Problems Solved in 40+ years of applied maths and science

Manufacturing Processes.
Glass Making: Simulate a glass industry furnace forehearth: McCann provided a working model and eliminated a lot of industrial folklore.
Heat Exchange: Model a heat transfer process taking place on an indexing table for control design.
Devise calibration methods and explain dynamic behaviour of a miniature heat exchanger as surrogate for a big one.
Polymer Making: Fix a polymer reaction's wierd behaviour: McCann uncovered the power of stirring.
Fermentation: Get a biological fermentation process under control. The model showed how to continue production when all might have been dumped.
Web Coating: Understand a new vacuum web coating process. The simulation became the live record of accumulated knowledge. Later work has developed models of the gas kinetics involved in the heat transfer between the chilled coating drum and the thin plasic sheet wrapped, stretched and heated by metal vapour (vapor). Another topic has been the mechanics of the buckling of the web to form "tram lines" as it passes round the drum.
Crimp & Press: Explain why a crimp and press operation did not do what was expected.Our computation of the forces revealed inadequacies in the equipment.
Glass to Metal Seals: Explain unexpected differences between two glass to metal sealing oven (lehr) processes. McCann found explanations in the bubble mobility as the glass softened.
Induction Heating: Fix an RF soldering process. As well as the heat transfer analysis, McCann even had a way of measuring inside the heated part.
Other problem areas tackled include: distillation, reaction kinetics, control system design. McCann is expert in the behaviour of dynamic distributed parameter systems.

Design.
Air Bag Igniters: Get the sensitivity of air-bag igniters right. McCann did the heat transfer analysis, as well as RF ferrite filter design.
Microwave Antennas: Design antennas for retail security systems: Our programmed design method also produced the the microstrip layouts.
Modem filters: Solving a problem with signal propagation in a long Transmission Line led to a new filter design.
Air Cooled Extrusion: Design a cooled feed tube for an extrusion process. The design worked well, and our analysis predicted thermal performance to within a few degrees.
Other problem areas tackled include: Injection moulding, machining, circuit layout (in 3D), patent preparation and circumvention.

Production and Operations (OR).
Toxic Chemicals Production: Control the flow of toxic gases. Our analysis for resource allocation resulted in a new and valuable method of running the plant.
Instrumentation: Set up on-line instrumentation for electrical testing of explosive devices: McCann designed and proved the methods, the calibration and then the IEEE488 instrumentation.
Make a helium leak testing system work. McCann explained the performance limits then produced the scheme for set up and calibration.
Optimal Investment: Optimize the use of pallets in an automated factory. Our simulation showed both the best number of pallets and the rules for using them.
Other problem areas tackled include: linear Programming (LP) resource allocation, project management.

Tools and Methods.
The most powerful tool for McCann Science is Mathcad, giving good documentation to clients, supported by strong computational algorithms.
Analogue computers, simulators and hybrid machines are part of my (practical, hands on) background.
Various Programming languages and computational tools are used as appropriate.
I (MJMcC) have also developed a simulation tool, McSimAPN, for easy use in exploratory modelling which combines the abilities to do both Discrete Event Simulation and Continuous Systems Simulation in one package. I've posted it on this website for DOWNLOAD by anyone interested.

Click on this symbol elsewhere in the website for the top of this page. All pages have a link to the Home/Index page as well. From there you can find out more about me and how I work with clients.

Easy Availability.
Making initial contact is easy. There's no charge for an initial, confidential discussion. I do small jobs and long term project support and can travel anywhere at short notice, work remotely giving results by email and act as an extension to your team. Available easily in the Eastern USA (DE, PA, NJ, NY, MD, VA, DC) and Canada and in the UK.