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May 19, 2015Volume 11 Issue 19


Image - 3D Printing White Paper
3D Printing White Paper
Additive manufacturing -- aka 3D printing -- has an important place in product development alongside CNC machining and injection molding. At Proto Labs, customers have the option to print their products with several different plastic and metal materials through various additive technologies.

Download our free white paper to review the pros and cons of commonly used 3D printing technologies.


In this issue of Designfax

  • Tube connection advance for up to 22,500 PSI
  • Small motors power bionic hand prosthesis
  • Silicon chips get anti-counterfeiting 'fingerprints'
  • Wheels: High-volume aluminum joining
  • Mike Likes: ID/OD Retaining Ring Lock
  • Engineer's Toolbox: Big gun tests mock nuke bomb
  • Product: Mini trackball features laser tech
  • Product: Turn ordinary pipe into a conveyor
  • Product: Custom hybrid linear actuators
  • Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
    • World's smallest computer rife with possibilities
    • Smart fabric generates electricity
  • Most Popular Last Issue
    • Wheels: Supersonic air blower for train rails
    • Battery bounce test often bounces off target
    • Hydraulics empower walking excavator
  • New Products
    • Electrical, Mechanical, Motion
    Cover Image: New high-volume joining process expands use of aluminum in autos [Image: DOE/PNNL]

News

Ultrafast camera captures images at the speed of light

Volvo Cars picks South Carolina for its first American factory

Twice as fast as a jet: U.S. Air Force confirms feasibility of Mach 5 SABRE engine concept

Smalley donates abrasive waterjet machining center to local college



Image - Universal Robots saves 9 hours at Glidewell
Universal Robots saves 9 hours at Glidewell
At Glidewell Dental Laboratories, a UR5 robot enables dynamic handling of dental crowns milled in CNC machines. Watch how this application saves 9 hours of production time and two milling operators per shift. And find out how vision guidance eliminates operation breakdowns when dispensers of blank crowns are jammed or empty.
View the video.
Read the complete case study about this robotic application.

Feature articles

Image - Tube connection advance speeds assembly of instrumentation systems for pressures up to 22,500 PSI
Tube connection advance speeds assembly of instrumentation systems for pressures up to 22,500 PSI
A breakthrough in high-integrity tube connection technology now offers instrumentation system designers and installers major performance and time-saving advantages. The advanced design is now available from Parker Hannifin, a global leader in motion and control technologies.
Read the full article.

Image - Small motors power bionic hand prosthesis that can help users feel objects
Small motors power bionic hand prosthesis that can help users feel objects
Most hand prostheses can detect muscular movements in the residual limb and enable the bearer to open and close the hand as well as to grasp objects, but they don't provide sensory feedback to the nervous system. The LifeHand 2 prosthetic is equipped with sensors to register tactile sensations and tension in the artificial tendons. The sensors interpret the data and generate electric signals to transmit to electrodes in the user's own arm nerve fibers, so users can "feel" what they are touching.
Read the full article.

Image - Silicon chips get 'fingerprints' to fight counterfeiting
Silicon chips get 'fingerprints' to fight counterfeiting
MIT spinout Verayo has created technology that tracks random variations in silicon chips to assign them unique "fingerprints." Integrated into radio frequency identification tags, the chips can be scanned by a mobile device or reader to determine if the tag is authentic.
Read the full article.

Image - Wheels: <br>Vastly improved high-volume joining process expands use of aluminum in autos
Wheels:
Vastly improved high-volume joining process expands use of aluminum in autos

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) researchers have demonstrated a new process for the expanded use of lightweight aluminum in cars and trucks at the speed, scale, quality, and consistency required by the auto industry. The process reduces production time and costs while yielding strong and lightweight parts, for example delivering a car door that is 62 percent lighter and 25 percent cheaper than that produced with today's manufacturing methods.
Read the full article.

Image - Mike Likes: <br>ID/OD Retaining Ring Lock
Mike Likes:
ID/OD Retaining Ring Lock

Spirolox Retaining Rings can operate in an internal and external groove at the same time. Install the ring in one groove and then compress the ring with the mating component into the second groove. When the grooves meet, the ring snaps into place creating a low-cost, hidden, high-strength, tamper-proof rotating joint. Over 6,000 rings are stocked from 1/4" to 16" diameters in carbon and stainless steel, customs up to 120".
Click here to learn more.

