The software also provides a secure Proctored Browser which reduces cheating by ensuring students stay inside the Maple T.A. environment until the test or assignment is completed. While using this browser, students cannot access other web sites or programs on their computer. Other security enhancements include the ability to require that Maple T.A. tests are taken from a specified list of IP addresses, to ensure students can take assignments only from approved computers or labs. These and other security features are also available in the Maple T.A. MAA Placement Test Suite for institutions that want greater security in their placement testing process.

Maplesoft

www.maplesoft.com

3D CAD Tips

After creating the first designs in NX and preparing static-mechanical calculations with the ANSYS Workbench platform using STL file format data, icotec delivered prototypes using the laser sintering method for an evaluation by a surgical team. Concurrently, surgical operating tools were designed. According to Ramon Huppi, icotec project manager, “Due to the synchronous technology of NX, we have more possibilities to move surfaces and define manufacturing-ready roundings.” For example, different sizes and modifications for the cervical spine resulted in a large project family. The tool design team compensates for this variety using an efficient inlay technique. Huppi added, “For tool manufacturing, we send a Parasolid file to our service provider who uses it as a starting point for the programming.”

Once the first genuine samples are made using one of icotec’s CFM machines, the approval tests can be conducted. Static and dynamic tests as well as studies under compression, torsion, or shear are performed by external labs in up to five million cycles. Changes are done quickly using synchronous technology.

Teamcenter handles all aspects of part management. This includes controlled check-in and check-out directly in the CAD system and searching for precursors, revision status, and handling a comprehensive and daily drawing management process for the development team.

In the future, the company plans to use special Teamcenter capabilities to support the approval processes for the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In addition, the company plans to start leveraging the powerful data organization functionality to streamline the management of more than 30 years of aircraft spare part inventories and warranty obligations.

Siemens PLM Software

www.siemens.com/plm

3D CAD Tips

While the aircraft continued to meet its certification requirements, on some landings the prototype’s brake control system applied and released the brakes more than necessary. Cessna engineers knew that certain combinations of runway and brake wear conditions played a role. Conducting hundreds of flights and landings while emulating the conditions would have been cost and time prohibitive. 

Instead, the engineers developed HIL tests for the prototype’s brake control system using Simulink, Simulink Coder, and xPC Target. Using Simulink, they developed a model of the prototype. The model incorporated lift, drag, engine thrust, and the trailing link main landing gear. It also included parameters to simulate runway conditions – water, snow, ice, and grooved runways – as well as different brake wear conditions. They then used Simulink Coder to generate ANSI C code from the Simulink model. Using xPC Target, they ran the code and executed the model in real time on commercial off-the-shelf hardware connected to the aircraft’s brake control system.

In this testing environment, the engineers simulated hundreds of landing under different conditions until they could replicate the symptom consistently. During the simulations, the team gathered data on 20 different parameters at a sample rate of 2,000Hz. With each real time test lasting more than 20 seconds, more than a gigabyte of data was produced for each run.

Cessna used MATLAB to analyze the test data, plot various signal relationships, and identify the cause of the brake control issue: a dead band in the brake controller. After finding the dead band, the team developed a design that addressed the issue using additional parameters available from the aircraft controls and systems.

MathWorks

www.mathworks.com

3D CAD Tips

The Formula and Recipe Management solution provides a single view of the truth with a centralized repository for all product-related information, and cross-functional business process workflows for research and development (R&D), marketing, quality and regulatory, manufacturing operations, procurement, global suppliers, and outsourced manufacturers. The solution enables process manufacturers to achieve faster time to market and better quality, productivity, and batch traceability.

Aras’s PLM platform provides flexible, extensible and integratable out-of-the-box functionality, making Formula and Recipe Management a unique solution in its class. As with all Aras solutions, the Formula and Recipe Management solution can be used as a comprehensive independent system or any subset of functionality can be used in a seamless and secure federated integration with leading ERP systems.

The Formula & Recipe Management solution enables process-based companies to control critical product information and respond quickly and accurately to changes for improved compliance and reduced potential of costly recalls.

Aras

www.aras.com

3D CAD Tips

Milford, OH, – ITI TranscenData announced the release of CADfix 8.1, the latest edition of its leading CAD interoperability tool which tackles the ever present problems of 3D model data exchange and re-use between different engineering applications. CADfix allows the user to import CAD data, efficiently repair and adapt it, and export in the most suitable form for reuse in the downstream system, eliminating the need for expensive CAD model rework.

Some of the many enhancements in CADfix 8.1 include:

Targeted Diagnostics: The CADfix diagnostic tree has been overhauled to allow targeted application of different fixes to specific problem types. This approach gives the user greater control over the fix applied to problems and yields greater success than applying one fix to all.

Repair & Prepare Enhancements: Enhancements to the core CADfix code has led to higher success rates for automatic model processing. As a result, less manual interaction is required reducing the translation process time.

External Visibility Filter: For some applications it is desirable to remove hidden or internal details from the model. The External Visibility Filter is a new Wizard Transform option that scans the model, identifies externally visible faces or bodies and removes the unwanted internal details. Typical applications include:

• Filtering of large assemblies to reduce them to much smaller outer visible representations only,
  for use in supply chain integration scenarios, IPR protection or DMU visualization
• Clash detection and packaging
• Lightweight display and export to collaboration tools
• Aiding extraction process of Wetted Perimeters for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)JT Translator Enhancements: To complement the JTOpen Export Translator added at CADfix 8.0 SP1, we have now added a JTOpen import Translator. The Import Translator extracts the precise BREP data from JTOpen files (not facetted data). These interfaces are now available to all customers, not only JTOpen consortium members.STL Local Refinement: The ability to apply local refinement when generating STL meshes and Shrinkwraps has been added at CADfix 8.1. This enables certain regions of the model to have increased resolution while keeping the global facet count low.

