Design Engineering January/February

14 Fusion 360: Autodesk’s big bet on cloud-based CAD

30 Harting connectors help

Toronto LRVs run on time

38 Is the flexible ‘PaperTab’ the

future of mobile computing? $10.00 | January/Febuary 2013

PM 40069240

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Comprehensive report points the way upward for Canada’s aerospace sector

2013-02-08 8:58 AM

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Schaeffler Introduces a Genuine Breakthrough in Condition Monitoring: WiProM with FisNet is the industry’s first truly cost-effective diagnostic tool for analyzing the performance of vital plant equipment such as motors, pumps and generators. WiProM’s portable design allows for quick and easy deployment, while the proprietary FisNet wireless network transmits the data to a monitoring center (yours or ours) for analysis.

Real Solutions - Real Savings When a customer faced the daunting task of performing end-of-warranty inspections on scores of gearboxes and generators, Schaeffler was called upon for a solution. A permanent online monitoring system was deemed cost-prohibitive, and the facility was not staffed with highly trained data analysis experts.

Armed with a single yellow carrying case containing a WiProM diagnostic unit, Schaeffler experts set about the task of analyzing factors such as meshing of gears and generator performance. Within three weeks, Schaeffler was able to provide condition monitoring data that has, so far, saved the customer over $1 million.

We rest our (yellow) case. www.schaeffler.ca

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Superior-quality products.

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8 8

Columns 8 Canadian Aerospace

8 Design News NRC test reveals 100% biofuel better than conventional jet fuel

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14 CAD Report Cloud-Assisted CAD: Autodesk’s Internet-dependent Fusion 360 modeling application reveals CAD giant’s big bet on general acceptance of Cloud-based software

Pioneer inducted to Hall of Fame Creaform appoints VP

10

Canadian High Commissioner visits Delcam

10

McGill, ÉTS launch Aerospace Education Centre

10

System integrators confident of 2013 outlook

10

Canadian mechanimals make CES 2013 appearance

11

Ontario repeals ‘Industrial Exception’

11

Lockheed buys Aveos

12

Harting Canada appoints President and CEO

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

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33 Idea Generator The latest in industrial products including sensors, automation, fluid power, motors and drives 38 Canadian Innovator A Screen Revolution: Ultra-thin and flexible ‘PaperTab’ computer expected to become standard across the globe in years to come

38

Features 20 What a Drag CFD analysis software helps Louis Garneau helmet make cycling less of a drag

20

26 Ride the Updraft Comprehensive report points the way upward for Canada’s aerospace sector 30 In Transit Harting connectors help Bombardier’s Toronto LRV transit vehicles run on time

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26 COVER PHOTO: BOMBARDIER INC.

ic as or ss or

Contents | Volume 59, No. 1

IN THE NEWS

Printed in Canada

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January/February | 2013

13-02-05 1:01 PM

6 EditorialViewpoint

A Dream Deferred

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A

s this issue goes to press, Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner makes the headlines daily with new speculation as to what has grounded the world’s largest and most ambitious jumbo jet. So far, inspectors’ fingers have pointed to the 787’s lithiumion batteries. Unique to the platform, the 63-pound pack is used as a backup power source for several 787 systems and has come under criticism for being too big and dense and thereby susceptible to the thermal runaway problems.

Of course, the ‘no fly’ order is only the latest in a series of troubles, punctuated by manufacturing delays and cost overruns, for the ill-fated jet. As a result, some industry observers look beyond the immediate technical glitches and point to the fact that Boeing modularized the 787’s design and outsourced too much of its manufacture to international suppliers.

In this respect, the Dreamliner’s development problems vaguely echo those EADS’ Airbus A380 experienced six years earlier. Among other problems, the A380’s planned rollout was doomed when multiple countries, most notably France and Germany, vied for their piece of the jumbo jet’s construction. Each country developed the jet’s major components but were allowed to define their own design technologies and systems.

As a result, when the different systems were brought together, the A380’s critical wire harnesses proved too short, forcing a major re-design that cost the company $6 billion. While that may seem like an argument against modularization and outsourcing, the fault lay in German engineers created the wiring bundles in Catia v4 while their French counterparts designed the fuselage wiring spaces with the completely re-coded and ultimately incompatible Catia v5. The differences in the way the two versions of the MCAD suite dealt with something as fundamental as dimensions led to the A380’s nightmarish delays and cost over-runs.

To design the 787, Boeing made sure not to repeat Airbus’ PLM-related mistakes.

Instead, as the Harvard Business Review argues, the problems stem from a source far more human. Its assessment states that, following Boeing’s merger with McDonald Douglas, executives from the defense contractor rose to prominence within the company and brought their risk adverse culture to bear on the 787’s planning.

Consequently, Boeing off-loaded the financial and technical burden of designing and building the 787’s various systems without first fully understanding how the pieces would fit together. Given the interconnectedness of those parts, any major design changes in one system caused redesigns to ripple through other suppliers’ plans and inevitably put mounting pressure on them to meet projected costs and deadlines.

As yet, the Dreamliner is not expected to book major flight any time soon. The FAA is only now considering the possibility of Boeing conducting test flights. Yet even when the ultimate cause is found and rectified, the public’s (as well as prospective 787 buyers’ and investors’) perception of the aircraft may remain permanently tainted. Ultimately, it may be the intensely competitive atmosphere in which development of the highly complex and capital-intensive aircraft was rushed through the design and build process that grounded the 787 and led to the bad dream Boeing has yet to wake up from.

Mike McLeod

@

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

January/February | 2013

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Editor Michael McLeod (416) 442-5600 ext. 3231 mmcleod@design-engineering.com Publisher Alan Macpherson (416) 510-6756 AMacPherson@design-engineering.com Group Editorial Director Lisa Wichmann (416) 510-5101 LWichmann@canadianmanufacturing.com Accounts Manager Laura Gergley (416) 510-5230 lgergley@design-engineering.com Technical Field Editor Pat Jones, P. Eng. Art Director Kathy Smith (416) 442-5600 ext. 3215 KSmith@plant.ca Market Production Manager Jessica Jubb (416) 510-5194 jjubb@bizinfogroup.ca Circulation Manager Cindi Holder (416) 442-5600 ext. 3544 CHolder@bizinfogroup.ca BIG Magazines LP Executive Publisher Tim Dimopoulos Vice-President of Canadian Publishing, Alex Papanou President of Business Information Group, Bruce Creighton Publications Mail Agreement #40069240 ISSN: 0011-9342 (Print), 1929-6452 (Online) Privacy Notice: From time to time we make our subscription list available to select companies and organizations whose product or service may interest you. If you do not wish your contact information to be made available, please contact us via one of the following methods: Phone: 1-800-668-2374 Fax: 416-442-2191 E-mail: privacyofficer@businessinformationgroup.ca.

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8 DesignNews

Canadian Aerospace Pioneer Inducted to Hall of Fame

Canada’s first pilot, J.A.D. McCurdy, was officially inducted into the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame late last year. He is best known as one of the designers and the test pilot of Canada’s first airplane to maintain powered flight, the Silver Dart.

Trained as a mechanical engineer, McCurdy received his degree in 1906 from the University of Toronto, where he was the youngest student to be admitted. According to McCurdy’s grandson, Gerald Haddon, honorary colonel of the Canadian Forces School of Aerospace Technology and Engineering who represented his grandfather at the induction ceremony, McCurdy claimed to have invented the aileron, though he failed to patent it. The Silver Dart, the third aircraft designed by Alexander Graham Bell’s Aerial Experiment Association, was one of the first planes to incorporate the small control surfaces.

Later in life, McCurdy established Canada’s first flight school, started two aircraft companies and served as Assistant Director General of Aircraft Production during the Second World War. From 1947-1952, he was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. When he died in 1961, in Montreal, Que., he was the world’s oldest living pilot. www.sciencetech.technomuses.ca

NRC test reveals 100% biofuel better than conventional jet fuel PHOTO: NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF CANADA

Up Front

R

Most recently, he acted as managing director for Central Europe of the TESA Division at Hexagon Group.

esults from the world’s first civil flight powered by 100 percent biofuel – conducted by the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) last October – show that the biofuel burns as efficient as, and cleaner than, conventional aviation fuel.

