without lubrica-
tion because of its very low coe4 cient
of friction.
Quadna redesigned the mixer stu4 ng
box for a John Crane Type 3740D car-
tridge split seal using the Vespel sleeve
bearing. This represented one of the
fi rst John Crane dry-running beta split
seal installations.
During fi nal assembly of
the bearing and split-seal
system, a slight dimen-
sional issue prevented
installation of the John
Crane seal. Because
time was running
short, the mixer had
to be placed back into
service. During subsequent
operation the Vespel sleeve
bearing alone sealed nearly
100 percent of the vapor
and also demonstrated its
e( ectiveness in reducing
run-out. So, Quadna and plant o4 cials
decided to continue operating the
unit without the seal while the minor
dimensional issue was addressed.
Then, at the fi rst opportunity, we put
in the dry-running seal to ensure com-
plete containment of vapor. The split
seal took only hours to install during a
brief outage (versus the days required
for a double seal) and has operated
without a hitch.
Several vessels in the plant that
were experiencing similar problems
now have received John Crane Type
3740D dry-running split seals as well
as Dupont Vespel 6100 sleeve bearings
for their mixer shafts, resulting in the
containment of all TiCl4 vapor.
These enhancements have provided
other benefi ts, too. Signifi cant savings
come from eliminating the mineral-oil
barrier fl uid and specialized seal-
support equipment to regulate fl ow and
pressure required by double mechani-
cal seals. In addition, seal replacement
in the future will take much less time.
Quadna team members are incorpo-
rating all the modifi cations as standard
o( erings for new mixers that Timet is
purchasing for the plant. Installation
of these mixers should be completed by
the end of 2011.
Vic Lundberg is a process engineer for
Quadna, a DXP company.
Mixer Seal Gets Major Makeover
diameters of 2 to 24 inches. M-pipe
with internal diameters up to 15
inches can be spooled.
Magma said it has carried out a wide
range of structural tests including
four point bend, tension, compression,
creep, collapse, burst, inter laminar
sheer strength, compression ring,
stress cycling, and impact.
Magma told us that, for qualifi cation
of m-pipe, the company has chosen
the risk-based approach advocated in
Det Norske Veritas RP-A203 Qualifi ca-
tion Procedures for New Technology,
with independent assurance from
Lloyd’s Register as the basis for quali-
fi cation of its risers, jumpers, and
spools. In addition Magma said it has
made detailed reference to DNV-RP-
F202, DNV-RP-F204, DNV-OS-F101,
DNV-OS-C501 and DNV-OS-F201 to
ensure it has fully captured industry
best practice for these products.
The two companies are based in
England, Victrex in Thornton Cleveleys
and Magma in Portsmouth.
JO
HN
CR
AN
E I
NC
.
26 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | August 2011
August 2011 | MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 27
28 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | August 2011
August 2011 | MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 29
30 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | August 2011
We’ve all been there: an executive, manager, or client pressures the
engineer to make decisions based on business economics rather than technical merit. Last year was fi lled with stories of missteps: BP’s loss of Deepwater Horizon, and Toyota’s problems with brakes and accelerators.
Earlier this year, on Jan. 28, we remembered the explosion 25 years ago of the Space Shuttle Challenger. The Rogers Commission, appointed to investigate the incident, attributed the accident to “failure in the O-rings sealing a joint on the right solid rocket booster.”
The House Committee on Science and Technology, however, published its own fi nding: “that the underlying problem which led to the Challenger accident was not poor communication or underlying procedures …. Rather, the fundamental problem was poor technical decision-making over a period of several years by top NASA and contractor personnel, who
FOCUS ON ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT
Serving It takes judgment and thought to balance the ethical engineer and
capable project manager.
By Brian E. Porter
August 2011 | MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 31
Brian E. Porter, P.E., PMP, is the
director of technical product and
market development for Semler
Industries in Franklin Park, Ill., and
vice president of Marcus Goncalves
Consulting Group in Boston. He
is also an adjunct professor at
Nichols College in Dudley, Mass.
erving Two Masters
failed to act decisively to solve the increasingly serious anomalies in the solid rocket booster joints.”
Michael Roberto, Trustee Professor of Management at Bryant University, is a recognized authority on decision-making. When he was a Harvard Business School professor, he wrote a book on the subject, Why Great Leaders Don’t Take Yes for an Answer. In that book, Roberto drew parallels between the culture of NASA in 1986 and that of the 2003 Columbia Shuttle disaster. In both circumstances, there was su, cient data to indicate the dangers, but fl ight managers pressed forward.
Deepwater Horizon, Challenger, and other disasters were overseen by managers who were also trained engineers. How did they miss critical details or make decisions with such disastrous results?
Many individuals in engineering fi rms—many reading this article, in fact—carry credentials for two jobs. They are licensed Professional Engineers and certifi ed Project
Management Professionals. Whether
you have the P.E. initials behind
your name or PMP, the titles are less
important than the responsibilities
they bring.
There is not supposed to be a con-
flict in combining the engineer’s role
with that of project manager because
they are supposed to complement
each other. The engineer and the
manager share responsibility on a
project for “getting it right.”
However, over the past 50 years,
with the flattening of management,
engineers also must balance budgets
and meet business demands. The
challenge remains for each engineer
to balance the P.E. and PMP respon-
sibilities. The requirements to meet
technical needs (functional specifi-
cations, public safety, reliability, etc.)
and business (such as budget and
schedule management) are frequent-
ly conflicting in nature, even when
they theoretically serve one another.
The Professional Engineer holds
a license. Just as a doctor, attorney,
or architect, one must be licensed
to legally perform certain criti-
cal services. The requirement is
intended to protect individuals and
society. “Professional Engineer”
is a legal designation in the United
States and is enforced by each of the
states according to their specialized
requirements often involving local
issues such as hurricanes, tornadoes,
earthquakes, killer bees, etc. Licen-
sure requires education, experience,
good character, and the passing
of a rigorous examination.
Many engineers may be com-
petent to do so, but only P.E.s
are legally permitted to stamp
drawings and approve final
designs, for instance.
The PMP designation is a
certification provided by the
Project Management Institute.
It requires job experience,
references, formal education,
ongoing education, and an
exam to become accredited—
many of the same require-
ments of the P.E. license. But as
of today, no governmental body
or territory requires project manage-
ment licensure.
The benefit is usually hiring or pro-
motion-related, but enough research
has been done to demonstrate
much better on-time and on-budget
performance from those that have
the PMP certification. It also unifies
terminology so that PMPs in the U.S.,
Brazil, China, India, or elsewhere are
speaking the same “language.”
Engineer’s Creed
As a Professional Engineer, I dedicate my professional
knowledge and skill to the advancement and
betterment of human welfare.
I PLEDGE:
» To give the utmost of performance.
» To participate in none but honest enterprise.
» To live and work according to the laws of
man and the highest standards of
professional conduct.
» To place service before profit, the honor
of standing of the profession before personal
advantage, and the public welfare above all
other considerations.
In humility and with need of Divine Guidance,
I make this pledge.
32 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | August 2011
The licensed engineer and the
certified project manager both have
codes of conduct that set high moral
and ethical standards such as honest
enterprise and doing what is best for
the client. The conflict often arises
with the question of what “best for
the client” really means.
Meeting the schedule and budget is
critical for a customer. So is the qual-
ity of the product.
In practice, deciding the technical
and business goals will require judg-
ment of what is “best” for the client.
Ethical ConsiderationsThe greatest challenge to both
engineers and managers is that many
corporate leaders feel pressure from
stockholders and other stakeholders
more immediately than they do the
urgency of safety or engineering
obligations. Sometimes manag-
ers will ask for actions that cross
the line of reasonable risk. These
circumstances require an engineer
to oppose business drivers. In situ-
ations of safety and health, there is
no choice. Deciding where that line
is—well that’s the challenge.
Consider a few real-life examples.
Young engineer vs. senior business manager: Early in his career, an engineer was
tasked with testing a new prototype
device. The equipment would recycle
water-based fluids on site to reduce
transportation and labor costs. A
single alpha prototype proved prom-
ising, and three more units were
built for beta testing in a controlled
test facility. After the first day’s test-
ing, a senior business manager called
the engineer and announced that he
was going to take the beta prototypes
out to several customers.
The young engineer refused to
remove the equipment from the test
facility because the units needed a
few more weeks’ evaluation of their
safety and performance. The busi-
ness manager got upset and demand-
ed, “You will package them up, and
Project Management’s Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
(Excerpt)
As practitioners of project management, we are
committed to doing what is right and honorable. We
set high standards for ourselves and we aspire to
meet these standards in all aspects of our lives—at
work, at home, and in service to our profession.
This Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
describes the expectations that we have of ourselves
and our fellow practitioners in the global project
management community. It articulates the ideals
to which we aspire as well as the behaviors that are
mandatory in our professional and volunteer roles.
The purpose of this Code is to instill confidence in
the project management profession and to help an
individual become a better practitioner. We do this
by establishing a profession-wide understanding
of appropriate behavior. We believe that the
credibility and reputation of the project management
profession is shaped by the collective conduct of
individual practitioners.
August 2011 | MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 33
34 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | August 2011
I’m taking them to customers.”
During the first night’s testing,
two of the three units failed to meet
performance metrics and a safety
component on each one failed. Their
primary containment vessels, full
of liquid, collapsed and leaked into
the facility’s containment area. This
information was relayed to the busi-
ness manager.
You might think that the story is
over, but instead, the manager demanded that the third
unit be packaged and delivered to a customer. The engi-
neer refused and called the vice president and directors
of both departments to the see the failed equipment. The
business manager was escorted out of the R&D facility
and told that he had no further say as to when the units
would be shipped for field evaluation.
Three engineers vs. marketing: During the design of a new electromechanical product, a
company with revenues greater than $1 billion decided to
hire an outside engineering firm and assigned an engineer
on its payroll as the project manager to oversee the e*ort.
After six months of design, testing, redesign, and retesting,
the product was proposed to marketing. The engineering
firm, one of its third-party engineering consultants, and the
engineer acting as project manager all agreed to the design.
The marketing director determined that the cost was
too high for the overall product and suggested removing
one of the safety features. All three engineers recom-
mended keeping the device and recorded their opinions
in writing. The three engineers consulted a nationally
recognized testing laboratory, which noted that, while no
standard mandated the safety device, if the three engi-
neers felt it important to include, then it should be includ-
ed. The marketing director decided against the engineers
stating that they were too risk-averse, and ordered the
removal of the device, since it was not mandatory under
the standard.
Six months after this decision, several thousand
machines were recalled from the field because of a fire risk.
The safety device would have prevented the fire risk. The
cost? Several million dollars in recall promotion, equip-
ment rework, and labor versus $30,000 to have installed
the components initially.
Engineer vs. self: Sometimes the worst enemy to quality is not business or
fiscal demands, but engineers themselves. There was an
engineer in the middle of his career, working for a company
that set a reasonable deadline. Unforeseeable circum-
stances forced several delays. None of the management
team required the engineer to make up the time, but the
engineer was focused on meeting a self-imposed deadline
to prove his worth.
