SANDIA LAB NEWS for Clean Room VOL
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ASME Honors Willis Whitfield SANDIA LAB NEWS For Clean Room VOL. 21, NO. 16, AUGUST 1, 1969 One of the highest honors won by a Sandian, the American Society of Me• chanical Engineers' Holley Medal, has been awarded to Willis Whitfield (1742) for his concept of the laminar flow clean room Analog Goes Mod principle. Election to the select group of recipients puts Willis in the company of such men as Henry Ford, Ernest Lawrence (cylo• tron) , Carl Norden (Norden bombsight), EAI-680 -- Sandia's New Computer and Edwin Land (Polaroid). The gold medal, which has been award• ed since 1924, will be presented during ceremonies in November. With Hybrid Option in Its Future In an ASME publication, qualifications A recent significant addition to Sandia's for receiving the award are described: computer capability is Electronic Associ• "The Holley Medal is bestowed only on one ates EAI-680, a modern, medium-scale, who by some great and unique act of solid state analog computer. Principal use genius of an engineering nature has ac• of the new computer will be in connection complished a great and timely public with the Analog and Hybrid Simulation benefit ... The achievement should be of Project headed by Craig Jones (9422). The such public importance as to be worthy new system, located at the Bldg. 880 Cen• of the gratitude of the nation and to call tral Computing Facility, replaces one forth admiration of engineers." which had been in continuous service for The laminar flow clean room, used to over 12 years. eliminate airborne contamination within In addition to a somewhat expanded closed spaces, has become an essential tool complement of analog components and in the space program and in electronics, peripheral equipment, the new EAI-680 microbiological control, medicine, and contains a repetitive operation or "rep• many other areas. op" capability and parallel digital logic. The latter feature is of particular impor• tance in providing effective programmable control of the complex processes required Labs Tested Nuclear for problem solution. These characteristics have greatly extended the capabilities of Heaters Left on analog simulation at Sandia. Moreover, the EAI-680 can, in the future, be incorporated Moon by Apollo " int:> a multi-console "hybrid" con;igura• tion. A true hybrid computer consists of a Two cup-sized radioisotopic heaters digital ccmputer, an analog computer, and analyzed and safety tested at Sandia Lab• il1terface gear which allows the analog and oratories are part of the instrumentation digital subsystems to "talk" to each other. left on the moon by astronauts of Apollo Hybrid computers combine and extend 11. the digital's superiority in the areas of Function of the heaters - each provid• control and precision and the analog's ad• ing 15 thermal watts of energy - is to vantage in speed. The present EAI-680 keep the seismic "moonquake" instrumen• analog system represents an important tation warm and operational during the element in the evolution of a major hybrid extreme cold of the two-week lunar nights. facility at Sandia. As the temperature of the moon's surface ANALOG PATCH PANEL which contains a program is held by Craig Jones (9422). This Scientists and engineers began experi• drops to 300 ° F below z e l' 0, the menting with hybrid computers over a panel fits into the console of the EAI-680 analog computer (on the left). Other patch heaters will be warmed to a cozy 65 de• decade ago. Today, hybrid computation is panels with programs are stacked in the background. grees below zero - within the operational a rapidly expanding technology, able to range of the instruments. cope with a new range of problems and to being solved on our analog computer." multaneously in the system were high The heaters were designed and built by provide less expensive solutions to existing Typical problems being solved on the frequency components associated with the Mound Laboratory which is operated for ones. Although analog/hybrid computation EAI-680 are those relating to the behavior rotation of the missile and low frequency the AEC by Monsanto Research Corpora• is only one of the many scientific comput• of electronic circuits, vibrating mechanical components reflecting the slow rate of tion. ing and applied math activities in which systems, missile trajectories, heat transfer change in the missile's attitude. In addi• Sandia's safety evaluation produced the Mathematical Computing Division 9422 processes, and control system simulations. tion, very high speed switching was re• aerothermodynamic information which is involved, Al Iacoletti, division super• Parameter optimization studies, complete quired to represent the action of stabilizing. helped engineers at Mound Laboratory ar• visor, indicates that the hybrid area is six-degree-of-freedom trajectory problems, jets. rive at the final design. Safety questions potentially one of the most important to partial differential equations, and complex "With this