Design Engineering November/December 2013

14 What’s new in Solidworks 2014 18 Design Engineering Expo hits attendence high for 2013

30 EtherCAT synchronizes 1,216

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Contents | Volume 59, No. 6

IN THE NEWS

8

Cascade Aerospace appoints EVP & COO

8

Excelsior Engineering appoints CEO

8

AMETEK acquires Creaform

8

Canadian $100 3D printer blows past crowd-funding goal

10

SKF acquires Kaydon Corp

10

COM DEV wins $65M contract

10

SSL awarded followon DARPA contract

10

Brican to partner with NRC on UAVs

10

ABB, Bondfield selected to build Canada’s largest solar farm

12

3D printing materials market to exceed $600m by 2025

5

Columns 14 CAD Report What’s New in Solidworks 2014: Dassault Systemes’ latest version boosts the CAD software’s drafting, sketching, sheet metal and assembly handling capabilities

10

20 Fluid Power Under Pressure: Choosing the right regulator for high-purity applications 24 CFPA Corner Moving Forward: The Canadian Fluid Power Association plans for the future

14

30 Motion Control EtherCAT synchronizes movement of 1,216 servo axes in kinetic sculpture 32 Idea Generator The latest in industrial products including automation, drives, machine visions, sensors and fluid power

Features

18 24

18 DEX Takes Flight Design Engineering Expo 2013 welcomes a record number of attendees and exhibitors

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 Toronto: 416 442 5600 X 3538 Elsewhere: 1-866-543-7888 Mail: Business Information Group Design Engineering Circulation Dept 80 Valleybrook Drive North York, ON M3B 2S9

26 Bionic Eyeglasses Canadian high-tech goggles restore sight to legally blind and low-vision individuals

26

37 Dangerous Waters Clearpath Robotics’ Autonomous Surface Vehicle automates environmental engineering’s dirtiest and deadliest jobs

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37

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November/December | 2013

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6 EditorialViewpoint

Birth of an Idea

www.design-engineering.com

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here’s no telling where the next big idea will come from. We expect such things from research and development mavens at the top of their respective fields in IT, engineering, medicine or what have you. Sometimes, however, they spring from the most unlikely of people based on the most seemingly unrelated spark of an idea.

Take the case of 60-year-old Jorge Odón. He isn’t an obstetrician, doctor or in any way associated with the medical profession. Nor is he an engineer specializing in medical equipment. Instead, Mr. Odón is a car mechanic from Argentina.

Still, his simple invention is considered by the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) as the most promising solution to a problem that threatens the lives of expectant mothers and children in developing countries and costs millions in developed countries due to delivery complications.

His device assists in cases of obstructed labor, often brought on when the baby’s head is too big or the mother’s contractions cease from exhaustion. According to the W.H.O., this birth complication plays a major role in millions of stillbirths each year around the world. Even in developed countries like the U.S., the rate of C-section has risen to approximately 33 percent per year, or one in three births. A statistic like that translates to not only skyrocketing healthcare costs, but also potentially serious health problems for mothers and children.

Odón says the idea came to him in his sleep, after watching a YouTube video explaining how to remove a cork pushed into a wine bottle. In the video, a portion of plastic grocery bag is placed in the inverted wine bottle, so the cork falls near the neck. The bag, blown up like a balloon, envelops the cork and allows it to be pulled easily from the bottle.

Similarly, the Odón Device employs a plastic sleeve lined with a plastic bag that surrounds the baby’s head. As the bag is inflated, it grips the cranium and evenly distributes pressure as it eases delivery. Current methods of assisted childbirth employ a suction cup attached to the baby’s scalp or forceps, which can introduce significant risk, especially when used by the untrained.

Although his wife and family thought his idea was crazy, Odón worked on the project in his garage using a glass jar, a fabric bag and his daughter’s doll. He spent years refining the device, but it wasn’t until he showed the idea to the chief of obstetrics at a major Buenos Aires hospital before it was taken seriously.

Since then, the Odón Device has received grants from Grand Challenges Canada and the United States Agency for International Development as well as endorsement from the World Health Organization as a cheap (it will cost less than $50 to make) and easy-to-use alternative to forceps for mid-wives working the third world. So far it has been successfully tested on 30 women in Brazil but will soon enter further trials around the world.

The interesting thing about Jorge Odón and his device is that, although obstructed birth has been a serious medical problem since the beginning of the human race, little progress had been made toward solving it other than refinements to past, less effective techniques. Sometimes, with an intractable design problem, it takes someone who doesn’t know any better, who is unconstrained by history or popular wisdom, to lend a fresh pair of eyes and thereby change the world.

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.

November/December | 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 Taebah Khan (416) 510-5230 tkhan@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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Design Engineering, established in 1955, is published 6 times per year except for occasional combined, expanded or premium issues, which count as two subscription issues. Published by BIG Magazines LP, a division of Glacier BIG Holdings Company Ltd. Tel: 416-442-5600, Fax: 416-510-5140 80 Valleybrook Dr., Toronto, ON M3B 2S9.

Contents of this publication are protected by copyright and must not be reprinted in whole or in part without permission of the publisher. DE receives unsolicited features and materials (including letters to the editor) from time to time. DE, its affiliates and assignees may use, reproduce, publish, re-publish, distribute, store and archive such submissions in whole or in part in any form or medium whatsoever, without compensation of any sort. DE accepts no responsibility or liability for claims made for any product or service reported or advertised in this issue. DE is indexed in the Canadian Business Index by Micromedia Ltd., Toronto, and is available on-line in the Canadian Business & Current Affairs Database. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage.

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8 DesignNews Up Front Cascade Aerospace appoints EVP & COO Benjamin Boehm has been appointed Executive VP & COO for Cascade Aerospace. Prior to Cascase, Boehm served as VP of sales and marketing for Bombardier Aerospace, and served Benjamin Boehm, EVP as a member of the New Com- & COO for Cascade mercial Aircraft Program team Aerospace that launched the CSeries aircraft program in June 2008.

He graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada in mechanical engineering, and served as an aerospace engineer with the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Headquartered in Abbotsford, B.C., Cascade Aerospace has over 650 employees supporting military and civilian aircraft programs. The company is one of six operating units of IMP Aerospace & Defence, which is owned by Halifax-based IMP Group. www.cascadeaerospace.com

Excelsior Engineering appoints CEO Calgary-based Excelsior Engineering Ltd. appointed Peter Nickerson as the new CEO. With 25 years of managing major engineering and construction projects for the oil and gas industry, Nickerson previously worked with Suncor Energy, Shell and Syncrude.

Excelsior Engineering is an Peter Nickerson engineering, procurement and construction-management firm, founded in 2002, with over 100 employees. www.excelsioreng.com

AMETEK acquires Creaform US-based electronic instruments and electromechanical device manufacturer, AMETEK, Inc. announced that it has acquired Canadian 3D scanner maker Creaform, Inc. for approximately $120 million.

Based near Québec City, the privately held company has annual sales of approximately $52 million and is best known for its Handyscan line of portable 3D scanners. Creaform has its headquarters and manufacturing operations in Lévis, Québec. It will join AMETEK as part of its Electronic Instruments Group (EIG), which handles its monitoring, testing, calibrating, and display instruments. www.creaform3d.com www.ametek.com November/December | 2013

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Canadian $100 3D printer blows past crowd-funding goal

A

group of Canadian inventors, (operating under the company name Rinnovated Design), have blown past their modest funding goal of $50,000 with the promise of a 3D printer, called the Peachy Printer, that costs only $100. After posting the project to Kickstarter Canada, the group raised more than $650,000.

According to the project’s leader, Yorkton, Saskatchewan resident Rylan Grayston, the aim of the project is to make 3D printing affordable enough for anyone. Similarly oriented hobbyist or prosummer printers, like the 3DSystems Cube or MakerBot’s ReplicaInvented by Yorkton, Saskatchewan resident, tor, typically retail for Rylan Grayston, the Peachy Printer rapid prototype $1,300 or more. machine has raised more than $650,000 on The Peachy PrintKickstarter Canada crowd-funding web site. er’s low cost largely stems from its unique lithographic process. Instead of a printer head or extruder moved on the x and y axes by motors, the Peachy Printer uses laser light reflected by two electro-magnetically controlled mirrors. The directed laser light then solidifies layer after thin layer of a photo-sensitive liquid polymer.

