The Leading Source for Design Engineering News & Insight
Custom-Designed, Gas-Powered Bicycle
May 13, 2013 12:18 pm | by Chris Fox, Associate Editor, PD&D | News | CommentsIn the quiet reaches of Wisconsin, just north of Green Bay, Sunny Hill Cycles is turning heads and making bike aficionados drool. The Sunny Hill Cycles Signature Series bike is a gas-powered, custom designed, DC Lowrider bicycle.
Acoustic Adhesive Vents
May 13, 2013 11:40 am | by PD&D Staff | Gore | Product Releases | CommentsGore’s 300 Series Acoustic Vents are made from an ePTFE material and have been rigorously tested to allow for improved acoustic device performance with excellent sound quality and protection from liquids, dust, and other contaminants.
maxon DC Motor for Fine Rotary Motions
May 13, 2013 11:34 am | by PD&D Staff | Maxon Precision Motors | Product Releases | Commentsmaxon's (Fall River, MA) RE 30 EB precious metal brushed motor ensures low, constant contact resistance over the entire service life, a characteristic that makes control easier. Features include: A low start-up voltage, even after a long period in standstill.
Hall Effect Sensor Coded Switch
May 13, 2013 11:23 am | by PD&D Staff | Elma Electronic Inc. | Product Releases | CommentsElma Electronic Inc. (Fremont, CA) has introduced the X4, the first in a family of new rugged switches based on the latest Hall Effect sensor coding technology. The X4 Series Hall Effect Sensor Coded Switch is designed to meet IP68 (with optional sealing).
One by One, Homes in Calif. Subdivision Sinking
May 13, 2013 10:06 am | by Tracie Cone, Associated Press | News | CommentsScott and Robin Spivey had a sinking feeling that something was wrong with their home when cracks began snaking across their walls in March. The cracks soon turned into gaping fractures, and within two weeks their 600-square-foot garage broke from the house and the entire property — manicured lawn and all — dropped 10 feet below the street.
Spacewalking Repair Halts Station Leak - For Now
May 13, 2013 9:57 am | by Marcia Dunn, AP Aerospace Writer | News | CommentsAstronauts making a rare, hastily planned spacewalk replaced a pump outside the International Space Station on Saturday in hopes of plugging a serious ammonia leak. The prospects of success grew as the minutes, then hours passed and no frozen flecks of ammonia appeared.
America's Cup Fatality Raises Safety Questions
May 13, 2013 9:52 am | by Bernie Wilson and Paul Elias, Associated Press | News | CommentsSailors know the risks and rewards that come with these new space-age America's Cup boats that speed like race cars across the waves. Still, the death of British Olympic champion Andrew "Bart" Simpson during a training session on San Francisco Bay gives fresh urgency as they chase the oldest trophy in international sports this summer.
BlackBerry Focuses on Cool Factor
May 13, 2013 9:46 am | by David Friend, The Canadian Press | News | CommentsBlackBerry will pull out all the stops this week as the company welcomes thousands of industry players for BlackBerry Live, it's annual three-day conference which promises to offer some perspective into its future. Chief executive Thorsten Heins will take the stage on Tuesday and is expected to deliver a keynote speech.
Amtrak Unveils Locomotives to Replace Aging Fleet
May 13, 2013 9:43 am | by David Porter, Associated Press | News | CommentsWhen Amtrak unveils the first of 70 new locomotives Monday at a plant in California, it will mark what the national passenger railroad service hopes will be a new era of better reliability, streamlined maintenance and better energy efficiency. On a broader scale, the new engines could well be viewed as emblematic of the improving financial health of Amtrak, which has long been dependent on subsidies from an often reluctant Congress.
Project Aims to Track Big City Carbon Footprints
May 13, 2013 9:36 am | by Alicia Chang, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsEvery time Los Angeles exhales, odd-looking gadgets anchored in the mountains above the city trace the invisible puffs of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases that waft skyward. Halfway around the globe, similar contraptions atop the Eiffel Tower and elsewhere around Paris keep a pulse on emissions from smokestacks and automobile tailpipes.
Photos of the Day: Tracking Carbon Footprints
May 13, 2013 9:35 am | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsRiley Duren, the chief systems engineer for the Earth Science and Technology Directorate at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory(JPL), shows the global map of carbon dioxide at Mount Wilson, Calif., Friday, April 12, 2013. A mile above this city, sensors gaze down on the basin from atop Mount Wilson the way a satellite fixates on Earth, collecting pieces of information about Los Angeles' carbon footprint.
Bloodless Bank Heist Impressed Cybercrime Experts
May 13, 2013 9:22 am | by Colleen Long and Martha Mendoza, Associated Press | News | CommentsA bloodless bank heist that netted more than $45 million has left even cybercrime experts impressed by the technical sophistication, if not the virtue, of the con artists who pulled off a remarkable internationally organized attack. "It was pretty ingenious," Pace University computer science professor Darren Hayes said Friday.
Graphene Joins the Race to Redefine the Ampere
May 13, 2013 9:11 am | by National Physical Laboratory | News | CommentsA new joint innovation by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and the University of Cambridge could pave the way for redefining the ampere in terms of fundamental constants of physics. The world's first graphene single-electron pump (SEP), described in a paper today in Nature Nanotechnology, provides the speed of electron flow needed to create a new standard for electrical current based on electron charge.
NC to air study on PCB pollution in Yadkin River
May 13, 2013 8:09 am | by EMERY P. DALESIO - AP Business Writer - Associated Press | News | CommentsFish in one of North Carolina's largest watersheds are more polluted by an industrial contaminant than previously reported and state health officials have failed to expand warnings against eating PBC-contaminated fish, according to a new study. After more than a year of research and internal...
Natural Gas Export Plans Stir Debate
May 13, 2013 3:19 am | by Matthew Daly, Associated Press | News | CommentsA domestic natural gas boom already has lowered U.S. energy prices while stoking fears of environmental disaster. Now U.S. producers are poised to ship vast quantities of gas overseas as energy companies seek permits for proposed export projects that could set off a renewed frenzy of fracking.
