Design Engineering JANFEB2019

14 Autodesk lays out its MCAD

vision for the future at AU 2019

22 Canadian photogrammetry

booth 3D prints “selfie” statues

24 Handling Speciality’s expertise solves GE’s “Brilliant” material handling challenge

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Contents | Volume 64, No. 1 5

EDITORIAL BOARD

Dr. Alain Aubertin ice President, Business V Development and International Affairs, Canada Consortium for Aerospace Research and Innovation in Canada (CARIC)

Ajay Bajaj, P.Eng President, Rotator Products Limited; Past President and Board Member, Power Transmission Distributors Association (PTDA)

Columns 8 Design News Robotiq raises $31 million in latest round of funding and other design news

14 CAD Report MCAD giant redefining itself to spur growth in face of stagnant market

Frank Defalco Manager, Canada Makes, Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters

John Lamb Regional Sales Manager, Wainbee Limited; Chairman, Canadian Fluid Power Association (CFPA)

Dr. Ishwar Puri, P.Eng ean of the Faculty of D Engineering; Professor of Mechanical Engineering, McMaster University

Dr. Mary Wells, P.Eng Dean of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Guelph; Chair of the Ontario Network for Women in Engineering

8

24 Motion Control Handling Speciality’s automation expertise solves material handling challenge for GE’s Brilliant Factory in Welland

30 Idea Generator The latest in industrial products including automation, motion control and sensors

14

Features 18 Engineering Jobs in Canada 2019 Randstad Canada labour market analysis reveals engineering salary ranges across Canada

21

20 Dean’s Corner McMaster University’s Dean of Engineering explores Self-disruption in the University

21 Canadian Innovator

SUBSCRIBER SERVICES

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An inside look at Objex Unlimited’s 3D printed “selfies” and the Canadian-made photogrammetry booth that makes it all happen

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January/February | 2019

6 EditorialViewpoint

The Survey Says...

www.design-engineering.com

S

etting aside Bombardier’s troubles with its CSeries and GM’s decision to close its Oshawa plant last year, Canada’s manufacturing sector has had a rough road back to pre-recessionary levels. In fact, since 2008-2009, Statistics Canada says, the manufacturing sector took six years to bounce back fully, its slowest recovery since World War II. Even so, Canadian manufacturers remain optimistic about the future. According to PLANT Magazine’s Manufacturers’ Outlook 2019 study, an annual survey the trade magazine publishes on the state of the industry, 39% of senior manufacturing executives are very optimistic about the coming year.

In addition, 55% of those executives surveyed expect increased sales (by an average of 12%); 60% predict orders will increase (by 13% on average); and 35% expect profits to rise by 11% on average.

While a significant number of respondents have a warm feeling about the coming year, that number is down from last year when 44% expressed strong optimism. In addition, respondents’ outlook was tempered, mainly due to concerns about what’s happening south of the border.

According to the report, the number of executives very worried about U.S. protectionism grew from 54% last year to 65% for 2019. That concern was closely followed by 61% who are anxious about U.S. President Donald Trump’s impact on nation-to-nation relationships and 56% unsettled by changes resulting from the NAFTA renegotiation.

In spite of this instability, 29% of respondents who plan to enter new markets in the next three years still favour the U.S., followed by Canada (26%) and Mexico (13%). In addition, companies surveyed say they plan to make significant investments in their businesses, averaging out to more than $1.7 million. For example, 75% of respondents says they will invest in machinery, equipment and technology over the next three years and 63% say they will focus resources on training.

However, it seems very little of that investment will be in IIoT. Only 7% said they are currently applying IIoT, while 32% aren’t familiar with it and 31% said it isn’t applicable. Similarly, only 33% of respondents make use of automatic data access, analysis and review to measure and monitor productivity; 43% do it manually; and 8% don’t measure.

For anyone in search of an in depth look at the Canadian manufacturing landscape, the full report, available at www.plant.ca, is a must read. However, even a cursory look of the results suggest that for the Canadian manufacturing sector to become less susceptible to downturns and bounce back quicker after a recession, it can’t simply proceed with a business-as-usual approach.

Optimism is great, but considering the U.S.’s new found appetite for protectionism, the inexorable shift toward low-cost labor countries like Mexico and seeming variability of NAFTA, Canadian manufacturers need to embrace the efficiencies of new technology rather than hold it at arms length.

Similarly, instead of favouring the U.S. for new ventures, business should be turning away. Canada has 14 international free-trade agreements besides NAFTA but regrettably few companies make use of them. It’s time to diversify the portfolio. Otherwise, the manufacturing sector will simply go on bearing the consequences of being leashed to one volatile, if not border line personality-type, market.

Publisher Alan Macpherson (416) 510-6756 amacpherson@design-engineering.com Editor Michael McLeod (416) 442-5600 ext. 3231 mmcleod@design-engineering.com Assistant Editor Devin Jones (416) 510-5233 djones@design-engineering.com Account Manager Ron Salmon (416) (905) 713-4362 rsalmon@design-engineering.com Media Designer Elena Novinskiy (416) 510-6809 Account Coordinator Cheryl Fisher (416) 510-5194 cfisher@annexbusinessmedia.com Circulation Manager Beata Olechnowicz (416) 442-5600 ext. 3543 bolechnowicz@annexbusinessmedia.com Vice President/Executive Publisher Tim Dimopoulos tdimopoulos@annexbusinessmedia.com President & CEO Mike Fredericks Design Engineering, established in 1955, is published

by Annex Business Media, 6 times per year except for occasional combined, expanded or premium issues, which count as two subscription issues.

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Annex Privacy Officer: privacy@annexbusinessmedia.com Tel: 800-668-2374 No part of the editorial content of this publication may be reprinted without the publisher’s written permission. ©2019 Annex Publishing & Printing Inc. All rights reserved. DE receives unsolicited features and materials (including letters to the editor) from time to time. DE, its affiliates and assignees may use, reproduce, publish, re-publish, distribute, store and archive such submissions in whole or in part in any form or medium whatsoever, without compensation of any sort. DE accepts no responsibility or liability for claims made for any product or service reported or advertised in this issue. DE is indexed in the Canadian Business Index by Micromedia Ltd., Toronto, and is available on-line in the Canadian Business & Current Affairs Database.

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 | 2019

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8 DesignNews

Robotiq raises $31 million in latest round of funding

Q

uebec-based Robotiq, known for their gripper attachments within the collaborative robotics market, has raised CAN$31 million in its first round of institutional financing. Directed towards product development, the investment comes by way of global investment firm Battery Ventures. As part of the transaction, Battery General Partner Jesse Feldman, who specializes in industrial-technology investments, will join Robotiq’s board.

“Collaborative robotics is transforming industries today, offering low-cost, easy-to-deploy solutions that stand in stark contrast to the more-complicated, legacy robotics systems of the past,” said Samuel Bouchard, Robotiq’s co-founder and CEO. The plug-and-play grippers that Robotiq is known for are offered throughout Universal Robots’ UR line of cobots and are compatible with the e-Series lineup as well. All three grippers Robotiq produces (the 2F-85 and 2F-140 and Hand E) utilize automatic part detection, position feedback and part validation.

Coupled with a wrist camera to identify parts, the Hand E eschews any jigs or fixtures.

In addition to end-of-arm grippers, Robotiq makes force sensors, camera technology and related software. The systems can

Robotiq’s gripper line utilizes automatic part detection, position feedback and part validation, but can also be fitted with a wrist camera.

be used to help with manufacturing tasks including light assembly, finishing, quality testing and pick-and-place applications.

