Machine design 2014

COMING TO THE FACTORY FLOOR: NETWORK MANAGEMENT p. 50 YOUR NEXT INDUSTRIAL CONTROLLER COULD BE A MOBILE APP p. 56 THE RISE OF ROBOTS FOR THE MASSES p. 60 JANUARY 16, 2014 machinedesign.com

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2014 Technology Forecast A Penton速 Publication

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JANUARY 16, 2014 | VOLUME 86, ISSUE 1

In This Issue 20

FEATURES 46

CFD KEEPS OPERATING ROOMS CLEAN Computer modeling helps engineers control airflow and limit the spread of infections in hospitals.

48

MANUFACTURING IN 2014 Manufacturers are generally upbeat about prospects for 2014. Technologies that include electric motors and motion-control equipment promise to do well in the coming months.

50

THE RISE OF THE INDUSTRIAL INTERNET Industrial networks are becoming complicated enough to demand special software able to help handle troubleshooting and keep connections healthy.

46

56

INDUSTRIAL CONTROLS GO MOBILE More and more machine and process controls are migrating to smartphones and tablets.

60

ROBOTS PRICED FOR THE MASSES Low-cost robots are an emerging breed of machines that execute modest tasks. Here we detail the technologies going into them.

NEWS 20

60

56

DEPARTMENTS REENGINEERING A MOVIE High-tech costumes and CGI bring the remake of Robocop alive.

ON MACHINEDESIGN.COM LETTERS WHAT’S INSIDE

4 10 14

Reinventing the wheel

COLUMNS 6 EDITORIAL The often-predicted decline of the U. S. 12

COMMENTARY No Experience Necessary

39

EDITORIAL Distribution Resource in MACHINE DESIGN

44

INTERVIEW The engineer’s role in component procurement — Bill Moore

PRODUCTS 70

NEW PRODUCTS

Conveyor motor in a drum

41

SENSOR SENSE Pulse-ranging technology

69

SOFTWARE REVIEW SolidWorks 2014

78

DATA FILES AD INDEX CLASSIFIEDS PUZZLES, MYTHS, AND CURIOSITIES

79 79 80

ON THE COVER: Layout and design by R.L.Rubenking Printed in U.S.A., Copyright © 2014. Penton Media, Inc. All rights reserved. MACHINE DESIGN (ISSN 0024-9114) is published monthly except for an extra issue in May, November, and December by Penton Media, Inc., 9800 Metcalf Ave., Overland Park, KS 66212.

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OEM Handbook and Supplier Directory, $50.00 plus tax. Prepaid subscription: Penton Media (MACHINE

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01.16.14

MACHINE DESIGN

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BASICS OF VARIABLESPEED DRIVES Electronic variable-speed drives (VSDs) adjust the speed and torque of ac motors by varying the frequency and voltage applied to the motor stator. This guide, sponsored by Baldor, reviews two control techniques – volts-per-Hertz scalar control and field-oriented control (FOC), and explains the difference between the two. Get a copy at machinedesign.com/motorsdrives/basics-electronic-variable-speed-drives-inductionmotors.

join us online EDITOR’S WEB PICKS

CONTEST RECOGNIZES INNOVATIVE DESIGNS The Vector award, sponsored by igus, recognizes unique and innovative energy-supply applications that use the company’s Energy Chain cable carriers and cables. Applications can highlight engineering advances in areas such as longer service life, higher speeds, cost savings, improved logistics, and resisting harsh environments. Entries are due by February 15 and the top prize is $6,333. Get more information and entry forms at www. vector-award.com/USA.

FLUID-POWER STANDARDS The National Fluid Power Assn. has released a series of new ISO standards and technical reports.

Topics include dimensions, data,

4

ENGINEERING TV:

SINGLECHIP DRIVE CONTROLLER At the 2013 SPS IPC Drives show in Nuremberg, Germany, Texas Instruments featured a highly integrated drive for supporting advanced motor control. The unit includes a highperformance CPU, industrial Ethernet and fieldbus communication options, and a digital-encoder interface for position feedback, all on a single chip: the upcoming Sitara AM4x processor. Learn more at www.engineeringtv.com/video/SingleChip-Drive-Controller-Us;SPS-IPC-Drives-2013. and requirements related to screw-in cartridge valves, screwto-connect quick-action couplings for general-purpose and ultrahigh-pressure applications, and ports and stud ends with ISO 228-1 threads and elastomer or metal-to-metal sealing.

Learn more at www.nfpa.com.

DRIVETUNING APP Schneider Electric (www. schneider-electric.com) has a new mobile app and iPad converter cable that lets users tune the Altivar 212 and S-Flex drives. The application contains simple menudriven parameters that walk users through the drive configuration process.

It also stores pertinent drive information and facilitates a standard drive configuration throughout a facility. It can be downloaded free from the Apple iTunes store.

01.16.14

MACHINE DESIGN

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Editorial LELAND TESCHLER | Editor

The oftenpredicted decline of the U. S.

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ur January forecast issue is a good place to review how previous forecasts have withstood the test of time. Perhaps the most notable of these concern the latest celebrated cause of U. S. decline: China.

Typical commentary is that of economic historian Robert Fogel who in 2010 predicted China would become a “superrich” country in 2040 with a gross domestic product “dwarfing that of the U. S.” It would be easier to accept such pronouncements if we hadn’t heard them before. Back in the 1960s, it was the Soviets who were destined to bury the U. S. with their economic output. Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Samuelson wrote a widely used textbook in which he predicted the Soviet national income would overtake that of the U. S. by 1997 at the latest. In later editions printed in the 1980s, he pushed the date back to 2012.

But by the late 1980s, Japan was the one to eat our lunch. The New York Times quoted Sony chairman Akio Morita in 1989 proclaiming: “The time will never again come when America will regain its strength in industry.” Japanese politician Shintaro Ishihara wrote a book around the same time, A Japan That Can Say No, in which he decreed, “there is no hope for the U. S.” Even some Americans bought this bunk.

Senator Paul Tsongas (D, Mass.) moaned in the early 1990s that “The cold war is over; Japan has won.”

The reality, of course, is that economic growth in China and Japan collapsed. By Y2K, Japanese growth was approximately zero and stayed at about 1% for the next 10 years. What is now Russia has a GDP that accounts for about 2% of world GDP, putting it on par with Spain’s, according to the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture.

That brings us back to China, the next country whose economic growth will supposedly doom the U. S. to third-world status. Josef Joffe, a Senior Fellow at Stanford University and publisher of a widely read German newspaper, points out that China has grown rapidly, but its growth rate is no surprise simply because it started from an extremely small base. It is easy to double your output when you don’t have much output, Joffe says. Growth becomes harder for economies as they become larger, and such growth pains are already emerging in China.

For example, China’s working-age population will peak in 2020 and then start declining. The U. N. predicts that by 2025 China will hold less than a fifth of the world’s population but almost a quarter of the world’s senior citizens.

And though Chinese productivity is rising, it can’t compensate for exponential wage gains there. China’s cost advantage in manufacturing may, thus, be coming to an end. Chinese wages and benefits have risen so fast that some predict Chinese manufacturing costs will match those in America by 2015.

Perhaps political commentator Charles Krauthammer put it best when he said, “If the Roman Empire had declined at (our) rate, you’d be reading this column in Latin.”

6

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JANUARY 16, 2014 EDITORIAL CONTENT DIRECTOR: LELAND TESCHLER leland.teschler@penton.com EXECUTIVE EDITOR: KENNETH J. KORANE ken.korane@penton.com SENIOR EDITORS: ELISABETH EITEL elisabeth.eitel@penton.com, STEPHEN J. MRAZ stephen.mraz@penton.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR: LINDSEY FRICK lindsey.frick@penton.com CONTENT PRODUCTION DIRECTOR: MICHAEL BROWNE michael.browne@penton.com PRODUCTION EDITOR: RICHARD GAWEL richard.gawel@penton.com PRODUCTION EDITOR: JEREMY COHEN jeremy.cohen@penton.com PRODUCTION EDITOR: DENISE GRECO denise.greco@penton.com ASSOCIATE CONTENT PRODUCER: ILIZA SOKOL iliza.sokol@penton.com INDUSTRY COVERAGE: AUTOMOTIVE, PACKAGING, MEDICAL STEPHEN J. MRAZ CAD/CAM, MANUFACTURING ELISABETH EITEL, LINDSEY FRICK FASTENING & JOINING, MATERIALS LINDSEY FRICK FLUID POWER KENNETH J. KORANE MECHANICAL ELISABETH EITEL, LINDSEY FRICK, KENNETH J. KORANE ART DEPARTMENT ART DIRECTOR: RANDALL L. RUBENKING randall.rubenking@penton.com CREATIVE DIRECTOR: DIMITRIOS BASTAS dimitrios.bastas@penton.com SENIOR ARTIST: JIM MILLER james.miller@penton.com GROUP DESIGN DIRECTOR: ANTHONY VITOLO tony.vitolo@penton.com PRODUCTION GROUP PRODUCTION DIRECTOR: CAREY SWEETEN carey.sweeten@penton.com PRODUCTION COORDINATOR: COURTNEY DENISON courtney.denison@penton.com AUDIENCE MARKETING AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR: BRENDA ROODE brenda.roode@penton.com AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT MANAGER: DEBBIE BRADY debbie.brady@penton.com ONLINE MARKETING SPECIALIST: DAN KRAFT dan.kraft@penton.com ONLINE ONLINE SALES & MARKETING MANAGER: VIRGINIA GOULDING virginia.goulding@penton.com COMMUNITY LEADER: RYAN MALEC ryan.malec@penton.com CLIENT SERVICES COORDINATOR: JOANN MARTIN joann.martin@penton.com SALES & MARKETING BRAND DIRECTOR: PAUL MILNAMOW T | 312.840.8462 paul.milnamow@penton.com REGIONAL SALES REPRESENTATIVES AZ, CA, ID, OR, NV, UT, WA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, ONTARIO: PAUL MILNAMOW, paul.milnamow@penton.com T | 312.840.8462 F | 913.514.3957 AL, AR, FL, GA, KS, LA, NM, MS, MO, NC, OK, SC, TX: FRANNY SINGLETON franny.singleton@penton.com T | 678.947.8563 F | 913.514.6884 CO, IA, KY, MN, MT, NE, ND, SD, TN, WI, WV, WY: PAUL MILNAMOW paul.milnamow@penton.com T | 312.840.8462 F | 913.514.3957 IL, IN, MI: MELINDA HURLEY melinda.hurley@penton.com T | 847.784.9825 F | 913.514.6625 DE, DC, MD, NJ, NY, OH, SC, PA, VA: BRANDY BISSELL brandy.bissell@penton.com T | 919.773.1875 F | 913.514.6357 CT, ME, NH, MA, RI, VT, QUEBEC: LIZ STOTT, liz.stott@penton.com T | 857.636.9737 F || 913.514.6914 INTERNATIONAL SALES REPRESENTATIVES UNITED KINGDOM, SCANDINAVIA, FRANCE, SPAIN, PORTUGAL: STUART PAYNE stuart.payne@husonmedia.com T | +44 0)1932 564999 F | +44 0)1932 564998 Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg: RODRIC LEERLING rodric.leerling@husonmedia.com T | 011.31.229.841882 M | 31.683.232625 Germany, Austria, and Switzerland: CHRISTIAN HOELSCHER, christian.hoelscher@husonmedia.com T | 011.49.89.95002778 F | 011.49.89.95002779 Italy: CESARE CASIRAGHI Casiraghi Pubblicitá Estera T | 011.390.31.261407 F | 011.390.31.261380 Tokyo, Japan: YOSHINORI IKEDA Pacific Business, Inc. T | 011.81.03.3661.6138 F | 011.81.03.3661.6139 DESIGN ENGINEERING & SOURCING GROUP VICE PRESIDENT & MARKET LEADER: BILL BAUMANN GROUP DIRECTOR OF EDITORIAL CONTENT: NANCY FRIEDRICH GROUP DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS: CHRISTINA CAVANO GROUP DIRECTOR OF MARKETING: JANE COOPER RESEARCH MANAGER: JULIE RITCHIE MARKETING & EVENTS SPECIALIST: ADRIAN PIAZZA PENTON MEDIA INC. CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER: DAVID KIESELSTEIN david.kieselstein@penton.com CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER: NICOLA ALLAIS nicola.allais@penton.com SENIOR VP, DESIGN ENGINEERING GROUP: BOB MACARTHUR bob.macarthur@penton.com 1166 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS, 10TH FLOOR NEW YORK, NY 10036 T | 212.204.4200 |

Electronic Design | Machine Design | Microwaves & RF | Medical Design | Source ESB | Hydraulics & Pneumatics | Global Purchasing | Distribution Resource | Power Electronic | Mobile Dev & Design | Defense Electronics | Auto Electronics | Electronic Design Europe | Engineering TV

01.16.14

MACHINE DESIGN

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Letters

BOOMERS REVENGE I do not know what industry Mr. Jones is in where he thinks he can “push” us boomers out of the way. (Bye-bye Boomers, Letters, Nov. 7). I am in oil and gas and this industry is starving for engineers.

There will be a large void created by the loss of my generation. The number of people in the U. S. pursuing engineering and science degrees is down and will not keep up with demand. So Mr. Jones will get his wish, but he may want to learn Mandarin or Hindustani in order to converse with upcoming leaders in the engineering fields. Americans are being left in the dust bins of time.

Ben Jezovnik I was insulted by Phil Jones’ comments concerning the quality of Baby Boom engineers. I was born in 1961 and that puts me at the end of the baby boom.

I started my engineering career at Bell Labs in 1981, so I had the privilege to work with Word War II, Korean War, and Vietnam-era vets (The Baby Boomers). All of these engineers designed devices and equipment using slide rules, look-up tables, and logarithms.

The engineers I have had problems with are what I call the “Trophy Generation.” They are the generation that always got a participation trophy for soccer, T-Ball, and such. They never learned how to deal with competition and the fact that life is not fair and you can’t always be the winner. These kids all expected to be promoted to Senior Engineer a few years after starting their careers. Many of them only studied engineering because that was where the jobs were, and then just wanted to get an MBA and climb the corporate ladder, not caring who they stepped on or stabbed in the back to do it. These youngsters don’t want to go into the plant or into the field and experience problems or challenges firsthand. They prefer to sit and look into a monitor and trust the model or FEA. Ed Bardella

10

BABY BOOMERS AND STATISTICS A letter writer ticked off several readers with his tirade against inept baby-boomer engineers. Being baby boomers themselves, and engineers, it’s easy to understand their discomfort. And the statistician who says engineers can’t handle statistics also rubbed some readers the wrong way.

STATS SPAT I’m a mechanical engineer with 40+ years of design experience, a Fellow in the American Society for Quality, and a Six Sigma black belt. I’ve also managed engineers for a number of years.

As an adjunct professor, I’ve taught statistics at the associate, undergraduate, and graduate levels to business and engineering students for a number of years. When I earned my engineering degree, no courses in statistics were offered at the undergrad level. But recognizing early on that statistics is mandatory for designing robust products, I set out to fill that void through self-study.

I can’t imagine how reliable products could be consistently created without engineers extensively using statistics.

Adjunct Professor Briggs’ statements (“Nonstatisticians Often Screw Up Statistics,” Nov. 7) that engineers should leave statistics to Ph.D.’s needs a response. Understandably, using statistics incorrectly is bad. And so are ineffective classes in statistics.

Professor Briggs’ proffered solution is to have engineers not study statistics and direct any problems only to those with a Ph.D. in the subject. I suggest he survey how many companies have or could afford hiring one. The answer to that survey would be approximately zero, so it’s as if he would effectively send us all back to the dark ages of avoiding investigation and consider-

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ing variation in parameters affecting quality. I believe we should all fear such a day.

Students of mine over the years have consistently indicated that statistics is both one of their more-difficult subjects due to its infrequent integration into other math and sciences, but also one of the most-valuable courses they take.

Instead of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, statistics professors teaching engineering students should get grounded in their theoretical and practical applications, teach the boundaries of proper use, and increase, not decrease the confidence of engineers in this powerful and important subject.

