digital tools and references
Monitoring Turbine Performance Capability: Cap-Stop analyzes the thermal performance of single- reheat steam turbines in fossil-fueled central stations. It uses a spreadsheet format and is written for Excel 5.0 for Windows. The program relies on historic test data, including performance tests conducted immediately after initial commissioning or overhaul, periodic enthalpy drop tests, and periodic performance-monitoring tests conducted with station instrumentation.

Cap-Stop provides a probable conclusion about the condition of the turbine, comments on the reasonableness of the data, and lists (in tabular form) the key parameters that account for the performance change.

Hardware:IBM-compatible 486 or higher PC running Windows 3.1 or later.

Developer: Cotton F.A.C.T. Inc., 216 Sugar Hill Rd., Rexford, NY 12148-1440; (518) 371-6259.

Cost: Cost: $2,500.
Integrated CAD/CAM/CAE Capability: Cadra version 10 is a suite of CAD/CAM/CAE applications created to provide a complete Windows-based design and analysis system. The suite encompasses drafting, numerical- control, solid-modeling, and electrical-control and power-system design. It is integrated with COSMOS/M and COSMOS/FFE finite-element analysis programs, providing Cadra users with instant access to design-analysis capabilities.

Cadra Solids is used to create solid models; design assemblies; visualize products under development; explore what-if scenarios; and communicate designs to other departments, management, and outside vendors. Engineers can create models without first defining conditions or attributes. Instead, as part geometry is drawn, the software automatically assigns and tracks features such as holes, ribs, and bosses in accordance with the designer's intent. Cadra Design Drafting produces detail, layout, and assembly drawings; generates multiview projections, including isometrics and auxiliary views; and creates technical illustrations.

Cadra NC provides multiaxis NC programming capabilities. It generates two- to five-axis NC part programs and controls a variety of NC machine tools. Composite curves can be created by linking a number of existing curves; ruled surfaces can also be produced. Cadra E performs error-checking functions automatically, and helps users generate lists with cross-referenced wire numbers, parts lists, connection plans, labels, and interconnecting diagrams. Cadra DM provides tools for viewing and controlling the design- development process, and establishes an organized system for managing change orders, document releases, and product structures.

Hardware: IBM-compatible PC or workstation running DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, or Windows NT.

Developer: Adra Systems Inc., 2 Executive Dr., Chelmsford, MA 01824; (508) 937-3700; fax (508) 453-2462.

Cost: Cadra Design Drafting, $3,995; Cadra Solids (including Cadra Design Drafting), $6,500; Cadra NC, $5,995 to $9,995; Cadra DM, $8,995; Cadra E, $9,000 to $10,000 (all prices are for Windows NT versions).

Application Builder Capability: TK Solver for Windows release 3 is an application- development and mathematical-modeling system that enables users to port legacy engineering-automation and other programs written in FORTRAN or C to Windows. The program, which supports Microsoft Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) 2.0 and OLE Automation, can be used with Visual Basic, Microsoft Excel, and other tools to build engineering-automation and other applications.

With TK Solver's rule-based, declarative computer language, users can enter equations, tables of data, graphics, formulas, rules, and other data in the program's knowledge base. Users are not required to isolate variables, provide cell references, or switch input and output values. External routines in FORTRAN and C can be back- solved with TK Solver. Inputs and outputs can be changed on the fly.

The program's results - inputs and outputs, tables, and plots, for example - can be included in word processors, spreadsheets, databases, and CAD files using OLE 2.0. Once linked or embedded, TK objects can be updated dynamically. Wizards are provided for tasks such as list solving, plotting, and creating presentation-quality graphics. Other features include MathLook (for displaying equations in 2-D as they appear in a textbook), a Greek-character palette, adjustable column widths, and tool and object bars.

Hardware: IBM-compatible PC operating in Windows 3.1, Windows 95, or Windows NT.

