Click this link if you cannot read the issue below: Designfax - Tech for OEM Design Engineers
June 04, 2013Volume 09 Issue 21


Image - New 2013 Parts and Engineering Catalog
New 2013 Parts and Engineering Catalog
Smalley's new 50th Anniversary catalog combines previously existing Spirolox® Retaining Ring and Wave Spring series with newly released series. Smalley's recently released Metric Hoopster and Laminar Seal Rings catalogs have been incorporated into the new catalog, offering a comprehensive look at all of Smalley's 10,000 standard parts. The 50th Anniversary catalog celebrates 50 years of Smalley Steel Ring Company's commitment to excellence in quality, service and products that offer extreme value.

Request a hard copy catalog or get the downloadable version.


In this issue of Designfax

  • Metal injection molding (MIM) in firearms
  • Product Focus: Automation development software
  • Robot hands get a gentler touch
  • Wheels: LEDs become car co-pilots
  • Mike Likes: Easily add tactile feedback
  • Mechatronics: Top 5 mechanical considerations for electrical engineers
  • Events: Global Product Data Interoperability Summit
  • Ledge handles with lettering block
  • Precision positioning goes nano
  • Maple Global Optimization Toolbox
  • Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
    • Bonus fun: F-35B completes first vertical takeoff
    • Strength properties of epoxies
  • Most Popular Last Issue
    • Army tests spring-loaded knee brace
    • Wheels: Re-using electric car batteries
    • Mike Likes: New Smalley Linear Springs
  • New Products
    • Electrical, Mechanical, Motion, Special: Software
    Cover Image: Continental full-surround warning LEDs redirect driver focus

News

Military-grade lithium-ion batteries being tested for commercial Class 8 trucks

Hyundai Heavy Industries develops mini welding robot for shipbuilding

Gyroscopes to the rescue: New space suit designs could enable asteroid exploration, satellite repairs

3D inverse design helps military OEM develop unique cooling fans



Image - UAV gets mini electronic fuel injection system
UAV gets mini electronic fuel injection system
Engines used in aircraft are particularly demanding when it comes to controlling the fuel/air ratio. A new miniaturized electronic fuel injection (EFI) system designed especially for small combustion engines provides the benefits of fuel injection, long enjoyed in larger engines, for small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). MICROMO microdrives power the fuel pump to ensure the correct pressure in the fuel system, helping to provide higher performance, reduced fuel consumption, and considerably increased reliability.

Click here to read the full article.


Feature articles
Metal injection molding (MIM):
A crucial element in the booming firearms industry

Metal injection molding (MIM) is a popular choice in the flourishing firearms market for producing relatively high precision at a low cost. MIM combines powder metal with a low-melt polymer to create a feedstock that is molded using conventional injection-molding equipment and molds. After molding, the plastic must be removed and the parts sintered. The result is a solid metal part created from powder metal to near net shape at 96 percent density of wrought metal.
Read the full article.
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Get all 9 volumes of Protomold's invaluable injection molding design tips at no cost. Just click above.


Image - Product Focus: <br>New system-wide automation development software suite has a lot to offer
Product Focus:
New system-wide automation development software suite has a lot to offer

ABB has launched a powerful new engineering development tool suite for industrial automation projects. It's called Automation Builder, and it provides an integrated development environment for control and motion systems based on PLCs, safety PLCs, robotics, motion control, and related automation components.
Read the full article.

Image - Robot hands get a gentler, much cheaper touch
Robot hands get a gentler, much cheaper touch
Researchers at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed a very inexpensive tactile sensor for robotic hands that is sensitive enough to turn a brute machine into a dextrous manipulator. The clever design adds a layer of vacuum-sealed rubber to a tiny barometer that senses air pressure.
Read the full article.

Image - Wheels: <br>LEDs become car co-pilots thanks to Continental designers
Wheels:
LEDs become car co-pilots thanks to Continental designers

Automotive supplier Continental's "driver focus" concept vehicle features driver-assistance systems that are linked to a highly versatile LED light strip to create an in-your-face tool against driver distraction. It's a full-surround, in-cabin light show -- and we're eager to get your opinion on it.
Read the full article.

Image - Mike Likes: <br> Easily add tactile feedback to consumer and industrial products
Mike Likes:
Easily add tactile feedback to consumer and industrial products

Texas Instruments has released a new haptic driver that makes it easy to add realistic tactile feedback effects to consumer and industrial products, such as smartphones, tablets, refrigerators, microwave ovens, and washing machines. The DRV2605 is the only eccentric rotating mass actuator (ERM) and linear resonant actuator (LRA) haptic driver pre-loaded with a library of 123 distinct haptic effects designed and licensed by Immersion, the leading developer and licensor of touch feedback technology.
Click here to learn more.
Engineer's Toolbox - Mechatronics:
Top 5 mechanical considerations for electrical engineers

Mechanical and electrical engineers often overlook important issues when specifying their respective parts of an electromechanical system. Here are five good pieces of advice for electrical engineers responsible for electromechanical systems, as provided by a mechanical engineer. By Jared Mann, applications engineer, Bosch Rexroth, Linear Motion and Assembly Technologies.
Read the full article.

