To celebrate the end of the century, we listed in the February 1, 1999 issue of Design News the major breakthroughs of the last one hundred years in aerospace engineering. Next up: the engineering accomplishments in that other major technology driver, the automotive industry. Among the major automotive-engineering milestones:
1901--Olds' Curved Dash Runabout, the first car built on a progressive assembly line. 1908--The Model T offers left-hand-side steering.
1911--Charles Kettering develops the electric self starter.
1915--The Dodge brothers launch a new car with an all-steel body.
1928--Cadillac introduces 165-mph V-16 engine.
1938--Bosch Corp. applies for first ABS patent.
1940--Olds has first automatic transmission.
1952--Olds, Cadillac, and Buick offer power steering.
1964--Olds Toronado is first U.S. car with front-wheel drive since 1937.
1967--VW debuts electronic fuel injection.
1978--GM uses first automotive microprocessor in a trip-mileage computer.
1986--Corvette is first U.S. car with anti-lock brake system.
1996--GM introduces the EV1.
These are some of the technical breakthroughs in the automotive world. Naturally, there were plenty of other developments in that vibrant industry which has so thoroughly defined our modern society. Some are personal. For example, who could forget their first car? Mine was a 1952 Dodge with fluid drive (no, I wasn't 16 in 1952, I just bought an old car!). Fluid-drive technology was a precursor to fully automatic transmissions: If you didn't want to shift--or weren't good with a clutch--it would change gears on its own without stalling or bucking. Great for impressing other teenagers with my "advanced" driving skills. The technology has had a rebirth of sorts in Chrysler's AutoStick® Transmission Control System, which, though certainly different from fluid drive, lets the driver override the transmission's computerized logic and change from automatic to manual.
Plastic may not be the most beloved of materials to the more environmentally minded, but Plasti 2012 aimed to mold a different opinion of the material in people's minds.
The rare earth element market has become steadily more rational, and new sources coming online will continue to reduce costs. Still, it is unlikely that prices will drop to their former lows.
Against a backdrop of mounting product complexity and a need to keep a lid on development costs, companies are recognizing a need to make simulation a more integral part of the design process. In response, vendors in the CAD world are building out CAE functionality as part of their CAD suites while simulation vendors are building tighter integrations to leading CAD tools. Keith Meintjes, Ph.D., Practice Manager, Simulation and Analysis at CIMdata, Inc., joins Design News CAD Editor Beth Stackpole in this radio program to explore the new face of integrated CAD and CAE, how companies are benefitting from this tighter partnership between platforms, and how integrating CAE earlier in the development cycle pays off in optimized product designs.
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