Robotiq is the result of various mechatronic research projects originating at Laval University in 2008. Co-founders Samuel Bouchard, Vincent Duchaine, and Jean-Philippe Jobin decided to commercialize some of the work they and their professor Clément Gosselin created at Laval. www.robotiq.com

UP FRONT Ford Canada names new President/CEO

Former KUKA Robotics Executive Joins Universal Robots Canada

Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited, announced that veteran Ford executive Dean Stoneley is returning to serve as president and CEO, replacing Mark Buzzell, effective Feb. 1. Buzzell now will serve as director of North American Fleet, Lease and Remarketing Operations, Ford Motor Company. During his 27 years with Ford, Stoneley has held a variety of global leadership roles including those in sales, Dean Stoneley marketing and service in Canada, the U.S., South Africa, South Korea, Japan and China. Currently, he is VP and director of marketing for Changan Ford’s National Dealer Sales Distribution joint venture in China. Stoneley has previously served as vice president marketing and vice president sales for Ford Asia Pacific region based in Shanghai, China. www.ford.ca

Universal Robots announced the appointment of Chris Claringbold as area sales manager for Canada in January. The company says he will continue company sales growth and distribution business in Canada, develop regional strategic large accounts, and initiate the hiring of Canadian-based technical staff. Claringbold will report directly to Stu Shepherd, area sales manager for the Americas. Claringbold brings more than 35 years of robotic automation experience. Prior to joining Universal Robots, Claringbold served as President & CEO, KUKA Robotics Canada as well as President & COO at Prodomax Automation, one of the largest system integrators and automation companies in Canada. He also has eight years of automotive experience while working for Magna Chris Claringbold International. www.universal-robots.com

January/February | 2019

Humber College brings “SICK Sensor Intelligence” and Industry 4.0 readiness to campus

Humber College and SICK—a manufacturer of sensors, machine vision and encoder products—are entering a three-year partnership agreement to build awareness of industry automation sensor solutions and Industry 4.0-ready sensor technologies. The company will provide sensor technologies and services worth $765,000, training opportunities for students and dedicated support through new scholarships. Additionally, the partnership will provide applied research opportunities with SICK related to Industry 4.0, the Internet of Things, Industrial Automation and SICK Sensor Intelligence. www.sick.com www.design-engineering.com

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10 DesignNews NRC partners with Fives on inspection tech for aerospace industry

Founded in 1812, Fives has a long history within the Canadian engineering landscape, designing and supplying machines, process equipment and production lines for various industrial sectors. As a supplier of composite manufacturing equipment to the aerospace industry, the engineering group employs close to 8,700 people in about thirty countries, mainly in Canada, the U.S. and Europe. The Metal Cutting and Composites group that worked on this project has over 1,100 people globally. www.fivesgroup.com

IIoT software developer acquires Ontariobased CoreSolutions

In an effort to improve the efficiency of manufactured composite parts in the aerospace industry, the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and industrial engineering group, Fives, are developing an advanced profilometer that will provide faster and more accurate part inspection.

As a measuring instrument, a profilometer is traditionally used in industrial applications to extract topographical data from the profile of a surface. It can be as small as a single line or something as complex as a full 3D scan, to quantify surface morphology, thickness, volume loss and surface roughness.

Based on optical technology, the profilometer for composite placement shows advantages over existing inspection technologies used for the same purposes. The in-process inspection technology will help manufacturers meet strict standards by providing measuring information without limiting processing functionality. These faster measurements will speed up manufacturing processes, reduce the risk of errors and stoke competition.

“This is an exciting project for Fives as it demonstrates our commitment to advancing state-of-the-art composite application technology with productivity driven innovations, for both new and existing installations,” said Fives machining systems CEO, Steve Thiry.

Fives has already started the last testing stage of a nextgeneration profilometer with customers and expects to begin commercializing the technology before the end of 2019. The NRC and Fives will continue to work together to advance this technology and bring manufacturing solutions to the aerospace industry.

“The NRC is proud to work with Fives to advance the profilometer technology, pioneered by a multidisciplinary team.

Our expertise, paired with Fives’ forward-thinking methods, will help achieve the original vision of developing an innovative, high-impact solution that facilitates the digital transformation of the process,” said Iain Stewart, president of the NRC. January/February | 2019

CoreSolutions will accelerate FreePoint’s ShiftWorx platform, developed for machine monitoring in manufacturing

London-based FreePoint Technologies announced the acquisition of CoreSolutions, a software development company with offices in London, Ontario and Toronto. As a provider of software for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), the company says the acquisition of CoreSolutions will accelerate FreePoint’s ShiftWorx platform, developed for machine monitoring in manufacturing while providing enhanced flexibility for configuration and customization.

FreePoint products are currently deployed at more than 100 manufacturing sites in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Australia.

The company says its patent-pending IIoT technology—measuring value-added activity by machine—delivers productivity improvements to customers of up to 30 percent or more. The results have been validated through research conducted by Fanshawe College in conjunction with the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

The global market for industrial IoT solutions in manufacturing will exceed $250-billion by 2019, according to estimates made public by BI Business Intelligence, primarily composed of software and related services. The acquisition will be accretive to FreePoint’s 2019 revenue and EBITDA and will nearly double the number of employees. Barney Lawn will be COO of the combined entity and Paul Hogendoorn will continue as President and CEO. www.getfreepoint.com

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12 DesignNews Tethers Unlimited Inc. delivers 3D printer, plastic recycler hybrid to NASA

Seattle-based Aerospace company, Tethers Unlimited Inc, has created and delivered a combination 3D printer and plastic recycler to NASA for use on the International Space Station (ISS). Roughly the size of a mini fridge, the Refabricator was created through NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program (SBIR), a contract worth $2.5 million.

According to NASA, the Refabricator consists of the recycler subsystem, which accepts plastic material and converts it into high-quality 3D printer filament. After which, the integrated 3D printer fabricates new parts from the recycled filament, using a single, complete hardware unit designed to fill a double locker within an ISS EXpedite the PRocessing of Experiments for Space Station (EXPRESS) Rack.

The device was launched into space aboard the Cygnus cargo resupply flight,

Roughly the size of a mini fridge, the refabricator was created through NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program.

on Nov. 15 from Virginia’s Wallops Flight Facility. The principal application of the Refabricator is to cut down on the amount of filament provided by cargo resupply missions from Earth. Often expensive and—with the increasing reliance on AM in space—requiring a large amount of storage space aboard the ISS, the filament produced by the Refabricator will theoretically cut down on the reliance of Earth for long-term missions on the ISS. Following visual and functional checkouts of the Refabricator system, the Teth-

ers Unlimited Inc. (TUI) ground team initiates the first recycling operation using a pre-loaded plastic input block. Upon completion of the recycling operation, the cooled plastic filament produced by the Recycler is spooled on a filament cartridge and fed to the Fabricator 3D printer.

After the printing operation is complete, a crew member removes the material specimen and newly printed plastic input block from the print tray, and stows them in a labeled bag. The new plastic input block is inserted into the Recycler to begin the next recycling operation. This closedloop printing and recycling operation is performed a minimum of seven times.

Accessing the Refabricator through the Ku-band Internet Protocol (KuIP) and remote desktop services, the ground team analyzes any degradation of material that occurs during the recycling and printing process in the hopes of better understanding the recycling process in space. www.nasa.gov

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DesignNews 13 Tiny drone can haul 40 times its weight

Engineers at Stanford University and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland have created a micro air vehicle (MRV) called the “FlyCroTug,” that is capable of pulling 40 times its weight. While the FlyCroTug looks like a standard quad-copter drone, its base is equipped with 32 microspines that can attach to rough surfaces, a dry adhesive that replicates a gecko’s foot pads for smooth surfaces, and a winch-and-cable system that provides its aforementioned pulling ability. Once the 100-gram MAV is flown to a remote location while spooling out its winch line, it anchors itself to a rough or smooth surface and can activate its winch—via remote control—tugging whatever object it’s attached to.