To control the z-height of the object, the printer uses a drip system to slowly raise the level of the polymer within a fish tank-like build space; as each build layer cures, the object being printed is submerged under the rising liquid and the process repeats. By the end of the build, the final print has been suspended in a tank of the uncured polymer that acts like support material and can be reused for the next print job.

Similarly unconventional is the fact that the Peachy Printer doesn’t process .stl files directly. Instead, geometry created or imported into open-source 3D modeler, Blender, is output through the audio-out port of a computer sound card and transfers to the Peachy Printer via a standard stereo jack. By way of a Blender plug-in, geometry is converted to digital waveforms that control the Peachy Printer’s mirrors and thereby dictate where the laser will solidify the polymer for any given layer.

At present, the Peachy Printer is a rough but functional prototype but contributors who pledged $100 or more will receive a Peachy Printer kit for assembly. The developers’ hope to use the funding to refine the printer’s z-level drip system to attain higher resolutions and further polish the final product. www.peachyprinter.com www.design-engineering.com

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10

DesignNews Up Front

Brican to partner with NRC On UAVs

SKF acquires Kaydon Corp Swedish bearing giant SKF acquired U.S.-based Kaydon Corporation in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately US$1.25 billion. Kaydon designs and manufactures bearings and velocity control products such as industrial shock absorbers, gas springs and vibration isolation products. Their specialty products include filters and filtrations systems, custom rings and seals as well as environmental services. In 2012, the company had sales of US$475 million, with an adjusted operating profit of around 16 percent and has more than 2,100 employees. www.skf.com

Brampton-based Brican Flight Systems’ TD100 fixed wing UAV has been chosen by the National Research Council as its ‘platform of choice’ for the NRC’s Civilian Unmanned Aircraft Systems program.

COM DEV wins $65M contract COM DEV International Ltd., a leading manufacturer of space hardware subsystems, announced that it has received its largest commercial award ever. In excess of CAD$65 million, the contract calls for the delivery of C, Ku-band and Ka-band multiplexers, switches and microwave components for multiple satellites which will be part of a global network of communication satellites. The initial funding release, in excess of $38 million, will cover procurement activities for the satellites as well as engineering and manufacturing activities for the first satellite to be delivered. Work will be ongoing until 2018 and will be carried out at the company’s facilities in Cambridge, Ontario and El Segundo, California. www.comdevintl.com

The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) announced that it will partner with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) maker, Brican Flight Systems. As part of the agreement, the NRC has chosen the Brampton-based firm’s TD100 fixed wing UAV as its ‘platform of choice’ for its Civilian Unmanned Aircraft Systems program (CivUAS), an initiative to accelerate the development and improve the adoption of UAVs for civilian use over Canadian domestic airspace.

According to the company, Brican will work with NRC’s aerospace engineers over the next five years to solve specific UAV technical issues, such as flight safety, sense-and-avoid technologies, anti-icing, flight operation interfaces and data collection. Presently, the TD100 is going through a commercialisation program to demonstrate the safety and value of remotely piloted aircraft systems for use in hazardous and remote environments.

The company says commercial UAVs represent a cost-effective way to perform certain tasks such as inspecting remote stretches of power transmission lines, pipelines and other infrastructure that traverse vast areas of open territory. With a max payload capacity of 9kg (20 lbs.), the TD100 can be equipped with HD and infra-red video and mega-pixel still frame cameras to collect data during automated patrols over remote area. www.bricanflightsystems.com

SSL awarded follow-on DARPA contract Commercial satellite firm Space Systems/Loral (SSL), subsidiary of MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates, has been selected to develop designs, processes and business terms for carrying small science and technology missions to space, under phase two of the DARPA Phoenix program. The goal of the Phoenix program is to enable cost-effective repurposing of serviceable space hardware that is already on orbit. www.sslmda.com November/December | 2013

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ABB, Bondfield selected to build Canada’s largest solar farm Canadian Solar Inc. announced that it has selected ABB Inc. and its consortium partner Bondfield Construction Company Limited to supply a 100 megawatt turnkey solar photovoltaic power plant in cooperation with Samsung Renewable Energy Inc. and Connor Clark & Lunn Infrastructure.

Under the deal, ABB will be responsible for engineering, electrical installation, commissioning and performance testing of the plant, as well as provide power and automation products. Ontario-based Bondfield will be responsible for all aspects of the civil works, including the foundation design and installation, along with all mechanical www.design-engineering.com

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DMR

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8/15/2011 12:43:40 PMAM 13-11-20 6:43

| EK11-07USA |

12 DesignNews installation and assembly. Canadian Solar will perform engineering, procurement, and construction of the plant in partnership with Samsung Renewable Energy.

Located in Haldimand County, ON, the 100MW solar farm, part of the Grand Renewable Energy Project, will become Canada’s largest photovoltaic project when it opens in 2015.

The plant is expected to produce approximately 165,000 megawatt-hours of electricity a year. www.canadiansolar.com www.abb.com

3D printing materials market to exceed $600m by 2025 A report released by industry research firm IDTechEx says the 3D printing materials market alone will be worth in excess of US$600 million by 2025. According to the report (3D Printing Materials 2014-2025: Status, Opportunities, Market Forecasts), the market for photopolymers will retain the largest single segment of the market through to 2025. Other materials are projected to gain market share as the technology matures from purely prototyping/tooling applications to final product manufacture.

The report states that metal powders will see the highest growth, although production will remain relatively low. This,

in combination with high raw material and processing prices, will cause the price of metal build material to decline slower than other materials.

While most media attention focuses on additive manufacturing machines themselves, the report points out that the materials market for 3D printing is the most contentious issue in the industry presently.

Mirroring the 2D printing industry’s “razor-razorblade” business strategy, 3D printer manufacturers are increasingly employing lock-in strategies on the build materials using key-coding and RFID tagging of material cartridges.

Perceived by end-users as anti-competitive, the activity is effectively enabling monopoly pricing, while hindering development of new 3D printing materials and maintaining high barriers of entry for 3rd party suppliers. Those who do enter the market are unable to get the economies of scale required to accelerate both materials development and progress towards a competitive market.

The report concludes that downward pressure on materials prices, in the short to mid-term, will be driven mainly by new 3D printer manufacturers that allow customers to source materials from 3rd-party suppliers. In addition, downward pressure will come from large end-users wielding buying power. www.idtechex.com

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November/December | 2013

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When is 12 mm a giant leap for servo innovation?

It is when you shrink your machine's footprint using 12 mm EtherCAT Terminals for servo motors up to 4 A.

www.beckhoff.ca/EL7201 The EL7201 servo terminal for the Beckhoff EtherCAT Terminal system integrates a complete servo drive for motors up to 200 W into a standard terminal housing: Direct connection of servomotor, resolver and holding brake to a 12 mm wide EtherCAT Terminal Ideal for applications with dozens of small servo axes Considerable reduction in space requirements as well as wiring and commissioning costs Integrated fast control technology designed for highly dynamic positioning tasks The servo terminal supports synchronous motors with a rated current of up to 4 A. When used in combination with the AM3100 servo motor, the EL7201 servo terminal represents an inexpensive servo axis in the base performance range.

Cost effectively integrate servo technology instead of stepper motors and pneumatics IPC I/O Motion Automation

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13-11-20 6:43 AM

14 CADReport

What’s New in

SOLIDWORKS Dassault Systemes’ latest version boosts the popular 3D modeling software’s drafting, sketching, sheet metal and assembly handling capabilities.

By Ralph Grabowski

D

assault Systemes is riding on a high these days. With 2.1 million licenses of SolidWorks out there and $2.8 billion (est. for 2013) in revenues, it is by far the largest CAD vendor on the planet. Admittedly, the majority of those 2.1 million licenses are used by educational institutions only for training, but that’s true of any MCAD program.

To put the numbers in perspective, November/December | 2013

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Siemens PLM last summer announced that it has sold “over” 550,000 licenses of Solid Edge, education and commercial combined. Several years ago, Autodesk stopped announcing Inventor sales, but analysts guess its number is perhaps half that of SolidWorks.

Dassault’s numbers are remarkable, considering the world economy is not robust and that, a few years ago, SolidWorks itself was in a slump, feature-wise.

Users back then complained that the www.design-engineering.com

13-11-20 11:05 AM

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CADReport 15

SolidWorks 2014’s improved assembly capabilities now allow for slot mates, spherical mates and locked rotation, among other enhancements.

