Complete Housing Solutions and Components from Elma
Lee Teschler of Machine Design magazine talks with Justin Moll, Mark Thorsell and Lukas Furrer at Elma Electronics about complete electronic housing solutions and housing components.

In overhauling the rickety wooden Texas Giant roller coaster in Six Flags Over Texas amusement park, Arlington, Tex., Six Flags Chief Engineer Larry Chickola wanted to design a coaster that had exceedingly tall crests and sharp turns, and make riders hold on for their very lives. The high forces and extreme speeds he envisioned necessitated stronger and smoother rails than traditional wood or tubular metal tracks. He turned to roller-coaster manufacturer Rocky Mountain Construction in Hayden, Idaho, which had just designed an entirely new kind of steel track. The ride’s scaffolding would still be wood to retain the coaster’s old-time look, but the new rails would safely support the loads and accelerations necessary to provide the most thrilling ride possible.

“The rail technology is different from previous roller coasters in that it is a box-beam, square metal track,” says Rocky Mountain Construction Design Engineer Alan Schilke. “An older track-fabrication method — still in use today — is to build up tracks by laminating pieces of lumber together. Trouble is, today’s coasters hold such heavy loads and undergo such extreme forces that wooden track can no longer withstand the forces without frequent repair. We have laid traditional wood track, but I thought there must be a better method.”

The result was the box-beam track, says Schilke. “With this approach, we cut large, flat sheets of mild steel plate on large plasma cutters. We weld the flat shapes longitudinally with typical wire-feed equipment to produce a three-dimensional rail.” Automated buggies carry welding equipment and lay down the welds. The welds are cleaned and then inspected using magnetic particle testing for cracks, deviations, and pockets. Finished 3D lengths run from 40 to 50-ft long.

Traditional tubular steel tracks are really just pipe that has been measured, bent, and shaped. “Both the tubular steel tracks and the new box-beam rails can endure the same amount of force, which is much larger than wooden tracks can handle,” adds Rocky Mountain Technical Designer Jake Kilcup. “But the box-beam tracks arguably provide the smoothest ride. That’s because we build the track to engineered specs on high-tech CNC machines.”

In Rocky Mountain Construction’s method, bends in the track are cut directly in the flat metal. “Heat of welding causes the metal to slightly change shape. But the company’s patented technique restores the shape to the original engineering specs. In the field, bolted-connection plates attach the lengths together.

Says Kilcup, the design does include bolts that stick up on the outside of the rails. “However, the coaster wheels themselves only run on a smooth path. In general, roller coasters stay on their tracks with the help of a three-wheel locking configuration consisting of side wheels, a top running wheel, and an uplift wheel.”

“Of the products we have installed, there has been no maintenance work needed on the box-beam tracks,” says Kilcup. “In the future, we intend to help develop roller coasters where the cars run upside-down on box tracks.”

© 2012 Penton Media, Inc.

E-volvo, a German firm, has totally redesigned the helicopter. Its multicopter boasts 16 electrically powered propellers divided into four groups of four. Power for up to 20 min of flight comes from a lithium battery pack.

The 175-lb manned prototype measures about 16 × 16 ft and can carry a payload equal to its own weight. Unlike conventional helicopters, the multicopter rotors are permanently positioned. They do not move or change pitch, which should greatly reduce wear compared to conventional helicopter rotors. Instead, each set of rotors has its own motor and the amount of lift each rotor generates depends on how much electricity it receives. Several onboard computers take pilot inputs from a throttle and joystick to calculate power signals for each of the 16 rotors that, in turn, change their speed to carry out the commands. The computers also continually strive to keep the copter upright. This relieves the pilot of having to think about minimum speed, stalling, gas mixtures, pitch control, and the other issues that complicate helicopter flight.

The aircraft also has a few safety features designed in. For example, because there are no overhead rotors, the multicopter can be outfitted with a parachute that could bring a failed multicopter safely to the ground. Plus, the multicopter can safely land with up to four of its rotors totally disabled.

© 2012 Penton Media, Inc.

Students at Brigham Young University have had a good year when it comes to electric vehicles. Two of the engineering school’s class projects recently set speed records, one at the Bonneville Salt Flats, the other on a drag strip at the Mason Dixon Dragway in Hagerstown, Md.

Electric Blue
After seven years of design, development, and testing, BYU students saw their Electric Blue streamliner set a world’s land speed record for vehicles in the E-1 class, which covers electrically powered cars weighing less than 1,100 lb. Power comes from 88 stripped-down battery packs originally designed for DeWalt cordless drills. Each pack holds 10 lithium-ion batteries.

A long, slender, carbon-fiber body encloses all four wheels, making the car light and aerodynamic. The rear wheels are solid aluminum, which lets them handle the high torque and speed, as well as ground conditions on the Utah salt flats.

The car has a 600‑ft turning radius. (An average car’s is 35 ft.) But steering is not an issue when making speed runs at Bonneville.
The car averaged 155.8 mph over two runs conducted on two consecutive days, a requirement for setting a land-speed record, On one run, it clocked 175 mph. (In a shot at the record last year, the BYU car hit 180 mph on the second day, but then hit a rut and rolled before it could complete that second run.)

