Sometimes the biggest savings come from the problems you avoid….
With experience comes the ability to anticipate the things that can go wrong, including changes in expectations and requirements as a design matures. I have taken a large number of projects from first concept to full production. Whether it is a highly complex and technologically sophisticated project, or a small one needing an elegant, simple and cost effective solution, I can define a highly effective architecture – either on my own or in collaboration with your team. I instinctively weigh a large number of competing factors, including how best to leverage well-supported, off-the-shelf sub-systems; how to reduce cost, simplify assembly, and maximize reliability; and how to prove the feasibility of any risky aspects of the design early in the development cycle.
I can take the development of your product or process from start to finish, leveraging my network of preferred suppliers, manufacturers, machine shops, drafters, technicians and other consultants so as to reduce overall costs. Or I can help you with one part or phase. My expertise is often applied to the early phases of technical development (e.g., R&D, first prototype design), but I have also worked extensively in productization and early manufacturing phases to assure peak product performance.
I often work on projects having one or more of the following features:
- High precision / fine tolerances;
- Risks of failure due to high stresses, wear or inadequate rigidity;
- Complex mechanisms;
- Integrated disciplines (thermal, vibrations, electronics, microwave/wave propagation, electro-magnetics, etc.);
- Challenging materials or environments (including chemical compatibility and contamination avoidance);
- Small feature size, Microfabrication;
- Requirement for a new and innovative approach to meet cost and/or performance goals.
Areas of Expertise (10+ years technical leadership)
Solid mechanics: stress distribution, strength of materials, Finite Element Analysis (linear and non-linear), wear and hardness.
Vibrations: Time and frequency domain analysis of transducer inputs (accelerometers, capacitance probes, microphones, laser dopler vibrometers, laser sensors, etc.), modal analysis and system resonances (through simulations and/or experimentally), vibration attenuation, stimulus-response transfer functions.
Precision mechanisms: Design for rigidity, tolerance stack-ups, precision bearings, linkages, position feedback (laser interferometers, capacitance probes, etc.)
My experience in the areas below enables me to effectively solve problems and create systems that involve them. It also enables me to quickly assimilate technical information and work more effectively with your domain experts.
- Motion control
- Thin film metal and dielectric deposition
- RF and microwave fields and the electro-magnetics of DC motors
- Design, analysis and measurements related to heat transfer
- Elastomer characterization
- Commercial machining and chemical processes
- Manufacturing engineering in both high and low volume production, including many hundreds of hours in cleanrooms.
- Thermodynamics