When it came time to deliver the
final product, it was on time, on
budget—and not very good. It had been
rushed and details were missing. Per-
formance was marginalized to meet
schedule and budget. It was the engi-
neer’s own doing. After the product
report was first delivered, the manager
o*ered some advice, “Remember this:
people will remember good work (or
bad work) a lot longer than they will
remember if you were a week late or over budget.” The
engineer went back to work and delivered the product late
and over budget. There was short-lived chiding from some
in management over the failure to meet the deadline, but
when the product was successful, ultimately the engineer
was rewarded.
Your CallAs engineers, we have obligations to be conscious of
the budget and schedule, but it is far more important to
prevent oil well blow-outs, braking problems, or O-ring
failures on a rocket booster. When in doubt, get a team of
other individuals to help evaluate decisions. Those within
the company and external resources may be helpful.
Demands to sacrifice safety are out of the question.
Demands to sacrifice performance must be evaluated
diligently and sensitively. Take some time to consider deci-
sions you’ve made: Learn from the past; use it today, for a
successful future. ■
To Read More
PMI. Project Management Institute Code of Ethics and
Professional Conduct. Retrieved Jan. 13, 2011, from
http://www.pmi.org/About-Us/Ethics/~/media/PDF/
Ethics/ap_pmicodeofethics.ashx.
Roberto, Michael, Why Great Leaders Don’t Take Yes
for an Answer: Managing for Conflict and Consensus,
(Wharton School Publishing, 2005).
Rogers Commission report, “Report of the
Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle
Challenger Accident” (1986). http://history.nasa.gov/
rogersrep/v1ch4.htm.
U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology,
“Investigation of the Challenger Accident: Report
of the Committee on Science and Technology,
House of Representatives” (Government Printing
Office, 1986). http://www.gpoaccess.gov/
challenger/64_420.pdf.
Demands to sacrifice safety are out
of the question. Demands to sacrifice
performance must be evaluated.
August 2011 | MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 35
i f you want to address something, as the fi rst step, you have to defi ne the thing. Take patent trolls, for instance. Much maligned, they have never been clearly defi ned and thus can be dif-fi cult to handle. Meanwhile, opportu-
nistic new species of this interesting creature keep popping up.
The earliest trolls were fi rst called “subma-riners.” The typical profi le was someone who had numerous patent fi lings for futuristic ideas (futuristic at the time, anyway), who didn’t actually manufacture or sell anything, and who purposefully delayed letting the pat-ents issue (often for twenty years or more) until the marketplace had fully embraced the technology mentioned in the patent fi lings. Then these submariners surfaced, allowed their patents to issue, and sued or threatened to sue many of the businesses in an entire
Even those who make
and sell nothing are
devising new ways
to make money from
U.S. patent laws.
By Kirk Teska
Kirk Teska is the
managing partner of
Iandiorio, Teska, and
Coleman; an adjunct
professor at Suffolk Law
School, and the author of
two books: Patent Savvy for
Managers (Nolo) and Patent
Project Management (ASME Press).
36 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | August 2011
industry (for example, wafer production or barcode tech-
nologies) often seeking a small percentage of a large com-
pany’s entire yearly revenue.
A change in the patent laws put an end to these sub-
mariners: patents, beginning in 1995, now have a life of
twenty years from the date of the application (instead of
seventeen years from issuance of the patent) meaning the
submarining tactic of keeping a patent application pend-
ing eats up the life of any resulting patent.
Trolls subsequently came to mean, in many cases,
companies which existed only to own broad patents for an
idea (for example, the ability to receive e-mail on a wire-
less device) and which then aggressively sued the biggest
players in the industry surrounding that idea.
Proposed legislation that would thwart these trolls has,
to date, not made it into law probably because it’s di+cult
to outlaw patent trolling if you cannot adequately define
it. Under some definitions, the legendary independent
inventor toiling in his garage could be a troll. Under other
definitions, well-known productive companies could
sometimes be deemed trolls—for example if they sue over
a patent which covers a product the company doesn’t cur-
rently sell.
Where Congress has failed, though, the courts have
limited, in some ways, certain aspects of patent trolling.
That has certainly not stopped all of the conventional
trolls, however, nor has it a#ected the proliferation of
new, somewhat unconventional trolls.
Recently, for example, the first patent marking troll
made its appearance. Often, this troll isn’t even an inven-
tor of any kind. Patent attorney marking trolls, for exam-
ple, prey on mistakes made by companies when their
products are incorrectly marked with patent numbers.
The customary practice when a new gizmo is engi-
neered is to put “patent pending” on it and later, when
a patent is won, to begin marking the gizmo with the
patent number. Patent marking trolls seek the recovery
of a $500 fine for every gizmo sold with a “wrong” patent
number. The wrong number scenarios include the situ-
ation where a patent naturally expires after its full term
(or expires even earlier in the case where certain govern-
ment required patent maintenance fees are not paid) and
yet the now expired patent number remains on a product.
Or, a patent could change or even be adjudicated invalid.
Still another scenario is when the gizmo itself changes
to the extent that it no longer has any of the features cov-
ered by the patent.
A fine of $500 for every falsely marked gizmo could far
outweigh the profits made on the gizmo. How did this sad
state of a#airs come to be? It’s a little complicated.
Under one section of the patent statute, if a competitor
produces an infringing product which violates a patent
marked on a product, the competitor is deemed to be
“on notice” of the patent and, if found guilty of patent
infringement, will have to pay damages for all sales of
infringing products from the date the patented products
were marked. Remarkably, this is true even if the compet-
itor never saw the product, the patent marking on it, or
the patent. This is a strong incentive to mark a patented
product with a patent number.
Conversely, if you sell a patented product and don’t
mark it with your patent number and I copy the product
and violate the patent, I don’t have to pay damages for
sales I make before you actually notify me about the pat-
ent, by sending me a letter, for example.
Since patent infringement lawsuits cost millions, they
are usually not brought unless the infringer has a lot of
sales revenue and was “on notice” for all or most of the
When sued over patent
marking, Solo was able to prove
that it had no intent to deceive.
sales. And so, patented products typically have a patent
number or two on them.
What happens, though, if a company falsely marks its
products with a patent number in an attempt to scare peo-
ple away from copying the product? In our system of laws
where fairness is at least a goal, you would expect such acts
are illegal. They are: another section of the patent statute
makes companies liable for up to a $500 fi ne per false pat-
ent marking o* ense. The $500 is split evenly between the
U.S. government and the
person who brings the
charge of false marking.
So far, so good, but
think about it: Would a
rational person sue if the
maximum total recovery
was $250? No, and as a
result the false patent
marking statute histori-
cally wasn’t used much.
That all changed
when the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Federal
Circuit determined, in
a case between com-
petitors, that the statute
actually means a $500
fi ne on a per-article basis
rather than a $500 fi ne
based on a decision to falsely mark a product.
You can now see where this is headed. If I fi nd a lot, say
millions, of identical products which are marked incor-
rectly, we are talking some real money. I’ll pick some kind
of disposable product like, say, those plastic lids on co* ee
and soda drinks provided at Starbucks and other establish-
ments. That is exactly what a patent attorney did when he
sued Solo for false marking in a case where a $500 fi ne per
article could total almost the U.S.’s national debt.
Others too saw the potential for big recoveries—by some
accounts, hundreds of false patent marking cases have been
fi led. And it’s not just low-tech disposable products that are
targets. High tech companies like 3M, Pfi zer, Medtronic,
and Cisco currently face false marking lawsuits.
Based on the ruling in the Solo case, though, these
companies have at least a little ammunition with which to
defend themselves.
In the Solo case, Solo did once have patents covering
the lids. To provide the notice which would enable it to
recover damages for any infringement of the patents, Solo
made it so the molds marked the relevant patent num-
bers on the lids at the time of manufacture. The problem
was the molds lasted longer than the patents. When the
patents expired, all later lids produced by the molds and
containing the patent numbers were falsely marked.
Even so, the court noted the false marking statute
requires false marking with an “intent to deceive the
public.” In the case, Solo suc-
cessfully proved that it had
no intent to deceive because the company, as individual
molds wore out, replaced them with new molds lack-
ing the expired patent numbers—a practice which was
blessed by Solo’s attorneys. As a result, Solo never had to
pay any fi ne. Another defense is that the statute allows an
individual judge to award less than the $500 upper limit
per false marking o* ense.
Congress too is taking notice of the situation: A bill
(S.515) has now been proposed which would require a
false marking claimant to prove economic injury to the
claimant. If this bill becomes law, most patent marking
trolls couldn’t fi le false marking actions.
So far, there is no report of anyone coming away from any
of these lawsuits a millionaire, but it could happen were it
proven a given company actually meant to deceive people
into believing a product was patented when it wasn’t.
The new troll is the über troll. Funded to the tune of $5
billion and armed with 30,000 patents and patent appli-
cations, Intellectual Ventures LLC located in Bellevue,
Wash., urges high tech companies to become customers
of the company lest they fi nd themselves defendants in
patent litigation lawsuits. IV, formed in 2000 by ex-
Microsoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold, spent its fi rst 10 years
building a huge patent portfolio. Some originated from
inventions conceived by IV personnel; others were pur-
chased. Verizon and Cisco reportedly paid hundreds of
millions of dollars to IV. But recently, when a few targeted
August 2011 | MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 37
PATENT CENTRAL:
Intellectual
Ventures owns a
store of intellectual
property and has
fi led suits. RPX was
formed to avoid
IP lawsuits.
38 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | August 2011
“Actually, it’s not magic at all…
these guys just like to dress up!”
“At Forest City Gear, you see, we produce the highest quality, engineered solutions
to our customers’ requirements and we do it using the best gearmaking machines
and test equipment we can afford. If there’s any magic in us at all, it’s found in the
people who make those gears, splines and assemblies at our company, every day,
then deliver them to you on time and at the best price possible.”
“Our company motto is Excellence Without Exception and we try to live by that
code, on every part on every job. To do less would make us bad wizards and, worse,
it would disappoint our worldwide customer base, some of whom are you folks
reading this ad, right now. That’s a witch’s brew and you’ll never find such a
concoction at our company…ever.” “That’s one spell you can count on!”
-Fred Young, CEO and Chief Wizard,
Forest City Gear
11715 Main Street
Roscoe, IL 61073 815-623-2168
Scan this code on your smart phone and see Fred walking through the plant. (He’s really the guy who likes to dress up!)www.bit.ly/ForestCityWizard Or visit www.forestcitygear.com for the rest of our story!
it can still help with the defense using IV’s portfolio but
that won’t necessarily work if the patent owner is a troll:
trolls don’t care about patents you have (or have access
to) because trolls don’t manufacture or sell anything
which could infringe a patent.
So, paying into IV and/or RPX is not the same as an
insurance policy. And, even with the “help” of IV and
RPX, history proves new and improved breeds of trolls
will inevitably emerge. ■
companies balked at licensing IV’s
patents, IV promptly sued them.
A byproduct of the über troll
are companies like RPX Corp.,
which is paid by other com-
panies to buy up potentially
threatening patents a troll
could use against them. RPX,
which declined to be comment
for this
article,
prom-
ises to never
litigate the
patents in its
portfolio. Annual
memberships are
available and di,er in
price from tens of thousands
to millions of dollars based on the
subscribing company’s operating
income. These “Troll Shields” might
fill in the gap between a Congress
which might not act and court cases
which only slightly impede various
kinds of trolling.
