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New Huntsman Thermoset Mimics Elastomers
A new thermoset system from Huntsman Advanced Materials provides elastomeric qualities, while retaining the benefits of epoxy infusion. One of the key attributes is the ability to use the material with carbon fiber systems and textiles due its low viscosity. In addition to flexibility and excellent impact strength, the unique system also provides high transparency, brightness and UV resistance. &# ... More
About this blog
Engineering materials is a discussion led by Design News Contributing Materials Editor Doug Smock on important new developments and applications that affect mechanical design.
The Incidence of the Light Bulb Going Off (or In?)
After being fed specifications in a piecemeal fashion, an engineer figures out how to meet a test spec by thinking inside the box By Radcliffe Cutshaw, Contributing Writer The project was to design a device to segment the upstream band used by cable modems. Cable modems are collision moderated: When two or more modems try to send at the same time, a collision is detected and both wait a random tim ... More
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Famous investigations into the most diabolical real-world cases in engineering
Qosina High Flow Stopcocks with Two-Way Flow Control
FLUID POWER: High-flow polycarbonate stopcocks with 90-degree HDPE pivot handles provide flow control from one of two female luer locks to a male spin lock. The 0.11 inch through-hole provides higher flow rates for rapid infusion. The blue (Part # 99752) and yellow (Part # 99753) stopcocks are color coded and clearly marked with a longer “OFF” handle to facilitate flow path ... More
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Highlighting notable new products and company announcements
Stealth Technology, Romulans and Teleportation
So you think stealth technology was born at the Lockheed Skunk Works in the mid 1970s do you? You really believe engineer Denys Overholser developed the equations and the F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter was the result. You poor, deluded soul. As everyone knows, the U.S. Navy made a ship disappear during World War Two. Known as Project Rainbow and/or The Philadelphia Experiment, the ship, the U.S.S ... More
About this blog
An insider's look at the wondrous but unforgiving world of aviation and aerospace design
What is the coolest and most practical math equation?
I know that many of you will look at the topic of the blog and give a big “ick” or some other guttural sound that I don’t know how to spell. To you I offer my sympathy. Of course, for the rest of you that choose to read on, you may be wondering what in the world this topic has to do with a wireless blog. For you I confess that my mind has been rejuvenated by ... More
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Strange but true things; tales of what happens without cables and why
Why Auto Makers Are Rushing Toward EVs
The Wall Street Journal reported today that the Obama administration is proposing to spur production of electric cars with an offer that would enable auto makers to count each electric car as two vehicles when calculating corporate average fuel economy. “One reason car makers are r ... More
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Hybrids, electric vehicles and more
Miniature Motor Squiggles into Small Precision Devices
Look at small motors for a product design and you’ll find a gap between small DC motors and micro electromechanical systems (MEMSs) fabricated on a silicon wafer. New Scale Technologies has helped filled that gap by designing squiggle-motion motors, or squiggle motors, for engineers who need a tiny motor in miniature and subminiature applications. You can find out more at: http://www.newsca ... More
About this blog
Interpreting trends, analyzing tools and techniques and exploring cross-discipline skills for electronic, mechanical and system designers.
The Instance of the Misbehaving Mack Mixer
An engineer experiences a Hellish ride while driving a 30,000-lb cement truck that’s losing rpms–fast! By Neil Larkins, Contributing Writer Back in 1993 I worked as a contract driver for a company that moved trucks. One evening my dispatcher sent me to a rural area outside of Washington, DC to pick up a cement truck and drive it to Miami, Florida. Following directions, I finally foun ... More
About this blog
Famous investigations into the most diabolical real-world cases involving materials and mechanical designs
MIT Lab Cooks Up Cornucopia 3-D Printer
Okay, they are two passions that likely worlds apart. But if you happen to love food and are an enthusiast for 3-D technology, there’s a project underway at MIT Media Lab’s Fluid Interfaces Group that you should make note of. The group, whose charter is to “radically rethink the human-machine interactive experience,” has just kicked off a project called Cornucopia, whic ... More
About this blog
Where you\'ll find the latest news and trends in the areas of CAD/CAM software, PLM, innovation, and product development.
Misdirected Directions: The Baby Food Label
Jon Titus sends in this seal from a baby food jar with one extremely helpful warning on it. Glad they included the 800 number, just in case! ... More
About this blog
Products that somehow slipped by the QC Cops - Email us your examples at kfield@reedbusiness.com!
USDA Forest Service Tests Voltree Power’s Bio-Energy Harvester
In February 2009, I posted “Voltree Power Harvests Electricity from Trees without Combustion,” describing how Canton, MA based Voltree Power was commercializing a patented technology from MIT to extract energy from trees. Using the pH difference between trees and the soil, a miniscule amount of electricity is produced, which Voltree captures to power wireless mesh networks within for ... More
About this blog
This alternative energy and sustainable power blog covers alternative energy and fuel technologies buzzing through the media.
Cool Motor Kits for Future Engineers
Greetings fellow gadgeteers! In this blog post, I will take a look at some electronics projects for kids. Like many of you, I have kids that are at that impressionable age where they can hopefully be steered towards an honorable life spent in a field such engineering, science, or plumbing, and away from such disreputable activities as ticket scalping or lawyering. To that end I present some proj ... More
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Fun and entertaining projects for the gadget freaks among us
Balver Zinn introduces two new lead-free solders
An article in EMT World notes that Balver Zinn will introduce two lead-free solders based on the Iowa State Patent at the Prodcutronica trade fair in Munich November 10 - 13. First is the i-SAC 387 Solder, which adds Cobalt (Co). The company notes the melting characteristic of silver containing alloys has been improved with the addition of Cobalt. The solder also includes Germanium (Ge), which was ... More
About this blog
Hi, this is Design News contributing editor, Rob Spiegel. Welcome to my Lead-Free Zone blog. This is your opportunity (and mine) to discuss RoHS and other environmental issues. Green regulations have produced waves of industry confusion, and I do not expect things to clear up quickly. So use this blog to inform us of your opinions, to instruct us all on what you\'re doing about this initiative, or just to blow off some steam.
