Design News articles from December 2008

Design News archives from December 2008

How Big Is It?
December 8, 2008... By James Bryant Q. How can I handle signals with huge variations in amplitude? A. With a Logarithmic Amplifier. The world's smallest mammal is the Etruscan Pygmy Shrew, which is about 3 cm long (plus tail) and weighs less than 1.5...

The Case of the Muddled Makeover.
December 8, 2008... By Kenneth Russell, Professor Emeritus, MIT, Cambridge, MA Off-road bikes for use on trails and mountains became highly popular in the 1980s. Prior to that bicycles were mostly of the touring type, designed to operate on the smooth surfaces...

People before Property: A Technology Decision Not Made.
December 8, 2008... By John Dodge, Editor-in-Chief Tying engineering and technology to mainstream life - and death - has been a unique element of the Design News' mission for the past two years. We've covered bridge, tunnel and crane collapses and, in this...

Best of the Engineering Marketplace.(briefs)
December 8, 2008... Compiled by Elizabeth M. Taurasi and Sasha Brown-Worsham OMEGA's OM-CP-IRTC110 Elizabeth M. Taurasi, Sasha Brown-Worsham New series of data logger The OM-CP-IRTC110 is a miniature, battery-powered, stand-alone, infrared...

Railroad Safety at What Price?
December 8, 2008... By John Dodge, Editor-in-Chief Positive Train Control backstops train crews and dispatchers Positive Train Control (PTC),a technology that promises to dramatically reduce rail accidents and whose origins go back almost 90 years,...

New Year's Eve Ball Grows Bigger and Brighter.
December 8, 2008... By Joseph Ogando, Senior Editor, Motion Control & Automation The new year-round Times Square Ball has doubled in size and is three times brighter. Here's a look at the challenges that arose as engineers scaled up this famous attraction. ...

Honey, I Shrunk the Headset.(Aliph)(Brief article)
December 8, 2008... By Terry Costlow, Contributing Editor Whether they view telephone headsets as a necessary evil or a fashion accessory, many people wish they were smaller. The latest Jawbone from Aliph is 50 percent smaller than the original Bluetooth...

Downloading at the Speed of Light.(Billion Electric Company Ltd.)(Brief article)
December 8, 2008... By Terry Costlow, Contributing Editor The combination of widespread downloading of video over the Internet and the shift to high-definition TV will tax the speeds of broadband technologies. That's creating an opening for fiber-optic links...

Many Cores, Mini Emissions.(General Motors Corp.)
December 8, 2008... By Terry Costlow, Contributing Editor Though electronic cars and hybrids get the spotlight, most auto industry watchers agree internal combustion engines will dominate automotive power trains for the next decade or so. That means fuel...

Good Vibrations Create Electricity.(AdaptivEnergy)(Brief article)
December 8, 2008... By Terry Costlow, Contributing Editor Now that sensor networks can communicate wirelessly, powering these remote sensors is a big challenge. AdaptivEnergy's Joule-Thief(TM) energy harvesting technology converts vibrations or movement into...

Robots Roll Forward.(Waseda University Humanoid Robotics Institute)(Brief article)
December 8, 2008... By Terry Costlow, Contributing Editor Research scientists continue to push forward with technologies that will help robots handle a greater range of tasks. The Waseda University Humanoid Robotics Institute has developed the WV-1, a...

Case #131: This Gadget Blows a Sonic Boom.(A and E Television Networks)(Brief article)
December 8, 2008... Staff Earlier this year, John Tindall had the envious job as science builder on the first season of the History Channel's 'UFO Hunters.' One episode contemplated the possibility UFOs could create sonic booms - the powerful noise that comes...

PHL Becomes Low-Emissions Railroad.(Pacific Harbor Line Inc.)(Brief article)
December 8, 2008... By Rob Spiegel, Contributing Editor Pacific Harbor Line Inc. (PHL) of Long Beach, CA has completed its shift to an all low-emissions railroad. 'Every PHL locomotive now meets or exceeds the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's stringent...

100 Percent Post-Consumer Recycled Prescription Bottle.(Rexam Prescription Products)(Brief article)
December 8, 2008... By Rob Spiegel, Contributing Editor Rexam Prescription Products of Perrysburg, OH has introduced a liquid prescription oval made entirely from post-consumer recycled PET resin. The package - available in 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12 and 16 oz sizes -...

A Web-Based Ecosystem for Tech and Business.(TechInsights)(Brief article)
December 8, 2008... By Rob Spiegel, Contributing Editor Early next year, TechInsights of Boston, MA will launch CleanTerra, a Web-based global community resource designed to help technical and business professionals who invent, develop, market and manage clean...

Mechatronic Design: Energy Efficiency and Sustainability.
December 8, 2008... By Kevin Craig In this 21st century, our nation and the world are facing daunting energy and environmental challenges. Conserving energy and sustainability are the most compelling reasons for a mechatronics' approach to design - an...