  High Aspect Ratio Face Fix: New find and fix functionality allows the user to scan the model for faces or regions which exceed a given aspect ratio. High Aspect Ratio faces can be an issue for some meshing systems; this fix automatically splits up the face and negates the problem.

  Shrink Wrap STL Generator: Refined to increase the speed of Shrink Wrap Generation which offers significant time savings, particularly on larger models. Introduction of new option that allows the user to specify faces of particular importance to ensure the Shrink Wrapper conforms to those regions. Main application is for thin regions.

  “Engineers and designers are increasingly under pressure to deliver products to market in shorter and shorter timescales, this coupled with increasing complexity drives the need for effective CAD repair, translation and simplification”, said Mark Gammon, CADfix Product Manager. “With CADfix 8.1, we have continued to add new and innovative functionality that builds upon our strong foundations and helps to increase efficiency in the engineering workplace.”

  The new product release is available immediately worldwide and current CADfix customers can easily upgrade to version 8.1

www.transcendata.com

3D CAD Tips

ShipConstructor 2012 enables users to work in the most advanced CAD environment by adding AutoCAD 2012 compatibility. AutoCAD 2010 and 2011 are still supported but the latest version of ShipConstructor empowers users to take advantage of several new tools and improvements such as enhanced surface modeling, enhanced point cloud support for laser scanning, direct access to AutoCAD WS, and in-application access to AutoDesk Exchange.

The speed of ShipConstructor has been increased yet again. The load times for distributed system model drawings have been reduced by up to 10% and the load time for viewing distributed system part property data has been cut in half. Several new features and tweaks to the interface also enable increased productivity.

“No other shipbuilding CAD/CAM application is enhanced as frequently as ShipConstructor,” said SSI CEO Darren Larkins. “No other shipbuilding software is as easy to learn and use.”

ShipConstructor 2012 New Features:

• AutoCAD 2012 Support – Support for the latest version of AutoCAD tools for enhanced 3D design, model documentation and collaboration.
• Enhanced Offset Construction Lines – Addition of geometrical constraints to individual offset construction lines without losing parametric associatively with source geometry.
• Enhanced Endcuts – Reduced number of endcut definitions required to populate a catalog with industry standard endcuts.
• One-Step Package and Deploy Project – Quickly create isolated versions of the entire ShipConstructor project for archiving or transferring.
• Side-by-side Installation – Now supported with ShipConstructor 2008, 2009, and 2011.
• Increased Speed - Load times of distributed system drawings have been significantly reduced.

www.shipconstructor.com

3D CAD Tips

Other highlights include mix soil and rock models with material models for concrete and brittle materials; simulation of embankments, nuclear waste installations, foundations, and slabs; slope; stability analysis; combines with COMSOL Subsurface Flow Module for poroelasticity and other porous media apps; and works seamlessly with all other COMSOL products for unlimited multi-physics simulations.

COMSOL

www.comsol

3D CAD Tips

EVAs are extensive printed-circuit board (PCB) networks that contain various TI chips. User guides describe the PCB set-up in relation to the particular board. The user guide describes the characteristics, operation, and EVM-user specifics.

The SwitcherPro evaluation tool helps you design power supplies specific to TI’s controllers, low-power DC/DC converters, and SWIFT point-of-load (POL) step-down DC/DC products. This software creates and manages your design with various internal tools and results. Design data such as efficiency curves and stability loop curves are available with this product.

The SwitcherPro has EVM designs embedded within the software offering circuit diagram suggestions for all power supply designs. The circuit diagrams show you the resistive, inductive, and capacitive elements surrounding the converter along with suggested values.

TINA-TI is a circuit simulation tool based on a SPICE engine. This circuit simulation engine provides DC, transient, and frequency domain analysis of SPICE circuits. TINA also has a post-processing capability that allows you to customize the format of the results.

To complete the design cycle, go back to the evaluation module, change the values as suggested by SwitcherPro, verify by using TINA-TI simulations, and test the new circuit on the EVM.

This post was written by Bonnie C. Baker, Signal Integrity Engineer at Texas Instrument

Texas Instruments

www.ti.com

3D CAD Tips

FEA application powered by NEi Nastran and cloud technology is said to enable engineers to answer design questions anywhere and at anytime. The unveiling of this groundbreaking new software will be February 10, at 11:00am at the Pacific Design and Manufacturing show.

NEi Software
www.nenastran.com

3D CAD Tips

1 of the 4 designs that won "honorable mention"

This contest sponsored by Phillips allowed participants to submit 3 designs per entry. Each entry included a description of the design inspiration and a usage scenario.  The designs were submitted online to www.crowdSpring.com.

A panel of international experts from Phillips representing the business, technology, and design divisions judged and selected four designs as winners and an additional four for honorable mentions.

The experts judged the products on innovativeness, aesthetics, effective use of materials, ease of use, feasibility, positioning of key features and integration of Philips brand promise, “sense and Simplicity.”

Philips awarded cash prizes of $4,500 US plus Autodesk Alias Design software ($3995 value) for first-place, $3,000 US plus Autodesk SketchBook Designer software ($495 value) for second-place and $2,500 US plus Autodesk SketchBook Pro software ($95 value) for third-place, and four honorable mention prizes of $1000 US plus Autodesk SketchBook Pro software ($95 value) each.

The four winning designs are being produced into non-working mockups.

3D CAD Tips