April 03, 2018 | Volume 14 Issue 13 |
Manufacturing Center
Product Spotlight
Modern Applications News
Metalworking Ideas For
Today's Job Shops
Tooling and Production
Strategies for large
metalworking plants
Aitech Systems' solutions can meet the growing demands for shorter development times and lower costs among satellite buses, subsystems, and payloads. Using a Space Digital Backbone (DBB) approach, which provides a flexible, scalable communication pathway for the increasing number of Internet of Things technologies being implemented into space missions, the company provides a selection of space-rated subsystems for common space platforms including: Earth observation, communications, power control, navigation, and robotics.
Learn more.
SCHURTER has upgraded its 2-pole classic TA35 and TA36 thermal circuit breaker models with an additional, optional magnetic module. From now on, no additional fuse is required when using a thermal-magnetic type. Depending on the application, the magnetic modules are available either with a slow- or a fast-acting characteristic. Both models are designed for snap-in mounting and with finely graduated rated currents. A variety of colors and lighting options make the designer's choice easier.
Learn more.
The precision and reliability offered by modern rotary encoders are essential in many product categories. These include robotics, machine tools, printing presses, motion control systems, medical equipment, aerospace, gaming and entertainment, and automotive. Learn all about magnetic rotary encoders -- and important developments in the technology's future.
Read the full Avnet article.
OMNIVISION has expanded its TheiaCel™ product portfolio with a new OX12A10 12-MP high-res image sensor for automotive cameras. This sensor, with the highest resolution in its line, improves automotive safety by eliminating LED flicker regardless of lighting conditions. It is ideal for high-performance front machine vision cameras for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving (AD).
Learn more.
Novotechnik's new RSK-3200 Series angle sensors are designed for harsh automotive and off-highway applications. Measurement range is 0 to 360 degrees, and the temperature range is -40 to 125 C. This unit's built-in coupling accepts D-Shaft, with shaft customization available. The sensors are sealed to IP 67 or IP 69k depending on version. RSK-3200 Series sensors are extremely durable with MTTF of 285 years for each of the two channels! Applications include throttle control and EGR valves, transmission gear position, and accelerator position. Very competitive pricing.
Learn more.
Signaling and indicator lights, switches, and buttons -- elements that hardly any machine can do without. The new JW Winco cabinet U-handle EN 6284 integrates all these functions into a single, compact element. The new U-handle is designed to enhance the operation of systems and machines. It features an integrated button and a large, colored, backlit area on the handle. These elements can be used individually or in combination, providing a versatile tool for system control and process monitoring that can be seen from across the room.
Learn more.
Offered in two benchtop and two floor-model options to handle nearly any size part, the SmartScope M-Series systems from Optical Gaging Products usher in the next generation of enhancements in image accuracy, optics, and throughput to the world's most popular 3D multisensor video measurement platform. SmartScope M-Series features fixed optics with a 20-megapixel camera and proprietary Virtual Zoom, combined with advanced sensors, illumination, and accessories, to achieve class-leading optical measurement speeds. Lots more features.
Learn more.
SOLIDWORKS Elite Applications Engineer Alin Vargatu demonstrates his top tips for focusing on your model: finding planes the easy way inside your assembly with the Q key, breadcrumbs, and a better way to use the component preview window. Very helpful. Lots more tips on the SOLIDWORKS YouTube channel.
View the video.
Nexperia's AEC-Q100 qualified, push-pull transformer drivers (NXF6501-Q100, NXF6505A-Q100, and NXF6505B-Q100) enable the design of small, low-noise, and low-EMI isolated power supplies for a range of automotive applications such as traction inverters and motor control, DC-DC converters, battery management systems, and on-board chargers in EVs. Also suitable for industrial applications such as telecommunications, medical, instrumentation, and automation equipment.
Learn more.
H. G. Schaevitz LLC, Alliance Sensors Group is now offering a miniature, lightweight LZ SERIES linear position sensor product line utilizing LVIT Technology™. These sensors are designed for tight spaces that require excellent stroke-to-length ratio. They are contactless devices for use by drones, OEMs, aerospace, robotics, factory automation, or assembly machinery applications where precision in position sensing is crucial.
Learn all the specs.