To test the biofuel, the NRC flew a Falcon 20 at the standard commercial aircraft altitude of 30,000 feet in October 2012. A second aircraft, the T-33, tailed the Falcon in flight and measured engine emissions. Analysis of the in-flight data revealed that the biofuel reduced aerosol emissions by 50 percent compared to conventional fuel. Similarly, additional tests performed on a static engine show a reduction in particles of up to 25 percent and in black carbon emissions up to 49 percent.

At the same time, the tests showed comparable engine performance and even an improvement of 1.5 percent in fuel consumption during the steady state operations. The jet’s engines required no modification as the biofuel tested in-flight meets the specifications of petroleum-based fuels.

The unblended biofuel, to be marketed as ReadiJet, is made from Ottawa-based Agrisoma Bioscience Inc.’s Resonance brand of bioengineered Brassica carinta (Ethiopean Mustard), which is designed to maximize oil quality and crop improvement traits. This year, more than 40 commercial growers in Western Canada have been contracted to grow over 6,000 acres of the oilseed crop.

“We are pleased with these positive results,” said John R McDougall, President of the National Research Council of Canada. “The flight went smoothly and the data collected enables us to better understand the impact of biofuel on the environment.”

Additionally, refinement of the Resonance Carinta seeds into drop-in ASTM standard aviation fuel depends on the Biofuels ISOCONVERSION (BIC) process based on a Catalytic Hydrothermolysis process, developed by Toronto’s Applied Research Associates (ARA) and Chevron Lummus Global’s (CLG) hydroprocessing technology.

ARA recently announced that it will partner with Blue Sun Energy, Inc. to design, build and operate a BIC process demonstration facility in St. Joseph, Missouri beginning early this year. ARA says the step will help the biofuel move toward commercial scale production at prices competitive with pretroleum-based aviation fuel within the next two years.

www.creaform3d.com

www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca

Creaform Appoints VP Creaform has appointed Alexis Wilcox to the position of vice-president for the EMEA territory. Wilcox has more than 15 years of experience in metrology for industrial applications.

January/February | 2013

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DesignNews Up Front Canadian High Commissioner Visits Delcam

Delcam Chief Executive, Clive Martell, (right) and Canadian High Commissioner, Gordon Campbel

Canadian High Commissioner, Gordon Campbell, visited Delcam’s headquarters in Birmingham in January, as part of a tour aimed at strengthening business links between the region and Canada.

Delcam was chosen to be part of the tour because of its history of supplying its CADCAM software to manufacturing companies in Canada. The company opened its first North American office in Windsor, Ontario in 1996. It now employs 16 staff in offices in Windsor and Toronto. Delcam Canada supports around 1,500 customers. www.delcam.ca

McGill, ÉTS launch Centre for Aerospace Professional Education McGill University’s School of Continuing Studies and Ecole de Technologie Superieure’s (ÉTS) Service du perfectionnement announced the launch of the Centre for Aerospace Professional Education (CAPE), a joint initiative in response to the need for hands-on, short courses and programs for professionals and engineers working in the aerospace industry.

According to the Centre, courses will be taught by researchers from ÉTS and McGill, as well as industry partners including Pratt & Whitney Canada, Bombardier Aerospace and Marinvent Corporation. The first courses begin in March 2013; topics include aircraft design, alloy and composite materials, simulation methods. www.mcgill.ca/prodev www.seformer.ca January/February | 2013

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System integrators confident of 2013 outlook According to a survey conducted jointly by J.P. Morgan and the Control System Integrators Association (CSIA), the majority of independent system integration companies questioned in a global survey believe the outlook for the automation industry will improve in 2013. The survey included responses from nearly 1,800 professionals worldwide in the automation and control industry.

According to the global, not-for-profit professional association, the results suggest that more manufacturers will look to experts for help in managing risk and automating their industrial equipment and systems. Among the industries driving the activity are automotive, oil and gas, food and beverage, chemicals and energy, the report says.

According to the survey, 69 percent of system integrators expect revenue growth this year and one-quarter of those look for gains of 15 percent or more. Similarly, 85 percent believe demand for integration services will increase or remain steady in the coming year. Additionally, more than 70 percent of those surveyed expect projects that had been delayed or cancelled will resume if there is no negative change in economic trends. www.controlsys.org

Canadian mech-animals make appearance at CES 2013 Those who made the journey to CES 2013 in Las Vegas in January may have spotted two giant Canadian mechanical beasts created by eatART, a Vancouver-based arts research collective. The group, which melds art and engineering to draw attention to energy use, demo-ed the Mondo Spider, a 1,600-pound, eight-legged walking machine, and its most recent creation, the Titanoboa, a 1 ton, 50-foot-long mechanical snake.

Composed of 30 aluminum vertebrae connected by U-joints, the Titanoboa’s 60 hydraulic cylinders are controlled by six Aduino controllers and powered by a lithium polymer battery system. Remotely controllable (or by a rider), the electro-mechanical snake has a sustainable output of 10hp and can move in any of five snake locomotion modes, including classic serpentine, concertina and sidewinder.

Other eatART (energy awareness though ART) projects include Daisy, the world’s largest solar-powered tricycle; the 4-seat Black Ghost Electric Bike Car; and Prosthesis, a four-legged wearable walking machine. http://eatart.org

www.design-engineering.com

13-02-07 7:36 AM

DesignNews 11 Ontario repeals ‘Industrial Exception’ from Professional Engineering Act Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) announced that, effective March 1, 2013, those responsible for professional engineering work in relation to production machinery or equipment must be licensed by the provincial engineering regulatory organization.

In January, Ontario approved a change to the Professional Engineers Act that will remove the so-called industrial exception later this year. In addition, Ontario has also approved a regulatory provision to help employers make the transition to the new requirement.

Namely, employers, who file a transition plan with the PEO by March 1, will have up to one year to meet the requirement.

“Repealing the industrial exception in the Professional Engineers Act will improve oversight to help workers and the public stay safe and promote more efficient and productive workplaces,” said Attorney General John Gerretsen.

To help in the transition to the new regulations, the PEO says it will waive its license application fee for new graduates, immigrants and employees who apply for a license by March

1. PEO says it will also assist employees through the one-year compliance period by providing application and Engineering Intern Program (EIT) seminars and administering its professional practice exams on job sites. Instructional webinars and a frequently asked questions section about the new requirement are also available on the PEO web site. www.peo.on.ca

Lockheed Buys Aveos Lockheed Martin Canada Inc. has entered into an agreement to purchase certain assets of the engine maintenance, repair and overhaul business of Montreal’s Aveos Fleet Performance Inc. According to Lockheed, the engine MRO assets provide capabilities to perform a range of services on the CF34 and CFM56 engine families, which include engines that power the regional Embraer and Canadian RJ jets and the Airbus 320 family, respectively.

The facility will be named Kelly Aviation Center Montreal and become part of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics’ engine MRO line of business. www.lockheedmartin.ca

www.design-engineering.com January/February | 2013

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12 DesignNews

Harting Canada appoints President and CEO

The Harting team (from left): Claude Gravel, regional sales manager, Harting Canada Inc.; Rolf Meyer, president and CEO of Harting Inc. of North America; Philip Harting, senior vice-president, Harting Technology Group, Espelkamp, Germany; Jon DeSouza, president and CEO, Harting Canada Inc. Torsten Ratzmann, senior vice-president operations, Harting AG, Espelkamp/Germany.

German interconnect company, HARTING Technology Group named Jon DeSouza president & CEO of HARTING Canada, in January. DeSouza, who retains his existing responsibilities as executive VP of sales for HARTING North America, says the company’s intention is to build a local sales and support structure to support the Canadian market. In HARTING Technology Group’s 2012 fiscal year, the Americas experienced the largest revenue growth of any region – 13.6 percent to more than 50 million euros – with Canada contributing a significant portion of that growth.

