SonoAnalyzer Pro beta - version 1.4.1 released

Announcing the release of SonoAnalyzer Pro beta version 1.4.1. This is a 60-day trial version available free of charge to all clients who have purchased SonoAnalyzer OE (annual or one-month license).

This is a maintenance update including bug-fixes (one important) and enhancements. The important bug-fix affects modelling accuracy on the rectangular block Pro models - for anyone using these upgrading is highly recommended. There are two significant enhancements:

  1. A new "Managed server" analysis option, allowing the full capabilities of SonoAnalyzer Pro to be explored without installing any additional software (apart from SonoAnalyzer Pro itself). SonoAnalyzer Pro receives setup details from the gateway server making setup fully automatic. Currently one server is available in Western Europe (France) for use by all beta testers.
  2. New connection option (common to the OE version). Although SonoAnalyzer Pro is capable of running in standalone mode it still connects to the gateway server for updates and online analysis jobs. Further details are shown in the SonoAnalyzer OE 1.4.1 announcement.

Further details are shown below.

SonoAnalyzer OE and Demo - version 1.4.1 released

Announcing the release of SonoAnalyzer OE version 1.4.1 (codename "Strutt") also available as a 30-day, limited use demo.

This is a maintenance update including some minor bug-fixes and several enhancements including a new connection option using the system browser as a proxy for connections to the gateway server. It also brings the OE code-base into line with the new Pro version. For OE users who don't have problems connecting by the earlier methods, upgrade is optional. Further details are shown below.

SonoAnalyzer Pro beta - first release version 1.4.0

Douglas Adams once said: "I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."

Beta test versions

SonoAnalyzer Pro has proved to be a lot like that, but finally I have a beta version ready for release. I've decided to make this available, free of charge and without obligation, to clients who have already purchased SonoAnalyzer OE. However it has a 60-day expiry so it cannot be used indefinitely. New versions (also expiring after 60 days) will be offered at frequent intervals - no more than 4 weeks - until the final release version which is tentatively planned for end 2013.

Version 1.4.0 was built on 26 September 2013 and will expire 18 November.

If you haven't yet purchased SonoAnalyzer (and no, the free demo version doesn't count!), please consider making a purchase in order to participate in the beta trial. The minimum purchase is still $100 for the 1-month PAYG license and this will entitle you to download all Pro beta versions released during the period of your purchase.

Alternatively if you wish to wait for a free demo of SonoAnalyzer Pro, I aim to add some limited demonstrations of its extra capabilities to the Demo version at a later time.

What's different about SonoAnalyzer Pro?

In addition to all the features of SonoAnalyzer OE, Pro allows the user to interact directly with the Finite Element Analysis.

SonoAnalyzer Pro - Status

For those people waiting patiently for the standalone "Pro" version of SonoAnalyzer, my apologies: It has taken a lot longer than I anticipated to prepare, with a huge amount of new code to develop and test. The good news is it's (finally) getting near to completion now and I expect to release the first test / beta version in August.

As a teaser, here's a screen-shot from the development version.

SonoAnalyzer OE and Demo - version 1.3.7 released

Announcing the release of SonoAnalyzer OE version 1.3.7 (codename "Leonhard") also available as a 30-day, limited use demo.

This is a maintenance update including one major and one minor bug-fix. The major one affects only users of the Demo version - OE users are unaffected. Upgrade is optional however, even for Demo users, as there is a work-around available. Further details are shown below.

Bug-fix: At versions 1.3.5 and 1.3.6 (not publicly released), users running a Demo license were unable to access any of the range of Online FEA models. This was caused by incorrect coding of a restriction on accessing Pro version models. As a workaround current Demo licenses have been temporarily upgraded to PAYG (pay-as-you-go), giving users full access to all models under the same terms as the Demo license. In order to take advantage of this, any affected user will need to reactivate their license using the option in the Help menu. The user's existing (demo) license key must be re-entered.

Bug-fix: Limitations on proxy-server username in the Connection dialog prevented entering special characters such as \ (backslash), used in some systems to build a complete path from a domain name and a username. This and other special characters are now permitted.

SonoAnalyzer OE and Demo - version 1.3.5 released

Announcing the release of SonoAnalyzer OE version 1.3.5 (codename "Leonhard") also available as a 30-day, limited use demo.

This is a maintenance update including some minor bug-fixes and enhancements. There are also some changes for compatibility with the upcoming SonoAnalyzer Pro beta. Upgrade is optional. Further details are shown below.

Ultrasonic horn design using SonoAnalyzer - a basic guide

First principles:

Sonotrodes (ultrasonic horns) and boosters are special tools designed so that their natural vibrations (resonance) form a defined mode shape at a particular frequency. The simplest example is the axial-mode half-wavelength sonotrode. Axial-mode refers to the predominant direction of vibrational movement - along the axis of the sonotrode. Half-wavelength describes the variation of vibration amplitide along the length - at a maximum at both ends with a point of zero (axial) motion in the middle.

Choice of operating frequency:

Ultrasonic equipment is available in a wide range of operating frequencies but each item of equipment is almost invariably set to a single operating frequency and allows only a very narrow tolerance for variations, perhaps a few hundred Hz.

SonoAnalyzer OE and Demo - version 1.3.4 released

PowerUltrasonics is pleased to announce the release of SonoAnalyzer OE version 1.3.4 (codename "Leonhard") also available as a 30-day, limited use demo.

This is a minor update to fix an issue with material properties in saved model files. Until now, .sa files did not contain full material property data for user-defined materials, allowing the possiblity of incorrect materials being used when a saved model is loaded, particularly if it was saved on one computer and loaded on another. The new version eliminates the problem in any models saved from now on, and warns the user to check material properties on loading a model file saved from an earlier version.

SonoAnalyzer OE and Demo - version 1.3.3 released

PowerUltrasonics is pleased to announce the release of SonoAnalyzer OE version 1.3.3 (codename "Leonhard") also available as a 30-day, limited use demo.

This version should fix any remaining crash issues and also improves workflow for custom materials (add / remove / edit properties of custom materials on the Materials tab).

SonoAnalyzer OE and Demo - version 1.3.2 released

PowerUltrasonics is pleased to announce the release of SonoAnalyzer OE version 1.3.2 (codename "Leonhard") also available as a 30-day, limited use demo.
New conical sonotrode model
This is primarily a bugfix release with minimal extra features over the previous public release (1.3.0).

A few users have reported unexpected program termination (crashes) in versions 1.2 and 1.3, particularly when using the new models introduced in these versions. Tracking down the reasons for this has been difficult as in most cases I've been unable to reproduce the effect myself, so many thanks to those users who have helped. As far as I can tell the reasons for this were:

Switching to a previous version of the program after upgrading. During upgrades the program makes changes to the format of the user-data store, and while I always aim to make upgrades possible, downgrades are generally not. I have always advised uninstalling previous versions before installing any new update but I hadn't previously realized how important it was to do so. I think the problem was compounded by the fact that the version 1.2 installer was missing desktop shortcuts, allowing the possiblity of leaving a desktop icon pointing to the (still installed) previous version. From 1.3.2 onwards, SonoAnalyzer will check for this condition and produce a helpful warning if it detects that the user-data has been upgraded to a later version, but of course that will not help with existing installations.

Exception-handling behaviour difference between different hardware platforms. This is particularly difficult to diagnose but appears to be the case based on the automated crash report sent by one user. The affected code has been tightened up and while I can't be 100% certain it's fixed (since I'm still unable to reproduce the problem on my own hardware) I am confident that this will resolve the issues.

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