Erik Petschauer: Design Blog

Take a step back to the early ages of one of the most innovative inventions in the past millennium  the motorcar. The 1920’s marked the start of an era that would push this automotive technology to make cars faster and faster with one of the biggest spectator sports in the world; car racing. Before this age, there had been car racing but the cars were neither extremely fast or exciting. During the 1920’s however, three of the biggest names in the business came into the picture to produce the fastest cars in the world at the time.  Bugatti, Alfa-Romeo, and Bentley were all competing in the legendary 24 hour Le Mans endurance race. Each had a different approach to engineer their car to be fast, and be extremely reliable being that it had to run for 24 hours straight.

Ettore Bugatti was the hero of Europe at the time. With his type 35 Bugatti, which had a supercharged straight-8 engine and could top out at around 130 mph, was the reigning champion of Le Mans. He had already won the race several times at this point and Alfa Romeo and Bentley set out to change that.

Alfa Romeo came into competition with the Monza, another supercharged straight-8 engine racer that was slightly heavier but faster than the Bugatti. It did beat the Bugatti it’s second year of racing but the lighter, and more delicate Bugatti did overcome the Alfa eventually.

Nobody had a better design though, than W.O Bentley. Bentley did not believe in supercharging or any added power to an engine. If he wanted a car to be faster, he just made the engine bigger. The Bentley that brought the mighty type 35 down was the Speed 6. A massive 6 liter straight-6 engine that, although was not as fast as the lighter Bugatti, was much more powerful and FAR more reliable. Bentley won Le Mans 3 years in a row after the introduction of the speed 6. Ettore Bugatti called the Bentley the “fastest truck in Europe” which was sort-of a left handed complement. The reason the Bentleys were so reliable was because they were over-engineered. Every part was so robust and reliable that nothing ever broke on them. They just kept running for the full 24 hours and that is where Bugatti’s weak spot was. He could just not keep up with the Bently with his delicate little French car.

Bentley was a brilliant engineer and his theory about keeping things simple was proved right when his cousin took the company over a built a supercharged Bentley that never won Le Mans once. Winning or not though, these three companies paved the way for the future of automotive engineering and motorsport. The links below contain videos of Jay Leno explaining these three cars which he actually owns. Take the time to watch them the history and engineering behind these vehicles is fascinating.

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/1927-bugatti-type-35-pur-sang-replica/1418285/

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/1929-speed-six-bentley-update/1167533/

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/1932-alfa-romeo-monza-replica/1344151/

It is that time of year again; the holiday season. Companies are scrambling to market their products and competing to design the best holiday gizmos and gadgets to be the perfect gift. This competition promotes the worlds greatest minds to come up with astounding products; the holiday season turns out to be the most innovative time of the year. Recently, I stumbled upon an astounding creation by a rather brilliant man in Japan.

Someone in Japan named Kenji Ishida, who is the founder of a company called Brave Robotics, has actually created the worlds first transforming robot. It actually is a car and transforms to become a moving, walking, missile firing robot (not real missiles of course). It is all controlled via a modified playstation remote control and has been designed from the ground up using the same 3D printing prototyping we use in Engineering Design Class! The man responsible for this design thought up the whole process on solid works, and printed the prototype using the same 3D printers we use. The body panels for the actual production model are even printed using the 3D printers.

A price has not been determined yet for this amazing piece of design but they are in-fact made to order to your every specification; color, type of weapons it fires, body style and everything. I wouldn’t imagine it would be cheap though considering the level of complexity this thing operates at!  It even includes a real time wifi camera mounted on the front of the vehicle so you can watch there you are going via your mobile device over the internet. Watch the videos posted below to watch this product in action and maybe you will consider it this holiday season!

http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/transforming-robot-car-made-with-3d-printed-parts-20121126/

http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/video-amazing-transforming-robot-2012-11-29

http://jalopnik.com/5963398/you-can-own-a-real-working-transformer

The outbreak of World War II in 1939 set forth what many historians call “the golden age of military aviation.” This is because airplanes, after being used substantially in World War I, had been transformed into war machines. WW2 was their prime era where air to air combat was common and all pilots were trained for “dog-fighting” situations. The race was on, then, to see which country could design the best fighter plane.

