Click this link if you cannot read the issue below: Designfax - Tech for OEM Design Engineers
April 17, 2012Volume 08 Issue 15


Image - Get Your Protomold Design Cube
Get Your Protomold Design Cube
Our Design Cube illustrates important considerations when designing plastic injection molded parts. It showcases a range of available surface finishes and examples of bosses, gussets, and ribs. It also demonstrates the impact on part quality of overly thick or thin sections, as well as ways to incorporate holes and their potential effect on resin flow.

Get your Protomold cube today.


In this issue of Designfax

  • Tiny but mighty: Mini positioning stages
  • Drive and control hydraulics: TIER 4 countdown
  • Med device propels itself through bloodstream
  • Wheels: Audi manufactures car sounds
  • Mike Likes: Fasteners with spacer function
  • Engineer's Toolbox: Pressure measurement basics
  • Quick Look: Pushbuttons display animations
  • Quick Look: Alternative to 3M vinyl foam tape
  • Quick Look: Pocket motion controller with microstepper
  • Quick Look: Copper foam
  • Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
    • Test motion behavior impact on iPhone, iPad
    • Impressive: Sand Flea robot jumps 30 ft up
  • Most Popular Last Issue
    • Wheels: Kenworth simultaneous design/mfg
    • Self-repairing plastics fix themselves repeatedly
  • New Products
    • Electrical, Mechanical, Motion, Special: Materials
    Cover Image: The Audi R8 e-tron on the acoustic test bed.

News

Concentrating photovoltaic modules produce record efficiency of 33.9%

Stratasys and Objet combining to create 3D-printing and direct-digital-manufacturing powerhouse

Army upgrading radar, engines, and more for unmanned aerial systems – and looking to do it cheaply

Ford and Dow team up to bring low-cost, high-volume carbon fiber composites to next-gen vehicles



Image - Rogan Liquid Silicone Rubber Molding Capabilities
Rogan Liquid Silicone Rubber Molding Capabilities
Rogan Corporation, a full turnkey contract manufacturer of plastic components and assemblies, specializes in producing injection molded Liquid Silicone Rubber (LSR) components. The company is one of a few select manufacturers that also offers Bondable Liquid Silicone Rubber (Bondable LSR) overmolding that is injection molded directly to plastic or metal parts, creating a single integrated component. Utilizing LSR's heat/chemical/shock/vibration resistance and sound dampening, design opportunities include integral seals and gaskets for waterproofing complex geometries and electronic interconnects, integral membranes, diaphragms, valves, and switch covers.

A new state-of-the-art Class 100,000 clean room enables Rogan to meet the increasing demand for LSR molding and assembly.

Request a "Widget" illustrating Rogan's Bondable LSR


Feature articles
Tiny but mighty: Mini positioning stages offer micron-level accuracy
Location, location, location. It's not only the mantra of real estate agents, it's what positioning is all about, especially when it comes to scientific applications that require spatial positioning on the order of microns, not millimeters.
Read the full article.
Drive and control hydraulics viewpoint:
The TIER 4 final challenge for mobile equipment makers

The final run-up to the complete implementation of TIER 4 regulations has begun. In 2014, TIER 4 final regulations will be in effect, and diesel systems will be required to operate generating near-zero targeted emission levels. By Terry Hershberger, Bosch Rexroth.
Read the full article.
Tiny, implantable medical device propels itself through bloodstream
The era of swallow-the-surgeon medical care may no longer be the stuff of science fiction. A Stanford electrical engineer recently demonstrated a tiny, wirelessly powered, self-propelled medical device capable of controlled motion through a fluid – blood more specifically.
Read the full article.
Wheels:
Audi manufactures sounds for its electric lineup

Audi's future e-tron models like the super-cool R8 will cover long distances powered by practically silent electric motors. To ensure that pedestrians in urban settings will hear them, the brand has developed a synthetic solution: Audi e-sound.
Read the full article.

Image - Mike Likes: <br> Fasteners with special spacer function
Mike Likes:
Fasteners with special spacer function

PEM self-clinching, thru-hole, unthreaded standoff fasteners are an ideal solution for applications where exact spacing is required between two panels in an assembly. These PennEngineering fasteners install permanently and securely in steel, stainless steel, or aluminum sheets as thin as .040 in. (1 mm) to achieve specified panel-spacing needs using minimal hardware. These fasteners can be supplied in steel (type SO), stainless steel (type SOS), or aluminum (type SOA). All can be ordered in lengths ranging from .125 in. (3 mm) to 7.50 in. (20mm). The standoffs install quickly and easily using a PEMSERTER or other standard press.
Click here to learn more.
Engineer's Toolbox:
Pressure measurement basics

National Instruments (NI) has developed a helpful tutorial that covers the basics of pressure sensor measurement methods, choosing the right pressure sensor, and designing the right measurement system.
Read the full article.