David E. Brown The classical statistics taught to me at Cornell have served me well over more than 20 years. Bowker and Lieberman’s Engineering Statistics is a standard reference book still on my desk. Briggs needs to get his nose out of the air.

David Leahy LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Please include your name, address, and daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for brevity and to focus on essential points.

Mail: Letters, MACHINE DESIGN, 1300 E. 9th St., Cleveland, OH 44114-1503, Fax: 216-621-8469 E-mail, Editorial: mdeditor@penton.com

01.16.14

MACHINE DESIGN

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E ^ŝůĞŶĐĞƌΠ ^ĞƌŝĞƐ DŽƚŽƌ &ĞĂƚƵƌĞƐ >Žǁ ŶŽŝƐĞ ůŽǁ ǀŝďƌĂƟŽŶ ŽŵƉĂĐƚ ƐŝnjĞ ,ŝŐŚ ƌĞůŝĂďŝůŝƚLJ >ŽŶŐ ůŝĨĞ ,ŝŐŚ ĞĸĐŝĞŶĐLJ ,ŝŐŚ ƐƉĞĞĚ ĐĂƉĂďŝůŝƚLJ

нϭ ϱϰϬ ϱϱϮ ϯϬϭϭ ဒϬϬ ϯϯϲ ϮϭϭϮ ;h^ ( ŵĐŐΛŵŽŽŐ*ĐŽŵ

ǁǁǁ ŵŽŽŐ ĐŽŵ ĐŽŵƉŽŶĞŶƚƐ

Commentary LINDSEY FRICK | Associate Editor lindsey.frick@penton.com

No Experience Necessary

S

omewhere on the planet, there’s an engineer who’s building something that’s going to make someone else’s job easier. Every minute, new and innovative technologies are being developed that make humans increasingly obsolete, and this is particularly true with tasks that involve a great deal of physical skill.

My favorite example of this trend is seen in the 1980 film Caddyshack.

The seemingly untalented, but very wealthy, Al Cvervik played by Rodney Dangerfield uses a robotic putter to sink the shot. He says the high-tech putter was given to him by Albert Einstein. “Nice man, nice man … made a fortune in physics.”

As costs of sensors and software drop, more unskilled and less-wealthy people can take the field. For instance, a marksman needs to consider a list of conditions to successfully hit a target. This includes gauging the wind, adjusting the scope, aiming correctly at the target, and then finally, pulling the trigger. Now, any unexperienced shooter using the TrackingPoint smart rifle can get the same result.

The gun is equipped with highly advanced sensors and a computer chip that lets even the most-inexperienced marksmen deliver a kill shot from up to a mile and a half away. The shooter simply shoulders the gun, looks through the scope, lines up the crosshairs on the target, and presses a button to lock in the target. Once locked, the computer completes its calculations. When the crosshairs turn from blue to red the only task left to do is pull the trigger.

The rifle scope is an extremely high-tech camera with powerful magnification capabilities. The rifle also includes range finders which automatically measure distance and other sensors that measure environmental conditions such as barometric pressure and temperature. The gun even considers

12

the type of ammunition being used. No more steadying your hand, controlling your breathing, or measuring the wind. Just point and shoot.

Another technology that reduces a complicated task to the level of a nudnik is Raytheon’s Advanced Warfighter Awareness for Real-time Engagement (AWARE) system. Imagine being in an unfamiliar place and having someone say, “Tell me where you are.” You’d look for street signs, businesses, house numbers; you might even pull out your smartphone and give them your exact location. With AWARE, that isn’t necessary, at least not for the military for which the technology was strictly developed.

With AWARE, a soldier simply puts on a helmet equipped with a monocle, looks at the target/location they are trying to mark, and hits a button. The computer then calculates the exact coordinates and relays them to a pilot in the air or a command center for further use.

From robotics and software, to finance and meteorology, the range of fields implementing smart systems is rapidly expanding. While some people stand by the fact that this type of technology can’t replace humans entirely, let’s be honest. Whatever we can do, a computer or robot can probably do better.

01.16.14

MACHINE DESIGN

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LabVIEW system design software offers ultimate flexibility through FPGA programming, simplifies code reuse, and helps you program the way you think–graphically.

What’s Inside

Reinventing the wheel ENGINEERS AT MICHELIN (www.michelin.

com), headquartered in France, have designed and built a single unit, the Tweel, which can replace the wheels on skid-steer vehicles used in construction, landscaping, and agriculture. It needs no air pressure, so there’s no valve assembly, and the tire and wheel are combined in one component.

It consists of a shear beam wrapped into a circle to carry the tread and is connected to a rigid, metal hub by deformable polyurethane spokes.

The Tweel has been proven to let skid-steer operators drive faster with more stability and less driver fatigue, improving productivity and safety. The tread and consistent contact patch or footprint gives the Tweel two to three times the operational life of traditional pneumatic tires with similar tread depths. The lack of air inside the Tweel eliminates flats and the need for maintenance checks for proper inflation pressure.

The current skid-steer Tweel can carry 4,400 lb at 9.3 mph, and measures 12.1-in. wide with a 32.7-in. diameter. The contact area is 61.4 in2.

Deep, open tread provides good cleaning and traction

Steel belts provide lateral stiffness and limit damage from impacts and penetrations

Strong, poly-resin spokes carry the load and damp the ride, creating an energy transfer that reduces bounce.

Universal eight-hole steel hub bolts onto all standard skid-steer machines.

Shear beam

Belts and design create a shear beam, which transmits load to a consistently uniform contact path

Rigid hub

Thin deformable spokes

Edited by Stephen Mraz

14

01.16.14

MACHINE DESIGN

DieQua offers more gearboxes plus application experience to help select the best one for your needs

Helical Gearmotors s (0 #APACITY s -OTORIZED OR !DAPTERS s 2IGHT !NGLE OR )NLINE s 3HAFT -OUNT $ESIGNS s -ULTI 3TAGE 2ATIOS s -ODULAR $ESIGN

Worm Reducers s SIZES MM #$ s &RET FREE #ONNECTION s .%-! OR )%# !DAPTERS s #OUPLING )NPUT s !LUMINUM (OUSINGS s 3IDE 7ORM 3UPPORT

Planetary Gearheads

What’s Inside

Conveyor motor in a drum THE DRUM MOTOR from Van Der Graaf, Shelby Township, Mich. (www.vandergraaf. com), is a one-component conveyor drive with the ac-induction motor, gear drive, and all moving parts enclosed in a rugged drum. The motor and gears operate in a sealed oil bath, ensuring proper lubrication. Heat from the motor and gears also gets transferred through the oil to the drum where it is dissipated by the moving conveyor belt.

There are no external components, reducing maintenance and improving safety.

The motor and gearbox are also sealed in the drum, so they can operate in extremely harsh environments. The drum also protects the equipment from high-pressure detergent and water washdowns. The single-unit design saves space as well.

Bolt-on flanges make it easy to dismantle or assemble

Inverted-duty electric motor

Cast-iron junction box rotates 180° to accommodate incoming power.

s 0RECISION OR %CONOMY s )NLINE OR 2IGHT !NGLE s MM &RAMES s ,OW "ACKLASH s AND 3TAGE 2ATIOS s ,UBRICATED FOR ,IFE

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Two double-lipped seals running on a hardened stainless-steel bushing ensure long seal life.

Alloy gears are machined and honed to AGMA/DIN 6 for quiet operation

Machined helical-convex crowned drum improves tracking and extends belt life

Standard drum motors are available in mild or stainless steel, in nine diameter sizes ranging from 4 to 20 in. The gear housing and motor flanges are cast iron, which lets belt tension be much greater than on conveyor drives with motorized pulleys.

Electric motors are available in voltages and frequency suitable for most applications. The motor range in size from 0.11 to 200 hp, with corresponding belt speeds from 3 to 2,000 fpm. Extreme-duty motors are also available in sizes from 20 to 31.5 in. in diameter, and from 15 to 200 hp. The motors can be specified with an optional electromagnetic brake (for units 4.5 to 16 in. in diameter). The brake can withstand duty cycles of up to 40 stops/min.

To see the Drum motor in action and hear more about its performance and construction, go to Engineering TV: http://tinyurl.com/lhufqgn.

Edited by Stephen Mraz

www.diequa.com 630-980-1133

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01.16.14

MACHINE DESIGN

Raising the bar on end-to-end conveyor solutions Featuring SIMOGEAR gear motors and SINAMICS drives usa.siemens.com/modex-md

With new additions in its integrated drive technology, Siemens gives you new ways to save time and money while increasing the efficiency of your conveyor operations and equipment.

At Modex 2014, we will highlight our new SIMOGEAR gear motors and low-voltage SINAMICS drives. Highly efficient designs and superior power density allow these gear motors and drives to satisfy industrial system demands for quality, flexibility, and efficiency.

Scan the QR-code to learn more about gear motors and low-voltage drives.

You can also link to our Modex website to obtain a free show pass and preview new SIMOGEAR gear motors and SINAMICS drives from Siemens prior to seeing them in person at booth #8523.

We look forward to welcoming you into a new era of conveyor system efficiency.

Answers for industry.

Computational fluid dynamics with automated meshing

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

WHY IS AUTOMATED MESHING IMPORTANT IN CFD? Meshing is one of the most time consuming and important processes in the CFD workflow. The wrong mesh or meshing technique can lead to: user-to-user variations; days, weeks, or even months lost creating a mesh; or worst of all, inaccurate results. And once a mesh has been generated that adheres to the strict rules of the CFD solver, knowing if there is enough grid resolution for an accurate result – or if there is grid convergence – is an informed guess at best. Using an automated mesh at runtime alleviates all of these issues, freeing up valuable design time.

WHAT ADVANTAGES DOES AUTOMATED MESHING PROVIDE? Automated meshes done at runtime reduce the amount of time spent setting up a simulation. And it greatly

CFD can be a valuable tool for wind-farm design because proper tower sizing and placement are crucial for optimizing efficiency.

Generating a body-fitted mesh automatically at runtime eliminates meshing issues related to complex topology and rotating turbine blades.

Sponsored by Convergent Science

improves the efficiency of the mesh by increasing mesh resolution only when and where it is needed. When analyzing complex events, such as moving geometries with shockwaves or detailed chemistry, engineers can benefit tremendously by refining the mesh automatically at runtime only along the areas of interest.

WHAT IS ADAPTIVE MESH REFINEMENT AND HOW DOES IT WORK? Adaptive Mesh Refinement, commonly referred to as AMR, refines the mesh at runtime only where the engineer has deemed it appropriate. By specifying one or more gradients to refine the mesh, there is complete control over when, where, and how much refinement the mesh will encounter.

The benefit is that this technique keeps the rest of the mesh fairly coarse in non-critical areas, saving valuable CPU time.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF THE CUT-CELL METHOD WITH A STATIONARY ORTHOGONAL CARTESIAN MESH? One of the problems inherent with traditional meshing methods is that as the geometry moves, the mesh stretches and skews, causing inaccurate results such as numerical viscosity – numerical errors that

Predicting the heat-transfer characteristics of a car body traversing a paint bake oven is important for proper curing, but commercial CFD codes have trouble meshing the complicated moving geometry. Automated meshing at runtime handles the transient problem and only refines the mesh where needed.

result in a fluid-viscosity model that’s different from the actual viscosity.

The benefit of a structured, stationary orthogonal Cartesian mesh is that it never moves or stretches.

The cut-cell method provides an exact geometric representation so moving geometries can be handled just as easily as stationary geometries, resulting in much faster case setup. Combine that with Adaptive Mesh Refinement and the mesh can be resolved finer where it is needed, limiting the effects of numerical viscosity.

CAN AUTOMATED MESHES HANDLE COMPLEX GEOMETRIES? Automated meshes using the Cartesian cut-cell method generate the mesh to perfectly fit the geometry, regardless of complexity.

This, in turn, reduces the number

A

of inaccuracies that propagate through the rest of the domain.

Because of this, the cut-cell Cartesian approach makes handling complex and moving geometries much easier and accurate, compared to other methods that stretch and compress the cells to fit.

DO USERS LACK CONTROL WITH AN AUTOMATED MESH? Gone are the days when engineers had no control over the automated mesh. With advancements in technology, new automated meshing techniques allow for full control by the engineer. This includes the initial base grid size, if and when to add AMR and how much, along with the ability to change the mesh “on the fly” while solving, thus allowing for a completely automated mesh that can be controlled by the CFD expert.

DO AUTOMATED MESHES TAKE LONGER TO SOLVE? It’s common to think that because the mesh is created at runtime for each time step, this will increase runtimes. In reality, this is not the case because parallel computing is used to run the meshing and computational processes. Because it is run in parallel, no engineering time is used to create the mesh. Total time to results is drastically decreased by using an automated mesh.

WHAT BENEFITS DOES AMR OFFER WHEN COMBINED WITH DETAILED CHEMISTRY? Analyzing detailed chemistry problems, such as modeling combustion or chemical reactions, can be incredibly CPU intensive. Knowing when and where to refine the mesh is an informed guess at best in traditional meshing methods. The use of AMR to refine the mesh combined with dynamic mechanism-reduction tools can help reduce the overall number of mesh cells and free up CPU horsepower to solve the important chemistry interactions. This results in a far more efficient use of cells and CPUs, which drives down CFD runtimes.

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REENGINEERING A MOVIE Production designers and special-effects experts pump new life into Robocop, the remake of an 80s cult classic.

R

obocop is considered a sci-fi film classic. It has spawned two cinematic sequels, a pair of TV shows, and two animated series, as well as several video games. Its upcoming remake (opening next month) presented the filmmakers with a host of challenges and opportunities to give the film a fresh new look and feel. Updating some of its special effects was similar to a large engineering project, forcing filmmakers to balance costs and time against the realism, quality, and goals of the picture — not to mention the safety of the cast, crew, and equipment.

The film is set in 2028, so writers had to keep scientific and engineering breakthroughs depicted in the film to those possible in only 14 years. So there’s no space travel, Star-Trek-like replicators, or laser weapons. But that time span does leave room for beefed-up bullet-spraying weapons and tasers. And although the movie features no spaceships or flying cars, there are unmanned drones, already a common sight on battlefields.

“RoboCop is just a bump into the future, not a huge 200-year leap into a fantasy world of technology,” says Martin Whist, production designer on the film. “It’s right around the corner, so we wanted to have recognizable features and elements of our world today.”

The producers also wanted the film to be an homage to the original, so some details of the 1987 version carry through, including the setting, a crime-ridden Detroit, the two-legged nonhumanoid drone (the ED-209s), and the use of a dying human cop as the basis for the newest security “product” from OmniCorp.

CREATING ROBOCOP

A key plot point is that RoboCop is built from some of the remains — namely the head and right hand — of a dying police officer. Plus RoboCop, played by Joel Kinnaman, must

20

01.16.14 MACHINE DESIGN

The flying UAVs in the movie closely resemble current military drones. They appear to fly using ducted fans and a jet engine.

emote, so his face must be visible. This meant producers couldn’t use CGI (computer-generated imagery) for the RoboCop character. Instead, they built an intricate costume, several in fact.

“Designing the costume, we had to fuse aesthetics and functionality,” says Whist. “It had to look like man in a machine, not a suit on a man, and we weren’t CGI’ing

GO TO MACHINEDESIGN.COM

it. So it had to work with a human in it. And we had to construct it, so we had to temper our imaginations with the fact that it would be built and worn, and still had to look cool.

“The suit is made of maybe 150 parts, which are assembled into about 10 larger sub-assemblies so it can come on or off more easily,” he says. “In the story, the suit is made of graphene, a superstrong and lightweight form of carbon Production currently being explored technicians made in labs. But if the suit were a few physical really graphene, it would models of the 208 be so flimsy and ethereal robots, and one that Robocop would look was likely used in light on his feet. So for this close-up filmed the sake of the story and on a city street. visuals, and so it would have a presence and real mass, especially when he was fighting, we made the Robocop suit look more like armor or shielding.”

Characters in the movie had similar problems.

When RoboCop is first brought to life, he sports a silvery mechanical skin, a sly wink to the original.

