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Contents | Volume 58, No. 1

IN IN THE THE NEWS NEWS

?? 8 Tex Amphibious to go here “tank” Tex

design to go here validated Tex toby go here Tex to go here Autodesk

??8 ?? 8 ??8 ?? 10 ?? 10 ?? 10 12

Tex University to go here of Tex to Waterloo go herenames Tex to go here new dean Tex toofgo here engineering Tex to go here Tex to goEngineering here Tex to go JMP here to offi go here opensTex new ce Tex Digi-Key, to go here Tex to Dynastream go here Tex to go here sign distribution Tex to go here agreement Tex to go here Tex to go here Texofto go Manufacture here Tex to go here 2012 Honda CR-V begins in Alliston, ON to go here Tex Tex to go here Tex to go here Tex to go here Tricorder XPrize competition launched Tex to go here Tex to go here Tex to go here Tex to go here DALSA sensors to guide Mars rover Waterloo spin-off wins recognition for smarter alloy technology Study suggests Canada less trade dependent than previously thought

READER SERVICES Annual Subscription Rate In Canada: $52.95 (1 year) $71.95 (2 year) Outside Canada: $99.95 (1 year) Single Copy In Canada: $10.00 Outside Canada: $22.00 Directory Rates In Canada: $27.00 Outside Canada: $45.00 Reader Service Contact Information ecallaghan@bizinfogroup.ca T: Toronto 416 442 5600 X 3538 Elsewhere -866-543-7888 Mail: Business Information Group Design Engineering Circulation Dept 80 Valleybrook Drive North York, ON M3B 2S9 Printed in Canada

www.design-engineering.com

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Columns 14 CAD Report Formerly the “Anti-PLM” CAD company, Autodesk launches Nexus 360 PLM for SMBs 20 HardWire Researchers leverage 3D mice and six degrees of freedom control for robot design and flight manipulation

26 Power Transmission Compact design envelope of Lunar project prototype relies on mini-slides 30 Idea Generator The latest in industrial products including motors, sensors, fluid power and motion

34 Canadian Innovator Modular bridge system, Make-A-Bridge, poised to expand outside Canada

Features

18 Will Additive Manufacturing Change Manufacturing? AM could very well become the most diverse, flexible and accessible manufacturing technology ever 22 Return of the Airship Long ignored buoyant aircraft are making a comeback as the need to ship cargo to remote locations intensifies

24 All-in-One Automation Omron’s Machine Automation Controller integrates multiple controllers while maintaining high performance

24 January/February | 2012

12-02-07 10:50 AM

6 EditorialViewpoint

Take-Off, Non?

www.design-engineering.com

o say that the Canadian aerospace market is poised to “take off” in 2012 is not only a terrible cliche but a bit of an understatement. While most of the manufacturing sector continues suffer from the effects of the worldwide recession, aerospace OEMs and their suppliers have pulled out of the dive of the last three years and are now hitting the afterburners. According to research from market analyst firm RNCOS, aerospace in Canada will experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.7 percent in 2012-2013, as the U.S economy strengthens. For those in the MRO space, the outlook is even better, as aerospace maintenance hubs such as Manitoba and Quebec are expected to see CAGR of 10 percent or better in coming years. Other forecasters are similarly optimistic. After declines in 2010 and little to no growth last year, Export Development Canada (EDC) Economics estimates exports of aircraft and parts will surge by 22 percent this year. Currently, the U.S. represents the biggest aerospace market, with estimated sales of US$ 215.2 Billion in 2009, and is Canada’s largest export destination. However, emerging markets like Brazil, Mexico, India and especially China may one day soon overtake it. Analysts anticipate China alone will buy more than 3,700 airplanes by 2028, worth an estimated US$390 Billion. In the here and now, though, Canada’s big aerospace players have already begun to benefit from the improving economic environment. For example, Quebec-based landing gear manufacturer, Heroux-Devtek, recently reported that its net profits, in the third quarter of its 2012 fiscal year, were 33.8 per cent higher than the $5.2 million it earned a year earlier. Similarly, flight simulator firm, CAE has landed several contracts in the last few months including more than $100 million worth from Canada’s Department of National Defence, Malaysia, the German Air Force and the Royal Air Force. In addition, it has signed $65-million worth of contracts to supply customers in Asia with five flight simulators. Not to be out done, Montreal-based Bombardier boasted at the end of 2011 that it will add between $10 and $16 billion in revenue to its current $18 billion. The company reports that production of its CSeries planes are fully booked in 2014 and 2015 and is two-thirds to capacity for 2016. This ramp up in activity translates to growing employment opportunities, particularly in Quebec, says Comité sectoriel de main‐d’œuvre en aérospatiale (CAMAQ), a Quebec-based non-profit industry organization. Its annual Employment Census and Forecast survey conducted last fall found that 95 percent of the 215 survey respondents expect the coming year to be as good or better than 2011. More importantly, the survey found that 3,040 jobs were added in 2011 and another 3,642 positions will need to be filled in 2012, including engineers, machinists, assemblers and maintenance technicians. Coupling CAMAQ’s survey results with the engineer deficit projected by Engineers Canada’s recent employment study, it looks like the industry’s high density centres like Montreal will be a safe place for engineers to land in 2012 and beyond.

Mike McLeod I enjoy hearing from you so please contact me at MMcLeod@design-engineering.com and your letter could be published in an upcoming issue.

January/February | 2012

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Publisher Alan Macpherson (416) 510-6756 AMacPherson@design-engineering.com Group Editorial Director Lisa Wichmann (416) 510-5101 LWichmann@canadianmanufacturing.com Accounts Manager Laura Gergley (416) 510-5230 lgergley@design-engineering.com Editor Michael McLeod (416) 442-5600 ext. 3231 mmcleod@design-engineering.com Technical Field Editor Pat Jones, P. Eng. Art Director Kathy Smith (416) 442-5600 ext. 3215 KSmith@plant.ca Market Production Manager Jessica Jubb (416) 510-5194 jjubb@bizinfogroup.ca Circulation Manager Cindi Holder (416) 442-5600 ext. 3544 CHolder@bizinfogroup.ca BIG Magazines LP Executive Publisher Tim Dimopoulos Vice-President of Canadian Publishing, Alex Papanou President of Business Information Group, Bruce Creighton Publications Mail Agreement #40069240 ISSN number: 0011-9342 Privacy Notice: From time to time we make our subscription list available to select companies and organizations whose product or service may interest you. If you do not wish your contact information to be made available, please contact us via one of the following methods: Phone: 1-800-668-2374 Fax: 416-442-2191 E-mail: privacyofficer@businessinformationgroup.ca. Mail to: Privacy Officer, 80 Valleybrook Drive, North York, ON M3B 2S9 Subscriber Services: To subscribe, renew your subscription or to change your address or information contact us at 1-800-387-0273. Subscription Price: Canada: $52.95 for 1 year; $71.95 for 2 years; $10 for single copy. Outside Canada: $99.95 for 1 year; $22 for single copy. Directory/buyer’s guide: Canada $27; Outside Canada $45. Design Engineering, established in 1955, is published 6 times per year except for occasional combined, expanded or premium issues, which count as two subscription issues. Published by BIG Magazines LP, a division of Glacier BIG Holdings Company Ltd. Tel: 416-442-5600, Fax: 416-510-5140 80 Valleybrook Dr., Toronto, ON M3B 2S9. Contents of this publication are protected by copyright and must not be reprinted in whole or in part without permission of the publisher. DE receives unsolicited features and materials (including letters to the editor) from time to time. DE, its affiliates and assignees may use, reproduce, publish, re-publish, distribute, store and archive such submissions in whole or in part in any form or medium whatsoever, without compensation of any sort. DE accepts no responsibility or liability for claims made for any product or service reported or advertised in this issue. DE is indexed in the Canadian Business Index by Micromedia Ltd., Toronto, and is available on-line in the Canadian Business & Current Affairs Database. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities.

