Click this link if you cannot read the issue below: Designfax - Tech for OEM Design Engineers
September 03, 2013Volume 09 Issue 33


Image - Seal It, Protect It!
Seal It, Protect It!
A Smalley Laminar Seal is a metallic labyrinth seal consisting of multiple rings in a groove. Sealing an assembly from contamination while withstanding high temperatures and corrosive environments, Laminar rings are produced from metal. The arrangement and orientation of the rings are dictated by the application/severity of the environment.
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In this issue of Designfax

  • FEA aids Deepwater Horizon failure forensics
  • Latest in silicone/thermoplastic parts molding
  • Wireless devices go battery-free
  • Wheels: 2014 Toyota Tundra pickup truck design
  • Mike Likes: TI battery 'fuel gauge'
  • Engineer's Toolbox: Gear crowning
  • Auto varistors: faster response to ESD strikes
  • Super Smart Ball Bushing linear bearings
  • Servo motors with integrated EtherCAT
  • Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
    • Customizable LED displays for bike wheels
    • A new spin on pneumatics
  • Most Popular Last Issue
    • Cheaper, greener LEDs
    • Wheels: NASA's 'blue-collar' moon-digger robot
    • Engineer's Toolbox: Disc springs in power drill
  • New Products
    • Electrical, Mechanical, Motion
    Cover Image: Deepwater Horizon failure forensics using Abaqus FEA software

News

Freescale takes automotive radar mainstream with affordable advanced driver assistance systems

Super strange material: Q-glasses could be a new class of solids

Cool specs: Focus module from New Scale used in assistive eyewear for people with low vision

Next job for hydrogen fuel cells: Power for seaports



Image - Automation Speeds Pharmaceutical Dispensing
Automation Speeds Pharmaceutical Dispensing
Lines at your local pharmacy will soon be a thing of the past if ScriptPro has its way. The Kansas company's automated prescription dispensing systems can handle everything from tablets and capsules to packages of ointments, offering complete labeling and traceability, along with 99.7 percent counting accuracy. Leveraging high-efficiency, high-torque motors from MICROMO, the ScriptPro family of dispensing robots is fast, robust, compact, and efficient enough to operate off a single wall plug.
Click here to read more about this application.

Feature articles
FEA aids Deepwater Horizon failure forensics
On the evening of April 20, 2010, Deepwater Horizon suffered a blowout while drilling in the Macondo Prospect, an area in the Gulf of Mexico 40 miles off the southeast coast of Louisiana. The platform caught fire, and two days later, it sank. Eleven crewmen were killed. The spewing oil caused the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history. In this article, engineers use Abaqus Finite Element Analysis to do some of the detective work concerning what went so terribly wrong with the rig's blowout preventer stack.
Read the full article.
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Learn about the performance parameters of different thermoplastic materials and selecting the best resin for your application by clicking above.


Image - The latest in silicone/thermoplastic parts molding
The latest in silicone/thermoplastic parts molding
The practice of bonding Liquid Silicone Rubber (LSR) to rigid thermoplastic parts has traditionally consisted of molding the individual elements separately and then assembling them into a completed product using adhesives. Today, companies like Rogan Corporation have taken that process one huge step further -- by molding Bondable Liquid Silicone Rubbers (BLSR) and thermoplastics using a two-step molding process. This article includes 6 Critical Design Considerations for BLSR/thermoplastic molding.
Read the full article.

Image - Wireless devices go battery-free with new communication technique
Wireless devices go battery-free with new communication technique
We might be one step closer to an Internet-of-things reality. University of Washington engineers have created a new wireless communication system that allows devices to interact with each other without relying on batteries or wires for power.
Read the full article.

Image - Wheels:<br> Hay farmer heads 2014 Toyota Tundra pickup truck development
Wheels:
Hay farmer heads 2014 Toyota Tundra pickup truck development

Mike Sweers is living the dream of every kid who was raised in farm country: He gets paid to create trucks. Sweers, who still runs an active hay farm in Northern Michigan, has used his mechanical engineering degree, and life experiences as a farmer, to aid him as the chief engineer of Toyota pickup trucks.
Read the full article.

Image - Mike Likes: <br> TI battery 'fuel gauge' boosts run-time up to 50 percent for portable medical and industrial devices
Mike Likes:
TI battery 'fuel gauge' boosts run-time up to 50 percent for portable medical and industrial devices

Who doesn't want their portable devices to run longer on a single charge? Texas Instruments has introduced the industry's smallest and most accurate Li-Ion battery fuel gauge integrated circuit, the bq27421, which boosts battery run-time in portable medical devices, such as wearable health monitors, and industrial devices like inventory scanners and portable emergency lights and other consumer electronics. This solution leverages TI's proven Impedance Track advanced battery technology typically used in tablets and smartphones to accurately report remaining battery capacity, state-of-charge, and battery voltage. Designers can use the pre-configured "plug-and-play" bq27421 fuel gauge with TI's new Gauge Studio software tool to simplify battery gauging design.
Click here to learn more.