The problem is even if a company
doesn’t mismark its products, and
even if it pays into both Intellec-
tual Ventures and RPX, there’s still
nothing to stop some other “regular”
troll from alleging a patent violation.
Consider a new startup desiring
to design, manufacture, and sell a
new smart phone. There are likely
numerous patents that would have
to be traversed or licensed in order
to sell the smart phone without
liability given its many subsystems:
processors and other chips, cam-
era and GPS technology, software,
and the like. IV calls this intellec-
tual property a company needs an
“invention gap” and IV says it can
fill the gap (but will not disclose its
deal terms).
So, the startup signs on as an IV
customer and, for good measure,
becomes a member of RPX. But,
what if a patent owner owns a patent
violated by the new smart phone and
what if that patent is not in either
IV’s or RPX’s portfolio? In such a
case, the startup’s membership in
RPX and the fact the start-up is a
customer of IV is unavailing. IV says me.hotims.com/34756-13 or circle 13
August 2011 | MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 39
In a former life, Dan Didrick fabricated cosmetic fi ngers. The key word in that phrase
is cosmetic. “The fi ngers were only a silicon cap
that doesn’t bend,” Didrick said. “We call them Sunday fi ngers because you wear them to church or dinner and then throw them in a drawer for the week.”
Bedeviled by the cosmetic fi ngers’ shortcomings, he invented X-Finger, surgical steel fi ngers that move, fl ex, and grasp, just like the wearer’s original fi ngers.
“You can move them as quickly as
Everyday Fingers
Prosthetic limbs have been around a long time; but until Dan Didrick came
along, working artifi cial fi ngers didn’t exist.
By Jean Thilmany,
Associate Editor
40 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | August 2011
you can move your prior finger; plus because it’s common
to flex your finger from open to closed and the X-Finger
follows motion of a residual finger, there’s no learning
curve,” Didrick said. “A patient can use the device right
away after putting it on. They could immediately catch a
tossed ball that they see from the corner of their eye.”
Along the ten-year path since his first prototype, Didrick
patented the device—which uses no electronics—himself,
sought and received coverage from all major medical
insurers for the fingers, and taught himself computer-
aided design. That last bit, he said, was the easiest.
A huge proportion of nonfatal accidental amputations
involve fingers. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
estimates that finger losses account for about 94 percent
of job-related amputations.
So Didrick—who got his start in prosthethics as a child,
by using materials from his father’s dental o-ce to make
movie-quality monster masks—put his skills to use
fabricating prosthetic fingers.
But his world, and his job, changed when he met a man
who had lost several fingers in an accident and who
was deaf. The loss of the fingers made it impossible to
communicate in sign language.
“I started by actually carving components out of
wood and assembling them into reciprocating series of
components that, through leverages, force the mechanics
in the shape of a finger to move from a straight to a bent
position; from straight to a fist,” Didrick said.
Many amputees retain part of their finger. So the device,
when fitted over the hand and the residual finger or
fingers, lets a patient move his or her X-Finger by moving
the residual finger from extended to bent.
“So I came up with the assembly, but I was just carving
it out of wood,” Didrick said. “Then I started seeking out
design engineers. That’s when I realized it can cost tens of
thousands of dollars to have a design engineer create an
assembly of this nature.”
Though he had majored in business in college, Didrick
rose to this first challenge as he would rise to many others
while launching X-Finger. He simply bought a CAD
package—SolidWorks, from the company in Concord,
Mass.—and quickly ran through the tutorial.
“Then I just started designing the components,” he said.
“It only took about two weeks to get the first design. I
shipped those to a manufacturer and they replicated them
using an EDM machine and sent back components.”
Because all amputation cases are di.erent, Didrick
went on to develop what he called an erector set of parts
that could be assembled into more than 500 di.erent
configurations. That number is likely much higher than
500, but “once I got that high, I became confused counting
them,” he said.
The device is composed of stainless steel, with a plastic
cap that sits on the tip of the finger and another bit
of plastic that sits at the flange. This is covered with
a thermoplastic cosmetic skin that is soft and resists
tearing. Think of what an artificial fishing worm feels like
and how it can stretch.
“We actually contacted a company that was doing a job
for the military, and they’d formulated thermoplastic to
the same durometer reading as human skin; so it’s almost
eerie to touch it, in that it feels like skin,” Didrick said.
Each finger contains 23 moving parts, though depending
on the complexity of the case—such as whether the wearer
retains a residual finger or not—it could contain more.
For those without residual fingers, a wire runs into the
webbing between the fingers to receive open and flex
impulses. The device is attached to the wrist and fitted
over the hand and the residual fingers.
“It was really challenging replacing the ring and middle
finger. The joint that controls those residual fingers is in
your hand,” Didrick said. “But in this case it needs a probe
that goes down into the webbing between the fingers to be
controlled by that joint.
For those who have lost four fingers, the device allows the
movement of the palm to control all the artificial fingers.
Post EngineeringThough he’d invented the world’s first active prosthetic
finger (the passive type is the cosmetic “Sunday” finger),
Didrick, who now owns Didrick Medical Inc. of Naples,
Fla., was still an industry outsider.
He bought a book called Patent It Yourself by David
Pressman (1979 McGraw-Hill and since updated) and
spent a year writing his own patent.
Once the device was patented, FDA representatives and
some online help taught him how to write a 513(d) document
necessary for device evaluation. Didrick sent his evaluation
to the agency and soon received a positive response.
X-Fingers (the plural, used when the device contains more
than one finger) had been registered with the FDA.
The next step was receiving insurance approval for the
fingers. After he won approval from the FDA, he went on
to get approval from all major insurance companies, which
now cover X-Fingers.
“From there, the device began taking o.. The need was
great,” Didrick said. “Many amputees had been awaiting
something like this.”
What’s little realized, he said, is how many children
lose fingers. The largest group of people who lose fingers
outside the workplace are children under five, who
undergo finger amputation due to accidents like slamming
them in a car door.
He also has learned that one out of 200 people will lose
one or more fingers within their lifetime. That statistic
takes into account people living all over the world.
“It’s not only machinists who lose fingers,” Didrick said.
You can see a video demonstration of the X-Finger at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEX_0by9_30.
Many of Didrick’s customers pay a deposit in advance,
which helps finance the four-employee company and its
continued innovations.
August 2011 | MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 41
What’s New and Next?After his initial success, Didrick began routinely traveling
to the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio and
to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington,
D.C., to fit wounded soldiers. He has also fitted British
soldiers with the device.
The U.S. Department of Defense asked him to design
an artificial thumb, which he has also done. It’s, not
surprisingly, called the X-Thumb.
He’s now at work on a thin glove that would enable those
with paralyzed hands who retain some mobility in the
wrist to use that mobility to control their hands.
Didrick is also trying to help children whose insurance
companies deny them coverage because they grow out of
their prosthetics too fast. The costs of producing children’s
X-Fingers are high because of the variation in injuries
and finger dimensions in smaller fingers and hands. He’s
recently established the nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization,
World Hand Foundation, to cover costs to provide
X-Fingers for those who cannot a,ord to pay for them.
And he’s still using his original CAD package.
“If we needed the funds to hire a professional design
team we’d never be able to do this,” Didrick said. ■
X-Fingers invented by Dan Didrick, are prosthetic fingers that can be manipu-lated by wearers through use of their residual finger or fingers. The device
lets them regain full use of their finger or fingers. Didrick taught himself CAD to model and manufacture the device, then
patented it and sold it himself.
DID
RIC
K M
ED
ICA
L I
NC
.
42 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | August 2011
w hen a system is not performing as expected, we record and study its vital signs in an e" ort to diagnose
the problem. When some key parts cannot be reached for measurement, we have to fi nd an alternative way to get the information we
need. Here is a case in point.The managers of a coal-fi red
power plant believed that the ash removal system was
not operating as e& -ciently as it should.
Ash fell from the fur-nace and was sluiced
out at intervals, along with the fi ne ash and dust from the plant’s electrostatic pre-cipitators. The resulting slurry collected in an underground sump, from which it was
pumped to a dispos-al pond some distance
away. Two ash disposal pumps were installed,
one being for standby. Ash settled out in the disposal
pond and the carrying water over-fl owed to a reservoir. Two return pumps moved the water from there to a tank, lo-cated above ground and above the ash sump, where it would be available to re-enter the ash removal process.
In theory, the system should have operated almost as a closed loop. There would be loss-es attributable to evaporation from the pond,
Wheninstrumentscan’t reachthe pump,
there’s another way togo withthe fl ow.
By Ray Beebe
Ray Beebe is a senior lecturer in the School of Applied Sciences and
Engineering at Monash University and director of MCM Consultants
Pty Ltd. in Victoria, Australia.
Editor’s note: This article is adapted from a paper presented at the ICOMS 2007 Asset Management Conference
in Melbourne, Australia.
FOCUS ON PLANT ENGINEERING AND MAINTENANCE
August 2011 | MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 43
which had a surface area of several acres, and the system was
set up to add water from the municipal supply to make up for
those losses. In practice, though, it was drawing much more
town water than expected.
Not only was the town water expensive, but there was also
a risk that adding so much outside water to the system would
overfi ll it, with the possibility of spillage via an e$ uent pond to
the main power station cooling pond, leading to unacceptable
chemical content. As a plant engineer, it was my job to fi nd the
cause of the problem and to put the system into proper balance.
I began an investigation to fi nd the fl ows required of each
pump to maintain a closed-system operation. Getting the nec-
essary information required tests of the pumps’ performance.
I knew that comparing the head (i.e. generated pressure)
against the fl ow is a method that reveals the condition of the
pump and also of the system it serves. Head is readily measured
with standard test pressure gauges or electronic transducers.
Non-intrusive fl ow meters work well where a suitable length of
pipe is accessible.
If conditions for direct measurement do not exist, a suitable
tank of uniform dimensions may be available in the system.
System setup is arranged so that its change in level can be mea-
sured with time and the fl ow rate calculated. Even in sealed
tanks containing liquids less benign than water, such as hydro-
carbons, there may be a manometric level indicator.
This task presented a few challenges. The disposal pump
conveyed the ash slurry from the sump to a disposal pond
some kilometers distant through a cement lined pipe, so direct
measurement of its fl ow was impossible. The sump was under-
ground, of irregular dimensions, and inaccessible for taking
rate-of-fl ow measurements.
The return tank, however, was accessible and of uniform di-
mensions from its top down through most of its height. I decid-
ed to use the rate of change in the tank level as the fl ow meter.
The tank had a capacity of 169 kiloliters; throughout its section
with parallel walls volume was 27.75 kL per meter of depth.
Because water infl ow causes surges in the tank level, the elec-
trode that controls the return pump is in an internal chamber
the height of the tank and open at its bottom. This gives a stable
water level and, because it is accessible from the top, a conve-
nient way to measure the depth of water in the tank.
Measuring the level change rate could be done with a stop
watch and a weighted tape measure. For the tests, during which
the system was run on water only, only one return water pump
was operating at a time. Input fl ow was found to be 136.7 liters
per second.
