Electric fuel pump New Zealand’s company Rocket Lab has an Electron rocket that uses a similar layout to SpaceX’s Falcon rocket. Both have a nine engine first stage and a single engine second stage. Both use liquid oxygen and RP-1, a refined form of kerosene. The most notable difference is scale – the Falcon is…
When the M178 AMG V8 biturbo engine came out, it was a dramatic improvement over its predecessor. Its features showcase Inventive Principles. Lower displacement The new engine is 4.0 litres in displacement, compared with its 6.2-liter M156/159 predecessor, a whopping 35% reduction. Principle 35 – Parameter Change With improvements listed below, the new engine is…
Dodge’s SRT Demon Challenger makes fast lap times the old fashioned way: big displacement, big supercharger, big tires. But it has some 21st century tricks up its bulging fender flares, too. The SRT Power Chiller A common problem with high powered engines is the enormous demands for cooling. Some cars can’t keep up and the…
Prompted by the aggressive moves of Tesla Motors, the news is full of full-line car manufacturers announcing electric vehicles in the near future. One could easily conclude that the electric future is already written and that the internal combustion engine (ICE) will soon be put out to pasture. Even so, companies are still labouring to…
“With the avalanche of new products, new technologies and new ways of working, employees are going to have to become more creative in order to benefit from these changes. “Robots may help us get to where we want to be faster, but they can’t be as creative as humans (yet).” World Economic Forum senior writer,…
Audi is working with Noonee, a Swiss startup which produces the “Chairless Chair” – pictured above. It allows the worker to lower herself to the right height for the job without strain on her legs. Meanwhile, Ford is testing a shoulder supporting vest (pictured above) by Ekso Bionics that makes it easier for workers who…
Elon Musk named his car company Tesla in honour of Nikola Tesla, a Serbian-American best known for his contributions to the design of modern alternating current electric systems. Tesla (the man) developed the AC induction motor design that Tesla (the company) used in their first roadster, their current (pun!) Model S and Model X. It…
The Chevy introduced the next generation Silverado last week and it comes with some interesting innovations. Composite leaf springs The 2019 Silverado will include a second-stage composite (Principle 40 – Composite Materials) leaf spring for a smoother ride that adjusts better to changes in load. Power tailgate The vehicle boats a pickup-truck first, a powered…
This post examines some of Steve Jobs’s application of Principles to building the Apple company. It draws background from this Harvard Business Review article, The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs. Minimizing clutter Steve Jobs was focused on minimizing clutter. This means removing extraneous elements (Principle 2 – Taking Out). When the iPhone was being developed…
The majority of Principles seem to have a vector, e.g. Segmentation says break it into segments while Merging says put bits together. Some Principles don’t have an opposite among other Principles. This includes Cheap Short-Living Objects which suggests changing something reusable into something disposable, not the other way round. TRIZ Journal wrestled with this phenomenon in…