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8 DesignNews Up Front University of Waterloo names new dean of engineering The University of Waterloo has named professor, Pearl Sullivan P.Eng, C.Eng, as its new dean of engineering—the eighth in the university’s history and the first woman to hold that post. Pearl Sullivan Currently the chair of the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering at Waterloo, Sullivan will begin her five-year term on July 1, 2012. She takes over from Adel Sedra, an authority in microelectronic circuits, who has served two terms as dean and is retiring. Originally from Malaysia, but in Canada for nearly 30 years, Sullivan earned her PhD from the Department of Metals and Materials Engineering at the University of British Columbia. She is the founding director of Waterloo’s joint graduate program in nanotechnology within the faculties of engineering and science. www.uwaterloo.ca

JMP Engineering opens new office Engineering, systems integrator and solutions provider JMP Engineering, Inc. has opened a new office in Dallas–Fort Worth, TX as part of its continued expansion plans across North America. Marc Goulet, a JMP manager and solution provider, will oversee the new office, along with Dan Foster, a professional with a background in automation and packaging. www.jmpeng.com

Digi-Key, Dynastream sign distribution agreement Electronic components distributor Digi-Key Corporation announced the addition of products from Dynastream Innovations. The company is an industry leader in wireless monitoring products, including the Dynastream ANT series, a wireless sensor network protocol and silicon solution for ultra-low power networking applications. With an installed base of over a million nodes, ANT is engineered for ultra-low power, low system cost, ease-of-use, scalability and flexibility that enables sensors to operate for up to three years on a coin cell battery. The ANT protocol handles peer-to-peer, star, tree and practical mesh topologies. www.digikey.ca January/February | 2012

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Canadian amphibious “tank” design validated by Autodesk Simulation

B.C.-based ARKTOS Development’s amphibious craft.

ARKTOS Developments Ltd. (ADL) —designer and manufacturer of an amphibious vehicle known as the ARKTOS Craft—is using simulation software from Autodesk to design its products to operate in the world’s most environmentally demanding locations. Originally designed as an amphibious evacuation craft for Arctic offshore oil facilities, the ARKTOS Craft can move from frigid -50°C (-122°F) temperatures, through burning flames, and back again, as in the case of evacuating a burning oil rig. Additionally, the ARKTOS Craft can navigate ice-rubble fields, ice ridges and open water—and can even climb up or down vertical steps. The company’s Craft is currently operating in Alaska, China and the Caspian Sea in Kazakhstan. Delta, B.C.’s Valmont West Coast Engineering, which provides finite element analysis (FEA) services to ADL, was responsible for predicting vehicle performance in severe environments. “We used Autodesk Simulation technology to predict critical stresses for the ARKTOS at extreme temperatures and loading conditions,” said Ioan Giosan, Ph.D., P.Eng at Valmont. “After finding an optimal design using FEA, we relied on physical testing and field use to validate the accuracy of our results.” The key to the ARKTOS Craft’s mobility is an articulated arm between the vessel’s two main compartments. As the Craft climbs up onto an ice shelf from the water, the hydraulics in that arm help push the Craft up out of the water so that the special track spikes can grab the ice. Using the multiphysics capabilities of Autodesk Simulation, Valmont was able to show ADL engineers how thermal stress caused by temperature extremes would combine with mechanical stress within the articulated arm between the units. Additionally, since the arm would see repeated compressive and tensile loading, Valmont also analyzed fatigue life using the Autodesk Simulation multiphysics tools. “We continue to modify the original ARKTOS design for each of our new customer’s unique needs,” said Bruce Seligman, president at ADL. “Autodesk software makes it easy for us to design new attachments for the craft, and then simulate how they will affect performance.” www.arktoscraft.com www.design-engineering.com

12-02-07 10:33 AM

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12-02-07 10:33 AM

DesignNews DALSA sensors to guide Mars rover Teledyne DALSA announced that its NASA-designed, Teledyne DALSA-manufactured CCD sensors were used in Navcam and Hazcam cameras of the Curiosity Rover for navigation on the surface of Mars. The Rover will use 4 Navcam cameras and 8 Hazcam cameras. Mounted on a pan/tilt mast 2 meters above the ground, four Navcams black-and-white cameras will use visible light to gather panoramic, three-dimensional imagery. The navigation camera unit is a stereo pair of cameras, each with a 45-degree field of view that will support ground navigation planning. (Left to Right) Nobuyuki Sanui, President, Honda of Canada Mfg. and Takashi Sekiguchi, President and CEO, Honda Canada Inc.

Manufacture of 2012 Honda CR-V begins in Alliston, ON In January, production of the 2012 Honda CR-V officially began at Honda of Canada Mfg. in Alliston, ON. The addition of the CR-V to HCM’s production lineup makes it the first Honda plant in North America to produce four distinct models (Civic, CR-V, MDX and ZDX) on one line. In November 2011, Honda celebrated 25 years of manufacturing in Canada at its facilities in Alliston, Ontario. Since 1987, Honda has built close to 6 million vehicles and invested more than $2.6 billion in Canada. The company also purchases more than $1.1 billion in goods from Canadian suppliers per year, the company says. http://hondacanada.ca

Tricorder XPrize competition launched At the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show, the X PRIZE and Qualcomm Foundations announced the launch of the $10 million Qualcomm Tricorder X PRIZE, a competition to create a real world Star Trek’s medical Tricorder. According to the contest sponsors, the goal spurs develop- Qualcomm’s Tricorder XPrize ment of devices that allow promises $10 million to first consumers to make medical to invent a real world Star diagnoses independent of a Trek-like diagnostic tricorder. healthcare provider. To score the $10 million top prize, the winning entry will be the mobile platform that most accurately diagnoses a set of 15 diseases across 30 consumers in three days. Teams must also deliver a compelling consumer experience while capturing real-time health measurements — blood pressure, respiratory rate and temperature, etc.—so user can tell if they need professional help and provide “next step” advice. www.qualcommtricorderxprize.org January/February | 2012

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NASA’s Curiosity Rover incorporates CCD sensors manufactured by Teledyne-Dalsa in its four Navcam and eight Hazcam cameras.

The rover’s eight Hazcams, mounted on the lower portion of the front and rear of the rover, will use visible light to capture three-dimensional imagery to safeguards against the rover getting lost or crashing into obstacles. The rover uses pairs of Hazcam images to map out the shape of the terrain as far as 3 meters in front of it and 4 meters wide. Teledyne DALSA’s semiconductor wafer foundry has supported NASA’s missions to Mars since 1997. www.teledynedalsa.com

PyroGenesis awarded waste-to-energy contract PyroGenesis Canada Inc.—a Montreal-based company that makes plasma waste-to-energy systems and plasma torch products—announced that the U.S. Air Force 1st Special Operations Civil Engineering Squadron (1 SOCES) has signed an 18-month, $2.73 million contract. Under its terms, PyroGenesis will operate, maintain and collect operations data on its Plasma Resource Recovery System (PRRS) at the Air Force’s base in Hurlburt Field, Florida. PyroGenesis designed and manufactured the PRRS, which uses plasma to convert waste to energy and usable products. The system began operational testing at the Florida Air Force base late last year. www.pyrogenesis.com www.design-engineering.com

12-02-07 12:07 PM

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12 DesignNews

IPT’s Multiple Memory Material technology “remembers” multiple shapes based on varying temperatures.

motive applications. OCE also awarded, IPT’s co-founder and Waterloo mechanical engineering alumnus, Ibraheem Khan, a $50,000 one-year fellowship to help commercialize OCE-funded research. According to IPT, its memory material technology promises to enhance applications of shape memory alloys for micro electromechanical systems (MEMS), medical devices, valves, automotive applications, among others. Located in the Toronto-based MaRS Discovery District, IPT is currently working with a number of clients in the automotive and aerospace sectors. www.engineering.uwaterloo.ca

Waterloo spin-off wins recognition for smarter alloy technology Waterloo University spinoff, Innovative Processing Technologies (IPT), has been recognized for its Multiple Memory Material (MMM) technology. The company’s technology allows typical memory alloys, which change shape at a specific temperature, to memorize multiple shapes at different temperatures. IPT and a Waterloo Engineering team, led by professor Norman Zhou, have been awarded $130,000 by the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) to develop prototypes for auto-

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Study suggests Canada less trade dependent than previously thought According to a Conference Board of Canada study, “Adding Value to Trade Measures: An Introduction to Value-Added Trade” Canada is less trade-dependent than previously thought; has a smaller trade relationship with the United States than commonly believed; and relies on the services sector for a much larger share of its trade. According to the study’s authors, conventional trade measures have not been adapted to gauge transactions accurately when more than one country is involved in the production of a single good. Instead, the Conference Board’s value-added analysis utilizes a methodology to estimate value-added in the context of trade. The first major outcome of the value-added trade method is to eliminate double counting, which occurs when inputs cross borders multiple times before becoming a finished product. The second is to allocate the value embedded in a traded product back to its source. For example, an exported car contains a variety of inputs including raw materials, engineering services and even electricity. According to the analysis, Canada is less trade-dependent; its trade mix is different; and it is less dependent on the United States, than previously thought. For example, using value-added trade measures, Canada’s share of global trade falls from 3.1 per cent to 2.9 per cent; services account for about 40 per cent of Canada’s trade; and the U.S. share of Canada’s overall trade falls from 69 per cent to less than 62 percent. www.conferenceboard.ca www.design-engineering.com

