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January 21, 2014Volume 10 Issue 03


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

  • Keeping carbonation bottled up with FEA
  • Microdrives in humanoid robots
  • Triboelectric generators for energy harvesting
  • Wheels: Bosch start-stop coasting system
  • Mike Likes: Custom wave springs
  • Engineer's Toolbox: Super-clever robotics gripper
  • Product Spotlight: No-crimp contacts
  • Product Spotlight: Quick-release shaft collar
  • Product Spotlight: Electric rod-style actuator
  • Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
    • Turn 2D drawings to 3D models
    • Ford CEO talks aluminum F-150
  • Most Popular Last Issue
    • Cool Tools: Personal thermal imager for iPhone
    • Wheels: BMW Maxi scooter design
    • Algae to crude oil in minutes
  • New Products
    • Electrical, Mechanical, Motion
    Cover Image: VERSABALL adaptive 'jamming' gripper from Empire Robotics

News

Highly flexible, silver nanowire sensors hold promise for prosthetics, robotics

IBM sets U.S. patent record in 2013; achieves 21st straight year of patent leadership

Boeing gives a big thumbs up to 'green diesel' as a sustainable jet fuel

IMPORTANT message for gmail users -- both personal and corporate email accounts



Image - Universal Robots: Not all robots are created equal
Universal Robots: Not all robots are created equal
Universal Robots has reinvented industrial robotics with lightweight and flexible robot arms. The Danish-designed robots automate production in all industries - even in SMBs that regard automation as prohibitively expensive, cumbersome, and difficult to integrate. The robot arms require no safety shielding and are easily moved around to complete the most detailed tasks. Programming is done through an intuitive touch screen, eliminating the need for skilled programmers. Sold in over 50 countries worldwide, the average ROI of a UR robot is three to eight months.
Click here for more product information.
Click here to read case studies.
Click here to see a list of distributors.

Feature articles

Image - Keeping carbonation bottled up with FEA
Keeping carbonation bottled up with FEA
When Dom Perignon was asked to look into why sparkling wine bottles were unexpectedly bursting in the cellars of his abbey in northern France 300 years ago, he decided to investigate the bubbles. Fermentation, it turns out, continued after the beverage was bottled, producing additional carbonation and increasing pressure. Today, research engineers working for Verallia at Saint-Gobain's Research Center, near Paris, take a different tack to ensure there is no breakage: They analyze the bottles, not the bubbly.
Read the full article.

Image - Micro Solutions: <br>Microdrives give humanoid service robots <br>human traits
Micro Solutions:
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 - Energy harvesting's spark of innovation: <br>Triboelectric generators capture wasted power
Energy harvesting's spark of innovation:
Triboelectric generators capture wasted power

With one stomp of his foot, Zhong Lin Wang illuminates a thousand LED bulbs -- with no batteries or power cord. The current comes from essentially the same source as that tiny spark that jumps from a fingertip to a doorknob when you walk across carpet on a cold, dry day. Wang and his research team have learned to harvest this power and put it to work.
Read the full article.

Image - Wheels: <br>Bosch is betting its start-stop coasting system will become the norm
Wheels:
Bosch is betting its start-stop coasting system will become the norm

With its new start-stop technology, Bosch intends to have drivers coasting toward a 10 percent fuel savings. The company's latest start-stop coasting function stops the engine when the vehicle is in motion, so that it does not consume any fuel.
Read the full article.

Image - Mike Likes: <br>Custom wave springs
Mike Likes:
Custom wave springs

Smalley can manufacture custom Wave Springs quickly and economically to meet your specific application requirements. Because force and deflection requirements are application-specific, custom springs are often needed. With Smalley's No-Tooling-Cost™ manufacturing process, customs can be produced from .200" to 120" diameters in carbon steel, stainless steel, or other readily available exotic alloys. Prototypes can be available in as little as two weeks for testing.
Click here to learn more.

Image - Engineer's Toolbox: <br>Impressive 'coffee-filled' soft robotics gripper now available commercially
Engineer's Toolbox:
Impressive 'coffee-filled' soft robotics gripper now available commercially

An extremely clever robotic gripper invented by researchers at the University of Chicago and Cornell University a few years ago is now available commercially. Empire Robotics, the company founded to commercialize the "jamming gripper" invention, is taking orders for its product called VERSABALL, which wowed industry and academic professionals nationwide with a prototype that was a party balloon filled with vacuum-packed coffee.
Read the full article.

