HKS, the developers and distributors of ABAQUS, finite element software, are now shipping version 6.3 of the software.
Read more on the ABAQUS web site
Owens Corning Automotive releases another acoustic insulation material
Owen Corning Automotive, a tier 1 supplier to the automotive industry, has released another product for providing acoustic insulation. The VersaMat product has been used successfully in dish washers, and washing machines. Plans are to use the material in headliners, door panels, under-the-hood applications, trunk storage systems and under carpet heat shields
Read more at the Owens Corning Automotive web site.
Lord Corp develops surface effect dampers
Lord Corporation has developed “surface effect dampers” that absorb energy as a function of displacement. Conventional dampers use oil and absorb energy as a function of velocity. The technology has been applied to engine and body mounts.
Read the story on the Lord Corporation web site.
Dentist drill could be replaced with a microwave
An engineer at the University of Tel Aviv, pulled out the magnetron from a domestic microwave oven and has developed a drill that could one day replace the conventional dentists’ drill.
Read the story on the inScight web site.
FEMTools released for Linux
FEMtools, a finite element software package based on Matlab, has been released for the Linux operating system. Version 2.2 will be the first release for Red Hat Linux 7.3.
Read the story on the FEMtools web site.
Sound Quality
DesignNews magazine has an interesting article on Sound Quality with several automotive examples.
Read the article on the DesignNews website.
Vacuum tube on PC motherboard
AOpen, a Taiwanese manufacturer of computer components, has released a motherboard for PC with a vacuum tube to “improve” the audio output. This product is obviously targeted for a niche market, for those people that find their conventional PC sound cards unsatisfactory
PocketEar for personal noise monitoring
Bruel and Kjaer are selling a gadget in the shape of the ear that has lights to indicate when the noise level is too loud. The gadget is called PocketEar and can be seen on the B&K web site.
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London’s wobbly Millenium Bridge fixed with vibration dampers
The Millenium Bridge over the Thames was opened on 10 June 2000, but was closed three days later after complaints of people feeling “sea sick”. The problem was caused by the people walking synchronously. When people walked across the lightweight bridge it vibrated at its resonance frequency and people subconsciously adjusted their walking pace so that it matched the resonance frequency of the bridge, as this causes the least resistance to a person walking. However when several hundred people are all exciting the bridge at the resonance frequency, it causes the bridge to sway. Engineers at ARUP tested the bridge and analysed the data. The remedy was to install dampers to reduce the vibration.
Read more about this story on the ARUP web site.
Read the article on the BBC web site.