But those in charge of RoboCop wanted him to look more menacing and lethal. So the scientists and technicians in the movie give RoboCop a darker, more intimidating makeover.

“The silver suit was a tip of the hat to the original, with the same color and several similar components,” explains Whist.

“The second, darker suit is inspired by the creature designed by Swiss artist

21

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Geiger for the movie Alien, as well as the stealth bomber, and Formula 1 racing cars. It has an aggressive, contemporary design that is organic, aerodynamic, and sculpted.”

The newer RoboCop also gets to retain his human right hand. This keeps the character in the movie and the audience always aware that there is a human in the machine.

“The suit was first designed in a computer. Then parts were ‘grown’ using 3D printing or cast in plastic or resins, depending on whether the part had to be stiff or flexible. Movable joints were constructed out of foam. There is very little metal,” says Whist. “The actor is completely inside it, but he can maneuver.

For example, in most of the scenes with RoboCop on a motorcycle, a stunt man wears the full costume while actually riding the bike.”

The costume also didn’t weigh much more than an ordinary suit of clothes, but it did fit tightly.

The tight fit meant Kinnaman, as well as his stunt doubles, had to meet certain requirements. “We cast for a lean, dexterous actor with the build of a triathlete,” explains Whist. The suit adds the muscles and inches. Kinnaman is 6’2” but the costume makes him 6’8”.

The production company built several RoboCop suits, each with a specific purpose. The “hero” suit,” for example, is in nearly perfect condition, with all its components intact and gleaming. It’s The 208 robots earmarked for close-ups serve as foot soldiers and were and dialogue scenes.

There’s also a stunt suit, partially modeled which could take some after Boba Fet, hits and didn’t have to the mercenary remain in pristine condiin the Star Wars tion. Glaring bruises or films. Based on scuffs can get buffed out its silhouette, in CGI. And with all the there would have suits, any moving compobeen problems nents and other devices using actors in such as weapons were costumes to replicate the hun- added in postproduction using CGI. That includes dreds of 208s in the gun “holstered” in his the film.

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right thigh and his other arm transforming into a gun.

For scenes deemed too dangerous for even stunt personnel, Robocop was rendered in CGI, eliminating the need for extensive stunt-crew training and taking several shots at different angles and then stitching them together.

A CAST OF ROBOTS

Several other robots play roles in Robocop. They range from a 15th-century unit designed by Leonardo da Vinci, to the 207, a RoboCop prototype.

There are also the 208s, a horde of humanoid drones; the 209s, hyperaggressive killing machines;, and a fleet of armed flying drones. With each class of robot, production designers had to decide whether to use CGI, build animated replicas, put a person into an intricate costume, or use some combination of these three techniques. In each case, CGI was the top choice.

“The 208s act as foot soldiers, so there are lots of them in the movie,” says Whist. “But they are slightly smaller than normal-sized people. So building 300 costumes, finding 300 actors who fit the physical profile we would need, and then putting all those folks into costumes for what their robotic characters would have to do didn’t make sense. It was much more practical to build a few, but they weren’t animatronic or robotic, and do the rest as CGI elements.”

The 209s, which also played a role in the original movie, look more suited to war zones than city streets. “The 209s aren’t even humanoid so it would’ve been impossible to portray them with actors inside costumes,” explains Whist. “And making them completely robotic might not have been possible, not on our budget. “ But the production company did upgrade the 209s, making them more aggressive in how they walk and fight and giving them more mobility. “We gave it a more ‘in-your-face’ stance with the upper half of it leaning forward and always above people looking down on them,” says Whist. “All of its lines come from the back and go forward and toward the middle, mirroring its guns on either side of its torso. It is not passive in any way. It’s always moving forward and targeting potential criminals.”

In fact, the only person in a robot costume is Kinnaman playing RoboCop. “RoboCop had to be a costume because the movie is about a man trapped in a robotic body. So we needed the interactiveness and acting possible by having a person inside of it,” says Whist.

Whist admits the movie would have been different had it been made 40 years ago, and much of that difference concerns CGI and how much the technology has improved. “CGI is advancing every year in terms of getting realism for an

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RoboCop gets a custom motorcycle in this version of the movie. The bike obviously shares some styling cues with RoboCop’s outfit.

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25

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affordable price,” he says. “That’s always been the goal, more realism.

And money is always the limiter.”

When asked what he would’ve done in RoboCop if the budget and schedule had allowed, Whist didn’t hesitate. “More cars. I would’ve liked to have designed and built more full-sized working futuristic cars, and this is a common complaint in moviemaking,” he says.

“But it costs so much to modernize cars that I wasn’t able to do as much of it as I wanted to.”

So why didn’t he use a little CGI The 209 robots look much like what a military magic? would use to quell other armies.

“Money again,” he explains.

“It’s hugely expensive to add 100 CGI cars to an action or chase sequence already shot on real city streets and make them look real. It takes a lot of programming time to add just one car and keep it lit correctly with reflections and all the lights and shadows changing as the car moves. It’s complicated and expensive. Most moviemakers still can’t afford it even though prices are coming down for CGI. And for this movie, even though it is set in Detroit, it’s not about all the cars.”

Stephen Mraz, stephen.mraz@penton.com

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RUGGED GEARBOXES AND MOTORS KEEP THE COAL MOVING THE MOTORS AND drives for conveyors played a major role in the decision to reopen the Bull Mountain coal mine in Montana.

They were crucial for efficiently delivering up to a million tons of coal per month. Siemens Industry Inc., Johnson City, Tenn., supplied the gearboxes and drives, which could keep the 60-in.-wide belts carrying 5,000 tons/hr moving without overtensioning or inducing dynamics waves in the belt.

In one of the mine’s conveyors, a Siemens Flender right-angle alignment-free 24:1 Some of the conveyors at the ratio gearbox takes power from Signal Peak coal mine in Monfour 500-hp motors with airtana carry 500 tons of coal/hr cooled variable-frequency drives for over 22,000 ft. through a PLC. Operators monitor and control the belt using two control panels that keep them updated on the belt’s tension, torque, speed, faults, trends, and alarms. Sensors throughout the mine connect to the panels through fiber optics. The gearbox and motors are supported by a pulley shaft through a rigid coupling with a single torque arm for vertical support. This makes it simple to move the power units, which happens regularly when seams get tapped out and operations move to another portion of the mine. For example, the alignment-free drive alone cuts reinstallation from three days to half a shift.

The gearbox is also quieter than similar units, so operators know the gearboxes are functioning smoothly and not ready to breakdown. And the gearbox’s reduced noise levels make for a safer and more-comfortable working environment for miners. A ribbed housing and fan lets the compact gears run 30% cooler.

Over the past year, the mine’s 300 employees have relied on the conveyors to move more than a million tons of coal per month with 98% uptime, exceeding the industry target of 95%. The plan is to use the conveyors and motors for the next 25 years at the newly renamed Signal Peak mine as it yields over 300 million tons of coal, less than a third of the mine’s total capacity.

RESOURCES: Siemens, www.automation.siemens.com Signal Peak Energy, boich.com/signal-peak

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AIR - OIL TANKS A cost effective solution for pneumatic machines when absolute cylinder control is required They allow you to do just about anything with an air cylinder t control its speed t DPOUSPM BOZ TIPDL t eliminate possible impact damage.

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For example, when small volumes of high-pressure fluid are called for intermittently, boosters show obvious advantages over continuously running hydraulic systems. Also, for applications requiring that high pressure be maintained for prolonged periods, a single booster stroke can do the trick. With no need for further energy input, there’s no heat build up. Nice !

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News

DARPA EXPLORES MEMBRANEBASED TELESCOPE FOR SPYING ON EARTH ENGINEERS AT BALL Aerospace

and Technologies Corp., Boulder, are developing a spacebased telescope using lightweight membranes for optics instead of glass. The Darpafunded device, dubbed the membrane optical imager An artist envisions what a Moire space telefor real-time explorascope would look like in space with its array tion (Moire), would of membrane lenses deployed. have one-seventh the weight of a traditional space telescope with the same power and resolution.

This would make it possible to put the high-power telescope into a geostationary orbit 22,000 miles above the Earth where it could provide long-term surveillance of a specific area.

If deployed, the telescope would likely be used for spying, though it could also observe weather patterns and natural disasters. The space telescope would augment NSA, CIA, and other intelligence agencies that no longer have access to aircraft that can safely fly fast and high enough over denied territories to capture real-time imagery. It’s estimated a Moire telescope could cover Darpa explores ‌ continues on page 32

Technicians at Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. test a framework for holding an array of Fresnel lenses made of a polymer membrane. The metal framework will hold each membrane tightly in place.

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News

Darpa explores ‌ continued from page 31

40% of the Earth’s surface at once, taking pictures of areas 6.2 × 6.2 miles with 3.2-ft resolution or generate real-time videos of the area at 1 fps.

The key to Moire is its replacement of heavy glass optics with lightweight

polymer membranes, each etched with circular concentric grooves that turn the membrane into a Fresnel lens. Membranes would be approximately the thickness of a sheet of kitchen plastic wrap and held tautly in place by a metal framework.

The lenses would not reflect light like

Moire size comparison Keck (groundbased) (400 in.)

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mirrors or refract it like traditional glass lenses. Instead, each membrane would diffract light, focusing it on an electronic sensor that would work with a processor to convert the incoming light into an image.

The membranes aren’t as good at bending light as glass, but they are much lighter, letting engineers add more lenses to compensate for any inefficiencies.

The current plan is to launch a folded-up Moire into orbit where it would unfold and deploy an array of mirrors roughly 67 ft in diameter, which would make it the largest telescope optics ever made.

The program has been in its second and final phase since September 2011, having already demonstrated a working ground-based prototype. Engineers are now reducing risks in the program and will eventually do an on-orbit test of the imaging technology through the U.S.A.F. Academy’s FalconSAT-7 program.

RESOURCES

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MD&M West 2014: Booth 3131 32

01.16.14 MACHINE DESIGN

News

TRIBOELECTRIC GENERATORS USE FRICTION TO CREATE ELECTRICITY RESEARCHERS AT GEORGIA Institute of Technology are trying to harness the electricitygenerating phenomenon (also called the triboelectric effect) displayed when someone walks across a carpet, touches a doorknob, and gets a small shock. They envision it being Engineers at Georgia Tech generate electricity by sliding two materials together, then creating a gap between them.

used to power mobile devices and sensors by capturing otherwise wasted mechanical energy from sources such as walking, the wind blowing, ocean waves, and even cars driving by.

The GIT team has already built a prototype generator that uses sheets of dissimilar materials, one an electron donor, the other an electron acceptor. When the materials touch each other, electrons flow freely between them. But separate the sheets and they will each hold an electric charge isolated by the gap between them.

Connect an electrical load to the two sheets and a small current flows to equalize the charges on each sheet. Repeating this process generates an ac current.

Georgia Tech engineers have boosted the power output density of their triboelectric generator by a factor of 100,000 over the past 18 months. They claim to get as much as 300 W from a single layer of inexpensive polymer measuring a square meter. This means the volume power density reaches more than 400 kW/m3 and

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THE COUPLING.

efficiencies above 50%.

One technique they discovered for improving the generating capabilities of polymer sheets is to etch micron-scale patterns into them. This increases the contact area and the effectiveness of charge transfer. They also found they could use fabrics and papers, and even generate electricity from contact between a patterned polymer sheet and water — seawater, tap water, or distilled water.

One of the first applications, according to researchers, will likely be sensors with no conventional power source. When the Triboelectric … continues on page 36

01.16.14 MACHINE DESIGN

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Triboelectric ‌ continued from page 34

sensors are disturbed, they would generate electricity that could be used to measure sudden movements, changes in flow rates, or falling raindrops.

The team will continue to work at improving the devices’ output and sensitivity and determining if the effect can be

scaled up by using larger sheets of polymers or adding more layers.

RESOURCES: Georgia Institute of Technology, www.git.edu

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LEDS LIGHT UP OPERATING ROOMS OSRAM OPTO SEMICONDUCTORS Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif., has developed an LED with a color-rendering index (CRI) as high as 95, which users can adjust for color temperature. This makes it an ideal candidate for illuminating operating rooms where colors must appear natural and the staff can precisely control chromaticity.

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cal, consists of four LED chips in the colors warm white, ultra white, green, and amber. The range of colors lets users set the shade of white with color temperatures ranging anywhere from 3,700 to 5,000ÂşK. And when optimized for the red spectrum (Ra), the CRI remains at 95, so red shades are particularly true to-life, which is important in operating rooms.

The chip measures 0.23 Ă— 0.19Â in., and is about 0.5-in. tall, making it about one-fourth the height of components currently used in OR lights.

The compact design comes courtesy of a flat antireflex-coated glass cover that replaces the usual lens.

RESOURCES: Osram Opto Semiconductors Inc., www.osram.com

01.16.14 MACHINE DESIGN

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“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.�

- Steve Jobs

As the leading manufacturer of OEM pumps and compressors, our innovation in design and technology has helped our customers create new innovative products and become leaders in their marketplace.

For more information on how Thomas innovation can help you lead your industry, go to gd-thomas.com.

Improving Lives through InnovationTM

Editorial VICTORIA FRAZA KICKHAM | Distribution Editor victoria.kickham@penton.com

2450Z SERIES BLDC PUMP

COMING IN FEBRUARY:

Distribution Resource in

MACHINE DESIGN

D

istributors are a vital link in the supply chain, providing the products, services, and technologies that design engineers and purchasing managers need to do their jobs more efficiently and effectively.

Three years ago, Penton launched Distribution Resource, an editorial supplement to Electronic Design magazine, as a way to cover this key segment of the design and supply chain with news, insight, and analysis. In 2014, we’re bringing Distribution Resource to the Machine Design audience, with a new focus on the industrial marketplace.

Each month, Distribution Resource will deliver news and features covering key trends and issues among distributors of electrical products, electronic components, and motion-control and fluid-power systems. We will offer the latest information on: • New products and advancing technologies and how distributors are helping to bring them to market • Market outlooks in key areas such as motion control, fluid power, power transmission, and more • An annual look at the largest distributors in the marketplace • Trends and issues shaping the industrial supply chain, including the Internet, globalization, risk mitigation, quality control, and more • Insight on key end markets such as medical, transportation, energy, and defense We will begin next month, with a feature story on industrial automation. We will talk to leading distributors about trends they are seeing in the marketplace, including new technologies, new services they are bringing to the table, and a look at the new and varied online resources they are providing to their engineering and purchasing customers. We will also include a market outlook on consumer electronics and a product focus on LEDs, both designed to show you where distributors are looking for business growth in the coming year.

Distribution Resource is just one piece of our purchasing and supply-chain coverage.

In addition to the print component in Electronic Design and Machine Design, Distribution Resource content finds its online home at Global Purchasing, www.globalpurchasing.com, Penton’s online exclusive publication covering the purchasing and supply community. Here, you will find more in-depth coverage of trends and issues among procurement, distribution, and supply-chain professionals in the electronics and industrial marketplaces. We reach out to Global Purchasing readers with our weekly e-newsletter, Global Purchasing Weekly, which includes content from our print and online sources.

We hope you enjoy this new distribution-focused supplement, and we welcome your input and feedback. Please contact me at victoria.kickham@penton.com with questions, comments, story ideas, and suggestions. We look forward to bringing you the latest and best information on the distribution marketplace.

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An Illustration in Innovation The innovative 2450Z BLDC pump is perfect for medical and other applications requiring a small lightweight pump with a high performance to weight ratio.

• Efficient, variable speed brushless DC motor conserves power by matching output to requirement • Lightweight – 6.8 lbs. vs. 9.5 lbs with AC motor • Small footprint – 8.32" x 6.75" x 4.08" • Oil-less design • Maximum flow – 3.3 CFM @ 2200 RPM • Maximum pressure – 35 PSIG

For more information on the innovative 2450Z BLDC pump go to gd-thomas.com.

Improving Lives through InnovationTM

39

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Sensor Sense

Pulse-ranging technology LASER-BASED DISTANCE MEASUREMENT often serves as a way of positioning parts,

navigating automated vehicles like stacker cranes, and measuring the dimensions of objects like boxes. There are three common technologies behind laser-distance measurement: optical triangulation, phase correlation, and true time-of-flight (TOF) technology.