2014

programmers (who were under new management) lost sight of what designers needed: Better tools for getting work done more quickly. Hyped functions like 2010’s SustainabilityXpress (for determining how “green” a design is) and 2011’s n!fuse (social collaboration) weren’t popular.

So, what brought about the turnaround? Dassault realized they needed to go back to targeting the real customer.

SolidWorks was not deployed by large corporations so much as by small shops.

Small shops make things locally, and so it was irrelevant to them how green things shipped from China were; no need to collaborate remotely, either, when the entire staff of two is in a single room. www.design-engineering.com

14-17-DES.indd 15

What’s New The last couple of releases of SolidWorks were catch-ups, where programmers worked to add useful functions that helped designers — rather than pleasing management and accounting types. SolidWorks 2014 repeats the formula, helping its sales figures rocket beyond the competition.

Let’s take a look at some of the functions Dassault added to the new software.

2D Design and Drafting: There is an emphasis on 3D in many areas of technology, yet 2D is where the work gets done in the form of flat drawings used on the shop floor. SolidWorks 2014 makes ordinate dimensions available to measure angles in drawings, and these can be placed automatically. By holding down the Shift key, two points can be dimensioned on a single arc. The Dimension PropertyManager is used to change the line styles of leaders and dimension and extension lines.

The Hole Wizard now generates slots with or without counterbores and countersinks. Long tables are split automatically to fit the space available. Patterns (arrays) in curves and sketches (no longer just parts and features) now generate patterns for assemblies, such as for making holes and linear types of repeating elements. Also, soft snaps work at 15-degree intervals.

A cool new function locates “virtual sharps,” which is where SolidWorks finds the virtual intersection of two geometric features that don’t physically intersect.

This makes it easier to dimension offsets.

Balloons and labels get small boosts in lots of areas. For instance, leaders can be fi xed to balloons, and we can specify the distance between the balloon border and its text. Any balloon can be reattached to any component, and balloon arrows can be moved independently of drawing views.

In sketches, we can now use driving dimensions to specify a path length for closed loops of entities, such as for all the parts that make up a bicycle chain. Also interesting is the new Replace Sketch Entities function that replaces existing entities with new ones; SolidWorks 2014 then updates all references.

Splines: In recent years, splines and meshes have become popular for organic designs, which traditional MCAD is poor at. So SolidWorks 2014 gets spline styles November/December | 2013

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16 CADReport and conic fi llets to make it easier to create smoothly flowing shapes. We can force splines to keep a fi xed length as we change its shape. In addition, relations and dimensions can be applied to control vertices.

Assemblies: SolidWorks 2014 makes it easier to work with parts in assemblies.

Hold down the Ctrl key and, when we click entities we want to mate, a new toolbar appears that lists only the mates appropriate for the geometry. A new type of mate joins curved objects by their tangent points, and to linear objects like lines and sketches.

Components can be mirrored in assemblies through bounding boxes, instead of by the center of mass. Subassemblies can be toggled between rigid and flexible states just by clicking a new button on the Assembly toolbar. When an assembly is exploded, we can now specify that parts rotate, with or without linear movement.

Sheet Metal: Sheet metal design seems simple, yet functions are added with every release to every MCAD program. This time in SolidWorks 2014, there are gussets for stiffening sheet metal boxes, more control over how corners are generated, and lofted bends that takes into account the limitations of press brakes.

When we sweep a linear sketch entity along a circular path to create cylindrical and conical sheet metal shapes, Solid-

SolidWorks 2014’s new Style Spline allows for complete control over spline characteristics to create smooth curves via Bézier control points to which relations and dimensions can be applied.

Works now flattens them, even when they include rolled ribs and seam flanges.

Electrical: A few years ago, MCAD vendors realized that electrical design is a rational way to expand their systems, because all electronics have to be housed in something designed with MCAD. SolidWorks 2014 includes dozens of new ECAD functions, such as inserting passive symbols, resolving equipotential conflicts manually, and many more functions for generating and formatting reports.

SolidWorks 2014’s new sheet metal features include gusset creation, finer control over corner creation and lofted bends that takes into account the limitations of press brakes.

November/December | 2013

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The Future of SolidWorks Ever since 2010, when then-SolidWorks CEO Jeff Ray announced the software was being rewritten for the cloud, users and pundits worried about the future of SolidWorks on the desktop. Since that ill-fated announcement, Dassault was forced to state repeatedly, “The desktop version is not going away.”

Instead, a parallel cloud-based version is being worked on, albeit slowly.

Dassault is basing the cloud version of SolidWorks on Enovia V6, the company’s PLM database that undergirds all of its V6 software. Every bit of data, including CAD data, is stored in this database; there is no longer a discrete “CAD fi le,” such as .sldprt — only the ability to export CAD data in formats like 3DXML. Dassault is combining SolidWorks, Catia, Enovia and all its other software in something it calls the “3DExperience Platform.” As I write this, the 3DExperience platform for the cloud is planned for release in January 2014. Explained Dassault CEO Bernard Charles, “New products of the SolidWorks family will take advantage of the 3DExperience platform online.”

After a series of missteps four years ago, Dassault Systemes recovered successfully by adding to SolidWorks functions desired by end-users, while working separately on a cloud-based version that will please large corporations.

DE www.SolidWorks.com www.design-engineering.com

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13-11-20 11:05 AM 26/05/11 1:08 PM

O

18

B

Takes FLIGHT Design Engineering Expo welcomes a record number of attendees and exhibitors.

T

he Design Engineering Expo hit a new high this year as a record number of Canadian engineers, machine builders and OEMs descended on the tabletop show held September 30 at the Mississauga Convention Centre. In total, show attendance grew by nearly 35 percent over its inaugural year, signalling to the show’s manager, Alan Macpherson, that DEX is striking a chord with Canada’s engineering community.

“DEX Mississauga exceeded our expectations and we very much look forward to expanding the show to other manufacturing centers across Canada over the next two to three years,” Macpherson said. “We’re adding two additional shows in 2014, Coquitlam and Calgary, and plans are in the works for another two shows in 2015.”

As with last year’s shows, located in Mississauga and Coquitlam B.C., the one-day tabletop trade expo showcased some of the latest industrial products and design tools. Overall, nearly 79 percent of exhibitors described DEX 2013 as good to excellent. In addition, 85 percent of those surveyed rated attendees as well qualified. Of those in attendance, 90 percent said they plan to attend DEX 2014 in Mississauga next year.

In part, buzz at this year’s show was generated by the expanded Design Pavilion, a showcase of Canadian engineering talent and their innovative projects. First and foremost among those on display were keynote speakers, Dr. Todd Reichert and Cameron Robertson of Toronto-based AeroVelo.

The aerospace engineering duo were the driving force behind the Snowbird ornithopter, the world first flapping wing aircraft to sustain flight, and the human-powered helicopter, Atlas, that won the Sikorsky Prize, a feat many in the aerospace community claimed was mathematically impossible.

“Math doesn’t lie so if it’s telling you that something is impossible, then you have to look at the underlying assumptions,” Reichert said. “People say you have to think outside the box, but at the same time you have to fully understand what the box is, learn from the experience of others and unconstrain the problem from the outset.”

For their next impossible task, the pair look to break the human-powered land speed record of 133 kph in an aerodynamically-refined “speed bike” called Bluenose. Fully encased

(Top) DEX 2013, held in Mississauga, ON, boosted attendance by nearly 35 percent. (Bottom) DEX keynote speakers, Dr. Todd Reichert and Cameron Robertson of Toronto-based AeroVelo, with the ‘speed bike’ Bluenose.

in a fibreglass shell, the recombinant bike utilizes a video camera in its tail fin and a display in the cockpit in place of a traditional windshield. Reichert, who pilots all of AreoVelo’s human-powered vehicles, says the new design allows for a smoother and more aerodynamically efficient shape.

In addition to AeroVelo, Jeffrey Azzolin and his spring-loaded Bladetech hockey skates drew a crowd at the event. Azzolin’s innovative approach to the classic ice skate not only reduces the risk of stress-related injuries but helps skaters jump off the line and speed down the ice faster.

University of Waterloo brought its entry to General Motors’ EcoCar 2 competition, a modified hybrid electric Chevy Malibu with an all-electric range of 60 km plus a 2.4L engine to provide power and extend vehicle range. For racing fans, the University of Toronto’s FSAE Racing Team showed off its student designed and built formula-style racecar.

