The Leading Source for Design Engineering News & Insight
Planes, Trains and Automobiles: Faster, Stronger, Lighter
May 20, 2013 1:43 pm | by Jennifer Chu, MIT | News | CommentsThese days, aerospace engineering is all about the light stuff: building airplanes with lighter wings, fuselage and landing gear in an effort to reduce fuel costs.Advanced carbon-fiber composites have been used in recent years to lighten planes’ loads.
Kinks and Curves at the Nanoscale
May 20, 2013 1:38 pm | by Joshua Brown, University of Vermont | News | CommentsOne of the basic principles of nanotechnology is that when you make things extremely small—one nanometer is about five atoms wide, 100,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair—they are going to become more perfect.
Robots Learn to Take a Proper Handoff
May 20, 2013 1:35 pm | by Jennifer Liu, Disney Research | News | CommentsA humanoid robot can receive an object handed to it by a person with something approaching natural, human-like motion thanks to a new method developed by scientists at Disney Research, Pittsburgh in a project partially funded by the International Center for Advanced Communication Technologies (interACT) at Carnegie Mellon University and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).
Add Boron for Better Batteries
May 20, 2013 1:32 pm | by Mike Williams, Rice University | News | CommentsFrustration led to revelation when Rice University scientists determined how graphene might be made useful for high-capacity batteries. Calculations by the Rice lab of theoretical physicist Boris Yakobson found a graphene/boron anode should be able to hold a lot of lithium and perform at a proper voltage for use in lithium-ion batteries. The discovery appears in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters.
Dream Chaser Testing Begins
May 20, 2013 1:28 pm | by NASA | News | CommentsSierra Nevada Corporation's (SNC) Space Systems Dream Chaser flight vehicle has arrived at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, CA, to begin tests of its flight and runway landing systems. The tests are part of pre-negotiated, paid-for-performance milestones with NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP), which is facilitating U.S.-led companies' development of spacecraft and rockets that can launch from American soil.
GE Healthcare Investing $17M in New SC Plant
May 20, 2013 1:24 pm | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsGE Healthcare is investing $17 million in a Florence, S.C. plant that will turn helium gas into supercool liquid needed for medical imaging. The company, which is a unit of General Electric Co., announced Monday it's building a 5,000-square-foot facility next to its existing magnetic resonance plant. GE expects 10 of the 50 jobs created to be permanent.
Spring Bolt Option
May 20, 2013 11:56 am | by PD&D Staff | J.W. Winco, Inc. | Product Releases | CommentsJ.W. Winco (New Berlin, WI) has announced it now offers GN 313 Spring Bolts, in metric sizes. Versions with or without pull knob are available, as well as with or without internal thread in the plunger pin. An application example for the types with internal threads would be using the internal thread on the pressure side, for operation of special pressure bolts or a rod arrangement.
AC-LVDT Signal Conditioner
May 20, 2013 11:53 am | by PD&D Staff | Product Releases | CommentsAlliance Sensors Group (Moorestown, NJ) has announced the model “S1A” - the a DIN rail mountable, push button calibrated AC-LVDT Signal Conditioner. Ideal applications for the S1A module include turbine control systems, steam valve position feedback, and other types of redundant control systems that use LVDT position sensors.
Nickel-Based Energy Storage Technology
May 20, 2013 11:50 am | by PD&D Staff | Varta Batteries Inc. | Product Releases | CommentsVARTA Microbattery (Rye, NY) has announced the addition of HVCAP35, a Nickel (Ni) based energy storage system to the V-Cap Series. VARTA Microbattery's new Ni based energy storage system is a hybrid technology that combines the high energy density advantage of batteries, with the high power advantage of supercapacitors.
Kickstarter of the Week: Make Any Smartphone a Laptop
May 20, 2013 10:39 am | by Melissa Fassbender, Associate Editor, PD&D | Articles | CommentsA self-proclaimed nerd by trade, John Andrus, Founder of Livi Design, is turning ordinary smartphones into laptops with the launch of the Casetop. After the iPhone debuted, Andrus knew that smartphones were going to become a disruptive technology. So why not do more to harness the devices power? After asking this question, he sat down and started designing his idea.
UW-Milwaukee, Johnson in High-Voltage Pairing
May 20, 2013 9:29 am | by Thomas Content, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | News | CommentsThe climb the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee faces to make a name for itself in research and local economic development can best be seen at the site of an abandoned staircase. On the ground floor of the engineering building on Cramer Street, where that stairwell once stood, is the Energy Advancement Center - the largest "dry lab" at any academic institution in North America.
Bernanke Forecasts Gains From Computer Technology
May 20, 2013 9:26 am | by Martin Crutsinger, AP Economics Writer | News | CommentsFederal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says pessimists forecasting that the economy will not reap sizable benefits from the computer revolution are likely to be proven wrong. Bernanke told a college graduating class Saturday that the long-range practical consequences of innovations such as faster computers and the Internet are hard to predict.
Boeing 787s Flying Again
May 20, 2013 9:20 am | by Joshua Freed, AP Business Writer | News | CommentsThe planes are returning after being grounded for four months by the federal government because of smoldering batteries on 787s owned by other airlines. The incidents included an emergency landing of one plane, and a fire on another.
Photos of the Day: Trains Collide
May 20, 2013 9:14 am | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsMetro-North employees work at the site of Friday's train derailment in Bridgeport. Conn. on Sunday, May 19, 2013. Crews will spend days rebuilding 2,000 feet of track, overhead wires and signals following the collision between two trains Friday evening that injured 72 people, Metro-North President Howard Permut said Sunday.
Train Collision Disrupts Service
May 20, 2013 9:13 am | by John Christoffersen, Associated Press | News | CommentsConnecticut commuters planned for long, slow trips to and from work Monday following last week's train collision that that injured 72 people and disrupted rail service into New York City. It took Gary Maddin of Milford an hour to make what is normally a 20 minute drive from his home to the Bridgeport train station. From there, he planned to board a shuttle bus to Stamford where he could catch a train to Grand Central Station in New York.
