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Top 5 Design Tools of the Week
May 17, 2013 | by Melissa Fassbender, Associate Editor, PD&D | Comments
Your Top 5 Design Tools of the Week include a new add on for your Raspberry Pi, a DIY USB device, and an activity board that allows you to do more with 8 cores.
MIT Student Inventor Awarded for Innovative Medical Devices
May 15, 2013 4:52 pm | by Melissa Barnes, Associate Editor PD&D | Comments
Each year, MIT’s Lemelson program awards an outstanding student inventor for his or her...
Galactic Thermal Management
May 14, 2013 3:09 pm | by Chris Fox, Associate Editor, PD&D | Comments
A prominent enemy of efficiency and functionality is heat. From bearings to computer systems to...
Engineering Answers: The Bionic Dragonfly
May 13, 2013 2:39 pm | by Melissa Fassbender, Associate Editor, PD&D | Comments
The Bionic Learning Network takes its design inspiration from nature. A partnership between...
Automation GT Speeds Up Medical Syringe Assembly
May 17, 2013 1:56 pm | by Justin Levine, Futurestech | CommentsPharmaceutical companies often assemble medical syringes by hand. Manual assembly is time-consuming, potentially dangerous and lacks the repeatability and reliability of an automated solution. Automation GT was asked to design and build a system to prepare needles for drug filling. But how do you automate a process that handles needles with a tip smaller than a pinpoint?
Reinventing the Wind Turbine
May 10, 2013 5:23 pm | by Chris Fox, Associate Editor, PD&D | CommentsGreen energy is the wave of the future, but more often than not the technology is sadly disappointing when it comes to output and high price-point. Wind energy, in and of itself, seems like a cheap means to utilize a never-ending resource, but turbines are massive, expensive, and don’t produce huge amounts of energy. That’s why there are fields full of massive propellers, attempting to catch a breeze.
Top 5 Design Tools of the Week
May 10, 2013 10:16 am | by Melissa Fassbender, Associate Editor, PD&D | CommentsThis week's Top 5 Design Tools include a BeagleBone, a piece of Adafruit, and a 3D scanning technology.
Succeeding in Today’s Economy with Track, Trace & Control
May 8, 2013 11:40 am | by W. Scott Fillebrown, President & CEO of ACD, and François Monette, Co-President of Cogiscan Inc. | CommentsTo survive and be successful in today’s economy, manufacturers must assemble high-quality products at the lowest possible cost. The total cost of production must take into account the complete product lifecycle including warranty, recalls, and repairs. Track, Trace and Control (TTC) systems are an essential element of success in achieving these objectives.
UV-/light-Curing Adhesives Improve Manufacturing Productivity
May 7, 2013 11:42 am | by Torsten Uske, President DELO Industrial Adhesives LLC, and Dr. Martin Kluke, Product Manager DELO Industrial Adhesives | CommentsThe manufacturing world is constantly looking for processes that can accelerate production while lowering unit costs and improving product reliability. Each innovation must mesh with the overall production process to achieve high output levels. Bonding processes should be capable of smoothly running in automated processes requiring short cycle times.
Mold Design & Tooling for Injection Molding
May 6, 2013 2:10 pm | by Kaysun Corporation | CommentsInjection molding is a high-precision manufacturing process that injects molten plastic into a carefully designed mold, where the plastic cools and hardens into the specified part or product. The piece is then ejected from the mold, either as the final product or as a near-final product that is sent on for secondary finishing.
Fibrelite Covers Pass the Test
May 3, 2013 1:58 pm | by Fibrelite | CommentsFibrelite’s composite manhole covers have successfully passed load testing for both the AASHTO H20 and H25 highway load ratings for manhole covers. In testing performed at Lancaster University, Fibrelite’s 30” and 36” diameter composite covers were tested per the American load testing standards for manhole covers, grates, and castings.
Comparing Low Harmonic Drives in Light of IEEE 519
May 2, 2013 12:46 pm | by Wolfgang Hilmer, Project Manager, Siemens Industry | CommentsThe most commonly used standard in the electric industry for limiting the harmonics in supply systems is IEEE 519. For purposes of this discussion, we’ll define harmonics as currents or voltages with frequencies that represent integer multiples of the fundamental power frequency.
A Fireside Chat: A Bonding Moment
April 30, 2013 2:57 pm | by PD&D Staff | CommentsDELO Industrial Adhesives has named Torsten Uske president of its North American subsidiary, DELO Industrial Adhesives LLC. Uske, 38, joined DELO in Germany in 1999 as an application engineer after he completed technical university studies.
Welcome to My Nightmare
April 29, 2013 4:03 pm | by David Mantey, Executive Editor, PD&D | CommentsEd Edmunds and his wife Marsha Taub-Edmunds have been in the fright business since 1978. The heads of Distortions Unlimited, and current stars of Making Monsters on the Travel Channel, started with horror-themed masks and props, but in 1995 they designed Shake n Bake, an animatronic electric chair that was unlike anything the industry had ever seen.
New Software-Defined Storage Paradigm Based on Open Standards
April 25, 2013 5:03 pm | by Silicon Mechanics | CommentsGlobal Legal Discovery, an Atlanta, Georgia-based firm that provides electronic discovery services, is riding the wave of a new and exploding market — storing, retrieving, and searching millions of documents that may be required in the event of an electronic discovery (eDiscovery) request.
From Zero to Maze-O: At Home Engineering Leads to Real World Success
April 23, 2013 11:36 am | by Melissa Fassbender, Associate Editor, PD&D | CommentsDan and Jessica Friedman’s son loves mazes. He often finishes the mazes on cereal boxes, and even started building them with random toys from around the house – much to his younger sister’s pleasure as she would come and knock them over. So the parents went in search for a better, more dependable, way to build mazes.
5 Reasons to Customize a Power Distribution Center
April 22, 2013 1:10 pm | CommentsCustom power distribution centers provide measurable economies of scale that instantly benefit any facility or situation. The innovative AMAXX enclosure system by MENNEKES offers an affordable solution for configurable power distribution to customize your application quickly and easily.
Cyclists Take Industrial 3D Printing for a Spin
April 19, 2013 5:33 pm | by Chris Hardee, a science and technology writer based in New Hampshire | CommentsAbout four years ago, Russ Kappius—mountain-bike enthusiast, winner of six Masters racing titles, and a research geophysicist/software developer—became obsessed with bicycle hubs. He wanted more speed and responsiveness, but wasn’t sure how to get it.
There’s a New Twist in Wind Blades
April 17, 2013 11:46 am | by Chris Hardee | CommentsRather than a traditional linear profile, a sweep-twist blade has a distinctive gently curving tip (or “sweep”) with curvature towards the trailing edge. Theoretically, this planform shape allows the blade to respond to turbulent wind gusts through a process of controlled twisting and bending.