12-02-07 10:33 AM

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14 CADReport

Autodesk Embraces PLM Formerly the “Anti-PLM” CAD company, Autodesk launches Nexus 360 PLM for SMBs. By Ralph Grabowski

hen people stand around the office cooler, sharing horror stories of PLM implementations, one thinks of the old joke defining a yacht: A hole in the water into which you pour money. PLM has a similar patina, so software companies like Aras and Autodesk have developed systems to keep down the cost of implementing and operating PLM. PLM (product lifecycle management) is a collection of software that promises to manage products from concept to CAD, to CAM, to distribution, and to disposal—“womb to tomb,” as some put it. PLM systems are sold generally to large corporations by other larger corporations. In the CAD world, this includes Dassault Systems who offers Enovia for PLM; Siemens PLM Systems (Teamcenter); and PTC (Windchill). There are some very large non-CAD software companies who also offer PLM, including Oracle (Agile) and SAP (ECC). For a CAD vendor,

January/February | 2012

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PLM can earn more in revenues than CAD, ironically. Indeed, when Siemens AG purchased UGS, it put “PLM” in the name, not ‘CAD,’ and when PTC relaunched Pro/E as Creo, it was in part acknowledging that it had let CAD development lag at the expense of PLM. This leaves Autodesk, the largest CAD vendor of all, without PLM. Company CEO Carl Bass had, in the past, boasted that Autodesk was the anti-PLM vendor. “We have less belief in the PLM market, and are happy to leave others to it,” he declared at a media event some years ago. In interviews I have held with Autodesk executives, they would insist that Vault was sufficient. Vault is Autodesk’s product data management (PDM) software, which runs on a server. It manages the data related to product designs, such as drawing and Word fi les. “PLM is different from data management,” executive VP of Manufacturing Industry Group, Robert Kross told me five years ago. “We are looking at data management differently than all other CAD companies.” At the time, his group’s focus was on digital prototyping, and his plan was to store product data in Inventor fi les.

www.design-engineering.com

12-02-07 10:34 AM

15 Autodesk Does a 180 with 360 be—in its marketing literature and Then, a year ago, the anti-PLM through interviews with the media. tone changed. In an interview with Autodesk found that companies the British DEVELOP3D webzine, use PLM mostly for managing CAD, Mr Bass admitted, “As the most managing engineering change orders outspoken critic of PLM, I have (ECO) and generating bills of matechanged my mind in a couple of rials (BOM). But when implementways.” We didn’t know it at the ing a PLM system, firms had to put time, but when the interview was up with costs from installing servers, being held, Autodesk had already backup units, deployments, software been working on its PLM software This example of a home page for Nexus 360 assigns tasks. maintenance fees and the custom for a year. code required to tie everything After all its poo-pooing of traditional PLM, Autodesk had to together. This PLM implementation typically takes up to a make sure its PLM was different. It would be cheaper, run on half year to get running. Vault for managing data, make use of Buzzsaw for sharing data Initially, Nexus 360 will consist of three products. Vault and require no customization. PLM customization means big will continue its traditional role as server-based software that bucks for consultants, and so Autodesk’s plan is to make available handles PDM, but adds hosting Nexus 360 modules. hundreds of specialized modules that users customize themselves. Buzzsaw also continues in its traditional role as the Web-based Autodesk spent the last year secretly acquiring a dozen small portal for project collaboration, but its mandate will expand companies whose technologies are now modules in “Autodesk from AEC to MCAD. Nexus is new, and is the home for modules Nexus 360 for PLM”—the name it chose for its new PLM system. that manage business processes. The modules run in SaaS fashAnd it is a “system,” not a single software package. ion (software as a service) on Amazon-hosted cloud servers. Cloud-based PLM is not a new concept. Ever since the What Might Be In Nexus 360 Internet exploded in popularity in the late 1990s, companies The problem is that Nexus 360 isn’t available yet, and so I can like Arena Solutions have provided cloud-based PLM. The only report only what Autodesk says it will be—and what won’t thing that’s new is the term “cloud-based”. Previously, you

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16 CADReport might have known the technology as SaaS, browser-based, External access is done through Buzzsaw. Backups will be plugin-free or on-demand. provided by Autodesk, says the company. In your firm, Autodesk’s PLM would work like this: Taking a page from Apple, Autodesk plans to make modules 1. You may already have Vault installed through software written by customers available through their Exchange online like Autodesk’s Inventor-based Factory Design and Product app store. However, the company has no plan for Android or Design suites. An updated version hosts Nexus 360 modules. iOS apps; the workaround is to access Nexus 360 through the 2. You might already be using a Buzzsaw account to con- Web browser running on your phone or tablet. trol AEC projects through Web browsers. An update will host Built on the Salesforce.com business model, Autodesk says MCAD projects. it’ll price Nexus 360 in the range of $15 to $125 per-user per3. Nexus 360 will come with a few basic modules that run on month for all modules, whether your firm uses one or all. Autodesk’s Cloud. You start with these and then access additional Nexus 360 is probably best suited for small firms. Large ones to suit your company’s work firms already have PLM impleflow. Some of the modules menmented, and the way PLM reaches tioned include data entry forms, octopus-like into all areas of a compliance management, NPI (new company, existing systems are hard product introduction), CAPA (corto extract. I don’t see Autodesk rective and preventive action) and making replacement sales. FMEA (failure modes and effective Its appeal will be to people who analysis). want to implement PLM one con4. You still customize the system firmed step at a time and will appeal to make it work for your firm, doing primarily to firms using Autodesk it in-house with graphical tools. software, rather than those using For security, your CAD data In Nexus 360, administrators will be able to build CAD from competitors. DE stays inside your corporate firewall. customized workflows graphically. www.autodesk.com

January/February | 2012

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12-02-07 10:34 AM

RapidPrototyping

Will Additive Manufacturing Change Manufacturing? AM could very well become the most diverse, flexible and accessible manufacturing technology ever. By Terry Wohlers

dditive manufacturing (AM) was once viewed as a technology used almost exclusively for making models, prototypes and patterns. Most people didn’t anticipate that it would one day be used for making end-use products or parts. Yet given what I am seeing, I believe AM will eventually have a greater breadth of impact on the production of products than any manufacturing technology in recent history. Think this is an exaggeration? Consider the following: Aircraft parts: For years, Boeing has used AM, specifically laser sintering (LS), to produce highly complex environmental control ducting for its military jets. Today, it is also producing them for the 787 commercial aircraft. The plastic ducting has substantially reduced inventory, labor, assembly lines, weight, maintenance and mountains of certification paperwork. “More than 20,000 of them are currently flying without a single failure,” said Chris Glock of On Demand Manufacturing, a former Boeing company. Parts for UAVs: The development of parts for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has become a test bed for additive manufacturing. Companies are using the technology to create new wing designs with elaborate lattice structures, as well as other types of parts, because they are smaller and the regulatory requirements are not quite as difficult as they are with large-scale military and commercial aircraft. Specialty automobiles: Fifty AM parts were used in the Abruzzi car from Panoz Auto Development Co., initially for a photo shoot. The company found that many of the interior and exterior parts were good enough for the final product, so they used them in the entire production run of 81 cars. Nine of the AM parts were used in the instrument panel, while

Panoz Auto Development Co.’s Abruzzi incorporates numerous AM production parts in its instrument panel, arm rest and center console. January/February | 2012

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others were used in the center console and armrests. Most of the interior parts were covered in leather or another material. 928 Motorsports LLC, an after-market parts company, is using AM to manufacture intake runners for the Porsche 928, which went out of production in 1995. The company is manufacturing the part on demand in carbon-filled nylon 12 for the 900hp engine. The nylon part weighs 1.4 kg (3.1 lbs) versus 3.6 kg (7.9 lb) for the aluminum version.

BMW AG uses a Stratasys FDM system to create inexpensive and ergonomic assembly tools. (Image courtesy of Cimetrix Solutions.)