The DEX Expo also showed off the robotic building talents of Team 4814 of Western Engineering’s FIRST robotics club (WE FIRST) who demonstrated their Frisbee-throwing robot that won multiple awards at this year’s FIRST Robotics World Championship. Similarly, Queen’s University’s Space Engineering Team (QSET) displayed their student-designed and built lunar rover that will be entered in the University Rover Competition.

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20 FluidPower

Under Pressure

Choosing the right regulator for high-purity applications.

Pressure-Reducing and Back-Pressure Regulators Regulators are the pivotal control point between high and low egulators are available in a variety of types, designs, and pressure. It will always be the case that the pressure will be materials of construction, and choices should be made higher on one side of the regulator than on the other. Most with care. Three main categories of pressure regulators include common applications require a pressure-reducing regulator – pressure reducing, back pressure and vaporizing. Within which means the inlet pressure undergoes a mechanically each of these three classifications, one can choose between controlled pressure drop – resulting in a relatively constant one- and two-stage regulators and piston and diaphragm pressure at the outlet. In some cases, the reverse may be required. regulators.

In such cases, a back-pressure regulator is used to mechanically Once the appropriate type of regulator has been identified control the outlet pressure, so that a relatively constant pressure based on the application, attention should be given to the mate- is maintained at the inlet. rials of construction for critical components, such as diaphragms Figure 1 shows an analyzer system with pressure-reducing and poppet seats, to ensure safe and proper functioning of the and back-pressure regulators performing typical functions. regulator over time.

Note that the pressure-reducing regulator is receiving high pressure (37.5 ± 2.5 bar) from the process line and reducing pressure to a stable supply pressure (2 ± 0.025 bar, with a one-stage regulator) as the gas flows into the analyzer.

In this application, the analyzer system needs to maintain a pressure of 2 bar. Because Our encoders are built to perform, even in the most extreme conditions of of pressure fluctuations in the process stream heat, cold, moisture and anything your requirements dictate. Whatever where the sample is being returned, a backyour industry, we’ll satisfy your expectations for superior quality, value, pressure regulator is employed. It maintains a stable pressure on the inlet side and shields service and reliability, always eager to earn your confidence with our the analyzer from the downstream pressure FIVE-YEAR WARRANTY. fluctuations.

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Vaporizing Regulators A vaporizing regulator is a pressure-reducing regulator used either to prevent condensation or to induce vaporization. The reason for preventing condensation is to forestall rapid pressure drop that could result in the JouleThompson effect and cause a regulator to freeze up.

The Joule-Thomson effect is caused by a gas losing heat as it undergoes a complete or partial condensation. A vaporizing regulator applies heat via a steam or electric heating element at the point of the pressure drop, preventing the condensation from occurring.

In other cases, such as are typical for gas chromatograph applications, it may be desirable for a liquid to be vaporized. In this instance, the vaporizing regulator applies heat to vaporize the liquid to a gas. www.design-engineering.com

13-11-20 11:10 AM

FluidPower

21

One- or Two-Stage Regulators The manner in which a regulator adjusts to variations in the high pressure supply is known as supply pressure effect (SPE).

In general, one-stage pressurereducing regulators are suitable for most applications where the inlet pressure is relatively constant.

In applications where the high pressure supply is subject to large variations, a two-stage regulator with a low SPE will provide the most stable, lowpressure delivery.

The degree of variation that Figure 1. Process analyzer with pressure-reducing and back-pressure regulators. can be expected in the outlet pressure differs between one- and two-stage regulators. A high- of the inlet-pressure range. In Figure 1, the inlet pressure varies quality, one-stage regulator will deliver an outlet pressure range by 5 bar (35 to 40 bar), so 5 bar x 0.01 equals an outlet pressure that may be estimated using the following formula: variation of 0.05 bar. If the outlet pressure is set for 2 bar, and ∆P (outlet) = ∆P (inlet) x 0.01 the inlet pressure rises from 35 to 40 bar, the outlet pressure In other words, the variability in outlet pressure is 1 percent will drop from 2 to 1.95 bar. The inverse relationship between

7PLNT15928.indd 1 www.design-engineering.com

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3/20/07 12:32:48 PM | 2013 November/December

13-11-20 11:10 AM

22 FluidPower

Figure 2. A two-stage regulator consists of two one-stage regulators combined into one component.

the high-pressure (inlet) rising and the low-pressure (outlet) dropping is typical of one-stage regulators. The high-pressure rise causes the valve seat to constrict slightly, reducing the regulator orifice size and the corresponding outlet pressure.

A two-stage regulator consists of two one-stage regulators in series and combined into one component (Figure 2). The first regulator reduces the high-pressure supply to an intermediate point between the inlet pressure and the desired outlet pressure.

The second stage reduces the intermediate pressure to the desired outlet pressure. To calculate the variability of outlet pressure for a high-quality, two-stage regulator, the inlet-pressure difference is multiplied by 0.0001, or by 1 percent for each regulator (0.01 x 0.01 = 0.0001).

In a typical application for a two-stage regulator, a gas cylinder is emptied at a near constant outlet pressure. As the cylinder empties, pressure at the regulator inlet will drop. If, for example, the pressure drops from 175 bar to 5 bar, the inlet pressure variation is 170 bar. If a two-stage regulator is used with a target outlet pressure of 2 bar, then the outlet pressure will drop from 2 to 1.983 bar. On the other hand, if the same gas cylinder were outfitted with a one-stage regulator, the pressure would increase from 2 bar to 3.7 bar.

While a two-stage regulator is handy, two one-stage regulators may work just as well, or better in some applications. One example is a cross-over arrangement, where two gas cylinders feed one point of entry (Figure 3). One cylinder is used until its pressure drops below a certain point. The second cylinder then goes into service. This specialized configuration places a onestage regulator with each of the two cylinders. An additional regulator (often referred to as a line regulator) is located at the entry point to the system, so that at all times the gas is passing through two regulators.

November/December | 2013

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www.design-engineering.com

13-11-20 11:10 AM

FluidPower

23

Diaphragm Regulators Diaphragm regulators are generally the most sensitive in response to changes in pressure, especially in low-pressure applications.

Depending on their rating, they may be used with inlet pressures up to 248 bar and controlled outlet pressures up to 35 bar.

As inlet pressure rises, the thin metal diaphragm flexes up, allowing the poppet to rise into the regulator seat, reducing the effect of the increasing inlet pressure thereby providing a constant outlet pressure. As the inlet pressure drops, the diaphragm flexes down and pushes the poppet out of the seat.

This action allows for a flow increase through the regulator, which in turn creates a stabilizing pressure at the outlet. The flexibility of the diaphragm is vital to the long-term performance of the regulator.

or polymeric seals.

The use of a backing plate between the diaphragm and the cap assembly can guard against diaphragm rupture. The backing plate is a sturdy stainless steel disk that can also help to apply uniform pressure across the entire surface of the diaphragm.

The poppet is a critical piece in a diaphragm regulator. Generally made of a high-grade stainless steel, such as S17400, the poppet is electro-polished to provide a high-tolerance seat seal. In a pressurereducing regulator, the poppet is springloaded and held vertically in the inlet channel, with the tip in constant contact with the diaphragm.

With the poppet pushing up and the diaphragm pushing down, the two work together toward the desired balance. The poppet closes or opens the regulator inlet as its conical shape fits against a precision machined seat. A damper fitted to the bottom of the poppet supports and centers the poppet to reduce noise and vibration in high-flow conditions.

With stainless steel regulators for high-purity applications, particular attention should be paid to the materials of construction for the diaphragm and poppet seat.

For the diaphragm, an alloy such as Inconel may be more appropriate than Type 316 stainless steel due to IncoFigure 3. Crossover arrangement with one-stage regulators nel’s greater flexibility and acting together for a result equivalent to a two-stage regulator. high corrosion resistance.

Likewise, the poppet seat Flexibility is attained either through is critical. A hard fluoropolymer is not as perforation or convolution. The diaphragm forgiving and will not seat as well as a softer can be perforated and then coated in PTFE material, but is more resistant to abrasion. or another flexible material. In this design, The poppet seat should be modular so an the PTFE may erode, in which case a leak appropriate material (e.g., PEEK, PCTFE) can occur since the diaphragm is designed may be chosen based on chemical compatwith holes in it. An alternative design is to ibility, pressure requirements and temuse a solid, convoluted diaphragm with a perature.