Developer: Universal Technical Systems, Inc., 1220 Rock St., Rockford, IL 61101; (815) 963-2220; fax (815) 963-8884.

Cost: $299 for a single-user version. Site licenses are available.
Technical Graphics Capability:Axum 5.0 is a 32-bit graphing package that enables users to organize data into ranges for display in panels on a single page. With this panel-plotting feature, users can compare several dimensions or aspects of a single problem and thereby discover relationships in data sets more easily.

Graphs can be created instantly by selecting data from a built-in data sheet and clicking on one of more than 80 2-D and 3-D plot buttons. The program features seamless links with PowerPoint and Mathcad.

Users can create programs with Axum using a built-in C-based language; complete or partial programming sessions can be recorded, then dragged and dropped onto a tool bar. With this capability, engineers can create custom tool bars for solving commonly encountered problems and distribute them to users throughout their organizations. Tool bars can even be dragged and dropped into other programs, such as Microsoft Word.

Hardware: IBM-compatible 486 PC with 20 MB of RAM running Windows 95, Windows NT, or Windows 3.1; math coprocessor recommended.

Developer:MathSoft Inc., 101 Main St., Cambridge, MA 02142; (617) 577-1017; fax (617) 577-8829.

Cost: $395; upgrade, $149.95.
Integrated CAD and CAM Capability:ANVIL-5000 release 6.0 features ANVIL Verify for Numerical Control simulation and verification, enhancements to its tool-path control capabilities, profile milling, multiple-surface milling, and the NCPost postprocessor. Depending on the configuration, ANVIL Verify can evaluate two-and-a-half, three-, or five-axis tool paths. Multiple check curves can be used when entry or exit moves are defined for a fixed-depth profile-milling operation. Multiple-surface milling includes waterline finishing and a profile-curve function that profiles a set of drive curves with one or more side cuts.

In the 2-D Intelligent Modeler (AIM), circular arrays of holes and rectangular arrays of holes or shapes can be created. In the 3-D AIM, the methods used to construct features are consistent across all solid types. A pop-up viewport is used for sketching and dimensioning.

Hardware:IBM-compatible PC; Unix workstation.

Developer:Manufacturing and Consulting Services Inc., 7560 E. Redfield Rd., Scottsdale, AZ 85260; (602) 991-8700.

Cost: $4,000 to $12,000.
Faster Convergence for CFD Capability:The hybrid relaxation scheme of release 7.6 of FIDAP computational-fluid-dynamics (CFD) software combines explicit and implicit relaxation schemes, and reduces the number of nonlinear iterations in the segregated iterative solver. The program's extrapolation scheme accelerates the convergence of nonlinear iterations. Both hybrid relaxation and extrapolation are preset as the default setting. The program allows the performance of all aspects of fluid-flow analysis, including model building, mesh generation, data input, solution, and postprocessing.

Hardware:Unix-based workstation with 32 MB of RAM.

Developer:Fluid Dynamics International Inc., 500 Davis St., Suite 600, Evanston, IL 60201; (847) 491-0200; fax (847) 869-6495.

Cost:Annual licenses start at $15,000.
Comparing CAD Files Capability:PowerViewII enables engineers to highlight changes in engineering drawings created with CAD systems. The program works with 3-D wire-frame or surface models. New, obsolete, or common geometry can be made to blink and any surface can be shaded to highlight changes. The program accepts surface models in IGES, PDB, PDGS, and VDA formats; the Catia format is optionally supported. Input options include parametric-curve reconstruction, duplicate-object removal, and NURB-surface simplification. Files can be output in IGES, PCL, PDB, PDGS, PostScript, and VDA formats. Users can specify tolerances and minimum deviations.

Hardware: Hewlett-Packard, Silicon Graphics, or Sun workstation running Unix.

Developer:CIMLINC Inc., 1699 Stutz Dr., Troy, MI 48084; (810) 649-0240; fax (810) 643-7185.

Cost: $5,000.

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