Manufacturing tools: A number of manufacturing companies are using AM to make jigs, fixtures, alignment and drill guides, gauges and other manufacturing and assembly tools. Thogus Products, a custom injection molder located outside of Cleveland, OH, uses FDM from Stratasys extensively for these types of parts in its 76,000-sq-ft. manufacturing facility. According to Matt Hlavin, the company’s CEO, Thogus saves $150,000 a year in factory automation using FDM to build manufacturing tools. Orthopedic implants: An estimated 30,000 orthopedic implants have been produced by electron beam melting (EBM) worldwide, mostly in Europe. About half have been implanted into patients. A few of the titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) implants are custom, but most are standard products, such as acetabular cups for hip joints. Orthopedic device manufacturers in Europe received CE certification in 2007 and have been manufacturing artificial hips by EBM since then. The FDA gave the green light to manufacture certain orthopedic implant products by EBM in the U.S. in February 2011. www.design-engineering.com

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RapidPrototyping Dental restorations: European dental labs are using processes, such as direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) from EOS, to produce copings for crowns and bridges. A coping is the main structure of a crown or bridge that is custom-made to fit the patient. Dental technicians typically coat the copings in porcelain to match the color of the patient’s teeth. These technicians can produce about eight to 10 crowns per day using traditional techniques. With a machine, such as an EOSINT M 280 from EOS, a dental lab can produce about 400 copings in 20 hours. Data for the copings must be prepared using special software by a skilled technician and the copings must be removed from the build plate and finished. Fashion products: Additive manufacturing is having an impact on the fashion industry. High-heeled shoes have been designed, manufactured, and worn by models. For example, the eye-catching Melonia Shoe, designed by Naim Josefi and Souzan Youssouf, were featured at the Stockholm Fashion Show in February 2010. Meanwhile, special clothing garments, even jackets and dresses, have been produced by laser sintering and worn in fashion shows, such as a recent event in Paris. The examples discussed thus far are targeted at professionals. A consumer market for products by additive manufacturing is also developing. Some are high-end products that come with high-end prices, such as thousands of dollars. Other products can be purchased for under $100—even less than $10. Furniture: An example of a high-end consumer product is the beautiful Holy Ghost chair by designer Lionel Dean of Future Factories. The chair is impressive and can be yours for a mere $10,300 for the nylon version and $13,200 for the metal-plated version. Less expensive products are available, such as the lighting designs from i.materialise and .MGX by Materialise. Some of the designs are stunning and are available for a few hundred Laser-sintered forms compose dollars. the back and arm rest of Future Protective covers for Factories’ $10,000 “Holy phones: A number of covers Ghost” chair. for smart phones have been designed and produced by AM. An example is the Double Mesh product designed by Janne Kyttanen of Freedom of Creation for Freshfiber. Apple purchased the exclusive rights of this particular design and offers it at its on-line store for about $54. Video game characters: In December 2007, FigurePrints brought World of Warcraft (WoW) characters to life through its additive manufacturing service. At figureprints.com, players can order a statue for $130 or bust for $70 of their WoW character. The product is printed in full color using a 3D www.design-engineering.com

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printer from Z Corp. and infiltrated with resin to strengthen the delicate features. The product is then mounted, covered in a glass dome, and shipped. The company recently introduced the manufacture of Xbox LIVE avatars for $50. Custom dolls: A company named That’s My Face can put your face on a doll or action figure or frame it for display. Customers upload one or two jpg images of a face and the company does the rest. That’s My Face uses a color 3D printer from Z Corp. to produce the likeness of you or someone else. Prices are from $29 for a small product to $129 for a 12-in. action figure. The market potential for products made by additive manufacturing is immeasurable. The preverbal tip of the iceberg is emerging. What we do not know is the enormity of the iceberg below the surface. Based on what I’m seeing, hearing and expecting, it could be very large. In effect, AM could very well become the most diverse, flexible and accessible manufacturing technology ever. DE Terry Wohlers is principal consultant and president of Wohlers Associates, Inc. and has authored nearly 400 books, magazine articles and technical papers on Additive Manufacturing. This column was published in the May/June 2011 issue of Time Compression.

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20 Hardwire

Aerial robot takes flight with 3D mouse Researchers leverage 3D mice and six degrees of freedom control for robot design and flight manipulation.

hen Danny Ellis was first introduced to CAD in high school with a course in Autodesk Inventor, little did he know he would someday be designing and flying aerial robots. As Ellis advanced into the engineering program at the University of Michigan, he was introduced to CATIA and 3Dconnexion 3D mice. “Between my freshman and sophomore years, I became irritated at how cumbersome it was to rotate a model using a traditional mouse in CATIA,” says Ellis. “I thought, I bet I could get a trackball mouse and program it so when I rotate the mouse, it rotates the part. I did a Google search to see if it had been done before, and that’s when I came across 3Dconnexion—it was exactly what I had been looking for. I ordered the SpaceNavigator right away and haven’t stopped using it since.” In 2009 during his senior year, Ellis began researching an aerial robot competition he could undertake at the university. Five days later, he started the Michigan Autonomous Aerial Vehicles (MAAV) team with 15 members ranging from freshman to graduate students studying Aerospace, Computer, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering. Within a week, the team kicked off their first quad-rotor design for the International Aerial Robotics Competition (IARC). At the end of the first year, MAAV successfully built two quad-rotor vehicles capable of manual flight. “The IARC challenge is to build a flying robot of any type you want that can fly through an unknown building completely on its own,” explains Ellis. “There can be no communication with the device—the robot follows signs, must avoid detection from security cameras, locate a room, retrieve a flash drive, drop off the decoy and get out in under 10 minutes. No one has completed the mission yet, but we are one of the better teams competing.” January/February | 2012

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When Ellis started the team, he wanted to get a 3Dconnexion 3D mouse for everyone. “It makes modeling CAD designs so much faster and easier,” says Ellis. In addition, the team quickly realized trying to fly the quad-rotor with a standard joystick didn’t mimic the movements very well and wasn’t intuitive enough for the user, while a 3D mouse could mimic the exact movement of the robot. “We used the 3Dconnexion SDK to develop a driver to control the quad-rotor with the SpaceExplorer. It quickly allowed us to control pitch and roll, zoom control height, and rotation control yaw,” says Ellis. “In addition, the SpaceExplorer’s Intelligent Function Keys control other commands such as on/off and camera control. It’s much more intuitive to fly with the 3D mouse.” Today, Ellis is still the head of the MAAV team, while also completing two masters in Aerospace Engineering and Robotics. He continues to use CATIA for all of his designing, both for the team and his class projects. He also works at a student lab training other students involved in competitions in CAD modeling and machining, and 3D mice are integral to his training efforts. “CATIA is a sophisticated and powerful application, but it takes time to learn how to interact with the model,” says Ellis. “This can be a barrier for people, especially if they’ve never used any CAD software before. 3Dconnexion 3D mice make training new students much easier, helping them visualize how to move and rotate the model. Once they get that, it’s pretty much universal navigation across all CAD systems.” Ellis currently uses the SpacePilot PRO and is a big fan of the Intelligent Function Keys, as they allow him to use the most frequently used commands without ever needing to touch the keyboard. And, if Ellis goes into the lab and doesn’t have a 3D mouse with him? “It’s really tedious,” he says. “It takes me twice as long to do anything without a 3D mouse. Really, I couldn’t live without it.” DE www.3dconnexion.com

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Return of the Airship Long ignored buoyant aircraft are making a comeback as the need to ship cargo to remote locations intensiﬁes. By Mike McLeod

xcept for the occasional sighting at a Super Bowl half-time, buoyant aircraft (better known as blimps) have been out of sight and out of vogue in aerospace circles for nearly a century. Images of the Hindenburg crash of 1937 grounded future airship development and continue to haunt those who strive to commercialize the flying machines. Now, after a decade of steadily rising fuel costs and the hunt for high-priced resources moves inexorably farther into remote, hard-to-reach locations, interest in airships has experienced a renaissance. While still considered somewhat of a “fringe” mode of transport, proponents say the economic tipping point in favor of modern heavy-lift airships—capable of ferrying 50 tons or more—is only few years away. “We have more demand for more things moving by air than ever before,” says Dr. Prentice, a professor of supply chain management at the I.H. Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba. “But we also have more places in the world we want to get to that don’t have infrastructure; 70 percent of Canada’s land mass, for example, has no roads.” Where the Roads End An outspoken supporter of airships for more than a decade, Prentice points to the fact that approximately 30,000 Manitobans in remote communities depend the annual construction of 2,200 kilometers of winter ice roads for critical supplies. If that construction is delayed, due to a short winter, supplies have to flown in, driving the cost of goods to two or three times their market price. At the same time, the expense of permanent roads, he says, is enormous and is money better spent elsewhere. “Building all-weather gravel roads in northern Manitoba costs $1 million per kilometer,” Prentice says. “It can be done, but when you have Muskeg, permafrost, rock outcrops and so on, it just isn’t economic. So what’s left?” More than an advocate, Dr. Prentice is also president and CEO of Buoyant Aircraft Systems International (BASI) with partner and BASI Chief Science Officer Dale George. In December 2011, the pair unveiled their 24-metre long Giizhigo-Misameg January/February | 2012

