Click this link if you cannot read the issue below: Designfax - Tech for OEM Design Engineers
July 02, 2013Volume 09 Issue 25


Image - Eliminate O-Rings to Increase Compatibility <br>and Reduce Potential Leak Paths
Eliminate O-Rings to Increase Compatibility
and Reduce Potential Leak Paths

BellowsTech valve seals, manufactured using bellows technology, can eliminate O-rings to increase compatibility and reduce potential leak paths. Bellows technology creates a uniform outside wall for consistent movement under hydraulic pressure. Various stroke lengths and sizes are offered, and can be manufactured with O-ring grooves, flanges, and carbon-face seals to make the best possible connection to customer assemblies. BellowsTech valve seals are 100% visually inspected throughout the manufacturing process and confirmed with mass spectrometer testing.
Click here to view our nearly 100 standard diaphragm sizes online, which is also available as a downloadable PDF file.

Visit the BellowsTech online store today!


In this issue of Designfax

  • Components for 3M 25-year light bulb
  • Wheels: Corvette uses engineered 'smart material'
  • Campfire pot charges cell phones
  • Peel-and-stick solar panels
  • Wheels: SuperTruck's big fuel-economy increase
  • Military engineers teach old water can new tricks
  • Metal injection molding (MIM) in firearms
  • Microdrives in humanoid robots
  • Robotic insects make first controlled flight
  • Engineer's Toolbox: Stainless steel pressure sensors
  • Wheels (and wings): Electromagnetic jet catapult
  • Products: LED aircraft landing light
  • Products: Alternatives to riveting or spot welding
  • Products: Design guide for bonding metals
  • Products: CAD viewer handles 20+ formats
  • Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
    • Most energy-efficient LED light bulb?
    • 3D-printed M.C. Escher drawings (not a typo)
    • Festo creates dragonfly bot
  • New Products
    • Electrical, Mechanical, Motion, Special: Materials
    Cover Image: New Corvette features shape memory material [Image: GM}

News

Tiny satellites for all: Crowd-funded, DIY spacecraft to float into low-Earth orbit

New 'intelligent' wind turbine has a rotor as big as the London Eye

Ward's 10 Best Engines of 2013 announced: no hybrids, all-electrics, or diesels

Army experiments with $699 3D printers



Image - Can you build an all-wheel-drive space rover from standard parts?
Can you build an all-wheel-drive space rover from standard parts?
Yup ... at least the drive system. Using low-cost, standard motion-control parts from the FAULHABER Group/MICROMO and controlled with conventional components, the eight-wheel Shrimp Rover climbing concept was built to carry instrumentation for space travel missions and challenging Earth-bound applications such as minesweeping. Read all about creating the off-the-shelf drive system for this rover.
Read the full article.

Feature articles
3M 25-year light bulb requires unique die-cast components
When 3M began the design and development of its new 25-year LED light bulb, there were a number of aluminum components in the design that, in large volumes, would ultimately be too costly to allow for secondary machining and would require net-shape, high-pressure aluminum die casting. 3M's LED Advanced Light has a unique electronics-in-bulb design, sophisticated light-guide technology, and an estimated energy cost of $1.63 per year.
Read the full article.
Image -
Request your Protogami interactive design tool from Protomold today.


Image - Wheels: <br>Chevrolet debuts lightweight 'smart material' on Corvette
Wheels:
Chevrolet debuts lightweight 'smart material' on Corvette

GM's first use of a heat-activated shape memory alloy replaces a heavier motorized part on its new seventh-generation Corvette.
Read the full article.

Image - Campfire pot turns heat and water into electricity -- really
Campfire pot turns heat and water into electricity -- really
Power Practical, a student startup that sprang from research at the University of Utah, is selling a portable thermoelectric cook pot that transforms heat and water into a power source to charge cellphones and other devices.
Read the full article.

Image - Researchers create totally viable peel-and-stick solar panels
Researchers create totally viable peel-and-stick solar panels
A decal-like application process allows thin, flexible solar panels to be applied to virtually any surface, from business cards to roofs to window panes.
Read the full article.

Image - Wheels: <br>SuperTruck delivers 54 percent increase in fuel economy
Wheels:
SuperTruck delivers 54 percent increase in fuel economy

Cummins Inc. and Peterbilt Motors Co. recently released test results showing their demonstration "SuperTruck" tractor-trailer achieved a 54 percent increase in fuel economy over standard trucks, averaging nearly 10 mpg under real-world driving conditions.
Read the full article.

Image - Military engineers teach an old water can new tricks
Military engineers teach an old water can new tricks
A system developed by researchers at the Natick Soldier Research, Development, and Engineering Center, Department of Defense Combat Feeding Directorate in Natick, MA, will help bring water to Soldiers in the field, either cool or heat it, and then keep it that way for days at a time. The system revolves around a high-stress collapsible water bag, a beverage cooling unit, and an insulated bag that holds the standard 5-gal water can or the collapsible water bag.
Read the full article.

Image - Metal injection molding (MIM): <br>A crucial element in the booming firearms industry
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.

Image - Microdrives give humanoid service robots <br>human traits
Microdrives give humanoid service robots
human traits

The more human-like a robot is, the more sophisticated the mechatronic engineering input necessary. Microdrives are often central to providing robots the means to exhibit "body language."
Read the full article.