Image - Quick Look:<br> Programmable pushbuttons can display animations
Quick Look:
Programmable pushbuttons can display animations

The new wider-screen SmartSwitch pushbuttons from NKK Switches feature a programmable and changeable LCD module with 64 backlit colors that displays graphics, alphanumeric characters, or animated sequences, including four lines of text with as many as 10 characters per line. RGB LED backlighting operates commands supplied via the SPI communications protocol. Two resolutions: 64 x 32 and 36 x 24.
Click here to learn more.

Image - Quick Look: <br>Cost-effective alternative to 3M vinyl foam tape
Quick Look:
Cost-effective alternative to 3M vinyl foam tape

Pres-On's VF20200 double-sided tapes are a cost-effective alternative to 3M #4400 series double-coated vinyl foam tape used in OEM applications for sealing, cushioning, and gasketing. The super-hardy, conformable tapes are particularly well suited for joining irregular surfaces where glues, fasteners, and standard tapes fail. Applications include VAC, packaging, automotive, general industrial products, weatherproofing, and electronics.
Click here to learn more.

Image - Quick Look:<br>Single-axis pocket motion controller with microstepping drive
Quick Look:
Single-axis pocket motion controller with microstepping drive

The DMC-30017 from Galil Motion Control combines a single-axis motion controller with a 6-A microstepping drive in a total package size of 3.9 in. x 5 in. x 1.5 in. The microstepping drive operates a two-phase bipolar stepper motor and produces 256 microsteps per full step or 1,024 steps per full cycle, which results in 51,200 steps/rev for a standard 200-step motor.
Click here to learn more.

Image - Quick Look: Copper foam
Quick Look: Copper foam
Copper foam, now available from Goodfellow, combines the outstanding thermal conductivity of copper with the structural benefits of a metal foam. These features are of particular interest to design engineers working in the fields of medical products and devices, defense systems and manned flight, power generation, and the manufacture of semiconductor devices. This product has a true skeletal structure with no voids, inclusions, or entrapments.
Click here to learn more.

Most popular last issue
Wheels:
Kenworth beefs up simultaneous design and manufacturing

When engineers at big-truck maker Kenworth were first tinkering with the idea of how to produce their latest and greatest Class 8 truck, they started with a list – a wish list, that is – and a determination to break down the wall between design and manufacturing. The subsequent development of the Kenworth T680 represents a leap forward in building world-class, quality trucks.
Read the full article.
Self-repairing plastics fix themselves repeatedly
A new genre of plastics that mimic the human skin's ability to heal scratches and cuts offers the promise of endowing cell phones, laptops, cars, and other products with self-repairing surfaces.
Read the full article.

Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
Test the impact of motion behavior on iPhone, iPad
Autodesk ForceEffect Motion is a new, no-cost mobile simulation app for developing and testing mechanical systems with moving parts (scissor lift, windshield wipers, automobile engine, robotics, etc.). You start by importing an existing image or creating a freehand sketch and adding functional mechanical joints, actuators, constraints, and supports. Tap objects to select, move, rotate, and scale. Real-time solving capabilities provide immediate feedback on the system's performance, which you can then print, email, or view as a results report on your iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch or any other device with an HTML-enabled browser. Also check out Autodesk ForceEffect, a simulation app that lets users calculate forces on a static object. Both available in the Apple App Store.
View the video (scroll down on page after clicking).

Video Image
Impressive: Sand Flea robot jumps 30 ft up
The Sand Flea is an unassuming, 11-lb rolling-platform robot with one exceptionally useful trick: Normally it drives like an RC car, but when it needs to it can jump 30 ft into the air. This creation from Big Dog robot maker Boston Dynamics features an onboard stabilization system that keeps it oriented during flight to improve the view from the video uplink and to control landings. Development of Sand Flea is funded by the US Army's Rapid Equipping Force. Gotta love the super-tough-plastic construction. It gets a workout.
View the video.

Video Image

New products

Electrical/Electronics
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Mechanical
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Materials
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