DE fluted configuration around its perimeter www.swagelok.com to enhance flexibility.

Perhaps the best seal for a diaphragm Bill Menz is a manager, field engineering regulator is a metal-to-metal seal, which with Swagelok products, with more than provides a reliable seal and is less sensitive 13 years of experience in the industry and to changes in temperature than elastomeric a BS in chemical engineering. www.design-engineering.com

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November/December | 2013

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24

CFPA Corner

Moving FORWARD The Canadian Fluid Power Association plans for the future.

By John Lamb, Chair, Canadian Fluid Power Association

O

ver the past year, the Canadian Fluid Power Association (CFPA) has been working hard to provide true value for our membership and reconfirm our national identity. The CFPA has clearly identified our value proposition and is continuing to provide the important services our members have been requesting. Our goal is to have a membership that is strong and involved while keeping it uniquely Canadian.

We have seen resurgence in membership through the creation of new sub-committees which offer the opportunity to work on specific topics in small teams. These sub-committees form the Four Pillars of the CFPA and are structured to create value and interest for our members on different topics which are deemed to be at the core of our association.

The Four Pillars are: Market Insight, chaired by John Lamb, provides statistical information specifically for our Canadian fluid power marketplace.

Education, chaired by John Bachmann, has been a cornerstone of the CFPA since its inception and continues to increase awareness of our fluid power industry.

Industrial Relations, chaired by Doug Newton, has a mandate to provide an information conduit to our members regarding fluid power industry regulations and certifications.

Communcations, chaired by Alan Wheatley, is responsible for media outreach, updates to the CFPA website and regional/ national events.

We are also updating our membership throughout the year with our newsletters. Having the ability to share our message to the Canadian Fluid Power industry through our media part-

ners is very important.

Throughout the year, CFPA Directors travelled across Canada to reach out to our membership as we want to understand and appreciate regional differences within the fluid power industry. In early 2013, we held a regional meeting in Calgary, AB where we enjoyed a presentation on global energy requirements and the oil sands. Western members organized a golf tournament in Red Deer, AB during the summer, which has become a great western tradition.

We held another regional meeting in Montreal, QB where we learned the importance of social media as it relates to business. CFPA plans to increase our social media outreach in 2014.

In September, we held our 2013 Annual General Meeting (AGM), which was held in Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON. The meeting offered membership the opportunity to network with fluid power industry leaders while enjoying a great game of golf or taking a tour of a world class Niagara Winery.

During the main meeting, we enjoyed the inspirational true story of Jeff Adams, a Canadian 13-time and gold medal winner in the Paralympics as well as the CEO of Icon Wheelchairs. The Toronto-based company makes customized wheelchairs that are also reconfigurable to adapt to the user’s changing needs.

We also heard about Gen Y and how understanding generational differences can impact business. We had workshops on topics related to our Four Pillars as member participation is a key to our success.

As we look ahead, the CFPA will to continue stepping forward and offering the services that are important and relevant to our membership. We will continue to reach out and understand our members’ needs while providing industry knowledge to help them reach their companies’ goals.

DE www.cfpa.com

John Lamb serves as the Chair of the Canadian Fluid Power Association as well as Industry Segment Manager, National Resources, for Festo Canada.

November/December | 2013

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26 CoverStory

BIONIC Eyeglasses Ottawa-based eSight’s hands-free intelligent eyewear allows those with 20/60 to 20/400 eyesight read or recognize faces for the first time.

Canadian high-tech goggles restore sight to legally blind and low-vision individuals.

By Treena Hein

N

ecessity, as we all know, is the mother of invention. In the case of Conrad Lewis, it was the critical necessity of providing sight for his two sisters, who were legally blind due to Stargardt’s Disease. There was nothing that could be done medically, but Conrad believed he could develop an engineering solution that would restore their sight.

“Everyone said it couldn’t be done, but he was sure he could prove them wrong,” explains Kevin Rankin, who is president and CEO of eSight Corporation, the Ottawa-based company Lewis founded. “He wanted to help his sisters and change the lives of millions around the world.”

Lewis started eSight in 2007, beginning his quest with a small team of researchers and engineering developers. Head-mounted displays for the visually impaired had already been created by that time, but they were too large, heavy and awkward to be practical. They also lacked the realtime image processing that would have made them truly effective.

The eSight team set to work to solve these issues, developing November/December | 2013

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two generations of prototypes over the next few years. Test after test, solution after solution, they achieved a pre-production version in mid–2012 and fully launched the product this year. Many private and government agencies provided support along the way, including angel investors from Canada and the U.S., the NRCIRAP Industrial Research Assistance Program, the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario’s Investing in Business Innovation Initiative and the Southern Ontario Fund for Investing in Innovation, Ontario Centres of Excellence and MARs Discovery District Investment Accelerator Fund. eSight eyewear employs several integrated components. First, an advanced, high-resolution video camera captures what the wearer is looking at. Those video images are then relayed to a controller, where sophisticated software processes the images in realtime and projects them onto two LED screens in front of the wearer’s eyes. The technology is customized to provide vision as near to normal as a person’s condition allows, providing improved distance, near and intermediate range vision to those with macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, Stargardt’s Disease, ocular albinism and other conditions.

V

www.design-engineering.com

13-11-20 7:22 AM

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13-11-20 7:22 AM 23/05/2013 2:49:08 PM

28 CoverStory It includes the wearer’s prescription lenses and enables people with low vision to see in a number of ways. First, the eyewear can magnify an image up to 14 times. It also auto-focuses to enable the wearer to read at a normal distance and then look up and view something in the distance. There are also contrast settings and colour modes that can be adjusted to best suit how a person prefers to see. For example, he may prefer to read white on a black background versus the reverse. Regarding blind spots, Rankin says the improvement eSight provides depends on the individual. Some users have informed the company that their blind spot completely disappears, while in others it is significantly diminished.

“The effect this technology can have on the lives of people with vision loss is remarkable,” says John Rafferty, president and CEO of CNIB (formerly known as the Canadian National Institute for the Blind). “It’s an exciting device that can enable some people to recapture activities they haven’t experienced in decades, like watching their kids play soccer or reading the Sunday morning newspaper.”

allow users to control features such as zoom.

Among the mechanical challenges was achieving high-precision alignment of the displays with the user’s eyes. “We really needed innovative approaches to position the displays correctly for individual users,” Jones says, “and to allow the device to pivot between a heads-up mode and an immersive mode while integrating a user’s unique prescription lenses.”

“Everything was difficult, and there were many nights when we went home wondering if the naysayers weren’t right,” Jones admits.

“But we had a highly motivated team that would not give up.” In addition to their own innovative ideas, staff was also able to consult with the company’s advisory board, which includes experts such

Designing the Total Package Creating a device that can deliver realtime high-quality processed video images meant creating computing infrastructure capable of achieving no

Integrated with the wearer’s eyeglasses, eSight uses a real time operating system to process video captured by its high resolution cameras and displayed via near-to-eye LCD displays.

perceptible lag. The software system developed by the eSight team ended up including several control and image processing sub-systems, with low-latency application software that allows a captured image to be processed and enhanced on a frame-by-frame basis before being served up to the user on the near-to-eye displays. At the same time, the team needed the right hardware.

“We looked at electronic components available on the market, but as is often the norm in developing breakthrough technology, their physical size and performance requirements just didn’t meet the needs of the end-customer,” notes Director of Development Frank Jones. “In particular, no off-the-shelf camera system met our requirements, and so appropriate components for image capture and lens control needed to be designed and developed.”

In addition, near-to-eye display systems were – and still are – not yet mass-market, so the team put significant effort into component customization, under strict weight and volume constraints.

In integrating the entire device, the realtime operating system needed to be ported to these specialized hardware components. A multi-threaded application environment was developed to handle the realtime image capture and display system that would also November/December | 2013

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as Dr. Graham Strong (low vision rehabilitation optometrist and director of the Centre for Sight Enhancement at the University of Waterloo School of Optometry) and Dr. Rejean Munger (senior scientist at the Ottawa Health Research Institute, and an assistant professor of ophthalmology at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine).

Jones says overall integration and sticking to the product development schedule were likely the biggest challenges in getting the product to market. “With each design element presenting unique and difficult issues, it would have been very easy for the product development schedule to go off the rails,” he notes. “But with careful project management and control, we were able to engage excellent designers, developers and subcontractors to deliver our current production system on time and on budget.”