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(which means Sky Whale in Oji-Cree) airship at the University of Manitoba. The relatively small-scale blimp will be used for research to test the vessel’s ballast exchange, electrical propulsion and fuel cells under cold weather conditions. Once proven, the intent is to build much larger airships to service resource operations in Northern Canada as well as remote communities. “Mining will be the first big markets for airships,” says Prentice. “The problem with this type of transport, given the value of the equipment and the number of cycles you have to make during a year to pay for it, is that your market length is in the 250 to 300 mile range. We have many markets like that in Canada. All you have to do is look at a map and see where the roads and rail lines end.” Combat to Cargo As with many advances in aerospace technology, interest in modern airship initially took off with the military. In fact, in last six years, the various branches of the U.S. armed forces have invested more than $1.13 billion in four airship programs. The largest deal has been the $517-million contract signed by the U.S. Army with Northrop Grumman in June 2010 to buy at least three airships. Destined for surveillance duty in Afghanistan, the US Army’s long-endurance multi-intelligence vehicle (LEMV) will be designed and built by Northrop partner, Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) of the U.K. Like BASI, the Bedfordshire-based airship company is also eyeing the cargo transport market. In August 2011, HAV signed a preliminary agreement with Yellowknife’s Discovery Air— Canada’s second largest aircraft operator—to design and develop a potential fleet of commercial hybrid airships to transport supplies to Canada’s north. Both companies hope to reach a final design soon and see delivery of the first of several 50-ton capacity HAV 366 hybrid airships begin by 2015. For Stephen “Fig” Newton, B.Eng., director of business development at Discovery Air, the business case for airships is an obvious one. “You can pretty much do anything with these vehicles,” he says. “You can land on water, snow or ice. You can turn it inside its own body length; you can take off fully loaded within four body lengths; and you can pick up vertically 40 percent of its maximum payload. So it has all the benefits of a helicopter or fixed-wing with very few of the downsides of any of them.” www.design-engineering.com

12-02-07 2:12 PM

23 Toronto’s SolarShip is in development of a solar-powered hybrid airship—intended to ferry critical cargo to remote locations—that combines the lift capacity of a blimp with the flight properties of a plane.

Rise of the Hybrid Still, many are sceptical of airships. One of the main reasons is that the airship’s biggest advantage (i.e. “free” vertical lift) is also its biggest design headache, especially for heavy cargo applications. After all, what happens when a huge airship, filled with enough helium to equalize the weight of 50-tons, loses its cargo? Traditionally, dealing with buoyancy has required ground crews, mooring lines and the delicate balance of ballast management. Yet Prentice says, modern airships are a world away from their predecessors. BASI’s Sky Whale handles the buoyancy problem by compressing the helium during landing and cargo unloading. The dense gas then acts as ballast while atmospheric air is pumped into ballonets to retain the envelope’s shape. After unloading, the helium is pumped back in for the trip back. Hybrid Air Vehicles tackles the problem from a different approach. It’s HAV 366 vehicle is a hybrid airship and not subject to many of the same challenges of a traditional blimp, say its creators. Heavier than air, hybrids gain lift by a combination of three forces. Helium assists with take-off and flight, but nearly half the vessel’s lift comes from the aerodynamic shape of its envelope. In addition, lift off, landing and sustained hover are further assisted by vectored thrust nacelles at the envelope’s aft and front quarters. As a result, heavier-than-air hybrids require

Hybrid Air Vehicle’s HAV 366 heavy lift hybrid airship, say its creators, will economically transport 50-ton loads to Canada’s remotest locations.

less volume to lift heavy loads than a comparable dirigible. “The other crucial element is HAV’s air cushion landing system that blows air toward the ground,” says Andy Barton, HAV’s chief designer for heavy cargo airships. “The air cushion system, paired with the vectored thrust, makes sure you have a gentle landing.” “That airflow is also reversible,” he adds. “So once you have landed, the direction of the air flow is sucking you to the ground and can cope with significant unevenness. That also allows 30 tons to be removed immediately, while the ship is refueling. Once that’s done, the rest of the cargo can be taken off.” While relatively slow, Barton says the HAV 366’s 2400-hp Pratt & Whitney Canada gas turbine engines will produce a typical cruising speed 80 knots fully loaded with bursts up to 110 knots. www.design-engineering.com

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In addition, the vessel’s considerable size (109m x 55.7m x 32.7m) and shape bolster its stability in rough weather. “We’re okay in winds up to 80 knots, and we can do ground handling in winds up to 50 knots without masting up,” Barton says. “Due to the airship’s cross section, the impact of cross winds is less than for the traditional blimp shape. And since we are heavier and we have some aerodynamic trim on the design, we have better handling properties.” Sustainable Flight Many of the design challenges have been overcome, but the real obstacles holding airship development back aren’t technical but economic, says Jay Godsall, founder and CEO of Toronto-based Solar Ship. The problem, he says, is that the cost to develop a heavy-lift airship hovers around $1 million per ton of lift, making it difficult to find investors willing to fund a vessel large enough (20 or more tons of lift) to be economically viable— especially when a technology has yet to be proven. Of course, the only way to prove it is to make the initial investment. “With airships, there is no entrepreneurial first step where you raise a bit of money, get a little first customer and then incrementally grow. This is an immediate big play,” he says. “The only way around that, is if you figure how to make a smaller airship and make it useful to a customer.” That’s where Solar Ship is looking to position itself. The company is currently developing a unique hybrid concept designed to ferry medical supplies and other cargo to remote locations and areas in need of disaster relief. “If you trying to get to a place like Haiti after the earthquake, when you couldn’t get emergency supplies in for eight and a half days, then you don’t need carry 20 tons,” he says. “A ton of critical cargo into Haiti in eight and half hours would have saved a lot of lives.” Like the HAV hybrid, Solar Ships’ aircraft is heavierthan-air and, as such, gains 60 percent of its lift from its delta-wing design. This allows the airship to take off, land and pilot more like a conventional plane and is therefore more manoeuvrable and resistant to wind conditions. At the same time, helium increases cargo carrying capacity and cuts the space needed to take-off and land down to 50 to 100 meters. Most strikingly, the hybrid’s large, inflated wing provides ample surface area for the solar panels that power its engines. “Not having to burn fossil fuels, in certain parts of the world, is really valuable thing,” Godsall says. “For Canada, it makes sense for us to run a hybrid fuel system. But in regions of the Congo, the Amazon or Indonesia, they don’t have fuel at any price.” Although the need for cargo transport to remote locations is growing, the fact remains that many have tried to commercialize airships before without success. Still, proponents say economic pressures and technological advancements have reached a point that the age of the airship is inevitable. “Technology without demand is just a curiosity, but the demand is there,” says Prentice. “Soon, we are going to see airships flying in the U.S. military. Once that happens, people will see opportunities for profit, and the flood gates will open.” DE January/February | 2012

12-02-07 2:12 PM

AutomationInsight

All-in-One Automation Omron’s Machine Automation Controller integrates multiple controllers while maintaining high performance. By Mike McLeod

n November, Omron Industrial Automation announced what the company billed as a new category in automation control, the Machine Automation Controller (MAC). While similar to established categories (e.g. PLC, PAC and Industrial PC), the company says the MAC incorporates aspects of each but combines and coordinates the various functions to create an architecture unmatched in the industry. To fill this newly created category, Omron unveiled its Sysmac NJ-Series MAC, a high-end controller that integrates and synchronizes motion, logic and vision in one unit. Like a PLC, the NJ-Series is “hardened” for industrial environments but houses a fanless processor at its core like an Industrial PC. Comparatively, says Omron commercial engineer for PLCs and IO, Johnston Hall, the NJ-Series MAC is most like an enhanced version of the Programmable Automation Controller (PAC); the MAC handles the same functions but can coordinate motion, logic and vision synchronously and at an exceptionally high speed. “With a PAC, you add software to a controller for all the different functions, but the different software still has to ‘talk’ to each other and, therefore, aren’t really synchronized,” he says. “With the MAC, the three processes are unified and synchronized; that way there is no time loss.” According to Omron, the NJ-Series updates motion, network and user application updates in the same scan to ensure synchronicity. In addition, it handles more axes (16, 32 or 64) than typical controllers but its response time remains very fast—1ms for applications up to 32 axes and 2ms for 64 axes. Part of that speed is due to the NJ-Series’ hardware. The controller runs a 1.66 MHz dual core Intel Atom processor running an embedded real time operating system (RTOS) in non-volatile RAM. Added to that, the MAC leverages the speed and determinism of the EtherCAT protocol. While the industrial Ethernet protocol Omron’s NJ-Series Machine Automation Controller (MAC) combines logic, motion, I/O and vision with EtherCAT to create a high-end, all-in-one controller. January/February | 2012

