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April 28, 2015Volume 11 Issue 16


Image - Molded Nylon Special Standard Round Spacers
Molded Nylon Special Standard Round Spacers
Micro Plastics announces a new product line of Special Standard Round Spacers. The new line of molded nylon round spacers includes over 250 sizes, with diameters of 1/8" through 1 1/2" and lengths from 1/8" to 2 3/4". These tough, resilient spacers can be used in a variety of assemblies. Useful in electronic and electrical applications, they may also be used as bushings, bearings, rollers, gliders, and bumpers. They are resistant to vibration, abrasion, and corrosion; are electrically insulating; and have a high strength-to-weight ratio.

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In this issue of Designfax

  • Navy tube-launched swarming UAVs
  • Tesla Model S retaining rings
  • Aluminum alternative to Li-ion batteries
  • Wings: World-record electric motor for aircraft
  • Mike Likes: 3D-printing white paper
  • Engineer's Toolbox: Deepwater Horizon failure forensics
  • Copper foam is powerful heat sink
  • Cool Tools: CadMouse for CAD professionals
  • Cool Tools: Easy vibration measurements
  • Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
    • Exoskeleton features spring power only
    • Gordon Moore on 50th Anniversary of Moore's Law
  • Most Popular Last Issue
    • Simulating blasts on Army helmet prototypes
    • Wheels: Volvo Trucks cuts tool production time 94%
    • Aircraft composites with no oven
  • New Products
    • Electrical, Mechanical, Motion
    Cover Image: Siemens electric plane motor

News

IBM research sets record for tape storage

DARPA pushing open systems to boost U.S. airpower superiority

Giant GE turbines feature water-saving cooling tech

13 negotiating techniques taught at the Wharton School of business



Feature articles

Image - Shot out of tubes, new Navy swarming UAVs fly into the future
Shot out of tubes, new Navy swarming UAVs fly into the future
A new era in autonomy and unmanned systems for naval operations is on the horizon. Officials at the Office of Naval Research (ONR) announced April 14 a series of technology demonstrations of swarming unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) -- part of the Low-Cost UAV Swarming Technology (LOCUST) program. The LOCUST program includes a tube-based launcher that can send UAVs into the air in rapid succession.
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Image - Tesla Model S uses Rotor Clip DHO retaining rings
Tesla Model S uses Rotor Clip DHO retaining rings
DHO retaining rings from Rotor Clip play a key role in the mechanical drive system of the Tesla Model S electric car. Tesla has been giving consumers a glimpse into what the future of environmental friendly cars will look like with its high-performance electric vehicles that keep luxury standards high.
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Image - Aluminum battery touted as safe, fast-charging alternative to conventional Li-ion batteries
Aluminum battery touted as safe, fast-charging alternative to conventional Li-ion batteries
Stanford University scientists have invented the first high-performance aluminum battery that's fast-charging, long-lasting, and inexpensive. Researchers say the new technology offers a safe alternative to many commercial batteries in wide use today.
Read the full article.

Image - Wings: <br>Siemens develops world-record electric motor for aircraft
Wings:
Siemens develops world-record electric motor for aircraft

Researchers at Siemens have developed a new type of electric motor that, with a weight of just 110 lb (50 kg), delivers a continuous output of about 260 kW -- five times more than comparable drive systems. The motor has been specially designed for use in hybrid aircraft where the electric motors are used for high-energy-demand tasks like takeoff and climbing.
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Image - Mike Likes: 3D-printing white paper
Mike Likes: 3D-printing white paper
There are many different additive manufacturing processes to choose from, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. This white paper from Proto Labs examines the various 3D-printing technologies -- SL, SLS, DMLS, FDM, PolyJet, and others -- being used by today's product designers and engineers to build better, faster products.
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Image - Engineer's Toolbox: <br>On the tragedy's 5th anniversary, a look at how FEA aided Deepwater Horizon failure forensics
Engineer's Toolbox:
On the tragedy's 5th anniversary, a look at how FEA aided 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.

