My Experience with CATIA V4
Thomas E. Kasmer, Hydristor Corp

I have an unusual story to tell you. I am an inventor of 16 years full time standing and I want to relate my experiences with IBM and CATIA (Dassault).

I began my adventure in 1990 after a period of caring for an aged mother. Somewhere in there, I got it in my head that I could single-handedly create the totally solar-powered car of the future for the benefit of everyone. I launched into a campaign to attract various resources which I felt were needed to make this futuristic car powered for free by the sun. I also attracted many volunteers to help with all sorts of tasks and they all convinced me to modify the name of my car from ‘Magnetic One’ to ‘Mag One’. I came up with the original name due to my love of science fiction. I was also invited to a number of industry and trade shows across the country and displayed the Mag One chassis at Denver, McCormick Place - Chicago and Las Vegas. At one of the McCormick shows, I spent time talking with several of the IBM employees at an IBM software display for IBM’s hardware and Dassault’s CATIA.

CATIA V3
That contact resulted in an interest from a person based in IBM Endicott, New York. Michael Zick was in charge of CATIA marketing at the time and took a serious interest in my work. Mike went to both companies management and got approval for initially the loan of an IBM 730 ‘wide body’ mainframe, dials, lpfk, plotter, 21 inch monitor, and in addition the provision of on site hardware and AIX/CATIA 3.2.5 software support. Also, I was sent to CATIA training classes with the IBM employees at the local community college, Broome Tech. I learned the power of this process first hand and it was magnificent!

Having the ability to visualize a mechanical part I had thought up and an inter-related collection of such parts was like having a special pair of reading glasses. I could also show others what I was trying to do. It was most valuable in working with toolmakers and machinists who were going to build the parts for me. This part of my journey was in the 1993 to 1997 time frame. I don’t recall the actual year, but I wrote an article for the COE magazine and was invited to display my solar car chassis at the annual show held that year in New Orleans. I also spoke to the gathering but my message was not very exciting at that time (in my own opinion).

CATIA v4
In 1998-1999, IBM experienced cutbacks as a cost saving measure and the on-site support came to an end. I continued to be supported by individual employees of both IBM and Dassault and that support carried me into the new millennium. A hardware recycler located in Oregon donated a 43p-7248 system to me and I was able to update from CATIA 3.2.5 to CATIA 4.2.1.R1 and AIX 4.3.2 and my work continued.

In 1997, I built the first working model of my invention, the Hydristor (named for ‘hydraulic’ and ‘transistor’). I had an interest from Tecumseh for hydrostatic lawn tractor drives and I traveled to Ann Arbor, Michigan to the Tecumseh Test Lab where the first tests on the Hydristor prototype yielded efficiency at 94.7% including fluid bypass losses. This test was witnessed by Mr. Bill Collins, ‘godfather’ of the famous Pontiac GTO. Bill was semi-retired and was taking an interest in my invention and its potential use in the auto industry. Tecumseh was interested but I did not yet have patent protection for the Hydristor so I set off to file patents. In February of 2000, I was granted patent 6022201. The patent drawings were done on V4 and can be viewed on the Patent Office Web site.

I stopped going to trade shows in 1999 because of the expense and time. I was always given space by the various show managements or I was featured by sponsors like Design News magazine and my work drew the curious and a few who eventually became advocates. One such advocate was Tom Sneva, an Indy500 winner who still believes in my work. I had another advocate who contacted me out of the blue after he read all of my three patents from start to finish. That person was John Delorean who became an advisor to me in my seeking the interest of the auto industry. He was a truly gifted engineer and I was very saddened by his passing. I had several conversations with John as I drove to Las Vegas over a year ago to a hydraulics show as the guest of Hydraulics and Pneumatics magazine to display the V4 designed, Hydristor modified John Deere 200 Riding lawn tractor. You can go to my Web site at www.hydristor.com and see a short video clip of that tractor; the video was done by me (an obvious amateur).