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transmits standard 802.3 Ethernet frames, it adds a unique data Like its hardware packet that EtherCAT compatible counterpart, Sysmac Studio devices (up to 192 nodes) read and combines an IDE with inject, on the fly. In addition, a slave configuration, monitoring clock in each node allows the mas- and simulation. ter controller to use the timestamp of income and returning packets to determine propagation delay offset and thereby ensure accurate synchronization between devices with less than 1 microsecond jitter. To communicate less time sensitive data, the Omron’s MAC also “speaks” the popular EtherNet/IP protocol, facilitating remote access; interface with HMIs and SCADA software; and tie the controller into the larger peer-to-peer network. EtherNet/IP also serves as the communication conduit to the last piece of Omron’s MAC puzzle: Sysmac Studio, the company’s software that serves as an IDE programming environment as well as for configuration, simulation and monitoring. Compliant with the IEC 61131-3 standard, Sysmac Studio supports ladder logic, structured text and function block programming languages. The package also includes a CAM editor for programming of motion profiles and a 3D sequence and motion simulation environment to assist debugging. “Customers told us they were having trouble integrating the three technologies as well as maintaining machines because there were too many software packages and too many cables,” Hall says. “Now, with the MAC, a user can program, back up and tune from a single point.” DE www.omron.com www.design-engineering.com

12-02-07 10:37 AM

DMR_E

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8/15/2011 12:43:40 PM 12-02-07 10:37 AM

26 PowerTransmission

Fly Me

To The Moon

Manned Or Not, This Lunar Project Has A Prototype

Manned or not, this lunar project has a prototype. By Larry Hansen

hen NASA Langley Research Center hired Honeybee Robotics Spacecraft Mechanisms Corporation to develop a totally mechanical tool changer, Honeybee was ready. The tool changer was for the end of what Langley’s Lunar Surface Manipulation System (LSMS) team describes as a robot that could unload landers. Then, after the landers were unloaded, it could, in addition to doing base assembly, mate with tools to take science experiments. This robot could be likened to a crane but with more dexterity. The crane was designed to work remotely so that it could be used on an unmanned mission without human interaction. It’s completely autonomous. That’s one of the driving factors. And the tool changer does have other applications if they decide they want to use it on Mars or even in outer space for a robotic arm and end effectors. Since Honeybee has been developing harsh-environment, mission-critical end-effectors for over 25 years and has worked on the equipment for other space missions, they were specially suited to tackle this challenge. Making It Work Basically, Honeybee was given an envelope—a footprint to stay within—and all the requirements for load ratings and misalignment allowances. Lee Carlson, a Systems Engineer who was part of the Honeybee team, describes the project. “The crane might be sitting on the lander deck or on the lunar surface and would be driven from quite a distance away from the tool to be mated to; this required designing for large misalignment allowances … this was our first design challenge,” he says. “The end of the crane and target tool could be misaligned by as much as a couple inches in any direction with up to 20 degrees angular misalignment when attempting a mate.” But, Carlson adds, there were other considerations too. “The tool changer had to be capable of carrying around 1000 lbs. so [the tool changer] had to be very robust,” he says. “Also, since this was a lunar project, it has to be tolerant to moon dust. These two design criteria required special seals to protect large roller bearings. If this design was for space, it becomes considerably simpler. All of the loads would be reduced and dust is no longer an issue. But the Moon is a very harsh environment and lunar dust is a major concern when designing for missions there.” January/February | 2012

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Top isometric view of connector within enclosure.

The bottom view of Honeybee’s LSMS connector extended.

When NASA had an ‘afterthought’, Honeybee engineers had a real challenge. The original assignment called for ‘dummy’ tools requiring no power. The crane would do all the work. Tools would range from a fork lift attachment, a shovel or scoop for acquiring surface samples or digging, or even a bucket for lifting human passengers. Then NASA decided it wanted the capability of attaching an electronic or electromechanical tool to the end of the crane. Now the tool changer would have to provide an electrical connection as well. Solving this problem fell to Carlson. “The contract was expanded to add an electrical connector to the existing mechanical connector,” he says. “You’d have a power source on the LSMS, on the crane itself. Your tools could then be powered. So your tools capabilities could expand into the realm of cameras or tools with cameras on them or even a light jackhammer.” However, they had not left space to accommodate an electriwww.design-engineering.com

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PowerTransmission cal connector because it was not a part of the original contract and the budget did not allow for starting from scratch. The Crucial Ten Square Inches Carlson had to work within the constraints of the current design because NASA did not want a redesign of the whole tool changer. They just wanted to add an electrical connector to it without increasing the current envelope. He only had roughly two and a half by four inches of free space to incorporate the male side of the new autonomous connector. The connector has to mate itself to a female connector mounted on the tool. “We make small stuff all the time and if there were more space, there are many different ways that I could have designed it,” Carlson says. “This is, probably, the most compact I’ve ever had to make anything.” Honeybee designed both the male and female sides of the connector. The female side had to be inexpensive and easy to create because each tool would have to have its own female connector versus a single male connector attached to the crane. The female connector has no moving parts but is slightly compliant. The male connector has all the moving parts. It is cylindrical and populated with eleven 1/16-inch diameter aluminum

www.design-engineering.com

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CAD rendering of extended male connector (without enclosure). Mini-guide appears white.

pins which are plated with gold over nickel configured in a standard MIL/Spec pattern. The connector rides on compact slides—miniature guides called SEBS made by NB Corporation. The top faces of the two glides are facing each other and Honeybee’s components are in between the two glides - supporting this connector. This configuration reduces the moment loads on the slides. Precise Movements Lee Carlson describes how it works. “We actually used a total of six slides within the space—three on each side. The slides ride on each other in the manner of drawer slides that are

January/February | 2012

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| TS11-03USA |

28 PowerTransmission stacked to extend the distance they can open a drawer,” he says. “Our configuration achieves an extension of the movement equal, approximately, to the length of three slides. So instead of a half-inch stroke, we could get an inch and a half stroke—within a very, very small footprint. Low mass, low load and very low profi le were all required for this application.” Carlson says that the reason that they chose these particular guides was that they were some of the smallest slides he could find. His one caveat was that he wanted to work with one of the slide suppliers that Honeybee had worked with before—not take chances on a new supplier. It also had to be a guide that, even though this was a prototype, was completely made of stainless steel without any plastics. Plastics are generally avoided unless they are specially chosen and approved. As for lunar dust tolerance, the whole electrical connector assemblage will be sealed in a bellows to protect it from the harsh lunar regolith. Honeybee was able to choose from the widest selection of miniature linear slide guides on the market. The standard SEBS guides major advantage is that they have a standard radial clearance that is twice as accurate as other standard miniature guides. Most manufactures do not claim that their preload eliminates all clearance. Their standards are plus to minus, which allows gaps, i.e. clearance, to exist. Minus

The NB Corporation Mini SEBS is one of the smallest guides on the market.

means there is some preload so there’s no gap. NB’s are from zero to minus as a standard, making for greater accuracy because there is no clearance. In other words a negative clearance means the ball is larger than the space adding more pressure and greater rigidity. This increased rigidity is desirable in high precision applications. NB’s standard fabrication requires more control in the assembly and manufacturing process in order to adhere to this higher quality standard. As Honeybee waits to complete assembly and testing with the LSMS, they look forward to the future when, hopefully, the project will make its way to the Moon—the fi nal test of all. DE www.honeybeerobotics.com

Larry Hansen is a director and the general sales manager for NB Corporation of America

January/February | 2012

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| TS11-03USA |

TwinSAFE: Machine Safety Simpliﬁed. Combine safety PLC Terminals, safety I/O and standard I/O on one EtherCAT network.

www.beckhoff.ca/TwinSAFE TwinSAFE from Beckhoff: from I/O to drives it's the universal and flexible safety system. TwinSAFE I/O for the EtherCAT Terminal system makes optimum use of the exceptional performance offered by EtherCAT: Compact: Safety PLC in a 12 mm terminal block Powerful: up to 128 safety devices per Safety PLC Versatile: integrated function blocks for emergency stop, protective door, two-hand control Modular: standard and safety I/Os integrated in a single system Flexible: “fieldbus-neutral” communication, eliminates dedicated safety networks Certified: solution up to SIL 3 according to IEC 61508, EN 954 Cat. 4 and DIN EN ISO 13849 PLe (approved for use throughout North America)

