February 28, 2017 | Volume 13 Issue 08 |
Manufacturing Center
Product Spotlight
Modern Applications News
Metalworking Ideas For
Today's Job Shops
Tooling and Production
Strategies for large
metalworking plants
Aitech Systems' solutions can meet the growing demands for shorter development times and lower costs among satellite buses, subsystems, and payloads. Using a Space Digital Backbone (DBB) approach, which provides a flexible, scalable communication pathway for the increasing number of Internet of Things technologies being implemented into space missions, the company provides a selection of space-rated subsystems for common space platforms including: Earth observation, communications, power control, navigation, and robotics.
Learn more.
SCHURTER has upgraded its 2-pole classic TA35 and TA36 thermal circuit breaker models with an additional, optional magnetic module. From now on, no additional fuse is required when using a thermal-magnetic type. Depending on the application, the magnetic modules are available either with a slow- or a fast-acting characteristic. Both models are designed for snap-in mounting and with finely graduated rated currents. A variety of colors and lighting options make the designer's choice easier.
Learn more.
The precision and reliability offered by modern rotary encoders are essential in many product categories. These include robotics, machine tools, printing presses, motion control systems, medical equipment, aerospace, gaming and entertainment, and automotive. Learn all about magnetic rotary encoders -- and important developments in the technology's future.
Read the full Avnet article.
OMNIVISION has expanded its TheiaCel™ product portfolio with a new OX12A10 12-MP high-res image sensor for automotive cameras. This sensor, with the highest resolution in its line, improves automotive safety by eliminating LED flicker regardless of lighting conditions. It is ideal for high-performance front machine vision cameras for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving (AD).
Learn more.
Novotechnik's new RSK-3200 Series angle sensors are designed for harsh automotive and off-highway applications. Measurement range is 0 to 360 degrees, and the temperature range is -40 to 125 C. This unit's built-in coupling accepts D-Shaft, with shaft customization available. The sensors are sealed to IP 67 or IP 69k depending on version. RSK-3200 Series sensors are extremely durable with MTTF of 285 years for each of the two channels! Applications include throttle control and EGR valves, transmission gear position, and accelerator position. Very competitive pricing.
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Signaling and indicator lights, switches, and buttons -- elements that hardly any machine can do without. The new JW Winco cabinet U-handle EN 6284 integrates all these functions into a single, compact element. The new U-handle is designed to enhance the operation of systems and machines. It features an integrated button and a large, colored, backlit area on the handle. These elements can be used individually or in combination, providing a versatile tool for system control and process monitoring that can be seen from across the room.
Learn more.
Offered in two benchtop and two floor-model options to handle nearly any size part, the SmartScope M-Series systems from Optical Gaging Products usher in the next generation of enhancements in image accuracy, optics, and throughput to the world's most popular 3D multisensor video measurement platform. SmartScope M-Series features fixed optics with a 20-megapixel camera and proprietary Virtual Zoom, combined with advanced sensors, illumination, and accessories, to achieve class-leading optical measurement speeds. Lots more features.
Learn more.
SOLIDWORKS Elite Applications Engineer Alin Vargatu demonstrates his top tips for focusing on your model: finding planes the easy way inside your assembly with the Q key, breadcrumbs, and a better way to use the component preview window. Very helpful. Lots more tips on the SOLIDWORKS YouTube channel.
View the video.
Nexperia's AEC-Q100 qualified, push-pull transformer drivers (NXF6501-Q100, NXF6505A-Q100, and NXF6505B-Q100) enable the design of small, low-noise, and low-EMI isolated power supplies for a range of automotive applications such as traction inverters and motor control, DC-DC converters, battery management systems, and on-board chargers in EVs. Also suitable for industrial applications such as telecommunications, medical, instrumentation, and automation equipment.
Learn more.
H. G. Schaevitz LLC, Alliance Sensors Group is now offering a miniature, lightweight LZ SERIES linear position sensor product line utilizing LVIT Technology™. These sensors are designed for tight spaces that require excellent stroke-to-length ratio. They are contactless devices for use by drones, OEMs, aerospace, robotics, factory automation, or assembly machinery applications where precision in position sensing is crucial.
Learn all the specs.
According to Parker Hannifin, "A Printed Circuit Heat Exchanger is a robust, corrosion-resistant, high-integrity plate-type heat exchanger manufactured using diffusion bonding." Learn about the technology and why Heatric, a Parker brand, "can manufacture a unit up to 85% smaller and lighter than traditional technologies such as shell and tube heat exchangers."
Read this informative Parker blog.
