Design Engineering articles from February 2002

Design Engineering archives from February 2002

It's a wind up. (Design News).(wind-up power for the cellular phone)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... You're on the train, you must make that all-important pointless phone-call to someone or other, and then tragedy strikes. Your battery has run down, and your travelling companions are spared another turgid conversation about shopping for...

Euro-optimists are poorly prepared. (Design News).(engineering firms)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... It's official, UK engineering businesses are growing more positive in their attitudes towards the single currency. According to a survey carried out by DHL, 46% of exporters now believe that the euro will benefit them, compared to 38% this...

Bend it, shake it, throw it. (Design News).(E Ink creates 'electronic ink' display board)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
February 1, 2002... Innovative Massachussets-based display company E Ink has developed a working prototype of its 'electronic ink' display technology. Attached to a flexible, silicon-based thin-film transistor backplane (the sheet of electronics that controls...

Cad fly: Choice quotes from the web forums. (Design News).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Z Wang- Hi, there, is anyone using Algor's FEA tools to simulate radiation thermal transfer? Carl - I thought 'Algor' was an also-ran presidential candidate. And 'algorithm' is the name for a very slow, boring musical tempo. ...

Fresh call for papers.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... The organiser of the TCT event is now receiving papers for this year's event. Running from 16 - 17 October at the Manchester GMEXIM ICC the TCT (time compression technologies) conference and exhibition is designed to help visitors to...

Aerodynamic golf balls. (Patent Watch).(Patent # U5200 10034273)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... The dimple pattern and percentage cover of dimples is the key factor in creating an aerodynamic golf ball -- the subject of much scrutiny as new materials for clubs and balls are introduced. To rise to this challenge, a new ball (U5200...

Natural feel mouse for notepads. (Patent Watch).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... It's always a problem to find a comfortable mouse replacement when using a laptop -- there often isn't enough space for a traditional mouse when travelling, for example. A mouse replacement from Micron Technology (U56304252) uses a slightly...

Computer monitor mounted scanner. (Patent Watch).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Flatbed scanners are the most popular type of desktop scanners, but unfortunately they're very space-hungry and have to compete for room on already cluttered desks. Having a scanner that fits onto a computer monitor (U56307649) provides a...

Design engineering. (E-mail to the Editor).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Reading your editorial in January's Design Engineering struck a chord. Over the last couple of years we've been trying to escape from the situation in which we price software at prices higher than our US cousins. In the past we've just gone...

FPGA style. (E-mails to the Editor).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... I found the 'art of analogue' article in your latest issue very interesting. I don't know whether you're aware of the emergent breed of 'programmable analog' ICs, which provide FPGA style functionality for analogue circuits, but your article...

Mechanical serpent to fix aeroplanes? (Design News).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... A robot 'snake' developed by a Bristol engineering company could save the aerospace industry millions of pounds. OC robotics claims that its 'snake robot' could be used for servicing jet engines while they're still hot. It says that the...

www.pumpbiz.com. (On-Line this Month's Pick of the Web).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... A really good pump website, PumpBiz sells and services pumps. It carries more than 9000 pumps, including centrifugal, diaphragm, vertical, magnetic drive, metering, drum, gear, multistage, self-priming, jet and ANSI-standard pumps. One of the...

www.sdp-si.com. (On-Line this Month's Pick of the Web).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... This site, the home of Stock Drive Products / Sterling Instruments, may not look spectacular but it's easy to navigate and packed with really useful information, including a catalogue containing over 68,000 drive components. However, perhaps...

www.onlineconversion.com. (On-Line this Month's Pick of the Web).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... This site won't make you want to sell your possessions and run off to join the moonies. But it will help you if you want to convert centimetres to inches, litres to gills, feet/second to knots or even calculate your own blood alcohol content....

www.upfrontezine.com. (On-Line this Month's Pick of the Web).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... For the past seven years this great site, lovingly edited by Ralph Grobowski, has been providing a great independent source of news and opinion about the CAD industry. A mixture of good resources and irreverent articles make this a must for...

Death defying dustbin. (Design News).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... In 1991, following a bomb in Victoria Station, public dustbins were banned from underground and mainline stations in and around London. Now, Derby-based engineering company Aigis has developed a bomb-proof bin said to be ideal for indoor,...

BASFs glowing cosmetic car. (Design News).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Using an 'electroluminescent pigment' BASF researchers have developed 'glow in the dark' automotive coatings that can be switched on and off at the flick of a switch. The 'Constellation Colours' technology uses two approaches to make...