The tank outlet automatic valve was manually isolated for the
tests of the return pumps. Although the water level surged vig-
orously as it gushed in, the level in the side chamber inside the
tank was nicely damped and showed no oscillations.
Finding the output fl ow from the disposal pump was a di2 er-
ent problem. After the head-fl ow tests had been run on the re-
turn water pumps, one ash disposal pump was started, and the
system set to auto operation. The tank’s automatic outlet valve
was controlled by the sump level electrode to open whenever
the sump level dropped to the low setting, and in turn, to close
when the high level setting was reached.
All fl ow from the tank was replenishing the ash sump, accord-
ing to the detected sump level change and the autovalve. The
level of the tank was measured at regular intervals of one min-
ute, and resulted in a plot relating volume contained vs. time.
When I was plotting the data afterwards, I observed that the
level in the tank rose, and so the return water pump has a great-
er fl ow rate than the disposal pump. The gradient of the line
showed the di2 erence in fl ow averaging 10.4 liters per second.
This was a moment of serendipity. It was evident that the dis-
posal pump fl ow was less than the incoming fl ow, and could be
found by taking the di2 erence: 136.7 – 10.4 = 125.3 L/s. It gave us
a way of measuring ash pump fl ow that could be used for future
condition monitoring.
Another experience with this system taught us some addition-
al lessons. A disposal pump had its impeller severely worn from
the abrasive ash slurry and was sent for repair. A replacement
impeller was obtained from store and fi tted.
After the pump was reinstalled, operators reported that it
could not maintain the required fl ow. As the pump was newly
overhauled, worn clearances were unlikely, so a head-fl ow test
was run using the return tank as the fl ow meter again. The
retest confi rmed that the pump’s performance was below re-
quirements and, in fact, corresponded to that expected from
a smaller impeller. When the pump was dismantled a smaller
impeller was found inside.
The power station has four stages, each with an ash sump serv-
ing a pair of 200 MW units. The pumps have the same external
appearance and dimensions, but have more than one inter-
changeable impeller size available to suit the duty at each of the
four locations because the distance to the disposal point varies.
Attention was obviously needed to both stores coding and
overhaul instructions.
During the various investigations and tests on the pumps, op-
erators reported that one of the return water pumps was down
in performance. I went to the pump-house, which is unmanned
and located outside the power station over 500 meters from the
control room. Both pumps appeared to be running, contrary
to instructions. A call to the operator confi rmed that his panel
showed only one pump to be in service.
On closer inspection, the pump that was not in service was
seen to be rotating in reverse. As most motor noise originated
from its cooling fan, it appeared to be in service. A very close
look was needed to confi rm rotation direction.
The suction and discharge isolating valves on these pumps are
of the knife-gate type, operated by actuators. The limit switches
on the actuators of the o2 ending pump were out of adjustment,
such that the valves did not fully close. This allowed water from
the service pump to recirculate through its partner, rotating it
in reverse. This of course reduced the fl ow to the system. When
pumps are installed in parallel, each usually has a check (non-
return) valve and reverse running can also occur if this valve on
the out-of-service pump sticks open.
Once the proper adjustments had been made—the correct im-
peller installed on the disposal pump, proper parallel operation
restored for the return pumps—the plant managed to obtain
the desired closed-system operation for ash removal. It had also
found a method to measure the fl ow of its disposal pump. ■
44 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | August 2011
An ASMEpost-construction
standard leads a refinery
maintenance team through an
unfamiliar but e#cient repair.
By Jaan Taagepera and Nathan Tyson
Jaan Taagepera is technical team leader of the engineering analysis team at
Chevron Energy Technology Co. and vice-chair of the ASME Post Construction
Committee’s Subcommittee for Repair and Testing. Nathan Tyson is a design
engineer at Chevron Global Manufacturing. They are based in Richmond, Calif.
freezetime
a
FOCUS ON PLANT ENGINEERING AND MAINTENANCE
lant processes and operations are carefully engineered to prolong the life of piping and equipment. What’s more,
enormous e$ort is invested in tracking the inevitable deterioration in process
plants so that repair or replacement of various components can be planned.
When an unexpected problem emerges, it triggers a reaction by plant personnel. Piping must be repaired, components replaced—and often these things must be done very quickly to minimize costly plant downtime.
But exactly what is the best response? In an industry where safety comes first, there is little appetite for attempting novel repairs that
pin
August 2011 | MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 45
are not carefully studied—and when process plants are
down, often there is no business case for the delay that
careful study of untried alternatives would require, when
there are better-understood repair options whose costs
may be significant but are known.
Reluctance to innovate, however, could be costing com-
panies substantial sums of money. It was to address this
dilemma that ASME published a standard in 2006—PCC-2
Repair of Pressure Equipment and Piping—to guide plant
personnel in the swift and safe execution of several lesser
known but very valuable repair techniques, regardless of
their experience.
One such repair technique that is well documented in
PCC-2 is the use of freeze plugs, which prevent flow in pipes
to allow for downstream maintenance activity. It was this
section of the document that solved a critical problem and
avoided a shutdown at a busy refinery on the West Coast.
During a recent maintenance shutdown at the refinery
operated by Chevron in Richmond,
Calif., routine work had been planned
to dismantle a heat exchanger for
inspection and refurbishment. Heat
exchangers are key pieces of equip-
ment for refiners. They control
temperatures of process streams and
recycle heat to make processes run
more e*ciently.
A typical exchanger will employ
anywhere from tens to thousands of
parallel tubes in a bundle, configured
so that one process stream flows
through the inside of the tube, and a
di+erent one flows over the outside
of the tube, exchanging heat through
the tube wall. Over time, the integ-
rity of this pressure boundary—the
tube wall—is compromised by corro-
sion, and when it becomes too thin,
the tubes must be replaced. This
exchanger needed its tube bundle
replaced.
Once the plant was shut down,
cleaned up, and prepared for main-
tenance work, operators discovered
that a key valve normally used to
separate the heat exchanger from
its supply piping was broken beyond
repair, and would no longer close.
Without closing this critical valve to
isolate the bundle, the maintenance
on the heat exchanger could not oc-
cur, and the plant would not be able
to return to service.
To complicate matters further, this
valve was on an eight-inch diameter
branch line o+ a 50-year-old cooling water utility system
that services several independent plants at the refinery,
and only this plant was scheduled to be out of service for
maintenance at the time.
One way of taking the line out of service to replace the
inoperable valve would require that the entire utility be
shut down, along with all the plants it serves. Unplanned
shutdowns of this nature usually cost refineries hundreds
of thousands to millions of dollars, so plant personnel
were eager to identify other ways to safely isolate the valve
for replacement.
■ ■ ■ evaluating and planningBesides a general shutdown of the cooling water system,
two other options for isolating the exchanger were evalu-
ated: A hot-tap and stopple, and a freeze plug.
The evaluation revealed that a nitrogen freeze plug
Not to scale
■ A schematic of the plant and the plan for a freeze plug: Ultrasonic measurements confirmed that the thickness of the pipe was well above the minimum to withstand hoop stress. A leaking plug was of concern
because a small amount of flow can prevent plug formation.
Not to scale
46 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | August 2011
provided the best solution for this work due to its low
complexity and low cost. The more familiar hot-tap and
stopple—in which a welded sleeve is attached to the pipe, a
hole is drilled through the pipe wall inside this sleeve, and
an inflatable plug is inserted in the pipe for isolation—was
determined to involve higher complexity, and was expect-
ed to be more costly as well.
A freeze plug, unlike the hot-tap, does not compromise
the integrity of the pipe pressure boundary by welding or
drilling. The freeze plug is created by installing a bolt-on
jacket around the pipe through which liquid nitrogen (at
-321 °F) is circulated until the water in the line freezes. The
concept is simple, but execution must be well planned.
The company’s engineers were aware of freeze plugs,
which had been used successfully on many occasions else-
where by Chevron, but because no one on the immediate
team had direct experience with them, they resorted to
PCC-2 Article 3.2 for guidance. A third-party contractor
was brought in to perform the freeze plug, and Chevron’s
engineer worked closely with the contractor and other
owner representatives to ensure the procedure was com-
prehensive. The contractor’s trained and experienced per-
sonnel o-ered valuable insight into the job.
Prior to execution of the freeze plug, all parties involved
in the work gathered to assess the risks to health, safety,
and the environment. PCC-2 addressed the issues and
concerns regarding freeze plugs.
Some of the risks discussed include:
Flow in pipe preventing plug formation—a threaded
connection on the section of pipe to be isolated was
dripping. Even a small amount of flow can prevent plug
formation.
Determining positive isolation prior to beginning
maintenance—if the broken valve was unbolted prior to
achieving isolation, the flanges connecting the valve to the
pipe would leak and, with an influx of warmer water, the
plug would fail.
Downstream e!ects of ice plug—if the pipe was
returned to service prior to allowing the ice plug to
completely melt, the plug could flow downstream and
severely damage equipment and piping.
■ ■ ■ setting upPhysical setup for the freeze plug began with ultrasonic
thickness measurements taken in a 1-inch square grid for
the full length of the area to be occupied by the jacket. The
data revealed that the pipe was well above the required mini-
mum thickness for hoop stress required by the ASME B31.3
Process Piping code, and close to original thickness in many
places. The ultrasonic data gave confidence that the plug lo-
cation could endure the mechanical loads likely to be applied
while it was below the brittle transition temperature.
One of the key concerns on this job was minimizing
the potential for impact loading the frozen pipe. Before
■ The new valve (top) was installed without shutting down the entire water utility. The repair site was isolated by circulating liquid nitrogen through a jacket mounted several inches before the broken valve to create a dam of frozen water.
August 2011 | MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 47
initiating the freezing opera-
tion, all bolts connecting the
valve to the pipe were changed
out one by one—in case any
of them had seized during the
course of their 50-year life—
with new lubricated bolts, and
every other one was removed
to minimize the amount of me-
chanical work necessary while
the pipe was frozen. Sca'old-
ing was erected to support a
chain hoist to ensure gentle
installation of the new valve,
and the written plan for the job
included carefully lifting out
the piping above the broken
valve and the valve itself using
a crane, which would immedi-
ately remove those components from the job site.
To minimize the duration of the mechanical work, all mate-
rials and tools required for the work were brought to the site
and organized prior to introducing nitrogen to the jacket.
In preparation for the unlikely event that the piping was
fractured during the freeze operation, operators of all po-
tentially a'ected plants were notified so they could review
their emergency procedures.
The section of piping to be isolated contained a branch
connection available for a pressure indicator and drain con-
nection, so pressure could be monitored and bled o' as the
ice plug expanded into the trapped volume. This pressure
rise is one of the indicators that a plug has fully formed.
■ ■ ■ executionThe jacket was installed on a vertical pipe 16 inches from
the upstream flange of the broken valve. Thermocouples
above and below the jacket monitored the pipe wall tem-
perature, which correlates with plug formation.
Upon completion of setup activities, the job was ready
to begin. The nitrogen trailer was pressured up to 35 psig
—enough to ensure that the freeze plug jacket remained
full of liquid nitrogen, and not the warmer nitrogen va-
pors. The trailer was sized to contain three or more times
the required volume for the work, to mitigate against un-
foreseen events.