Image - Engineer's Toolbox: <br>Gear crowning: A cheap fix for noise
Engineer's Toolbox:
Gear crowning: A cheap fix for noise

With the demands for smaller gearboxes transmitting more power at higher rpm and incumbent demands for greater efficiency, gear engineers are always searching for new ways to reduce vibration and limit noise -- without increasing costs.
Read the full article.

Image - Product Spotlight: <br>Auto varistors provide faster response <br>to ESD strikes
Product Spotlight:
Auto varistors provide faster response
to ESD strikes

The new TransFeed Automotive Series from AVX Corp. combines the best electrical characteristics of the company's TransGuard Transient Voltage Suppressors (TVS) and its Feedthru Capacitors in a single chip to provide state-of-the-art overvoltage circuit protection and EMI reduction over a much broader range of frequencies than comparable devices. The device also responds to transient events faster than any TVS device currently on the market and provides significant EMI attenuation when in the off state. Qualified to AEC-Q200, the series is ideal for automotive applications, including: drive by wire, dimming mirror circuits, filtering/protection on microcontroller I/O lines, filtering/protection on interface I/O lines, power line conditioning, power regulation, and LCD dashboard drivers, among others.
Click here to learn more.

Image - Product Spotlight: <br>Super Smart Ball Bushing linear bearings
Product Spotlight:
Super Smart Ball Bushing linear bearings

Thomson Super Smart Ball Bushing linear bearings, already available in U.S. inch and European metric models, are now available in Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS) sizes. This advanced bearing technology provides up to six times the load capacity or 216 times the travel life of conventional linear bearings. As a result, OEMs who specify Super Smart Ball Bushing bearings can minimize machine downtime and reduce machine costs through the use of smaller, more reliable, and less expensive bearings and 60 Case LinearRace shafts.
Click here to learn more.

Image - Product Spotlight: <br>Brushless DC servo motors with integrated EtherCAT interface
Product Spotlight:
Brushless DC servo motors with integrated EtherCAT interface

Dunkermotoren, now a unit of AMETEK Precision Motion Control, has extended its range of compact brushless DC servo motors with integrated intelligence and fieldbus connectivity with 10 new models. The extended family now offers EtherCAT interface on all of its BG45, BG65, BG65S, and BG75 base models. Available motors range from 50 W to 500 W of power in 45-mm- to 75-mm-square frame sizes and feature CANopen over EtherCAT (CoE) compatibility. This feature combines the benefits of CANopen's standardized DS402 motion profile with EtherCAT's real-time high-performance fieldbus. The all-in-one motor plus drive design eliminates the need for external drives and numerous cables, improving dependability and overall performance, while dramatically reducing commissioning time and total system cost.
Click here to learn more.

Most popular last issue

Image - Silicon-based nanoparticles could make LEDs cheaper, greener to produce
Silicon-based nanoparticles could make LEDs cheaper, greener to produce
Researchers at the University of Washington have created a material they say would make LED bulbs cheaper and greener to manufacture, driving down the price. Their silicon-based nanoparticles soften the blue light emitted by LEDs, creating white light that more closely resembles sunlight.
Read the full article.

Image - Wheels: <br>NASA working on 'blue-collar' moon-digger robot
Wheels:
NASA working on 'blue-collar' moon-digger robot

After decades of designing and operating robots full of scientific gear to study other worlds, NASA is working on a prototype that leaves the delicate instruments at home in exchange for a sturdy pair of diggers and the reliability and strength to work all day, every day for years.
Read the full article.

Image - Engineer's Toolbox: <br>Using disc springs in a heavy-duty power drill
Engineer's Toolbox:
Using disc springs in a heavy-duty power drill

When an engineer at quality power-tool maker DEWALT was tasked with limiting the maximum torque output of a high-power right-angle drill, he determined early on that the clutching thrust required in the space available could only be achieved by a disc spring design. Compared to conventional coil springs, disc springs offer a higher load capacity in less space. This article includes comprehensive disc spring design guidelines from SPIROL.
Read the full article.

Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
Bright ideas: Customizable LED displays
for bike wheels

"What's the world's most advanced bicycle light display?" Well funny you should ask. A little company called MonkeyLectric just outside San Francisco thinks they have created it, and from the looks of their recent Kickstarter campaign (626 backers for $220,293), they're onto something. "Light up the road and share your message with the world!" they say. You can download images and animations to the Monkey Light Pro wheel units and display them while you ride. Make your own graphics, or choose from a collection of custom artwork. There's nothing like turning your cruiser bike wheel into a party sign if you feel like it -- or just 'cause you can. One wheel will set you back $660. Both wheels are $1,190. Whew! Two cheaper models with fewer features and LEDs are available from MonkeyLectric for $39.99 (M210) and $59.99 (M232) per wheel on Amazon. Now that sounds more like it. Either way, I think I know what I'm asking for when the holidays roll around.
View the video.

Video Image
A new spin on pneumatics: The AeroValve solution
AeroValve's innovative technology recycles compressed air through the valve body with each cycle of the valve, reducing compressed air requirements by more than 20 percent. Take a look at how this technology works, and see what it can do for you. AeroValve technology can be applied to approximately 60 percent of existing directional control valves.
View the video.

Video Image

New products

Electrical/Electronics
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Mechanical
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