Some products claim to use TOF, when they actually employ phase correlation instead. Phase correlation has significant weaknesses compared to true TOF. It has shorter measurement distances, greater sensitivity to object color, and is more susceptible to environmental influences like lighting. Because of this confusion, the term pulse-ranging technology (PRT) is used to define true TOF technology.

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and the speed-of-light constant.

Pulse-ranging-technology sensors emit short bursts of high-intensity laser light at up to 250,000Â times/sec. The light intensity of a PRT sensor can be up to 1,000Ă— greater than that of a phase-correlation sensor, which uses an emitter that is on continuously.

The light bursts travel to an object or reflector and then reflect back to the sensor’s receiver, or light-sensitive element. The sensor measures the time lapse from the emission of the light burst to the detection of the burst by the sensor’s receiver element. This time is then used to calculate the distance from the sensor to the detected object: s = c × tl /2, where s = distance measured in meters, c = speed of light in air (299,792,458 m/sec), and tl = measured elapsed TOF of the light burst in seconds.

Because phase correlation measures distance based on the shifted phase angle of reflected light, its use is limited to the range over which the light phase can shift by up to 360°. If a phase-correlation device is used beyond that range, it may falsely identify the range as a 360° phase shift closer or farther away. The PRT design does not have any such limitation.

Pepperl+Fuchs (www.pepperl-fuchs.us) supplied information for this column.

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Stainless Steel

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

WHAT EXACTLY IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STAINLESS AND ORDINARY STEEL? All steel is carbon based, but stainless steel contains chromium at 10% or more by weight. Steel is susceptible to rust, an active iron oxide film that forms when steel is exposed to air and moisture. This iron oxide film is active and accelerates corrosion by forming more iron oxide. Stainless steel does not rust, or is non-corrosive, because of passivity. Passivity is when chromium forms a passive film of chromium oxide to repair the surface layer and prevent further corrosion.

WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF STAINLESS STEEL? Stainless steel’s non-corrosive characteristic gives it a long lifespan.

With the addition of nickel, the material survives even longer and in several types of environments. By adding molybdenum and nitrogen, stainless gains improved pitting and crevice corrosion resistance.

Stainless steel has a high strengthto-weight ratio even at high temperatures. Adding alloys to stainless steel helps it resist heat and scaling.

Stainless steel is easy to clean because the surface is non-porous.

It is well suited for medical and food-grade applications because it prevents the absorption of bacteria and germs. Stainless steel does not stain and can be polished to create an aesthetic appearance.

HOW DO YOU CLASSIFY DIFFERENT TYPES OF STAINLESS STEEL? Stainless steels are classified according to their metallurgical structure: austenitic, ferritic, marSponsored by Eagle Stainless

tenistic, precipitation hardening, and duplex. Austenitic stainless steels contain chromium and nickel. They are hardened only though cold working and are non-magnetic although some may become magnetic by cold working.

Austenitic stainless steels are identified as T300 series stainless steels (typical alloys T304, T316).

Alloys containing chromium, nickel, and manganese are identified as T200 series (T201, T202).

Ferritic stainless steels are straight chromium. They are magnetic, have good ductility, and resist corrosion and oxidation. Ferritic stainless steels cannot be hardened by heat treatment and are identified as T400 series (T409, T430).

Martenistic stainless steels are also straight chromium but can be hardened by heat treatment.

They are magnetic and resist corrosion in mild environments.

They have fairly good ductility and some can be heat treated to tensile strengths in excess of 200,000 psi. Martenistic stainless steels are identified as T400 series (T410, T416).

Precipitation-hardening stainless steels are chromium-nickel types identified as alloys T17-4 or T17-7 PH. They can be hardened by solution treating and aging.

Duplex stainless steels have an annealed structure which is typically equal parts of austenite and ferrite. The duplex grades are highly resistant to corrosion and pitting. They have about twice the yield strength of conventional grades. T2205 is the standard alloy for duplex grade.

WHAT TYPICAL APPLICATIONS ARE SUITABLE FOR EACH SERIES OF STAINLESS? Applications for stainless steel can vary but some common examples include cookware, cutlery, sinks, aerospace components, medical device instruments, oil and gas lines, beverage applications, or laboratory instruments.

Stainless steel is a good choice for applications where corrosion and heat resistance are important in material selection.

More specifically, austenitic stainless steels are used for food equipment, chemical equipment, and architectural applications.

Ferritic stainless steels are used for appliance trim and cooking utensils. Martenistic stainless steels are used for fasteners and pump shafts. Precipitation hardening stainless steels are used for valves, gears, and petrochemical equipment. And duplex stainless steels are used across applications similar to austenitic and ferritic stainless steels. Examples include marine environments and pollution control equipment WHAT FORMS DOES STAINLESS STEEL COME IN BESIDES SHEET? Stainless steel is also available in bar, wire, tubing, pipe, and plate form.

HOW DO YOU HARDEN STAINLESS STEEL? Some types of stainless steel can be hardened through heat treatment while other types need to be cold worked.

Examples of cold working include swaging or drawing.

WHAT KINDS OF TECHNIQUES ARE USED TO FABRICATE STAINLESS STEEL? Stainless steel can be fabricated using techniques such as lathes, milling machines, welding torches, laser machining centers, stamping presses, centerless grinding, swaging, forming machines, electrical discharge machining, and more.

WHY IS FABRICATED STAINLESS STEEL TREATED WITH OXIDIZING CHEMICALS? Iron particles or other substances can become embedded in the stainless surface during fabrication or polishing operations. These particles must be removed or else they will cause discoloration, rusting, or even pitting. Oxidizing chemicals are used to form a passive layer along the surface of stainless steel to enhance resistance to corrosion.

This process is the final preparation for stainless steel parts. It consists of immersing the parts in a nitric acid solution, rinsing with clear running water, and drying.

IF THE PART IS TOO LARGE TO SUBMERGE IN A CHEMICAL BATH, HOW CAN YOU TELL IFÂ ALL AREAS OF THE PART HAVE BEEN TREATED? If immersion of the stainless steel piece is impractical due to size, the acid solution may be applied with a suitable swab and removed by rinsing with water.

There are several tests which can be performed on the oversized part to determine passivity such as a high humidity test, salt spray test, copper sulfate test or free iron test.

WHY CHOOSE STAINLESS STEELÂ OVER ALUMINUM? Both stainless steel and aluminum have benefits and weaknesses. Stainless steel is often chosen for applications that require corrosion resistance, heat resistance, and high strength to weight ratio.

Aluminum is chosen over stainless steel when the application requires less weight. The same part made from aluminum versus stainless steel is one-third the weight. This is why aluminum is well suited for applications such as airplanes.

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EAGLE STAINLESS Tube & Fabrication, Inc.

CNC / Swiss machining Specializing in CNC machining for more than two decades, Eagle Stainless has been delivering some of the most intricately machined part imaginable. Working in diameters ranging from .030� to 2�, we’re ready to meet the requirements of your most demanding application!

Laser welding/cutting - Eagle’s computer controlled laser welding equipment (laser center shown above) enables us to produce extremely close-tolerance cutting, notching, etching and welding operations.

Cut-to-length tubing - Eagle can cut and de-burr any diameter tubing in quantities from 1 piece to 100,000 pieces or more from lengths on .040� and longer with a tolerance of ¹.005 as standard on diameters of less than 1�. Closer tolerances are met quite often. Talk to us!

Flaring and reductions Flaring and end reduction of tubing is an every day precision process at Eagle. Special tools and procedures have been developed to insure repeatability for proper mating of flared and end-reduced tubes.

Bending / Coiling- The ability to bend tubes without excessive distortion, wrinkling or fracturing is an art born of experience.

Eagle craftsmen working with state-of-theart machinery supply uniformly smooth bends, meeting the tightest customer specifications.

6WDWH RI WKH DUW WXEH EHQGLQJ

Custom shaped tubing in sizes from .040� to 1.00� to lengths to 17 ft. t 3PVOE t 0WBM t 4RVBSF t 5SJBOHVMBS t 3FDUBOHVMBS t )FYBHPOBM t BOE NPSF With a complete in-house tool and die facility, experienced toolmakers will develop a custom extrusion die to yield tubing that will meet or exceed your expectations.

www.eagletube.com 'LVFRYHU\ :D\ )UDQNOLQ 0$ Phone: Fax: 800-

Interview BILL MOORE | SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT Channel Management SKF Regional Sales and Service, North America Lansdale, Pa.

The engineer’s role in component procurement

F

or decades, buyers of industrial-machinery components focused mainly on price. Today, procurement patterns are gravitating toward best value and total cost of ownership (TCO). Yet even as this enlightened trend evolves, design engineers need to actively influence procurement decisions to ensure price doesn’t trump performance and brand reputation. We asked Bill Moore of SKF for his take on the issue.

How can design engineers get more involved in procurement?

As resource-constrained as they are in today’s lean environment, it’s important for design engineers to visit customers and see how their equipment is used on a daily basis. Otherwise, they might rely on secondhand information from sales representatives, who often hear only price-focused complaints instead of operational needs.

Be prepared to ask about some key factors: machine maintainability, MTBF, and the role that factors like environmental conditions and operator concerns play in new-equipment specifications. Ask to see maintenance logs and inquire about how long equipment is expected to last beyond the warranty period.

Seek the customer’s opinion on the role of component parts and whether their existing components are performing according to specification. A better understanding of the customer’s needs will help engineers make more-informed design decisions and influence optimal procurement choices.

Quality and performance traditionally have been top priorities for machine designers. How can engineers play a moreactive role in an organization’s quality discussions?

It’s important for design engineers to give others in the organization, such as sales, operations, and top management, strong ammunition to use when they engage with customers.

The American Society for Quality and the American Productivity & Quality Center recently released a report, “Global State of Quality Research: Discoveries 2013,” based on a study of quality practices of almost 2,000 global companies in the manufacturing, health-care, and service industries. A core finding was that only 68% of organizations share information on product or service quality with customers. The rest are missing out on this important opportunity. The report coined the term, “Qustomer,” to describe the critical intersection of quality and the customer.

Designers can help arm their companies with data about TCO. For instance, hidden costs of ownership, such as downtime,

44

maintenance expense, and replacement parts can add up to 80% of total costs over a product’s life. This fact was highlighted in the 2012 white paper, “Unpacking Best Value: Understanding and Embracing Value-based Approaches to Procurement,” published by the University of Tennessee. In a great analogy, these researchers depicted such below-the-surface costs as the submerged part of a “priceberg.”

In addition, designers can ask their component suppliers for research findings, case studies, and hard data that show how the lowest price does not always equal the lowest cost. Again, try to view quality through the eyes of your customer.

Or if the customer is focused on environmental initiatives, perhaps you can share evidence about how your machine design, in part because of its high-quality components, enables moresustainable manufacturing practices. For example, one U. S. company saved $247,500 in annual energy costs largely by switching to more energy-efficient bearings in its machinery.

Doesn’t the procurement discussion always come back to price? How can design engineers affect that dialog?

Price, understandably, continues to play a major role in procurement decisions. Balancing performance and price expectations of internal and external constituents is a formidable task for design engineers. There are pressures of global competition and flat capital markets suppressing new equipment demand. Then there are challenges associated with helping customers understand the benefits of new technology, much less why they should pay more for it.

Yet attitudes are shifting. In a May 2012 article in Harvard Business Manager, “Procurement in Unsecure Times,” researchers found that procurement professionals are, in fact, quite concerned about factors such as quality and supplier stability. When decision-makers were asked to share the most important procurement risks, 51% said “material quality,” second only to “security of supply,” with 63%. “Material price volatility” ranked as the third most important risk factor, at 48%.

Design engineers can collaborate with sales, executive leadership, and others to stake a claim for their equipment’s reputation in the market — preferably as best-in-class and ready for the future. With a collective understanding of your company’s brand positioning, everyone should be better aligned to serve the “Qustomer” with a competitive, differentiated product.

01.16.14

MACHINE DESIGN

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Medical Industry Focus STEPHEN J. MRAZ | Senior Editor stephen.mraz@penton.com

CFD keeps

operating rooms clean

Computer modeling lets helps engineers control airflow and limit the spread of infections in hospitals.

R

oughly 290,00 patients every year contract infections while undergoing surgery, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Those infections cost billions of dollars in health-care services and 13,000 lives annually.

To combat this problem, engineers at Huntair Inc., Tualatin, Oreg., have taken what they have learned designing and building clean rooms for the semiconductor and pharmacy industries and applied it to operating rooms.

OPERATING-ROOM ISSUES

Companies that build semiconductors and manufacture drugs have voluntarily adopted ISO standards for clean rooms.

These standards define the number and size of particles or contaminants allowed in clean rooms based on that room’s classification on a scale of one through nine. These two industries accepted the standards for pragmatic reasons — to cut the losses due to warranty costs, ruined and defective products, and liabilities due to catastrophic product failure.

In contrast, there are no such standards for operating rooms, even though the stakes and costs are potentially much greater.

46

A CFD simulation of a Cleansuite installation in an operating room shows laminar air flowing from diffusers in the ceiling, down and away from the patient, and out vents near the floor.

In a typical operating room, turbulent air can swirl contaminants from equipment, staff, or the patient himself around the OR and the sterile surgical area, as this CFD simulations of an OR shows.

Instead, hospital standards stress airflow. The approach to handling airborne contaminants in ORs is that the “solution to pollution is dilution.” So airflow is important, even if it actually just blows contaminants all over the OR, including the patient.

To improve OR cleanliness, Huntair borrowed an idea from the semiconductor and drug industries — to use laminar airflow directed down and away from the critical area. In hospitals, that meant the operating table. Laminar flow is uniform in direction and velocity and directs particles and contaminants along a predictable path. If airflow is turbulent, contaminants float undirected, eliminating the ability for planners to predict where they will land.

But Huntair designers knew that it would not be as easy as just installing diffusers that distribute laminar air above the operating table. A trend in ORs over the past 10 to 15 years

01.16.14

MACHINE DESIGN

Modules fit through standard doorways and connect to

has been to mount equipment such as the building at each corner with a bolt. They can have an Depth as thin antimicrobial coating (optional). lights, flat-panel displays, medical-gas Side or top duct as 16 in. connections can connections, and platforms holding elecsidestep access trical and data connections for diagnostic Diffuser screen restrictions. sends laminar and treatment equipment from ceilingairflow to mounted booms. This keeps the floor Optional medicaloperating table. gas connection clear so surgical staff can move around panel simplifies easily and large pieces of equipment can field connections to Room-side HEPA filter with gel-seal edge medical gasses. be wheeled in or out as needed without simplifies installation snagging data or power cords. and prevents leaks.

Flush lighting minimizes The ceiling-mounted booms and large airflow blockage while lights, however, disrupt the laminar flow, putting as much as 250 foot Equipment or lights candles of lighting on the mount from usercreating gaps in the flow and low-presoperating-table area. chosen booms. sure areas that make the flow turbulent.

They also add heat to the room, warming Some of the features of Huntair’s Cleansuite, an OR ventilation system, include hookups for the air and changing the humidity. The boom-mounted equipment, built-in lighting, and medical-gas distribution. five or more people making up the surgical staff also contribute to the thermal load. Ideally, surgeons want to keep the OR at a constant tem- tions and outlets, a delivery system for a variety of medical perature and humidity level best for the patient and comfort- gases, UL-listed lighting fixtures, as well as mounts for booms strong enough to hold heavy surgical lights, equipment, and able for the nurses and doctors. monitors. And it all attaches via a structural interface that gets bolted to the hospital’s structural framework. They even sized SETTING UP THE SOLUTION The design team had several goals besides ensuring laminar the modular units so they would fit through a standard 3-ftairflow that came from above to wash down over the patient. wide doorway.