Image - Robotic insects make first controlled flight
Robotic insects make first controlled flight
Inspired by the biology of a fly, with submillimeter-scale anatomy and two wafer-thin wings that flap almost invisibly 120 times per second, Harvard researchers have demonstrated the first vertical takeoff, hovering, and steering of a truly insect-size robot. The RoboBee, an aspiration for the researchers for years, represents the absolute cutting edge of micromanufacturing and control systems.
Read the full article.

Image - Engineer's Toolbox: <br>What's the difference between 17-4PH and 316L stainless steel for pressure sensors?
Engineer's Toolbox:
What's the difference between 17-4PH and 316L stainless steel for pressure sensors?

Stainless steel pressure sensors and transducers are most commonly manufactured from either 316L or 17-4 PH. Both offer good material strength and good elasticity, but there are key differences that can have significant impacts on which material you should choose for your application.
Read the full article.

Image - Wheels (and wings): <br>New electromagnetic catapult includes 'most powerful single linear motor ever energized'
Wheels (and wings):
New electromagnetic catapult includes 'most powerful single linear motor ever energized'

Catapults incorporating GE Power Conversion's powerful new medium-voltage advanced linear induction machine will be capable of launching aircraft as large as the latest F35-C from aircraft carriers, while smaller versions will be used to launch unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from mobile or fixed installations.
Read the full article.

Image - Most Popular Products: <br>First PAR64 LED aircraft landing light is cash, energy saver
Most Popular Products:
First PAR64 LED aircraft landing light is cash, energy saver

Hoffman Performance Lighting has introduced the first-ever PAR64 LED Landing Light, a drop-in replacement for existing Q4559 and Q4559X quartz halogen lamps. The ruggedized PAR64 is used on a wide range of commercial, civil, law enforcement, aero-medical, and military aircraft. But what's really so cool about this LED?
Read the full article.

Image - Most Popular Products: <br>Great alternatives to riveting or spot welding
Most Popular Products:
Great alternatives to riveting or spot welding

PEM SpotFast self-clinching fasteners enable two sheets to be joined permanently in a flush-attachment connection without protrusions on either side. These practical alternatives to riveting or spot welding provide ideal solutions to attach two metal sheets too thin to weld, fasten sheets of unequal thicknesses, join dissimilar metals, attach ultra-thin metal sections, or join metal sheets to PCB or plastic panels. Their rotational capability offers additional application advantages by allowing the fastener to act as a hardened pivot point. SpotFast fasteners install smooth with the top sheet and flush or sub-flush with the bottom sheet. Can be installed in aluminum or steel sheets as thin as .030 in./0.8 mm.
Click here to learn more.

Image - Most Popular Products: <br>Loctite Design Guide For Bonding Metals
Most Popular Products:
Loctite Design Guide For Bonding Metals

This extensive 59-page resource details structural adhesives and provides in-depth discussions of the best adhesives for a range of metal substrates. Individual metal bonding chapters provide bond strength and shear strength data for each of eight substrates. Data is included on 23 of the newest structural adhesives from Loctite. Check out the Design Guide for Bonding Plastics too.
Get the .pdf guide (no registration).

Image - Most Popular Products: <br>Powerful CAD viewer for fast viewing and markup of over two dozen CAD formats
Most Popular Products:
Powerful CAD viewer for fast viewing and markup of over two dozen CAD formats

KeyMarkUp CAD from Kubotek USA views and marks up over two dozen CAD file formats -- but this product does so much more. It gives engineers a powerful method to measure, analyze, annotate, print, and export CAD data for better collaboration and more accurate quoting. A dynamic selection tool, for instance, allows users to create simple cross-sections easily of complex parts or assemblies to complete difficult measurements or geometry checks. Multiple dimensioning, measuring, and mass property features and calculating tools, as well as mold design tools, simplify quoting and estimating. And there is a lot more.
See all that KeyMarkUp CAD can do.

Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
World's most energy-efficient LED light bulb?
Three young innovators got together and pitched their NanoLight project on Kickstarter. They reached their goal of $20,000 in project seed money in the first three days. What's so cool about the NanoLight? It's a super-economical, omnidirectional 12W LED bulb created from folded PCB boards that puts out the equivalent light of a traditional 100W bulb (1,600 lumens) and has a lifespan of 30,000 hr. Better yet, this device needs no heat sink. Check out this unconventional but very cool design.
View the video.

Video Image
Making M.C. Escher's drawings come to life with 3D printing
Is it possible to create 3D objects that represent some of M.C. Escher's head-scratching 2D drawings? Well that is what Prof. Gershon Elber of Israel's Technion's Faculty of Computer Science has done. See the impossible come to life using an Objet 3D printer. Super cool.
View the video.

Video Image
Festo creation inspired by dragonfly flight
After tackling accurate (and mesmerizing) robotic bird flight in 2010, the mechatronics experts at Festo have turned their substantial creative talents to modeling the dragonfly at a technical level. The 175-g "BionicOpter" is a 63-cm-wide ultralight carbon-fiber/foil bot that can fly in all directions and execute complicated flight maneuvers -- all controlled by smartphone. It can move each of its wings independently, so it can slow down, turn abruptly, accelerate swiftly, and even fly backwards. Sensors, actuators, and mechanical components, as well as open- and closed-loop control systems, are all installed in a very tight space. The flapping frequency, amplitude, and angle of incidence are controlled by software and electronics, so piloting the dragonfly is quite simple. Intelligent kinematics correct any vibrations during flight and ensure flight stability. In order to stabilize the bot, data on the position and the twisting of the wings is continuously recorded and evaluated in real time during flight.
View the video.

Video Image

New products

Electrical/Electronics
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Mechanical
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Materials
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