Mastering bend calculations in sheet metal design is a key skill that can impact the accuracy and manufactur-ability of your designs significantly. Explore the various options available to become a pro in this Onshape Tech Tip: K Factor, bend allowance, and bend deduction, with guidance on when each should be used. You may learn something even if you don't use this software.
Read the Onshape blog.
Automation-Direct has added new high-quality and efficient stainless steel Seifert 340 BTU/H thermoelectric coolers with 120-V and 230-V power options. Thermoelectric coolers from Seifert use the Peltier Effect to create a temperature difference between the internal and ambient heat sinks, making internal air cooler while dissipating heat into the external environment. Fans assist the convective heat transfer from the heat sinks, which are optimized for maximum flow.
Learn more.
Raspberry Pi's Pico low-cost, high-performance microcontroller board with flexible digital interfaces is now being offered as a full second-generation product, complete with twice the on-board flash memory, higher performance, lower power consumption, and greater security.
Read the full article.
Linear Variable Differential Transformers are electro-mechanical devices used in many industrial applications to measure the displacement or position of an object. They convert the linear position or motion of a measured object into an electrical output that is displayed on a local readout or input into a programmable logic controller as part of an automated process control system. LVDTs come in two core configurations -- free-core and spring-loaded -- but do you know what the differences are?
Read the full NewTek Sensor Solutions article.
How can an airplane be hacked? The answer, say experts, may be to confuse the pilot.
"Taking control over an airplane isn't as easy as flying a drone; an attack is more likely going to be simulating malfunctions so a pilot loses trust in his or her aircraft," says Mike Worden, a Raytheon engineering fellow and the company's principal investigator for cyber hardening projects.
Raytheon is working on a company-funded research and development project to provide commercial and military pilots with a cyber-attack warning system within the next year. The company is developing two products: a software-only technology and a hardware-deployable module. Software will provide a quick-and-easy fix should the need arise, while the hardware is designed to give airlines and the military a resilient, persistent solution for aircraft cyber protection.
A denial-of-service cyber attack against an aircraft could be catastrophic. [Image courtesy: Raytheon]
"Think of it as the cyber equivalent of a missile warning system," Worden says. "When an enemy missile locks onto an aircraft, the pilot gets alerted so he or she can take evasive action, popping off flares and chaff to avoid getting shot down. With a cyber warning system, pilots will also be able to tell if anything on the aircraft has been hacked and performing actions that it shouldn't."
Worden has assembled a team of cyber vulnerability experts and engineers led by Greg Ladd, an engineering fellow and cyber mitigation principal investigator, to prevent the five Ds of non-kinetic warfare: denial, disruption, degradation, destruction, and deception.
"The team has developed software that looks for anomalies on the aircraft buses -- the communication systems that control, monitor, and transfer data between different electronic components in the aircraft -- and remote terminals, which could be any device connected to the buses, such as annunciators, flaps, lights, and landing gear," Ladd says.
Those current systems are often based on 1970s technology, according to Worden, designed before the need for cyber defenses.
"In today's Internet of Things, we think about cyber threats a lot," he says. "The consequences of a compromised aircraft could be catastrophic."
According to Worden, the greatest cyber security threat facing aircraft is introduction of malware through the supply chain, since aircraft parts are manufactured all over the world.
"Malicious code could remain dormant until specific conditions are met before it's triggered, such as, for example, reaching an altitude of 10,000 feet on its 30th flight," Worden said. "Talk like this gets pilots hyperventilating, and I can tell you I get a little more nervous when I hit turbulence these days."
Worden says that a single compromised component or "bad actor" could take advantage of the entire system. The exploit could deceive the pilot into thinking the aircraft was doing something that it shouldn't, such as losing fuel or having an engine fire, or it could actually take control of it remotely.
The cyber warning system would detect if a component aboard is "misbehaving" or suddenly appears when it shouldn't an issue alert.
During military operations, a cyber attack on an aircraft could trick pilots into not trusting their instruments and aircraft. If they don't trust their aircraft, then their mission fails.
"Today, our system lets pilots know of cyber intrusions, allowing them time to react and switch over to alternate systems," Ladd says. "It lets them know, 'My engine really isn't on fire; it's a cyber issue.'"
Both Worden and Ladd say that the Oct. 2016 distributed denial of service cyber attacks against the internet provider Dyn, which blocked major websites from users across Europe and North America, annoyed and inconvenienced many across the globe, but they weren't life threatening.
"Nobody died during the recent DDOS attacks -- at worst, you weren't able to stream a movie or post where you ate dinner that night," Worden says. "A denial-of-service attack on aircraft could quickly turn into a tragedy. The pilot needs to be notified, because immediate action is warranted. That's the scenario that we're looking to protect against."
Source: Raytheon
Published February 2017