There is a lot more to tell but it is mostly the same kind of breaks and luck that has happened here and there. I have done it with the aide of V4 and I am still using it with great success to do my work. I have created over 2,000 model files over the past 6 years on V4 and most of these are 30-50 megs in size. I have stayed off the internet with my IBM 7248 and I have never had any virus issues because of it. I have been able to overcome some hardware and software limitations and I can provide IGIS or DXF files to the machine shop to build parts. I can also move the 7248 to the shop and show the toolmakers what the finished part will look like. Tolerance studies and interferences are very easy to resolve.

I am looking forward to the day when I can graduate to V5 but for now I am content to work on V4. I have acquired a Thinkpad 860 and I am working on modifying it to accept the V4 with a minimal set of files due to the limitations. I have overcome the SCSI drive size limitation with a notebook SCSI-ide converter and I will plug in a 60-gig ide notebook drive into the adapter which makes it look like a 60-gig SCSI drive to the system (I hope!). I hope I can get that working as it will be a lot lighter to carry to the shop.

Hydristor application
I am near to finishing the design of a Hydristor-based torque converter which will fit any OEM automotive bell housing space in any vehicle already on the road. Naturally there will be several sizes of Hydristor converters to cover the ranges of vehicle weight and power. My plan is to make a ‘standard’ converter and fit it to a large number of vehicles with individual adapter sets. That will mean mass produced and marketed torque converters (see Appendix).

The Hydristor does not turn unlike an OEM converter or manual clutch assembly and the Hydristor efficiency may reach 97% overall so the transmission cooling lines may go! The Hydristor is a true IVT which has a full range of forward and reverse motion with the complete elimination of the conventional transmission internal gear sets.

In an aftermarket conversion, the now empty transmission case will simply hold up the engine. The Hydristor has another inherent capability in that it can efficiently brake the vehicle and store the energy in any number of hydraulic pressure accumulator tanks located where they can be under the retrofitted vehicle. The end result will be the city mileage of such a vehicle will approach the augmented highway mileage, and the engine is slowed to idle for most highway cruise situations, or the engine can be completely turned off. Now that’s true zero emissions! By slowing the engine to idle, the saving in engine internal losses will typically double the vehicle fuel economy. (Listen to America’s Car Show)

This will enable a retrofit vehicle to challenge the fuel economy of the new hybrids, and the existing vehicle is saved from the scrap yard. The technology will readily fit into the new cars, SUVs, and trucks so the popular large vehicles could still be produced and sold to an interested public while developing typically the fuel economy of the small vehicles.

Global Environment
Another and extremely important feature is that the usually idling/off engine would see a reduction of 75% in CO2 greenhouse gas. Just think of it: if all the vehicles on the highway were changed (my estimate: Five years, $200 billion), the production of CO2 from vehicles could be quartered while cutting U.S. oil use in half. The engine would now last a half million miles, maintenance would be extended, and there would be significantly less demand for new raw materials from Mother Earth.

The third patent issued to me (6612117) is for a Hydristor heat-pump which can improve (my estimate) the collection of low grade heat from three times to 10 times. The much greater heat recovered can be sent to a Stirling heat engine which converts about 40% of the captured heat into shaft horsepower. The final element is an electrical generator which converts the shaft power into electrical power. For each kilowatt into the Hydristor heat pump electric drive motor, 3.5 kilowatts of electricity can be derived from the output electrical generator. Once you get it running, simply pull the wall plug and plug it into itself and you have something left over called free, true zero-emission electricity.

There are over 10,000 miles of U.S. coastline along the oceans and the Great Lakes and underwater Hydristor heat exchangers can be located under the water surface away from storms and harm and the excess heat in the Earth’s water bodies can be harvested to create true zero emission electricity with no emissions and having the double pronged effect of shutting down existing air burning power generation. This will also help to reduce the latent heat in the oceans which is contributing to storms like Katrina. Dr. James Hansen of NASA predicts a ten year ‘tipping point’ of no return for global warming.                                    

