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News

Cooling is primary concern for today's cleaner, hotter diesels

Historical car parts plant closes its doors

British Airways onboard with sensor-based predictive monitoring system

Norgren and Kloehn join forces in precision control technology
In this issue:

Feature Articles

A spin down memory lane: Mazda's rotary engine celebrates 40th anniversary
On May 30, 1967, Mazda launched the world's first twin-rotor rotary engine car, the Mazda Cosmo Sport. Forty years to the day later, the company celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Mazda rotary engine and the production of nearly 2 million rotary engine-powered vehicles. "From humble beginnings in the 1950s to a very bright hydrogen-fueled future, the rotary engine represents Mazda as a company that follows the road less traveled, and makes its own successes where others have failed," said Jim O'Sullivan, president and CEO of Mazda North American Operations.
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New one-piece Zytel bike wheel survives rugged terrain
The new FRX5 bike wheel has what it takes to withstand the punishment of off-road recreational biking and competition. TAG Wheels, Newport Beach, CA, makes the new wheel in a single piece using DuPont Zytel nylon resin that delivers excellent toughness, strength, and stiffness. Using FRX5 wheels in the Hammer Fest downhill event on Vancouver Island this spring, pro rider Dharma Fontaine hit a rock that flattened his rear tire early in the race. "At the finish line, after I stopped shaking and rattling, I checked the wheel expecting to find massive damage," he says.
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Negative-stiffness vibration isolation gaining popularity in nanotechnology
It wasn't too long ago that making the decision of where to locate your scanning probe microscope was a simple one — put it in the basement where the ambient vibration was minimized. But recently, with nanotechnology applications growing exponentially, scientists and engineers are putting their equipment in a multitude of locations where vibration noise is significantly high. Scanning probe microscopes, interferometers, and stylus profilers are being sited in locations that pose a serious challenge to vibration isolation.
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Self-healing materials can mimic human skin, healing again and again
The next generation of self-healing materials, invented by researchers at the University of Illinois, mimics human skin by healing itself time after time. The new materials rely upon embedded, three-dimensional microvascular networks that emulate biological circulatory systems. "In the same manner that a cut in the skin triggers blood flow to promote healing, a crack in these new materials will trigger the flow of a healing agent to repair the damage," said Nancy Sottos, a Willett Professor of materials science and engineering.
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Wheels: Predicting chain drive system resonances
Like other automotive manufacturers, Ford Motor Company wrestled with a common concern — incessant noise and vibration in a new transmission prototype. The team started with the analysis of the chain noise test data and compared this with the theoretical mathematical model. Their results indicated that three types of chain resonance existed: the transverse strand resonance, the longitudinal chain sprocket coupled resonance, and the longitudinal chain stress wave type resonance. Ford used the mathematical software Maple.
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Geared up
Share your opinions and ideas on designs and pressing industry topics
This week: Big Dig epoxy meltdown
In a classic (and tragic) example of the "chain is only as strong as its weakest link," the National Transportation Safety Board announced last week its final judgment on Boston’s Big Dig tunnel ceiling collapse that killed one woman a year ago. The verdict? Builders used the wrong epoxy to hold the anchor bolts in place.
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New Products

Electrical/Electronic
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Designfax Online's Gas Money Giveaway 4
Congratulations to Brian Mitchell, engineer, Samsung, for being our final week's winner.

Guides

Literature, guides, catalogs, and other great free stuff: Always more than 50 new resources

  • Search 24/7 for wire management and industrial interconnects —  Remke
  • Inductors, transformers, and so much more — Pulse Engineering
  • Expanded resistor product line — IRC

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