WorldWide Drilling Rescource

“New and Improved” Sometimes Isn’t by Britt Storkson Owner, P2FlowLLC I have an old Briggs & Stratton eight-horsepower engine. It’s a dated flathead design I use to run an electric generator. It’s not very pretty, but it has a lot going for it: It works, and it works reliably. It starts every time, in any weather, cold or hot. It’s really simple and does the job using very few parts. Granted, it’s not super fuel efficient (good, but not great) and it’s fairly noisy, but overall, it works well. Why should I change? When new technology comes out, often the “titans of industry” get so wrapped up in the “new technology hype” they often neglect to fully test the “new toy”. It has been reported that Boeing aircraft switched to new-technology lithium-ion batteries to save weight in their 787 aircraft. Lithium-ion technology can store more energy pound for pound over the older lead-acid battery technology it replaced. However, the lithium-ion technology presented problems the old style batteries didn’t - like overheating under certain conditions. By the time Boeing made the modifications needed to utilize the lithium-ion technology safely, whatever advantage the new battery technology afforded was wiped out by the changes that had to be made to make the new technology safe and re- liable. While I am not aware of Boeing reporting any numbers regarding this issue, I think it is safe to say the new technology cost the company considerably more than the conventional components - but that should have been determined long before it was released for sale to the public. We need to utilize the strengths and mitigate the shortcomings of both computer and human operators. We should take advantage of what computers are really good at, as well as what humans are really good at. Computers never get fatigued or distracted. Computers have a great memory - they don’t forget things. Humans are superior in other areas, as well. Humans can make “judgement calls” - making the right decision most of the time without explicit instructions. When I’m making printed circuit boards, I carefully evaluate what does and does not need to be on the board to make everything work. It’s easy to use five or more components when one would do the job. While often done in industry, “piling on” is not a good practice in electronics. More is almost never better. For one thing, printed circuit board space is expensive and “piling on” is a bad practice from the cost aspect alone. Additional components sometimes generate heat, which may require a way to remove this heat, such as a fan. Then you need some sort of sensor to shut everything off in case the fan fails . . . and on and on. Without adequate evaluation and discipline, you get this domino effect where one addition often triggers three or four other changes. When the circuit has more components, it gets more costly, which is a good reason in and of itself to keep things simple. More components require more testing - and the potential for more to go wrong. In fact, most of the advances in electronics over the last 20 years or so haven’t changed the basic bui lding bl ocks t o any s i gn i f i can t deg r ee . Microprocessor manufacturers have been busy consolidating several func- tions on one “chip” mostly to reduce the costs of making them. So while the “new and improved” part may cost roughly the same, the additional features for the same price give them a “leg up” on the competition. So remember “new and improved” isn’t always the best way to go. Britt Britt Storkson may be contacted via e-mail to michele@ worldwidedrillingresource.com 18 OCTOBER 2019 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® December Issue Deadlines! Space Reservation: October 25 th Display & Classified Ad Copy: November 1 st