“Our North America strategy is focused on proximity to our customers and distributor base where both the US and Canada play very important, but distinguished roles,” says DeSouza. “The first step was to establish HARTING Canada, Inc. with headquarters in Montreal and Claude Gravel as our Canadian regional sales manager. Now, we’re ready for the next step in building our sales team: The appointment of an area sales manager to focus on Ontario, which will be announced soon.” www.harting.ca

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14 CADReport

Cloud-Assisted CAD Autodesk’s Internet-dependent Fusion 360 modeling application reveals CAD giant’s big bet on general acceptance of Cloud-based software.

by Ralph Grabowski

A

t Autodesk University 2012, Autodesk strongly pushed two themes: The cloud; and that the company is uniquely poised to solve the full range of the world’s messy problems— provided designers use their software. Of the two, running software in the cloud seemed to me the more concrete outcome.

Autodesk CEO Carl Bass created controversy last April when he told a TechCrunch interviewer that, within two to three years, the only way to use every one of his company’s products will be online. Company representatives attempted to reinterpret his remarks but then contradicted one another.

One told the media that Bass meant customers would have a choice, between running software on a public cloud or on a private one; another insisted that Autodesk would always produce software for the desktop. I do like one term the executives used, “cloud-assisted desktop,” but that’s not what Bass said.

Autodesk University provided time for the CAD press to question the CEO, and here he seemed to say that while all Autodesk software would run in the cloud, it would not be cloud-only. Other executives insisted desktop software would be available for decades to come.

Like executives at Dassault Systemes, Bass is confident

customers will eventually find cloud-based software more compelling than desktop versions. Problems that concern customers—like security, privacy and reliability—will eventually “fall by the wayside,” but he didn’t explain how.

A consultant I met at the show said, yes, clients are interested in server-based software, but only when it runs on computers in their own offices. At this point, Autodesk’s cloud offerings run on Amazon’s EC2 servers primarily.

Fusion 360 The highlight of the show was Fusion 360, the new semi-online version of the Fusion 3D direct modeling software. (Fusion has been shipping free with Inventor and AutoCAD and as a stand-alone package for Macs.) What we know about Fusion 360 is limited to what Autodesk showed at AU, and so what I describe here might not be the same in the released version.

Autodesk says the new software will be suitable for the following tasks: • Industrial design through 3D surface modeling, powered by the T-Splines technology Autodesk acquired a year ago.

• Mechanical design through 3D solids modeling, powered by their own ACIS-based ShapeManager kernel.

• Collaboration through a dashboard, powered by their home-grown DesignFeed social networking facility and cloudbased PLM 360 project management system.

Figure 1: Fusion 360 combines surface and solid modeling in a desktop program that gets assistance from the cloud.

January/February | 2013

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When we start up Fusion 360, we will see a dashboard that lists all of the projects we are working on, either on our own or with other engineers. Another view shows just the models we are working on.

Project fi les are stored in the cloud.

This makes it easier for more than one person to view and work on projects. One other benefit: When we lose our laptop — you know, the one carrying all our fi les — then the Fusion 360 fi les are still accessible once the software is installed on the replacement machine.

We will be able to drag and drop www.design-engineering.com

13-02-05 1:04 PM

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16 CADReport fi les into Fusion 360, such as from AutoCAD, Inventor, Pro/E, and Solidworks, as well as neutral fi le formats, like STEP and JT. For the most part, the format will not matter, because the fi les will be translated automatically in the cloud. Fusion 360’s own fi les are saved in a newish fi le format called F3D, already used by the Mac version.

The user interface of the editing environment looks somewhat like the current version of Fusion, but is even more sparse. Autodesk says there will be more real-time assistance provided to users.

We will be able to interactively edit faces of solids as if they were surfaces without needing to switch between states, as we currently With a more sparse interface than the stand-alone version, Fusion 360 provides the same have to in AutoCAD. Naturally, real-time interactive face editing but adds cloud-assisted format conversion and revision history. shading is built-in, but full rendering will be operated in the cloud.

Borrowing from AutoCAD WS’s timeline, Fusion 360 will take to mean that we are expected to pay by the project or let us go back to see earlier revisions of the model by just yearly. There will definitely be no perpetual license, as we are dragging a slider bar. used to paying and which Autodesk describes in negative Autodesk thinks this software will be used primarily by terms as a “high, up front fee.” small business. Unlike current releases of Fusion, Fusion 360 Fusion 360 will run on PCs and Macs. You can sign up as will not be free. Autodesk mentioned term pricing, which I a beta tester at autodesk.com/fusion360. The software is due

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CADReport 17 to be released in the Spring 2013, a vague time frame that extends into late June. I expect it is no coincidence that this is pretty much the same time when Dassault Systemes expects to release its Enovia-based Solidworks “V6.” Fusion 360 will be the direct competitor to Solidworks V6, which probably is also a hybrid desktop-cloud program.

While no further announcements were made, I expect Autodesk to also release companion software, such as for viewing F3D fi les on portable devices, probably for Apple’s iPad fi rst.

Fusion 360 Technical Details Fusion 360 took Autodesk about three years to develop as a hybrid program. Executives told me that the toughest part was making much of the code multi-threaded so that it could run on the desktop and the cloud at the same time, with no intervention of the operating system. Fusion 360 multithreads Boolean calculations; ShapeManager modeling kernel operations; and graphics. In addition, Autodesk said they can throttle the amount of cloud-assisted operations from their end.

Multi-threading allows a program to run on more than one core of a computer’s CPU. Today’s CPUs tend to have four or more cores, yet most software cannot take advantage of the power. This is because multi-threading is such a tough

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It is multi-threading that allows Fusion 360 to run some tasks automatically in the cloud, such as fi le translation, rendering and finite element analysis. If you’ve been following Autodesk Labs, you know that all these elements have already been operating in the cloud. For instance, should you have AutoCAD 2013, you can test cloud rendering for a few fi les free.

The Road Ahead I see Fusion 360 as a stepping stone between desk-bound Inventor and cloud-only MCAD; perhaps a future release will be cloud-only, making the dream of CEO Bass a reality.

In my estimation, Autodesk likes the idea of cloud-only software because it locks in customers and their subscription payments, while eliminating the scourge of piracy. Those of us who remember the original “cloud” of the 70s (running programs on terminals connected to central mainframe computers) wonder why anyone would want to return to that kind of loss of control.

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The Future of 3D Technology From This Day, Forward

3D

technology is all around us.

It’s changing how we design and manufacture products, make movies, heal our bodies and interact with the world. Work that used to take place on a page or screen now reaches into space. And faster than ever before, 3D technology is transforming our world.

To see the impact of 3D, look to the realm of design. Designers led the way in embracing 3D CAD and then 3D printing, incorporating more and more physical models into their iterations and thinking with their heads and their hands. And they’ve reaped the benefits: design problems surface sooner and solutions are less costly. Inspiration happens faster.

Ultimately, products are better and consumers are happier. Black &

Decker makes a safer tree trimmer and Lamborghini makes a faster car because reviews and trials are more frequently executed on models very much resembling a final product.

A few examples of the Stratasys 3D Printer line.

Now, 3D printing applications are expanding from design into production, and freeing manufacturers to build without traditional restrictions. DDM stands for direct digital manufacturing, a way to produce a finished product,

part or tool straight from a computer design. More importantly, DDM means the rewards of faster, leaner, smarter methods are coming to the production floor. When we at Stratasys (and publications like The Economist, Forbes and The New York Times) call 3D printing “the next industrial revolution,” we’re not exaggerating.

A hundred years ago, the assembly line changed the world with mass production. It brought luxuries to the middle class, good wages to workers and economies of scale to investors.

Today, companies like BMW already know that DDM is mass production’s heir apparent. One factory-floor fixture, a nameplate-application device, offers an elegant example. Liberated from tooling constraints, BMW engineers reduced the device’s weight by half

WHATEVER YOUR GAME, 3D PRINTING IS GOING TO CHANGE IT. 3D printing means virtual inventories and low-volume production, which for manufacturers is the next big step.

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time. Then that researcher can make a 3D-printed exoskeleton to fit a different child. And another.

and replaced its blocky stock-metal handles with ergonomic grips — a great relief to workers who might lift the fixture hundreds of times per shift.

Today, NASA can shape a complex, human-supporting vehicle suitable for Martian terrain, despite the fact that its parts are too complex to machine, too rapidly iterated to outsource and too customized for traditional tooling.

This rover includes about 70 FDM parts, including housings, vents and fixtures.

And a dozen more. Now 15 children with rare disorders can raise their hands because of mass customization.

A pediatric engineering research lab has developed and 3D-printed custom devices for their smallest patients.

