Sept06-Too

By DE Editors

September 27, 2006Dear DE Reader:Back in our February 2006 issue, Ann Mazakas interviewed Giovanni Opimitti, president of Vero International. Among the interesting things he had to say, one really stood out for me: CAMcompanies have to be more proactive in proposing new solutions to theircustomers. So, it was of great interest to me when I heard about VeroInternational’s new VISI-Flow mold analysis software.VISI-Flowis both old and new. It was first developed and deployed more than 25years ago by an Italian software developer known as Plastics &Computer, which Vero International acquired back in June of this year.Over all those 25 years and right up to today, VISI-Flow has beenfine-tuned, enhanced, and made more robust in response to real-worldfeedback and changing technologies. And now this advanced FEM simulatorfor plastic mold injection analysis joins ranks with VeroInternational’s VISI-Series of fully integrated CAD/CAM solutions.VeroInternational recognizes that your needs change as fast as the globalmarketplace. VISI-Flow adds a vital optimization tool to yourmanufacturing process, enabling you to refine your work quickly andwithout requiring you to be a world-class analyst.Checkout the write-up below and avail yourself of links in the write-up forfurther information. Or be proactive. Skip my ramblings and go directlyto Vero International to get the lowdown on VISI-Flow. Thanks, Pal.—Lockwood  VISI-Flow Extends CADCAM SeriesMold flow analysis software has 25 years of refinement. With its interface designed for entry-level engineers, VISI-Flow, thenewest offering in the range of products from Vero InternationalSoftware (Wixom, MI), is anything but an entry-level mold flow analysispackage. VISI-Flow, originally developed by the company Plastics &Computer, recently acquired by Vero, has seen continuous refinementbased on real-world usage for more than 25 years, according to thecompany. VISI-Flow is designed to handle the sweep of the plastic injectionmolding process from fill (flow) analysis to tolerance, warpage, andcooling and cycle time analysis. It uses FEA technologies to analyzethe flow behavior of molten plastic as it enters a mold cavity, andVISI-Flow is said to simulate the behavior of all types of plastics intheir filled and unfilled states. Additionally, VISI-Flow’s databasehelps guide you in the identification of the molding parameters so thatyou get the required part quality, and it lets you create databases ofnew plastic materials or blends. VISI-Flow does not impose limits on the shape, complexity, or size ofthe molded part, and it can analyze all types of runnerless systemssuch as hot and insulated nozzles. VISI-Flow also provides options forsequential (cascade) technology and for a family mold where differentparts positioned in the same tool are balanced with the programmedopening and closing of valve gates. VISI-Flow is comprised of three major modules: Filling, Shape, andThermal. The Filling module lets you check the manufacturability of theplastic part early in the design process quickly and when changes costthe least. Features include optimum part thickness, thickness refining,gate location, simulation, and rheological optimization of the plasticflow through single or multiple cavities, runners, and cooling circuitlayouts. Additional features include the identification of cosmeticissues such as weld lines, air traps, and sink marks with analysisresults providing cycle time, clamp tonnage, and shot size. The Shape module uses holding analysis to optimize the second stage ofthe injection-molding process and to achieve a balance between partquality, part cost, and cycle time. Through the Shape module, you canset up and evaluate packing profiles to determine the optimal packingpressure and duration of packing. You can review the volumetricshrinkage, cycle time, and the average temperature across the part,which, allows you to evaluate the final part shape before you commit tomachining the mold. The Thermal module enables you to optimize your thermal conditioningsystem. It provides calculations of thermal transfers in transitoryconditions with solid elements, enabling you to identify and optimizetemperatures, flow rate, and fluid pressures for each cooling and hotcircuit. The Thermal Module also analyzes the requirement of highconductivity elements to minimize cycle times, eliminate part warpagedue to thermal factors, and decrease overall manufacturing costs. According to Vero Internal, VISI-Flow’s user interface typically can belearned within two to three days. “All that is needed to operate and tointerpret ... results,” says the company, “is a basic knowledge of molddesign and an understanding of the injection molding process.” To download a 3MB PDF on VISI-Flow or a PDF on the entire VISI Series ofCAD/CAM applications, click here. To sign up for a demo CD, click here.To visit the Vero International website, click here.