Safety inputs

Safety PLC

IPC I/O Motion Automation

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Standard PLC

Safety outputs

Safety Drives

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30 IdeaGenerator Motion Control Multi-Bus Servo Drive Kollmorgen announced that its AKD servo drive now supports the functionality of the base analog drive, indexing drive, CANopen drive and EtherCAT drive. In addition, the drive supports a variety of feedback devices and Ethernet motion buses including Smart Feedback Devices (SFD), Endat, BiSS, Analog Sine/ Cos encoders, incremental encoders, HIPERFACE and resolvers. In addition to EtherCAT and CANopen motion buses, the AKD supports SynqNet, PROFINET, EtherNet/IP and Modbus/TCP. The drive is rated for operation in ambient temperatures ranging from 0°C to 40°C (up to 55°C with de-rating), and boast a MTBF of nearly 660,000 hours. www.kollmorgen.com

Wi-Fi Industrial Ethernet Modem Weidmuller has introduced its WI-MOD-E-G wireless Ethernet appliance, a 2.4Ghz, Wi-Fi industrial Ethernet device designed for process/automation applications connecting to PLCs, DCS/SCADA, data loggers or field instruments with an RS232/485 or Ethernet port/interface. Built around the 802.11b/g standard, the device’s throughput scales up to 108Mbps and features 400mW of transmit power. The unit can operate as a Wi-Fi router/bridge, access point/ client and serial server (RS232/485). By attaching an I/O expansion unit, a user can send or receive up to 16 digital or 8 analog signals and Ethernet (Wi-Fi) at the same time. For security, the unit features WEP and WPA2 PSK encryption, MAC address filtering, IP filtering, password login and white/black list authentication. www.weidmuller.com

Ethernet Switches WAGO Corporation announced that its 852 Series Ethernet Switch family now features two wide temperature models for operation between -40°C to +70 °C. The mid-range, 8-port unmanaged 852-103 Ethernet Switch features a redundant power supply and a 9V-48V supply voltage range. A top-mounted DIP Switch sets an alarm relay to monitor loss of 24 VDC or port status (selectable by port). Beyond eight 100BASE-TX ports, the 852-103 provides two 100BASE-FX SFP ports for fiber optic cables. The 7-port 852-104 managed switch provides Xpress Ring and Jet Ring networking features. Xpress ring enables networks to recover from link failure within 50ms; Jet Ring provides redundant data-transmission routes during link failure/damage within 300ms. In addition, the 852-104 provides Web-based management, port configuration and data packet prioritization. www.wago.com

Motors Brushless PM Motor NovaTorque, Inc. introduced its Gen2.0 PremiumPlus+, 3-hp and 5-hp brushless permanent magnet motors with motor-only rated point efficiencies of 93 percent and 92 percent, the company says. In addition, the company says its patented flux-focusing stator and rotor hub geometry allows the motor to maintains this performance using an all-ferrite (versus rare earth) magnet design. NovaTorque PremiumPlus+ motors are packaged in standard NEMA frame sizes and mounting dimensions and are compatible with readily available variable frequency drives (VFDs) from most leading manufacturers. www.novatorque.com

Managed Ethernet Switch

Stepper Drive/Controller

AutomationDirect’s line of Stride Ethernet products now includes industrialgrade managed Ethernet switches, designed with redundant power inputs with surge and spike protection and auto-crossover. Built with aluminum housings, all models are designed for an operating temperature range of -40 to +75°C. The switches’ Real-Time Ring technology provides fast recovery of all the redundancy options on the switch. Most models feature multiple 10/100BaseT RJ45 Ethernet ports; additional models include ST or SC type fiber optic connections. Gigabit managed switches are also available, with 10/100/1000BaseT RJ45 ports and combination SFP ports that accept noise-immune fiber optic links. www.automationdirect.com

Tolomatic has added Ethernet connectivity to its ACS stepper drive/ controller. The component supports both Ethernet/IP and Modbus TCP, allowing connectivity to Allen Bradley and many other PLCs and HMIs. The ACS with Ethernet is capable of commanding motion with immediate move command or preconfigured moves for infinite position capability. Each move has configurable motion profile parameters (position, velocity, acceleration/deceleration, force) that are independent for each move. The Ethernet connectivity also provides additional status and diagnostic information to the control system for monitoring and fault recovery. The ACS comes with a starter kit that includes the configuration software and two setup manuals. www.tolomatic.com

January/February | 2012

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IdeaGenerator 31 Fluid Power Proportional Valve Clippard introduced its SCPV-1, a high-flow, stepper-controlled 2-way proportional valve. The valve features a bonded elastomeric seat and achieves 2 percent hysteresis, linearity of 2.5 percent of full scale and 2 ms reaction time. While a flow range of 0 to 300 slpm is standard, the valve is highly modifiable, the company says. This valve is designed for critical applications such as gas delivery, medical, analytical and industrial automation requiring high resolution, high flow and low hysteresis. www.clippard.com

Control Valves Rexroth introduced its ML-18, an energy efficient pressure compensated loadsensing control valve. In applications requiring up to 40 gpm (151 lpm) at 4,000 psi (276 bar), the ML-18 can reduce pressure drops as much as 50 percent versus the competitors, the company says. The valve’s monoblock design reduces the interface restrictions between sections. In addition, it features a dedicated tank coring for the highest flow section and uses backpressure valving for forced flow regenerating. The ML-18 architecture was developed so OEMs could choose electro-hydraulic as well as pilot operation for spool modulation. www.boschrexroth.ca

configurations in both carbon and stainless steel. The carbon steel offering now includes hose fittings for -8, -12 and -16 size hoses, while the new stainless steel offering covers -4 through -16 size hoses. www.eaton.com

Sensors Incremental Encoder Industrial Encoder has introduced its EncoderUNO, an incremental encoder that’s PPR (pulses/revolution) can be set by connecting it to a computer. The unit’s accompanying USB programming kit includes a USB cable and configuration software. According to the company, one programmable unit can replace multiple encoders previously required for a variety of equipment. OEMs can optimize performance when testing and prototyping new equipment without the added cost and inefficiency of stocking encoders with different revolutions. www.industrialencoder.ca

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Hydraulic Fittings Eaton Corporation has expanded its Everflex E-Series line of one-piece, crimptype hose fittings that increase operating pressures up to 33 percent, the company says. The fittings and the higher pressures have been validated on Eaton’s 2807, FC465, S-TW and SC-TW series hoses. The fittings are available in both male pipe and female 37º swivel end www.design-engineering.com

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Industrial Encoder Corporation Member of the GESgroup of companies

www.globalencoder.ca

22 Commerce Place St. Catharines ON, Canada L2R 6P7 Toll free 1-888-277-6205 Fax 1-866-278-1301 info@globalencoder.ca

January/February | 2012

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IdeaGenerator Hall Effect Precision Sensors API Technologies Corp. introduced a new output option for its Spectrum Sensors line of H009 Hall Effect Position Sensors. The new 4-20mA output option joins the existing H009 series with Analog, PWR and Serial output options. Hall Effect Position Sensors convert relative changes in a magnetic field into an electrical signal to provide position change information. The sensors are .875 inch in diameter with a .750-inch maximum length. They have a 12-bit resolution with a rotational life of over 100 million revolutions and feature an absolute linearity of +/- 0.1 percent at room ambient and +/- 0.3 percent at -40° to +125°C. www.apitech.com

Digital Multimeter Omega’s HHM8229 5-in-1 autorange digital multimeter offers temperature, RH, sound, light and digital multimeter features in an all-in-one device. It also features a large, backlight LCD display,

auto power off and an audible and visual illuminated warning for correct input jack connections. The HHM8229 can perform measurements of AC/DC voltage and current, resistance, frequency, duty, capacitance, as well as continuity and diode test. Designed for troubleshooting electrical circuitry and measuring temperature, sound and light in a typical industrial control room. www.omega.ca

Proximity Sensors Pepperl+Fuchs X-Series Pile Driver extended range inductive sensors are now available in 8mm diameter models. With barrel lengths down to 35mm, the miniature sensors deliver a 3mm sensing range. The sensor’s single-piece machined barrel is fully embeddable in stainless steel. X-Series sensors are also available in 12mm, 18mm and 30mm diameters to deliver sensing ranges of 5mm, 10mm or 15mm. X-Series Pile Driver’s can detect all metals, and its extended sensing field is designed for automotive

DesignSolutions Dust Collectors Full Line Literature Guide

This impressive guide outlines dozens of N.R. Murphy dust collectors, installations, capacities, styles and models. A must for any reference library. N.R. Murphy Limited has been in business over 65 years and has thousands of satisfied customers. “Dust Collectors are all we do; so get it done right the first time. Just Ask the Experts.” Contact: 4nodust@nrmurphyltd.com Visit us at: www. nrmurphy.com