The airflow should also remain laminar even though it interacted with lights and other ceiling-mounted equipment. And any BONUS BENEFITS air that flows over the surgical staff should be carried away from Huntair uses Autodesk’s software to design and construct the table and toward the air returns. In fact, all the air should Cleansuite installations for hospitals and outpatient surgery exit the room through vents about 8 in. off the floor. clinics, and each one is a custom job. They also use the CFD Air would be HEPA filtered prior to entering the room to software and simulations to convince hospital managers that ensure it was reasonably clean. The air would also flow over a Cleansuite OR will reduce infections and save money. In the patient with the same temperature and humidity as when fact, the CFD simulation persuaded Kaiser Permanente’s it left the overhead diffusers. The air also would not be recir- corporate leadership to use Cleansuite throughout its medical culated, minimizing the chance of reintroducing infected air network for new and retrofit OR construction projects. into the OR. The way Cleansuites are built and installed also benefits To visualize and better understand the complex interactions hospital and clinics. Prior to Cleansuite, installing or refurbetween all the factors that affect OR airflow, Huntair engi- bishing an OR in a working hospital caused major disruptions neers used modeling, simulation, and computational fluid- in scheduling surgeries. It also took careful coordination dynamics (CFD) software from Autodesk, San Rafael, Calif. among different teams of construction workers, craftsmen The simulation and CFD showed that industry-standard from different trades, and utilities. diffusers used in ORs set up several different airflows that Cleansuites are designed and factory built at Huntair. interfered with each other or created gaps in the coverage, all Then they go to the jobsite as integrated modules ready to be of which led to turbulence and recirculation. The diffusers installed. Preassembled quick-connects for electricity; data, also caused air temperatures to vary by as much as 10°F. audio, and video networks; and plumbing simplify the task.

The CFD analysis led the team to conclude that the best This saves time and money on installation. In fact, installing approach would be a holistic one that addressed the entire a Cleansuite takes oneOR. That’s how the final design, dubbed Cleansuite, came to sixth the time of providRESOURCES include a ceiling-hung plenum, HEPA filters, and a single difing a field-built ventilaAutodesk Inc., usa.autodesk.com fuser design — all in one modular unit that could be customtion and lighting system Huntair Inc., www.huntair.com fit to specific ORs. But it would also include electrical connecfor an OR.

GO TO MACHINEDESIGN.COM

47

Technology Forecast LELAND TESCHLER | Editor

Manufacturing in

2014

W

hirlpool Corp., Benton Harbor, Mich., made headlines recently because it moved some of its washing-machine production from Mexico to northwestern Ohio. Its reasoning for the move: The Ohio plant was more automated and its electricity costs were actually lower than those of the production lines in Mexico. Transportation costs also figured to be lower because the front-loading laundromat washers in question won’t have to be shipped across a border to get into Whirlpool’s U. S. distribution network. All this despite the fact that production-worker wages in the Ohio plant are about five times higher than those of similar positions in Mexico.

Whirlpool’s reshoring of its washing-machine jobs is part of a trend that promises to continue in 2014. In the last three years, estimates are that more than 80,000 U. S. manufacturing jobs have been created from production that has been moved here from foreign countries.

Job reshoring is one of the reasons manufacturers are generally upbeat about economic conditions going into 2014. The assetmanagement group Longbow Research LLC, Independence, Ohio, says the U. S. potentially has a quite favorable three to fiveyear economic outlook partly because of reshoring efforts and because the U. S. could potentially become a net energy exporter thanks to recent technological breakthroughs in harvesting natural-gas deposits.

Longbow says the reshoring movement really took hold when manufacturers started running out of capacity in emerging markets as economies started to grow after the recession.

This shortfall caused a lot of soul searching about the long length of global supply chains. Longbow thinks the trend of shifting work back to the U. S. will probably continue for at least the next few years, until manufacturing costs equalize by about the middle of the decade. Component makers will be the big winners in this move, the firm says.

Other reasons for optimism emerge from the Institute of Supply Management’s most recent economic survey. It found more than a third of the supply-chain professionals surveyed see busi-

48

Manufacturers are generally upbeat about prospects for 2014. Technologies that include electric motors and motioncontrol equipment promise to do well in the coming months. ness being better than it was last year. Most notable: Almost none of those asked are looking for a year worse than the one we’ve just finished.

ISM estimates manufacturers will see their revenues in 2014 rise an average of 4.4%. Capital expenditures, a major driver in the U. S. economy, are also expected to climb by 8% among manufacturers. Industries expecting the most improvement in the first half of 2014 include plastics and rubber products, electrical equipment, appliances and components, transportation equipment, miscellaneous manufacturing, and fabricated-metal products.

The future seems to be equally bright on the employment and cost fronts. Manufacturers expect to employ a workforce that is 2.4% bigger than last year and think their raw material costs will be tame. Manufacturers also report operating at 80.3% of their normal capacity going into 2014, up slightly from last spring. And they expect capacity use to rise another 6.3% in 2014 for industries that include transportation equipment, electrical equipment, appliances, and machinery.

ISM isn’t the only organization predicting growth in manufacturing industries. The Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation says manufacturing should be robust in 2014 because of the strong housing-market recovery, falling natural-gas prices, and healthy auto sales. More-dependable economic growth should help generate stronger overall investment in equipment and software, its thinking goes. And there are only a few exceptions. ELFF thinks agriculture-equipment investment will stay weak and perhaps decline a bit. Investments in construction equipment declined slightly in 2013 and will likely drop another 5 to 10% in 2014, it says.

MORE MOTORS

One big growth area for the coming years is automation and efficiency. The Freedonia Group, Cleveland, for example, says world demand for electric motors will rise 6.5% annually through 2017. The market research firm TechNavio, Elmhurst, Ill., sees servomotors growing at a rate of over 6% annually through 2016.

One key reason for the growth is a quest for better energy effi-

01.16.14

MACHINE DESIGN

Technical Notes

The Avago Advantage Safe and Accurate Isolated Current Sensing in Motor Control using Optically Isolated Sigma-Delta Modulators In Industrial motor or servo control applications, accurate current measurement is a critical as part of the control loop. Not only has the current measurement need to be as accurate as possible, it also needs to be safe and reliable. Industrial Motor or servo control systems usually contains high voltages and in fault events like over-current or short circuits, these conditions need to be detected and rectified quickly to prevent catastrophic systems failures or in the worst case, human injury. Not only does optocouplers help to provide isolation in breaking ground loops, rejecting common mode noise and transients, it provide the necessary insulation to meet the required safety standards and regulatory requirements.

Optically Isolated Modulator Architecture The inputs of an isolated modulator used in current measurements are usually connected to a small shunt resistor, which converts the current passing through it to a small voltage, usually about ±200mV, so as to limit the power dissipation in the shunt resistor.

The sigma delta modulator then oversamples the analog input signal into a single high speed bitstream before transmission across the optical isolation barrier. The modulator data received on the isolated side is then sent to a processor for further processing. A Sinc3 decimation filter can then be easily implemented on an FPGA or microprocessor to recover the desired signal. The decimation filter averages or decimates the high speed oversampled bitstream to a lower rate by a factor, commonly known as as decimation ratio. Figure 1 shows the block diagram of an isolated sigma delta acquisition system.

There are a couple of advantages with such approach. Firstly, an isolation barrier can be easily placed on a single channel immediately after the modulator output. Secondly, any errors in the received bitstream that could be caused by common mode transients would have been averaged out by the decimation filter. The result is a very robust isolation scheme which provides good common mode rejection between primary and secondary or transient immunity in highly noisy environments like motor control.

Being optical in nature, the device is also immune to magnetic interference unlike conventional Hall Effect sensors. Figure 2 shows a block diagram of the new Avago ACPL-798J externally clocked optically isolated Sigma-Delta Modulator with LVDS interface. The LVDS interface furthers improves the connection between the sensor and the processor as compared to the usual single ended LVTTL interface, allowing system designers to have a robust interface. The ACPL-798J also offers good gain accuracy of ±1% and 75dB of Signal to noise ratio equivalent to 12bits effective number of bits (ENOB).

VDD1 VIN+ VIN–

VDD2 Σ-∆ MODULATOR ENCODER

BUF

Introduction

GND1

VREF

LED DRIVER

DECODER SHIELD LED DRIVER

CLOCK DETECTOR SHIELD

ACPL-798J

MDAT+ MDAT–

MCLKIN+ MCLKIN– GND2

Figure 2. ACPL-798J block Diagram ANALOG INPUT, V(t)

OPTICAL ISOLATION INTEGRATOR QUANTIZER DIGITAL FILTER

M

N-BITS FS/M

1-BIT DAC FS

RECOVERED DIGITAL OUTPUT

DECIMATION

+VREF –VREF

Types of Optically Isolated Modulators There are 2 types of optically isolated sigma delta modulators, internally clocked and externally clocked. An externally clocked type has certain advantages over internally clocked type. For example, externally clocked type typically has a higher clock speed. Externally clocked type also allows having a common master clock for easier data recovery and channel to channel synchronization, for example simultaneous measurements of phase currents.

Figure 1. Optically Isolated Sigma Delta Modulator block diagram

Your Imagination, Our Innovation Sense • Illuminate • Connect

The Avago Advantage Technical Notes Table 1. Decimation ratio vs. filter delay time illustration & ENOB Fs = 20MHz

Decimation Ratio (R)

Fs = 10MHz

Throughput Rate (Fs/R) KHz

Effective Number of Bits (ENOB)

256

78.1

128 64 32

Filter Delay (µs)

Throughput Rate (Fs/R) KHz

Effective Number of Bits (ENOB)

Filter Delay (µs)

12

12.8

39.1

12

25.6

156.2

11

6.4

78.1

11

12.8

312.5

11

3.2

156.2

11

6.4

625

10

1.6

312.5

10

3.2

Speed and Precision

Field Safety and Reliability

In motor or servo control, the motor loads being driven are inductive loads. From the inductor impedance equation below, one can deduce that voltage is dependent on the rate of change of the current flowing through the inductor.

Avago optocouplers are certified to the IEC safety standard IEC60747-5-5 for Reinforced Insulation. This is a component safety standard designed to test the isolation construction, insulation material, aging mechanism of optocouplers and is applicable to only optocouplers and is not applicable to alternative isolators.

VL (t) = L

diL (t) dt

Thus, fault conditions like phase to phase shorts or ground shorts need to be detected and rectified as quickly as possible before dangerous voltage levels develop on the motor which could lead to catastrophic failures as well as human injury. Typical reaction time required for the motor controller to react to such fault is usually less than 10µs. One common approach is to have separate filters with decimation ratios running in parallel (figure 3).

A filter can be configured with a smaller decimation ratio to provide the fast response required to track and react to fault conditions while having another filter in parallel with higher decimation ratio for better resolution during the normal control loop operation. By partitioning a system in such a way, it is possible to sense and react quickly to rectify any fault conditions. Table1 shows the tradeoff between resolution and speed by selecting the appropriate decimation ratio.

ISOLATION BARRIER INPUT CURRENT

RSHUNT

VDD1

VDD2

VIN+

MCLKIN

VIN–

MDAT

GND1

GND2

As a compromise, some test houses offer certified compliance for alternative isolators to the optocoupler standard DIN/EN 60747-5-2 but have only issued certification of BASIC insulation, which implies a partial compliance but not a full certification. That is because the quality and characteristics of such thin-film polyimide and CMOS insulation with respect to safe insulation application is not well understood yet.

Avago has been manufacturing and supplying in high volumes optically isolated modulators and isolation amplifiers to many motor control customers for over close to 2 decades. This track record is testament to the safety and reliability that optical isolation provides.

Summary Current measurement using Optical isolated sigma delta modulators offers the flexibility to configure itself between precision and speed by choosing the appropriate filtering schemes. Only optocouplers are certified to the IEC Safety Standard IEC60747-5-5 for reinforced insulation. Avago optically isolated modulators provide a field proven method to measuring current in an accurate, safe and reliable way.

FREQUENCY SYNTHESIZER Fs

Fs

SINC 3 FILTER Fs R=256

Fs ACPL-796J

Fs SINC 3 FILTER R=16

Fs / 256

CONTROL LOOP (HIGHER RESOLUTION)

Fs / 16

FAULT DETECTION (FASTER THROUGHPUT) MCU/FPGA

Figure 3: Decimation filters partitioning Contact us for your design needs at:

www.avagotech.com/motorcontrol

Avago, Avago Technologies and the A logo are trademarks of Avago Technologies in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies.

Data subject to change. Copyright © 2013 Avago Technologies AV00-0287EN 12/18/13

ciency. The research firm Marketsandmarkets, Dallas, expects the overall market for energy-efficient motors to grow at almost a 20% rate from 2013 to 2018.

There are developments in the works that will accentuate the trend. In 2014, many additional categories of motors will likely be regulated for energy efficiency. The regulations will begin kicking in during 2015, but the planning process for these changes will be in high gear over the coming months. “The DOE recently adopted a petition from a coalition of motor manufacturers as part of a notice of proposed rule making for medium-sized motors,” says Baldor Electric Senior Product Manager John Malinowski. “We asked the DOE not to raise the level of efficiency above that of NEMA Premium, but we wanted the scope of the rules expanded, and DOE agreed.”

The new rules will cover 56-frame motors as well as a lot of motors not now included in energy-efficiency regulations including those with special shafts, special bases, and numerous others.

Because there are fewer exceptions, it will be easier for the DOE to judge compliance with the new rules. “Previously, you could build a motor with a shaft a quarter-inch shorter than standard that would exempt it under the old rules. The loopholes were easy to jump through,” says Malinowski.

There is another energy-efficiency rule for small motors expected to cause ripples among industrial concerns. Covering quarter-horse up through 3-hp motors, it is the first U. S. energyefficiency legislation that applies to single-phase motors. “The single-phase motor you bought before the regulation takes hold might sit in a smaller body with only a start capacitor. Now, a motor with the same rating will have to use a Type 56 body with a shoebox-sized enclosure on top for a start and a run capacitor,” says Malinowski. “And the price will go up because of the extra materials and labor.”

It also looks as though the DOE will cast a wider net to get further gains in energy efficiency. “Instead of just trying to push the efficiency of electric motors ever higher, DOE is talking to industry experts about taking a more-comprehensive approach,” says Malinowski. “Makers of fans, pumps, and compressors all have different ideas about the best way to make these devices more efficient. There may be different approaches for each of these areas.”

And there are other motor qualities that are likely to get attention from manufacturers in the coming year. “There is a recognition that productivity is more important than energy efficiency in the U. S. because the energy here is much-less expensive than in other parts of the world. So motor manufacturers are looking at different ways of making motors last longer and be more robust,” says Malinowski. “For example, there has been a movement to ground the shafts of motors powered by inverters because the commercial buildings into which into which inverter-driven motors sometimes go are notorious for having poor grounds.”

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Technology Forecast MARK COOKSLEY Belden Inc., St. Louis, Mo.

The rise of the

INDUSTRIAL INTERNET

Networks on the factory floor are not only spreading but are now complicated enough to need special network-management software able to help troubleshoot problems and keep automation equipment online.

E

thernet is becoming ubiquitous on factory floors. ing metrics than their competitors in areas such as operating Expectations are, for example, that Ethernet margins, downtime per year, and cost of ownership.

No question that networks of industrial-Ethernet-enabled nodes in the process industries will nearly double over the next few years. The market research firm devices can be complex. One interesting fact to come out of IMS Research, Englewood, Colo., thinks the number of Aberdeen’s research is that best-in-class companies are far industrial Ethernet nodes in process industries will rise to more likely than their less-able competitors to equip their 8.7 million units in 2016, nearly doubling in a span of just a industrial networks with a special kind of software called few years. “Networking is becoming more of a commodity, network-management software (NMS). which means that remote monitoring EXAMPLE and control is more accessible. This is TOPOLOGY also true of discrete automation,” says MAP IMS analyst for industrial Ethernet and fieldbus technologies Tom Moore.

IMS points out that the vast major192.168.1.152 192.168.1.151 ity of remote terminal units and disIndustrial HiVision 192.168.1.201 192.168.1.200 tributed-control systems are already networked. About 95% of new units Corporate firewall are expected to be network enabled in 192.168.1.1 2016. And the use of industrial Ethernet is expected to grow across industrial automation. One reason: Networks are Office network viewed as a means of bringing visibility Unmanaged 192.168.1.202 192.168.1.2 to manufacturing data. A recent study of manufacturing executives by the Aberdeen Group, Boston, found that these managers ranked manufacturCamera Internet Building 153 ing data transparency as a top business pressure. Moreover, Aberdeen found that the best manufacturers used net- Network-management systems should provide detailed topology maps to the network in real working capabilities to good advantage. time. This example, generated by Industrial HiVision, also depicts an unmanaged switch on The top performers had better operat- the network. Not all NMSs can discover unmanaged switches without manual intervention.