“MAVs are great, for the mobility they offer is relatively straightforward,” says Matthew Estrada, a graduate student at Stanford and lead author on the paper.

“However, all of these aerial vehicles are limited in the amount of payload they can carry due to the amount of thrust they can produce. Typically, a payload will be around the weight of the MAV and not much more. This multimodal strategy, using aerial locomotion for mobility and adhesive interaction forces for strong tugging, resulted in a platform that had the unique characteristic of being micro, mobile and mighty,” he says.

Estrada says the dry, gecko-inspired adhesive is composed of tapered silicone stalks that can grip any smooth surface.

“When pulled along a surface in a specific direction, these stalks lay down along the surface making such intimate contact that they generate Van der Waals forces that

hold them into the surface,” he says. The drone’s operator is able to release the drone by piloting it in the opposite direction; the stalks pop back up and the material easily releases from the surface.

“Creating a system with so many different capabilities, all within a weight budget of 100 grams, was the biggest challenge we faced,” Estrada says. “It came down to scouring the market for the smallest actuators that were commercially available. It was enough of a challenge to integrate the system that we didn’t have the resources to develop components from scratch. Ultimately, this dictated the final size of the system—what we could find commercially available.”

Estrada envisions the FlyCroTug as useful in search and rescue operations.

One of the experiments his team put the FlyCroTug through tasked two of the tiny drones to work in tandem to open a door.

One drone slipped a spring-loaded hook under the door and attached itself to the carpet. Meanwhile, a second FlyCroTug hooked onto the door handle in flight and then landed and attached its geckoinspired adhesive to the glass door. It then pulled the door handle down with 20 N of force and MAV2 pulled the door open with 40 N horizontally.

Since the FlyCroTug is manually operated via a FrySky Taranis 2.4 GHz radio controller (communication with a mini receiver) Estrada and the team are working on a way to implement perception and autonomy to the vehicle. This would allow the FlyCroTug to operate with minimal human interaction.

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May/June | 2018

MCAD giant redefining itself to spur growth in face of stagnant market.

by Ralph Grabowski

T

o understand Autodesk’s near and far-off plans, the best way is to listen to its quarterly conference calls with financial analysts. Here, executives tend to be candid about their intentions for its software, customers and dealers (Hint: It’s all about increasing revenues from all three). The next best way is to take in the keynote speeches at their annual Autodesk University (AU) conference.

At AU 2018, the three-day event this past November in Las Vegas, Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost proclaimed that the company’s future was all about automation, automation, automation – mostly enabled by its Forge applications programming interface (API). Mr. Anagnost described a bright future in which architects, designers and manufacturers work in tandem through automation, with on-demand products being manufactured just-in-time. He speculated that Los Angeles might feed the crowds at the 2028 Olympics with roving food trucks, also manufactured on demand.

Mr. Anagnost asserted automation will make things better; we need not fear it, he added, as automation will create better jobs in the future and cheaper housing for all. As an example of the automation possible with Autodesk software, he introduced engineering consulting firm, Atkins (now part of SNC Lavalin). The company’s representatives described a new app called Caterpillar that transforms hand sketches in realtime to massing studies backed by analytics. “Anyone who knows how to handle a pen can use the app,” Atkins representatives told the crowd assembled.

The program is not yet finished, but when it is, Atkins says it will arbitrate decision-making between designers, contractors and owners. It could replace the thousands of spreadsheets that were needed to plan the London Olympics. For instance, the location of a future stadium could be tested at multiple locations; planners would be able to see, in real-time, the impact on cost, land and any other data www.design-engineering.com

CADReport 15

Fast and accurate decision-making.

Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost at Autodesk University 2018

that’s plugged in – no need to estimate the impact since it can actually be simulated.

The big news for manufacturing (Autodesk’s new name for “mechanical”) at AU 2018 was generative design, the same big news at the same conference a year earlier. During the manufacturing keynote, we learned that Inventor is getting 243 improvements, including doing complex tolerance analyses, performing NASTRAN runs and generating G-code directly from inside Inventor.

External to Inventor is a new sheet metal nesting routine and group viewing of Vault data. Autodesk VP of Design and Manufacturing Business Strategy, Greg Fallon, said CAD, CAM and CAE can no longer be separate functions. Autodesk figures that, when companies put data at the center of their processes, automating the processes saves them 20 percent on semi-custom designs.

The Headwinds Autodesk Faces At AU, Autodesk put on a strong show of force in what it offers and plans to offer.

However, going into 2019, it faces headwinds from many directions.

Code Base Bloat: While Autodesk has slimmed down its workforce, laying off 23 percent of its workforce last year, its roster of software programs has now grown to 175, the largest catalog in its 30-year history, and possibly more than any other software vendor ever. Admittedly, many of these aren’t full programs but are more like applets that perform single or a limited number of operations.

The fact is, as Autodesk acquires more, often incompatible, design software, the more code it has to write to bridge the span between them.

For example, to use Inventor for generative design, a very hot topic these days, you need to connect it to Autodesk’s other MCAD program, Fusion 360. To do that, however, you need to filter and channel Inventor’s CAD data through three different applets: AnyCAD, for translation; Desktop Connector, to transmit Inventor data to Fusion’s online repository; and then activate Fusion Team Online to facilitate communication between the two.

Most other MCAD programs offer generative design at the push of a button.

One solution for concept through manufacturing.

Effective collaboration with partners and suppliers.

Canada’s source for NX sales and support.

Based on the Forge API, Atkins’ Caterpillar app simulates impacts of a building at multiple locations.

www.designfusion.ca info@designfusion.com 1-888-567-3933

www.design-engineering.com January/February | 2019

16 CADReport

Autodesk insists its Collections approach means you get all that extra software for free. Well, not all. While Fusion 360 is included with your annual subscription payment, generative design isn’t. You’ll need to also purchase “cloud credits” for each generative design run. The complexity, I find, is eye-watering.

Cash Rich/Profit poor: The automation-automation-automation message is a high-level marketing statement directed at large corporations, to whom Autodesk would prefer to sell, rather than one or two software copies to small shops. Large corporations embrace subscriptions, which is the only way Autodesk now licenses its software. Indeed, at a previous AU, Mr. Anagnost bluntly told customers unhappy with subscriptions that he would rather not have them as customers.

But the switch from making big bucks up front with permanent licenses, to earning a smaller stream from subscription revenues has been a bumpy transition for Autodesk. True, the company is cash-rich (which it can touch only in small amounts, according to strict accounting rules), but the company has been operating in the red for an unprecedented three years in a row now – hence last year’s layoffs. The company’s next financial statement, to be reported in late February, will reveal if this run of losses will continue.

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Autodesks Inventor will receive more than 240 improvements, including a dynamic collaboration tool that will allow users to mark-up, explode and track design changes.

New Markets: CAD vendors generally admit to financial analysts that the CAD market is stagnant. As a result, new customers come either as a result of poaching from competitors or venturing into new realms. Many CAD vendors now depend on profits from formerly non-CAD areas or acquiring firms in areas like augmented reality and the Internet of Things.

