Lockheed Martin engineers have pushed back the date by a year for the first flight of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, claiming that the plane has to skinny down first. Kathy Crawford, Public Affairs Officer for the JSF Fighter Program, confirmed that the first flight will not happen until 2006, primarily due to the weight issue. "They have added some extra time to look at the design and find some ways to cut weight out of the aircraft," she says. The design for the Navy and Air Force version is about 1,400 lbs (or approximately 5 percent) over weight, while the Marine Corps version is a blubbery 2,300 lbs (7 percent) over its weight target. Weight is extremely critical in both cases but in particular for the Marine Corps version, given that the design must achieve both supersonic flight and vertical lift. (For a detailed story on the trade-offs, see The Engineer of the Year story in the 02.23.04 issue of Design News, page 58, http://rbi.ims.ca/3848-537). Joking about forcing male pilots to fly in their underwear aside, Crawford says that engineers are working on various trade studies to see where they can trim the fat. "The engine is in good shape, so they're concentrating on areas within the airframe itself," she says. Specific areas targeted for so-called "spot reductions" are the cabling, routing hookups, and fasteners. Why is the weight so far off the target? One possible reason: It isn't an easy thing to estimate. Engineers perform what they call parametric weight studies early in the design cycle of a new aircraft, taking weight figures for similar parts and pieces from legacy airplanes to calculate a weight. Clearly, there weren't enough parametrics for such revolutionary airplanes, and at the detailed design stage a lot of the new systems came out heavier than anticipated.
By experimenting with the photovoltaic reaction in solar cells, researchers at MIT have made a breakthrough in energy efficiency that significantly pushes the boundaries of current commercial cells on the market.
In a world that's going green, industrial operations have a problem: Their processes involve materials that are potentially toxic, flammable, corrosive, or reactive. If improperly managed, this can precipitate dangerous health and environmental consequences.
With LEDs dropping in price virtually every year, automakers have begun employing them, not only on luxury vehicles, but on entry-level models, as well.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 4
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A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
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