Saturn Demise Might Be Saddest Of All
The demise of Pontiac has grabbed auto industry headlines over the past few days, but little has been said about GM’s abrupt change in plans for its Saturn Corp. Yesterday, the giant automaker said it no longer plans to build Saturns through the end of 2011. Instead, it will phase out Saturn at the end of the 2009 model year. That’s sad. Those who recall the history of Saturn know th ... More
About this blog
The latest news and information on analog/digital control, components/hardware, embedded systems, power/thermal management, and sensors for design engineers.
Amazing display of questionable engineering
Here’s some astonishing video of “Gallopin’ Gertie” (the Tacoma Narrows Bridge) from November 7, 1940, just before the bridge was demolished by a gale. ... More
About this blog
Looking at the top engineering breakthroughs that came during the 60-year history of Design News.
Google, Harvard's Wissner-Gross debate CO2 from Web Search
Harvard graduate student Alex Wissner-Gross created quite a stir with his claim that every web search creates between 5-10 grams of CO2 from the power required to keep those massive server farms going. Google officials apparently thought he was singling it out, but he later said he was speaking about generally about web searches and had no axe to grind with Google.But who does not equate web searc ... More
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Your Guide to Going Green
Banner’s New Vision System Needs No Computer
Machine vision systems don’t necessarily need lots of extra computing power and complex software to carry out difficult inspection tasks. That’s the guiding principle behind Banner Engineering’s new image sensing system, which is designed to be both simple and smart. Called the iVu Series TG, this self-contained image sensing system features a 2.7-inch LCD touchscreen for fact ... More
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Read about the latest developments in motion control, factory automation, machine tools, and robotics.
Mediocrity in the Design Process: Marinara sauce gone wrong.
An end user should not be using a mediocre product, and let me explain how marinara sauce relates. Before super-mega-markets, I would imagine markets had fewer varieties of many products. Those products were likely produced to try to please as many customers’ taste buds as possible. Let me presume that customers only had different preferences between texture and spice of sauces. The two a ... More
About this blog
In this blog you\'ll find posts about mechatronics, engineering, and engineering education. Stefan Wolpert will discuss various aspects of mechatronics, some of which include computers, control, electronics, mechanics and design. Also, Stefan will explore his engineering education and its integration of mechatronics.
$28 Million Settlement Reached in Death of Woman Killed in Big Dig Collapse
Read more on the Big Dig materials failure and see appalling aftermath photos and diagrams at Design News’ Big Dig coverage page. The family of a woman killed two years ago when the car she was riding in was crushed as a portion of a ceiling collapsed inside a Big Dig tunnel settled a wrongful death suit for more than $28 million last night. In July 2006, 39-year-old Milena Del Valle was ki ... More
About this blog
Straight talk about today\'s headlines and how they affect the engineering community.
Chevy Volt, Performance Capabilities Subject to Change
Did I hear that right? A Chevy Volt radio ad this morning concluded with a line like performance capabilities subject to change or may vary. I think it was the former. Should I be surprised given the GM’s rush to get this electric car into production by late 2010? That’s how fluid the battery situation is. The ad touts that you might seldom buy gasoline if you travel 40 miles or less ... More
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Scanning for Fraud
Art and technology have started to come together in an unlikely place–under the gaze of 3D digitizers. The VanDuzen Archives of Dallas has built a growing business around the use of imaging hardware and digital shape sampling software as tools to authenticate and conserve works of art. And in one recent job, the company helped ferret out a forged copy of Picasso’s Tete de Fernande, a ... More
About this blog
News about the technologies you turn to when time isn\'t on your side--everything from rapid prototyping machines and high-speed machining to rapid tooling and rapid manufacturing.
Avnet Tech Games Give Product Ideas a Chance in the Real World
This week Avnet announced the winners from its third annual Avnet Tech Games, an annual competition featuring several multi-disciplinary technology events. The competition, held April 5, presented more than 150 students from colleges and universities in Arizona with several technology challenges. Among the Avnet Tech Games events are “AMD Build the Fastest Computer,” where teams use ... More
About this blog
This blog is your resource for news and updates on the latest developments from design engineering competitions across the globe. Be sure to visit our Design Engineering Competitions and Challenges content package for more coverage, a schedule of upcoming events and entry materials.
When to Embark on a New Engineering Position
Should you move from that company of long standing? Are you waiting patiently for the retirement party and that “gold watch”? Last weekend I sat down for coffee with a design engineer from an industrial lighting products company. With him were two of his twenty-something-year-old kids, helping Dad gather tools for a career move. They were as interested in advice for their own career ... More
About this blog
Negotiating your path to success in engineering’s changing work world.
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Design News Partner Zones
Light Matters: The Unsung Heroes of
Modern Health Care
First, let's define "no-compromise." In an ideal configuration, this lamp would use a high-brightness LED (HBLED) that is built into a small, integrated package and is able to produce a large quantity of focused light, operate with a high level of reliability and generate no audible noise. Is this difficult? Yes, but it is possible.
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Design Engineers' Portal for Sensing and Machine Safety
Whatever industry you're in, or whatever product you manufacture, the right sensors to automate your plant, and to improve your overall efficiency, quality and safety are a must. You'll find Banner Engineering to be an amazing resource of products, training and people with expertise.
Test & Measurement World Machine Vision & Inspection Report
Topics include machine-vision software, Power over Camera Link, thermal imaging and frame grabbers. Read More
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