April 4, 2008

In a recent showdown between nine four-door midsize SUVs, the redesigned 2009 Nissan Murano earned the Top Safety Pick from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Three engineering polymers help an electronic accelerator pedal increase safety and comfort and reduce energy consumption and CO2 emission in the Mini Cooper and other vehicles.

Extreme engineering The nation’s largest and most complex engineering project was Boston’s “Big Dig.”

The Scuderi split-cycle engine design — billed as the world’s most fuel-efficient engine design — was recently analyzed at the Southwest Research Institute.

“If I had to do it over again, I would’ve pursued a physics degree,” says Jonathan Hammond, staff design engineer for MEMS Technology Development at RF Micro Devices Inc. (RFMD) in Greensboro, N.C.

How “ranking” of design requirements can lead to a good idea

The recent film, The Bank Job, based on an actual 1971 bank-vault robbery in London, had a costar that really lit up the screen: a fiery thermic lance that sliced through concrete, rebar, and vault steel to get the crooks into the vault.

The latest economic data from the Institute of Supply Management says U.S. manufacturing activity has declined to a five-year low, as slowing demand and rising prices continue to damp manufacturing output.

The hype touting LEDs as having a useful life of 100,000 hr is incorrect. So say engineers at Philips Lumileds Lighting Co. in San Jose, Calif.

When measuring pressure, it is sometimes necessary to isolate the sensing element from the material being sensed.

Turning plant matter into ethanol, a fuel suitable for flex-fuel vehicles, traditionally took a lot of energy.

Fuzzy data I couldn’t agree more with your recent editorial (“Why you can’t always believe published research,” Jan. 10).

Answering the demand for machines that use less fuel and run cleaner, two leading construction-equipment manufacturers wowed crowds with innovative propulsion systems at last month’s Conexpo show in Las Vegas.

Manufacturers have long wanted a rivet gun that was fast, light weight, and durable enough for the assembly line.

The Unisteel G316 LHT line of line-haul trailer tires from The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (goodyear.com), use Duraseal technology to let tires punctured in the tread repair themselves.

Air-based heat pumps typically deliver 1.5 to 3 times more heat than the electric energy they consume.

James Henderson was just starting his career when he was tasked to design a stepper motor to drive a rotating stand for testing a missile system.