Automotive shakeup ahead?. (Design News).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Major changes are afoot for West Midlands automotive suppliers according to a recent report. The Deloitte and Touche report, commissioned by an alliance of automotive movers and shakers known as the Accelerate partnership, predicts the...

Pump for cooling chips. (Design News).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Us scientists have created tiny pumps that they claim can be used to either cool down miniature components or serve as a mini-bunsen burners for scaled down chemical analyses on chips. The thermoelectric pump developed by a team from...

Solutions glut. (Design News).(Brief Article)(Editorial)
February 1, 2002... There have been a few changes to the magazine this month. Not least is the new mugshot of myself at the end of this column. I asked the photographer for gravitas and earnestness. I got moody, suspicious and depressed instead. Our...

Tiny fans that flap: Small and silent piezoelectric fans that wiggle back and forth could be keeping tomorrow's computers cool. (Enclosures & Fans).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... As computer chips shrink and gadgets get smaller, temperature control is becoming more of an issue. You can hardly put a big, noisy fan in a fancy new laptop, but excess heat reduces the performance of computer chips and can even destroy the...

An alternative fan. (Enclosures & Fans).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... PETER SIMPSON is an Applications Engineer at ebm-Ziehl (UK) Ltd, the Essex-based supplier of fans, drives, motors and con trollers from two major German manufacturers, ebm Werke and ZiehlAbegg. Here he discusses the merits of using diagonal,...

Motion control who's been buying? (Motion controllers).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... 'No man is an island,' wrote John Donne. No company is an island either. Keeping a watchful eye on your competitors' spending patterns is more important than ever. Read Baldor UK'S motion control report by ELIZA RAWLINGS to find out where the...

DC/AC the come-back tour. (Electric Motors).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Despite predictions of the demise of DC variable speed drives at the hands of the AC vector control drive, DC systems still account for a substantial proportion of the European industrial drives market, says DR ARIS POTAMIANOS of Sprint...

In the eye of SpikeNet: SpikeNet Technology a company formed in September 1999, is making technology available to anyone faced with difficult image processing problems. Dr Richard Piggin tells DE all about it. (Design Works).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... After over 10 years research, scientists at the Brain and Cognition Research Centre in Toulouse have developed a vision recognition technology based upon the human visual system. The technology, dubbed SpikeNet, works like the human...

Is it a camera, is it a sensor? (Design Works).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Simple to use, easy to understand, and a worthy rival to different technologies across a range of applications, Ewrin Sick's LMS (laser measurement scanner) is one of those things you wish you'd thought of first. Erwin Sick's ubiquitous...

Fiesta for Cognex vision: Automotive companies are not known for forgiveness in production targets. Ford's wheel production is no exception. (Design Works).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... The production line at Ford's Dagenham UK plant, where Fiesta wheels are made, has a target of 10000 wheels a day. But two factors were preventing this being reached -- the time taken to locate the valve hole position for punching, and the...

Solid Modelling 2002. (Solid Modelling).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... What runs for two days in mid-March, allows you to review the latest CAD/CAM and CAE software releases from vendors such as VXCorp and Alias Wavefront and is about to be reviewed on this very page? That's right: it's the Solid Modelling 2002...

Wearing the right coat. (Design Works).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... There are number of coatings that can be applied to achieve EMI / RF1 shielding, writes Dr Yasin Zaka of Applied Coating Technologies. To specify the optimum coating technology a number of parameters need to be evaluated, these include the...

Punching its weight. (Springs).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Ace Controls International has recently introduced the new SC2 300 and 650 Heavyweight 11 Series of self-compensating shock absorbers. Compared to standard models the effective weight range of these new models is nearly 10 times greater...

Stopping a heavy load. (Springs).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Camozzi has recently introduced into its product range the Series SA Shock Absorbers to provide impact and noise absorption when stopping heavy or fast moving objects. These shock absorbers are of a self-compensating type and do not...

Platinum performer. (Springs).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Enidine has recently introduced the Platinum line a new high performance range of shock absorbers. The Platinum line is said to provide longer service life and higher energy capacities in adjustable progressive and self-compensation form...

Free Lee CD. (Springs).(Lee Spring products)
February 1, 2002... A CD cataloguing Britain's largest range of stock springs and featuring an interactive spring selector to simplify specifying and ordering online, has recently been launched by Lee Spring. The free CD is based on the company's latest...

Perret takes the heat. (Springs).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... SKF has released the Perret range of shock absorbers that are reportedly able to operate in high temperatures of up to 180[degrees]C. The shock absorbers decline at either a progressive or lineal rate, both of which have seven degrees of...