September 20, 2006Dear DE Reader:Ihave lusted for a big-screen monitor for years now. Professionally,they would be great for spreading out the designs I work with, and Ithink MVP Baseball would be pretty cool, too. So, I tookgreat interest in a briefing I had with Scott Gray of the HP Displaysunit a couple of weeks ago.Scotttold me all about HP’s new L2045w, LP1965, and HP LP3065 flat-panelmonitors. Each monitor offers high-resolution, excellent contrastratios, and advanced performance features. But the LP3065 grabbed myeye.TheLP3065 is HP’s first offering in the extra large screen market. TheLP3065 is a 30-in. wide-aspect screen with up to 2560 X 1600high-resolution graphics and software controls for creature comforts.Its thin bezel and tucked-away cords let you oil and gas folks build agiant wall display easily.Still,two things really got me about LP3065. First, its price tag—about$2,000—makes the LP3065 a beast for the power user lacking a powerwallet. Second, Scott told me that HP developed the LP3065 in responseto user demand. To borrow a phrase, nobody ever was fired for buying HPequipment, and in good part that is true because HP habitually listensto you before meeting and exceeding your requests.TheHP LP3065 monitor is so new that about an hour before I sent you myPick of the Week, I could not find much of anything to link you to onthe HP site, probably because it ships November 1. So, I attached theLP3065 datasheet to the write-up below. Check the LP3065 out. It is bigstuff.Thanks, Pal.—Lockwood  Editor’s Pick of the Week—September 20, 2006 HP Unveils Big Display The LP3065 monitor offers 30 inches of high resolution. HP (Palo Alto, CA) has introduced the HP LP3065, a 30-inch wide-aspectflat-panel monitor that, says the company, is its first product for themammoth screen market. The LP3065 is expected to carry a $1,999 streetprice when availability begins on November 1, according to HP. The 30-inch diagonal HP LP3065 Active Matrix TFT LCD features a 1000:1contrast ratio, high-resolution graphics up to 2560 x 1600 at 60 Hz,and 92% color gamut as well as wide, 178 x 178 degree viewing anglessaid to enable viewable sightlines from anywhere in a room. Itsintegrated power supply does not have a “power brick,” which helps improvecable management. Consequently, the LP3065 can help you minimize thatrat’s-nest of wires behind your desk. Alternately, this characteristicenables you to mount the monitor flush with the wall. Further to that,the monitor’s thin, 20mm bezels allow virtually seamless tiling forpanoramic data and graphic displays. The HP LP3065 monitor has a height-adjustable base, tilt, and swivelfeatures. It has a built-in USB hub for connecting peripherals andthree dual-link DVI-D inputs. The supplied HP Display Assistantsoftware lets you adjust the display through software instead ofthrough an OSD (on-screen display). The HP LP3065 monitor is fully tested and qualified for out-of-the-boxfunctionality and compatibility with HP desktops, workstations, andother products. It’s also complies with a variety of internationalemissions, ergonomics, and environmental regulations. The HP LP3065 flat-panel monitor’s anticipated $1,999 street priceincludes a three-year limited warranty. At press time, no furtherdetails were available on the HP website. Click here for access to adatasheet from HP. Click here to go to the HP monitors web page. 

September 13, 2006Dear DE Reader:BerntNilsson and Bjorn Sjodin from COMSOL sojourned up to visit with DE aweek ago to unveil version 3.3 of COMSOL Multiphysics. Formerly knownas FEMLab—for finite element method laboratory—COMSOL Multiphysics isa stand-alone application as well as the core element of an analysisenvironment for engineering, science, and research. If a problem can bedescribed in PDEs, COMSOL Multiphysics can model it. It is breathtaking. Now,the analysis type that consumes most of my time begins with the Greekprefix “psycho.” But even I could see that COMSOL Multiphysics offers ahuge toolset of features and functions for coupled physics—FEA, CFD,and what have you. The entire breadth of the thing is augmented with anagreeable interface that any engineer can leverage. It lets you take acomplex assembly of parts built of different materials and model for,say, the heat flux across the different parts and materialssimultaneously.Optionalmodules build off the core of COMSOL Multiphysics to creatediscipline-specific simulations for such areas of interest asacoustics, RF, or chemical reactions.  What’s more, COMSOLMultiphysics is not a bank-busting application, which is another reasonI find it breathtaking.Last fall, I attended the COMSOL Users Conference in Boston. There’s another one this year in Boston, one in Las Vegas, and a few in Europe.If you can, check out COMSOL Multiphysics at one of these events. Ifnot, there is a link to a free intro CD as well as links to all sortsof stuff you might like to know about COMSOL Multiphysics from thewrite-up. Check out COMSOL Multiphysics. It will take your breath away.Thanks, Pal.—Lockwood Multiphysics Couples More DisciplinesCompany says V3.3 of COMSOL Multiphysics addresses virtually every field.COMSOL, Inc. (Burlington, MA) has released version 3.3 of COMSOLMultiphysics, its interactive system for simulating physical processes.In related news, the company also has released new discipline-centricmodules that extend COMSOL Multiphysics into such areas as acoustics,low-frequency electromagnetics, and RF simulation.COMSOL Multiphysics is COMSOL’s core platform for simulating physicalprocesses describable with PDEs (partial differential equations). Whileoptional modules add discipline-specific tools—such as chemicalengineering, earth science, heat transfer, MEMS, and structuralmechanics—COMSOL Multiphysics provides such functionalities ashigh-performance numerical algorithms, postprocessing capabilities, andmodel libraries that enable you to model most complex phenomena.Enhancements in version 3.3 as well as the new modules, says thecompany, expand the potential number of application areas addressed byCOMSOL Multiphysics into virtually every field of more engineering,science, and research.