The axis and the allies both were in the military aviation race; whoever had the best plane had the best military tactics and would therefore win the war. The key to designing the perfect airplane was for the engineers during the time to find the perfect balance between power, agility, speed, armor, weight, and firepower. The Germans had the bf-109 messerschmidt. This was an extremely fast, heavily armored and heavily gunned aircraft. It almost won the Germans the war until the Americans came out with the p-51 mustang.

The engineers who designed the mustang first had to look at what was needed to be improved from the other aircraft in production.

 The AM-6 Zero from the japaneese did not have enough armor. The Messerschmidt was too heavy and not agile enough. The Spitfire from the British was a brilliant plane with an excellent engine so it was fast, but it also had issues with reliability and range. What the American engineers came up with then, was the p-51. A long range bomber escort fighter that would be able to oversee bombing runs into Europe and back. The Mustang was extremely fast topping out at almost 600 mph due to the v12 roll’s royce engine it used (same as the spitfire). The mustang was the first warbird to have a bubble-style canopy. Visibility was an issue during a dogfight and a pilot needed to be aware of his surroundings. The current slide open cockpits that fighters at the time used were made out of panes of glass and offered very little visibility. Therefore, engineers came up with the bubble canopy which was one solid piece of glass. This allowed pilots to see everything around and gave a huge advantage in a dogfight where you would be able to see your enemy before they spotted you. It also utlized 6 -50 caliber machine guns and was heavily armored and one of the most agile planes in the sky. The men responsible for designing the p-51 were the heroes of WW2, because they won the war for the allies. With the p-51s escorting the bombing missions, the bombers could drop their load and return home safely with almost every mission being a success. Just another prime example of how the critical steps of the design process are utlized to produce a truley perfect product; the p-51 mustang in this case.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_P-51_Mustang

http://www.mustangsmustangs.net/p-51/p51.shtml

http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail.asp?aircraft_id=77

Apple just released their newest and hottest item on the market: the highly anticipated iPad mini. As most other Apple products, it sold out within 3 days of being released. It houses a new 7.9 inch display and weighs significantly less than the standard iPad classic. It also includes Apple’s new dual core A5 chip that can be selected with several different memory options. 

It seems as if Apple is following the same trend with the iPads as they did with the iPod series. They kept making it smaller and smaller. However, this time the design process used by Apple was not to innovate something completely new, but to follow other competition for the first time. The main rivals of the new mini are the Samsung Nexus 7 and the Kindle fire. Both are extremely popular and have sold in massive numbers since being released. The iPad is no different since it has been on the market. However, the real question is if Apple is as far ahead of the competition as it was before; or have other companies caught up with the technology and easy user interface that Apple offers?

I do think the iPad mini is an excellent product. It does fill a gap in the market and in their design process they have taken into account the consumers’ requests for a mid size tablet. In my personal opinion though, I would not have one. I do not see the point of owning something that is smaller than an iPad with a smaller screen but not small enough to fit in a pocket. I also do think the day has finally come where Samsung and Amazon have caught up to Apple. I, along with many others would prefer a Samsung Galaxy, and in this case a Nexus 7 over the iPad. They are considerable cheaper than the equivalent Apple products and include the same features and do everything the same if not better. The competition is closing in on Apple by producing the same quality of work for a lower price. In conclusion then, the iPad mini is a sign that Apple needs to come up with something new; not taking the same device and making it bigger or smaller.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/31/ipad-mini-review-apple_n_2049888.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/oct/31/ipad-mini-review

http://mashable.com/2012/09/13/apple-richest-company-make-something-new/

Seven years ago, investment professional Jim Glickenhaus decided that he wanted a custom built car for himself. He had a passion for Ferraris; especially gran prix racers from the 1950s and 60’s. In particular, the Ferrari P/4 was his favorite. Glickenhaus owns two of these legendary road racers but wanted a modern day custom built version based on the current Ferrari Enzo. As a result, him and Andrea Pininfarina (The man responsible for the design of almost every Ferrari in the past 5 decades) teamed up to build a one-off retro version of Glickenhaus’ beloved P/4.

