Magnesium Alloys In Cars

Steel has always been the main component that makes up a car. However a lot of research has been done recently to see id a magnesium alloy could replace the steel. Magnesium is the lightest metal on earth. (33% lighter than Aluminum) It does not dent easily, it is non toxic, and there is a large amount of it on the earth. Magnesium is already starting to replace some of parts of MAGNESIUM ALLOYSthe car that do not have to do with the frame to make the car lighter and require less gasoline. Currently magnesium can be found in the 2011 Ford Explorer, Chevy Corvette Z06, and a few Jeep models. Magnesium is twice as expensive as steel by weight. However, magnesium is 5 times as light at steel so it is actually cheaper than steel but it is not as strong as steel. Right now magnesium is not ready to replace steel because it is not as strong as steel but Mg could be used for seat frames or for the roofs of cars.

http://www.chemical-engineering.co/2011/12/22/magnesium-alloys/

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The Python Car and Boat

This is a one of a kind vehicle that can be driving on the road and go straight into the bay or lake. The Python can travel up to 60mph in the water and on the road it goes from 0-60mph in 4.5 seconds. The inside of the car is designed to be more like a boat with a captain chair and a wrap around bench in the back. The Python is 100% custom built down to every screw and the starting price for one of them is $200,000 dollars. There is also a wait list that you have to pay $5,000 dollars to just get your name on it.

python-and-dave-fast

 

 

 

 

The doors were built to keep the water out, yet still allow easy access in and out of the car when it is in the water. Overall, it is a very cool idea but when is someone going to need to go from land to water immediately? It is kind of impractical but if I had the extra money and lived near a lake or had a beach house, why not buy one.

open-doors

 

http://www.watercar.com/html/watercar_python.html

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Product Liability and Safe Design

Product Liability is becoming more and more of an issue for companies. When a company puts out a product they MUST think of every single thing the customer could to with that product that could harm themselves or someone around them. If they forget to put one small warning label on their product then they could be sued and go out of business.

I work at a beer distributor in Berwyn, PA and one of my jobs is too fill up the cooler with beer so that customers have the option of buying their beer cold. When the beer boxes have been in the cooler for over a week they start to get a little flimsy and occasionally the bottom gives out and the glass bottles break open on the floor. When a beer bottle breaks it pops and glass goes flying in every direction and could potentially hurt someone. As a product liability my boss periodically makes me go into the cooler and check the bottom of the boxes to make sure that they are still holding strong and if they are not I have to tape them. If one of those boxes were to break and hurt a customer they could sue the company for a lot of money. Another liability I have is selling alcohol to intoxicated customers because it is illegal to sell it to them if you can tell that they are drunk. It is really hard to turn away a regular customer who comes all the time just because you can tell he is a little intoxicated but if a policeman were to catch you doing it, the store could loose its liquor license which means that it would have to shut down. In today’s world where being sued or shut down is so easy, every company must take extra precautions to ensure that they will not be at as little risk as possible.

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Modeling Using Blender

There is so many different ways to model a new idea. Blender is a CAD program that deals with surface modeling only. This would be a very good option if you were making some type of irregular shape such as a perfume bottle. It is fairly easy to get the basics down but it is very difficult to master the program. There is so many different shortcuts and tools that you might never uncover after using it for a while. It is very difficult to make sharp edges but is perfect for rounded edges. Here is an example of a project make on blender:

Blender is 100% free and it can be downloaded at this link:

http://www.blender.org/download/get-blender/

 

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Service Design

Service design is very important when operating a company or producing a product. It can make a customer a walking billboard for your company, or it could make them really hurt your company. For example, if you go to a grocery store and the shelves are not stocked well, the employees have an attitude, and there is only one check-out spot open with a long line.  Not only are you never going to want to go back to that grocery store again, but you are also going to tell your friends about the horrible experience you had. By not focusing on service design, the company is really impeding their chances of success. On the other hand, if you went to that grocery store and everything went great and you were in and out, you might recommend the store to your friends instead of telling them to never go there.  Service design should be simple, easy, quick, and efficient because in today’s world everyone is in a rush.

Starbucks is a good example of service design. They offer free wifi, comfortable couches, and soothing music. Why would someone want to go anywhere else. I know if I have an hour break in-between two classes and I do not want to walk all the way back to my dorm, I will relax at Starbucks and do some homework. Also, since I am there I mine as well grab a coffee. That is exactly what Starbucks wants and a perfect example of how service design can be so effective.

http://thenextweb.com/2010/01/11/starbucks-formula-social-media-success/

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Biomimetic Design

Biomimetic design is a design that is created by nature. These designs are extremely 012interesting  because of how efficient they are. For example, sharkskin has millions of scales on it that reduces friction with the water as well as repels barnacles and algae from attaching to their skin. A synthetic material similar to the sharkskin is being made to coat the hull of Navy ships. By doing this the ship would not only use less fuel, but also discourage barnacles from making a home on the side of the ship.

http://www.core.form-ula.com/2008/04/15/biomimetics-design-by-nature/

 

008Another example of a biomimetic design is how the lotus leaf has a self cleaning, water-repellent surface. The plant has waxy micro structures that cause the water to bead up and roll of the surface. When the water rolls off the surface it picks up dirt and cleans the plants surface. William Barthlott discovered this and created a paint that contains these microbumbs that resists the surface it covers from absorbing any water and repels stains for decades. Overall, nature is one of the best designers and humans can learn so much about design by studying different plants and animals.

