Durex Industries is a manufacturer of electrical resistance heating elements and heaters as well as temperature sensors. Primary industries served are semiconductor and plastics.Engineering Manager: Manage design engineering team. Lead on technical issues• Reduced thermal uniformity by 66% on an aluminum pedestal heater by modeling the customers environment and creating an efficient CFD strategy to simulate multiple design iterations. New design created a unique method of managing thermal uniformity.• Redesigned competitors stainless pedestal heater using CFD and testing to get better thermal performance while using less expensive materials. Part is currently being ramped up for production.• Revised design, manufacture and furnace cycle of brazed stainless-steel heater to reduce residual stresses and thermal gradients, resulting in profitable yields through brazing.• Redesigned tubing layout on a chill plate to make it manufacturable for CNC bending equipment. Transparency of thermal requirements confirmed using CFD.

Complete random linear modeling of components and full system to predict performance and structural problems. Complete model (noise and vibration) analysis. Recommend to Business units, ways to improve or redesign components. Complete reports and technical summaries for internal and external customers. Develop project budgets, development schedules and project requirements. Prepare technical capability presentations for customers and potential customers. Complete technical analysis based on data collected, establish collection techniques, instrumentation required and types of data input required. Determine type and extent of FEA/FEM or model analysis required. Designs and constructs specialized instrumentation and/or modifies existing equipment or software programs. Acts as a liaison with advance platform engineers, test lab, salesmen and business units. Specifies equipment, procedures, test methods and data collection procedures for evaluation.• Collected data and created database of returned components for root cause failure analysis• Road Load Data Acquisition (RLDA) for test cell development • EGR cooler fatigue and performance testing and test parameter development.• Developed CFD/FEA/Fatigue analysis for EGR cooler life predictions. This 4 day analysis replaced 4-6 months of rig testing per design iteration • Development of high pressure Waste Heat Recovery heat exchanger mathematical model. Prototype build and testing• Development of highly complex tube models and analysis of same• Analysis support of strain gauge experiments to determine stress concentration factors.• Development of analysis procedures for company wide use (thermal, fatigue, vibration, pressure)• Introduction of new radial fin heat transfer tube to product mix.• Develop rigs for product testing (Delphi battery inverter chill plate)• Designed oversaw build and tested battery inverter chill plates for the automotive market.

Team lead on the design, build and testing of customer ordered prototypes. Project Manager for new product development responsible for planning, design documentation, tracking, reporting and contingency planning of new product development projects. Resolved design intent with customers and sales staff. Procured and managed necessary materials, services and outside manufacturers. Supervised prototype staff and scheduled the build of prototype orders. Facilitated the transfer of the part into full production. Internal, vendor and customer point of contact for technical and project issues.• Developed supplier of Al vacuum brazing on $12,000 semiconductor pedestal heaters with internal features thereby enabling a simplified build and establishing cost at $2,000. • Identified and implemented solution to quality issue on threads and cut surfaces of chill plate, leading to customer 100% acceptance of parts.• Eliminated lost project files and attained accessibility to multiple people by instituting an electronic project file system.• Pioneered the practice of storing supporting Engineering Change Notice (ECN) documents electronically, thereby abolishing missing ECN notes.• Created multi-project resource constrained tracking system which reduced degree of lateness on projects by 60% and mapped out the means for multiple project expediting.• Devised and implemented a time tracking methodology which can be used for developing engineering quotes.• Medical heater yield raised from under 50% to over 95% by overhauling how components are constrained.• Upgraded Semiconductor platen heater processing, resulting in first shipments with zero quality defects. The elimination of rework brought the cost of a $6,750 item down to $2,000.• Resolved leak issue on a $5,500 Semiconductor pedestal heater by redesigning the shaft. Simultaneously, eliminated an $850 bimetal joint and a $350 electron beam welding service.

Research and development and new product development of products and processes that were not core to the company but could become a beneficial fit. Developed company fundamental processes to work in new markets. Performed internal and customer presentations to review company technical solutions. Weighed new technologies design and cost factors to determine feasibility. Shifted the product or process to the business units for product launch or further development.• Conceptualized, built and tested higher performing next generation Exhaust Gas Recirculation Cooler of sheet metal construction. Results showing a 75% increase in heat transfer rate and a 44% decrease in pressure drop.• Promoted talks with customers and business partners by researching, building and presenting an all metal fuel filler tube for automotive.• Created foothold in new Class 8 truck market by leading development of leak proof exhaust decoupler for trucks. Development included design, prototyping, data acquisition, performance and life testing FEA, and manufacturing. Program currently running above $100,000/year.• Formulated methodology for establishing performance of heat exchangers in a new company market. Managed design and delivery of test equipment for the new market.• Created Innovative stamped sheet metal cross flow oil cooler engineered to work with companies manufacturing strengths, resulting in an 18% higher heat transfer and a 31% reduction in pressure drop over typical design.• Researched Kolsterizing as a method to increase durability. Ran a comparative study showing an over 7 times improvement to durability for the Kolsterized parts.• Worked with customer (Delphi) to devise an in rail fuel pressure damper to compete with their incumbent design.