Image - Microporous copper foam is powerful heat sink
Microporous copper foam is powerful heat sink
Goodfellow offers a new copper foam with pore sizes between 300 and 600 µm and a relative density of around 37 percent, providing a much higher surface area than traditional copper foams. This microporous material is expected to be of particular interest to design engineers working in fields requiring heat exchange. Microporous copper foam is unique in that it is produced by means of a lost carbonate sintering process. The resulting structure is regular and uniform throughout, producing a rigid, highly porous, and permeable structure with a controlled density of metal per unit volume. Applications include: liquid cooling, air cooling, heat exchangers, board-level electronics cooling, EMI shielding, and more.
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Image - Cool Tools: All-new CadMouse for CAD professionals
Cool Tools: All-new CadMouse for CAD professionals
Designed using extensive CAD-user input, the 3Dconnexion CadMouse is the first mouse made specifically for CAD professionals. It combines powerful, ergonomic hardware and smart, easy-to-use software. It features a dedicated, full-size middle mouse button; QuickZoom; a smart scroll wheel; an advanced laser sensor; a gesture/radial menu button; and optimally shaped PTFE feet. Power users will have the CadMouse in one hand and the 3Dconnexion wireless SpaceMouse Pro or SpaceNavigator in the other.
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Image - Cool Tools: See how easy vibration measurements can be
Cool Tools: See how easy vibration measurements can be
Introduced at Sensors Expo last year, the Digiducer Piezoelectric USB Digital Accelerometer is rapidly gaining acceptance in both industrial and test markets. There are already more than a dozen commercially available software packages that communicate directly with the Digiducer Model 333D01. The device is finding utility in applications from balancing to electric motor monitoring to vehicle vibration. Value-added reseller GTI Predictive Technology has incorporated the product with its app, VibeRMS, and an Apple iPad mini for an entry-level vibration monitoring system. The ability to bring high-dynamic-range vibration signals to smartphones and tablets is simplifying and broadening both predictive maintenance and process-improvement uses of sound and vibration.
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Most popular last issue

Image - IED-like blast waves simulated against Army helmet prototypes
IED-like blast waves simulated against Army helmet prototypes
The U.S. Army is looking at helmet prototypes with optional parts to protect the face and jaw from various threats, including blast waves. But, as Dr. David Mott -- an aerospace engineer at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory -- says, more parts lead to more surprises.
Read the full article.

Image - Wheels: <br>Volvo Trucks slashes manufacturing tool production time 94% with 3D printing
Wheels:
Volvo Trucks slashes manufacturing tool production time 94% with 3D printing

Using Stratasys additive manufacturing technology, Volvo Trucks has reduced turnaround times on certain clamps, jigs, and supports from 36 days to just two days -- and gained many other manufacturing advantages.
Read the full article.

Image - MIT researchers take aircraft composite manufacturing out of the oven
MIT researchers take aircraft composite manufacturing out of the oven
Aerospace engineers at MIT have developed a carbon nanotube (CNT) film that can heat and solidify a composite without the need for massive ovens. When connected to an electrical power source and wrapped over a multilayer polymer composite, the heated film stimulates the polymer to solidify.
Read the full article.

Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
For latest exoskeleton, a spring is a marvelous thing
Biomechanical engineers at Carnegie Mellon University recently unveiled an unpowered exoskeleton -- a small, light, spring-activated device that fits on the lower leg -- that reduces the energy cost of walking by around 7 percent. The carbon fiber clamp-on device has no batteries and no motors, and uses the spring like a clutch.
View the video.

Video Image
Gordon Moore: Thoughts on the 50th Anniversary of Moore's Law
This April marks the 50th Anniversary of Moore's Law. Three years before co-founding Intel, Gordon Moore made a simple observation (in a trade magazine!) that has revolutionized the computing industry: The number of transistors incorporated on a computer chip will double every two years, resulting in increased computing power and devices that are faster, smaller, and lower cost. But what did Moore really think about his prediction at the time?
View the video.

Video Image

New products

Electrical/Electronics
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