EV 1
A different team of BYU students converted a 1997 EV-1 donated by General Motors into a dragster powered by ultracapacitors. It set a new record for modified-production/Class A electric vehicles, which is for production cars running on more than 240 V. The BYU entry was the only one in its category, but the team challenged itself to best the record it set two years ago, which was 77 mph, or 15.9 sec in the quarter mile. The new record is 93 mph and 14.08 sec, which the team set on its third run. The team went for a fourth run, trying to top 100 mph and 13.5 sec, but a sheared drive sprocket ended that effort.

One of the changes the team made to the car since the last record-setting run was to switch from a transmission with only one gear to a chain-driven two-speed transmission. The transmission, by the way, is the only component on the car that makes an appreciable amount of noise.

The car runs on 260 ultracapacitors from Maxwell Technologies, San Diego, which initially presented problems. Students designed the car to run on 400 V, but by the end of quarter-mile run, the capacitors would be down to 275 V. The team solved that problem by doubling the number of capacitors. The bank of capacitors is recharged between runs from the team’s specially outfitted truck, a process that takes 15 to 20 min. Some of the benefits of using capacitors instead of batteries include their quick cycle times and longer life.

© 2012 Penton Media, Inc.

The Navy will be testing new software and lighting that could help pilots accurately land on aircraft carrier decks despite rolling seas. If successful, the technology should boost safety, reduce training requirements, and cut maintenance costs by lowering the number of hard landings.

Currently, Navy and Marine pilots constantly adjust speed and altitude to stay on the proper glide path to a touchdown on a carrier’s heaving deck. A Fresnel light tied to a landing system lets approaching pilots know if they are above or below the glide path. Lining up with the angled and moving landing deck takes place with the help of Landing Signal Officers on the rear of the ship observing each approach.

In the new system, what’s called a Bedford Array of lights embedded in the flight deck down the center of the landing area is controlled in part by the ship’s pitch and roll. The brightest light an approaching pilot sees at any time represents a visual target stabilized with respect to the proper glideslope for his or her aircraft. Meanwhile, the pilot’s heads-up display shows a dotted green line. It represents the plane’s future flight path based on real-time inputs from the cockpit’s control stick. The pilot maneuvers the dotted line, along with his plane, to pass over the stabilized target light on the ship’s deck, and the aircraft will do what is necessary to ensure it touches down at the right spot.

© 2012 Penton Media, Inc.

Lithium-ion battery packs, which are becoming more common in electric vehicles, energy-storage, network back-up devices, and other industrial applications, can become overpressured if gas accumulates inside. This can be dangerous and risks damaging equipment. To prevent such overpressurizations, engineers at Freudenberg Sealing Technologies in Wienheim, Germany, developed a simple pressure-control valve which is now offered at Freudenberg-NOK Sealing Technologies, Plymouth, Mich.

The lightweight valve uses an engineered EPDM seal, which opens when pressure inside the battery pack exceeds a specific limit, but there is no loose hardware during such releases because the valve is permanently tethered to the battery pack. The valve must be manually replaced to reseal the battery pack. The valve can also be manually opened, which can be handy when shipping battery packs by air. Otherwise, pressure changes during ascents and descents could damage the battery housing. And if a battery fails and causes overpressurization, the valve can be reset to protect interior components during transport to a recycling center.

The overpressure valve is not adjustable. Its fixed pressure release/open point is designed into the geometry of the valve. However, valves can be developed to meet customer-specific requirements.

The EPDM seal resists leaking and swelling and withstands temperatures from –40 to 80°C. Users can add components which will add protection against impacts from stones and other road debris or let it survive industrial cleanings.

© 2012 Penton Media, Inc.

Platinum e Motors from Leeson Electric Corp., Grafton, Wis., use a range of advanced features that increase their efficiency and power density, letting customers get more power out of smaller motors. The permanent-magnet ac motors are also built to CI Severe Duty standards, making them suitable for use in harsh environments.

Platinum e motors use a different type of rotor than most other induction motors. In squirrel-cage motors, current is induced into the rotor from the field (stator) through an air gap, and conducted through a bar of aluminum or other conductive material. These bars are most often die cast and mounted in the rotor laminations’ slots. In Platinum e motors, the rotor itself contains permanent-magnet material, which is surface mounted to the rotor lamination stack or embedded within the laminations. In both cases, electrical power is supplied through the stator windings.
The motors use concentrated windings, essentially a bobbin winding. Therefore, unlike distributed windings used in induction motors, there are no shared slots. This eliminates the potential for phase-to-phase shorts. The concentrated windings also mean shorter end turns. This reduces waste and makes room in the housing for more active material, contributing to higher power density (end turns do nothing to generate torque).

