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Filed under: Etc., Technology, Ford

Mike Kluzner is a man of many talents. Not only is he the software engineer responsible for fuel system diagnostics for Ford globally, he “got his start designing laser weapon systems capable of disabling the navigation systems of enemy satellites” for the former Soviet Union. Quite a résumé, wouldn’t you say?

You may be asking yourself the same question that popped into our minds upon reading about Mr. Kluzner: What do laser weapon systems have to do with Ford and its EcoBoost engines? We’ll let the man answer himself. “The same process for analyzing key physical relationships works for what we do today in engine combustion, catalyst chemistry and mechanics,” says Kluzner. “These are all part of Ford’s software engineering expertise.” Who are we to argue?

Ford also employs an engineer who previously designed software to detect damage to the heat tiles on the International Space Station, as well as one who’s past work involved particle physics, says the automaker in the press release below. David Bell (pictured above right), global boost system controls engineer for Ford, describes the software running EcoBoost as “the secret sauce” that makes the technology work as the driver intends and demands.

Scroll down below to find out more, and to learn how Ford’s 125 (and growing, it says) patents related to EcoBoost help keep the automaker at the forefront of engine technology.

Continue reading Ford EcoBoost successful because of Soviet laser weapons system expert?

Ford EcoBoost successful because of Soviet laser weapons system expert? originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 28 Jul 2013 09:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Classics, Etc., Military, Russia

Restored Zil 131 truck, photo by Stephen Hanafin

When old Soviet-bloc vehicles started showing up in Mississippi, mutterings about overthrow plots and secret roads began to spread. Were all these trucks being staged as part of an advance effort? The truth turned out to be far more mundane, but also ironically symbolic of the ignominious end to the U.S.S.R.

Rather than any kind of clandestine military operation, the vehicles had been sold as surplus to a businessman who planned to retrofit them for humanitarian use by the United Nations. That effort didn’t quite pan out, and the vehicles (including decrepit Zil trucks similar to the restored one above) weren’t suited for road use in the United States. Some went to Mexico, others were used by the Air Force for target practice, but in the end, a huge number of the vehicles patiently decayed in a Biloxi, Mississippi storage lot until Hurricane Katrina, a civil court ruling and continuing lack of interest sealed their fate. Off they’ve gone, leaving the tall weeds of the storage lot for the towering piles of the scrap yard, destined to be melted down into home appliances and even new automobiles.

And so perishes one of the remaining vestiges of the Cold War. In dying out, the raw materials that once fueled tense stalemate are being transformed into commodities, the raw material of capitalism.

[Source: The New York Times | Image: Stephenhanafin/Flickr – CC 2.0]

Soviet vehicles stage in Mississippi? originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 02 Jan 2011 17:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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