Click this link if you cannot read the issue below: Designfax - Tech for OEM Design Engineers
January 29, 2019Volume 15 Issue 04


Image - The Always-On Magnetic Encoder!
The Always-On Magnetic Encoder!
Novotechnik's RSM2800 Series measures up to 5,760° of rotation (16 turns) while measuring angles to less than 0.1° resolution. The RSM2800 continues to count turns and measure angle -- even when you lose power! There are no gears, optics, or batteries. Applications include robotics, material handling, forklifts, overhead doors, agricultural machines, and more.
Learn more.

In this issue of Designfax

  • Is this Boeing's flying car? Prototype takes flight
  • Latest advances in hexapod motion technology
  • Engineers 3D print piezoelectric materials
  • Toyota Supra is back! And it's sportier than ever
  • 5-Star Product: Carbon composite bellows springs
  • Top Tech Tip: 6 plastic product design principles
  • Photo etching thin titanium components
  • First Industry 4.0-ready vacuum lifter
  • Hoover Dam pressure-relief valves updated
  • Smart Sensor checks condition of bearings
  • New industrial-grade optical encoder
  • Cool Tools: New Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3+
  • Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
    • The genius of Mendeleev's periodic table
    • Understanding pressure losses
  • Most Popular Last Issue
    • Mustang Shelby GT500
    • F-18 wing folded with shape memory alloy
    • Army munitions that go further, much faster
  • New Products
    • Electrical, Mechanical, Motion
    Cover Image: 2020 Supra [Inset: Boeing autonomous passenger air vehicle]

News

Future photonic memory devices featuring all-optical switching will be light-written, ultrafast, and energy efficient

Sun-soaking device turns water into superheated steam

Next-gen Cummins 6.7-liter turbo diesel in new 2019 RAM HD pickup is first to deliver 1,000 lb-ft of torque

Army-funded visual-effects technology used in Avatar, The Jungle Book, and Ready Player One wins Oscar



Image - Guide to overmolding best practices
Guide to overmolding best practices
Overmolding is a great injection molded feature you can utilize in your design to capture color contrasts, add flexibility or eliminate assembly. Take advantage of this feature by learning how to design your part for overmolding.
You'll learn:
  • How to set up your design for complex overmolding
  • Material evaluation and best practices for proper adhesion
  • Feature specifications to consider for good overmolds
Get the Xcentric overmolding guide (no registration required).

Feature articles

Image - Is this Boeing's flying car? Prototype takes flight
Is this Boeing's flying car? Prototype takes flight
Is this what you thought a flying car would look like? Boeing's NeXt program has begun testing its passenger air vehicle prototype to "advance the safety and technology of urban air mobility." The electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle currently has a range of up to 50 miles.
Read the full article.

Image - Latest advances in hexapod motion technology for precision alignment and automation in industry and research
Latest advances in hexapod motion technology for precision alignment and automation in industry and research
Hexapod robotic positioning systems are six-legged parallel-kinematic machines quickly gaining ground in precision alignment, positioning, and automation applications. With advances in control technologies and algorithms, as well as new industrial interfaces, hexapod performance is now viewed as more versatile, efficient, and accurate than traditional serial linkage or stacked multi-axis positioning systems. By Stefan Vorndran, PI (Physik Instrumente)
Read the full article.

Image - Mechanical engineers develop process to 3D print piezoelectric materials
Mechanical engineers develop process to 3D print piezoelectric materials
The piezoelectric materials that inhabit everything from our cell phones to musical greeting cards -- converting strain and stress into electric charges -- may be getting an upgrade thanks to researchers at Virginia Tech. Their new design method and printing platform make it possible to freely design the sensitivity and operational modes of piezoelectric materials -- all while producing material that has sensitivities 5x higher than flexible piezoelectric polymers.
Read the full article.

Image - Toyota Supra is back! And it's sportier than ever
Toyota Supra is back! And it's sportier than ever
After 20 years out of production, Toyota is resurrecting the Supra, the sporty two-door that traces its DNA back to the Celica, but also shares a more than 50-year lineage with unique Toyota sports and GT cars. This fifth-generation Supra is a fully forward-looking sports car, brimming with a cutting-edge powertrain, chassis, and multimedia technology. The 2020 GR Supra is also the quickest Toyota-branded production vehicle to date.
Read the full article.

Image - 5-Star Product: Carbon composite bellows springs for lightweighting and more
5-Star Product: Carbon composite bellows springs for lightweighting and more
The Carbon Composite Bellows Spring (CCBS) from MW Industries is a system of carbon fiber elements that combine to work as a high-performance, lightweight, and design-flexible compression spring meant to replace conventional coil springs or metallic Belleville disc springs. It offers value through unique dynamic characteristics and unparalleled in-the-field design flexibility. A functional spring is made from several individual elements, paired in sets and joined to make a stack. The spring rate of the stack is determined by the number of elements, the base rate of each element, and their series or parallel orientation in the stack. Applications include motorsports, aerospace, outdoor recreation, general industry, and high-performance activities.
Click here to learn more.

Image - Top Tech Tip: <br>6 plastic product design principles
Top Tech Tip:
6 plastic product design principles

The rapid development of modern 3D CAD systems has facilitated a move to more organic forms and ever-increasing geometry complexity. Just think about the change in design from the conventional box-shaped vacuum cleaner to the modern Dyson. This article focuses on design fundamentals like wall thickness, rib designs, and draft angles and the impact they have when it comes to complexity vs. manufacturability.
Read the full article.