In a 3D world, we leave behind injection molding, casting and machining, gaining economy without the scale. 3D printing leads us beyond mass production and into mass customization. It’s how a researcher at a Delaware hospital creates a durable ABS-plastic exoskeleton customized to perfectly fit one child, Emma, allowing her to play, explore and hug for the first

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RSM2800 A

20 CADBeat

What a

DRAG

T m r

CFD analysis software helps Louis Garneau helmet make cycling less of a drag.

D w tu R c

R a • •

By Geneviève Dutil & Titus Sgro

A

s anyone who has ever ridden a bicycle on a windy day will testify, aerodynamics play a big part in cycling.

Perhaps more than any other sport, competitive cycling is dominated by aerodynamics, as cyclists, clad in aerodynamic clothing and helmets, are forced to adopt uncomfortable crouched position on their bikes, minimizing their frontal area and reducing their exposure to the oncoming air.

This is most apparent in Individual Time Trial (ITT), which is a key component of triathlon, track and road races. With no other riders to draft behind, the ITT is known as “the race of truth,” a brutal contest of man and machine against the clock.

Since minimizing drag delivers more speed for a given power output, all serious cyclists wear a specially designed aerodynamic helmet in a time trial, in order to guide the air around the head, and prevent gross separation behind what would otherwise be a bluff body.

Since they were fi rst introduced to the sport almost 25 years ago, cycling helmets have been the subject of much engineering attention, with the aim of further reducing the drag signature of the rider.

However, there is more to a time trial helmet than just drag reduction. To be successful, an aero-helmet also has to be properly ventilated (preventing the rider from overheating at maximum effort), impact resistant (protecting the rider’s head in the event of a crash), and constructed from lightweight materials.

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Louis Garneau’s U.S. CPSC certified Vorttice helmet was developed using CFD software from CD-adapco.

•

T n 5

Ahead of the Pack Quebec-based Louis Garneau has been a leader in the design and production of sports gear for over twenty-five years. Its founder and CEO, after whom the company is named, was a successful cyclist with over 150 victories in thirteen years of racing on both, the road and track. Garneau represented Canada at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

In 2002, Louis Garneau introduced the Prologue helmet, the first aero-helmet that provided impact protection in addition to aerodynamic advantage. Before its arrival, time trial helmets were basically just head-mounted aerodynamic fairings that offered no protection to the rider in the event of a crash.

The Prologue was the first aero-helmet to attain certification to the U.S. CPSC bicycle helmet standard, meaning that it was also the first aero-helmet that could legally be sold to the general public.

In fact, two years after the arrival of the Prologue, cycling’s governing body, the UCI, introduced a rule stating that all helmets used in competition must meet the less stringent European EN 1078 bicycle helmet safety standard. www.design-engineering.com

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T c w v p th

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22 CADBeat The Design Cycle Through four subsequent iterations (the Prologue in 2004, the Rocket in 2006, the Rocket Air in 2007, and the Superleggera in 2008), Louis Garneau continued to advance their professional helmet line. However, each new design was painstakingly engineered using a traditional “design-build-test” approach.

For each design iteration, it was necessary to create a clay model; tool the production line to make a prototype helmet; and perform wind tunnel tests before taking the helmet to market.

Making changes after prototyping was difficult, due to the cost and time required to retool the production line. Time is especially important, considering that the helmets must be manufactured and shipped in time for set racing days.

Although it was the only practical solution at the time, wind tunnel testing, due to inherent physical limitations, is an imperfect way to measure air flow. That’s especially true inside the helmet where air channels are cut to help cool a cyclist’s head and around really small features, such as the dimples on Louis Garneau’s 2008 model Superleggera. In addition, the exact effects of these small parts were very much unknown.

fications daily to the helmet design, taking information from previous iterations to make small changes. Also changed was the location of the air intake of the cooling channels inside the helmet, vastly improving the helmet’s ability to cool the cyclist.

In the Superleggera, the CFD analysis actually showed significantly substandard airflow within the helmet, which the new intake and channels fi xed. Lx R&D ran a new helmet design every day (including weekends) for a month, using the modified helmet and the scanned cyclist’s body in the same wind tunnel settings, before the design was optimized to Louis Garneau’s satisfaction.

Other things that the two companies were able to do were to quickly analyze the helmet’s performance at speeds up to 60 km/h and to examine different angles of attack for the helmet. This is something that’s hard to reproduce in a wind tunnel because a cyclist usually cannot hold his head completely still enough to take accurate measurements.

The whole process of continual redesign took a month, but produced a vastly superior helmet in a shorter period of time than the clay model method, not to mention the reduced cost of the process. In addition, Louis Garneau had vastly more data and information about their new helmet from the CFD analysis than they could have gathered from a wind tunnel test, giving them further insight into potential improvements in the future.

Against the Clock To get a better understanding of the detailed aerodynamics of their helmets, Louis Garneau approached Lx R&D inc., a Bromont, QC mechanical engineering consulting firm, that specializes in engineering simulation and product development using analysis tools such as CD-adapco’s STARCCM+ computational fluid dynamics software.

Lx R&D and Louis Garneau partnered to create the next iteration of Garneau’s professional cycling helmet, the Vorttice. To begin integrating computational fluid dynamics software into the design process, and to prove the concept to Louis Garneau, Lx R&D began by scanning a 3D model of the Superleggera and a cyclist to analyze.

This required separate scans of the helmet and the cyclist, which were then merged together digitally, to reproduce Garneau’s wind tunnel model. The resulting CFD analysis of this model came within 4 percent of the company’s own CD-adapco’s STAR-CCM+ software let Lx R&D analyze the helmet’s performance analysis during the wind tunnel test, verifying the at speeds up to 60 km/h and examine different angles of attack. results found by Lx R&D. In analyzing the Superleggera, many ideas were proposed for improvement, such as reducing the frontal area of the helmet, relocating the air intake position, adding air ducts within the helmet to improve air flow and cooling power, and fi nding ways to reduce the sensitivity of the helmet to angle of attack.

A particular idea Lx R&D brought to the table was adding vortex generators to the helmet, common in other racing sports, which create turbulent flow across the back half of the helmet, forcing the boundary layer to remain attached for longer and thereby minimizing drag.

CFD analysis helped designers optimize the location of the air intake of the air The two companies were able to make modi- ducts within the helmet to improve air flow and cooling power.

January/February | 2013

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www.design-engineering.com

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24

CADBeat Aerodynamic Success In the end, the new Vorttice has become a stunning success. Mirinda Carfrae, a world champion triathlete, tested several helmets in a wind tunnel and chose the Vorttice over all of the competition.

She cited its superior drag reduction and improved ventilation as reasons for her choice. The helmet was also featured prominently in the Tour de France, as the helmet of choice for the riders of In developing Garneau’s Vorttice helmet, Lx R&D adding vortex generators to the Europcar team.

Despite the complexity of the design, the fi nal create turbulent flow across the back half of the helmet to minimizing drag. product’s CFD analysis uses only 10 million polyhedral cells in the volume mesh for both the helmet and the Louis Garneau noted a streamlined design process, with rider, significantly reducing the computing power needed. significant cost and time savings, in renewing their contract The re-envisioned process for design of the helmet goes from with Lx R&D for their next helmet. Both companies plan 3D-CAD modeling, CFD/CAD iterations, rapid prototyping, to more fully integrate computer aided engineering tools in a single wind tunnel test, to tooling for production. the design process now that the trial run is completed. CFD As noted above, Lx R&D was able to run a new iteration software has changed the way Louis Garneau designs bike of the design, starting with a new CAD model, wrapping helmets for good, and their competitors will have to change it with the digital cyclist to remove any CAD impurities over as well, lest they be left behind.

DE (using STAR-CCM+’s surface wrapping tool), remeshing www.lxsim.com and producing results in a single day, reusing only the www.cd-adapco.com physics characteristics for each run. These results were then returned to Louis Garneau engineers for analysis and Geneviève Dutil, ing. is the president of Lx R&D Inc.; further modifications.

Titus Sgro is a technical marketing engineer at CD-adapco.

January/February | 2013

20-25-DES.indd 24

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26 CoverStory

Ride the Updraft Comprehensive report points the way upward for Canada’s aerospace sector.

