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April 21, 2015Volume 11 Issue 15


Image - Torus
Torus
Torus is filled with complexities: bayonets, text on ribs, gears, bump-offs, clip cams and more. We created the free design aid to illustrate that just because we manufacture parts really fast, it doesn't mean you're limited to certain features in the geometry of your part. Torus has a trio of interconnected sections, each highlighting features that serve various purposes in part design.

Register to receive a free Torus design aid.


In this issue of Designfax

  • Simulating blasts on Army helmet prototypes
  • Brushless DC motors improve PCB assembly
  • Aircraft composites with no oven
  • Wheels: Volvo Trucks slashes tool production time 94%
  • Mike Likes: Design with HP power tools
  • Engineer's Toolbox: NIST improving 'printed' metal parts
  • Springs: New innovative way to take up tolerances
  • Mechanical: Build a mini drive system
  • LEDs: LED lighting connector range
  • Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
    • Gordon Moore on 50th Anniversary of Moore's Law
    • Festo 3D-printed BionicANTs
  • Most Popular Last Issue
    • Wheels: Cadillac CT6 mixed-media body structure
    • Totally new 3D-printing technology
    • SuperTruck program exceeds goals
  • New Products
    • Electrical, Mechanical, Motion
    Cover Image: Army helmet prototypes get blast-tested

News

New development in memristor technology could bring us closer to brain-like computing

World's smallest pacemaker, a vitamin-size unit, ditches connector wires

First items 3D printed in space return to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center

DARPA seeks to create software systems that could last 100 years



Feature articles

Image - IED-like blast waves simulated against Army helmet prototypes
IED-like blast waves simulated against Army helmet prototypes
The U.S. Army is looking at helmet prototypes with optional parts to protect the face and jaw from various threats, including blast waves. But, as Dr. David Mott -- an aerospace engineer at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory -- says, more parts lead to more surprises.
Read the full article.

Image - Brushless DC motors improve PCB assembly
Brushless DC motors improve PCB assembly
Siemens has developed the SIPLACE X Series with the purpose of providing electronics manufacturers worldwide with a more cost-effective solution for printed circuit board (PCB) assembly. The head of the 20-segment Collect and Place unit includes 20 pipettes, each with their own compact brushless DC motor to maximize output and precision without sacrificing speed or the light-weight design.
Read the full article.

Image - MIT researchers take aircraft composite manufacturing out of the oven
MIT researchers take aircraft composite manufacturing out of the oven
Aerospace engineers at MIT have now developed a carbon nanotube (CNT) film that can heat and solidify a composite without the need for massive ovens. When connected to an electrical power source, and wrapped over a multilayer polymer composite, the heated film stimulates the polymer to solidify.
Read the full article.

Image - Wheels: <br>Volvo Trucks slashes manufacturing tool production time 94% with 3D printing
Wheels:
Volvo Trucks slashes manufacturing tool production time 94% with 3D printing

Using Stratasys additive manufacturing technology, Volvo Trucks has reduced turnaround times on certain clamps, jigs, and supports from 36 days to just two days -- and gained many other manufacturing advantages.
Read the full article.

Image - Mike Likes: Design with HP power tools
Mike Likes: Design with HP power tools
Built for high-end computing and visualization, the new HP Z840 workstation delivers outstanding performance in one of the industry's most expandable chassis. The HP Z840 allows you to get the performance you need with the ability to support two next-generation Intel Xeon processors for up to 36 total processor cores in one system. This 1-TB unit also boasts the latest graphics cards from Nvidia and AMD, and fast DDR4 RAM.
Click here to learn more.

Image - Engineer's Toolbox: <br>NIST report aims to improve 'printed' metal parts
Engineer's Toolbox:
NIST report aims to improve 'printed' metal parts

Manufacturing researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have scoped out the missing sections in current guidelines for powder bed fusion, the chief method for "printing" metal parts. The new NIST report identifies key unknowns that must be solved before the technique -- one of the most promising and versatile of the additive manufacturing processes -- can progress from largely a "trial-and-error" method to one that can be fine-tuned automatically.
Read the full article.