For its part, Autodesk is taking a deep dive into construction software. In the last six months, it spent US$1.25 billion – half its annual revenues – acquiring several construction management software firms. It isn’t, however, spending on acquisitions in any other areas of CAD, such as mechanical, except for subsidies it pays to third-parties to develop software with its Forge API. Which OS?: In its early days, Autodesk rightfully boasted that AutoCAD ran on every viable engineering platform, even Macintoshes for a brief time. Then with AutoCAD 2000, it all collapsed into Windows-only, with the code written using libraries from Microsoft. This may explain why, after nine years of development, the resurrected AutoCAD for MacOS has only about 80% (roughly) of the functions of the Windows version. Porting is hard, when a company like Autodesk can’t work from a common code base.

As Web browsers and mobile devices became viable engineering platforms, Autodesk took the lead (initially with AutoCAD WS), and then it faltered. It turns out that getting actual CAD to run on these CAD-unfriendly platforms is more difficult than it would seem. In the multi-OS, multi-platform world of 2019, Autodesk offers full CAD on Windows, partial CAD on MacOS, and elementary editing on Android, iOS, and Web browsers. Perhaps that’s why, at the start of the year, Autodesk sent staff out to reassure customers it would, “continue to design AutoCAD for leading hardware on the market across multiple platforms.” The announcement was met almost immediately by skepticism, as Linux was left off the list.

Competition from Without: Historically, AutoCAD was the company’s flagship software, but Autodesk lately seems to have lost interest. The last half-dozen annual releases have suffered from a lack of new functions.

The lethargy shows up elsewhere. In November, 2017, the company announced it would enable DWG viewing within

January/February | 2019 DES_JanFeb_Lapp.indd 1

www.design-engineering.com 2019-01-03 11:08 AM

CADReport 17

Dropbox, but then took a year to deliver.

Only this year is Autodesk getting around to porting the AutoCAD core engine to the iPad tablet. The promise to dramatically change the DWG format only once every three years has stretched to five, which actually is a good thing for users and competitors.

This slow development pace allows competitors to pull ahead, even if only in mind-share. OnShape is the star shining brightly in the MCAD-on-a-Web-browser firmament. German software developer, Graebert, beat Autodesk by several years in putting their core CAD engine onto iPads, as well as on Androids and in Web browsers. Graebert and Belgium-based developer Bricsys have their AutoCADcompatible systems running on all desktop OSes – Windows, MacOS, and Linux – and are feature-complete, because their developers switched to a platform-neutral API a decade ago.

Elsewhere, the Open Design Alliance is pushing Autodesk’s DWG format in directions Autodesk never dreamt of. (The ODA independently produces APIs for reading, editing, and writing DWG, Revit, PDF, and other formats.) As a result, DWG is getting functions as advanced as an OnShape-like change manager, entitylevel backups, and neutral data exchange.

Autodesk isn’t a member and so can’t access these functions; rumor has it that this is the year they sign up.

I’d met Mr. Anagnost while he was with Autodesk’s Mechanical division, and know him to be a high-energy, highly-focused man. So, it comes as no surprise to see him directing all of Autodesk in the same way; another CEO might have taken on a caretaker role, given the maturity of the market.

Insiders tell me he wants to hold his CEO position for five years; he has three left to implement his vision of automation, automation, automation, as well as overcome the headwinds the company faces. DE www.autodesk.com

Ralph Grabowski writes on the business of CAD on his WorldCAD Access blog (www. worldcadaccess.com) and weekly upFront. eZine newsletter. He has authored many articles and books on AutoCAD, BricsCAD, Visio and other design software.

January/February | 2019

www.design-engineering.com RotoPrecision JanFeb2018.indd 1

2018-01-12 8:03 AM

18 CoverStory

ENGINEERING JOBS IN CANADA 2019 Randstad Canada’s Best Engineering Jobs in Canada in 2019 report reveals engineering labor trends.

LABOR TRENDS

TOP SKILLS

Job seekers continue to be in the drivers seat in the Engineering labor market with a growing skill shortage.

While the quantity of engineering jobs is increasing, candidates to fill them lags behind. Currently 30% of engineers are 55 or older, with 56% of those are older than 65. The result is that the skills shortage will only get worse as older engineers retire. On the upside, this will create opportunities for young engineers.

Software and technology continue to dominate the list of most in demand engineering skills in 2019. Computer aided design and computer aided engineering software remain important. The industry standard AutoCAD is the most popular, though SolidWorks and Autodesk Revit have entered the top six this year. Other top skills include quality assurance, instrumentation and French bilingualism TOP JOBS

OVER

55

65

OR OLDER

The list of the best engineering jobs held steady from last year.

SALARY TRENDS

TOP THREE

Largely unchanged from last year, the median annual salary for engineers in 2019 is $75,200. The lowestearning 10% of engineers make $45,900 or less. The top 10% commonly earn in excess of $104,500.

$ $ $

TOP 10%

$104,500

MEDIAN

$75,200

BOTTOM 10%

$49,900 or less

IN DEMAND SKILLS AutoCAD Quality Assurance Instrumentation Solidworks Revit

Electrical engineer

Mechanical Engineer

Project Engineer

Civil Engineering Technician Manufacturing Engineer Process Engineer

TOP CERTIFICATIONS Structural Engineer (SE) Professional Engineer (P.Eng / PE) Engineer in Training (EIT) Certified Engineering Technologist (C.Tech / CET) Computer Aided Design and Drafting (CADD)

For the full report, including salary data for all engineering disciplines and related professions, visit: https://www.randstad.ca/salary-guides/ January/February | 2019

www.design-engineering.com

CoverStory

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING SALARY GUIDE 2019 The following data is taken from Randstad Canada’s 2019 Professionals Salary Guide. All salaries are expressed in thousands of dollars and represent annual base salaries (before benefits) for mechanical engineers only. Ranges correspond to the 25th and 75th percentiles for Entry (1 to 3 years of experience), Mid (4 to 7 years) and Senior (8 to 12 years).

BRITISH COLUMBIA

1

VANCOUVER

Entry: $71.8 - $94.4 Mid: $81.2 - $108.8 Senior: $92.8 - $123.7

2

VICTORIA

4

Entry: $69.4 - $91.5 Mid: $78.6 - $105.5 Senior: $89.9 - $120.1

1

2

9

3 7

ALBERTA

3

CALGARY

Entry: $74.1 - $97.3 Mid: $83.8 - $112.0 Senior: $95.6 - $127.1

4

EDMONTON

Entry: $71.8 - $94.6 Mid: $81.3 - $109.0 Senior: $92.9 - $123.8

ONTARIO

5

OTTAWA

Entry: $70.9 - $93.4 Mid: $80.2 - $107.7 Senior: $91.7 - $122.5

7

6

LONDON

Entry: $67.2 - $88.7 Mid: $76.1 - $102.4 Senior: $87.1 - $116.6

6

5

8

TORONTO

Entry: $71.4 - $94.5 Mid: $81.0 - $109.3 Senior: $92.8 - $124.5

QUEBEC

8

MONTRÉAL

Entry: $66.8 - $88.7 Mid: $75.9 - $102.8 Senior: $87.1 - $117.3

9

QUÉBEC CITY

Entry: $63.4 - $84.0 Mid: $72.0 - $97.3 Senior: $82.5 - $111.2

For the full report, including salary data for all engineering disciplines and related professions, visit: https://www.randstad.ca/salary-guides/ www.design-engineering.com January/February | 2019

19

20 Dean’sCorner

SELF DISRUPTION IN THE UNIVERSITY

By Dr. Ishwar Puri

R

ecently, Stephen Elop, tech industry giant and distinguished engineering executive in residence at McMaster University, articulated the important concept of self-disruption for businesses during a lecture that he delivered to our students.