The nitrogen was delivered to the jacket through a
¾-inch diameter nitrogen hose and nitrogen gas vented
from the jacket through two 1-inch diameter vent lines. The
lines vented downwind of all work areas in the vicinity.
It took 18 minutes for the liquid nitrogen to reach the
jacket, and just under two hours later, temperature and
pressure readings indicated the plug was fully formed.
This was verified using the bleed connection, and workers
were given the green-light to drain the pipe and begin the
valve replacement work. During this work, the contractor
continued to monitor the temperature in the jacket to en-
sure the plug integrity was properly maintained.
In less than 20 minutes the upper pipe section and the
broken valve were removed and lifted out of the way.
Once the old gasket—which had sealed the old valve to
the pipe—had been successfully scraped o' the flange,
the new gasket and valve were carefully set in place using
the chain hoist and gently bolted down. The space inside
the pipe between the ice plug and the valve was filled with
water to eliminate the possibility of the ice plug violently
dislodging during the thaw and damaging the new valve.
The valve was then closed, and the pipe was left to thaw
overnight.
Upon completion of these activities, the planned work to
replace the heat exchanger was able to proceed immediately.
The following day, after the pipe thawed, the new bolts on
the valve were tightened to a final value and the freeze jacket
was removed. The new valve was ready for permanent use.
Although none of the engineers on the team had worked
with freeze plugs before, after establishing that in this
case it was the safest alternative, they were able to imple-
ment one successfully on short notice, as part of a discov-
ery job within a planned maintenance window. Employing
a freeze plug proved more e0cient both in terms of cost
and schedule than the other repair alternatives, and was
executed safely and with confidence due to the guidance
provided in PCC-2.
It is clear that the ASME has once again delivered a stan-
dard that provides great business value, meeting a recog-
nized need and enhancing the safe and reliable operation
of existing process plants. ■
The authors would like to acknowledge management at the
Chevron Richmond Refinery and at Chevron Energy Technol-
ogy Co. for their support of this e$ort.
■ A view of the plant showing the repair location.
48 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | August 2011
Did you ever work for a crusty old boss who has
seen and done about everything around your
facility? Well, I sure did. Never will forget him
giving me the following advice (in the midst
of a big equipment rebuild project—when things were a bit
behind schedule):
“Remember that about 95 percent of what you do in plant
engineering has already been done by someone else. This
stu+ is not rocket science, you know. If you are having some
di,culty, just go get some good advice from your peers. At
least, find out what not to do. Profit by their mistakes. It may
eliminate a lot of time-wasting e+ort and expense.”
Recently a company had
hired me to visit its plant and
conduct some pump train-
ing for sta+ engineers and
maintenance guys. About
mid-way through the first
morning session I learned
that the plant engineer was
new. The previous one had
been “let go.” Moreover, the
main reason that the compa-
ny wanted the training was
that the plant process water
pumps were experiencing
very high failure rates (like
one every six months).
There were three Goulds 100 hp end suction ANSI process
pumps that supplied all of the cooling and washdown water for
the site. Normally one pump operated continuously. During
daily washdowns a second unit would come on automatically
to supply the additional demand for two or three hours. The
units were rated for 300 gpm at 130 psig, but often ran out on
the curve to well over 700 gpm (therefore the large motors).
The system was an open-circulation design. Most of the
water discharged into trenches and returned to a large set-
tling basin for re-use. A shallow well reservoir pump replaced
evaporation and blowdown losses.
The problem with the 100 hp pumps was bearing and
mechanical seal failures. At a rebuild cost of $15,000 every six
months, the boss was quite frustrated. The maintenance guys
were doing the rebuilds with no success. I quickly learned that
the engineers were blaming maintenance and maintenance
was blaming the buyer in purchasing. They had even called in
the local Goulds service technician to handle a pump rebuild
and train the maintenance crew how to “do it right.” That
rebuild job also lasted only six months.
The maintenance guys took me to the pump house to check
out the equipment. The installation looked quite normal, but
vibration was high. So, how does a perfectly good pump that
was just rebuilt, aligned, and inspected have high vibration?
After collecting some data and making a quick sketch, I
asked to see the installation and operation manual. It took
over two hours to find the book (in the back of an engineering
department file cabinet).
The Goulds instruction book was for a Model 3796, size 4x4-
10 with a suction lift of eight feet nominal. Return water to
the pit entered through a concrete channel from the settling
basin. As such, there was a large stainless screen on the end of
the suction pipe to keep out rats, snakes, cattails, paper, etc.
The plant fabrication draw-
ing indicated 62 square inches
of opening in this stainless
mesh screen. The Goulds
manual clearly specified a
screen opening requirement
of three times the open area
of the pipe (86 square inches
for the recommended 6-inch
suction pipe ).
However, the suction pipe
was 4 inches with a short-
radius elbow bolted
directly onto the
pump 4-inch intake
flange. For 500 gpm
flow, I calculated a
net positive suc-
tion head available of 21.1 feet. Above 500 gpm, the NPSH
required is 25 to 35 feet.
Here was a classic case of cavitation gone wild, especially for
high flow rates before a second pump started up. The pressure
controller was a rudimentary device. Operating a single pump
above 400 gpm was cause for the cavitation related vibration.
I made a sketch of the conditions and pulled the plant engi-
neer aside the second day to show him what I’d identified. He
had suspected a technical issue, but was swamped with the
demands of the new job. He agreed with my suggestion that
“when all else fails–read the instruction book.”
At the end of day two all the maintenance guys agreed
that they had learned a lot during the training session. They
planned to get right into making system piping changes.
That crusty old boss had given me sound advice that still
applies today.
Gary Wamsley is an engineering consultant at JoGar Energy Services in Atlanta with over 30 years of industrial utilities experience. He can be reached at www.jogarenergy.com.
A Pump War Story:Back to Basics
BY GARY WAMSLEY
How does a pump that was just rebuilt, aligned, and inspected have high vibration? The schematic suggests some answers.
Process Water Pump Design Issues
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The International Gas Turbine Institute:
Serving Gas Turbine & Turbomachinery Professionals Worldwide for 57 Years
Vision
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Find Out More About IGTIhttp://igti.asme.org/ +1-404-847-0072 [email protected]
August 2011 | MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 61
ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT:
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL
PRINCIPLES, SECOND EDITION.
James A. Fay and Dan S. Golomb. Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York,
New York 10016. 2011. 384 pages. $90.48. ISBN: 978-0-47173-989-0.
Now updated in its second edi-
tion, Energy and the Environ-
ment: Scientific and Technological
Principles, explores fossil, nuclear,
and renewable energy technolo-
gies and explains their e#cien-
cies for transforming source
energy to useful mechanical or
electrical power. The focus is on
electric power and transporta-
tion vehicles, whose technological
improvements increase energy
e#ciency and reduce air pollutant
emissions. The authors also ana-
lyze the source of toxic emissions
to air, water, and land that arise
from energy uses and their e%ects
on environmental quality. Special
focus is given to climate change,
the contribution attributed to it by
energy uses, and the salient tech-
nologies that are being developed
to mitigate this e%ect. A bibliog-
raphy is presented in each chapter
for the reader who wants to pursue
some aspects of the exposition in
greater depth. This book is written
for upper-level undergraduate and
first-year graduate students, as
well as professionals in the fields
of energy and environmental sci-
ences and technology.
ENGINEERING DYNAMICS:
COMPREHENSIVE INTRODUCTION.
N. Jeremy Kasdin and Derek A. Paley. Princeton University
Press, 6 Oxford Street, Wood-
stock, Oxfordshire OX20 ITW. 2011. 704 pages. $97.52. ISBN: 978-0-6911-3537-3.
The authors say their intent is to
present an introduction for under-
graduate students to engineering
dynamics using an innovative
approach that is both accessible
and comprehensive. The book
combines the strengths of begin-
ner and advanced dynamics texts,
allowing students to solve dynam-
ics problems from the start and
guiding them from the basics to
more challenging topics. It spans
the range of mechanics problems
from one-dimensional particle
kinematics to three-dimensional
rigid-body dynamics, including
an introduction to Lagrange’s and
Kane’s methods. The authors aim
for an easy-to-read, conversational
style that addresses the physics and
mathematics of engineering dynam-
ics, and emphasizes the formal,
systematic notation students need
to solve problems correctly and
succeed in more advanced courses.
The textbook features a number of
real-world examples and problems.
STEEL STRUCTURES DESIGN.
Alan Williams. The McGraw-Hill Cos. Inc., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. 2011. 888 pages. $154.56.
ISBN: 978-0-07-163837-1.
The purpose of this book is to
introduce engineers to the design
of steel structures using the
International Code Council’s
2012 International Building Code.
The theoretical background and
fundamental basis of steel design
are introduced, and the detailed
design of members and their
connections is covered. The book
provides interpretations of the
AISC Specification for Structural
Steel Buildings, 2010 edition, the
ASCE Minimum Design Loads for
Building and Other Structures, 2010
edition, and the ICC International
Building Code, 2012 edition. The
code requirements are illustrated
with 170 design examples with con-
cise step-by-step solutions. Each
example focuses on a specific issue
and provides a clear and concise
solution to the problem. This book
is intended for a wide audience
including practicing engineers,
professional engineering examina-
tion candidates, and undergraduate
and graduate students.
THE NEW EDGE IN KNOWLEDGE.
Carla O’Dell and Cindy Hubert. John Wiley & Sons Inc., 111 River
St., Hoboken, NJ 07030. 2011.
256 pages. $29.70. ISBN: 978-0-470-91739-8.
The authors present a source
for performance analytics, best
practices, process improvement,
and knowledge management, while
sharing their decades of experi-
ence at the American Productiv-
ity & Quality Center. This book
shows the reader how to imple-
ment a proven organization-wide
knowledge management strategy. It
details the American Productivity
& Quality Center’s framework for a
knowledge management program,
which includes determining an
organization’s most critical knowl-
edge, ensuring that knowledge
flows where it needs to, selecting
the right portfolio of knowl-
edge management approaches,
incorporating those approaches
into employees’ daily work life,
and measuring a KM program and
ensuring it continues to add new
value. This hardcover book is also
available as an e-book.
STEAM COFFIN: CAPTAIN MOSES
ROGERS AND THE STEAMSHIP
SAVANNAH BREAK THE BARRIER.
John Laurence Busch. Hodos
Historia LLC, distributed by
Independent Publishers Group,
814 North Franklin St., Chicago,
IL 60610. 2010. 736 pages. $35.
ISBN: 978-1-893616-00-4.
There has been some interest in
this book among ASME mem-
bers, many of whom have heard
the author speak at local chapter
meetings. That’s understandable
because the connection between
ASME and steam goes back to the
organization’s roots. Busch tells
the story of the Savannah, the first
steamship to cross the Atlantic
Ocean. The title of his book refers
to a nickname given to the vessel
by skeptical sailors. The Savannah
was equipped with side wheels and
a steam engine. The ship was lim-
ited in the amount of fuel it could
carry, so it was a vessel with hybrid
propulsion. When winds or cur-
rents were adverse, the crew could
deploy the paddle wheels and use
steam power. But the ship was also
fully rigged, and much of the time it
crossed the Atlantic under sail. But
this was a first, and it happened in
1819. Under Captain Moses Rogers,
the ship sailed from Savannah, Ga.,
to St. Petersburg, Russia, where
it stayed a while before returning
home. The story of the preparation
and crossing is told in detail, as is
the subsequent history of the ship
and its captain.