Image - Events: 2013 Boeing, Northrop Grumman Global Product Data Interoperability Summit abstract and vendor deadlines are approaching
Events: 2013 Boeing, Northrop Grumman Global Product Data Interoperability Summit abstract and vendor deadlines are approaching
The 5th annual Global Product Data Interoperability Summit, co-sponsored by Boeing, Northrup Grumman, and Elysium, is even bigger and better this year! The event will be held at no cost to industry professionals and supply chain partners in aerospace, automotive, related industries, and academia September 9-12 in Chandler, AZ. The deadline for presentation abstracts is June 14.
Click here to learn more about this great event.

Image - Featured Product: <br>Ledge handles with lettering block
Featured Product:
Ledge handles with lettering block

J.W. Winco now offers series GN 430.1 Ledge Handles with Lettering Block in metric sizes. Typical applications for these aluminum RoHS-compliant handles include swivel or sliding doors on protective doors and equipment. They are also suitable for use as drawer handles.
Click here to learn more.

Image - Featured Product:<br> Precision positioning goes nano
Featured Product:
Precision positioning goes nano

Precision positioning systems specialist Physik Instrumente (PI) recently introduced a new series of miniaturized, piezo-motor-driven linear positioners at the 2013 LASER World of PHOTONICS conference in Munich, Germany -- the world's largest trade show for lasers and photonics-related products. PI's new LPS-24 positioners are less than 1 in. wide and provide 15-mm travel range with closed-loop sensor resolution up to 2 nanometers. The small dimensions make these positioners the ideal choice for high-precision motion in confined spaces. A vacuum-rated version is also available.
Click here to learn more.

Image - Featured Product:<br> Maple Global Optimization Toolbox offers greater problem-solving capabilities
Featured Product:
Maple Global Optimization Toolbox offers greater problem-solving capabilities

Maplesoft has announced a new version of its Global Optimization Toolbox for solving a wide variety of optimization problems in mathematics, engineering, and the sciences. The objective of global optimization is to find the best possible solution in models that have a number of sub-optimal local solutions that meet the requirements but are not the best possible answer. Optimus technology reduces solution times and expands the scope of problems this toolbox can solve.
Click here to learn more.

Most popular last issue

Image - U.S. Army tests Yale spring-loaded knee brace
U.S. Army tests Yale spring-loaded knee brace
Weight, hinge design, and assistive power of a quasi-passive exoskeleton were studied at the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC) in Natick, Mass., recently to see how these factors affect the way an individual walks.
Read the full article.

Image - Wheels: <br>Do electric vehicle batteries have an afterlife? ORNL explores uses
Wheels:
Do electric vehicle batteries have an afterlife? ORNL explores uses

Once they've finished powering electric vehicles for hundreds of thousands of miles, it may not be the end of the road for automotive batteries, which researchers from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, along with industrial partners, believe can provide continued benefits for consumers, automakers, and the environment.
Read the full article.

Image - Mike Likes: <br>Smalley Steel Ring Company launches new <br>Linear Spring Series
Mike Likes:
Smalley Steel Ring Company launches new
Linear Spring Series

Catch the wave ... the linear spring wave, that is. Smalley Steel Ring Company has just announced its new Linear Spring Series, offering a selection of spring loads that react along a straight line, as opposed to a conventional spring that fits in a circular cavity.
Read the full article.

Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
Bonus fun: F-35B completes first vertical takeoff
A Lockheed Martin F-35B Short Takeoff/Vertical Landing (STOVL) Lightning II test aircraft recently completed the first-ever Vertical Takeoff (VTO) on May 10, 2013. While not a combat capability, VTOs are required for repositioning of the STOVL in environments where the jet could not perform a short takeoff. In these cases, the jet, with a limited amount of fuel, would execute a VTO to travel a short distance.
View the video.

Video Image
Physical strength properties of epoxy adhesives
Master Bond epoxies feature outstanding physical strength properties for high-performance bonding, sealing, coating, potting, and encapsulation. These polymer compounds are formulated to meet challenging physical strength requirements. Learn about specific epoxies, their attributes and uses.
View the video.

Video Image

New products

Electrical/Electronics
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Software
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