PHOTO: BOMBARDIER INC.

By Jim Anderton

B

y the numbers, Canada is an aerospace overachiever. Ranking 35th in population globally, we have the world’s fifth largest aerospace industry in absolute terms. Only the US, France, Germany and Great Britain exceed our share. When measured relative to the size of national economies, Canada is even more impressive, behind only the United States.

In the current economic reality, however, can we maintain our position? Despite global recessionary pressures, the future looks bright, according to Aerospace Industries Association of Canada president and CEO Jim Quick.

“Based on our information, we’re expecting that major OEM’s like Boeing, Airbus and Bombardier that we are on track for the next 20 years to see a dramatic increase in passenger travel,” says Quick. “That means 34,000 new aircraft; it’s the equivalent of 4.5 trillion dollars’ worth of work.”

Aging Fleets, More Orders Those opportunities have emerged because of a “perfect storm” of global economic factors favouring civil aerospace. The dramatic rise of the developing world—in particular the “BRIC” economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China—has left those nations’ indigenous aerospace sectors lagging in large commercial airframe and engine capacity, although all four have the technology to build airliners.

However, growing demand for air travel isn’t the only driver of commercial aircraft orders. Fuel costs, which account for over half of many airlines operation costs, are stubbornly high. While modern aircraft like Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner offer up to 20 percent lower fuel burn per passenger mile compared to current airliners, they are expensive—a 787-8 carries a list price of over 200 million dollars.

However, interest rates are at generational lows, and the airline fleet is aging.

Air Canada’s fleet is an example. According to airfleets. net, Air Canada’s average fleet age is 12.3 years, with the A320 aircraft averaging 19.4 years. Aircraft used for short haul domestic routes can become uneconomic after 20 years of service and over 200 airlines use the A320, so the replaceJanuary/February | 2013

26-29.2-DES.indd 26

ment market is enormous. Boeing alone carries a three year delivery backlog.

The potential for Canadian suppliers is obvious. Boeing’s director of business development and global strategy for the fi rm’s commercial airplane business, Dustin Robinson, describes the environment.

“Boeing spent 900 million dollars with more than 400 Canadian suppliers in 2011,” he says. “World air travel has grown five percent per year since 1980, despite four recessions, two Gulf Wars, an oil shock and 9-11. We predict that commercial airplanes will generate 1.2 trillion dollars in sales opportunity over the next twenty years.”

Robinson feels this growth will result in changes to the way parts are sourced by major OEM’s.

“We’re working closely with our suppliers to address supply chain issues,” he says. “It’s one of the most significant challenges we have in new programs ... it can be a significant enabler to program success. We’ve spent a lot of time looking at fi nancing; with a growth of 40 percent, we will have constraints. It will take capital and technology.”

It will also take a new approach from Tier One and Two suppliers to the fi rm.

“We have a fewer number of suppliers than in past programs,” Robinson adds. “We will focus on those suppliers but recognize the need to manage the whole supply chain in a highly competitive market. There was a view that information sharing with Boeing will work against you, usually a ‘cost down’. We really want to work together to achieve cost efficiencies....when Boeing requests a price reduction from a supplier, someone in the chain will ultimately pay for it in a highly competitive environment.”

Just who will pay isn’t clear, but several Tier Two and Three suppliers contacted but who declined to be named, expressed doubt that major OEM’s will be able to push cost cutting entirely down to the bottom of the supply chain.

They cite already tight margins and the increasing specialization and certification of downstream suppliers. If your shop is a certified supplier and has years of experience with landing gear trunnions for example, competition will more likely come from foreign fi rms than Canadian companies. www.design-engineering.com

13-02-05 1:06 PM

CoverStory 27 The Global Challenge Protecting Canadian suppliers from that threat will require a new emphasis on net benefits analysis and tighter control over technology transfer and intellectual property rights.

“The single largest challenge is the globalization of the industry,” says AIAC’s Jim Quick. “It’s changing how you build and structure the supply chains. At some point, platforms having 300 suppliers will have 50, because major OEMs are asking their supply chains to take on more and larger segments of the work. You’ll see that kind of phenomenon down through the Tier Ones to tiers Three and Four. This is the way the industry is evolving.”

Veteran aerospace manufacturing consultant Dr. Kevin Michaels notes that consolidation is ongoing, citing a recent deal in the lucrative landing gear segment.

“The United Technologies Corporation/Goodrich merger could be a harbinger of further Tier One consolidation in the future,” he says. “One reason is a changing supply chain strategy from OEMs. They want to simplify their supply chains. Rolls- Royce went from 400 suppliers in 1977 to less than 50 for the firm’s new Trent jet engine program. OEM’s now want to source complete aircraft systems, not just parts.”

Michaels cites Nexcelle, a joint venture between U.S. major GE Aviation and France’s SAFRAN as an example, as well as Rolls Royce’s collaboration with United Technologies’ Pratt & Whitney engine business.

Michaels also notes that the major deals conceal a larger movement further down the supply chain.

“Tier Four supplier consolidation is under reported,” he says. “These are the raw materials suppliers and are consolidating quickly.

Smaller firms here could go the way of the family farm.”

Different Rules, Different Game Globalization and consolidation are nothing new in manufacturing, but the aerospace industry’s defense sector operates by different priorities than the civil market. Both emerging and advanced countries regard indigenous defense manufacturing capability as a source of national pride and a security issue. At the same time, the advanced technologies inherent in modern weapons programs add issues of secrecy and supplier security qualification.

On the price side, many programs are decades-long, making total life cycle costs difficult to predict and highly political.

Nowhere is this more true that in the ongoing CF-35 procurement debate. At press time, the issue was “reset” by Minister of www.design-engineering.com

26-29.2-DES.indd 27

Public Works and Government Services and Minister for Status of Women Rona Ambrose, who publicly released the selection criteria for fighter aircraft.

“Last April, we set out a Seven-Point Plan to hit the reset button on the process to replace the CF-18 aircraft,” the Minister said. “With the release of the Terms of Reference that will guide the evaluation of alternative fighter aircraft, we are demonstrating that we are serious about looking at all available options to replace the CF-18’s.”

While “all available options” doesn’t exclude the CF-35, the operational requirements were written around the unique stealth capability of the aircraft, making a new selection process difficult and possibly too lengthy to deliver aircraft before the current CF-18 airframes reach their maximum allowable flight hours. And export markets will be dominated by fiscal restraint for some time to come, adds Quick.

“I think there are two environments,” he says. “On the defense side, we’re seeing two phenomena. Emerging economies are

Courtesy AIAC

Courtesy AIAC

January/February | 2013

13-02-05 1:06 PM

28 CoverStory increasing defense spending. With that increase comes opportunity, but there is a decline in traditional defense markets like the U.S. and Europe. If we see the kind of reductions in the U.S. that they’re contemplating, we will definitely see effects in Canada.”

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economic doctrine.

“The Fraser institute wants to remove public support for the aerospace sector,” Emerson, the report’s team leader, says. “We looked at what other countries are doing ... in the developing world, they want what we have in Canada, and they often don’t operate by the same rules as Canada. They are building their aerospace industries. The good old days of a rules-based, level playing field in trade are going away.”

“The large supply chain of 10 years ago is changing,” he adds.

“OEMs don’t want to deal with hundreds of suppliers. This has important implications for the many small businesses in the aerospace industry. It’s not about cheaper financing; it’s about their ability to continue to feed the Canadian supply chain.

We’re working at making government programs more accessible to small business.”

Should governments backstop aerospace investment? UK Prime Minister David Cameron, in a statement at the Airbus Broughton plant, said: “The government will continue to back UK aerospace, cutting business taxes, investing in exports and working in partnership with the industry to ensure it is fully equipped to compete and thrive in the global race.”

The global consensus is that aerospace is a strategic sector, one important enough to protect with taxpayer dollars. To what extent emerging nations will be able and willing to subsidize their sectors will depend on multiple factors including the current economic crisis, regional conflicts and trade agreements.

Canada has an advantage because of a mature technology base; preferred access to the world’s biggest market, the U.S.; and the ability to participate in advanced, sensitive-technology projects.

