ITT Industries Hybrid Posi-Lock Quick Connectors. Slip on, latch, and click, and these connectors mate to standard SAE endforms shaped on metal tubing or injection molded components—eliminating push-on or compression fittings and their time-consuming joints. The latest metal-stem (hybrid) version, initially developed for automotive fuel systems, provides metal-to-metal contact for greater strength. The Posi-Lock slips over the male endform, but only if completely seated for full lock travel will the connector's latch grab the integral ring. Locking gives an audible click and tactile feedback of a secure connection. Pressing on the dual retainer tabs allows the latch to slide open and disconnect. For a white paper on this quick connect technology, go to www.designnews.com. (www.ittconnects.com/terminals) Enter 632
RFID COUPLER MONITORS PROCESSES
Colder Products Co. Smart Coupling™ Technology. The RFID tag inside the package-coupling inserts of these quick connections can contain history of container contents—to ensure correct sequencing and quality control. Because engineers could not find an off-the-shelf RFID interrogator (read/update) unit small enough (0.8 inch square) to fit easily on the coupling, they developed a one-chip solution, notes Rick Garber, Smart Technology Business Unit manager. His team used a Microchip Technology PIC microcontroller and developed the firmware. The reader features a small interrogation field, out to 1.5 inches, to avoid inadvertantly reading nearby tags. An overmolded, wrap-round antenna within the insert allows signal pickup under any coupler/insert orientation. (www.colder.com) Enter 633
SHORTER, WITH MORE FLOW
Clippard Instrument Laboratory Minimatic® Jumbo Quick Connect fittings. At just under ½-inch diameter, these fittings strike a balance between larger, more cumbersome quick connects and smaller devices with less flow. Although shorter by about ¼ inch than the company's standard Minimatics, these fittings provide more than twice the flow (14 vs. 3 scfm at 100 psi). The reason: A molded Delrin® poppet valve with an O-ring opening/closing against a circumferential surface, rather than a more obstructing tire-type valve. According to Engineering Manager Rich Boutell, the fitting would have to be twice as long to get the same flow with the conventional valve. (www.clippard.com) Enter 634
Almost every automaker has had to 'pick a side' when it comes to alternative fuel options and ways to divest from a reliance on gasoline. Fiat is looking to back compressed natural gas or liquid propane as an interim solution.
Designing and filling a new type of water bottle might take less engineering work, but the description will help kids understand how science, math, and engineering influence their lives even through things that seem mundane.
Against a backdrop of mounting product complexity and a need to keep a lid on development costs, companies are recognizing a need to make simulation a more integral part of the design process. In response, vendors in the CAD world are building out CAE functionality as part of their CAD suites while simulation vendors are building tighter integrations to leading CAD tools. Keith Meintjes, Ph.D., Practice Manager, Simulation and Analysis at CIMdata, Inc., joins Design News CAD Editor Beth Stackpole in this radio program to explore the new face of integrated CAD and CAE, how companies are benefitting from this tighter partnership between platforms, and how integrating CAE earlier in the development cycle pays off in optimized product designs.
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