> > Concentration profile in the flow channels of a fuel cell stackare visualized in the COMSOL Multiphysics GUI. This model also shows version 3.3’s new swept mesh feature.

Among the methodologies COMSOL Multiphysics 3.3 deploys are an expandedset of predefined couplings between common physics, including microwaveheating, induction heating, rotating machinery, fluid-thermalinteractions for laminar, nonisothermal and turbulent flow, andfluid-structure interaction. Your use of these couplings has beenstreamlined so that now you can menu-select a coupling that containsthe correct physics, boundary settings, and couplings. You then modifythe fields to meet the specific needs of the geometry. The simplicityof this operation, says the company, eliminates the need to possess anin-depth understanding of a complex problem’s underlying physics andproblem structure.

<  < The new Acoustics module for COMSOL Multiphysics 3.3 can simulatelinear mechanical wave phenomena in structures and fluids. Here areshown acoustic wave eigenmodes in an auto passenger compartment. Click imageto enlarge. Click here to go to the Acoustics module web page on theCOMSOL website.

A major addition to the COMSOL Multiphysics 3.3 user interface is theModel Tree. This window provides an overview of all aspects of a model,including variables, parameters, constants, and expressions, From theModel Tree, you can navigate, inspect, or modify any context-specificfeatures and settings.As you set up a model, Version 3.3 also offers a selection solverchoices. Each solver is fully aware of the mathematics and numericalschemes required to solve the multiphysics couplings. A new PARDISOsolver provides a shared-memory parallel algorithm that’s applicable tosuch uses as large electromagnetic models.

> >  The new AC/DC module for COMSOL Multiphysics 3.3 brings multiphysicssimulations to such applications as the design and prototyping ofmotors, magnets, transformers, and power-line systems. Here we see asimulation of a hot-wall furnace for semiconductor fabrication. Clickimage to enlarge. Click here to go to the AC/DC module web page on theCOMSOL website.

COMSOL Multiphysics now supports both parts and assemblies throughoutthe modeling process. It not only recognizes an assembly’s components,it allows different materials for each component. Parts and theircomplementary physics can be coupled, and you can define internalborder definitions such as contact resistance. The interactive meshing environment in COMSOL Multiphysics 3.3 enablesyou to optimize the mesh for each part or model so that you can createa mesh in which each meshing operation acts on a set of subdomains.Further, you can apply different meshing techniques to local geometryobjects. A new swept meshing tool lets you create prism (i.e., wedge)meshes and hexahedral (i.e., brick) meshes.

< < The RF module for COMSOL Multiphysics is for the deign andanalysis of RF, microwave, and photonics components as well as anydevice with propagating electromagnetic waves. This image shows howthe RF module can treat open boundaries in radiation problems by usingPMLs (perfectly matched layers) to absorb wave phenomena. Click image to enlarge. Click here to go to the RF module web page.

The COMSOL Multiphysics Structural Mechanics and MEMS modules now offerincreased support for contact problems. Features include the ability tomodel heat flux, electric current, and species diffusion generated ator flowing across contact surfaces, with these conditions coupled tothe material properties of the contact materials. Thus, you could modelthe heat generated by contact friction and simultaneously couple andsolve contact and material properties that vary. COMSOL Multiphysics 3.3 also comes with a material-property databasewith more than 1400 materials and 15,000 properties. This library canalso accept files from the more than 59,000 material datasheets in theMatWeb material-property database. COMSOL Multiphysics is available for the Windows, Linux, Solaris, andthe Macintosh operating systems. Click here to investigate recommendedsystem requirements. A single-user license for COMSOL Multiphysics 3.3costs $7,995. Click here for additional licensing details. Shipmentsbegin this month. For full details about COMSOL Multiphysics 3.3 and its discipline-specificmodules, click here. Click here to register for a free introductory CD. 