With a major backlog in commercial airliner production, the Canadian aerospace supply chain enjoys a cushion against weak spending in the defense sector. However, the CF-35 program, or its replacement, will likely define the industry’s advanced capabilities for decades to come. Implementation of some or all of the Aerospace Review recommendations may decide whether Canada continues to punch above our weight in the global industry, or goes the way of the Avro Arrow. DE www.aerosapcereview.ca

Complete library of CAD drawings and 3D models available at:

w w w . a u r o r a b e a r i n g . c o m January/February | 2013

26-29.2-DES.indd 28

Jim Anderton is the editor of Canadian Metalworking magazine. www.design-engineering.com

13-02-05 1:06 PM

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Calls for Investment The challenge to the Canadian industry is the backdrop to a new Government of Canada aerospace review entitled Beyond the Horizon: Canada’s Interests and Future in Aerospace. Released to coincide with the 2012 Canadian Aerospace Summit in Ottawa on November 29th, the report was announced as part of the 2011 Federal budget and formally launched on February 27th.

The two-volume document was produced by a team headed by former Minister of Foreign Affairs David Emerson with an advisory council that included former Ontario Minister of Economic Development Sandra Pupatello; aviation management and supply chain expert Professor Jacques Roy; and Aerospace Industries Association of Canada President and CEO Jim Quick.

The review’s 17 recommendations, if implemented, Aurora-Where_the_Action_Is:Aurora 11/5/10 2:27 PM Pagewould 1

streamline bureaucracy and add government funding to a host of enabling programs from education to large scale technology demonstration.

Normally, major aerospace reports focus on OEMs and defense procurement yet, according to the report, the government should, “co-fund initiatives aimed at strengthening the Canadian aerospace supply chain.”

This recommendation suggests a significantly larger role for public funding at all levels of the industry, a position that would seem to be at odds with the Federal government’s conservative

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30 ShopTalk

In Transit Harting connectors help Bombardier’s Toronto LRV transit vehicles run on time.

Based on Bombardier’s Flexity 2 platform, Toronto’s new Light Rail Trains depend on multiple connectors from HARTING Canada.

By Rich Carlson

HARTING has made transportation a focus industry. It sells more transportation-specific connectors than any other or the same reasons industrial connectors are displacing manufacturer and new connectors are being added on a hard wiring in machine design, manufacturers of railway regular basis. Rail specific connectors are designed to withand transit rolling stock have embraced modular connector stand the rigors of rail and transit operations – extreme design with enthusiasm. After all, a rail or transit vehicle is temperatures, shock and vibration, fluctuating power levels, a machine on steel or rubber wheels. With hard-wiring, it can electromagnetic interference, and more. take many hours of unwiring before maintenance workers In fact, there’s some HARTING connector technology in can begin to unbolt a bogie in order to replace a malfunction- every new Toronto subway car being built by Bombardier ing traction motor.

Transportation in Thunder Bay, ON. There will be even more With connectors, the power, signal and communications in that city’s light rail vehicles (LRVs) from the same manufacsystems can be disconnected and reconnected in minutes. turer: 204 streetcars to replace the current trams and 182 light Furthermore, railway and transit vehicles tend to get multiple rail cars for 52 km of new lines. Those will incorporate HARTend-to-end overhauls and system upgrades during their ING power and signal content as well as decades-long service life. Consequently, concommunication network and nectors are economical, cost less to install connectivity content. and reduce over-wiring.

For HARTING North That’s an imporAmerica, the Toronto LRVs tant design considare a marquee order for eration where large Canada and a high water amounts of wire mark in building its relationand cables must fit in ship with Bombardier tight spaces under floors, on this continent. The or between ceiling panels or Toronto LRV fleets will sidewalls and as operators add be based on Bombardier’s more sophisticated safety and Flexity 2 100 percent lowtrain control technology and pasfloor global platform. Even senger information systems on board. when modified for local requirements, Hybrid connectors that accommodate LRV contracts based on Flexity platforms combinations of power, signal and data, have a great deal of design commonality. even pneumatic lines, are a further time, A typical arrangement of HARTING highThe Toronto Rocket subway cars and space, weight and cost saver. current connectors used in transportation. LRVs all use Han-Quintax and M12 crimp

F

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www.design-engineering.com

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ShopTalk

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connectors. The Han-Quintax is a good example of a weight and more economical than metal lowproduct optimized for transportation. It’s a highly ered hardware, assembly and warehousing costs. shielded, low impedance, 4-pin connector designed For new Flexity 2 streetcars in Innsbruck, to handle sensitive communications with no loss Austria, HARTING helped implement a new of signal. It is dramatically more efficient to install third party passenger infotainment system based and maintain than hard-wiring the same neton an IP solution it developed for the interconwork. nection of PC-based components that uses The Toronto Trolley LRVs will use HanHARTING connectors and an eight-port Ethernet Quintax and M12 crimp connectors, but also switch. high IP, all-weather rugged connectors to carry Such collaborations don’t just happen in signal power, and communications on some Europe now. At the request of Bombardier of the company’s latest high performance engineers in Kingston, Ontario, HARTING innovations. For example, the LRVs will customized a communications connector destined incorporate the stainless steel Han-Inox and for use in the new Sao Paulo monorail program. They aluminum die cast connectors for internal liked a particular InduCom interface, but wanted and external vehicle applications. In addi- HARTING’s Han-Eco connector to have additional functionality. As a result of a tion, HARTING has developed the Han series used to connect medium joint effort by HARTING staff in North America Megabit module, which is even more com- voltage cabling systems and Europe, the PCB inside the interface was redepact than Han-Quintax and was designed signed to meet the customer’s requirement, and a for rail/transit communications where a Cat 5e Ethernet new version of the product was created while also serving an interface, rated up to 100 megabits, is required. important customer’s requirement.

DE Spirit of Collaboration Rich Carlson is senior product manager for the Industrial In Europe, HARTING and Bombardier have built a strong Products Division of HARTING North America. relationship. HARTING’s reputation for transportation-specific standard components is part of that, but also for working with Bombardier on developing customized solutions. As an example, HARTING engiOur encoders are built to perform, even in the most extreme conditions of neers created a special coatless zinc die cast heat, cold, moisture and anything your requirements dictate. Whatever housing for DIN 41612 connections for the front interface to Bombardier’s MITRAC your industry, we’ll satisfy your expectations for superior quality, value, energy saver train control modules. service and reliability, always eager to earn your confidence with our

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HARTING HAN-modular in an HPR housing are used for power and signal transmission in rugged environments

For Bombardier’s AC TRAXX locomotives, the two companies collaborated on implementing HARTING’s Han-Eco connector series as the standard for connecting medium voltage cabling systems, linking ventilators, pumps and other auxiliary units in the locomotive engine room. Standardizing these functions with Han-Eco connectors made from fiber-glass reinforced, high performance plastic that is lighter in www.design-engineering.com

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Industrial Encoder Corporation Member of the GESgroup of companies

www.globalencoder.ca

22 Commerce Place, St. Catharines ON, Canada L2S 0B3 Phone Toll Free 1-888-277-6205 Fax Toll Free 1-866-278-1301 info@globalencoder.ca

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IdeaGenerator 33 Sensors Rotary Encoder POSITAL introduced its heavy-duty absolute rotary encoders that feature shock- and vibration-resistant magnetic measuring elements housed in 316L stainless steel housings. Designed for rugged environments, the encoder features seals on the shaft entry and cable connection (IP68 and IP69K level protection), and shafts that can withstand mechanical forces of up to 300 N (67 pounds). The magnetic encoders contain 13-bit resolution (8192 steps per revolution) and multi-turn models are available with a range limited only by memory size. Its internal rotation counter uses a self-powered technology that enables these devices to keep track of their absolute position even when movement occurs during control system power outages. The encoders are available with a simple serial (SSI) interface or CANopen, DeviceNet and SAE J1939 field bus interfaces. Analog interfaces (4-20mA or 0-10V) are also available. www.fraba.com

Capacitive Proximity Sensor AutomationDirect’s line of capacitive proximity sensors now includes 12mm metal round bodied DC models with shielded and unshielded mounting options, PNP, normally-open outputs, potentiometer adjustment and M12 quick disconnect.