Image - Engineer's Toolbox: <br>Big gun tests mock nuke bomb
Engineer's Toolbox:
Big gun tests mock nuke bomb

Three years of design, planning, and preparation came down to a split second, a loud boom, and an enormous splash in a successful impact test of hardware in the nose assembly of an unarmed, mock B61-12 nuclear bomb. The Sandia National Laboratories test also captured data that will allow analysts to validate computer models of the bomb, part of Sandia's decade-long effort in the B61-12 Life Extension Program (LEP). An LEP is a way to extend the life of an aging weapon without adding new military capability.
Read the full article.

Image - Product: Mini trackball features laser tech
Product: Mini trackball features laser tech
APEM's new LT series miniature trackball features advanced laser-tracking technology for precision control, along with IP68 sealing and a completely removable bezel for easy cleaning, ensuring optimal performance in rugged applications such as medical devices, marine systems, industrial consoles, and material handling.
Click here to learn more.

Image - Product: Turn ordinary pipe into a conveyor
Product: Turn ordinary pipe into a conveyor
EXAIR's new aluminum 3/8 NPT and 1/2 NPT Threaded Line Vac Air Operated Conveyors convert ordinary pipe into a powerful conveying system for parts, scrap, trim, and other bulk materials. Their small size makes them perfect for fitting in the cramped spaces and tight confines of many production lines. The Threaded Line Vac is designed to attach to plumbing pipe couplers, making it easy to build a complete system using ordinary pipe and fittings. Threaded Line Vac Conveyors eject a small amount of compressed air to produce a vacuum on one end with high-output flows on the other. Response is instantaneous. Regulating the compressed air pressure provides infinite control of the conveying rate.
Click here to learn more.

Image - Product: Custom hybrid linear actuators
Product: Custom hybrid linear actuators
Quiet, energy-efficient linear stepper actuators from Haydon Kerk Motion Solutions are excellent replacements for loud and power-hungry solenoid valves for such critical applications as security door actuation systems. With over 200 thread designs and four motor frame sizes below 43 mm available, the modular nature of Haydon Kerk's hybrid linear actuator design allows for easy customization of mounting configuration, wire egress point, stroke length, winding, and more.
Click here to learn more.

Most popular last issue

Image - Wheels: <br>Supersonic air blower sweeps train rails clean
Wheels:
Supersonic air blower sweeps train rails clean

Like an SUV towing a trailer in winter, locomotives can lose their grip on slick rails if they're pulling too much behind them. Since the weather in mountainous areas can change quickly, railroads play it safe and usually only run trains long enough to pull through all weather conditions. But shorter trains can get expensive. That's why GE locomotive engineers developed a software-guided supersonic air blower.
Read the full article.

Image - Battery bounce test often bounces off target
Battery bounce test often bounces off target
Don't throw away those bouncing batteries. Researchers at Princeton University have found that the common test of bouncing a household battery to learn if it is dead or not is not actually an effective way to check a battery's charge.
Read the full article.

Image - Innovative hydraulics empower highly specialized spider/walking excavator
Innovative hydraulics empower highly specialized spider/walking excavator
The Swiss excavator manufacturer Menzi Muck unveiled the first model in its new walking excavator series at the bauma 2013 trade fair. The working hydraulics in these highly specialized construction machines are configured as a complete system of Linde Hydraulics components, including the electronic control unit.
Read the full article.

Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
World's smallest computer rife with possibilities
University of Michigan engineers have taken the lead in constructing millimeter-size fully autonomous computing systems that can perform on many alternating platforms. Dennis Sylvester and David Blaauw, professors of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, have developed the Michigan Micro Mote (M3) units capable of harvesting solar power to utilize wireless communication, pressure, and temperature sensors -- and even still-image and video processing. You can fit 150 of these computers inside a thimble.
View the video.

Video Image
Smart fabric generates electricity
South Korean researchers have developed a "smart" fabric that can generate electricity to power wearable devices. There's nothing like making good use of that pesky static cling.
View the video.

Video Image

New products

Electrical/Electronics
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Mechanical
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Motion
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