Click this link if you cannot read the issue below: Designfax - Tech for OEM Design Engineers
January 29, 2013Volume 09 Issue 04


Image - New Line of Phillips Pan Machine Screws
New Line of Phillips Pan Machine Screws
Micro Plastics has added a new line to their inventory of 250 million parts! The Phillips Pan Machine Screws are molded in tough, resilient, and corrosion-resistant Nylon 6/6 material. Thread sizes included are: 4-40, 6-32, 8-32, 10-32, 1/4-20 and 1/4-28. Available in 25 standard lengths ranging from 3/32 in. up to 3 in., Micro Plastics also offers an extensive line of machine screws, including head styles such as Binder, Binder Combination, Fillister, Hex, Pan, Round, Socket, Flat, Oval, and Thumb Screws, as well as Studs, Grubs, and Flat Head Wing Screws.

Click here for more information.


In this issue of Designfax

  • Selecting standard vs. high-power LEDs
  • Army experiments with $699 3D printers
  • Material that most liquids won't wet
  • Wheels: Inside look at Volvo Trucks' FH semi design
  • Mike Likes: Hybrid power-management device
  • Engineer's Toolbox: Measuring weight/force with load cells
  • Multi-wavelength infrared temp sensors
  • Hydraulic filters smartphone app
  • RC8 industrial robot controller
  • Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
    • How thin can a mobile display get?
    • The next step in industrial robotics?
  • Most Popular Last Issue
    • Breakthrough: Electricity on a thread
    • Wheels: LED taillight innovation
    • Army next-gen surveillance aircraft
  • New Products
    • Electrical, Mechanical, Motion
    Cover Image: Selecting high-power LEDs [Lumex, Newark element14]

News

BorgWarner BERU Systems produces three-millionth pressure sensor glow plug (PSG) for diesel engines

Wearable Stratasys 3D-printed pieces hit Paris Fashion Week

Testing on the edge: NASA selects experimental commercial suborbital flight payloads

Micro drives stabilize camera set-up during ocean documentary filming



Feature articles
Shedding some light on selecting standard vs. high-power LEDs
High-power (HP) LEDs can offer advantages in terms of lighting performance, energy efficiency, durability, and cost savings, but they are not always your best choice for every lighting technology application. Dwight Turner of Lumex and Cliff Ortmeyer from Newark element14 tell you why.
Read the full article.

Image - Army experiments with $699 3D printers
Army experiments with $699 3D printers
Engineers at the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command are testing super-cheap 3D printer designs to see if they can develop their own on-the-go components and component creators.
Read the full article.
Researchers make a material that most liquids won't wet
A nanoscale coating that's at least 95 percent air repels the broadest range of liquids of any material in its class, according to the University of Michigan engineering researchers who developed it.
Read the full article.

Image - Wheels:<br> New semi proves a formidable challenge for Volvo Trucks' designers
Wheels:
New semi proves a formidable challenge for Volvo Trucks' designers

Truck design is about much more than just color, shape, and attractive lines. Behind the new, safer, larger, and more ergonomically optimized Volvo FH lies a significant design challenge. Take an inside look at the design of this new hauler.
Read the full article.

Image - Mike Likes: <br> World's first hybrid digital/analog power-management device
Mike Likes:
World's first hybrid digital/analog power-management device

If you are an analog design engineer trying to keep up with increasing power requirements, this could well be your solution. Microchip Technology's MCP19111 provides analog design engineers with a stop-gap so that they do not have to go to full digital. This unit, which operates across a wide voltage range of 4.5 V to 32 V, fills an industry need for hybrid control by integrating an analog-based PWM controller with a fully functional Flash-based microcontroller. All power conversion is done in the analog space, but users get the flexibility of using a digital interface. An eval board (part #ADM00397) is available.
Click here to learn more.

Image - Engineer's Toolbox: <br>Designing superior weighing systems to improve safety and control costs
Engineer's Toolbox:
Designing superior weighing systems to improve safety and control costs

What design engineers need to know about measuring weight or force with load cells, load pins, and tension links.
Read the full article.