MEBOOKSHELF
Power Boilers: A Guide to Section I of the
ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Second Edition. John R. MacKay and James T. Pillow. Founding authors:
Martin D. Bernstein and Lloyd W. Yoder. ASME, Three Park
Avenue, New York, NY 10016-5990. 2011. 330 pages. $95;
ASME members, $76. ISBN: 978-0-7918-5967-4.
This is a completely revised and
updated edition of the classic
and comprehensive guide to the
construction rules for power boil-
ers—their intent, application, and
interpretation. This unique guide
to the current, 2010 edition of
Section I provides expert advice
and useful information for design
engineers, project managers,
architect engineers, manufactur-
ing engineers, boiler operators,
insurance inspectors, and other
power boiler professionals. It
also includes information on
other sections of the ASME Boiler
and Pressure Vessel Code that
affect construction, with chapters
on boiler life extension, repairs,
and alteration of boilers under
the rules of the National Board
Inspection Code.
Pipe inspection crawlerENVIROSIGHT LLC, RANDOLPH, N.J. The new ROVVER
X pipe inspection crawler has an extended crawl range
of 1,000 ft., with options up to 1,650 ft. A bolt-on car-
riage broadens the crawler’s
stance and raises its height,
to inspect pipes of 6 to 48 in.
with the camera centered.
The system captures a day’s
worth of MPEG video and
JPEG images, and logs obser-
vations for direct upload. The
crawler is operated by twin
joysticks, and macros auto-
mate everyday inspection
routines. ROVVER X has a
detachable remote-operated camera lift, three illuminated
onboard cameras (forward pan/tilt/zoom, cable view, and
elevated rear-view), integrated sensor package (dual lasers,
inclination, roll), and concurrent control for all system
functions. The crawler has a high-power, high-torque drive
train, proportional steering, and zero-radius pivot.
WWW.ME.HOTIMS.COM/34756-40 OR CIRCLE 40
Aero type gaugesPALMER INSTRUMENTS INC.,
ASHEVILLE, N.C. The new J-2000
series of aero type gauges features
a frictionless gauge movement.
The gauges can indicate low pres-
sures, whether positive, negative, or
di/erential. Magnetic components of
the spiral movement have been replaced
with a rubber film, a sensitive component in measuring pres-
sure. The design resists shock, vibration, and over pressures
without fluid fill. The result is no di2culty with evaporation,
freezing, or leveling. Pointers in green, yellow, and red let the
user set reminders of safe, warning, and danger ranges. The
gauge is designed to be readable from a distance.
WWW.ME.HOTIMS.COM/34756-41 OR CIRCLE 41
Level transmittersEMERSON PROCESS MANAGE-
MENT, AUSTIN, TEXAS.
The Rosemount 5400 Series of
non-contacting radar level trans-
mitters are approved for safety
instrumented systems. The 5400
Series comes with the required
Failure Modes, E/ects and Diag-
nostic Analysis (FMEDA) report.
This means that companies in the
oil and gas production, refining,
petrochemical, chemical, and
power industries can benefit from
the superior performance of radar
technology, while ensuring compliance with the associated
International Electrotechnical Commission standards. The
FMEDA report provides safety instrumentation engineers
with the required failure rates per IEC 61508 and with proof
test recommendations. With a longer proof test interval, the
proof test can be co-ordinated with plant turnaround, mini-
mizing process interruption. The Rosemount 5400 Series
(with 4-20 mA output) was evaluated in accordance with the
hardware assessment IEC 61508 by the Technical Research
Institute of Sweden.
WWW.ME.HOTIMS.COM/34756-42 OR CIRCLE 42
Clamp-on metersOMEGA ENGINEERING INC., STAMFORD, CONN. The model
HHM590 Series has more than 10 full-featured models of
meters to choose from. All clamp-on meters include a free set
of safety test leads, 9 V alkaline battery, type K beaded wire
thermocouple (for temperature models only), and a complete
operator’s manual. Each unit has a GS-Mark EN61010-1
approval Voltage Category III 600 V, Pollution Degree II, and
NEWPRODUCTS
62 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | August 2011
ac/dc current clamp. These units have 1,999, 2,500, 3,999,
or 4,300 counts resolution. Models HHM592, HHM592D,
HHM596, HHM596C, and HHM599 come with auto-ranging
operation. Battery life is 200 hours. Their dimensions are:
250 mm x 100 mm x 46 mm (9.9 x 3.9 x 1.8 in.) and their
weight is about 320 g (10.8 oz). Prices start at $60.
WWW.ME.HOTIMS.COM/34756-43 OR CIRCLE 43
Dewpoint transmitterKAHN INSTRUMENTS INC., WETHERS-
FIELD, CONN. The Easidew PRO I.S. is
a ruggedized version of the Easidew I.S.
Transmitter and is designed for continuous
measurement of moisture content of gases in
hazardous areas typically found in natural
gas, petrochemical and process industries.
It is FM/CSA certified for Class I, Div. 1,
Groups A, B, C, and D T4 hazardous location
use. It has a heavy-duty process type NEMA
4 / IP66, weatherproof stainless steel housing with half-inch
NPT conduit entry fitting. It withstands operating pressure
up to 5000 PSIG. The Easidew PRO I.S. transmitter has a
dewpoint measurement range of -148 °F to 68 °F, accuracy of
±3.6 °F and operates from any 12 to 28 VDC power source.
WWW.ME.HOTIMS.COM/34756-44 OR CIRCLE 44
Digital pressure sensorSENSORTECHNICS GMBH, PUCHHEIM, GERMANY. HCLA
pressure sensors measure gauge or di5erential pressures
from 2.5 mbar (1 in. H2
O). The HCLA series provides a digital
I2C bus interface plus an analog
output signal at the same time.
The sensors can directly com-
municate with microcontrollers
without the need for additional
A/D converters. Digital SPI bus
and custom specific outputs
are available on request. HCLA
pressure sensors use a special compensation technique to
achieve a very high o5set stability and virtually no position
sensitivity. HCLA pressure sensors can be modified accord-
ing to a customer’s specific requirements.
WWW.ME.HOTIMS.COM/34756-45 OR CIRCLE 45
Ground fault sensorsAUTOMATION DIRECT, CUMMING, GA. The GFS series of
ground fault sensors monitors current-carrying conductors
in grounded single and three-phase delta or wye systems.
Available in fixed-core models, the GFS series features
jumper-selectable set points of 5, 10 or 30 mA. The sensors
can accommodate up to 14 AWG copper wire and feature
mechanical relay outputs with either manual or auto reset.
They are UL- and CE-approved. Prices start at $136.
WWW.ME.HOTIMS.COM/34756-46 OR CIRCLE 46
Compact servo motorsB&R INDUSTRIAL AUTOMA-
TION CORP., ROSWELL, GA.
The 8LV series servo motors
are equipped with an absolute
encoder system with a resolu-
tion of 262,144 (218) steps per revolution. In order to save
weight, installation space, and the amount of mass being
moved, gearboxes are mounted directly on the motor. The
new mounting system was made possible by totally recon-
structing the motor’s output flange and adapting it com-
pletely to the gearboxes. The center gear rests directly on
the motor shaft and replaces the input shaft on the gearbox.
This type of mounting renders an adapter flange, the clamp
system, and the gearbox input bearing obsolete.
WWW.ME.HOTIMS.COM/34756-47 OR CIRCLE 47
Sound level metersSCANTEK INC., COLUMBIA, MD. The NL-42 and NL-52 data-
logging, integrating sound level meters meet both ANSI and
IEC specifications and di5er only by Class type (2 or 1, respec-
tively). They have dust- and water-resistant cases, 3-in. high
contrast color TFT screen, 26-hour battery operation using
regular or rechargeable batteries, and available software.
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August 2011 | MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 63me.hotims.com/34755-15 or circle 15
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Instrumentation & Control
Power Transmission & Motion Control
Fluid Handling
Materials & Assembly
Engineering Tools
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BENTLY CIRCLE 205
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TENURE-TRACK POSITIONS
The Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering (MMAE) of the University of Central Florida (UCF) invites applications for tenure-track faculty positions in multiple areas of Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering. Of particular interest are candidates with research interests in A) human motor control, B) rehabilitation/ medical robotics, C) GNC, D) novel methodologies for complex systems design, E) all aspects of turbomachinery, and F) multi-scale modeling and simulation. Of particular interest are candidates with broad teaching interests in one or more areas of mechanics, mechanical systems, thermo-fluids and aerospace engineering with a desire to be involved in teaching engineering design. A doctoral degree in a relevant Engineering field is required. UCF is seeking candidates at Assistant, Associate and Full Professor levels to support its rapidly growing engineering program. The successful candidates will have an excellent opportunity to build collaborative partnerships with nearby industry including Lockheed Martin, Siemens, Boeing and Harris as well as the Kennedy Space Center and many other companies located within close proximity to the UCF campus. The Central Florida Research Park is located adjacent to the UCF campus and is home to the nation’s largest cluster of government agencies and industries specialized in training and simulation R&D. For more details regarding the department, visit www.mmae.ucf.edu or e-mail [email protected].
Review of candidates will begin on August 15, 2011 and will continue until the positions are filled. Candidates should submit (a) a cover letter with a subject line identifying one or more interest areas listed above , (b) curriculum vitae, (c) a brief one page description of research and teaching plans, (d) the names and contact information of at least three referees, and (e) an application at www.jobswithucf.com/applicants/Central?quickFind=76538.
The University of Central Florida is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.
August 2011 | MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 67
POSITIONSOPEN
An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer MF/D/V Committed to Diversity in the Workplace
Southwest Research Institute®
Benefiting government, industry and the public
through innovative science and technology
Research Engineer/Senior Research Engineer
(Mechanical Testing) Job Code: 18-00835
SUMMARY: Develop and lead large complex experimental efforts in support of multidisciplinary in experimental-analytical and numerical, materials modeling, structural integrity analysis, and reliability assessments. Define experimental approaches designed to quantify the required mechanical behavior for complex life prediction models and actively participate in model development; prepare proposals, reports, and technical papers for both government and commercial clients, research should ultimately lead to the development of a sustained program area. Lead multi-discipline teams in the development of innovative testing and instrumentation methods; participate in and lead individual and collaborative research projects as well as develop, promote, and write proposals for research programs. Interact with both commercial and government client; manage tasks and projects to successful completion within technical, budget and schedule constraints.
EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE: Requires a MS degree in Engineering Mechanics or Mechanical Engineering with 0-3 years experience in experimental mechanics, test protocol development, servo-hydraulic test machines, fixturing and instrumentation, and data acquisition. PhD Degree preferred. Must have at least a 3.25 GPA. Must be intimately familiar with developing, defining and performing fracture, fatigue, and fatigue crack growth testing; understanding of solid mechanics, including theoretical and analytical and numerical mechanics is required; hands-on experience with servo-hydraulic test machines, instrumentation, (e.g., strain gages, extensometers, strain gages); must have understanding of non-visual crack length measurement; ability to design intricate test fixtures and specimens. Environmentally-assisted corrosion-fatigue experience is considered a plus; project or team management experience is required; must be able to develop technical approaches to meet customer requirements and research activities to successful conclusion; must be able to promote activities and proposal development experience is considered a plus; must have good oral and written communication skills; must be an effective team member; must be able to work independently with relatively little supervision and function effectively as part of project teams; supervisory experience of lab personnel desired but not required. A valid/clear driver's license is required.
SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS: Applicants selected will be subject to a government security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information.
SwRI offers competitive salaries and a comprehensive benefits package. Interested applicants may apply at www.swri.jobs. The selected candidate will be subject to a background investigation and must be a United States Citizen.
Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI®) is recruiting
for the following position located in our San Antonio, TX office.
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University is the largest government-funded tertiary institution in Hong Kong in terms of student number. It offers programmes at Doctorate, Master’s, Bachelor’s degrees and Higher Diploma levels. It has a full-time academic staff strength of around 1,200. The total consolidated expenditure budget of the University is in excess of HK$4 billion per year.
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERINGThe Department of Mechanical Engineering is one of the five academic units in the Faculty of Engineering. It offers a wide range of programmes, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, over a large spectrum of topics including product analysis and design, environmental technology and transportation, aerospace and aviation, design and manufacturing, computer aided engineering design, etc. To underpin teaching, the Department is presently engaged in the following research areas: combustion and pollution control, fluid-structure interactions, materials and mechanics, sound and vibration, and product design and development. Please visit the website at http://www.me.polyu.edu.hk for more information about the Department.
Assistant Professor in Thermodynamics and Energy UtilizationThe appointee will be required to (a) teach at undergraduate and postgraduate levels; (b) conduct research that leads to publications in top-tier refereed journals and awards of research grants; (c) engage in scholarly research/consultancy; and (d) undertake academic and departmental administrative duties.
Applicants should have (a) a PhD degree in a relevant discipline plus several years of teaching/research/practical experience; (b) solid research and publication record or strong potential to publish in top-tier refereed journals; (c) strong commitment to excellence in teaching and research; and (d) competence in teaching subjects such as Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer and Energy Technology.
Remuneration and Conditions of ServiceSalary offered will be commensurate with qualifications and experience. Initial appointment will be made on a fixed-term gratuity-bearing contract. Re-engagement thereafter is subject to mutual agreement. Remuneration package will be highly competitive. Applicants should state their current and expected salary in the application.
ApplicationPlease submit application form via email to [email protected]; by fax at (852) 2364 2166; or by mail to Human Resources Office, 13/F, Li Ka Shing Tower, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. If you would like to provide a separate curriculum vitae, please still complete the application form which will help speed up the recruitment process. Application forms can be obtained via the above channels or downloaded from http://www.polyu.edu.hk/hro/job.htm. Recruitment will continue until the position is filled. Details of the University’s Personal Information Collection Statement for recruitment can be found at http://www.polyu.edu.hk/hro/jobpics.htm.
ics and systems and design, who can comple-ment existing strengths within the department. (Refer to webpage http://www.engr.uky.edu/ME/ for more details). The department is rapidly growing, centrally located to the automotive and aerospace industries and housed in the new Ralph G. Anderson Building with state of the art computational facilities, research labs and classrooms. Opportunities for multi-disciplinary research exist with a number of college-affiliated centers and institutes.To apply for a position in any of the four technical areas a UK Academic Pro�le must be submitted to http://www.uky.edu/HR/UKjobs/ using the corresponding job num-ber as follows: manufacturing systems and pro-cesses, job# SM536332; heat transfer and �uid mechanics, job# SM536337; computational me-chanics, job# SM536340; systems and design, job# SM536331. If you have any questions, con-tact Human Resources, phone (859)257-9555 (option 2), or email [email protected]. The application deadline is September 30, 2011 and applications will be reviewed on a continuing basis beginning October 1, 2011; the application deadline may be extended as needed. Upon offer of employment, successful applicants for certain positions must undergo a national background check as required by University of Kentucky Hu-man Resources. The University of Kentucky is an equal opportunity employer and encourages applications from minorities and women.
68 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | August 2011
POSITIONSOPEN POSITIONSOPEN
DIRECTOR, NATIONAL GAS MACHINERY LABORATORY AND FACULTY POSITION KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY The KSU Na-tional Gas Machinery Laboratory (NGML) con-ducts research and testing programs related to large-bore and medium size industrial internal combustion (IC) engines with full-scale labora-tory facilities to support these activities. The Di-rector has overall administrative responsibility for NGML including development and conduct of funded research programs and services. The Director is a member of the Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering Faculty and holds a ten-ured or tenure track appointment with rank com-mensurate with quali�cations. The Director is a full member of the faculty, supervises graduate students, and teaches courses related to her or his expertise. A detailed position description may be found at: www.ngml.ksu.edu Requirements for the position include:
closely aligned �eld
turbo machinery, or other �elds related to the gas pipeline industry
record of extramural funding
research leadership, and research program development
quality instruction
Applications and nominations should be directed to NGML Director Search, Engineering Experi-ment Station, 1048 Rathbone Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506-5202 or sent by e-mail to <[email protected]> with “NGML Director Search” in the title line. Ap-plications should include a resume, a two-page maximum cover letter summarizing the candi-date’s quali�cations, and contact information for �ve professional references. Initial review of ap-plications will begin on September 1, 2011 and will continue until the position is �lled. Kansas State University is an equal opportunity em-ployer. Kansas State University actively seeks diversity among its employees. A background check is required.
THE MECHANICAL AND AEROSPACE ENGI-NEERING DEPARTMENT (MAE) AT THE UNI-VERSITY OF MIAMI (UM) invites applications and nominations for tenure-track positions at any professorial level in all areas of mechanical and aerospace engineering, with the emphasis on aerodynamics, energy, and biomechanics. MAE is seeking candidates with a strong record of scholarship with a focus on obtaining external funding, a demonstrated excellence in graduate and undergraduate teaching, and a thoughtful commitment to university and professional ser-vice. For a senior-level appointment, a proven record of extramural funding support is required. A Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, or a related discipline and one year work related experience is required prior to the appointment. Salary: Competitive. Quali�ed ap-plicants should mail (a) a letter of interest, (b) a resume and (c) at least three (3) references to: Dr. Shihab Asfour, Associate Dean for Academ-ics, College of Engineering, University of Miami 1251 Memorial Drive, McArthur Engineering Bldg., Room 247, Coral Gables, FL 33146. The University of Miami offers competitive salaries and a comprehensive bene�ts package includ-ing medical and dental bene�ts, tuition remis-sion, vacation, paid holidays and much more. The University of Miami is an Equal Opportu-nity/Affirmative Action Employer.
FACULTY POSITION IN HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLES: MECHANICAL ENGINEERING-ENGINEERING MECHANCIS DEPARTMENT. World-Class Research with Outstanding Col-leagues: Michigan Technological University’s ME-EM department invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position at the Assistant
POSITIONSOPEN
Professor level. Outstanding applications with experience at the Associate Professor and Pro-fessor levels will also be considered. Applicants for the position must have earned doctorates in Mechanical Engineering, or a closely related �eld that contributes to the strategic initiatives of the department. ME-EM seek to attract ex-ceptional candidates whose interests and ca-pabilities align with recent initiatives in energy, speci�cally those with a research thrust in hybrid vehicle technologies such as powertrain sys-tems and their components. This faculty position leverages existing and expanding facilities and a multidisciplinary undergraduate and graduate program (http://www.doe.mtu.edu/hybrid_ve-hicle_engineering). Available facilities include vehicle and powertrain component laboratories along with a mobile HEV lab for education and research. Successful candidates are expected to create and sustain an active research pro-gram, advise graduate students and develop and teach courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Michigan Tech is a state insti-tution dedicated to both teaching and research, with an excellent reputation in engineering edu-cation and research. For 2011, the US News & World Report ranked the ME-EM Department’s Graduate Program 48th among doctoral-grant-ing mechanical engineering departments in the U.S. For 2008 the Undergraduate Program was ranked 22nd among doctoral-granting mechani-cal engineering departments in the U.S. In the NSF Research Expenditure rankings for FY2008 the ME-EM Department ranked 18th among all ME departments in the U.S. at $12.695 million. The Spring 2011 graduate student enrollment was 267, of which 103 are PhD students. The ME-EM Department and Michigan Tech encour-ages minority and female applicants. Michigan Tech is an ADVANCE institution, one of a limited number of universities in receipt of NSF funds in support of our commitment to increase di-versity and the participation and advancement of women in STEM. Michigan Tech has a Dual Career Assistance Program (DCAP), which fa-cilitates the hiring of partners. The website for our DCAP is http://www.dual.mtu.edu/. Lake Su-perior is just a few miles from campus and the surrounding area is perfect for four seasons of outdoor activities. For full consideration, applica-tions should be received by November 1, 2011; however, applications will be considered until the position is �lled. Applicants should submit a vita, teaching and research interest statement, names and contact information of three refer-ences, experience with diversity issues, diverse students, working in multicultural environments, and copies of three publications to: William W. Predebon, Chair, Department of ME-EM, Michi-gan Technological University, 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931-1295 (www.me.mtu.edu). Only complete application packages are guaranteed full consideration. Michigan Techno-logical University is an Equal Opportunity Edu-cational Institution/Equal Opportunity Employer.In addition to the present search, a search to �ll ten growth positions in “Transportation” and “Water” are under way and quali�ed candidates are encouraged to send a separate application, following the “How to Apply” guidelines at www.mtu.edu/sfhi. Visit www.me.mtu.edu for more in-formation about the ME-EM Department.
THE DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL EN-GINEERING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF KEN-TUCKY invites applications for multiple tenured/tenure-track faculty positions at the Lexington campus beginning spring or fall semesters 2012. These positions require a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering or a closely related discipline and a commitment to excellence in research, teach-ing and professional service. Preference will be given to those at the assistant and associate professor ranks, and to those in the targeted areas of manufacturing systems and processes, heat transfer and �uid mechanics (CFD and experimental �uids), computational mechan-
National Sun Yat-Sen University Department
of Mechanical and Electro-Mechanical
Engineering
FACULTY RECRUITMENTFaculty Opening: Several AssistantProfessors, Associate Professors, and Professors from August 2012.Specialties: Mechanical and Electro-Mechanical Engineering.Application Process: The followingdocuments are needed:• Curriculum Vita (including studying and working experiences, specialties, teaching interests, and research interests)• One hardcopy of degree certification• Grade reports of both undergraduate and graduate program• One piece of representative work of SCIE (including accepted ones)• At least one piece of referable work of SCIE (including accepted ones)• List of publications• One hardcopy of ID (both sides)
Please submit to: Dr. Der-Min Tsay,Chairman of Department of Mechanical and Electro-Mechanical Engineering, National Sun Yat-Sen University, No. 70, Lien-Hai Rd, Kaohsiung 80424, Taiwan.
