Design Engineering articles from October 2001

Design Engineering archives from October 2001

A wave of enthusiasm.(Scotland's ocean wave power)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... In 1799, a Parisian called Monsieur Girard filed the first wave-power patent. His vision was to attach wooden beams to docked ships and use the vessels bobbing to operate the beams as levers against fulcrums on the shore. 200 years later,...

New protection for industrial designs.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... From 28 October 2001, UK law on the protection of registered design rights will become subject to a new EU Directive, says Tim Ashdown of law farm DMH. The internal parts of larger items aren't currently protected by design rights because...

Ethical engineering.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Jon Excell talks to Saeed Zaheedi OBE about the ethical responsibility of engineers If you talk about ethical engineering, the spotlight inevitably falls on the defence industry. In today's tough climate, many manufacturers won't think...

UK misses a trick.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... A recent independent study highlights apathy among many UK engineering companies towards the growing medical device technology sector. According to the report, carried out by the organiser of the Medical Device Technology Exhibition, UK...

Unexpected movements.(Millennium Bridge)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Lord Foster's Millenium bridge is due to be operational in 'months not weeks' says a report by its civil engineering contractor Arup. 'Movements of unexpected amplitudes' were experienced when it opened on 10 June. Large groups of...

Brain Teaser: Heading here.(electric light baths)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Q A young woman was giving her grandmother a lift into town one day when the conversation turned to sunbeds, as the granddaughter was off for a half hour session at the health club before her holidays. 'You know those contraptions are nothing...

Bluetooth Falls From Grace, Or Maybe Not!(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Once the darling of the IT & Telecommunications media Bluetooth now appears to be on a fall from grace writes Michael Wall of Frost and Sullivan. 'Recent press reports have described the technology as being in dire need of resuscitation....

www.solusource.com.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... When manufacturers list their products on the web they rarely provide enough detail for you to make a sourcing decision. And, if you don't know exactly what product you need, but know the specifications it must have, there are few options...

www.uk.norgren.com.(Norgren Co.)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Visitors to Norgren's website can now access 2D and 3D drawings of Norgren's core products. It's possible to view and manipulate a model of any component or mounting before downloading it into your own CAD system.

www.fuelcelltoday.com.(fuel cells)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Poised to become the leading energy source of the 21st century, fuel cells are now being demonstrated by developers all over the world. This recently launched website reflects this fertile atmosphere, and aims to accelerate the...

Motor vehicle dither indicator.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Every motorist knows the feeling of annoyance at being stuck behind someone who doesn't know where they're going. Indicators are sometimes left on for minutes, showing only that the driver may turn in the not too distant future. One...

Bridge monitoring.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Bridge failures cause a serious public safety threat, as well as threatening transport infrastructure, so safety inspections are carried out to check for cracks and corrosion. More stringent dynamic loading tests are time-consuming, but this...

Capsule ejector system for aircraft.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... When a problem occurs with an aeroplane, such as an engine failure, the effects are often catastrophic. A system is proposed (WO200151356) for blasting the plane into sections suspended by parachutes and forming sealed units. The units would be...

Knives don't cut mustard.(car windscreen removal)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... The car windscreen removal business has not traditionally been at the top of the technology tree. From downtown Belgrade to motor city, man has been united by his struggle to remove windscreens using only a few rudimentary hand tools and a lot...

Souped up IC engines.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... The basic crank and piston concept at the core of the internal combustion engine has remained pretty much unchanged since its conception. Now, UK automotive company Mayflower claims to have made one of the most significant design changes...

Have you been drinking?(a device to catch drunk drivers)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Around the world, police still rely on spot checks and the evidence of their own eyes to catch drunk drivers. As well as being a rather inefficient use of police time, surveys indicate that many drink drivers continue to drive because they...

Hydraulics with water.(Purdue University students design water-powered lawnmower)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... A lawnmower thought to be the first vehicle that uses water in all of its hydraulic systems, has been designed by a group of students from Purdue University. Water offers obvious environmental advantages over petroleum hydraulic fluid, and...

Hybrid trucks.(General Motors)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... GM is currently working on a hybrid-electric powertrain that it says will provide improved performance, lower emissions and reduce fuel consumption by upto 15%. When vehicles using the system come to a halt the engine will automatically...

Bye bye tweety Die.(a pod that scares birds off power lines)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Bird-dropping besmirched pavements and cars could be banished by an award winning innovation created by two teenage engineers. Dubbed SID (Self-Sustained Induction Deferrer) the device is a pod that scares off birds sitting on power lines...

Super fast gun.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Australian inventor Mike O'Dwyer has developed a gun that can fire 1 million rounds per minute. With very few moving mechanical parts, the gun holds a number of bullets - one behind the other in the barrel. Electronic charges set off in...

The fate of freight.(roadtrains)
October 1, 2001... Driverless roadtrains to relive the roads of Europe? This year marks the 25th anniversary of the International Truck-of-the-Year organisation. As part of the celebrations leading truck manufacturers were asked to look ahead to the year...

Achieving accuracy.(positioning technology for motion control applications)(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 2001... Choosing the correct positioning technology for a motion application is often frustrating because the terminology can be vague and confusing. This is compounded by misconceptions about the abilities of components that make up the system....

Complexity simplified.(Shibaura Mechatronics' robotic systems)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Cartesian robot develepment has taken another step with the design of the ROIbot system, enabling engineers to construct complex systems simply. Attempts have been made in the past to 'package' linear motion systems, but these have still...