Currently, the eSight team is working to expand the capabilities of its eyewear. In its current form, the device already addresses a large range of vision problems, but software enhancements will extend that even further. There are other technologies in the works as well, obviously under wraps for now.

Speaking on behalf of the entire company, Rankin says it feels “amazing” to be finally helping people keep their independence or gain more independence than they’ve ever had. “When we see a child who is legally blind, reading and giggling, and the tears in her parents’ eyes, it is nothing short of awesome,” he says. “Our little company in Kanata, Ontario, with less than 20 people, developed a world class innovation that enables people who are legally blind, to actually see. We are very fortunate to be able to do such meaningful work.”

DE www.esighteyewear.com www.design-engineering.com

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30 MotionControl

The Kinetic Rain installation consists of two contiguous fields of 608 droplets each, extends over a total area of more than 800 square feet and plays over a room height of nearly 24 feet. During a 15-minute show, the 1,216 droplets are formed into 16 different shapes that are connected with the theme of flying. (Photo: Changi Airport Group Singapore)

The Art of MOTION CONTROL EtherCAT synchronizes movement of 1,216 servo axes in kinetic sculpture.

A

ir passengers and airport visitors who enter Terminal One at Changi Airport in Singapore are greeted by “Kinetic Rain”, a kinetic sculpture flowing gracefully above them as they make their way through the modernized check-in hall.

Mimicking the movement of tropical rain, the installation consists of 1,216 copper-plated aluminum droplets, suspended from the ceiling on thin steel wires, and each individually moved by a small servomotor. During a 15-minute show, the droplets form into different dynamic shapes all connected by the theme of flying.

The installation consists of two contiguous fields of 608 droplets each, extending over a total area of more than 800 square feet and plays over a room height of nearly 24 feet. The artistic concept for the installation came from Art+Com, a Berlin-based agency specializing in spatial design.

The technical implementation and programming of the overall project was accomplished by MKT AG from Olching, near Munich, Germany. MKT AG, experts in kinetic installations, took care of the complete technical implementation, including the software.

“In ‘Kinetic Rain’ we have realized the most sophisticated project of this type to date,” says Axel Haschkamp, Director of MKT AG. “More than 2,000 engineer hours flowed into this project. Particularly challenging was the transport to Singapore of the fully pre-assembled installation weighing over 30 tons.”

The challenge of moving 1,216 servo axes synchronously was solved on the basis of Beckhoff ’s EtherCAT industrial Ethernet technology, TwinCAT automation software and compact EL7201 EtherCAT Terminals that function as servo drives.

November/December | 2013

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How It Works “The synchronous movement of 1,216 axes is one of the absolute highlights of this project,” says Raphik Shahmirian, sales representative for Beckhoff in Munich. The demands on the control of “Kinetic Rain” are extraordinarily high, with the precise movement of 1,216 axes. In addition, the project demanded high availability, compact design of the components, and the replacement of components without addressing.

“One of the top specifications from our customer, Changi Airport, was that the system must run 24 hours a day. Even if an individual axis were to fail, the show must go on,” said Peter Haschkamp, MKT. Beyond that, high requirements had to be met where dynamics, precision and speed of the motion sequences were concerned.

The droplets move at a speed of 1.5 m/s and an acceleration of 1.4 m/s². The movement must be dynamic, but at the same time, flowing and absolutely free of jerks. MKT found their solution with the PC- and EtherCAT-based Beckhoff control platform along with compact servo drive technology.

A central C6525 Industrial PC is responsible for the control.

It communicates via TwinCAT ADS (Automation Device Specification) with a special GUI computer from MKT. At the same time, the PC centrally controls the 1,216 axes via TwinCAT NC PTP and acts as the master.

Via the TwinCAT cam table function, the master PC coordinates the distribution of the position data to the six slave PCs, which each are assigned 192 or 208 axes and ensures the synchronicity of all axes according to a master axis as reference.

The GUI computer from MKT serves for visualization, but also contains the show in the form of a table, ensuring the position data for each droplet at time intervals of 200 ms, www.design-engineering.com

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MotionControl

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corresponding to five shapes per secModular Control Architecture ond. A flowing movement perceptible “Also important for us was the modular by the human eye without jerks, is implementation of the control solution and possible only through the interpolation the fact that an individual axis can be in TwinCAT NC PTP. Here, 100 interexchanged without addressing,” emphasized mediate positions are calculated for Peter Haschkamp. “That made partial comeach droplet using a spline algorithm missioning possible, i.e. we were able to work in a 2 ms NC task. These calculations in parallel on software, hardware and the take place on each slave PC for the local mechanism, allowing us to keep within the axes assigned to it. narrow timeframe for this project.”

The artistic intention to have the With TwinCAT NC PTP, it’s also possible synchronous movements of the drop- Beckhoff’s AM3121 compact servomotors fit to “jog” the whole show (i.e. fast forward lets run like a 3D fi lm is possible only perfectly in the tight installation space in the and rewind, much like a film) . If an indithrough the use of EtherCAT and airport terminal building’s ceiling. vidual path of the sequence was not yet 100 TwinCAT NC PTP. While the master percent satisfactory, the engineers from MKT keeps all the axes synchronous to one other, the slave PCs could repeat it continuously, which was a big advantage. calculate the positions of the axes assigned to them every 2 ms In contrast to comparable kinetic sculptures realized by MKT and communicates them over EtherCAT in real-time to the over decentralized hardware controllers, “Kinetic Rain” is controlled servo drives. via a central PC and software and transmitted over EtherCAT. The The movement of the individual axes is extremely precise cam table function, which MKT provided locally in the drive and lies in the range of 1 mm for an overall length of around amplifier in earlier control solutions, is now performed by the 25 ft. The maximum offset between two droplets is 0.25 mm. software, allowing the position data to be managed centrally and Each droplet is controlled via an EL7201 EtherCAT servomotor distributed in real-time over EtherCAT to the axes.

DE terminal and AM3121 servomotor from Beckhoff. www.beckhoffautomation.com

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IdeaGenerator Automation Safety Controller OMRON Automation and Safety introduced its NX Series Safety Controllers, which combine automation and safety on the same EtherCAT network in a mixed I/O backplane. The controller integrates the Safety over EtherCAT (FSoE) protocol which is integrated into the Sysmac Studio software environment. Sysmac integrated safety meets Performance level (PLe) according to the ISO-13849-1 and SIL3 according to IEC61508.

It also conforms to programming standard IEC-61131-3 and includes certified PLCopen Safety Function Blocks. www.omron247.com

Industrial PC B&R announced that its Automation PC 910 is now available with five PCI or PCI Express cards slots, in addition to the previously available 1-slot and 2-slot models. The industrial PC features Intel’s 3rd generation Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 CPUs with up to four cores, together with the new QM77 Express chipset. The Automation PC 910 features a selection of interfaces, including four USB 3.0 ports. The insert cards make it possible to integrate functions into the Automation PC that would otherwise require a separate device. www.br-automation.com

Proportional Controllers CARLO GAVAZZI released its next generation of proportional output 3-phase controllers, the RGC2P and RGC3P Series. The series covers 3-phase solid state switching controllers that deliver output power in proportion to the control input voltage or current as well as external potentiometer. The RGC2P series consists of 3-phase, 2-pole switching devices while the RGC3P series consists of 3-phase, 3-pole switching devices.

The RGC2P and RGC3P Series are available in two frame sizes: 54mm or 70mm wide. The RGC2P offers four current ratings of 15, 25, 40 and 75A per pole. The RGC3P offers three current ratings of 20, 30 and 65A per pole. www.GavazziOnline.com

Voice Coil Actuator BEI Kimco Magnetics has expanded its Voice Coil Actuator product line with the Model LAS43-120-000A Housed Voice Coil Actuator (VCA).

The VCA features a stroke length of 1.25 inches and peak force of 340 pounds. Measuring 4.3 inches in diameter and 12 inches in length, the LAS43-120-000A incorporates an integrated position feedback sensor with analog output making it suited for servo positioning or velocity control applications.