Evoking his career, Stephen discussed how industries must continually reinvent themselves to survive and thrive through “self-disruptive innovation”. The principle: Recognize your core assets and disrupt your business by innovating around them.

Afterward, we discussed the implication of self-disruption for universities, where our core assets are educational programs, many with decades-long histories. It is increasingly clear that they should be disrupted for our students to become future-ready in a rapidly changing world.

The synergy between academia and business is a regular topic of discussion between myself and Faizel Lakhani, CEO of Guavas and serial entrepreneur. Recently, he sent me a link to an article discussing what business leaders can learn from academic leaders. It reminded me that academic leadership “requires resilient and adaptive leadership,” prompting me to again reflect upon how universities engage in self-disruption.

Today, the Internet connects and yet it distances us. Automation relieves us from the tedium of repetitive actions while it simultaneously deprives many of jobs. More people are now able to access reliable energy but are losing access to clean air and water as a consequence.

To ensure that their futures are just and more equitable, our students must learn to solve increasingly complex problems such as these, but only after understanding that the solutions that they develop will apply to systems that can be destabilized.

Clearly, we must imbue our students with the critical thinking that enables them to build robust solutions that do not readily destabilize movement towards a just and equitable society.

This requires self-disruption of both curricula and the ways through which students are taught.

Traditional “chalk and talk” monologues by a “sage on the stage” are not always relevant to teaching the impacts of technological and business disruptions on our society. Here, due to PowerPoint, many lectures have become more talk and less chalk, decreasing the time available to students to fully absorb the material that is presented in class.

To address complex real-world issues related to, for example, climate change, cyberfinance and the global movement of capital, opioids, inequality, and increasing political opacity, this way of teaching is inadequate.

For one, it is starkly dissimilar to the Socratic or Confucian dialogue which, in contrast to the more modern chalk talk monologue, prompted mentors and students to synergistically ask and answer questions centuries ago. That method of dialogue is the basis upon which teaching and learning were developed across civilizations for centuries, with the goal of individual selfimprovement and social improvement.

Now to the present. Methods of learning should be taken from January/February | 2019

history and brought into the future, replacing the chalk talk with older forms of self-directed and group learning.

Rather than have students learn in large impersonal amphitheaters befitting a more industrial assembly line model of education, student teams should be provided with real-world problems to solve, where they work together in social environments that mimic a modern studio-like, team-based workplace.

In these environments, students more readily learn how to challenge their assumptions, debate with each other with mutual respect, establish a common understanding of the problem at hand, develop empathy with those for whom the solutions are carefully crafted, and consider ways by which unintended harm can be prevented.

Not all problems are immediately tractable. Even the smartest among us pursue red herrings. Given a curriculum based on solving real-world problems, it is inevitable that some, perhaps even most, student teams will fail to develop appropriate solutions immediately, but this is okay.

If students do fail, the constraints of time and the design of the curriculum can be used to encourage them to experiment and fail fast so that they are able to pivot towards other more productive solutions.

Prior to our students learning how to pivot, we, McMaster Engineering educators, have recognized that we must ourselves pivot the pedagogies we employ, as well as the curricula we offer.

Therefore, collating these required pivots, we are undertaking a massive curricular redesign, appropriately named The Pivot.

The curricular redesign through The Pivot has four essential elements. We promote students’ experiential learning so that they understand the nature of grand challenges, enhance their creative problem solving through design thinking, integrate a research mindset as they learn through the curriculum, and promote innovation so that they are able to readily translate their solutions into commercially and socially relevant forms.

Students will work on problems of increasing complexity through The Pivot, where our experience at McMaster shows how students take open-ended problems to produce solutions that are well thought out, innovative and inspiring. To prepare our students for their changing and uncertain futures, our focus is on their learning and not on specific projects or problems that they are asked to tackle.

Back to the notion of self-disruption that Stephen explained for us. Everyone, whether in business, education, or policy and governance, should take heed.

DE

http://firesidewiththedean.wordpress.com

Dr. Ishwar K. Puri is dean of the Faculty of Engineering and professor of mechanical engineering at McMaster University, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, and serves as chair of the Canadian National Council of Deans of Engineering and Applied Science. www.design-engineering.com

CanadianInnovator 21

3D

A PRINTED

YOU

An inside look at the 3D printed “selfies” and the Canadian-made photogrammetry booth that makes it all happen.

By Devin Jones

a 3D mesh model. To capture those images, Selftraits employs the “Cobra,” a large tomato-shaped pod, or 360 degree photo booth, inside which clients strike a pose. Following a short countdown, the Cobra’s 128 cameras fire simultaneously, capturing photos of the subject from all angles and multiple levels.

T

he inside of Objex Unlimited, an Etobicoke-based 3D Enter the Cobra printing service bureau founded by Steve Cory in 2011, While the Cobra works efficiently now, and the company has hosts a unique managerie along its shelves and counters: Foot- even begun selling the machines to operators in Times Square high, life-like, 3D-printed figurines that capture customers in and other tourist locations, the development of the Cobra any pose they want, wearing wacky t-shirts, surprise proposals required several trail and error iterations, the Objex team says. and even an English-bulldog dressed in “Our very first one was more or less a hotdog costume. While Objex mainly just an extrusion frame with straight pildeals in additive manufacturing for induslars,” says Brent Vanderwoude, an Objex trial applications, art commissions and designer who, along with Cory, Joe Kiez other projects, the company’s Selftraits and Junior Kane, helped build each Selfdivision also offers the 21st Century vertraits booth. “We started with ABS piping sion of the traditional photo studio. from Home Depot and connected differ“You can do whatever crazy stuff that ent Nikons we had at the office with 3D you want to do; we won’t restrict you,” printed mounts we made in-house,” said Cory says. “It was really important to us Vanderwoude. that we never tell the customer they can’t In those days, he says the biggest chalstrike a certain pose or bring in their dog lenge with the Selftraits booth was the just because it might make it harder on construction itself. Previously, the booth us to create the model.” featured straight walls with a curved The process of creating these 3D selfies fabric shroud to diffuse light. But the begins with a technique called photolighting was inconsistent, making the grammetry, in which hundreds of photos A mesh model created by Agisoft Metashape color in the figurines (especially skin are digitally “stitched” together to create photogrammetry software. tones) harder to reproduce accurately. www.design-engineering.com January/February | 2019

22 CanadianInnovator

Objex’s two 3D Systems Projet 660s print selfie figurines in full color.

Stripped down to its basic structure, this proof-of-concept version of the Cobra reveals the booth’s 128 paired cameras.

Eight of these NeuronicWorks Photohub V2s set the Cobra’s 128 cameras settings and make sure shutters and flashes fire in unison.

To help refine the Cobra, Objex partnered with Toronto-based electrical design house, NeuronicWorks. According to the engineering firm’s co-founder, Titu Botos, the NeuronicWorks/Objex team worked on four iterations of the booth together.

The first design focused on downloading data from the cameras to storage as quickly as possible. The second was streamlined and even portable but lacked the sophistication they were looking for. The third iteration was the opposite bulky and hard to maneuver but used 140 cameras. The latest iteration has the best of both, Botos says “The three generations were good but we wanted to keep the operational side fast while keeping it modular and easy to take apart while simultaneously working with a lot of cameras,” he says.

In part, the key to that breakthrough was a sophisticated controller system developed by NeuronicWorks. Since each of the Cobra’s eight ribs holds 16 cameras, the team needed a way to configure, control and “click” all of them in unison. In addition, the large high resolution images need to be downloaded to a central repository housed beneath the Cobra’s platform. To do this, each rib integrates what NeuronicWorks calls the Photohub V2.

