Mentor Blogs

You all know what a chatterbox I can be when I’m excited about something. So believe you me when I say the past few months have been excruciatingly hard for me. I’ve been sitting on some pretty big news and I’ve been itching to tell the world all about it.  Now that the cat is officially out of the bag, there’s no holding me back… FloTHERM XT as the enabling technology in the EDA/MDA design flow. The … Read More

Design Engineer, FloEFD, CFD, Thermal, FloTHERM XT

A few months ago one of my colleagues showed me a picture of the Jaguar F-Type. In case you haven’t heard, it’s the newest model and their return to the 2-seater luxury market. I love Jaguar cars but I never felt old enough to drive one. Until I saw a picture of the F-Type. This beast is a thing of beauty. So when three weeks ago the same colleague told me that a car magazine was looking for a handful … Read More

Design Engineer

I live in a 3D world –3D simulation that is.  I remember when my work life went from 2D to 3D. I used to sit in a cubicle across from a software developer who specialized in graphics. He was a pesky lad. Whenever he’d get stuck on a particularly difficult piece of code he would throw missiles of all kinds at me – anything from crumpled pieces of paper to rubber bands and paper clips. I don’t know why … Read More

Design Engineer, FloEFD, CFD, Flowmaster, ROI

I admire mechanical engineers. I really mean it. If the world ever implodes, then I want to be hanging out with you guys. You know how to build and fix things. I on the other hand can probably contribute to the betterment of future society by picking berries (so long as I don’t have to deal with any creepy crawlies) or by spreading good cheer – I can’t help it I’ve got a sunny disposition (that … Read More

Design Engineer, FloEFD, CFD

What a wonderful expression this is … putting feathers in our caps. I looked up the origins of this phrase and found that in the days gone by people used to put a new feather in the headgear of warriors for every enemy they defeated in battle. And the more feathers in the headdress, the more victories and the better the warrior. Our CFD battlefield is symbolic in nature but it exists nonetheless. And … Read More

Shortcut field, Bottleneck field, CFD, Award, EDN Hot 100, Electronics Cooling, Design Engineer, Design News Golden Mousetrap

I’ve been on the road a lot lately. Aside from attending company meetings, I’ve been out meeting our customers. This is perhaps the most enjoyable part of my job – meeting engineers who’ve been using our products to solve real-life problems. In this day and age of tight budgets, we all have learned to do a lot remotely – we send email, speak on the phone, videoconference and watch demos via webex etc. … Read More

Design Engineer, FloEFD, CFD

I’m off to the States in a couple of days and in the 20 or so odd hours that will take me to get to my final destination (door to door), I will use all of the popular modes of transportation known in the 21st century. I will take a train to the airport, where we board a plane and upon arriving in the States we rent a car to drive 58 miles to the hotel. During this period I will be sitting in lots of … Read More

Design Engineer, Passenger Comfort, CFD

No one really knows where the term “mind your P’s and Q’s” came from or what it really means. I always thought it had something to do with being polite and saying thank you. But in a recent article by Erich Buergel, our division General Manager, he talked about the 3 P’s of the business world and why we should mind them in our quest for greater productivity. They are (in no particular order) People, … Read More

Design Engineer, FloEFD, CFD, FloVENT

In a recent survey, 60% of mechanical engineers in electronics companies stated that thermal issues had forced board layout changes during the previous 12 months. While I can’t purport to know how much respins cost within every organization, I’m willing to bet it is not an insignificant amount – especially if the company has a large portfolio. But I know that thermal simulation can help minimize the … Read More

FloTHERM PCB, Respin, Design Engineer, Thermal Design

I admit it. I’m a petrol-head and so are the guys around the office. We watch Top Gear and Fifth Gear and come to work abuzz about the latest car news (and the stunts).  So when I heard about a new race car design that was completed in 8 weeks, I was pretty excited. I thought these things took much longer than that! The CEEMO Engineering concept car in action. Image courtesy of Voxdale. CEEMO Engineering … Read More

Automotive Design, car chassis, aerodynamic, FloEFD, What-If, concept car, Design Engineer

After a week of uncertainty, the skies above Europe have finally opened (albeit slowly) to air traffic. Thanks to this pesky plume of volcano ash from Iceland, all of Europe has come to a complete standstill. At a micro level, I have been enjoying the quiet — no jet engines screeching overhead every few minutes.  At a macro level, this couldn’t have happened at a worst time for a recovering world economy.  … Read More

CFD, Design Engineer, Airflow, FloEFD, Flow Field

I love gadgets but I hate cables – they make things so untidy. As a result, anything that can go wireless in our house has – even our light switches are on remote control. I used to think this was just plain silly when we were going through the retrofit until I realized I could turn off the kitchen lights from the comfort of our sofa. I’ve only used this “power” once but I tell you knowing that I can … Read More

Physical Prototype, CFD, Consumer Electronics, Automotive, Quality, EMI shielding, Medical, Design Engineer, Thermal, Electromagnetic Interference

I remember watching the first space shuttle launch back in 1981.  And almost 29 years later I still remember the sense of awe I felt when watching it take off. It felt like the whole country collectively held its breath and exhaled when it landed safely a few days later. It was a sight to behold and for the first time in my life it made me realize that Sci-Fi in this case was not fiction anymore.  Over … Read More

Processing Plant, Pressure, Valves, CFD, Design Engineer, Cavitation, Water Treatment Plan, Medical Equipment, Pipes, Flow, Fuel Delivery

Double-time.  Instantaneous.  Faster than the speed of light. No… these words do not describe the speed by which I reach a conclusion (although my husband would beg to differ). These words refer to our generation wanting things. We want it now. We can’t wait. We no longer purchase a DVD online and wait for it to arrive – at a touch of a button we stream the movie and watch it immediately. Forget about … Read More

Physical Prototype, CFD, Design Engineer, CAD-Embedded, Oil and Gas, Optimize, Drill Bit, FloEFD

Don’t worry… I’m not going Sci-Fi on you. I’m talking about reaction forces. What do I mean by reaction forces? Well, when there is a relative motion between a solid object and a surrounding fluid, a force will be placed on the solid due to the pressure variation over the surface of the solid. This force is caused by the change in speed and direction of the fluid. For example, we see reaction forces … Read More

Safety, Reaction Forces, Design Engineer, FloEFD, CFD, Quality, R&D, Physical Prototype