 

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Design Ethics

The ethics of design are pretty controversial. Before one is to judge someone on design ethics, they must completely understand the situation. For example, putting trash in landfills is not at all good for the soil or environment, but what would be an alternative? Everyone knows it is not ethical for future generations to bury trash but that is the best option we have right now because the trash is not going to stop coming anytime soon. This derision to just keep doing what were doing is also known as ethical swamp.

Trade-offs are also a big contributor in design ethics. An example of trade-offs is if a sewage treatment plant is deciding where to build their plant. The could put it close to the city so that the sewage has less distance to travel which means less energy would be used. This would help future generation because there would be less pollution. On the other hand, this sewage treatment plant is going to have to be in a semi-crowded suburb so a decent amount of houses will be located near this new plant that will be giving off a foul oder. Should the company choose to create more pollution and put their plant outside the suburbs, or should they say lets just ruin the neighborhood and save money as well as the environment? This is where design ethics can be extremely controversial.

One of the best questions to ask yourself is “Do the means justify the ends?”.  Is making a product cheaper worth underpaying your employees or giving them horrible benefits? Theses are the questions that a designer should ask themselves when creating a new product or process. As an industrial engineer in undergraduate school, I know my job is going to be to make processes quicker, cheaper, and faster. This means I will have to make tough moral decisions, but industrial engineers should strive to make ethics a number one priority because no one deserves to work in unhealthy or unfair conditions.

https://sites.google.com/a/psu.edu/engineering-design/design-ethics

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Importance of Recycling

Professor Allen from Penn State gave a very well done lecture on recycling.  He was saying how important it is to recycle as much as we can right now as well come up with new, or old-fashion ways of transportation. When someone in the 21st century is asked what the most efficient way of going down-town to the store, most people would say public transportation. However, a bike is extremely more efficient than a bus or train.

Professor Allen also talked about how one element could completely change something from a plastic bag to a hard firm material. It is insane how important every atom is to a compound as well as the conditions that the compound is formed under. For example, when steel is made it is heated up really hot and then left to cool slowly so that the molecules line up in the right structure. If one cools the steel down really fast so that the molecules do not have the time to line up the steel will have different properties and these properties could cause a bridge to collapse or a building to fail.  As important as recycling is, it is equally as important to make sure that the recycled material still has the properties and can function equally as well as the original material.

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Workout Bench-SolidWorks

I designed this workout bench in SolidWorks as my final project. I choose to create a workout bench because I thought it would be interesting. I have recently started to workout more and I thought working on this bench might remind me to keep going to the gym. I knew how to do most of the project but there was still some things that took me a while to figure out. For example, it was hard to figure out how to elevate the bench, make and place the weight holders on the workout bench. I really enjoyed cutting the seat into a trapezoid shape. I defiantly think this project helped me solidify my knowledge in SolidWorks because I had to go back to tutorials and review them as well as search through  SolidWorks until I found what I was looking for. Overall it was harder than I thought it was going to be but I enjoyed the project.

 

 

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Social Media in the 21st Century

Social media has become one of the main ways, if not the main way, the world gets it’s information. When the earthquake happened in the North East of the USA people found out about the earthquake on twitter before feeling it for themselves. That is just amazing.

http://blog.socialflow.com/post/7120244132/all-shook-up-mapping-earthquake-news-on-twitter-from-virginia-to-maine

A new story has taken over twitter and facebook the past few days. The new story is about a man named Kony who is part of the LRA in South Africa. According to the video that has been circling the web, the man takes children from their villages, gives them a gun, and makes them be his soldier. The video had over 9 million hits on you tube after only a couple days. Also #stopkony has been trending on twitter for over three days now. There is no way this information could have spread any quicker than it did. More and more people everyday are seeing this video and realizing that they need our help.

There is a bad side to social media sites like facebook and twitter. Information seen and read on websites like that can easily be misinterpreted and there really is no credibility behind anything anyone says. Twitter responds too much on emotions because when a story comes out, people tweet their thoughts RIGHT away. They do not think about what to say or try and right a story. They just wanna be the first one to tweet on that topic so they first few thoughts in their head, usually emotion related, are put onto the internet for so many to see. For example, the video made it seem like the children in Uganda were greatly in need of help at the time, however, Kony moved out of Uganda and retreated somewhere else. From just looking at twitter, since uganda is trending, one would think that they are still in trouble.

As amazing as twitter can be to get news fast, it also can be very inaccurate and misleading.

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