“It’s a specialized piece of equipment that’s meant to connect up to 16 cameras to an Ethernet connection,” Botos says. “It’s a sophisticated interface working between the cameras and the Ethernet cables and computer.

In addition, software created NeuronicWorks (dubbed Cobra Control) acts as an interface for the entire ensemble. From a central computer, the software can set the shutter speed, exposure and focal lengths of every camera, as well as trigger the booth’s strobe “flash” lights so they are all fire simultaneously.

The result is 128 individual photos ready to be process into a mesh by photogrammetry software.

Photogrammetry Takes Shape For this, the Selftraits team employs Agisoft Metashape software that analyzes the photos and extracts data from them to create digital points in space. In the same way our eyes receive two slightly different images to triangulate distance and depth of field, photogrammetry works with pairs of slightly different photos.

The software “aligns” all the photos, providing a reference point of where the photos were taken and creating a sparse point cloud of a few thousand data points. Visually, the model looks unfinished with data points spread out and disconnected.

Agisoft mines the provided photos for more information (including colour) moving from a few thousand data points to a dense point cloud of millions. The software then creates a digital “mesh” stitching the data points together before applying the final texture. Think of the texture as wrapping paper being moulded to a gift being wrapped. It provides a final polished look to the original geometry of the model.

The rendered figurine is then imported into modelling software where digital sculptors on staff clean up any imperfections in the data, digitally sculpting under the arms and in any areas that require further detail work.

With the Selftraits digital model complete, it’s sent to Objex’s banks of 3D printers: A Projet 5500X, Projet MJP 2500 and Projet 3500 HDMax plus a few Markforged and MakerBot desktop 3D printers. These machines serve the service bureau’s industrial projects which constitute 60 per cent of Objex’ production output for clients like Treadwell & Co Design and waterslides manufacturer, Proslide. They also serve art and non-industrial projects (30 per cent) as well as medical devices and prosthetics for Sick Kids, Sunnybrook and Westpark hospitals (10 percent).

January/February | 2019

www.design-engineering.com

CanadianInnovator 23

For Selftraits figurines, Objects uses two 3D Systems Projet 660, which print in full CMYK color directly onto the model.

The 660 colorjet technology is similar to inkjet printing but prints on thin layers of plaster powder instead of paper. The material is spread in thin layers over the build platform with a roller. After each layer is spread, colour binder is selectively jetted from inkjet print heads over the core layer, causing the core to solidify. The build platform lowers with every layer which is spread and printed, resulting in a full-color threedimensional model.

This is where Kate Haines—Objex’ full-time finishing artist for all projects, Selftraits related or otherwise—takes over.

“Our first stage is the extraction stage, actually getting the prints out of the printer itself,” Haines says. “It’s sort of like an archeology dig. You go in using the vacuum and the air tools to remove the excess powder around the model and anything else that might be clinging to the model itself.”

The figurines are then sanded down with a Dremel tool and tiny files. “We use those to get at the nooks and crannies, making sure that the color is perfect so that everything matches the way it’s supposed to look,” she says.

After that comes the infiltration stage, which Haines explains is, “A fancy way of saying we dunk them in superglue.” The porous nature of the figurine material (primarily gypsum

plaster) absorbs the superglue into the model, making them hard and easier to handle while making the color pop.

Another round of sanding smooths out the surface and it’s finally warmed in an oven and dipped in a medical grade paraffin wax to seal everything in and give the figurines a proper shine. With the process finished, the figurines are either shipped out to the customer or picked up in person.

The final product is a surprisingly realistic figurine that borders on the uncanny. Selftraits is at its busiest around the holidays —creating figurine Christmas tree ornaments—except when a sponsorship with GoDaddy has them recreating the entire Toronto Raptors roster for its Itty Bitty Ballers campaign.

With the variety of work Objex takes on, Cory is constantly bouncing from project to project, whether it’s driving out to a customer to scan an object for an eventual print or installing a Cobra booth in Times Square, he’s rarely, if ever, bored.

For him and the team, Objex is in it for the long-haul, building the business methodically and always with a love-it-orleave-it mentality.

“We get to build cool things every day, why would I ever do anything else? I’ll continue doing this until the day I have a heart attack on my shop floor there’s no question,” Cory says.

DE https://objexunlimited.com https://neuronicworks.com/

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2018-11-30 2:48 PM

24

MotionControl

Designed and built by Handling Speciality to manoeuvre large power generation units, this engine lift station is rated for a capacity from 15 to 100 tons.

Capable of 360 degrees of rotation and side-to-side movement, this lift/roller station can precisely position large-scale reciprocating gas engines weighing up to 100 tons.

BIGGER THE BETTER Grimsby’s Handling Speciality’s automation expertise solves material handling challenge for GE’s Brilliant Factory in Welland.

F

or more than fifty years, Handling Specialty has been designing and manufacturing custom material handling systems.

In that time, the Grimsby, Ontario-based machine builder has assisted global clients solve their toughest automation challenges, especially if what needs to be handled is big and unwieldy.

Past clients and projects include developing wing assembly platforms for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter for Lockheed Martin as well as engineering the underwater stage lifts for Cirque de Soleil’s “O” show in Las Vegas and the “House of Dancing Water” show in Macau. The company has also designed and built jet engine test cell lifts for several global aerospace companies plus automotive assembly lifts, carriers and platforms for several big-name automotive companies So when GE approached the company to create flexible, robust, reliable and safe production assembly systems for its Brilliant Factory in Welland, Ontario, Specialty Handling was more than ready to accept the challenge.

Designed with LEED certification in mind, GE’s 450,000-squarefoot greenfield facility was created to assemble massive internal combustion engines employed in power generation market. Since the Welland factory assembles a wide range of engine models, it also required highly flexible equipment built to accommodate varying dimensions and weight capacities.

To suit the end user’s stringent production requirements, the client was supplied a number of custom-engineered material handling systems. This included two lift/rollover stations, thirteen January/February | 2019

custom personnel lifts, two engine lift systems, eight large capacity engine transporters, four fixed position work platforms and a variety of specialized fixtures and tooling. The lift/rollover stations and engine lift systems were rated for a capacity from 15 to 100 tons and two of the engine transporters have a carrying capacity of 50 tons.

The engine transporters can be operated in tandem mode to offer a capacity of 100 tons to lift and move both an engine and gen-set. Specialized tooling for the engine transporters includes three types of engine stands for the small and large engine assembly line, as well as paint booth stands. All of these systems work together to form a robust and reliable assembly system.

The assembly process begins when the engine block is loaded onto one of the engine transporters from the adjacent machining center. The transporter is controlled by an operator via a handheld, wireless remote control pendent. The transporters offer omnidirection motion, crabbing and vertical lift capabilities. These units are DC powered, equipped with opportunity charging features and don’t rely on tethered air or power connections.

The transporter delivers the engine block from the machining center to one of the lift/rollover stations and accurately moves the block into position. Once positioned inside the lift/rollover station, production technicians secure the engine block at both ends to specialized tooling adapters that provide the mounting interface to the lift/rollover station. These engine adapters are each designed to work with a range of engine models. www.design-engineering.com

MotionControl 25 The lift/rollover stations are electro-mechanically actuated and allow for the engine to be positioned at the correct orientation and elevation for assembly operations. The assembly technician can raise and lower the engine as well as rotate it 360 degrees, all without the use of overhead cranes.

The next step involves the lift/rollover station placing the partially completed engine onto the final assembly fixtures. Once the engine is properly seated, the engine transporter positions the engine at the beginning of the final assembly line. The transporters then employ an automatic guidance system to navigate a pre-planned route along a painted path on the floor.