The motors carry the company’s inverter-rated insulation system (IRIS), which protects against voltage spikes induced by variable-frequency drives. It includes specially formed phase insulation; cushioned and sleeved connections from the leads all the way into the turns; and deep-penetrating, nonhygroscopic, high-temperature varnish, along with second-generation spike-resistant magnet wire.

Motors are available with the common ac-induction-motor speeds of 3,600, 1,800, and 1,200 rpm. They are rated for variable or constant-torque to 20:1 without feedback in open-loop operation or 2,000:1 in close-loop operation (with encoder).

© 2012 Penton Media, Inc.

This is a perfect time for industrial companies — the companies that design and manufacture heavy machinery, construction equipment, energy products such as turbines and windmills, and similar capital equipment — to invest in developing the distinctive capabilities to ensure their future success.

One of the most critical capabilities is improved product management. Product life cycles are decreasing as competitive pressures and technology breakthroughs drive more-frequent product upgrades, if not entirely new offerings. The challenge is that nearly 50% of all products launched fail to live up to expectations because product design too often proves to be a rigid, linear process in which customer inputs and preferences, technology, materials, and features are virtually locked in stone up front, and then an excessively long planning and development cycle ensues. By the time the product comes out, customers may have moved on to other interests or purchased another company’s product. Moreover, numerous design, specification, and materials changes have probably added to manufacturing costs, eroding margin potential.

To overcome these obstacles and radically improve the chances that product launches succeed, agile product development is critical. Long a staple of the software industry, this approach focuses on getting more feedback from customers up front through mechanisms like crowdsourcing and beta versions; making numerous design iterations in the early phases; and having a clear idea about the product’s core attributes and how it should be made, before the back-end development stages actually begin.

This focus on core requirements ensures that customer preferences are met and technology and materials decisions are made more intelligently in the initial stages, thus driving down uncertainty, inefficiency, and cost in the more resource-intense latter part of product development. Considering the role that communications technology, networking, and software play in virtually every industrial product, borrowing a set of efficient development techniques from high-tech industries is a logical evolution.

But agile product development will be for naught if product management is given short shrift. And this is the case at far too many manufacturing companies, where core product-management decisions are fragmented across a variety of functions: Sales may decide which products to maintain or kill; R&D may determine when an enhanced version of a product is ready for release; and operations may have the final say in choosing suppliers. Meanwhile, product managers are little more than administrators without real decision-making authority; their main roles involve managing channel decisions, overseeing changes, and taking account of customer needs and preferences to tweak products and services over the course of their revenue-producing lifetimes. This siloed approach often fails to leverage customer insights, slows innovation, and results in disappointing product revenue and profitability.

A better course is something we call strong-form product management. Under this approach, product managers are elevated to a cross-functional role with the authority to make decisions about the timing of innovations, pricing, channel strategy, and everything else that affects the product’s overall success. At its best, strong-form product management is an accountability model — a way of assigning responsibility for results to a single individual who can take a full portfolio and life-cycle view, rather than to a series of people lacking a holistic perspective. At a time when competition and customer demands have both intensified, it can be a differentiating capability, fortifying connections to customers and increasing the odds that a company will make the right trade-offs.

Strong-form product management also is a way of ensuring that high-level strategy makes its way into the products and services that a company sells. The product manager’s job at a low-cost manufacturer is to nix new, too-costly features developed by R&D that are nice but unnecessary. At a company that distinguishes itself through exceptional customer interaction, a strong-form product manager resists lifetime cost-savings initiatives proposed by operations if they erode customer satisfaction.

At a time when competition and customer demands have both intensified, strong-form product management can be a differentiating capability, fortifying connections to customers and increasing the odds that a company will make the right trade-offs.

Booz & Company is a leading global management consulting firm.

© 2012 Penton Media, Inc.

Air-conditioning fundamentals

Carrier Corp., Farmington, Conn., a leader in heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration industry, recently celebrated the 100th Anniversary of the Rational Psychrometric Formulae— the cornerstone of all fundamental calculations in the air-conditioning industry.

Willis Carrier, founder of Carrier, invented modern air conditioning in 1902. Less than a decade later, Carrier wrote the single most famous and enduring document ever prepared on air conditioning, the “Rationale Psychrometric Formulae.” Called the Magna Carta of Psychrometrics, the document determines the precise correlation between temperature and humidity to create a comfortable year-round environment.

On December 8, 1911, Carrier presented the formulae at the annual meeting of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and initiated the field of scientific air-conditioning design.

Carrier’s work continues to impact the next generation of engineers, who learn the formulae as part of their coursework.

© 2012 Penton Media, Inc.

Flat cabling is helping unmanned aerial vehicles stay small and lightweight. Flexible flat cables from Cicoil Corp., Valencia, Calif., have jackets of shock-absorbing silicone encapsulating each component. This jacket protects the parts from vibrations, temperatures from –65 to 260°C, water and humidity, and all the rigors of turbulent flight. Cables can include power conductors, shielded signal pairs, video and coax conductors, and other design elements, including the company’s StripMount fastening strip.

© 2011 Penton Media, Inc.