Unshielded 18mm DC plastic bodied models with selectable normally-open/normally-closed outputs feature logic auto detection. Additional unshielded 30mm models feature AC and DC versions with plastic housings and have programmable normally-open or normally-closed outputs. Rectangular plastic DC sensors, designed for sight glass applications, feature selectable normally-open or normally-closed outputs and are fitted with a two-meter three-wire axial cable. All units are cULus, CE and RoHS rated and have a limited lifetime warranty. www.automationdirect.com

Miniature LVDT Position Sensors Macro Sensors rolled out its Miniature AC-Operated LVDT Position Sensors for high pressure and temperature environments. Offering a lightweight, low mass core and a compact 3/8-inch diameter, the CD 375 Series operate in temperature extremes of -65°F to +400°F (-55°C to +200°C) and operating pressures of 35 kpsi. To accommodate such high pressure, the sensor case is vented to equalize pressure inside and outside the LVDT linear position sensor. Available sizes range from ±0.025 inch (±0.63mm) to ±1.0 inch (±25.0mm). Customizable with Teflon bore liners, metric threaded cores and lead wire exit points, the CD 375 Series LVDTs operate with any conventional differential input LVDT signal conditioners. www.macrosensors.com

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

Helical Gearmotors • 1-75 HP Capacity • Motorized or Adapters • Right Angle or Inline • Shaft Mount Designs • Multi-Stage Ratios • Modular Design

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Servo Worm Gearheads • 3 Backlash Levels • Shafts or Hollow Bores • Single or Dual Outputs • 11 sizes, 25-200mm CD • Capacity: 10-7000 Nm • 20,000 Hour Ratings

Spiral Bevel Gearboxes • 9 Sizes • 1-250 HP Capacity • Low Backlash Option • Ratios from 1:1 to 6:1 • Output Shaft Options • Machined Housings

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Vacuum Thermocouple Assemblies Omega’s new TCV series of Stainless Steel thermocouple probe assemblies with M12 connector are available in standard lengths of 3, 6, and 12 inches with a grounded or ungrounded thermocouple junction at the tip.

Standard probes are available in K, T and E calibrawww.design-engineering.com

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www.diequa.com 630-980-1133

See our complete product line!

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IdeaGenerator tions. Single or dual thermocouple construction is optional.

Designed for vacuum furnace, food processing and storage, food products in transit, and fish farming in order to record environmental conditions to comply with health and safety regulations. www.omega.ca

Touch Probes HEIDENHAIN introduced two Touch Probes — the TS 460 for workpiece measurement and the TT 460 for tool measurement — featuring hybrid technology, and offering radio and infrared signal transmissions. The dual signal transmission of these new touch probes enables the user to select either mode, combining the advantages of radio or of infrared signals. The radio transmission uses the 2.4 GHz frequency band and has 16 channels. The range is usually 15m and infrared transmission has a range of 7m. On both the TT 460 and TS 460, the optical sensor is free of wear, and so provides the specified probing reproducibility even after a large number of probing processes (5 million switching cycles during type testing). www.heidenhain.us

Automation Robot Controller DENSO introduce its high-speed RC8 controller, a compact (12 x 18 x 3.75 inches), 3-kW output industrial robot controller that is 60 percent smaller and 45 percent lighter than the company’s previous model. The RC8 can communicate with more than 100 different types of devices using the company’s ORiN open-resource interface networking system. Its communications interfaces include 100 Base-T Ethernet, mini/hand I/O, RS-232C and USB as standard, plus CC-Link, DeviceNet, EtherCAT, EtherNet/IP, parallel discrete I/O, Profibus and Profinet as optional. It features a Microsoft Windows-based graphical user interface and is ISO and UL safety compliant.

Optional accessories include a 7.5-inch color touchscreen; a mini pendant with a 128 x 64 pixel LCD display, up to two additional axes and conveyor tracking. DENSO’s Wincaps III 3D simulation software allows offline programming and remote monitoring of robot operation. www.densorobotics.com

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IdeaGenerator 35 Industrial PC B&R unveiled its Automation PC 910, a box PC featuring Intel’s third generation Core i3, Core i5 or Core i7 CPUs with up to four cores combined with the QM77 Express chipset. As with previous Automation PC models, the user is able to mix and match CPU performance with different sized main units as needed.

The Automation PC 910 now has a serial ATA-based CFast card combined with standard PC solid state drives and hard disks. These devices are also equipped with two Gigabit Ethernet ports, one serial and one modular serial port such as RS485 or CAN together with USB 3.0 ports. www.br-automation.com

Safety Relay Wieland Electric Inc. has expanded its line of universal safety relays to include a small 22.5mm wide version. The SNO 4083KM safety relays are used for conventional safety tasks in mechanical and system engineering and applications in lift engineering (according to EN 81-1) or in controls for industrial combustion plants (according to EN 50156-1). For increased safety, all of these applications can be implemented without the user having to press a control button or connect additional configuration terminals. Wieland’s SNO 4083KM relays can be used in safety-oriented applications up to PL e / Category 4 according to EN ISO 13849-1 and SILCL 3 according to EN 62061. The SNO 4083KM safety relays also feature a wide temperature operating range of -25ºC to 65ºC. www.wielandinc.com

EtherCAT Box I/O Beckhoff Automation introduced its EP1518 EtherCAT Box, a I/O device that integrates 32-bit fast-pulse counters, digital inputs with sensor diagnostics and adjustable filter characteristics. The EP1518 is IP 67-rated and has eight 24VDC inputs as well as an EtherCAT input port and output port. The device also counts fast pulses with a counting frequency of up to 1 kHz. All eight inputs of the EP1518 are equipped with an up/down counter and gate input that can be deactivated. Two of the eight inputs are available for standard 32-bit up/down counters, however all eight signal inputs on the EP1518 IP 67 box are transmitted as “normal” digital signals over the EtherCAT network. In addition, the EtherCAT Box is equipped with short-circuit detection via diagnostics of the sensor supply.

The software-based adaptation of the inputs can be adjusted by filter characteristics between 10 μs and 100 ms. www.beckhoff.com www.design-engineering.com

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36 IdeaGenerator Fluid Power Pneumatic Air Cylinders AutomationDirect has added its F-Series all stainless steel air cylinders to its NITRA pneumatic product line. The non-repairable round body pneumatic air cylinders are interchangeable with other popular brands. The doubleacting cylinders have a 250 psi operating pressure and are constructed with corrosion resistant 300 series stainless steel and Teflon-based rod and pivot bushings. The Urethane rod wiper keeps wash down solutions out of the cylinder. The series includes bore sizes from ¾-inch to two inches and stroke lengths from ½-inch to 18 inches to meet a broad range of applications.

Models feature nose, rear pivot, and double-end mounting options and models are available with magnetic piston for position indication. www.automationdirect.com

Air Nozzle EXAIR introduced its Pico Super Air Nozzle, which produces a focused air pattern that measures 1.3-inches in diameter when

positioned 6 inches away from the target surface. Amplification of entrained airflow and a blowing force of 5 ounces are achieved with minimal air consumption of only 4.9 SCFM at 80 PSIG. The Pico Super Air Nozzle meets the OSHA standards for dead-end pressure 29 CFR 1910.242(b) and noise requirements 29 CFR 1910.95(a), assuring safe operation.