The actuator also features an integrated shaft and bushings to eliminate the need for an outside supporting mechanism to provide concentricity between the stationary and moving parts. www.beikimco.com

Drives Medium Voltage AC Drive Yaskawa released its MV1000 medium voltage AC drive family. The line features the company’s Smart Harmonics Technology that reduces input Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) to less than 2.5 percent without filters and provides galvanic isolation between power input and output. The MV1000 uses two 5-voltage step bridges per phase to generate a 17-level line-to-line voltage output. The drive’s modular design includes a transformer panel, power cell panel, control section, cooling fans and an optional input switchgear panel. The MV1000 2.4kV models are available with outputs ranging from 200 to 2750 hp, while 4.16kV models are available with outputs ranging from 300 to 5000 hp. www.yaskawa.com

DesignSolutions 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 November/December | 2013

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www.design-engineering.com

13-11-20 10:50 AM

IdeaGenerator 33 AC Drives Rockwell Automation introduced the Allen-Bradley PowerFlex 523 AC drive, which allows machine builders to use a USB connection to transfer drive-configuration files or program the drive through its built-in Human Interface Module (HIM). In addition, the PowerFlex 520-Series’ AppView and CustomView tools provide groups of parameters for common applications and by allowing users to save their settings to new parameter groups. Builders can also use an optional dual-port EtherNet/IP adapter that supports ring topologies and provides device level ring (DLR) functionality. The drive has a power range of 0.25 hp (0.2 kW) to 15 hp (11 kW) and motor-control options, including volts per hertz, sensorless vector control and economizer mode in sensorless vector control. www.rockwellautomation.com

Linear Drive Amacoil/Uhing announced a linear speed control option for its Model RG rolling ring linear drives, that lets users fix a specific linear travel speed in one or both directions of travel using set screws. On a standard Uhing RG drive, the linear speed is adjustable, independent of motor speed, using the pitch control lever. If one set screw is used, the adjustable speed function via control lever may still be used for the other travel direction. For a fixed speed in each direction, two set screws are inserted into the drive housing. The Uhing drive unit provides from 700-800 pounds of axial thrust. Travel spans range from a few inches to several feet. Linear movement is backlash-free. www.amacoil.com

Machine Vision Compact Vision System National Instruments announced its NI CVS-1457RT, a compact vision system powered by a 1.66 GHz Intel Atom processor and featuring two independent GigE Vision ports with Power over Ethernet (PoE).

The device also features FPGA-enabled I/O and can be programmed using either NI LabVIEW or NI Vision Builder for Automated Inspection (AI). In addition, the small, fanless CVS-1457RT is compatible with both PoE and non-PoE GigE cameras. It’s onboard I/O includes eight isolated digital inputs, eight isolated digital outputs, two transistortransistor logic I/O, a quadrature encoder, a VGA port, two USB ports, a serial port and a LAN port. www.ni.com

GigE Video Interface Pleora Technologies unveiled the iPORT NTx-GigE Embedded Video Interface, an embedded hardware product for integrating GigE Vision 2.0-compliant video connectivity. The interface measures just 37mm x 37mm x 28mm and features Power over Ethernet (PoE) and external power options, combined with power consumption of approximately 2 watts when streaming video at 1 Gb/s. It also provides the ability to add metadata to each image transmitted over the GigE link. Its uses the IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol to synchronize multiple imaging devices to a network master clock with up to 1 μs precision using the GigE Vision 2.0 action command feature. www.pleora.com www.design-engineering.com

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IdeaGenerator CMOS-based X-Ray Detector Teledyne DALSA introduced two new models to its Shad-o-Box HS X-ray detector product line. The Shad-o-Box 688 HS and 1548 HS detectors feature resolutions of 1032 x 688 and 1032 x 1548 pixels, with active areas of 10.2 x 6.8cm and 10.2 x 15.3cm respectively. Both models use a 99μm pixel size. The Shad-o-Box 688 HS delivers near-XGA resolution common to 4-inch Il-CCD systems.

Both detectors are suitable for electronics inspection and computed

tomography. The detectors are capable of frame rates up to 30 fps and communicate via a standard Cat5e data cable over lengths up to 100m. The detectors also feature different scintillator options covering both the low (10-50 kV) and extended (up to 225 kV) energy ranges. www.teledynedalsa.com

Ethernet Switch WAGO Corporation released its ETHERNET Eco Switch 8521111, a plug-and-play switch that connects up to five network devices to an ETHERNET network. Data transmission occurs at rates of 10, 100 or 1,000 Mbit/s. Designed for compact control cabinets, the Eco Switch’s DIN-rail mount, IP30-rated metal housing is just 74 x 110 x 24 mm. While small, the unit features all standard functions of a network switch, including automatic data rate adjustment and automatic transmit/receive cable detection. Up to 2,000 devices can be managed via the MAC address list. Full-duplex communication complies with IEEE 802.3x at permissible operating temperatures ranging from 0 to 60°C. The front-panel LEDs permit quick on-site diagnostics. Power supply ranges between 18-30VDC and integrated overvoltage protection provides additional safety. www.wago.com

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Omega has released its WT-3200 series of wind tunnels that measure pressure, velocity, and temperature through six sensor ports.

The user has the ability to change flow rates by controlling the fans. The WT-3200 can operate vertically or horizontally for applications involving the evaluation of the effects of air flow on an individual or multiple component’s temperature as well as PCB response and reliability. It’s designed for testing circuit boards, heat sinks and other electronics for convective cooling. www.omega.ca

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www.design-engineering.com

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IdeaGenerator 35 Laser Distance Sensor AutomationDirect introduced its OPT series of short and long range distance photoelectric sensors. Available with either Class 1 or Class 2 laser options, the distance sensors are constructed with rectangular plastic housings and fitted with an M12 quick-disconnect. The short-range sensors utilize high-resolution CMOS line array technology, eliminating material, color and brightness-related measurement differences. Analog and switch output models are available with sensing ranges from 30 to 660mm, at up to 1,500 scans per second. The long-range sensors use the transit time measurement principle to measure the distance with a range up to 10 meters. Retro-reflective styles sense up to 100 meters.

Analog and switch output models are available. The OPT photoelectric distance sensors are CE, RoHS and cULus compliant. www.automationdirect.com

PLC + HMI

Complete Control in ONE Unit FREE Remote Access FREE Programming Software FREE Technical Support

PROFIBUS Encoder Leine & Linde introduced its Model 862 with PROFIBUS DP, a heavy duty incremental encoder that incorporates the PROFIBUS DP communication interface. Working in tandem with the traditional incremental output signals, the PROFIBUS communications can also support velocity feedback, overspeed alarm limits, operating temperature, heartbeat counters, position presets, standstill detection and time, count up direction, internal diagnostics, operating time, and encoder configuration details. High Voltage/High Current TTL outputs are provided on the incremental output channels and the encoder is isolated from the shaft up to 2.5kV. Hybrid ceramic bearings are used to provide this isolation as well as extended operating life. The encoder is rated for operation with a 9 to 30 volt power supply from -40°C to +80°C. www.heidenhain.us

Rotary Flange Torque Sensor SensorData Technologies rolled out its BT400 Series Bluetooth Non-contact Radio-Coupled Rotary Flange Torque Sensor capable of measuring torque up to 8000 lb-ft, at speeds up to 15,000 rpm. Featuring an SAE4340 alloy steel construction, the series is available in six base models with rated capacities from 50-250 ft-lb to 8000 ft-lb and sensor diameters from 2.5 to 9 inches. The series features nonlinearity and hysteresis specifications of 0.05 percent of rated output, a nonrepeatability specification of 0.02 percent of rated output, maximum load of 150 percent of rated capacity standard, and rotor deflection at rated capacity (typ.) of 0.29 degrees. Units are designed to reliably operate over a compensated temperature range of –70° to +170°F, with useable range of –40° to +185°F. www.sensordata.com

Vision350-J™ PLC + HMI Starting at: $611 USD NEMA 4X/IP66/IP65 3.5” Color Touchscreen, 64K Colors Up to 512 I/O; Supports Remote I/O I/O options include High-Speed, Temperature & Weight Autotune PID, up to 24 independent loops Cellular Communications – SMS, GPRS Ethernet, CANbus, RS485, MODBUS RTU/IP, CANopen, J1939, SNMP SD Card, Datalogging, Recipes & Cloning Built in Trends, Alarms & Multilanguage Support Web Server & Remote Access Utilities

Power Transmission Elevator Pulleys Baldor Electric Company announced it offers a complete line of Dodge elevator pulleys, available in drum or single disc design with HE, XT, QD or Taper-Lock hubs and bushings.