50

01.16.14

MACHINE DESIGN

An industrial NMS should let operators see network topology and the status of network components. This example screen is from the Industrial HiVision NMS.

NMS was once considered a convenience. It could help network administrators install, commission, manage, and troubleshoot. As networks have grown larger and more complex, network-management software is quickly becoming a necessity.

Network-management software monitors the network and automates many tasks involved with running a network. For example, in the case of a partial network outage, the software can detect the presence of an alarm and tell the operator where the problem is. Without such software, operators generally must walk around to learn the status of devices on the network. Network-management software lets them determine status remotely or centrally, even for the network infrastructure (cabling).

Network-management software lets operators see which links are up and down; in fact, it is hard to identify cable problems without such software. Similarly, it can show operators which devices are active and which have problems. For example, it can be used to trigger an alarm when a network device heats up so technicians can preemptively manage the situation.

Network-management software also comes in handy when redundant devices fail. If a device goes down and a redundant unit activates, technicians might not notice without this software in place.

The management functions of network-management software include noting faults, configuring network devices, accounting, monitoring network performance, and handling security. An NMS can also discover what devices are on the network, monitors their health and status, alert operators about conditions that degrade system performance, and identify problems, their source(s), and possible solutions.

An NMS employs various protocols such as SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) to accomplish these tasks.

NETWORK STATISTICS

It becomes easier to understand what kind of a network can benefit from an NMS by examining a few of the tasks it normally handles. A good rule of thumb is that an installation that needs managed switches will benefit from deploying an NMS. Each managed switch or router has a software â&#x20AC;&#x153;agentâ&#x20AC;? running on it that sends information to the NMS. In industrial settings, the NMS might monitor

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51

Technology Forecast

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The recently introduced Version 5.0 of Beldenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hirschmann brand Industrial HiVision networkmanagement software is an example of an NMS designed to address larger and more heterogeneous industrial networks. Among its features is a client/server-based network management hierarchy that can be distributed across multiple network-management stations. One advantage of delegating certain management functions to various stations is that the processing power of an individual PC no longer limits the size of the network that can be managed.

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hardware devices that would include switches, routers, and PLCs. The NMS also collects network-device statistics. It may as well maintain an archive of previous network statistics including problems and solutions that were successful in the past. If faults recur, the NMS can search the archive for the possible solutions.

NMSs were initially designed with office environments in mind. In an office setting, networked devices are typically just computers, printers, fax machines, and so forth.

Enterprise-network management tended to be text based, with support for office topologies such as mesh, bus, or star.

As industrial networks began migrating to Ethernet and became more complex, plant engineers grew more interested in the benefits of automated-system management.

But enterprise-management systems lacked the ability to work with industrial control regimes like Scada and did not support industrial topologies which frequently include ring configurations.

Today it is possible to find NMSs that target industrial networks. But many of these industrial NMSs are designed to work best in homogeneous hardware environments, those that contain network equipment from only one vendor. Some industrial NMSs may only recognize and monitor devices coming from the same vendor as the NMS. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s problematic for many larger industrial installations hosting hardware from numerous network and machine vendors.

In addition, some NMSs have only limited ability to characterize new devices.

Characterization might involve details such as the operating temperature of a network device or multicast control parameters. (In multicast, a source sends a packet only once, even if it must go to a large number of receivers. The nodes in the network rep-

01.16.14

MACHINE DESIGN

licate the packet to reach multiple receivers when necessary.) For example, the NMS typically lets operators know that multicast is available. More-advanced management systems such as Industrial HiVision provide the operator with granular information about the flow of multicasts across a network.

Some industrial NMSs are designed to be more general, or open. But they typically lack the detailed device characterizations described above; they only allow monitoring information at a high level, not down to parameters. There is also wide variation in the graphic capabilities that these management systems provide.

The management of industrial equipment has changed as industrial networking has evolved. Newer installations may be organized into cells with localized network management. Today, industrial-Ethernet networks connect an increasingly broad variety of devices. While the networks may be arranged into subnets for management and security reasons, it is possible, and often desirable, to create system-wide management for collecting and analyzing data centrally.

As network size and complexity rises, the argument for automated network management becomes stronger. Manual upgrades, configuration changes, and other administrative functions can chew up a lot of time when large networks are involved.

Moreover, the volume and complexity of the relationships introduce numerous opportunities for errors during network operations that are manual. In addition, manual troubleshooting typically involves appreciable downtime.

Finally, it is often beneficial to have early warning indicators when a process or machine drifts off true. This has long been true for production machines and is just as valid for the network infrastructure. The NMS can do baselining or determine operating thresholds for network gear. For example, it might note the temperature threshold for a network switch that would signify overheating. Other examples include monitoring qualities such as bandwidth utilization or received power on fiber cables. It might also note changes in network traffic patterns, which could indicate that malware is present or that something is not working properly. In addition, it might note the number of network errors â&#x20AC;&#x201D; if they are rising, then technicians should investigate before the network stops working.

GOOD NETWORK MANAGEMENT

A bulletproof industrial NMS, such as Hirschmannâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Industrial HiVision, can significantly reduce network install time, keep network infrastructure consistent, and automate documentation. It maps, configures, and tests all devices on the network and confirms the integrity of the cables running between them. This is helpful because the larger the network, the more difficult it is to manually find a configuration error â&#x20AC;&#x153;somewhereâ&#x20AC;? among the devices on it.

An NMS should provide detailed topology maps in real time. It should also be able to discover even unmanaged switches without help from the operators. A good system will make it easy for operators to oversee an entire network by, for example, letting them automate repetitive but essential maintenance tasks, such as changing passwords regularly and implementing firmware updates.

Modern NMSs for industrial networks include a graphical interface and advanced monitoring that simplifies preventative maintenance. This software also helps spot problems, including cable faults, that might otherwise cause shutdowns. In contrast, manually troubleshooting these sorts of issues may require that technicians shut down a portion of the network so a process engineer can examine it. A good NMS makes it easy to identify problematic connections and offers tools that can dig down from the port to the switch and even to the cable to identify a potential failure. This capability practically eliminates unplanned downtime.

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Centralized-network management requires an industrial NMS be capable of recognizing and interacting with heterogeneous devices — network switches, SMNP-enabled PLCs, printers, and so forth — that all come from different vendors.

The workload rises if network zones within a facility or isolated groups of different types of network devices must be managed separately.

One of the most important functions of an NMS is to provide a centralized table of device properties. Industrial HiVision, for example, offers a software tool that lets automation engineers simultaneously configure the same parameters for multiple heterogeneous devices. This ability saves time and eliminates errors when commissioning the system and while the network operates. Industrial HiVision automatically recognizes and depicts the network topology, including unmanaged switches and hubs. This is a valuable feature that lets operators view — and automatically document — the entire network.

Finally, modern NMSs now work through a client/server architecture that allows for managing subnets as well as enabling centralized control. This is particularly helpful with large and/or distributed networks that can benefit from multiple sets of eyes watching network operations and from the ability to delegate certain man- RESOURCES: agement functions to various stations. Belden Inc., www.belden.com In addition, the processing power of an Wikipedia page on network manageindividual PC is no longer a limiting fac- ment systems, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ tor in the size of the network that can be Network_management_systems managed.

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Industrial controls

go mobile

I

f you run a Google search for the phrase “industrial mobile apps” today you will find over a half-million results. So small wonder that the IT market research firm Gartner Inc., Stamford, Conn., recently listed mobile-device diversity and management among its top strategic technology trends for 2014. In fact, four of the top five emerging trends Gartner identified for the coming year relate to mobile apps in industrial settings. Besides mobile-device diversity and management, they include mobile apps for business, the Internet of Everything, and the widespread adoption of smart machines.

It is increasingly common to find engineers monitoring automation equipment or test setups with their smartphones.

One trend that is making this kind of advanced connection possible is that of advances in cell-phone infrastructure aimed at factories. For example, cellular routers and modems now support industrial-automation equipment and protocols, even over 4G networks. They facilitate two-way communications from one facility to another and let engineers get information from such remote assets as offshore platforms or farflung autonomous manufacturing cells.

Until recently, it could be tough to access human-machine interface (HMI) via mobile devices. One of the biggest roadblocks has been in programming: Downloadable apps written for iPhones and iPads won’t run on Androids and tablets, and vice versa. Apps for Apple products must be written in Objective C. Android apps are created using the Java language. Thus, developers have been forced to create separate apps for each family of these mobile devices.

Adding to this complexity is the fact that there are a large number of Android hardware manufacturers. This has created

56

Your next operator terminal could be the smartphone in your pocket or the tablet on your desk.

a situation in which the Android market offers six or seven different screen sizes operating from different versions of the Android operating system. Thus, Android apps have had to potentially be developed several times to accommodate the various screen sizes or different versions of the OS. The result: Developers have tended to devise apps only for one or two platforms, at least initially.

WEB BROWSER OR APP?

Of course, there is an alternative to accessing HMI data with downloadable apps. Instead, it is possible to devise a mobileenabled Web site that serves as an HMI. Mobile-platform users then connect to the Web site to view automation system data and, in some cases, to issue commands. The advantage of this approach is simpler development: Particularly with the use of the recently standardized HTML5 spec, developers

HMI software on tablets increasingly can use the multitouch capabilities of the screen to manipulate objects up to three times faster than single-touch displays.

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Custom is the Cure! need only create one Web page rather than multiple apps written in Java or C. The downside is that the quality of the browser-based access experience varies widely depending on the mobile platform. Web-server screens developed on and for PCs don’t scale well to the smaller displays found in handheld devices. Furthermore, the screens, especially the graphics, often take time to load. Another issue is that browserbased remote access often provides only a snapshot of the HMI screens, creating problems when monitoring large amounts of data in operating conditions that change frequently.

It is also easier to create Web pages that provide a read-only view of the data without giving the mobile-device user the ability to issue commands. So developers frequently create Web-page HMIs that are strictly snapshots of equipment status but which provide no way of controlling the process.

On the other hand, downloaded apps for remote access usually provide a smoother interface that is less likely to introduce delays in response. Some developers estimate that use of Webpage access adds about 250 msec of delay, compared to accessing industrial processes through a mobile app and VPN. One reason is that mobile apps for industrial use can be built to incorporate Ethernet/IP and Modbus TCP/IP drivers to let them talk to a PLC on the control system directly.

MAKING ACCESS EASIER

However, the real benefit of HTML5 support is that more users can access the HMI screens pretty much regardless of the device type. Many features of HTML5 specifically target low-powered devices such as smartphones and tablets. And the browsers on almost all these newer mobile devices all support HTML5. In particular, HTML5 adds new syntactic features for video and audio. There are also features that make it easier for developers to incorpo-

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Technology Forecast

rate scalable vector graphics and mathematical equations. The thrust of these improvements is to simplify the task of handling multimedia and graphical content on the Web without having to resort to proprietary plug-ins and APIs. Though the framework for HTML5 has been around for a few years, its definitions have only recently become stable enough to encourage its widespread adoption. One recent report found that 153 of U. S. Fortune 500 companies have implemented HTML5 on their corporate Web sites.

Like HTML5, multitouch technology has recently become available to the automation world thanks to the arrival of Windows 7, the first Windows-based operating system to support multitouch.

While not widely found in HMI packages, multitouch is starting to show up in HMIs that use Windows 7 and Windows 8. However, a point to note is that multitouch is not the same thing as a touchscreen. A traditional touchscreen application recognizes single touches to access specific areas of different screens, basically replacing a pointing device such as a mouse or trackball. A multitouch HMI, on the other hand, works differently. It recognizes the position of several touches and finger movements, which are referred to as “gestures.”

Use of multitouch gestures simplifies the execution of commands, making them up to three times faster than those on traditional touchscreens. These gestures — pinch, zoom, swipe, and so forth — are the same as those used in ordinary smartphones and tablets.

HMI software has also used widgets to provide a graphical representation, such as trend screens, which otherwise can’t be rendered directly on the mobile screen. However, not all HMI software offers a library of widgets for these applications, which makes it difficult or impossible to view certain screens from a handheld device. While the ability to receive alarms on a tablet or phone is not a new development, a widget is

01.16.14

MACHINE DESIGN

One example of a remote HMI application comes from Automationdirect.com, Cumming, Ga. This app doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t require thirdparty remote desktop VNC (virtual network computing) unlike several other industrial apps used for HMI. It has an iPhone or Apple zoom feature that lets users zoom in on specific objects on the screen and then save a screen capture if needed. There is multilevel logon security that lets three remote-access user accounts be configured and stored in the panel project. This lets specific accounts have full-control access, view-only access, or view and screen-change-only access. Activation or notification tags can be used to activate alarms, events, or notifications to alert local operators that a remote user is connected.

often required to view the data graphically. Otherwise, users merely see a text object describing the information.

All in all, PC-based HMI software and operator interface terminals running proprietary HMI software are improving the remote-access experience, but not all such HMI platforms are created equal. Virtually all HMI suppliers now offer remote access, but some do it better than others.

REFERENCES: AutomationDirect.com, www.automationdirect.com InduSoft, www.indusoft.com

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Technology Forecast ELISABETH EITEL | Senior Editor eeitel@penton.com

ROBOTS PRICED

for the masses

Nonindustrial robots are getting better at executing modest to moderately complicated tasks and their numbers are on the rise thanks to new design approaches, open-source controls and hardware, forgiving actuators, and 3D-printed linkages.

T

oday’s robots fall into three basic categories. At the top of the hierarchy are traditional industrial robots, powerful Scara and Cartesian machines that quickly and precisely move payloads to 1,000 kg or more. These expensive robots automate complex manufacturing tasks, most notably in the automotive industry.

Lightweight Delta (parallel) robots have made inroads over the last decade, particularly in packaging applications, but most of these rely on proprietary and costly position controls.

Next are professional-grade service robots, with the term “service” denoting use outside of heavy manufacturing. This motley bunch comes in myriad forms and sizes and includes everything from robotic arms that assist doctors in surgery to remote-controlled submarines that image ocean trenches.

Only about 8% of professional service robots are used for medical applications, but these multimillion-dollar machines account for more than 40% of this robot sector’s total value. But the category also includes lower-cost demolition, inspection, rescue, and light-assembly robots such as Rethink Robotics’ Baxter, which are economically automating tasks done manually until now. According to the Frankfurt, Germany-based International Federation of Robotics (IFR), known for the International Symposium on Robotics, manufacturers worldwide currently sell 16,000 professional-grade service robots every year (valued at $3.4 billion) and 94,800 more could be installed by the end of 2016.

The third tier of robots constitutes a skittering swarm of consumer, research, and educational robots, including everything from compact prosthetics and commercially available Roombas to robot kits and student-built crawlers. About 22 million

60

This inexpensive powerline-inspection bot is made of two arms that a motor opens and closes like scissors to scoot the robot along. The arms were 3D printed on a low-cost machine.

01.16.14

MACHINE DESIGN

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Technology Forecast

This soft robot was built by Harvard engineers out of silicone. Pumps fill the channels with

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arms to propel the unit along. Colored fluids can camouflage the bot. Production versions could cost just a few dollars and eliminate the tethers by incorporat-

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personal-use service robots will be sold in the next three years because it has become more economical to mass-produce automatons. It’s also easier than ever for researchers and DIY engineers to craft one-off prototypes. In contrast with industrial and professional-grade service robots, these small machines typically move payloads of a few kilograms at most. Consumers worldwide currently buy about 3 million personal robots worth $1.2 billion yearly, and that figure is expected to grow 20 to 50% annually, according to the IFR. Many are mass-produced bots for cleaning, lawnmowing, entertainment, and research.