The Pico Super Air Nozzle has a M5 x 0.5 air inlet, but is also available with a 1/8 NPT male compressed air inlet. In addition, there is a version constructed of PEEK plastic for non-marring protection. www.exair.com

Motors and Drives Hypoid Gearmotor Bison Gear and Engineering launched the PowerSTAR, a hypoid, maximum efficiency, right-angle gearmotor. The motor features ground gearing to provide quiet operation and low backlash precision and is equipped with finned edges for cooler operating temperatures and multiple mounting configurations. The initial product

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IdeaGenerator 37 offering includes both 1/8 and 1/5 HP single-phase 115V and three-phase 230V inverter duty motor options on the 725 gearbox in 13 standard ratios offering output torque from 59-878 in-lbs. Other frame sizes and gearing packages are scheduled, the company says. www.bisongear.com

Servo Drives Metronix launched its ARS 2000 SE line of intelligent servomotor drives available in a choice of six single- or threephase continuous output power ratings from 0.5 to 6 kVA. The line features a compact design with integrated line and motor filters plus an integrated brake chopper and braking resistor. In addition, the drives incorporate an increased overcurrent capability of four times the continuous output rating and the integration of Safe Torque Off (STO) functional safety. The new drives also feature a universal encoder interfacing capabil-

ity. Standard communications interfaces include the CAN fieldbus, which is compatible with the DS 402 CANopen device profile. One further feature is an SD Card interface, which can be used to store firmware and operating parameters. www.metronix.de

AC Drives Rockwell Automation has extended the ratings of its Allen-Bradley PowerFlex 755 AC drives to 1500 kW/2,000 hp. This latest frame extension features 400/480/600/690 volt ratings and N-1 technology that allows users to configure the drive to utilize one, two or all three of its power structures. The common DC-bus option allows users to connect the PowerFlex 755 AC drive to a DC-bus configuration, which takes advantage of different drive cycles to share energy. Like all PowerFlex 755 drives, the latest frame size includes an embedded Ethernet port and multiple option slots. Option modules include I/O, feedback, safety, additional communications and auxiliary power supply. www.rockwellautomation.com

DesignSolutions Dust Collectors NEW - Full Line Literature Guide This impressive NEW guide outlines dozens of N.R. Murphy dust collectors, installations, capacities, styles and models. A must for any reference library. N.R. Murphy Limited has been in business over 70 years and has thousands of satisfied customers. “Dust Collectors are all we do; so get it done right the first time. Just Ask the Experts.�

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OMEGA Introduces DC Current Data Logger OMEGA Introduces DC Current Data Logger Omega introduces its new series of DC Current Data Loggers. The OM-CP-PROCESS101A is a low cost logger with 10 year battery life, 4 Hz reading rate, multiple start/stop function, ultra high speed download, 1 million reading storage capacity, memory wrap, battery life indicator, optional password protection and programmable high and low alarms.

Two current input ranges are available: 20mA and 160 mA. Contact: info@omega.ca Visit us at: www.omega.ca

Clippard Offers Miniature Pneumatic Products Catalog for Scientific/Medical Applications A leader in miniature pneumatics, Clippard provides the scientific/medical industry a variety of products and solutions. The product range is illustrated in a color brochure featuring the most complete line of miniature fluid power products for the medical, pharmaceutical analytical and dental fields. To get your copy today please visit our website at the address printed below.

Contact: sales@clippard.com Visit us at: www.clippard.com/scientific-a

To advertise your solution in this section call Alan Macpherson at 416.510.6756 www.design-engineering.com

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CanadianInnovator

A Screen Revolution Ultra-thin and flexible ‘PaperTab’ computer expected to become standard across the globe in years to come.

By Treena Hein

T

ake notice, conventional computer screens – your days are numbered.

Development of all aspects of hardware and software is moving swiftly these days, and computer-human interaction, including screen technology, is exploding. One of the groups on the cutting edge of this is the Queen’s University Human Media Lab (HML). They have already invented the eyetracking screen sensors now widely used across the globe, the world’s first flexible phone, and a pseudo-holographic teleconferencing system called TeleHuman.

Now, the HML team (in collaboration with Plastic Logic and Intel Labs) has created a flexible ‘paper’ computer called the PaperTab tablet. It looks like a sheet of paper, but is actually a high-resolution touchscreen display powered by an Intel Core i5 processor.

But it’s not just the look that’s revolutionary; the PaperTab is as flexible as a piece of paper and lets users interact with it as if it were. For example, you can move to the next or previous page of a long document by ‘turning’ the upper right or left of the screen. HML Director Roel Vertegaal believes that within five to ten years, most computers will be the PaperTab type.

“It’s a typical example of an HML project,” he says. “We January/February | 2013

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brainstorm with students, and pick the ideas that excite us, and those we believe will be used in the future.”

The first version of the PaperTab device was developed in 2004 and involved projecting screen images onto pieces of paper that were tracked with a Vicon motion capture system.

It took nine more years of waiting for new technology to be available – lightweight, thinfi lm tablets – and to develop the haptic nature of the system, before PaperTab could be born.

“The user-friendliness of PaperTab lies in being able to manipulate one app per screen, something only truly possible with these technologies,” Vertigaal notes. But multiple PaperTabs can also be used interactively. For example, a user can send a photo by tapping one PaperTab (displaying the image) on to another PaperTab displaying an open draft email.

Since PaperTabs keep track of their locations relative to each other and the user, the action automatically carries out the attachment process. Similarly, users can create a larger drawing or display surface by placing two or more PaperTabs beside each other.

“There is an electromagnetic sensor in each one that relates 6DOF position and orientation to a nearby transmitter,” Vertegaal explains. “They are connected to a central server which coordinates graphics. In consumer versions, each PaperTab will be a wireless terminal to a cloud service and position trackwww.design-engineering.com

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CanadianInnovator ing would be relative rather than absolute as it is now.”

The most powerful aspect of being able to use several PaperTabs together is ease-of-use, which is one-part efficiency and one-part effectiveness, in Vertegaal’s view. “With their low weight, PaperTabs excel at being moved around a desk in comparison to a hard tablet, and this is critical to using their multi-display window systems,” he says. “That doesn’t necessarily make them more efficient than using a traditional window system with a mouse, but there is less concentration and mental effort involved, and you don’t need to step through apps.”

Vertegaal and his colleagues believe PaperTabs are more useful with “ultimately any application.” He says. “Think about reading the newspaper with a Papertab broadsheet that is foldable, thus portable while commuting. Think about no longer having to print on paper, or map out data or architectural drawings that require large sheets. Think about playing board games with multiple people anywhere, anytime. Think about offices where people can work on and compare or copy from many files simultaneously. And so on.” He adds, “We have finally arrived at the paperless office by inventing a computer that works just like paper. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”

The most challenging aspect of the PaperTab’s creation was getting the position tracking and touch to work, and

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getting the sheets of film sandwiched such that they would be flexible and sufficiently thin.

New Lab Design With a complete re-design and makeover of The Human Media Lab, finished in May 2012, development of new technologies will be easier than ever. The design was a collaboration between Vertegaal and world-renowned designer Karim Rashid.

“Labs and other work environments have, up to this point, been designed as functional, linear spaces not very conducive to innovative thinking,” Vertegaal explains. “Instead, we created creative space to think, a cantilevered table to collaborate around and other areas for focus work.”

A star feature is the huge interactive flexible display that employs ‘gesture technology’ as seen in movies like ‘Minority Report.’ In addition, eye trackers recognize when people in adjoining cubicles are looking at each other, and turns the translucent glass between them transparent so they can communicate. “This may be the way people interact with computers in the future,” says Vertegaal. “They will be seamlessly integrated into the surrounding space.”

DE www.hml.queensu.ca

Treena Hein is a Pembroke, Ont.-based freelance writer.

Advertisers Index Advertiser

Website

Aerotech, Inc.

www.aerotech.com

Page 12

All Metric Small Parts

www.allmetricsmallparts.com

34

Aurora Bearing Company

www.aurorabearing.com

28

Automation Direct

www.automationdirect.com

Baldor Electric Company

www.baldor.com

7 40

Beckhoff Automation

www.beckhoff.ca

15

Boker’s Inc.

www.bokers.com

36

Clippard Instrument

www.clippard.com

9

Daemar Inc.

www.daemar.com

32

Diequa Corp.

www.diequa.com

33

Drive Products Inc.

www.driveproducts.com

24

Encoder Products Co.

www.encoder.com

34

Festo Canada Inc.

www.festo.ca

Great-West Life

www.engineerscanadafsp.grsaccess.com/app 13

Industrial Encoder Corp.

www.globalencoder.ca

31

Master Bond Inc.

www.masterbond.com

36

Myostat Motion Control Inc. www.myostat.ca Nord Gear Ltd.

www.nord.com

Novotechnik US Inc.

www.novotechnik.com

Omega Engineering Inc.

www.omega.ca

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11 16-17 21 3

www.protolabs.com

23

RotoPrecision Inc.

www.rotoprecision.ca

35

Schaeffler Canada Inc.

www.ina.com

Stock Drive Products

www.sdp-si.com

Stratasys

www.stratasys.com

UBM Canon

www.DM-Canadashow.com

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Complete design and manufacturing capabilities under one roof.

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Proto Labs Inc.

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29

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All Applications Accepted

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