Watch Idaho Nuclear Project to Gauge Obama's Energy Plan.
December 8, 2008... By Doug Smock, Contributing Editor, Materials and Fastening It's an indicator for both nuclear and hydrogen as future American energy solutions One bellwether project to watch as a gauge of President-Elect Barack Obama's energy policy...

HDR Vision Could Come to Entry-Level Cars.(OmniVision Technologies Inc.)(high dynamic range)(Brief article)
December 8, 2008... By Charles J. Murray, Senior Technical Editor, Electronics Single-chip technology cuts costs, reduces real estate consumption A new single-chip sensing technology could enable automakers to incorporate high dynamic range (HDR) color...

Nylon Molding Boosts Oil Pan Efficiency.
December 8, 2008... By Doug Smock, Contributing Editor, Materials and Fastening Costs and weight are reduced as aluminum is replaced in an integrated design Nylon 6/6 replaces aluminum for the oil pan module in the new Daimler C-Class four-cylinder diesel...

Yaskawa Introduces Advanced ac Drives.(Yaskawa Electric America Inc.)
December 8, 2008... By Joseph Ogando, Senior Editor, Motion Control Matrix converter technology converts ac voltages without the need for the dc electronics found in traditional drives Matrix converters, an alternative to standard ac inverter drives,...

Z Corp.'s ZPrinter® 650 Targets 3-D Applications.(Brief article)
December 8, 2008... By Beth Stackpole, Contributing Editor, Design Tools High-end addition bolsters build size and color capabilities, while ushering in ease-of-use functionality Looking to take a leap forward in multicolor 3-D printing, Z Corp....

Wireless Mesh Network Applications in a SNAP.(Synapse Wireless Inc.)
December 8, 2008... By David Ewing, Vice President of Engineering, Synapse Wireless Inc. Rapid development for embedded device programming In his 1986 essay 'No Silver Bullet,' Fred Brooks asserted that: '- building software will always be hard. There is...

New Therapy for Cardiac Rhythm Disorder.
December 8, 2008... By John Williams, Contributing Writer Force-sensing ablation catheter improves atrial fibrillation procedure Atrial fibrillation is the most prevalent cardiac rhythm disorder today, affecting more than 6 million people worldwide....

Moving Up Safely.
December 8, 2008... By Steve Piacsek, Contributing Writer Bellows protects ADA-compliant portable wheelchair lift A portable wheelchair lift that meets the guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) incorporates a bellows to enhance the...

More Engineers Turn to Injection Molding.(Czuba Enterprises)(Interview)
December 8, 2008... By Doug Smock, Contributing Editor, Materials and Fastening New materials and process technology reduce cost, time to market Medical device design engineers are facing significant new pressures ranging from shrinking time to market, as...

Practice Makes Perfect.(growth in usage of simulators)
December 8, 2008... By Lawrence D. Maloney, Contributing Editor From life-sized, interactive mannequins to virtual reality systems, simulators are transforming medical training 'Doc, I'm hit,' screams the Army rifleman as he sees a medic approach. Amid...

Pursue Renewable Energy Policy Now.
December 8, 2008... By Sen. John Kerry, D-Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry: 'We need profound and dramatic change' Sen. John Kerry spoke at the Lux Executive Summit on energy in Cambridge, MA in October. DN Editor-in-Chief John Dodge interviewed him...

Mechatronics Reduces Design, Production Costs.
December 8, 2008... By Keith Curtis, Contributing Writer Holistic approach to mechatronic designs reduces prototype iterations, minimizes unnecessary overhead Cost reducing a design involves redesigning a working system to cut production costs. While the...

Thinking Beyond Tomorrow: Innovating with Mechatronics.(ArvinMeritor Inc.)
December 8, 2008... By Michelle Hopey, Contributing Editor Tom Watson tells engineers not to let today's downsizing deter them from learning essential skills for the future The key to the American automotive industry's future success depends on new ideas...

Needed Now: Engineering 'Synergists'.
December 8, 2008... By Lawrence D. Maloney, Contributing Editor More designers need a comfort level in a mix of technologies Why don't more engineers adopt mechatronics' design? The biggest hurdles are lack of training and experience in one or more...

Mechatronics: A 360-Degree View.
December 8, 2008... By Lawrence D. Maloney, Contributing Editor No matter what sector of engineering you examine, the need for cross-pollination of technical specialties is becoming a necessity An electronics' manufacturer needs to develop a laptop drive...

A Few More ADC Specs.(analog to digital converter)
December 8, 2008... By Jon Titus, Contributing Editor You might confuse an ADC's spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) described in the previous column, 'Understanding ADC SFDR Specs,' (DN 11.17.08, http://designnews.hotims.com/22339-520 ), with its...

Drilling with Ethernet.(Kays Engineering)
December 8, 2008... By Joseph Ogando, Senior Editor, Motion Control Specialty machine toolmakers embrace modern controls Walking around the recent IMTS show, the growing reliance on Ethernet-based controllers was plain to see among the new offerings from...