The final assembly line consists of a number of progressivebuild work cells as the transporter moves the engine from station to station. When in position at each work cell, the transporter stops between two electro-mechanically actuated personnel lifts.

These personnel lifts are designed to be positioned at the correct elevation for assembly operations and are equipped with telescoping platform sliders along the product side to minimize any gaps between the lift and the engine.

The personnel lifts feature full perimeter machine guarding, articulating staircases and drawbridge walkways that allow personnel to walk from one lift to another. Operator controls are provided via feature-rich, touch screen HMI’s and the lifts are equipped with parts cart docking areas, thereby eliminating the need for overhead cranes.

Once the engines have been moved through the various assembly work cells, the transporter then delivers the engines to one of the two engine rig/de-rig cells. Each cell is equipped with an electro-mechanical engine lift system and personnel access platforms. The engine lift systems are designed to allow production technicians to transfer the engine from the final assembly fixtures to the engine test saddles. The engine lift system also provides vertical positioning of the engine for ergonomic considerations without the use of an overhead crane.

In the rig/de-rig cell, the operators complete any last assembly tasks and prepare the engine for functional testing operations.

After the engine is fully prepped, the transporter moves the engine into the test cell. During the test cell loading process, the transporter again employs its automatic guidance system from rig/ de-rig cell to the test cell. This process uses an optical guidance sensor and precision locating by way of a separate laser distance sensing feature.

This personnel lift provides workers with full perimeter machine guarding, drawbridge walkways and articulating staircases for access.

Employing an automatic guidance system, Handling Speciality’s transporter offers omni-direction motion, crabbing and vertical lift capabilities.

When the testing is complete, the reverse process is employed to move the engines back to the rig/de-rig cell. The engine will be put through a series of final inspection operations, test equipment is removed and the engine is cleaned. The engine lift system then transfers the engine from the test saddles to the paint stands.

From there, the transporter delivers the engine to the finishing systems where they are sprayed and made ready for shipping.

Handling Specialty was not only responsible for the design/ build of these systems but also took on the installation, commissioning and functional site testing. The company’s services team provides comprehensive, onsite operator and maintenance as well as spare parts and ongoing technical support. Projects of this nature demonstrate Handling Specialty’s capabilities, commitment to success and long-term client relationships.

DE

www.handling.com

The is article was supplied by Handling Speciality.

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2019-01-10 1:19 PM

26 IdeaGenerator Automation Clamping Stations

significantly higher tilting moments can be absorbed, the company says. www.schunk.com

UV Curing System

array stand to create extended line patterns, or installed on automated curing processing equipment for maximum flexibility. Emitters can also be paired with MX-series single or multichannel controllers. www.dymax.com

IIoT Gateway

SCHUNK rolled out its VERO-S NSL mini 100-25 series miniature clamping stations.

The 1-, 2- and 4-way clamping stations feature a revised drive that allows each clamping module to achieve a pull-down force of 6,000N due to a patented dual stroke system and activated turbo function. Depending on the used thread, the holding force amounts to 15,000N (M6) or 25,000N (M8). With dimensions of 199mm x 199mm x 40mm, the 4-way clamping station achieves pulldown forces of 24,000N and holding forces of 60,000N and 100,000N, respectively.

Since the rigidity has also been increased,

Measure

Anywhere

Dymax introduced its BlueWave MX-275 flood-curing system, which delivers light energy in a line pattern instead of round spot or rectangular patterns. The system utilizes BlueWave RediCure, PrimeCure or VisiCure emitters (365, 385, or 405nm). A single emitter provides a 5mm x 50mm curing area but up to four emitters can be used to produce a curing area as large as 5mm x 200mm. The BlueWave MX-275 can be set up as a bench-top unit, on an

Angle From

On The Shaft Whether your application calls for measuring valve position, actuator feedback or position of another moving part, WAL 300 Series rotary sensors provide flexibility.

Designed to slide over a shaft of up to 3/8 inch, WAL 300 Series of hollow shaft sensors are less than 10 mm in height.

Other key specifications include: • resolution better than 0.3° • repeatability of 0.09% • low cost

Novotechnik U.S., Inc. Telephone: 508-485-2244 Email: info@novotechnik.com January/February | 2019

For more information visit www.novotechnik.com/wal

HMS Industrial Networks released its Anybus Communicator IIoT and Anybus X-gateway IIoT series. With support for both MQTT and OPC UA, the gateways can communicate on industrial Ethernet, fieldbuses, CAN or serial protocols. The Anybus Communicator IIoT specializes in serial protocols and CAN, while the Anybus X-gateway IIoT integrates data from fieldbuses and industrial Ethernet networks. After installation, only one-way data-flow is allowed through the gateways, isolating industrial equipment and systems. For example, a PLC on an underlying industrial network can transmit data through the gateways, without risking attack. Configuration is handled by the Anybus Configuration Manager (ACM). www.hms-networks.com

Feeder System

Afag introduced its aflex qc feeding system for separating and orienting small and very small parts. The unit’s eight actuators cause the feeder sheet to vibrate at an intensity and frequency that is user-controllable. The 3D vibration conveyor can flip components vertically or moved horizontally in all directions.

The system’s one-piece, FDA certified feeder sheet is offered in two versions: POM white for transmitted light applications and POM black for applications with incident light or other types of lighting. The aflex qc has a SUB-D interface underneath and on the side as standard. It also features a control unit and two driver modules that support Digital I/O and Telnet, but can be expanded to include Profibus, Profinet and EtherCAT support. www.afag.com www.design-engineering.com

IdeaGenerator Power Transmission Bearings Sensor

performance data of bearings across systems or plants. www.abb.com

Electromagnetic Clutches

ABB has applied its sensor technology to Dodge mounted bearings to create its ABB Ability Smart Sensor for mounted bearings that allows early detection of potential problems from vibration and temperature information. The smart sensor mounts to the bearing and communicates wirelessly via a smartphone or other device. This capability keeps employees safe, enabling easy access to the health data of bearings in locations that may be difficult or dangerous to reach. The ABB Ability Smart Sensor for mounted bearings is part of ABB Ability, which brings together all of ABB’s digital services, so customers can compare

Miki Pulley introduced its CSZ Electromagnetic Clutches. The clutches function utilizing the magnetic force generated by the energized coil providing engagement of input and output members of the clutch. Its zero backlash design features an integrated bearing to simplify mounting while ensuring application concentricity and system runout. CSZ Clutches operate in temperatures from +14° to +104°F (-10°C to +40°C). Available in bores ranging from 10mm to 15mm, with brake torques ranging from 1.77 ft. lbs. to 7.376 ft. lbs. (2.4Nm - 10Nm), the CSZ utilizes corrosion resistant materials and is RoHS compliant. www.mikipulley-us.com

Motion Control Servo Controller Aerotech released its XL4s linear amplifier, designed for closed-loop servo control of voice coil and singlephase motors. It provides deterministic behavior, autoidentification and features a multi-core, double-precision, floating-point DSP that controls the digital PID. All parameters are software-settable including control-loop gains and system safety functions. It’s also capable of sub-micron-level tracking accuracy with features such as full state feed-forward, 192 kHz servo rates and look-ahead-based velocity control. The XL4s has an encoder interpolation feature, dedicated analog and digital I/O, fiber-optic interface, and separate power connections for motor and control supply voltages. The XL4s packaging allows it to be panel-mounted in a machine enclosure, resulting in a smaller machine footprint. www.aerotech.com

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www.design-engineering.com January/February | 2019

27

28 IdeaGenerator

Motor/Drive Combo Siemens released a line of combination motor/drive packages targeted at a variety of heavy-duty industrial motion control applications. The motor and drive combinations are power-matched for 480V highoverload operation through a 20 hp range, with I2T protection from thermal damage.