The heavy duty pulleys meet CEMA standards, but are also available with mine duty extra construction. Ranging in diameters from 6 to 72 inches, with face widths up to 120 inches, the pulleys are available in four lagging options. The Holz SLIDE -LAG features double chevron grooves capable of bi-directional pulley rotation and are available in standard SBR www.design-engineering.com

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Unitronics, Inc.

1 Batterymarch Park, Suite 315 Quincy, Massachusetts 02169 Toll: 866-666-6033 Fax: 617-657-6598 USA.Sales@Unitronics.com www.Unitronics.com

November/December | 2013

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36 IdeaGenerator rubber or optional SOF static conductive, oil and fire resistant rubber. The Dodge FOS Vulcanized Lag is flame and oil resistant. The SBR Vulcanized Lag is a styrene-butadiene rubber offering and the Dodge D-LAG Vulcanized Lag pulley offers a natural rubber compound with resistance to abrasions, cuts and gouges. www.baldor.com

Worm Gear Reducer Emerson Industrial Automation introduced its Morse Raider Plus speed reducers. The reducer features computerized gear centering, a patented roll-burnished journal finish and double-lip seals on both input and output shafts. The Raider Plus also features a non-metallic quill liner as well as single-row ball bearings and tapered roller bearings on all output shafts. The reducer line is available in four unit models. The universal “U” style and c-face “Q”style — both available with hollow outputs — feature a center distance

range of 1.0 to 6.0 inches, ratios from 4:1 to 3600:1 and output torques from 82 to 22,416 ft-lbs. All Raider Plus housings have cast iron single-piece construction with forged bronze worm gears, manufactured to AGMA specifications and hardened to 58RC. www.emersonindustrial.com

Soft Starters WEG Electric announced that it offers soft starters ranging from 3 HP to 4,500 hp. The compact SSW05 is a digital soft starter with Digital Signal Processor control, an integrated bypass contactor and is available in the 3 to 75 hp motor range. While similar, the WEG SSW07 provides heavy duty performance and can be connected to Fieldbus communication networks. It is available from 5 to 400 hp.

The SSW06 has a motor power range of 3 to 1200 hp and is compatible with various field bus protocols and numerous analog and digital I/O. The SSW7000 is the largest unit and features Flexible Torque Control that is used to select the desired torque control according to the type of load applied to the motor. It also features a removable HMI keypad and has a hp range of 750 to 4,500. www.weg.net

Fluid Power 2-Way Solenoid Valves

Your Global Leader in Adhesive & Specialty Chemical Distribution

Omega released its SV6100 series of 2-way solenoid valves. The valves feature NSF approved materials and 120VAC standard (220VAC and DC coils are optional). In addition, the valves also feature 8W, AC coils standard; however, 12 or 14W, AC or DC coils are available for many models. www.omega.ca

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November/December

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Clippard introduced its PQ-FV line of in-line flow controls designed for applications where mounting directly to an NPT port on a cylinder or valve is required. In the meter-out versions, intake air flows freely through the flow control; exhaust air is metered out through an adjustment screw. With the meter-in series, air is metered in through an adjustment screw. The series is available in more than 25 different models: #10-32, 1/8-inch NPT, 1/4-inch NPT, 3/8-inch NPT. Designed for use with polyurethane, nylon, polyethylene and polypropylene tubing, the product’s adjustment needle design allows large adjustment ranges with high precision. www.clippard.com www.design-engineering.com

13-11-21 12:03 PM

CanadianInnovator

37

Dangerous

WATERS

The robotic Kingfisher autonomously collects hydrographic data in hazardous and remote locations.

Clearpath Robotics’ Autonomous Surface Vehicle automates the environmental engineering profession’s dirtiest and deadliest jobs.

By Mike McLeod

I

n many mining operations, tailings ponds pose a particularly difficult logistic and environmental challenge. Tainted by toxic chemicals, the man-made containment reservoirs require constant management to assure mining by-products don’t cause long-lasting environmental damage.

A large part of that work involves a process called dewatering, by which water in the pond is removed in proportion to the new tailings added. Calculating how much water to remove, however, requires knowing how much tailing sentiment has settled on the bottom of the pond.

Conducting detailed depth measurements, known as bathymetric surveys, can be hazardous work. Typical measures entail technicians, equipped with sonar or probes, cruising the pond in a tin boat to take readings from various locations—an unappealing and expensive task that often results in inaccurate or incomplete data.

Into these dangerous waters sails Clearpath Robotics, a Kitchener, ON-based robotics firm specializing in unmanned vehicles for research and development. Among its turn-key autonomous vehicles, the company is best known for the Kingfisher, an Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) that can survey tailing ponds and other remote or hazardous water environments.

“There are some fairly significant health and safety concerns with having people in fast, cold or polluted water, so using a robotic system helps minimize that safety concern,” says Clearpath Robotics CEO, Matt Rendall. “And because it’s so time consuming, the number of data points collected in a manual survey is quite low.

What we’ve found with Kingfisher is that, because we can collect hundreds of times more data, we are able to provide much more detailed analytics.” www.design-engineering.com

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Water ‘Bot Kingfisher grew out Rendall’s university studies while he and his Clearpath partners—CTO Ryan Gariepy, COO Bryan Webb and VP of Hardware Patrick Martinson—were undergraduates in the University of Waterloo’s mechatronics engineering program. Determined to turn their shared passion for robotics into a business, the group established the company and landed their first contract, a professor who needed a water borne robot for water data collection, before graduation.

“Originally, we were only interested in land robots, so when we finished that first contract, we went back to that,” Rendall says.

“But people kept coming to us for water and, after three or four requests, we discovered a fairly substantial market opportunity.”

Now in its second generation, Rendall says the present Kingfisher M200 is designed to maximize portability, agility and reliability while minimizing the manpower needed to operate it. Measuring 1.3 meter long and just under a meter wide, the ASV weighs approximately 29 kilograms, making easy for one person to transport and deploy.

In the water, the vehicle’s 14.4V NiMH battery powers twin water jets (one at the back of each pontoon) that not only propel the electric craft at up to 3.3 kn but also steers the Kingfisher without rudders. This, says Rendall, allows the CSV to navigate shallow waters conventional boats couldn’t while its low center of gravity keeps it stable in variable conditions.

“For our use case, we needed a design that would allow our boat to move in a very slow and controlled manner through fast moving water so we created a semi-planing/semi-displacement hull,” Rendall explains. “The reason we went with the catamaran design is that we want to have high stability for the sensors on board since the less stable the boat, the more disturbances in the data collection.”

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CanadianInnovator While an operator can take control of the data in a fraction of the time and at the Kingfisher at any time, the robot’s real 60 percent of the cost of manual methods. advantage is its autonomous control system.

In addition, the Government of Employing off-the-shelf processors coupled Canada recently awarded Clearpath a with the open source Robot Operating contract worth more than $100,000 System (ROS) allows the ASV to carry out through the Build in Canada Innovation its mission largely unattended.

Program (BCIP). Rendall says the King“When you assign our system a body of fisher will be used by Environment water, it calculates an optimal mission plan Canada for discharge measurement in to collect the data necessary for the survey With a carrying capacity of 10kg, Kingfisher offers flood plains to monitor flood risk. on its own,” Rendall says. “But, if the a waterproof payload bay for submerged and In fact, in only four years, Clearpath’s operator on shore observes strange data above-water sensors. customer base has grown to include leadcoming from the vessel, they can manually ing researchers in more than 25 countries override the system and collect more robust data in that particu- and hit profitability within 18 months of its founding—a distinclar area and then allow the system to go back to its ‘flight plan.’” tion that recently won its CEO the Young Entrepreneur category at this year’s EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards. For Rendall, Mining Data the company’s success comes down to delivering a flexible solution Given its turn-key design, coupled with its customizability and without bogging customers down in the complexity of autonomous unique place in the market, the Kingfisher has seen rapid uptake robotics. by the mining industry and researchers, Rendall says. Most “We want to offer an 80 percent solution ready to go out of the recently, international engineering consulting firm, AMEC, box; the remaining 20 percent is customization toward the specific employed a Kingfisher to collect bathymetric data at a Potash- application,” Rendall says. “No two problems are the same. But in Corp tailing pond in Atlantic Canada. our pursuit of the state-of-the-art, what we want to offer to our In the process, the company said it not only limited risk to customer base is a common starting point that lets them get proits staff but collected 89,000 usable data points in 12 hours. totypes to market faster for less money and with less risk.” DE According to AMEC, that translates to approximately 100 times www.clearpathrobotics.com

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Advertiser

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