Application Deadline: August 15, 2011
Further Information: please contact:Phone: 886-7-525-2000 ext: 4202FAX: 886-7-525-4299E-mail: [email protected]: e13.nsysu.edu.tw/ www.nsysu.edu.tw
August 2011 | MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 69
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CONSULTING
Victoria A. Rockwell assumed her role as President
of ASME in June during the ASME Annual Meet-
ing held in Dallas. Rockwell is the 130th person in
the history of the society to take on that role.
During her inaugural comments, made during the Presi-
dent’s Dinner, Rockwell expressed enthusiasm for the
future of ASME. She said that the contributions of the Soci-
ety’s membership can make a di( erence in the world.
“These are exciting and dynamic times for ASME,” Rock-
well said. “The only thing that can hold us back is our lack of
imagination, drive, and focus.
“Our mission a+ rms our desire to serve our diverse global
communities by advancing and applying engineering knowl-
edge for improving quality of life and communicating the
excitement of engineering,” she said.
Rockwell has been an active member of ASME for more
than 30 years, and she has held a variety of Society leadership
positions, including a term on the Board of Governors from
2006 to 2008 and as senior vice president of the Strategic
Management Sector. A strong advocate of engineering educa-
tion, she also served on the ASME Council on Engineering
Education and on the Board of Pre-college Education.
Rockwell stated that ASME has at its core continuing edu-
cation and professional development, and that the Society’s
publications, conferences, and courses keep ASME mem-
bers current as existing technologies expand and evolve,
and new technologies emerge.
“I have great confi dence that our profession will take the
lead in shaping our world’s future through engineering
innovation and determination,” Rockwell said. “More than
any other profession, engineers have the opportunity to
improve the lives of billions of people. I see ASME making a
world of di( erence.”
70 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | August 2011
ASMENEWS
Rockwell Becomes ASME President
Compiled from ASME Public Information dispatches.
The ASME Nominating Committee
named Marc W. Goldsmith
president-nominee. Goldsmith’s
nomination and that of several other
ASME offi cers were announced at the
Annual Meeting.
Goldsmith is president of Marc
Goldsmith & Associates LLC. He is a
registered Professional Engineer in
California and holds a Master of Science
degree in nuclear engineering from
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Goldsmith, an ASME Fellow, has
served in a number of leadership
positions during his 24 years with
ASME, including a term on the Board
of Governors from 2007 to 2010
and terms as chair of the General
Management Board of the ASME
Innovative Technologies Institute and
vice president of the Center for Public
Awareness. He is also a recipient of the
ASME Dedicated Service Award.
ASME also recognized incoming
Society offi cers and standing committee
chairs who began their terms in
June 2011:
Members-at-Large
on the Board of Governors
Betty Bowersox
Julio Guerrero
Charla Wise
Senior Vice President,
Standards & Certifi cation
Ken Balkey
Vice Presidents
Guido Karcher, Pressure
Technology Codes and Standards
Richard Swayne, Nuclear Codes and
Standards
Andrew Taylor, Leadership and
Diversity
Richard Williamson, International
Petroleum Institute
Chairs of the Board of Governors
Standing Committees
Sam Zamrik, Committee of
Past Presidents
Robert Pangborn,
Committee on Governance
Bob Simmons, Executive Director,
Evaluation and Staff Compensation
Karen Thole, Committee on Honors
Goldsmith Named President-Nominee, Other O# cers Announced
m (Left to right) Marc W. Goldsmith, president-nominee (2012-2013), ASME President Vickie Rockwell, and Immediate Past President Bob Simmons.
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technol-
ogy and Montana State Univer-
sity were the top winners in their
respective categories at the ASME
Human Powered Vehicle Challenge West.
Students from 18 universities designed
and built prototypes of advanced human-
powered vehicles for the competition, held
in May at the Montana State campus in
Bozeman. The vehicles built by the stu-
dent teams were tested for their overall
performance, speed, safety, and
technical design.
The team from Rose-Hulman in
Terre Haute, Ind., placed fi rst over-
all in the unrestricted vehicle cat-
egory with its entry Helios, winning
the $800 top prize. The teams from
Missouri University of Science and
Technology and the South Dakota
School of Mines placed second and
third in the category.
ThunderCat, the entry from host
school Montana State University,
fi nished fi rst in the overall speed
vehicle class, winning that category’s $650
fi rst prize. The California State University,
Northridge, team was the runner-up in
the speed class, and students from San
Jose State University placed third. Unlike
vehicles in the unrestricted category, those
in the speed class compete only in the speed
races, not the endurance challenges, and
are not judged on their practicality.
ASME and Knovel Corp. co-sponsored
the event.
The vital role that science, tech-
nology, engineering, and math
education plays in both prepar-
ing and inspiring pre-college
students for future opportunities in the
engineering workforce was the theme
of the 2011 Roe Lecture, delivered
by Ioannis N. Miaoulis at the ASME
Annual Meeting in June.
Miaoulis is the president and direc-
tor of the Museum of Science in Boston
and his address, “Re-Engineering the
Curriculum,” was the featured talk at
the 2011 Roe Lecture and Luncheon,
sponsored by the ASME Foundation.
Miaoulis explained the importance
of fostering scientifi c and technical
literacy in men and women begin-
ning with K-12 students. “Engineering
brings math and science to life, dem-
onstrating that they are relevant and
motivating students to pursue them,”
Miaoulis said.
Miaoulis and the Museum of Science
launched the National Center for Tech-
nological Literacy in 2004 to enhance
knowledge of engineering and technol-
ogy for people of all ages and to inspire
the next generation of engineers, inven-
tors, and scientists. Through the NCTL,
the museum is integrating
engineering as a new discipline
in schools via standards-based
K-12 curricular reform and
developing technology exhibits
and programs.
“Technological literacy is basic
literacy for the 21st century,”
Miaoulis said. “We live in a
technological world. We need to
understand how human-made
things like shoes and bicycles
are created and how they work.”
A mechanical engineer, Miaoulis was
dean of the School of Engineering at
Tufts University in Medford, Mass.,
prior to joining the museum in 2003.
Miaoulis will receive the ASME Ralph
Coats Roe Medal, during the 2011 Hon-
ors Assembly at the ASME Congress
in November. The medal is bestowed
on individuals who have made out-
standing contributions toward a better
public understanding of the engineer’s
worth to contemporary society.
August 2011 | MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 71
Miaoulis: STEM Education Cultivates Engineers
NE
IL H
ET
HE
RIN
GTO
N
p This student entry from Missouri S&T
won the Knovelty Award for Innovation.
Rose-Hulman, Montana St. HPV Champs
K&C ENCOMM TALKING POINTSIn order to provide technical infor-
mation in a condensed, easily digest-
ible format to maximize its value to
the public, the Knowledge and Com-
munity Energy Committee has begun
issuing a series of Energy Talking
Points containing nonpartisan, techni-
cal information.
The ETPs seek to incorporate the
collective expertise of K&C EnComm
members to identify energy-related
opportunities and challenges. They
provide highly technical peer-reviewed
data, and their release is based upon
consensus by the EnComm.
The Energy Committee comprises 40
members from 17 divisions of ASME,
representing approximately 40,000
ASME members. The ETPs are issued
as K&C EnComm “public statements”
and do not represent the views of
ASME as a whole.
The fi rst Energy Talking Point to be
released was “Three Signs the End
of Oil Exports Is Coming.” The paper
suggests that action is needed now to
ensure a stable supply of oil to reduce
the risk of economic disruptions.
The ETPs are available to review at the
Knowledge and Community section of
ASME.org, located at http://www.asme.
org/groups/centers-committees/
knowledge---community-sector-(1).
m Ioannis N. Miaoulis presents the 2011 Roe Lecture.
72 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | August 2011
he European Robotics
Association has chosen
Germany’s KUKA
Roboter GmbH for its
2011 Technology Trans-
fer Award. While the
company’s humanlike
robotic arm is impres-
sive, the awards highlight just how fast
the industry is moving away from plain
vanilla industrial robots. Finalists
included an interactive birth simulator,
virtual fi tting room, surgical robot, and
dual-armed robot.
KUKA’s Lightweight Robot originat-
ed at the German Aerospace Center,
which needed a robotic arm for a 1993
space mission. To make it a+ ordable
to boost into space, the researchers
needed to slash its weight-to-payload
ratio by an order of magnitude. They
did it by building from carbon-rein-
forced composites.
They designed an arm with human
fl exibility (seven degrees of freedom)
and integrated power and signal pro-
cessing electronics. Other innovations
included active vibration damping and
programmable joint sti+ ness.
Another new feature, contact detec-
tion, is especially important,
because the arm stops if it makes
the slightest contact with a human
worker. “The LWR is the fi rst robot
to be rated safe to operate without
a protective fence—a
historic milestone,”
said Ralf Koeppe,
who received
the award for
KUKA. The
LWR weighs
only 14 kg
and users can
program it by
guiding it by hand
through the desired
motions.
Martin Hägele, a
jury member who
heads robot systems
at Fraunhofer IPA,
called the robot a
“mature technology that could open up
numerous robotic applications in our
daily life, such as in manufacturing,
services, and medicine.”
The second prize went to 3B Scien-
tifi c’s SIMone, an interactive birth
simulator developed by Technical
University München, the Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology Zurich, and
3B Scientifi c. The simulator enables
doctors to practice deliveries, deter-
mine how patients respond to di+ erent
medications, and learn the proper use
of forceps and vacuum tools. It
also simulates complications
that few medical interns see
on a regular basis.
The robot, which models
a pregnant woman’s
abdomen and the fetal
head, uses advanced
haptic feedback
to simulate a real
delivery. The robot
mimics forces gener-
ated by friction, tissue
elasticity, uterine
contractions, and
attempts to extract
the baby. The
company asked
51 doctors to
evaluate SIMone.
Four out of fi ve
found it “highly”
or “very highly”
realistic. 3B
claims it has sold 50 systems worldwide.
The runners-up were equally inno-
vative. Fits.me, an Estonian start-up,
teamed with Tallinn University to
create a virtual fi tting room for online
clothing companies. Customers enter
their measurements and they can see
how di+ erent clothing of di+ erent sizes
and cuts would fi t. The company claims
its software boosts sales 57 percent
(primarily for higher-ticket items) and
reduces returns by 28 percent.
Italy’s Surgica Robotica worked
with University of Verona to develop
Surgenius, a surgical stereoscopic
vision robot. Germany’s pi4_robotics
collaborated with Fraunhofer Institute
for Production Systems and Design
Technology to produce Workerbot, a
reconfi gurable, two-handed robot that
can be programmed by moving the
arms through their routines.
ALAN S. BROWN
INPUTOUTPUT Technology Transfer AwardsShow O! Robot Advances
TWINNERS:
1 KUKA won the European Robotics Association’s top tech transfer honors for an innovative carbon fi ber robot, the fi rst designed to work around human beings without a gate. 2 Runner-up 3B Scientifi c’s SIMone, simulates birth so doctors can practice simple and complicated deliveries. 3 Fits.mewas third with a virtual fi tting room. K
UK
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B S
CIE
NT
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