The design process started by finding a used Ferrari Enzo which would be the platform upon which Glickenhaus’ new car would be built. One of those runs about $1.5 million these days. Once the Enzo was tracked down Glickenhaus and his team began tearing apart the million dollar hand built car and after several months and many hours of work, the Ferrari P4/5 was born.

Glickenhaus was so pleased with his new car that he decided in June of 2010 that he was going to race it. As what usually happens in a design process, though, he ran into several problems. The first being that Ferrari did not want their badge on his car since it was not assembled in the Ferrari factory in Maranello, Italy. Secondly, there are many rules and regulations in racing and the Ferrari P4/5 met none of them. Due to this, Glickenhaus boldly decided to make ANOTHER P4/5, dubbing this one the “Competizione” which would qualify for the specific race Glickenhaus wanted to enter; the grueling Nurburgring 24 hour endurance race.

This tall ambition meant starting from scratch. The P4/5 Competizione would no longer be based on the Enzo. The P4/5 Team used a Ferrari 430 Scuderia as the platform for the new car because it had a v8 engine instead of a v12 and met most of the Nurburgring standards to enter the race. Glickenhaus had a new design plan. This was not just for his recreational purposes anymore, this was to win a race against some of the biggest names in the business: Audi, Aston Martin, BMW, and Mercedes. The new P4/5 was fitted with strengthening beams and a long range endurance fuel tank. It was designed to be both fast and EXTREMELY reliable. During qualifying and practice sessions in April 2012, the P4/5 ran with minimal error.Here is a video of it in a practice lap in Germany.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8uVDN3tMIU

Come race day in May, the Ferrari finished 24th overall out of over 100 cars. An outstanding achievement for a man and a few of his friends working on a car in upstate New York who competed against enormous car firms who invest billions to make their cars as fast as possible. Clearly, Jim Glickenhaus is an outstanding designer and next year, he is back to win.

http://www.p45competizione.eu/contents/concept

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=10&ved=0CF4QFjAJ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bloomberg.com%2Fvideo%2Fthe-intense-ferrari-obsession-of-jim-glickenhaus-v~mo8eY_QRuCkk0g0PSvig.html&ei=SPWPUJrQGrO80QHiiYHgBQ&usg=AFQjCNGLwi5F3zAffV3_yEKhtzzLCHLlvA&sig2=wXPQTyrwiporMLfUMWQmlw

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=13&ved=0CHQQFjAM&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.0-60mag.com%2Fnews%2F2011%2F06%2Fcars-take-another-look-inside-jim-glickenhauss-garage%2F&ei=SPWPUJrQGrO80QHiiYHgBQ&usg=AFQjCNGJd7HkVOg9fLV8XCs220nV0EGc0g&sig2=iOfW14iOVnD06LDVnrtrLQ

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=11&ved=0CGMQFjAK&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.autoblog.com%2F2012%2F10%2F15%2Fglickenhaus-ferrari-p4-5-competizione-seen-and-heard-testing-at%2F&ei=N_yPULKMNIqw0AHg8IHIDQ&usg=AFQjCNGtwUeoptuoDAZsRL4ve-f3zO_kvg&sig2=ieuyCXFcA-bzBZ2V64yXBQ

In my last blog, I talked about electric cars and how the battery technology just is not there yet to produce a car that functions the same with the same range as an internal combustion vehicle. As I mentioned, the range on current electric car models was minimal and was not practical for the average motorist who commutes to places over 100 miles away. Now though, Tesla has released a fully electric car with a 300 mile range. This may not yet be as much as a gasoline car but it has definitely brought the electric car up a notch on the practicality level.

Consumers have been asking for years for better range on their electric cars and now Tesla has brought all of those wishes and funneled them into the new Tesla Model S. This is a revolutionary car that sets the benchmark for all future practical electric cars. It has lots of space in the back, it is comfortable, but also performs and drives extremely well. This design is extremely important because it covers all the bases that consumers of different opinions. It is economical and extremely high performance for all of those car enthusiasts out there. Most importantly though, as talk show host and motor-head Jay Leno puts it, this car does to the internal combustion car what the car did to the horse. The horse is now used for recreational purposes only and we appreciate it for the beauty of the animal and the essence of what it is. That is what is going to become of the petrol car. We will use electric cars which produce no emissions to commute to work and for daily purposes and petrol cars will be used for enjoyment on the weekends.

