1/98 mechanical engineering online clinics

January 1998

feature articles

a fighter with flexibility
The Defense Department is looking for adaptability and affordability in its next-generation strike fighter. Common components and modular design should help the new plane meet the special needs of the armed forces.

seeing reduced diesel emissions
Animated three-dimensional computer models show how to control the biggest pollutants coming from diesel engines.

fea makes airframes safer
Data gathered during the controlled destruction of a Boeing 747 airliner are helping engineers to identify ways of strengthening aircraft to make them less vulnerable to an internal explosion.

crime-fighting sensors
Systems designed to identify ceramic weapons, plastic explosives, chemical weapons, and organic materials are being developed to help protect citizens from terrorism and aid police in solving crimes.

re-engineering aerospace design
By integrating its CAD/CAM tools, Boeing's Space Systems Unit hopes to enhance the quality of its products as it reduces both design- and manufacturing-cycle times.

taking sensors out of motors
Advanced signal processors are replacing the feedback sensors that had been required for motor control in applications ranging from disk drives to appliance motors.

using vibrations in fluidized beds
For processes that do not require a high flow rate of sweep gas, the complex-mode vibration-fluidized bed offers lower power needs, attrition rates, and elutriation rates than gas-fluidized beds or rotary kilns.

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