September 11, 2008 : Solar makers get Automated, Assembly schemes simplify manufacturing

FE Update: Translation Tools Make CAD Models FEA-Ready

The sharing of data between CAD, CAE, and CAM has grown to include machining, molding, and PLM.

Sensor Sense: Ultrasonic Double-Sheet Detectors

Ultrasonic double-sheet detectors distinguish between single and double sheets of paper, plastic, or metal foils to prevent waste or machine damage.

Sustainable Engineering: Greener Machine Tools

Recent naming of a gear-driven spindle design by the Japan Machinery Federation as the “best energy-saving technology.”

Sustainable Engineering: More-Efficient Lighting is not Rocket Science

Recent case of a lighting system in a lead-acid battery supplier/recycler shows the kind of energy savings possible without resorting to LELEDs, CFLs, or other superefficient illumination technologies

Industrial Design: Thinking Outside of the Packaging

Changing a package design, it is important to keep the original feel of the product, especially for legacy brands. Style and innovation in packaging are important, but shelf presence is everything.

Designer “Buried” in His Work

When Fredric J. Baur died earlier this year, he wanted his final resting place to reflect his greatest accomplishment.

2008 Ford Edge Limited

Ford's 2008 Edge Limited review and ratings

How to Model Granular Flow

Users import a CAD model of their machine into EDEM in IGES, STEP, or a native CAD file format, where it is converted into a surface mesh.

Pain, Swelling, and Rapid Prototypes

Ivivi Technologies uses rapid prototyping to develop noninvasive electrotherapeutic devices to treat pain and swelling by stimulating a patient’s anti-inflammatory response with Objet Geometries’ Eden350 3D printer

PM Brings Satellite TV to RVs

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Winegard Trav’ler antenna lets RVs receive Dish Network or Direct TV signals while parked

Semiconductor Equipment Makers Look for Stability

Solar-themed equipment was a conveyor adapted by Bosch Rexroth to move solar modules through an assembly process. Modules are available as ball screw-driven (eCKK) or belt-driven (eCKR) versions.

Low-Cost LEDs Around the Corner?

LEDs are about four times more efficient than incandescent lights, last an estimated 15 years, and contain no harmful mercury as do compact fluorescent lights bulbs.

Tiny Particles Bring on a Big Chill

National Institute of Science and Technology discovered that adding nanoparticle to a refrigerant can boost its heat-transfer capabilities

Leland Teschler's Editorial: MPG Figures That Aren’t What They Seem

It is quite possible that the alterations needed to hit stringent NOx levels would eliminate some of European vehicles’ mpg advantages

Test instruments in Texas

Among the developments at NI Week: Wi-Fi DAQ and measurement gear you can call on your cell phone. Single-board RIO (Reconfigurable I/O) devices combine an embedded real-time processor, a reconfigurable FPGA, and analog and digital I/O on a printed-circuit board.

Solar Production Shifts Into High Gear

Solar makers see automation as a strategy for becoming more competitive with fossil fuels. German solar maker Q-Cells AG has an interesting product.

Want More Precise Assembly? Use Fewer Constraints

Too many constraints in a design can drive up assembly costs and diminish reliability. Designer can choose from five assembly design methods: high accuracy, integrated manufacturing, adjustable, deformation, and constraint-driven design.

The Mathematics Behind Good Looks

Getting a grip on the math behind CAD will help you design visually appealing products. Understanding mathematical concepts and how they apply to CAD can help you design products with a visual appeal that, although difficult to describe, evokes an emotional response that is impossible to deny.

Heavy-Duty Bearings Raise Heavy-Duty Questions

When design decisions hang in the balance, which is more important: precision or expediency? Comments to “Rugged bearings hold the weight of heavy equipment"

Materials Reference Guide: Plastic Compounder’s PET Project: Recycling

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Plastic water bottles can be “upcycled” into durable materials with properties equivalent to virgin polymer. Production of polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is one conservation idea that is entering the mainstream.

Industrial Design: The Hidden Cost of Standard Parts

While a “breadboard” design may be workable, it may not be possible to actually making standard components fit the required envelope.

Careers: Shaky Economy Heightens Cases of Workaholism

John Liptak's book, Career Quizzes, looks into the dangers of working too much and provides eye-opening statistics about the amount of time Americans dedicate to their professions

Scanning for Ideas: A Modular, Versatile Battery

The Nanobattery from mPhase Technologies, Little Falls, N.J. uses a concept that keeps the electrolyte from touching the electrodes until power is needed.

Scanning for Ideas: A Pneumatic Valve is Only as Good as its Manifold

Pneumatic controls are usually constructed of a series of valves connected through a pneumatic circuit board.

Scanning for Ideas: Putting Cameras-on-Chip in Smaller Packages

Cameras can now be made small enough to fit on ICs, but those chip-based cameras must be protected, so packaging is important.

Orr on Engineering: The Engineering Life: Trust — or Trussed?

Whether it’s an O/S, FEA program, or spreadsheet, software is expected to work as advertised. those well versed in CAE maintain that the education required to properly use analysis software renders nonexpert use questionable.

Software Review: Rapid Prototypes for Speedy Race Cars

Keep a competitive edge by moving from idea to physical component as swiftly as possible.

September 11, 2008

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