Click this link if you cannot read the issue below: Designfax - Tech for OEM Design Engineers
January 10, 2012Volume 08 Issue 01


Image - New Low-Profile Retaining Rings
New Low-Profile Retaining Rings
Smalley Hoopster® Rings fit into shallower grooves than regular snap rings or retaining rings. Where retaining rings once were not an option because of groove depth, the low profile, precision circularity, and small radial size allow the Hoopster to be an unobtrusive component in the assembly, ideal for thin-wall tubes. Easy to install without special tools, Hoopsters are stocked from 3/8" to 3" in carbon and stainless steel. No-Tooling-Charges™ on specials.
Click here for more details.

In this issue of Designfax

  • Redesigned Army machine gun
  • Army Greatest Inventions 2011
  • Stronger steel – in a flash
  • Inflatable antenna
  • Lean Manufacturing: Was Steve Jobs lean?
  • Wheels: Volvo tests carbon fiber flywheel
  • Wheels: Army self-propelled Howitzer
  • ‘Artificial leaf' makes fuel from sunlight
  • Tattoos go electronic
  • Diode lasers could challenge LEDs
  • Mike Likes: Convert heat into electricity
  • Mike Likes: Design Guide For Bonding Metals
  • Mike Likes: Unit and hardness converter app
  • Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
    • Most Popular Videos
  • New Products
    • Electrical, Mechanical, Motion, Special: Materials , Special: Software
    Cover Image: Most popular stories

News

Nissan working on a Leaf electric vehicle that will power an entire U.S. household

Revolutionary material dramatically increases explosive force of weapons

Navy researchers fire 1,000th shot on laboratory electromagnetic railgun

Researchers develop 'world's lightest material'

Software improves 3D GPS accuracy to centimeters; altitude measuring gets huge boost



Image - Super-cool applications:<br>How does a micro-precise surgery-assistant hexapod use DC brushless gear motors?
Super-cool applications:
How does a micro-precise surgery-assistant hexapod use DC brushless gear motors?

A miniature, high-precision hexapod with 6 degrees of freedom is used as guidance assistance for spinal surgery. The bone-mounted system, named SpineAssist, will accurately guide the surgeon for maximized precision when placing implants destined to stabilize spinal (vertebrae) fusions in both open and minimally invasive surgery.
Read all about this exciting mini-motors application from MICROMO.

Feature articles
Redesigned Army machine gun package is 20 lb lighter
Any Soldier who has ever served as a squad automatic weapon gunner is resigned to the burden of lugging a heavy weapon and ammunition on patrol. Soldiers may soon have a solution, however, one that cuts the weight of small-arms ammunition nearly in half.
Read the full article

Image - Army announces Greatest Inventions 2011
Army announces Greatest Inventions 2011
The Army recently announced the winners of its Greatest Inventions competition. Earlier this summer, a panel of combat veteran Soldiers reviewed and voted for the most-innovative, in-use advances in Army technology for 2011.
Read the full article
A new way to make lighter, stronger steel – in a flash
A Detroit entrepreneur surprised university engineers at Ohio State University recently when he invented a heat treatment that makes steel 7% stronger than any steel on record – in less than 10 seconds.
Read the full article
Inflatable antenna is key to rapidly restoring communications
In the digital age, few things can be considered more important than the availability of reliable communications. In the aftermath of calamities such as an earthquake, a hurricane, or an armed conflict, the lack of an electronic link means no phone calls, no e-mail, no news – and a feeling of being utterly lost to the rest of the world. But one Missile Defense Agency (MDA) -funded company developed a tool that allows civilians, first responders, and warfighters to establish communications links quickly in any weather condition and terrain anywhere around the world.
Read the full article

Image - Lean Manufacturing: Was Steve Jobs lean?
Lean Manufacturing: Was Steve Jobs lean?
Since his death, comparisons of Steve Jobs with great innovators and industrialists have been plentiful, with Henry Ford mentioned most often. The most thought-provoking parallel between the two men was in their approach and phenomenal success with product-process innovation. By John Shook, Chairman and CEO, Lean Enterprise Institute, Inc.
Read the full article
Wheels:
Volvo tests carbon-fiber flywheel that cuts fuel consumption 20%

This autumn, Volvo Car Corporation will be one of the world's first car makers to test the potential of flywheel technology on public roads.
Read the full article
Wheels:
Army developing new self-propelled Howitzer

The U.S. Army is developing a next-generation, 40-ton 155-mm Howitzer artillery cannon able to fire precision rounds, accommodate additional armor protections, and power more on-board electrical systems.
Read the full article

Image - ‘Artificial leaf' makes fuel from sunlight
‘Artificial leaf' makes fuel from sunlight
Researchers at MIT have produced a silicon solar cell with different catalytic materials bonded onto its two sides that can harness sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen without needing any external connections.
Read the full article
Tattoos go electronic – and body monitoring won't be the same again
Through a combination of careful theoretical modeling and precise micro-manufacturing, a team of engineers and scientists has developed a new type of ultra-thin, self-adhesive electronics device that can effectively measure data about the human heart, brain waves, and muscle activity – all without the use of bulky equipment, conductive fluids or glues.
Read the full article
Diode lasers could challenge LEDs
The human eye is as comfortable with white light generated by diode lasers as with that produced by increasingly popular light-emitting diodes (LEDs), according to tests conceived at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM.
Read the full article

Image - Mike Likes: Power generator converts heat into electricity
Mike Likes: Power generator converts heat into electricity
Thermobility is a new power-generation technology from Nextreme that uses heat as a source of electricity for low-power wireless applications like remote sensors. Solid-state thin-film thermoelectric technology enables "wireless power" anywhere there is an adequate heat source and eliminates the need to use traditional wired power sources or replaceable batteries. When paired with wireless transmitters, the Thermobility solution can provide electric power for decades of maintenance-free operation.
Find out more about this exciting new technology.

Image - Mike Likes: Loctite Design Guide For Bonding Metals
Mike Likes: 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 - Mike Likes: Unit and hardness converter iPhone app
Mike Likes: Unit and hardness converter iPhone app
Sealing specialist Trelleborg's iPhone app "Unit and Hardness Converter" has surpassed 100,000 downloads in the five months since its release. This app helps you convert frequently used, basic engineering units and even worldwide currencies in an efficient and convenient way. It comes with a hardness converter based on ISO and ASTM standards to quickly switch between popular hardness scales for various material types. The app can be used in a wide range of design situations, whether related to sealing or not. No charge. Available from iTunes or Apple App Store ("Trelleborg Converter").
Find out more about this app.

Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
Most Popular Videos
View our Most Popular Videos issue from Dec. 27, 2011 by clicking here.

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