Image - Product Spotlight: <br>Fast, no-crimp contacts provide one-step installation
Product Spotlight:
Fast, no-crimp contacts provide one-step installation

Raychem SolderTacts shielded contacts from TE Connectivity utilize a one-piece contact design with integrated soldering technology to deliver fast, reliable terminations for circular connectors. SolderTacts contacts help eliminate the variables of crimping and enable a one-step installation process that can reduce handling and installation costs. Their versatile design makes them particularly well suited to military, aerospace, and defense equipment applications.
Click here for more information.

Image - Product Spotlight: <br>Quick-release shaft collar prevents slipping between reels and shaft
Product Spotlight:
Quick-release shaft collar prevents slipping between reels and shaft

Amacoil/Uhing has introduced Easylock shaft collars that hold reels, spools, and other objects in place on shafts. Objects are held firmly between two pintles, one of which has a clamping force control. The clamping control permits adjustment of the holding force from 90 to 1,124 lb. In converting and winding applications where it is important that there be no play between the shaft and the core, Easylock is an easy-to-install solution with no special tools required. The maintenance-free Easylock system is available in 10 different sizes.
Click here to learn more.

Image - Product Spotlight: <br>Low-cost ERD electric rod-style actuator line expanded
Product Spotlight:
Low-cost ERD electric rod-style actuator line expanded

Tolomatic's ERD electric cylinders provide an economical motion control platform ideal for extreme environments that involve washdown. The cylinders are now available in six body sizes, expanding the force range from 500 lbf (2.22 kN) to 4,500 lbf (20.03 kN). The ERD is an economical rod-style electric actuator family designed as an alternative to pneumatic cylinders and an option for automating manual processes. The products are suitable for a variety of motion control applications, including product changeovers, diverting/sorting, pressing, and heat-staking/sonic welding. The ERD25 and ERD30 hygienic designs are USDA certified for meat (livestock), poultry, and dairy processing applications.
Click here to learn more.

Most popular last issue

Image - Cool Tools: <br>See the heat -- FLIR unveils personal thermal imager for iPhone at CES 2014 show
Cool Tools:
See the heat -- FLIR unveils personal thermal imager for iPhone at CES 2014 show

What if you could tote around your own pocket-size thermal imager to check out how hot your equipment is running, say, or to see animals at night while camping? And what if that device was just an add-on case for your iPhone, complete with its own mini battery pack? That would be neat, huh?
Read the full article.

Image - Wheels: <br>Maxi scooter design -- Riding into new territories
Wheels:
Maxi scooter design -- Riding into new territories

BMW Motorrad is renowned for its touring bikes and, more recently, its sports bikes too. Yet with the new C600 Sport and C650 GT maxi scooters, with a powertrain engineered by Ricardo, the Munich-based premium motorcycle maker is entering a completely new sector of the market. Jesse Crosse talks to Ricardo's Paul Etheridge about how this ambitious design challenge was completed in record time.
Read the full article.

Image - Algae to crude oil: Million-year natural process takes minutes in the lab
Algae to crude oil: Million-year natural process takes minutes in the lab
Engineers at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have created a continuous chemical process that produces useful crude oil minutes after they pour in harvested algae -- a verdant green paste with the consistency of pea soup.
Read the full article.

Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
Ease your transition from 2D drawings to 3D models
See how easy it is to use DraftSight from Dassault Systemes and SolidWorks to add 3D geometry to your 2D drawings to convert them to DWG file 3D models.
View the video.

Video Image
Ford CEO talks aluminum F-150
With a Boeing aerospace background, is it any wonder that Ford's CEO, Alan Mulally, is excited to talk about the new aluminum-body Ford F-150 pickup truck that debuted at the Detroit Auto Show this week? The materials switch from steel shaved off nearly 700 lb from the vehicle's curb weight.
View the video.

Video Image

New products

Electrical/Electronics
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Mechanical
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Motion
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