analog computer," project were answered by mathematical computa• system simulations constitute some of the Sandia. leader Craig Jones sums up, "solutions tions backed up by testing of models and Al states, "Analog computers provide the more promising areas for hybrid computa• were produced at least 15 times faster than tion. components in Sandia's environmental fastest, cheapest, and most effective com• by the corresponding digital simulations testing facilities. putation for many scientific and engineer• Although just recently accepted official• on the CDC-3600. We also realized a valu• The shape of the heaters and the path ing problems, especially those formulated ly, the EAI-680 analog computer has al• able increase in man-machine interaction." and velocity through space were used to in terms of systems of ordinary differential ready been used to solve a number of tech• Al adds, "For design problems in general, determine the heat, pressure, vibration equations, both linear and non-linear. Par• nical problems. One of these, from this interactive capability is vital. Pro• and shock which they might experience. tial differential equations generally require Mechanical Design Division 7214, involved grammable parallel logic and automatic In turn, the design of the package itself• a digital or hYbrid computer for their solu• the simulation of an attitude control sys• repetitive operation make the EAI-680 par• particularly its ability to withstand shock tion, although certain types can and are tem for a sounding rocket. Occurring si- ticularly useful on these problems." and heat - was analyzed to ensure that Other recent simulations performed on it could survive these conditions. the EAI-680 include a roll control design Dynamic shock machines, rocket sleds, using rolamite principles for the Explor• atory Systems organization, a guided par• reentry arc tunnels and other facilities in achute study for the Aerothermodynamics Sandia's environmental test area were Directorate, and simulation of a time delay used to obtain this test data. Heater pack• for the Product Data Systems Development ages were "reentered" in a supersonic organization. stream of gas which subjected them to Craig and others assigned to the project o - Jim Allensworth, Ron Domres, Steve temperatw'es approaching 3500 F. The Petty and Fred Wyatt - are immediately packages were also accelerated by rocket concerned with broadening the application sleds into a variety of targets to determine of modern analog computation to the vari• their ability to survive. ous technical problems of the Laboratories. In addition to this technical, staff-level support, increasing effort is being devote<i' P. Banas Paper to the comprehensive evaluation of hybrid J. techniques. Because Sandia's staff is large• Presented at ly digitally oriented, a continUing seminar on analog computers is being given to ac• Polish Symposium quaint engineers and programmers with J. P. Banas (1733) and Andre Vacroux, what analog computers can and cannot do. associate professor at Illinois Institute of These seminars are also effective in famil• Technology, were co-authors of a paper iariZing the staff with the growing list of professional, computer related services which the latter presented last month in offered by the Computing Directorate. Warsaw, Poland. Craig notes, "As Sandia's computing The paper was entitled, "Optimal Dis• ~apabilities increase, we will be solving crete Control of Time Lag Systems," and larger and more complex problems corres• was based upon research carried out by ponding to more exact physical models. the Sandian while working on his doctoral Considering the cost per solution of today's degree. The Fourth International Federa• problems, cheaper methods must be found tion on Automatic Control meeting, June JIM ALLENSWORTH (left) and Ron Domres (both 9422) are at the EAI-680 console with the to solve future problems. We believe this 16-21, attracted delegates from 33 coun• patch panel in position. In the background are sine-wave generator, oscilloscope, and plotter. comP1.lt~1' is part Q! tb.e answer." tries. Some 70 papers were presented. Megabucks Saved $4.7 Million 'Profit' Shown By Cost Improvement Program for FY '69 These days nearly everyone worries about 2000. In 1965, the program was expanded ways to save money. Included in the wor• to include the entire Laboratories, and riers are a number of Sandians who found since that time savings of nearly $25 mil• ways to save a total of $4,688,055 during lion have been reported. the past fiscal year. Reuben says that cost improvements are This figure was compiled by the Cost gained in many ways - innovations in Improvement Policy Committee headed by equipment and test procedures, use of Charles Barncord (7€OO). In an annual salvaged or surplus materials, improved report, the Committee cited 72 individuals operational techniques, etc. "We also take for ideas which either saved money out• into account safety and accident preven• right or offered ways to avoid spending tion practices," he says.