According to Parker Hannifin, "A Printed Circuit Heat Exchanger is a robust, corrosion-resistant, high-integrity plate-type heat exchanger manufactured using diffusion bonding." Learn about the technology and why Heatric, a Parker brand, "can manufacture a unit up to 85% smaller and lighter than traditional technologies such as shell and tube heat exchangers."
Read this informative Parker blog.
Mastering bend calculations in sheet metal design is a key skill that can impact the accuracy and manufactur-ability of your designs significantly. Explore the various options available to become a pro in this Onshape Tech Tip: K Factor, bend allowance, and bend deduction, with guidance on when each should be used. You may learn something even if you don't use this software.
Read the Onshape blog.
Automation-Direct has added new high-quality and efficient stainless steel Seifert 340 BTU/H thermoelectric coolers with 120-V and 230-V power options. Thermoelectric coolers from Seifert use the Peltier Effect to create a temperature difference between the internal and ambient heat sinks, making internal air cooler while dissipating heat into the external environment. Fans assist the convective heat transfer from the heat sinks, which are optimized for maximum flow.
Learn more.
Raspberry Pi's Pico low-cost, high-performance microcontroller board with flexible digital interfaces is now being offered as a full second-generation product, complete with twice the on-board flash memory, higher performance, lower power consumption, and greater security.
Read the full article.
Linear Variable Differential Transformers are electro-mechanical devices used in many industrial applications to measure the displacement or position of an object. They convert the linear position or motion of a measured object into an electrical output that is displayed on a local readout or input into a programmable logic controller as part of an automated process control system. LVDTs come in two core configurations -- free-core and spring-loaded -- but do you know what the differences are?
Read the full NewTek Sensor Solutions article.
By Sean Kimmons, U.S. Army
The U.S. Army is developing technology that visually alerts Soldiers to hidden explosives in the ground rather than just providing them an audible notification during use of mine detector equipment.
Called real-time spatial location tracking, the technology can show sensor images of buried bombs on either a heads-up display or tablet attached to a handheld detector.
As a Soldier sweeps with the device, a colored representation of the area -- where orange means the user is close to a metallic object -- appears on the screen.
The goal is to keep Soldiers safe when clearing routes by being able to better identify potential threats.
"You can immediately see the shape of the object and roughly its size," said Christopher Marshall, a scientist in the Countermine Division of the Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate. "By providing this information to the Soldier, it makes it easier to operate and it means a faster response."
A video still image of real-time spatial location tracking, a piece of technology the Army is developing to visually alert a Soldier to hidden explosives in the ground rather than just a sound while sweeping with a mine detector. NOTE: The visual colored sweep is what the user sees on a screen or in a headset viewfinder. [Photo Credit: Courtesy of CERDEC]
The directorate falls under the Army's Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center, which held a media day at Fort Belvoir, VA, at the end of February to highlight its emerging technology.
With the device's position location capabilities, information about where a Soldier has swept, and what was found there, can be easily passed on, in real time, to observers in other locations. Current handheld minesweeping technology requires users to mark potential threats with sticks or other markers.
The system also monitors how a Soldier swings the mine detector as he or she uses it, to ensure they are not fatigued in such a way that it may cause them to miss a hidden object.
"If the Soldier is starting to swing erratically, that could be an early warning sign, so operationally that can help," Marshall said. "Then someone could come up to take the place of the Soldier."
VIDEO: Visual minesweeper: Real-time spatial location tracking visually alerts a Soldier to hidden explosives in the ground rather than just a sound while sweeping with a mine detector.
Other advanced technology to better discriminate between metal objects that the device finds is also being worked on. That way, a Soldier can more quickly differentiate between harmless objects and would-be threats.
With its displays, Sgt. 1st Class Jared Huffstickler, a combat engineer assigned to the Countermine Division, said the technology would help Soldiers be more aware of their surroundings as they clear dangerous routes.
"This is giving us an opportunity to actually see signatures in the ground without taking away our situational awareness on the battlefield," he said.
Since the device tracks sweeping patterns, it could even serve as a training tool for Soldiers like him who are taught to sweep at certain speeds and distances with metal detectors, he added.
Mine detection robots could also be equipped with the technology to capture and send back imagery to Soldiers in a nearby vehicle.
"The idea is that we take these exact same technologies that we're maturing for the handheld dismounted operation and we put it there," Marshall said of the robots. "Now the Soldier isn't even in the picture, and it's much safer."
Published April 2018