Lockheed Martin made history recently when, for the first time, it tested an F-16 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio with electric rather than hydraulic flight control actuation. "Recent advances in power switching, capacitors, and high-voltage dc power electronics were the primary technical breakthrough to allow development to be successful," says Dennis Eicke, a mechanical engineer and the program manager for the F-16 project. "There is still a place for hydraulics in F-16s, but the move to electric actuation allows us the flexibility to integrate redundancy and emergency systems differently," he says. Eicke adds that electric actuation is an enabler technology that simplifies the whole power generation and distribution system. "Electric actuation with the integrated subsystems approach selected for JSF provides additional benefits in reduced aircraft weight, improved survivability, and improved maintainability," he says. The switch from hydraulic to electric actuation translates into a 15% reduction in the fighter plane's vulnerable area, a 5% reduction in aircraft procurement costs, a 6% reduction in gross take-off weight, and a 13% reduction in lifecycle cost compared to current F-16s. For the purpose of the test, some hydraulic components remained in the F-16, according to Dick Kotalik, an electrical engineer and technical team leader at Parker Hannifin's Control System Div., the company that supplied the electro-hydrostatic actuators (EHAs) for the test aircraft. Five EHAs replaced the conventional hydraulic actuators to control the flaperons, horizontal tail, and rudder. For more information about hydraulics, contact Kotalik at dkotalik@parker.com.
For 3D printing to make the jump from rapid prototyping to manufacturing, engineers will need to find easier ways to move products from their CAD screens to their printers.
Gigabit and PoE are two networking technologies moving ahead in tandem as industrial users power remote Ethernet devices such as IP security cameras at 1,000 Mbps over existing CAT5 cable.
New versions of BASF's Ecovio line are both compostable and designed for either injection molding or thermoforming. These combinations are becoming more common for the single-use bioplastics used in food service and food packaging applications, but are still not widely available.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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