A big fan of the Jetsons, engineer Eddie Edwards has designed a personal electric hovercraft. Propelled by a lift fan driven by a lithium-ion battery source that runs one hour between charges, he claims his device can achieve a maximum vertical lift of 5 cm, so long as the rider weighs no more than 95 kg. His newest prototype features ducted thrust to propel and steer the board.
Amt
Part Description
Allied Part #
1
AC Impeller CFM 710
600-2225
Other supplies: 1 top board and baseboard and 4 spacer boards (aluminum/honeycomb composite); 1 48-V power system (lithium ion); 1 motor controller; 1 segmented hovercraft skirt (rubberized nylon); assorted nuts, bolts, cables, and connectors.
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.
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
7 