Application macros are provided in the

Sinamics G120C drive. The terminals are pre-assigned at the factory and the parameters are automatically set. SIMOTICS SD100 motors are cast-iron with inverter duty ratings in a 4:1 speed range for constant torque and 20:1 speed range for variable torque. Simotics

Rolling Ring Zero backlash. Jam-proof design.

• For applications in positioning & reciprocating motion • Zero play – even during reversal Uhing® Rolling Ring linear drives run on a smooth, threadless shaft that won't clog or jam. If the system is overloaded, the shaft simply slips instead of churning and grinding.

The drive bearings are in constant contact with the shaft, even during reversal, thereby preventing backlash.

Example applications: metrology machines, material handling systems, spooling equipment, packaging & converting equipment.

Many different sizes meet varying requirements for axial thrust & linear speed.

For more information call 1-800-252-2645 Email: amacoil@amacoil.com www.amacoil.com

January/February | 2019

SD100 units are severe-duty TEFC motors that meet NEMA Premium efficiency. Communications selections on these matched motor/drive combinations include RS485 with USS and Modbus protocols. A Profibus variant is also offered. www.usa.siemens.com

Servo Drive

Rutronik announced its TDK-Micronas’ HVC 4223F Flex Servo-Drive. Powered by a 32-bit CPU core (ARM Cortex-M3), the device features peripherals that allow the device to directly control brush-type, stepper (bipolar or three phase), or brushless direct current (BLDC) motors via integrated half-bridges.

The latest device also contains an advanced LIN UART with a LIN 2.x transceiver, as well as voltage regulators to connect the device directly to a 5.4V to 18V automotive board net. In addition, the Flex Servo-Drive also features a 32KB flash program memory, which provides high flexibility in code development, production ramp-up and in-system firmware update. www.rutronik.com

Integrated Servo Motor Some models feature mechanical control over speed and travel direction.

No programming or electronic controls are needed.

Distributed by Amacoil, Inc. PO Box 2228 2100 Bridgewater Rd. Aston, PA 19014 Phone: 610-485-8300

JVL announced it now offers add-on-instructions to its ServoStep motors line to simplify setup and programming in Rockwell Automation’s Studio 5000 software. The all-in-one units include motor, absolute multiturn encoder, drive, controller, PLC and Ethernet Switch as well as TÜV-approved STO option.

The motor series features current control and step resolution of 409,600 step/rev. It also has a speed range from 0 to 3000 rpm that can be adjusted in increments of 0.01 rpm. The motors have eight programmable inputs/outputs; each can be set up as digiwww.design-engineering.com

IdeaGenerator

tal input, digital output or analog input. The motors are equipped with EtherNet/IP interface and Safe Torque Off versions as an option. The motors include a 2-port Ethernet switch. Users can switch between Profinet, EtherCAT, Powerlink, EtherNet/IP, Modbus TCP and SERCOS. www.electromate.com

Electrical Hybrid Cable

functions through a single cable. It is suitable for applications up to a bending radius of 10xD across all industries, including machine tool, automotive and Intralogistics. igus has tested CF280.UL.H inside an energy chain with a 7x bend radius for up to 8 million cycles without mechanical failure or degradation of signal. The cable works reliably, even in temperatures of -13°F to +176°F. A braided shield with a high covering ensures EMI protection over the life of the cable.

Depending on the manufacturer’s specification, the new hybrid line has a black or orange oil-resistant polyurethane outer jacket, and is coolant-resistant and flameretardant. www.igus.com

Railway Converters igus has introduced its CF280.UL.H cable, a hybrid servo cable for use in energy chains that delivers motor power and feedback

ABSOPULSE Electronics released its RWY 200-HSA-P2 series of encapsulated railway quality DC-DC converters with pure convection cooling. The 200W converters deliver a single, regulated output of 12VDC, 24VDC,

36VDC, 48VDC or 110VDC. They accept inputs of 24VDC, 36VDC, 48VDC, 72VDC or 110VDC with EN50155 wide input ranges.

The RWY 200-HSA-P2 units are cooled by a heatsink assembly that enables operation over a -40°C to +55°C temperature range without derating. The converters are encapsulated in a thermally conductive MIL-grade silicon rubber compound with a UL94V-0 flammability rating. They are equipped with input and output filtering and comply with EN50121-3-2 as well as EN61000-4-2, EN61000-4-3, EN61000-4-4 and EN610004-6. Other protection includes 3000VDC input-output isolation, overload protection, thermal protection and current limiting. www.absopulse.com

Standard Parts.

Winco.

Flat Adjustable Tension Levers Inch and Metric Threads Various Lengths & Sizes Color Options

■ ■ ■

Explore our full product line on our website or contact us with your application requirements.

JW Winco | 800-877-8351 | sales@jwwinco.ca | www.jwwinco.ca

www.design-engineering.com January/February | 2019

29

30 IdeaGenerator Encoders

Sensors

Encoder Modules

Angle Sensors

Encoder Products Company (EPC) has added its Model 30M and Model 30MT lowprofile 30mm diameter magnetic encoder modules. The modules combine a Halleffect sensor, signal processing circuitry and a small magnetic target that can be affixed to a rotating shaft. The 30M is available with connector options of an 8-pin M12, 8-pin Molex, or 16-pin Molex. Both modules offer any resolution from 1 to 1024 CPR (4096 PPR with Quadrature Counting) and users can choose any option from 1-pole to 16-pole commutation. EPC’s Model 30M and Model 30MT provide rotary feedback over a wide range of operating conditions. The encoders are capable of operating in temperatures from -40ºC to 120ºC and can be sealed to IP69K. With a sensor-to-magnet air gap of 0.022-inche, the encoders hold ratings of 100g at 11ms for shock and 20g at 10 to 3000 Hz for vibration. www.encoder.com

Novotechnik U.S. introduced its Vert-X 2900 Series of sensors, which measure angular position and are available in single or redundant versions.

Specific configurations can include start- and end-angles for less than 360° maximum range, index point, cw or ccw indication and non-linear curves. Measurement range is up to 0 to 360° with repeatability of 0.1°. Mechanical range is 360° continuous. Available analog outputs are 10 to 90% of supply voltage and 5 to 95% of supply voltage. Other key Vert-X 2900 Series specifications include sample rate up to 5 kHz. The sensors are sealed to IP 67, life is ≥ 50 million movements and MTTF is over 650 years. They have an operating temperature range of -40 to +125°C and they meet five EN 55022 and EN 61000 standards. www.novotechnik.com

Advertisers Index

PRECISION, QUALITY AND VERSATILITY FOR THE

Advertiser Website Page Aerotech, Inc

www.aerotech.com

DESIGN ENGINEER

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Allied Electronics

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Amacoil Inc.

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Aurora Bearing Company

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Automation Direct

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Beckhoff Automation

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Boker’s Inc.

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BRECOflex Co. LLC

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Clippard Instruments Inc.

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Designatronics, Inc.

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Designfusion

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ELESA USA

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Encoder Products Corp.

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Festo Canada, Inc.

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Great West Life Assurance Co.

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home.aspx 7

9 23

2

J. W. Winco Canada Inc.

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Lapp USA, Inc.

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Novotechnik USA Inc.

www.novotechnik.com

26

RotoPrecision, Inc.

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17

SCHUNK Intec Corp.

www.ca.schunk.com

32

University of Guelph

www.uofguelph.ca/coop

29

Polyurethane Timing Belts

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