OMEGA’s Thermocouple/Voltage Input USB Data Acquisition Module Omega’s new OM-DAQ-USB-2401 series of USB 2.0 full speed thermocouple/voltage input data acquisition modules are fully compatible with both USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 ports. This module is user programmable for type J, K, T, E, R, S, B, N thermocouples or voltage input and features 8 Differential or 16 Single-Ended Analog Inputs, 24 Bit Resolution with up to 1000 Samples/Sec throughput. This module is powered directly by USB port or an External DC Power Supply. Contact: info@omega.ca Visit us at: www.omega.ca

Clippard Quality Stainless Steel Cylinders Pneumatic cylinders feature polished I.D 304 stainless steel tubes for low friction. Available in 12 bore sizes with strokes to 40”. Precision-rolled construction, clear anodized machined aluminum heads, and rods ensure long life and performance. Roller-burnished rods • Interchangeable design • Long lasting seals • Replaceable rod seals • Long cycle life • 100% testing • Made in the USA with pride Clippard—The Preferred Cylinder! Contact: sales@clippard.com Visit us at: www.clippard.com/cylinders

To advertise your solution in this section call Alan Macpherson at 416.510.6756 January/February | 2012

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IdeaGenerator 33 manufacturing applications, as it enables reliable detection of irregularly shaped contours, the company says. Increased sensor-to-target distances also help eliminate contactrelated scuffing of “Class A” hood, door and trunk surfaces. The sensors are IP69k-rated to withstand high pressure washdown cleaning. www.pepperl-fuchs.com

Power Transmission Right Angle Gear Drive Zero-Max introduced its Crown gear drives, which feature heat-treated, AGMA Class 10 spiral bevel gears and non-magnetic stainless steel shafts. The gear drives also feature precision hardened and ground ball bearings handling speeds up to 2000 rpm in most operating environments. The drives are hand-shimmed and pre-lubricated during hand-

Advertisers Index Advertiser

Website

Aurora Bearing Co.

www.aurorabearing.com

Automation Direct

www.automationdirect.com

Baldor Electric Company

www.baldor.com

Baumer Electric Inc.

www.baumer.ca

Beckhoff Automation

www.beckhoff.ca

assembly, then enclosed in a heavy-duty anodized aluminum housing. Standard two and three way models are available with 1:1 and 2:1 speed ratios in shaft diameter combinations of 3/8, 1/2, 5/8 and 3/4 inch. www.zero-max.com

Adjustable Drive Nut Amacoil introduced its Model RS4 drive nut, which provides backlash-free linear motion. Changes to linear pitch can be accomplished by replacing the pitch wedges, which doesn’t require any other components, machinery or controls. The backlash-free linear motion provided by RS4 nuts is achieved by specially machined rolling ring bearings which are in constant single-point contact with the drive shaft, even during reversal. Available in eight sizes, Amacoil-Uhing RS4 rolling ring linear drive nuts can achieve linear speeds of up to 5 feet per second over distances of up to 13 feet. Axial thrust is up to 500 pounds and repeatable accuracy is to within +/- 0.0004 inches depending on the type of controls used. www.amacoil.com

PRODUCT DESIGNERS, CAD/MECHANICAL TECHNOLOGISTS,

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Clippard Instrument Laboratory www.clippard.com

Daemar Inc.

www.daemarinc.com

Degelman Industries Ltd.

www.degelman.com

Encoder Products

www.encoder.com

Degelman is looking for product designers, mechanical engineers, industrial designers and/or mechanical technologists for its modern Research and Development Department. Degelman designs and manufactures premium equipment respected by farmers for

Great West Life

50 years. The agricultural industry is booming and we cannot keep up with demand

www.brainshark.com/grs/mygroupadvantage

for new products and improving existing products. We are a mid-sized family owned

Industrial Encoder Corp.

www.globalencoder.ca

company and we are looking for sharp multi-tasking people that are down to earth,

Master Bond Inc.

www.masterbond.com

Myostat Motion Control Inc.

www.myostat.ca

Nord Gear Ltd.

www.nord.com

Novotechnik

www.novotechnik.com/rsm

Omega Engineering Inc.

www.omega.ca

Parker Hannifin Corp.

www.parker.com

Proto Labs Inc.

www.protolabs.com

17 16

14,15 13

RotoPrecision Inc.

www.rotoprecision.ca

Schaeffler Canada Inc.

www.ina.com

Schunk Canada

www.ca.schunk.com

Siemens Canada

www.siemens.ca/sinamics

Siemens PLM

www.plm.automation.siemens.com

www.design-engineering.com

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have excellent people skills, mechanically inclined and know their way around agricultural equipment. Our current modelling software is SolidWorks. This is a great opportunity to work in an informal team environment with a great degree of design latitude. If you know you have the skills, the talent, the personality AND have Canadian citizenship, send in your resume with samples of your work to designteam@degelman.com. We thank all applicants for their consideration, but due to the volume of applicants we will only contact those selected for an interview.

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| 2012 January/February 12-02-02 9:32 AM

12-02-07 10:39 AM

CanadianInnovator

Bridging the Gap Modular bridge system, Make-A-Bridge, poised to expand into markets outside of Canada. By Treena Hein

or many innovators, inspiration dawns gradually after the creator perceives a need to be met. For Montreal inventor, Aleandre de la Chevrotière, that “moment” of inspiration came after several years of working in shipyards retrofitting NATO destroyers, “I was speaking with a colleague about long gangways,” explains de la Chevrotière. “Such long bridges are extremely costly to ship and transport on roads. Also, there’s a long delay to fill orders. I saw a need for modular, prefabricated and compact structures that are light, quick-to-install, yet can bear a lot of weight.” The result was Make-ABridge, a Meccano-like, aluminum bridge system that’s interlocking-component design makes them easily transportable, highly customizable and exceptionally versatile. Most compellingly, de la Chevrotière says the modular bridge system retains all the structural integrity of conventional wielded bridges, but require a fraction of the time and labour to con- The modular Make-A-Bridge, by struct. Quebec’s MAADI Group, features “At the site, components weldless construction and are easily unloaded (the Meccano-like assembly. maximum weight of one component is 45 kg), assembled and installed with simple tools and minimal labour, which saves a lot of money,” he says, adding that modules are designed to assemble into loadbearing spans of up to 60 feet. To market and manufacture his creation, de la Chevrotière founded MAADI Group, (Most Advanced Aluminum Design & Inspection) in Montreal in 2005, following his first year of a Masters in mechanical engineering. “The topic of my thesis was the weld-free moment-resisting joint, which is the key component in our structures,” he says. “Eliminating welds means each Make-A-Bridge is completely free of thermally-affected zones, which results in excellent structural integrity.” Creating the weld-free joints, however, required sorting out several challenges, not least of which was addressing aluminum or steel structural codes that didn’t address the product’s unique assembly technique. “Our process has a fastening device screwed January/February | 2012

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into the neutral axis of an element, with the medium consisting of a cast node,” de la Chevrotière explains. “The actual design code required having either a welded connection or a bolted connection, working in most cases in shear.” To validate their design and reassure a conservative civil engineering community, MAADI’s team ran hundreds of finite element analyses and dozens of destructive tests to optimize the connection nodes. “In terms of load and safety, we have been found code-compliant,” Alex notes. “There are many innovations, ours among them, that do not show up in the current codes, but they are allowed, as long as they’re proven to fulfill the design requirements.” They also sought a way to optimize the yield strength of aluminum alloy. The technology they developed—for which the company currently has three patents and a fourth filed—allows 100 percent of aluminum’s yield strength to be maintained. “It’s our weld-free concept that facilitates this, offering a yield strength comparable to construction that uses A36 steel,” he notes. For its innovative work, MAADI has won the Extrusion Technology Foundation’s 2008 Design Competition Award (architectural category), and the 2009 Regional Innovation Award for New Technology. The company also received funding from Quebec’s Center for Research and Development of Aluminum (CQRDA) to move from concept to manufacturing. In addition, MAADI has approached the Canadian military engineers to have some of their bridge designs tested. The first military version of Make-A-Bridge would allow three-ton vehicles. The world is changing, de la Chevrotière says, and demanding a reduced environmental footprint. “Aluminum designs will be reused for decades, retaining their full mechanical properties, while using only five percent of the energy required to originally produce the aluminum,” he notes. “It’s a material that offers us limitless design possibilities, and we are poised to share our bridge innovation with the world.” DE www.makeabridge.com www.design-engineering.com

12-02-07 12:08 PM

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