September 6, 2006Dear DE Reader: Some 20-odd years ago, I shelled out something like 2500 bucks for myfirst complete home computer. It was a sleek monster: dual 5.25-inchdisk drives and 128K of RAM. Friends and neighbors sought to touch mysleeve and share my awesomeness. I thought of that system during a briefing with Mike Diehl, productmarketing manager for the HP Workstation Global Business Unit, theother day when he mentioned that pricing for HP’s new xw9400Workstation starts at less than two grand. Brakes On: I am NOT telling you that you will get a system with a 2.60GHz Dual Core AMD Opteron 2000 chip, 146GB drive, networking, and aNVIDIA Quadro FX3500 with 256 MB and dual DVI or dual VGA for thatprice. What I am saying is the xw9400 starts out at the Formula Onelevel at less than $2,000. You then soup it up with the storage, thegraphics, and all that good stuff so that you can leverage its inherentmuscle and flexibility for your CAE, oil and gas, visualization, andother compute-intensive applications. The HP xw9400 Workstation, announced hours ago, is an awesome unit.Where you can take the xw9400 powerhouse is limited only by where youcan imagine taking it. Check out the links from the write-up below. A PDF datasheet is linked to the write-up as well. Thanks, Pal.—Lockwood HP Unveils High-End Workstation Performance, productivity leverage high-end graphics and AMD technology.On September 6, HP (Palo Alto, CA) introduced its new HP xw9400, a newhigh-end personal workstation built around top-of-the-line dual-coreAMD Opteron 2000 Series processors. The xw9400, says HP, offersvisualization and graphics performance features for CAE, scientificresearch, oil and gas exploration, and other compute-intensiveenvironments. The xw9400 can be equipped with single or dual Dual Core AMD Opteron2000 series processors a speeds ranging from 1.80 GHz to 2.8 GHz andwith 1 MB of L2 cache per core and 1 GHz AMD HyperTransport technology.The system provides AMD64 Technology, enabling it to leverage 64-bitoperating systems and 64-bit applications. The HP xw9400 is available with preinstalled Windows XP Professional(32 or 64-bit), and it is Windows Vista ready. Support is alsoavailable for Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS 4 (64-bit) as well as 32-bitor 64-bit Red Hat Linux, either pre-installed or through the suppliedHP Installer Kit for Linux. Capable of supporting up to 64 GB of memory and up to five SATA drivesin addition to dual processors, the xw9400 mini-tower offers atool-less access design and an expandable dual-socket chassis. It alsosupports a range of graphics, memory, and storage options, includingserial-attached SCSI hard drives. The xw9400 provides special coolingand noise reduction features and I/O ports on the front of the chassisfor easier access, cable routing, and peripheral placement. The graphics performance of the HP xw9400, which can run dual displays,is built around the NVIDIA nForce Professional 3000 Series chipset,which enables dual PCI Express x16 graphics slots. With dual PCIExpress graphics, you can run large models and display complex graphicswith realism and speed, according to the company. The HP xw9400’s I/Operformance includes dual PCI Express x8, dual PCI-X, and PCI slots.Graphics card options include the sweep of NVIDIA Quadro series boards. Among the xw9400’s miscellaneous hardware specifications are three external5.25- inch bays, five internal 3.5-inch bays, and an optional enclosurethat enables a 3.5-inch SATA drive to be added to a 5.25-inch bay;high-definition audio; internal-chassis USB port suitable forapplication licensing requiring dongles and other such protections; twointegrated 1394a ports and an optional 1394b port; two front-side andsix backside USB 2.0 ports; and dual NVIDIA Gigabit LAN-On-Motherboardnetworking. Networking options include Broadcom 5751 NetXtreme GigabitPCI NIC and Intel Pro/1000 GT Gigabit PCI NIC. Click here to access a PDF of thexw9400 datasheet. The xw9400 also offers a set of security safeguards with HPProtectTools Security Manager, a user-customizable service. Inaddition, the xw9400 comes equipped with HP Client Manager Software, aremote and local website-based service to help users manage thehardware aspects of their client computers - including hardwareinformation tracking, alert monitoring, diagnostics, and driver/BIOSmanagement. Starting prices for the xw9400 Workstation begin at less than $2,000,which includes a three-year limited warranty. Shipments should commenceon or about September 18. For details, click here.