The Tesla Model S is the first car to fulfill this criteria. It is a car one can use every day to commute to work. It can fit a family of 4 or 5 people in it and can definitely replace the average petrol powered family sedan. What Tesla has done was take into consideration what the consumer has been asking for. Tesla has given the market something that it needed to further push the electric car market forward. I do believe that this is the first of many cars that will wipe out the petrol engine as the workhorse of the transportation world.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=11&sqi=2&ved=0CFIQFjAK&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FTesla_Model_S&ei=NEuPUMHONtGy0AGGvoHYDQ&usg=AFQjCNEr_QG4dVg2oAWkWXW-MLMBuNDrHQ&sig2=fV8EhsV6bac5mFZPmNA38A

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2013-tesla-model-s-reviews

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/cars/tesla/2012-tesla-model-s/index.shtml#item=263630

Global Warming: a term that has been used extensively throughout the past decade or so. Politicians and scientists have been pushing the fact that cars need to be more fuel efficient and they are the reason that there is a hole in the ozone layer and the ice caps are melting. Car manufacturers therefore, responded with the electric car.

Now, the electric car has been around for nearly a century.  However, none of them really caught on because gasoline powered cars were much more practical and could go longer without filling up. When the climate change issue started to become more serious, though, engineers had to re-think the electric car concept. The concept is simple; take a normal car, take out the engine, and replace it with an electric one right? Wrong. Although electric motors work brilliantly, they do require an incredible amount of electric current which is very difficult to fit into a battery. So difficult in fact that Tesla, an american electric sports car company, has fit over 6000 batteries into their car to keep it sufficiently powered. Even then the car will only do 100 miles or so without being charged, which takes 16 hours.

The problem with the batteries has been researched and tried again and again. The latest advancement has been lithium polymer batteries which are extremely light and can produce an extreme amount of power. Given that though, longevity of the batteries is still an issue. Then technology just is not there yet for electric cars to catch on. It is a brilliant idea to use electric motors instead of gasoline. There are no emissions and they actually produce more power than internal combustion engines. The battery technology just is not there yet. I do believe electric cars are the future. We either need to be able to refine the battery technology and get them to last longer or come up with a different way to power them.

http://inventors.about.com/od/estartinventions/a/History-Of-Electric-Vehicles.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Motors

http://www.hybridcars.com/electric-car

Few things in this world attract consumers to the point where they will pay tens of millions of dollars for something that is over 80 years old. The Bugatti type 35 gran prix race car is one of these special items. The type 35 Bugatti was built in the 1920’s by Ettore Bugatti; a brilliant french automotive engineer who lived in pre-WW2 france. Bugatti engineered race cars to compete in the legendary Le Mans 24 hour endurance race.

Today, the few of these legendary race cars left are valued and cherished by collectors around the world who spend over $3 million on them at auction. They are so valuable and delicate that few owners dare to drive them like they were designed to be driven. There is, however, a solution.  Several years ago, a company in Argentina called Pur Sang began to reproduce these historic Le Mans racers along with several other models from the period. The president, Leonidas Anadón owns a real type 35 and decided that he was going to make replicas for others to buy. The word replica, though, has many different meanings in our time. Some cars are just made to look like the originals but have different motors or different suspension. Pur Sang brings the word replica into it’s truest definition. Every part is hand made to the exact dimensions as it would have been in the 1920s by Bugatti’s employees in France. The incredible part of this process is the design of these incredible replicas using period techniques. No CNC machines or any modern engineering technology. The body is hand cast and hammered; each car is different and has it’s own “personality.” The engineers building these cars are more craftsman than anything and put their heart and soul into each car. The result, is something that strikes joy and happiness into Bugatti enthusiasts with an EXACT copy of their beloved type 35, for 1/10th of the price at a mere $250 thousand. The engineering passion that went into building each car in the early 20th century has been brought into the 21st century. Currently, there is no other company like Pur Sang that produces such a true replica of a piece of history like this and that is why Jay Leno (the world’s biggest car collector) has bought one of their cars. He, among with hundreds of others realize Pur Sang’s drive to bring out emotion in design.