PRO-GRADE THRIFTY BOTS

One-third of all professional service robots are for defense applications and another quarter (believe it or not) milk cows in the dairy industry. Many military robots are unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Here, even the Dept. of Defense is exploring cheaper options: At the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) Washington conference last August, Maj. Gen. James Barclay described the Army’s new investment in “affordable birdlike microdrones” that soldiers can carry and launch by hand — including 36 2.5-lb UAVs from Prioria Robotics, Gainesville, Fla., that reach speeds to 63 mph.

The compact design and use of some off-the-shelf subcomponents, including select items for vision-based control and image processing, reduces cost to about half that of previous surveillance UAVs. Another case in point: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) Autonomous Robotic Manipulation (ARM) program, in conjunction with Roombamaker iRobot, Bedford, Mass., has cut the cost of heavyweight hand-type manipulators from more than $10,000 to less than $3,000 in just a few years. The iRobot hand uses compliant actuators that change the robotic-motion problem from one of positioning to one of force control and allows use of less expensive feedback.

Little wonder that Gill Pratt, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Olin College, Needham, Mass., is currently on loan to Darpa and managing the ARM and Maximum Mobility and Manipulation (M3) programs. He developed the

www.masterbond.com 62

01.16.14

MACHINE DESIGN

This $10 robot incorporates low-cost and rummaged parts, and the original iteration used the lollipops as bump-sensor extensions to reverse the wheels when the robot hits obstacles. The robot won the African Robotics Network 2013 Challenge hosted by groups that need low-cost robots for STEM education in the developing world.

Like a lot of maker-level robots, directions on how to build it are online — in this case, at tomtilley.net.

most widespread compliant actuators, series elastic actuators (SEAs), at the MIT Leg Lab with engineer Matt Williamson in the 1990s. SEAs are traditional motorpowered actuators fitted to a load with a spring in between. They give robots built-in compliance for terrain navigation and energy storage. Williamson is now at Rethink, and its Baxter uses myriad SEAs. “When we developed the SEA, high-fidelity force sources were expensive,” explains Pratt. “Engineers were designing low-friction gears for high precision, and others were improving cable transmissions, as found in some of today’s robotic prosthetics, but their designs still cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Part of our idea was that for robots to really be effective and help society, they must be of low enough cost that most anyone can buy and use them.”

Besides SEAs, magnetorheological fluids, shape-metal alloys, and fluidic muscles can drive low-cost soft robots. Consider the blubbery silicone crawler from Darpa’s M3 researchers at Harvard University. Pumps fill and drain tiny zigzagging channels in the robot’s legs with fluid to stiffen and release them. The pulses move the robot up to 67 m/hr and maneuver it through constrained spaces. Production versions could cost just a few dollars.

In fact, similar DIY soft-robot designs based on the idea of fluidic muscles abound on Autodesk Inc.’s instructables.com.

“I’m really pleased at how compliant actuators have taken off,” says Pratt, “but I’m not surprised. Williamson and I always believed that compliant actuators are a good choice for adaptive robots.”

OPEN SOFTWARE

Product distribution centers could soon be invaded by low-cost robots as well. A survey of Google Inc.’s 2013 robotics acquisitions suggests the company is banking on it. About 10% of all new professional service robots (not including self-guided vehicles) currently go into logistic systems. Google’s Meka and Redwood Robotics build SEA-based arms with manageable price points, and Holomni and Industrial Perception make controllable robot casters and machine vision and smarts, respectively.

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63

Technology Forecast

Even automotive manufacturers are beginning to use low-cost robotics. Here, affordable six-axis robot arms from Universal Robotics, U. S. headquarters in East Setauket, N. Y., help a worker in a Volkswagen plant in Salzgitter, Germany, put delicate glow plugs into hard-toreach cylinder-head holes on hundreds of different diesel engines every day. The robot arms use compliant actuators so donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need to be caged to be safe around people, which further reduces setup costs.

All leverage at least some open controls that integrate on Robot Operation System (ROS) software, middleware that runs on operating systems such as Windows and Linux. ROS usually communicates using TCP/IP to handle control, process, actuator, and feedback data, among other things. ROS for Java (promoted at ROS.org and by the Open Source Robotics Foundation) can run on the Android platform, so ROS cofounder Ken Conley (now at Google) could lead a project customizing low-cost ROS-friendly robots with Googleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s informational and navigational functions and communications.

In fact, tools like ROS blur the lines between professional and consumer-grade robots. Consider the lightweight robot arm developed through Robai of Energid Technologies Corp., Cambridge, that incorporates support for sophisticated ROSenabled peripherals. In a recent Georgia Institute of Technology SMARTech talk, Energid CEO Neil Tardella explains how the affordable Actin arm can automate assembly tasks in electronics industries still done by hand in developing countries such as China. But it also lets users program the arm on a garden-variety personal computer through a USB port for setup that feels decidedly consumer.

ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING BRINGS DOWN PRICE

3D printing is also helping engineers build increasingly thrifty robots by reducing the manufacturing costs of their kinematic linkages. Consider a robot built by engineers at the University of California, San Diego, to inspect utility lines for damage. Called the SkySweeper, it uses off-the-shelf electronics and 3D-printed plastic parts. A simple V-shaped kinematics linkage with a motor-driven elbow and clamps on the ends that open and close on power lines to inch the robot along. Production

01.16.14

MACHINE DESIGN

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www.HarmonicDrive.net

247 LynnďŹ eld Street Peabody, MA 01960 (800) 921.3332

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Ideally suited for robotic and machine tool applications, the new CSG-LW and CSF-LW gearheads are 30% lighter than previous designs without reducing the torque rating or signiďŹ cantly changing interface dimensions.

The CSG high-torque gearhead delivers 30% more torque and 40% longer life while maintaining zero-backlash, 1 arc-min accuracy, and Âą 5 arc-sec repeatability.

A high capacity cross roller bearing and output ďŹ&#x201A;ange is used to support the driven load. A wide variety of sizes and reduction ratios are available with maximum peak

Harmonic Driveâ&#x201E;˘ CSD Component Sets provide unparalleled torque to weight ratio, zerobacklash, and accuracy better than 1 arc-minute.

Gear reduction ratios of 30:1 through 160:1 are available without change in weight or form factor. CSD Component Sets are offered in ďŹ ve different component sizes with peak output torques range from 1.8 Nm to 9,180 Nm, depending on unit size and ratio. Custom conďŹ gurations are available with minimal cost to meet your application requirements.

torques ranging from 450 in-lb. to 60,500 in-lb.

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Technology Forecast

models could cost less than $1,000, far more economical than the large, complicated robots and infrared-fitted helicopters utility companies currently use to inspect lines. Future SkySweepers could carry induction coils to harvest energy from the power line itself, enabling them

to work for weeks or months at a time.

They could also incorporate cameras to transmit images to inspection crews.

Where plastic linkages wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t work, engineers at Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Mich., have created a 3D metal printer that costs about

LubriplateÂŽ

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$1,500. It could be a tool for makers and researchers to custom manufacture linkages for low-cost robots with higher payload ratings.

DISCOUNTS FOR MAKERS

Millions of low-cost hobby and â&#x20AC;&#x153;makerâ&#x20AC;? robots and kits sell annually, with those for entertainment â&#x20AC;&#x201D; think of the goofy mechanical bugs on radioshack. com and thinkgeek.com â&#x20AC;&#x201D; alone worth $525 million. Millions more will be sold for education and research in coming years, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no wonder, as more than 140 U. S. universities now have dedicated robotics programs.

To support these curricula, manufacturers donate components and support through FIRST sponsorships and independent initiatives, including industrial-component manufacturers. For example, igus inc., Fisher Connectors, Harmonic Drive, and maxon precision motors support the Roboticists, Engineers & Manufacturers Consortium (REM-C) nonprofit that supplies universities with discounted components, technical support, and internship spots.

Mass-produced kits also abound, and Mindstorms from LEGO Education N.A., Pittsburg, Kans., have led the charge. For lower-cost alternatives, Jameco Electronics, Belmont, Calif., (through robotstore.com) and Parallax Inc., Rocklin, Calif., (through digikey. com) sell educational kits that let makers design their own. RoadNarrows, Loveland, Colo., sells more advanced kits and components, many programmable in ROS. A large online community also supports exploration with robot kits from Arduino, Ivrea, Italy, known for its open-source electronics hardware and software. Arduino sells hundreds of thousands of these kits each year, and Arduino-based creations have only proliferated as students and gadget inventors alike build small-scale inventions on Arduino boards and clones, peripherals, and related pieces of open-source software.

01.16.13

MACHINE DESIGN

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SLICK?

SLICK? DEFINITELY.

(maybe)

U.S. Patent No. 6,872,039 & 7,147,420 Foreign Patents Issued

Introducing the new SLIC PINâ&#x201E;¢ with a Self-Locking Implanted Cotter. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a pin and a cotter all in one.

COST SAVING. QUICK-LOCKING. SECURE. If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re using labor intensive pins, cotters or clips, try something SLIC! WELL SUITED FOR AUTOMATED ASSEMBLY FREE SAMPLES

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CLEVIS PINS, COTTERS, QUICK RELEASE PINS & DEVICES, STEEL LANYARD ASSEMBLIES AND MORE!

Software Review MIKE HUDSPETH | Professional member, IDSA

SolidWorks 2014

S

olidWorks 2014 f rom Dassau lt Systèmes SolidWo r k s C o r p . , Wa lt ham, Mass., has ne w features that designers never knew they needed but soon won’t want to live without.

Here are the highlights.

Sketching has undergone some welcome revamping.

Have you ever sketched out a shape by eyeballing it? Then, when you start to add dimensions, the sketch turns inside out? Very frustrating. Now, Sketch Scaling lets designers draw a shape and type in a value for the first dimension.

The tool assumes the shape’s relative proportions should stay the same and scales its geometry by a ratio to match the dimension’s change.

Another new tool is a lasso selection tool like the ones in artists’ software such as Adobe Illustrator or CorelDRAW. Instead of forcing engineers to use a rectangle selector that can pick the wrong entities when features over-

In SolidWorks 2014 Sheet Metal, a new gusset tool lets users select two faces and choose a cross section. Then it adds the formed feature.

lap, the lasso lets them draw a free-form shape around entities to select. Encircling items clockwise selects anything within or crossing the boundary. Encircling Counterclockwise only selects items within the boundary.

Another useful feature is the Path L engt h dimension lo cker, w hich assumes paths act like pieces of rope that maintain their length, whether laid out in a line, arc, or loop. Engage the

tool, then select the path geometry, and give it a value. Now, no matter how a path changes shape, Path Length holds length constant.

The software also lets designers rescale sketch pictures. Insert a picture, say a building, and draw a line that represents a key dimension — on a window known to be 3-ft wide, for example.

Add a dimension to the line and the whole image rescales.

Continued on next page

Software Review

For some, the best feature is the ability to flip planes. Those who have imported a sketch into a model only to have the sketch face the wrong direction will appreciate it.

Another addition is a Style Splines tool. Before, to draw a spline, users created knot points for it to pass through.

Now, users create vertex points and vectors that influence the spline like tent poles, so the spline “drapes” over the ele-

ments. Plus, everything created during sketch edits keeps associations to downstream features. For example, if an arc is replaced with a filleted sharp corner and then changed to a line sketch, the fillets retain their edges. That’s because the program recognizes there’s an acceptable edge at the intersection, even if it’s technically different, and reapplies the fillet with no rebuild errors.

Conic fillets are now possible, too.

These maintain tangency on both ends of the fillet while giving it more height than would be possible with an arc cross section.

The Sheet Metal program has a new Corner Relief tool that lets one feature have multiple corner styles. Lofted Blends let designers pick transitions on the fly. If they’re modeling a transition between a round stack and rectangular duct, they can either pick a smoothly formed or faceted-bent transition.

The flat patterns update depending on what’s specified.

If the part being worked on has multiple configurations, a right-click in the graphics area lets the user pick which configuration he wants to see. Another tool conspicuously absent from the software until now is an Exploded-View rotation, which lets users see how parts turn — for instance, a bottle lid screwing onto the top of a mating container.

Another capability locks the rotation of a concentric mate. Before this, a screw mated to a hole had to have a Smallest high-pressure, continuous use separately created mate to fully condiaphragm pump on the market strain it. Now, just right-click and select Lock Rotation.

Delivers 235 psig continuously, maintenanceA new History folder in the feature free over entire life manager keeps track of the last few fea100 mL/min at 235 psig tures edited, in case you want to edit them again. But be warned, it doesn’t BLDC motor – full load 10W keep track of deleted features.

Self-priming, can run dry SolidWorks 2014 can also display how a Configured to your specifications model will look at a particular latitude and longitude and time of day — important if Samples available for qualified OEMs the model is going into a virtual environment and needs to look natural.

NEW 235 PSIG

MICRO LIQUID PUMP

• • • • • •

knfoem.com/nf2.35

KNF Neuberger, Inc.

RESOURCES: SolidWorks, solidworks.com

609-890-8600 knfusa@knf.com 70

01.16.14

MACHINE DESIGN

Products

Multigas flowmeters/controllers THE FMA7400/7500 (elastomer seal) and (-SS) (metal seal) Series thermal-mass flowmeters and controllers overcome the limitation of many thermal-mass flow units when changing gas types.

The unit’s database is built on thousands of native gas runs to establish correction functions that account for both thermal and physical differences among gases.

ated switching contacts. Available in 30, 40, and 73-mm mounting profiles, the switches have multiple actuator entry points and offer adjustable heads with 90 and 180° options; switch styles provide single and multiple half-inch female NPT conduit

openings. Solenoid safety switches are available with 24-Vdc, 110-Vac or 230-Vac-operated solenoids.

AUTOMATIONDIRECT, 3505 Hutchinson Rd., Cumming, GA 30040, (800) 633-0405, www.automationdirect.com/ safety-switches

The Series features a corrosionresistant Hastelloy C-22 sensor for long-term operation. Settling time is less than a second and full scale accuracy is 1%. Both versions achieve internal to external leak integrity for process gases found in CVD, solar, and other processes.

Specifications include 3 sccm to 50 slm (depending on model number) full-scale flow range; flow accuracy of ±1% set-point 35 to 100%, ±0.35% full scale 2 to 35%, ±3% with selected gas feature; < 0.2% S.P. repeatability and reproducibility; ±0.5% full scale (included in accuracy) linearity; and <1 sec (within 2% for steps 0 to 10 through 0 to 100%) response (settling) time.

OMEGA ENGINEERING INC., One Omega Dr., Box 4047, Stamford, CT 06907, (888) 826-6342, www.omega.com

Interlock safety switches SOLENOID LOCKING tongue interlock safety switches are designed to fit sliding, hinged, or lift-off machine guards and provide positively oper-

GO TO MACHINEDESIGN.COM

71

Products

Industrial vacuum e-catalog for tablets VACUUM AUTOMATON 3.0 electronic catalog for tablets covers energyefďŹ cient air-driven vacuum pumps and accessories. The free, downloadable catalog includes almost 700 product pages and 30 videos and animations of products in action. A computer version is also available.

PIAB USA INC., 65 Sharp St., Hingham, MA 02043, (781) 337-7309, www.piab.com

Oil-sealed rotary-screw vacuum pumps GV OIL-SEALED rotary-screw vacuum pumps combine oil-sealed rotary screw technology and advanced screw design. These systems operate in the 1 to 500-mbar pressure range.

Perfectly Sealed and Easy to Clean s $ESIGNED ACCORDING TO &$! AND ! 3TANDARDS s %LECTROPOLISHED , 3TAINLESS 3TEEL s (IGH PERFORMANCE 04&% SEALS s . 3& ( APPROVED FOOD GRADE LUBRICANTS s %(%$' APPROVED s (IGHEST PROTECTION CLASS n )0 + .EW (YGIENIC 'EARHEADS

See Our Complete Line of Hygienic and Washdown Solutions at: www.wittenstein-us.com/hygienic-washdown.html

WITTENSTEIN - one with the future 9OU CAN REACH US AT INFO WITTENSTEIN US COM OR CALL 630-540-5300 Š Copyright 2013, Wittenstein, Inc.