Open software upgrades proprietary robots.(Nyquist Industrial Control)(Morotech Robottechniek)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... A prototype PC-based robot control system developed by Nyquist Industrial Control uses standard drives to connect to existing dedicated motors and encoders Software calculates the exact motion profile in 3D, synchronising the movement of the...

Selector.(Unimatic)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Cylinder Select is a free software program from Unimatic that is said to automate the identification of appropriate electric cylinders for linear actuation applications. Users enter size load and motion parameters plus mechanical options and...

Catalogue.(Ondrives)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Ondrives has released its product catalogue in CD format and free copies are available from the company's website. The CD-ROM emulates Ondrives traditional catalogue and provides hyperlink access to a 24-hour secure on-line ordering facility at...

Rodriguez' way.(RA Rodriguez)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... RA Rodriguez has released a new linear guideway whose four-row bearing structure claims significant benefits over systems based on four-point contact bearings. RA Rodriguez claims that high accuracy, high stiffness and low torque are...

A package deal.(Aerotech)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Aerotech has launched a new Packaged linear motor range that can be used as a direct replacement for mechanical linear motion systems. Linear motors appear to be replacing engineering applications previously dominated by ball and roller...

Stopping the cage creep.(SKF Linear Motion)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... SKF Linear Motion has released it's patented Anti Creep System (ACS), which is able to eliminate the 'cage-creep' that is common in all precision linear rail guides. With SKF ACS, a plastic moulding that forms the cage is further utilised...

On the straight and narrow.(brushless permanent magnets)
October 1, 2001... The trend is towards brushless permanent magnet (PM) motor technology But, should the windings have an iron core or be ironless, and should the magnet or coil be the moving element? CARILL SHARPE assesses their effect on linear motor...

Built to last.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... The GL60 range of Hollow Shaft position transducers from Variohm is said to offer convenience in mounting space saving and economy. According to Variohm the GE60 utilise conductive plastics technology to offer absolute angular position...

Safety code.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Devlin Electronics has announced the availability of a digital rotary encoder with a built in 31 segment LED dial for accurate level indication. This encode offers users a choice of red green or amber colours for each segment so that the dial...

Tailored Tecan.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 2001... Tecan Components is manufacturing encoder disks for virtually any measurement, control or positioning system at the same cost or less, than traditionally available parts. Tecan Components offers a bespoke service for the supply of burr and...

842D heavyweight.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Rockwell Automation has introduced the Allen-Bradley 842D, a DeviceNet compatible, 26-bit, multi-turn shaft encoder with absolute positioning. Suitable for use in heavy duty environments, the 842D can be configured to suit a range of...

Surfing on sine waves.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 2001... Encoder Technology says that its new range of Sin/Cos sine-wave encoders has been introduced to meet the needs of high specification drives, especially those used in CNC machine tools and printing machines. Sin/Cos encoders are available...

Plug and play is ready to go.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... IFM Electronic has designed its new 'plug and play' RMU and RMV absolute shaft encoders so that users can connect the encoder directly to the bus, set the slave address, leaving the device ready to use. Mechanical fitting is made easy by...

Sensitive bearing measures the machine.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... SKF has released a sensor-bearing unit that employs an active sensor principle, which functions like an incremental encoder to accurately measure travelling machine parts down to zero speed. The SKF sensor-bearing unit consists of a deep...

Absolute.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Hengstler has released a range of absolute shaft encoders that are said to provide a unique digital code for each measuring increment. This rules out any falsification of measured values both during power fail or short-term interference...

Position sensor.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 2001... BEI Duncan Electronics has introduced NCAPS, a Non-Contacting Angular Position Sensor developed by BEI Technologies to provide a high-resolution rotary position sensor. NCAPS uses an adaptation of transceiver technology and digital signal...

Sensors and sensibility.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 2001... Epoxy and polyurethane resins are widely used for encapsulation of various types of sensors. Besides offering electrical insulation, they protect from thermal shock, moisture and other external stresses. But unless the physical properties of...

The silence of the fans.(fan silencer development by ABB Service)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... If your idea of a noisy office is loud traffic outside the window, ringing telephones and heated discussion, you could be overlooking another, more pervasive, almost inaudible kind of noise that may be causing bigger waves in the workplace. ...

Fast track fans.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 2001... The demands on fans are changing in a number of markets and Truflo Air Movements Ltd, designer and manufacturer of sheet metal fans of up to 3 metres diameter with up to 15 blades, is heeding the challenge. Environmental and legislative...

The fabulous floating fan is low on friction.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 2001... Sunon has released the Magnetic Levitation System (MS), an innovation said to eliminate the defects of conventional fan motors. The performance of the magnetic system comes from having the fan's magnetic field perpendicular to the system's...

Cooling airflow.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 2001... EAO Ltd has expanded its cooling an range with the introduction of the new 92mm Speed DC Mini Ace fan, which can create an airflow of 2m. (71CF) Available in 12v and 24VDC versions the speed fan is said to be suited or corporation within...

Cool engineering.(Papst)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Papst's latest catalogue features a new 15-page section on 'fan intelligence' options as well as over 200 models of DC fans and blowers and 50 AC varieties. The 15 page section is said to incorporate diagrammatic data on the range of...

Cambridge Consultants (CCL).(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... This digital camera, recently unveiled by Cambridge Consultants (CCL), needs no memory to store images, but instead sends them directly to the internet where the camera can be used to both view and edit them. The camera, which takes around...

Systems integrators beware.(Omron Systems)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Q What's driving technical innovation within Omron? A About twenty years ago they started talking about islands of automation. I would say only in the last few years it's actually been practical to do something about it. So things like the...