http://www.pursangweb.com/

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/cars/bugatti/1937-bugatti-type-35-pur-sang-replica/index.shtml

http://www.bugattirevue.com/revue25/argentin.htm

During the past several years, a topic that has been constantly discussed on the news has been the automotive industry. Dozens of car firms have struggled to make profit in the extremely recessive market. Engineers and technicians needed to come up with new and fresh ideas to sell more cars. The goal was to combine art and science; making a successfully functioning vehicle that is also aesthetically pleasing and will catch the eye of the consumer.

Auto makers responded immediately and the market saw a drastic trend in the efforts of companies to produce properly good looking and well performing cars. A prime example of this is KIA motor company. Prior to the previous late-decade recession, KIA models were bland and boring and ugly. Now however, they are some of the best looking and best functioning cars on the market with models such as the Optima and the Forte.

The key to the high trend in product quality was auto-engineers’ ability to balance art with science. Science is playing a MUCH bigger role in automotive design now then it had 20 years ago. During this time, car designers would not spend nearly as much time working out aerodynamics, safety, and fuel efficiency as they do in modern times. The result, since engineers focused more on the functionality of cars, resulted in very aesthetically unpleasing products. Take models such as the Pontiac Aztec, and the 2000 Ford Taurus. Clearly, aesthetic design was not something anyone considered. If you look at the modern versions of these cars however, they are extremely beautiful such as the 2012 Ford Taurus.

The prime example of this balance of beauty and performance is the 2012 Ferrari 458. Ferrari’s, although striking and exotic, weren’t always the most beautiful cars. The engineers were too concerned about things such as aerodynamics that it basically came down to a computer designing the whole body of the car. In the 458, though, things are a little bit different. Despite the fact that it is incredibly aerodynamic and maintains such a high level of performance and meeting all of the regulations set by the government, Ferrari has made a truly beautiful car. This then is the perfect example of the automotive design process. Making the car the best it can be functionally while keeping in mind that the automobile needs to look good to appeal to the consumer as well.

http://voices.yahoo.com/ferrari-458-italia-art-science-9035419.html

http://wardsauto.com/ar/kia_attracting_japanese_110610

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=d5b3d193-1f07-4858-9d5a-01d562a5cbef%40sessionmgr115&vid=1&hid=126&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=buh&AN=4248220

It is said that if you gave an engineer all of the money and all of the resources in the world, he/she can design anything and make anything possible. The reality of this situation is that engineers don’t have this luxury; especially in the military industry. When something is purchased by the military, they look for the absolute best piece of design for the cheapest price. In the case of the military’s new stealth fighter however, the Lockheed-Martin f-22 Raptor was the most advanced fighter ever made, at an extremely large cost.  After the f-22 contract was signed several years ago, nearly 200 planes have been produced and put into action. However at nearly $150 million a pop, this was no cheap expense for the governments already tight defense budget. Right in the middle of a recession the government signed one of the biggest expenses of all time which brings in the question: Why design something if it will be too expensive to produce?

The aviation industry is of particular criticism to this thought. Two prime examples include the concord and the sr-71 blackbird spy plane. Both put out of production because they were just too expensive to operate and produce. This should be included in the design process of every aeronautical engineer working on the f-22. Looking at past designs and analyzing why they failed. Also, the economy and government spending should be taken into account to determine the budget for the design of the aircraft. Therefore, even though billions of dollars have been spent designing the f-22, it was all over in 2009 when the Obama administration cancelled the deal. Basically, Lockheed-Martin broke even on the deal selling just under 200 planes. Therefore, in order to produce successful planes such as the f-18 and f-16 the aviation industry needs to look at budgeting the aircraft more. The reason the f-18 works is because it is an extremely advanced piece of design for a price that many of them can be operated and produced while being effective. There will always be scarcity involved and that is why some economics needs to be factored into the design process before putting something into production.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/07/21/us-usa-congress-defense-idUSTRE56K4KN20090721

http://www.f-22raptor.com/news_view.php?nid=415

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jul/22/nation/na-f-22-plane22