72

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Two screws rotate at slow speeds, so the GV runs at sound levels as low as 69 dBA. The technology is contractfree and, thus, wear-free. The GV is outďŹ tted with oversized motors and highly efďŹ cient oil-mist separation.

State-of-the-art coalescing ďŹ lters reduce oil-mist carryover, leading to less oil top-ups, lower running temperatures, and lower motor-power consumption.

ATLAS COPCO, 1800 Overview Dr., Rock Hill, SC 29730, (803) 817-7200, www.atlascopco.us/vacuum

01.16.14

MACHINE DESIGN

High-durability electrical cables A NEW line of high-durability cables help prevent downtime and replacement for washdown, temperature, and weld-slag situations.

Silicone, silicone-tubed, and PTFE cables resist burns from hot weld sparks and prevent buildup over time that causes shorts and failures.

Stainlesssteel braid and ďŹ&#x201A;exible conduit cable versions resist abrasion and crush to prevent cable abuse.

ECOLAB and IP69Krated cable versions, with stainless hex nuts, resist caustic washdowns and chemicals that eat through cable jackets.

Fiberglass jacket and thermoplast cable versions prevent high-temperature melting and premature aging of cables.

BALLUFF INC., 8125 Holton Dr., Florence, KY 41042, (800) 543-8390, www. balluff.us

3M Thermal Transfer Polyimide Label Material 7812 offers ultrahigh temperature performance. 3M Adhesive 100 withstands up to 450°F (232ºC) short term, has excellent solvent resistance, and exhibits low outgassing.

DNPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s R510HF Ultra Durable Resin

tough thermal-transfer ribbons are halogen-free and can handle extreme environments with scratch and solvent resistance.

FABRICO, 4175 Royal Dr., Suite 800, Kennesaw, GA 30144, (800) 351-8273, www.fabrico.com

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Bar-code label materials MATERIALS AND thermal-transfer ribbons for bar-code labels in circuitboard applications, resist high heat.

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$6 & ,62 &HUWLÂżHG

73

Products

Motion-control system THE SPCS Version 2 (SPCS-2) is a high-flow servopneumatic control valve that provides electriclike closed-loop motion control when used with direct feedback pneumatic actuators.

Bring us

your thermal challenge f your thermal application see

Budget constraints? L m

Semifinished bearings, slides, guides

Watlow® offers..

• Dependable, high quality products • Over 400 technical resources worldwide providing customized and standard thermal solutions to a diverse group of industries • 90 years of industry experience understanding and solving the complexities of thermal systems • Dedication to research and the development of innovative technologies

1/ 8"

FIREROD® cartridge heaters provide maximum performance when space is limited

Standard thermocouple RTDs are accurate and repeatable temperature sensing products

MULTICOIL™ electric heaters feature a built-in thermocouple

NEW SIZES and diameters of iglide semi-finished products are for tribopolymer applications.

The semi-finished products are available in a broad range of sizes, including round plates in 0.78, 1.18, 1.57, 1.96, and 2.36-in. diameters in iglide A350. Suitable for medium to high loads and temperatures above

EZ-ZONE® PM temperature controller reduces system complexity and cost of ownership

Silicone rubber heaters are noted for their excellent circuit pattern, repeatability and superior heat transfer

ess it p possible. ss .

Find the thermal solution for your application, contact Watlow today.

www.watlow.com/md

74

The system eliminates the need to change manual switches or adjust rotary potentiometers during system setup. System configuration and setup is through a standard USB connection and the company’s SPCS-2 software. Features of the SPCS-2 make it easy to use pneumatic motion control positioning for payloads up to 450 lb and velocities up to 15 ips BIMBA MANUFACTURING CO., Box 68, Monee, IL 60449, (708) 534-8544, www.bimba.com

350°F, A350 is also FDA acceptable for food contact. Round bars, including the J4 material, come in four new dimensions and lengths of 0.78, 1.57, 1.96, and 2.36 in. Round bars come in 3.28-ft lengths in increments of 3.9 in. in diameters varying between 0.39 and 3.9 in.

IGUS INC., Box 14349, East Providence, RI 02914, (800) 521-2747, www.igus.com

01.16.14

MACHINE DESIGN

3D printer driver for Windows 8.1 USERS OF MakerBot Replicator 2 Desktop 3D Printers can download the new driver for Windows 8.1.

MakerBot Replicator 2 features a 100-μm layer resolution. The printer also has a build volume of 410 cu in.

(11.2 × 6.0 × 6.1 in.) and is optimized for printing in MakerBot PLA Filament.

with a programming tool via IO-Link.

The transmitter’s highly engineered tip reduces thermal mass and precisely locates the RTD element with a constant position and force, providing reaction speeds of 1 sec to 50% and 3 sec to 90% of

temperature change.

Available probe lengths are 30, 50, 100, and 150 mm. The units are available with 1.5 or 2-in. triclamp fittings.

IFM EFECTOR INC. , 782 Springdale Dr., Exton, PA 19341, (800) 441-8246, www.ifm.com/us

maxon EC-i 40: Powerful motor for automation and robotics.

MAKERBOT INDUSTRIES LLC, a subs. of Stratasys Ltd., One MetroTech Center, 21st Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201, (347) 334-6800, www.makerbot.com

Temperature transmitters THE TD Series temperature transmitters feature a one-piece, stainlesssteel housing to meet 3A standards for food and beverage applications and for use in harsh industrial applications. The integrated transmitter electronics, process connector, and Pt1000 Class “A” RTD probe are laserwelded, IP69K sealed.

The two-wire loop-powered transmitter is prescaled for ranges of 0 to 100°C and 0 to 300°F. Applications requiring different ranges can be scaled

maxon EC-i 40

Compact yet powerful.

Scan code to read about this product in use.

When space is limited but high torques and dynamics are required, the maxon EC-i 40 internal rotor motor is the right choice. It has a diameter of 40 mm and is available in two lengths: 26 mm (50 W), 36 mm (70 W). This economical brushless inner rotor motor is ideally suited for applications in automation and robotics.

GO TO MACHINEDESIGN.COM

maxon motor is the world’s leading supplier of highprecision drives and systems of up to 500 watts power output. maxon motor stands for customer specific solutions, high quality, innovation, competitive prices and a worldwide distribution network. See what we can do for you: 101 Waldron Road, Fall River, MA 508-677-0520 − www.maxonmotorusa.com

75

Products

High-pressure pneumatic regulators THE NEW HPP (High-pressure piston) range of high-pressure, leak-free pneumatic regulators are designed for instrument and industrial control applications. The regulator’s piston

design manages supply pressures up to 6,000 psi at temperatures up to 260°C and delivers pressures between 3,000 and 1,000 psi.

The HPP is constructed of 316 stainless steel and feature improved valve seat sealing to eliminate the risk of

Breathe Easy…

With High-Quality Gears From Forest City Gear

media leakage associated with conventional high-pressure regulators.

The units are available with 6-mm (¼-in.) ports in either two or four- port configurations and in multiple output pressure ranges. Standard knobs can be replaced with tamperproof caps for high-temperature and/or nonadjustment applications.

The regulators mount at the ports, the bottom surface, or in panelmounted configurations.

ROTORK FAIRCHILD, 3920 West Point Blvd., Winston-Salem, NC 27103, (800) 334-8422, www.fairchildproducts.com

Brushless servomotors THE RAPIDPOWER Plus Series of hightorque, high-performance brushless servomotors are designed for higherprecision applications. The low-vibra-

tion BLDC motors use M-8 ceramic and rare-earth neodymium magnets, to provide quick acceleration and consistent speed (up to 15,000 rpm).

Sealed ball bearings and reduced torque ripple from skewed magetization also ensure a smooth operation at any speed.

The motor’s new, more-rugged construction and TENV enclosure design let it handle challenging environments as well as applications where high speed, accuracy and durability are essential.

The motors come in a variety of windings, shaft configurations, and encoder options.

ELECTROCRAFT INC., 1 Progress Dr., Dover, NH 03820, (603) 742-3330, www.electrocraft.com CareFusion and the EnVe® name are © 2013 CareFusion Corporation; Used with permission.

76

01.16.14

MACHINE DESIGN

Safety sensor THE BNS40S noncontact safety sensor is designed speciďŹ cally for hygienic and washdown applications.

The coded magnet sensor is IP69K rated for use in high-temperature (176°F) and high-pressure (1,450 psi) washdown applications. Made from stainless steel, it resists corrosion and cleaning liquids and meets Ecolab test requirements for washdowns with acid and alkaline-based cleaning agents.

Concealed mounting offers a continuous smooth surface without visible screws and, combined with features like rounded edges and ďŹ ne-polished stainlesssteel surface, makes cleaning the switch easier and limits areas where bacteria can grow.

Additional features include an LED for visual status indication; three contacts for safety circuit ďŹ&#x201A;exibility; 1, 3, 5, and 10-m prewired cable lengths; and choice of two coded magnet actuators.

SCHMERSAL INC., 660 White Plains Rd., Suite 160, Tarrytown, NY 10591, (914) 347-4775, www.schmersalusa.com

Sensor bus controller THE FLEXI Loop safety controller node can cascade up to 32 safety switches and OSSD safety sensors onto one loop â&#x20AC;&#x201D; independent of the manufacturer. The Loop uses a single cable with an M12 plug to connect e-stops, sensors, switches, lamps, pushbuttons, and interlocks. This modular safety concept integrates all common ďŹ eldbuses, including Ethernet/

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IP, CANopen, DeviceNet, and ProďŹ net IO. Diagnostic data about each of the sensors connected to the loop can be shared via these gateways.

The Flexi Loop monitors each sensor individually and targets safety applications in the packaging, commer-

cial goods, and electronics and solar industries that require several doors, e-stops, and electro-sensitive protective devices.

SICK INC., 6900 W. 110th St., Minneapolis, MN 55438, (800) 325-7425, www.sickusa.com

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77

Data File/Literature Advertising Tubus Bumpers

EngineeringTV.com

Ace Controls, Inc. offers TUBUS Bumpers that outperform rubber, urethane, and coiled steel shock absorption materials. These cost effective bumpers are perfectly suited for harsh environments, with excellent resistance to Oil, Grease, Chemicals, Salt-water, Ultra-violet Light, and Microorganisms.

Contact ACE Controls for your free catalog:

users can browse video libraries using

ACE Controls Inc. Farmington Hills, MI (800) 521-3320 (248) 476-0213 Fax (248) 476-2470 Email: shocks@acecontrols.com www.acecontrols.com

technologybased navigation

Air-over-oil Tanks Add control, rigidity & power of hydraulics to pneumatic systems. Available in Single & double tank units. Bores 1.25â&#x20AC;?, 2â&#x20AC;? & 4â&#x20AC;? Length to your specs.

Fabco-Air solves problems.

Let us help!

FABCO-AIR.COM Gainesville, Florida

COUPLINGS, U-JOINTS and MACHINED SPRINGS

to focus

Helicalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 28-page catalog features miniature flexible couplings, u-joints, power transmission couplings and machine springs.

Quickreference, product summary chart highlights features and technical data. Easy-to-use part number builders make ordering easy.

Visit: www.heli-cal.com

on specific technology topics. They

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MACHINE DESIGN

Ad index

Classifieds

Company name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page Ace Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Altech Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .IFC Amacoil Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 ASM Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Automationdirect.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Balluff Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Beswick Engineering Co Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Bokers Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Braxton Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Carr Lane Manufacturing Co . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Centricity Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Clippard Instrument Lab Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BC Convergent Science, Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18-19 Diequa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Dorner Mfg Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Dura-Belt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Eagle Stainless Tube Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42-43 Exair Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Fabco Air, Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Fineline Prototyping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Fixtureworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Floyd Bell Incorporated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Forest City Gear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Fraba . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Harmonic Drive LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Haydon Kerk Motion Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Hbm Incorporated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Helical Products Co Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Helix Linear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23, 25, 27 Helukabel USA Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Igus Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Indo-Us Mim Tec Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Intech Trading Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 KNF Neuberger Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Lubriplate Lubricants Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Magnetic Component Engrg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Master Bond Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Maxon Motor USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 MICROMO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Minnesota Rubber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Moog Components Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 National Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 NB Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Nippon Pulse America Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Novotechnik US Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Ogura Industrial Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Oriental Motor USA Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Paneloc Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Pepperl+Fuchs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40, 41 Peter Paul Electronics Co. Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Pivot Point, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Proto Labs, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IBC R & W America. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Reell Precision Manufacturing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Rotor Clip Co . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29, 31 SAB North America. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Schmersal Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Schneider Electric Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Servometer速 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Setco USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Siemens Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Smalley Steel Ring Co . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Spirol Intnl Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 TDK-Lambda Americas Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Tekscan Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 The Lee Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Thomas Division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38, 39 Trim-Lok Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Ultra Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Watlow Electric Mfg Co . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Wittenstein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Xylem Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

PRODUCTS/SERVICES THE ORIGINAL

INSTANT

THUMBSCREW

In most cases, adver tisements contained in MACHINE D ESIGN employment section indicate that the companies are equal opportunity employers. The Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, and other laws, prohibit discrimination in employment based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, or for any reason other than lack of professional qualification for the position being offered. It should be noted that employment advertisements in M ACHINE D ESIGN are published for the readers convenience and, in no way, to the best of our knowledge, promote unlawful discrimination.

1-800-525-0522

While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this index, the publisher cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions.

GO TO MACHINEDESIGN.COM

79

Puzzles, myths, and curiosities

MORE MYTHS: FROM CHILDHOOD MYTH: Dogs can’t sweat or they sweat through their tongues.

THE TRUTH: There’s also a corollary myth that dogs only have sweat glands on the pads of their feet. The larger myth is usually cited as the reason dogs pant. Although it’s true dogs pant to help cool down, they are drooling spit not sweat. And dogs, like most mammals, have sweat glands all over their bodies. But dogs are mostly covered in fur, so the only place people catch a glimpse of sweat on a dog is on the furless bottoms of its feet.

Back in 1835, a scientist curious about the myth shaved some dogs, applied heating pads, and even injected the canines with adrenaline. He quickly discovered that dogs can be induced to sweat from all over their bodies. More studies over the years, however, discovered that only the sweat glands on a dog’s nose and footpads are used for cooling. The rest are for letting the dog mark its territory, find a mate, and other critical canine behaviors that rely on smell.

MYTH: Foods such as milk and cheese causes phlegm.

THE TRUTH: Phlegm, or mucous, is created by air passages being irritated by germs, smoke, pollutants, and foreign bodies. No scientific study links food and milk to mucous production (except in people with allergies). Some of the other foods mistakenly believed to generate phlegm include oranges, bananas, rice, and even water.

MYTH: Diamonds come from coal.

THE TRUTH: A common belief is that diamonds were once hunks of coal that got heated and compressed and turned into the valuable gemstones while underground. The idea stems from the fact that both coal and diamonds come from the ground and contain lots of carbon.

80

Geologists are convinced coal comes from decayed and compressed plant matter. They are also convinced the carbon in diamonds predates any plant life on Earth, so there’s no way they could come from coal.

Scientists are still unsure exactly how diamonds were formed. The current theory is that carbonrich rocks under pressure for eons turned into diamonds, and they were delivered to the Earth’s surface by volcanic action.

MYTH: The Wright brothers invented the airplane.

THE TRUTH: The Wright Brothers are generally credited with being the first to build and fly a powered, heavier-than-air vehicle. Nine months prior to the Wright’s takeoff in 1903 at Kitty Hawk, Richard Pearse performed the same feat in Timaru, New Zealand.

Pearse’s plane did not have wings shaped like airfoils, but it did look more like a modern plane than the Wright Flyer 1: It was a monoplane rather than a biplane; its propeller was up front and pulled the plane rather than in back where it would push the plane; its stabilizer and elevators were at the back rather than the front of the plane; and it used ailerons for banking rather than wing-warping.

MYTH: George Washington chopped down a cherry tree, then confessed the fact to his father.

THE TRUTH: The story was made up by Washington’s biographer, Mason Weems, to show how honest Washington was. Weems knew little of Washington’s childhood, so he conjured up several anecdotes to show Washington had leadership qualities even as a child. This particular story got extra millage after being published as part of the McGuffey Reader, a basic textbook used by 80% of U. S. children between about 1825 and 1900.

01.16.14

MACHINE DESIGN

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