Ceetak solve diaphragm dilemma . (Marketplace).
February 1, 2002... Wichita Clutch is a leading manufacturer of tension braking systems for the paper converting industry. When they needed a diaphragm for a new brake actuator to withstand increased temperatures of up to 200[degree]C, while increasing the...

Adaptor from Camden Electronics. (Marketplace).
February 1, 2002... Camden Electronics has introduced a neat adaptor that converts symmetric 'top-hat' style DIN rail mounting products to asymmetric G-style mountings. The adaptor is ideal for converting all types of equipment designed for top-hat style DIN...

Rittal's ideal link to power. (Marketplace).
February 1, 2002... Rittal's complete modular system, the SVTS8/maxi PLS, is the ideal unit to link power supply (e.g. on thelow voltage side of distributing substations) and energy distribution. The systems basic elements are the assembly friendly TS8 enclosure...

Noise solutions in IAC guide. (Marketplace).
February 1, 2002... Winchester-based IAC hasjust published a brand new 6-page brochure showing how a complete range of industrial and environmental noise problems have been tackled effectively. The brochure contains advice on how to combat workplace noise --...

Hereaus helps Jaguar look on bright side. (Marketplace).
February 1, 2002... A two-tier, infra-red pre-heating oven, from Heraeus Noblelight, is simplifying the fitting of bright side mouldings to S-Type Jaguars at Jagular's Castie Bromwich manufacturing facility The mouldings are delivered in polystyrene boxes, in...

USB dawn with Sunrise. (Marketplace).
February 1, 2002... Everyone has heard of USB, the standard way many peripherals are connected to PCs today. Current USB devices connect peripherals at 12Mbps, more than enough for a mouse, but keeping a modem printer and scanner waiting. And the user too! Now...

New Labcell guid. (Marketplace).
February 1, 2002... Labcell has issued a guide to its comprehensive range of instrumentation for use in the automotive industry, including four air-fuel ratio analysers. Full technical details relating to supply, range, accuracy sensor response time. Fuel type...

Impact tester from Instron. (Marketplace).
February 1, 2002... Instron, a leading provider of testing equipment for evaluating the mechanical properties of materials and components has announced the Dynatup 9250, an instrumented impact testing machine for evaluating impact damage behaviour of polymers,...

Vulcascot laminates. (Marketplace).
February 1, 2002... Three new, high performance laminates have been launched by Vulcascot Limited, the rigid and flexible electrical insulation specialists. Vulcatex Isoval TM Gil, an epoxy glass sheet with a maximum working temperature in excess of...

Lawtronics sets a precedent. (Marketplace).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... A custom designed Liion charger/adapter unit has been developed by Lawtronics. The battery management specialist was asked by MBM Technology to design and manufacture a powers source for its rugged Termite' handheld computer. The dc-powered...

Digislim is stuck-up. (Marketplace).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Control Transducer's DIGISLIM modular encoder, model MF, can now be fitted to motors. Gearboxes bearing housings, etc without the need to drill and tap holes to take fixing screws. This represents a big saving in time and cost. If option A is...

Thermo Nobel calibrates. (Marketplace).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... The FTS3 indicator from Thermo Nobel Ltd is the ultimate in digital signal conditioning instrumentation for load cell force transfer standards and force measurement to European standards for calibration verification. The indicator may be part...

Ixthus launches low cost position sensor. (Marketplace).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Ixthus Instrumentation ltd. announces the launch of a new low cost position sensor manufactured by UK based Gill Technology Limited. Code-named the 'Blade', it is designed to provide precision position sensing by using innovative induction...

Hitaltech appointed Italtronic distributor. (Marketplace).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Hitaltech UK has been appointed sole UK and Ireland distributor of Italtronic's range of enclosures for mounting on DIN rails. Italtronic is one of Italy's premier electronic enclosure manufacturers and the products have substantial market...

Emerson Rosemount has hygenic sensor. (Marketplace).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... The Rosemount Model 65QPt100 Temperature sensor from Emerson Process Management is designed specifically for hygenic and food applications. Fitted with industry standard Tri-Clamp fittings, or other fittings on request, these sensors meet the...

Mechtric a match for any test. (Marketplace).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... In a climate where many companies are under pressure to reduce in-house R&D, product validation and test facilities, Mechtric Engineering provides fast, specialist solutions for a comprehensive range of applications in all industries. The...

On solid ground. (Exclusives).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Q How did the development of stereolithography and 3D Systems play out? A I thought there was real need in the engineering environment to rapidly produce prototypes and plastic parts. I had a few technical ideas of how to do that, so I...