Image - Photo etching thin titanium components
Photo etching thin titanium components
Tech-Etch specializes in the photo chemical etching of titanium. Because of its low weight, strength, and corrosion resistance, titanium is used in everything from jet engines to eyeglass frames. And because titanium is inert and completely biocompatible, it is also used in many medical implantation applications, as well as anode and cathode battery current collectors and telemetry antennas found in implanted medical devices.
Get the Tech-Etch Precision Engineered Parts capabilities brochure (no registration required).

Image - First Industry 4.0-ready vacuum lifter
First Industry 4.0-ready vacuum lifter
Piab's piLIFT SMART represents a paradigm shift for the industry: It's the market's first Industry 4.0-ready vacuum lifter. Sensing and monitoring movements and responding quickly to user intentions, the user-friendly vacuum lifter will lift and weigh loads simultaneously and collect and log data, making process statistics and analyses immediately accessible to the user through a web platform log-in. Every aspect of this unit has been designed with ergonomics and natural movements in mind. It also boasts a reduced power consumption of 76 percent!
Learn more.

Image - Hoover Dam pressure-relief valves updated with unique team effort
Hoover Dam pressure-relief valves updated with unique team effort
Hoover Dam, one of the most impressive engineering feats of the 20th century, generates hydroelectricity for millions of homes and businesses across the Southwest, and it's a constant challenge to keep the vital power source running smoothly. Recently, a team of innovative engineering experts -- led by Precision Machine & Supply and including Parker Hannifin and Controlled Motion Solutions -- wrapped up a massive multi-year retrofitting and refurbishing project to make the dam safer and more operationally efficient.
Read the Parker Hannifin blog.

Image - Smart Sensor checks condition of bearings
Smart Sensor checks condition of bearings
ABB has launched the ABB Ability Smart Sensor for Dodge mounted bearings, part of the ABB Ability Digital Powertrain, that enables "health checks" for bearings. The smart sensor technology provides an early indicator of any potential problems by assessing the condition of bearings from vibration and temperature information. Eighty percent of bearing failures are lubrication related, and a bearing "running hot" can indicate that proper lubrication procedures are not in place. Monitoring a bearing's vibration can also indicate potential system problems. Prevent downtime on applications such as bulk material-handling conveyors as well as applications in the food-and-beverage and air-handling sectors.
Learn more.

Image - New industrial-grade optical encoder from Quantum Devices
New industrial-grade optical encoder from Quantum Devices
The Model QDH20 encoder provides an improved feedback solution in applications typically using a standard size 20 package. It features superb mechanical and environmental protection. Outputs consist of a quadrature A & B with reference pulse Z as a standard feature. The output can be configured with either the industrial standard 5- to 26-V OL7272 line driver or open collector outputs. Two heavy-duty bearing sets hold the output shaft, and two more bearings (along with an integral flexible spring mount) isolate the working pieces of the encoder from mechanical stresses. Features include 500-kHz fundamental frequency response, high operating temp option (100 C), and resolutions up to 5,000 lines per revolution direct read. Available through Servo2Go.
Learn more.
Cool Tools: New Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3+
Newark element14 is now shipping the new Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3+ for same-day dispatch. Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3+ delivers the enhanced thermal performance and ease of use of Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ in a smaller form factor, with a choice of memory variants suitable for a broad range of embedded applications including IoT devices and industrial automation, monitoring, and control systems. Compute Module 3+ simplifies the design process engineers need to undertake when developing a System on Module (SoM) solution into their final product. Engineers do not need to concern themselves with the complexities of interfacing with the BCM2837B0 processer directly and instead can concentrate on designing the interfaces to their own IO board and their application software -- simplicity that fosters rapid development.
Learn more.

Most popular last issue

Image - Mustang Shelby GT500: Most powerful street-legal Ford ever
Mustang Shelby GT500: Most powerful street-legal Ford ever
We were excited last June when Ford released details of its 526-hp 2019 Mustang Shelby GT350, but now the pony car maker has gone one better. Arriving this fall, the all-new 2020 Mustang Shelby GT500 is the most powerful street-legal Ford ever -- with a supercharged 5.2-liter V8 producing more than 700 hp. Capable of mid-three-second 0-60 mph and sub-11-second quarter-mile scores, Shelby GT500 owes a lot of its impressive new attributes to tech transfer from Ford GT and Mustang GT4 racing programs.
Read the full article.

Image - NASA and Boeing fold F-18 wing part using only shape memory alloy-driven actuator
NASA and Boeing fold F-18 wing part using only shape memory alloy-driven actuator
Bye bye motors! Engineers from NASA's Glenn Research Center, NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center, and Boeing successfully used shape memory alloys to move a full-sized wing section of an F/A-18 Hornet this past summer.
Read the full article.

Image - Army gives details on munitions that go further, much faster
Army gives details on munitions that go further, much faster
Researchers from the U.S. Army and top universities have discovered a new way to get more energy out of energetic materials containing aluminum, common in battlefield systems, by igniting aluminum micron powders coated with graphene oxide.
Read the full article.

Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
The genius of Mendeleev's periodic table
Happy 150th birthday to Dmitri Mendeleev's version of the periodic table! In his brief TED talk, Lou Serico takes a look at why Mendeleev's table is the one that has endured and evolved (to the current table shown here). One key example is eka-aluminum, an element whose existence Mendeleev predicted years before it was discovered.
View the video.
Learn more: A quick and fun overview of Mendeleev's life courtesy of SciShow.

Video Image
Understanding pressure losses
Early pressure drop investigations and optimizations are crucial for today's efficient designs. This short 3-minute video from Mentor shows you how to conduct pressure drop characterizations such as determination of kv or cv coefficients in FloEFD, the leading frontloading CFD simulation solution for design engineers.
View the video.

Video Image

New products

Electrical/Electronics
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