Image - Springs: New innovative way to take up tolerances
Springs: New innovative way to take up tolerances
Smalley Linear Springs are a continuous wave-formed (marcelled) wire length produced from spring-tempered materials. They act as a load-bearing device, having approximately the same load/deflection characteristics as a wave spring. Linear Springs are now available as a standard part in carbon and stainless steel, with over 200 sizes.
Click here to learn more.

Image - Mechanical: Build a mini synchronous drive system
Mechanical: Build a mini synchronous drive system
Stock Drive Products (SDP) has introduced the new Miniature Synchronous Drive System so you can put your own 1-, 2-, or 3-mm design together in a snap. The tiny timing belts and pulleys are engineered and manufactured to give high accuracy and smooth, dependable operation in 3D printers, moving security cameras, med devices, robotic surgical equipment, self-service machines, and more. Advantages include no-slip synchronization, accurate positioning, high torque transmission with low backlash, quiet operation, and long belt life.
Click here to learn more.

Image - LEDs: LED lighting connector range
LEDs: LED lighting connector range
Engineered to be the perfect choice for LED strip light applications, the new GCT BJ300 and 301 mating connector combinations offer a reliable dual-contact design. LED strip applications are usually low cost, consisting of small panels of LED lights clustered on PCBs. The PCBs snap together in co-planar orientation. GCT White Lite connectors fit perfectly with these applications, because they're economically priced and fit onto small and thin PCBs. Mated connector height is 2.6 mm, with a total mated footprint of 8.80 mm (width) x 11.00 mm (depth).
Click here to learn more.

Most popular last issue

Image - Wheels: <br>Cadillac CT6 puts heavy focus on mixed-media body structure
Wheels:
Cadillac CT6 puts heavy focus on mixed-media body structure

Cadillac will use an advanced mixed-material approach for the lightweight body structure of the upcoming CT6 range-topping sedan. The structure is aluminum intensive, but the new Cadillac also includes 13 different materials customized for each area of the car to simultaneously advance driving dynamics, fuel economy, and cabin quietness.
Read the full article.

Image - Totally new 3D-printing technology is sci-fi tech right out of the movies
Totally new 3D-printing technology is sci-fi tech right out of the movies
Sometimes you just have to see it to believe it. Inspired in part by a scene in "Terminator 2," the new Continuous Liquid Interface Production (CLIP) 3D-printing technology from a startup company called Carbon3D harnesses light and oxygen to grow objects from a pool of resin instead of printing them layer by layer.
Read the full article.

Image - Daimler's SuperTruck program exceeds Class 8 truck goals
Daimler's SuperTruck program exceeds Class 8 truck goals
Daimler Trucks North America's SuperTruck program has achieved 115 percent freight efficiency improvement -- surpassing the Department of Energy (DOE) program's goal of 50% improvement and exhibiting the best results of all reporting OEMs. The SuperTruck was unveiled on March 25 at the 2015 Mid-America Trucking Show.
Read the full article.

Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
Gordon Moore: Thoughts on the 50th Anniversary of Moore's Law
This April marks the 50th Anniversary of Moore's Law. Three years before co-founding Intel, Gordon Moore made a simple observation (in a trade magazine!) that has revolutionized the computing industry. It states that the number of transistors -- the fundamental building blocks of the microprocessor and the digital age -- incorporated on a computer chip will double every two years, resulting in increased computing power and devices that are faster, smaller, and lower cost.
View the video.

Video Image
Festo 3D-printed BionicANTs exhibit cooperative behavior
Like their natural role models, Festo's 3D-printed BionicANTs work together under clear rules. They demonstrate how autonomous individual components can solve a complex task working together as an overall networked system. The laser-sintered components are embellished with visible conductor structures. Festo -- a pneumatics and electrical automation company -- leverages the benefits of piezo technology for the actuator technology used in the legs. The bending actuators can be controlled quickly and precisely, work on little energy, and do not need much space.
View the video.

Video Image

New products

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