Image - Multi-wavelength infrared temp sensors
Multi-wavelength infrared temp sensors
Williamson Corporation's Pro 100 and Pro 200 Series multi-wavelength infrared temperature sensors are ideal for a multitude of industrial applications where devices such as thermocouples and RTDs would be inaccurate, too slow, or difficult to use. The sensors measure the amount of infrared energy emitted by an object's surface, then convert this signal into a temperature value between 200 deg and 4,500 deg F (between 95 deg and 2,500 deg C). Accuracy is within 2 deg C or 0.25 percent of the reading (whichever is greater). Great for challenging conditions, such as dirty windows, smoke, steam, plasma coatings, dust, water spray, partially obstructed fields of view, or small or wandering targets.
Click here to learn more.

Image - New Fit4Filter smartphone app simplifies ordering Bosch Rexroth hydraulic filters
New Fit4Filter smartphone app simplifies ordering Bosch Rexroth hydraulic filters
The Fit4Filter smartphone app allows customers to cross reference and replace their existing hydraulic filter elements with the corresponding Rexroth filters. The app is available for both Apple and Android devices and is an outstanding tool for upgrading filter elements on hydraulic power units in virtually any application: plastic injection molding machines, offshore drilling equipment, machine tools, metal stamping machines, steel making equipment, and more. Fit4Filter includes cross references to thousands of filter elements, and a unique "sync-on-demand" feature allows users to update the app with new filter elements and other data with just a few finger taps.
Click here to learn more.

Image - RC8 industrial robot controller is world's smallest in its class
RC8 industrial robot controller is world's smallest in its class
The new DENSO RC8 controller is 60 percent smaller and 45 percent lighter than the company's previous model and is the world's most compact industrial robot controller in the 3-kW output class. It has a footprint of only 12 x 18 in. and a height of only 3.75 in., saving valuable factory floor space and facilitating integration. This powerful, high-speed controller can communicate with over 100 different types of devices using DENSO's ORiN open-resource interface networking system. Optional accessories include a teaching pendant with a 7.5-in. color touchscreen, a mini pendant with a 128 x 64 pixel LCD display, up to two additional axes, and conveyor tracking. DENSO's Wincaps III 3D simulation software allows offline programming and remote monitoring of robot operation.
Click here to learn more.

Most popular last issue
Breakthrough: Electricity on a fiber thread
Rice University's latest nanotechnology breakthrough was more than 10 years in the making, but it still came with a shock. Scientists from Rice, the Dutch firm Teijin Aramid, the U.S. Air Force, and Israel's Technion Institute recently unveiled a new carbon nanotube (CNT) fiber that looks and acts like textile thread and conducts electricity and heat like a metal wire.
Read the full article.

Image - Wheels: <br>Uniform-lighting lens shines new spotlight on LED innovation
Wheels:
Uniform-lighting lens shines new spotlight on LED innovation

Working with supplier 3M, Buick has developed a unique LED taillight design with a soft and uniform red glow in a complex and unique shape. The technology also cuts down on the number of LEDs needed.
Read the full article.
Army developing next-generation surveillance aircraft
Army scientists, engineers, and program developers are making substantial progress building and integrating a technically sophisticated battlefield surveillance aircraft called Enhanced Medium Altitude Reconnaissance and Surveillance System in a laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD.
Read the full article.

Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
How thin can a mobile display get?
Not much thinner than the 1-mm-thick units shown off by Japan Display at a trade show late last year. See the future of lightweight communication, where your primary mobile device is just bigger than a credit card.
View the video.

Video Image
The next step in industrial robotics?
Meet Baxter, a revolutionary new category of Robot from Rethink Robotics that is capable of applying common-sense behavior to manufacturing environments. Baxter's not the fastest robot in the bunch (yet), but he's affordably priced, versatile, and safe enough to work shoulder to shoulder with people.
View the video.

Video Image

New products

Electrical/Electronics
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Mechanical
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Motion
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