I claim that the efficient Hydristor variable pump is the technology that can single-handedly do it! I hope and pray that this can happen. I am an individual doing this and I have gotten this far with a lot of help from a lot of people and companies. One of my most significant assistances has been from IBM and Dassault and some of their employees on their own time. I do have the need for more help particularly in terms of solving CATIA V4 problems and also ‘how to do’ certain things I may not be familiar with. This is a really big job and I can use all the help I can get from those who are more expert than I am. Someday, I do hope to graduate to V5 and I have heard good things about it. Since I am the proverbial inventor, I have to wait for funding to cover the cost of new software.

If anyone wants to help, my e-mail and phone are listed on my Web site. Also, I have been invited to speak at the upcoming COE Automotive Workshop, October 9-10, Dearborn Michigan.

A parting comment is that the Hydristor heat pump/generator is not perpetual motion, as Niagara Falls is not perpetual motion.

Godspeed for our kids and grandkids!

Appendix
The appendix is a copy of comments I sent to the newly formed X-Prize committee for the '100Mpg' automobile modification.

1. The existing highway fleet must be saved. We as a nation cannot afford to scrap 250 million vehicles financially as to the loss of present value or the exaggerated cost of so called replacement hybrid technology. What becomes of the guy with the $500 ‘beater’ living many miles out of town/job because of lower living costs who is barely supporting his family. Can he take the bus? I think not!
2. The scrapping of those vehicles will present huge workloads for automotive scrap yards. The recovery of scrap metal will be costly in energy and emissions as well. The additional raw materials will further present financial, energy and emission costs.
3. Any technology which presents a reasonable way to retrofit some significant number ranging to all of them should have an advantage in the contest.
4. A technology which is easily merged into the domestic OEM production and even capable of being retrofitted into existing unsold product is worthy of some extra consideration.
5. A technology which is capable of mass production for retrofit and for OEM use should also be advantaged.
6. Technology having advantages in weight, manufacturing cost and reliability is also worthy of extra points.
7. Technology which has the fundamental capability of energy recovery of vehicle kinetic energy can enable urban driving fuel economy to approach highway economy and that feature also warrants extra points.
8. Technology which has applications beyond transportation in that it improves the use of energy or reduces CO2 emissions or creates jobs is a worthy consideration.
9. Technology which significantly reduces CO2 emissions in the existing highway fleet has a considerable advantage if it can be reasonably retrofitted to most or all of the fleet. Dr. James Hansen, chief climatologist of NASA has publicly predicted that we as a world have ten years to turn back the generation of CO2 or the future is lost. I personally believe him and I prefer to err on his side.
10. The improvement in performance of a retrofitted vehicle is important because it encourages some (many) existing owners to invest in the change.
11. The technology should present a full and comprehensive solution to energy, emissions, and financial consideration, both for the existing highway fleet and new domestic product, and manufacturing jobs.
12. Any retrofit program should take advantage (as much as possible) of existing facilities like transmission shops, repair shops, new and used car dealer shops and even the ‘do it yourself’ backyard mechanic. Such an approach will contribute to the timely changeover to help with energy and global warming issues.
13. The rules should give weight to weight! That is the retrofit of a large full sized  sedan like a Ford, Dodge or Chevy to reach 100 Mpg should have much more ‘weight’ in the rules than some 700 pound ‘wonder’ getting 150 Mpg. The point is that only real world solutions which embrace the typical kind of personal transport should be considered. Such ‘wonders’ might warrant a secondary category as future practical technology.
14. One of the most disconcerting things I have encountered is the considerable reluctance of so many who should know better. Auto companies have production in various stages usually stretching five to six years out so they don’t want to consider any other options. For example, Ford and GM just invested a half billion dollars in a new six speed front wheel drive transmission which they both will use. They both have several years of investment in place with parts in various stages of build or assembly. If they both were to scrap this effort, the loss would likely be two to three billion! So it won’t happen.

Gas Saver or Tailpipe Dream?
A new kind of hybrid uses hydraulics instead of batteries to save fuel

For more on this story, please visit Business Week online: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_38/b4001082.htm