Design Engineering November/December 2015

16 Anticipated Solid Edge features

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18 CFD helps biopharmaceutical firm scale single-use mixer design

26 Modular drive ups luxury yacht’s fuel efficiency by 20 percent

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Contents | Volume 61, No. 6

IN THE NEWS

8 Québec invests in CSeries program

8 ABB to build

$70-million HQ, high-tech center in Montreal

8 Canadian engineers

construct supercapacitor from wood

10 Omron moves Canadian HQ

10 Calgary’s Carbon

Engineering readies CO2 capture pilot plant

10 Hydrophobic

coating makes steel stronger

12 New automotive

welding technique promises stronger bonds

Columns

5

8

8 Design News Calgary’s Carbon Engineering readies CO2 capture pilot plant and other engineering news stories 14 CAD Report: Solid Edge University 2015 Wrap-up Siemens PLM Software reveals anticipated MCAD features and new design application at annual user conference

14

26 Motion Control: Sailing Away Emerson modular drive helps luxury yacht manufacturer boost vessel fuel efficiency by 20 percent 30 Idea Generator The latest industrial products including fluid power, automation, electrical and power transmission

18

Features 18 The Right Mix CFD simulation helps biopharmaceutical manufacturer successfully scale a singleuse mixer design

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22 Turning the Tide Hydrokinetic systems poised to reap renewable energy from Canada’s legendary tidal flows

22

28 Raising the Costa Concordia Flexible hone smooths the way for massive effort to salvage doomed cruise ship

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6 EditorialViewpoint

The Maddening Crowd

www.design-engineering.com

T

he crowdfunding concept, facilitated by web sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, has been transformative for small businesses and individual inventors. Traditionally, such entrepreneurs wouldn’t have access to the kind of capital needed to take an idea to the prototype stage, let alone the market.

Today, it’s considered not only an effective means to market a product idea, but a major funding source on par with angel investors and venture capitalists.

Since such sites rose to prominence in 2009, crowdfunding as a revenue source has grown from $530 million to approximately $10 billion in worldwide volume by recent estimates.

Clearly, crowdfunding has spawned a number of superstars, including the Pebble Smartwatch developed by Canadian-born Pebble Technology Corp. CEO Eric Migicovsky, but it’s more common now to hear of the industry’s spectacular flame-outs and the resulting public outcry. Every success story punctuates news of campaigns that initially soared only to fall victim to mismanaged product development, indefinite delivery dates or plain out fraud.

The most recent of these was the Zano mini-drone Kickstarter project, a palmsized quadcopter for aerial photography that could be controlled with a smartphone app, the founders promised. In January, the drone’s designers, Torquing Group, had amassed more than 12,000 backers and raised £2.3 million (US$3.4 million) in under two month to become Europe’s most successful Kickstarter campaign to date.

By July, however, problems became clear as it missed the first product delivery date. In November, the company’s founders informed backers that they would “pursue a creditors’ voluntary liquidation.” Many of the 15,000 people who ordered drones expressed their fury online when they realized they wouldn’t be receiving either a drone or their money back.

More aggravating may be the projects that garner a huge following and deliver on every promise but achieve much more than ever intended. The Occulus Rift, for example, grew to cult-like status within tech circles in 2012, when the then start-up raised $2.4 million on Kickstarter from backers, many of whom ponied up $300 to receive an early version of the VR headset. However, when the company later sold Occulus to Facebook for a reported $2 billion in cash and stock, backers winced to realize that an actual investment in the company would have netted an estimated 145x return.

Although the reality must linger at the back of their minds, many backers learn too late that crowdfunding isn’t like Amazon. Project leaders may offer the first run of a product in exchange for a set contribution, but crowdfunding sites are careful to include verbiage that doesn’t obligate projects to refund, deliver or promise anything beyond their best efforts.

Nor are backers investors who deserve either a share of the backed company’s financial success or a detailed forensic accounting explaining how the money was spent should they fail. Instead, contributing to crowdfunding project is akin to an online charitable contribution. There is a chance the money could make all the difference, just don’t expect anything beyond a logo T-shirt.

Mike McLeod

@

Publisher Alan Macpherson (416) 510-6756 AMacPherson@design-engineering.com Technical Field Editor Pat Jones, P. Eng. Art Director Kathy Smith (416) 442-5600 ext. 3215 KSmith@plant.ca Account Coordinator Cheryl Fisher (416) 510-5194 CFisher@annexnewcom.ca Circulation Manager Beata Olechnowicz (416) 442-5600 ext. 3543 bolechnowicz@annexnewcom.ca Vice President Tim Dimopoulos (416) 510-5100 tdimopoulos@canadianmanufacturing.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@annexbizmedia.com Tel: 800-668-2374 No part of the editorial content of this publication may be reprinted without the publisher’s written permission. ©2015 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.

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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 | 2015

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Editor Michael McLeod (416) 442-5600 ext. 3231 mmcleod@design-engineering.com

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8 DesignNews UP FRONT Québec invests in CSeries program In October, the Quebec government announced a US$1 billion investment with Bombardier to form a limited partnership to complete the CSeries program, giving Québec a 49.5 percent stake in the new company. Bombardier’s contribution for 50.5 percent of the shares will include the transfer to the new limited partnership of 1,700 employees, vendor contracts, and clients along with the assets and intellectual property required to continue to pursue the design, manufacturing and marketing of the twin-engine CS100 and CS300 planes.

The province’s investment will come from the Economic Development Fund and be managed by Investissement Québec. Two installments of US$500 million each will be paid on April 1 and June 30, 2016. The government will receive 200 million stock warrants—100 million per installment. Each warrant will entitle the government to buy a Class B share in Bombardier at an exercise price in USD equivalent to CA$2.21 per share for a five-year period. www.bombardier.com

ABB to build $70-million HQ, high-tech center in Montreal

ABB announced that it will establish a $70 million high-tech center in Technoparc Montréal. The new 300,000-square-foot facility, to be located on the new ABB Saint-Laurent Campus, will consolidate the company’s 700 employees across six Greater Montreal locations and it’s Canadian headquarters in one location by March 2017.

The company says the new campus will include, among other things, spaces for technological demonstrations and for training clients on solutions and systems developed by ABB. It will be equipped with ultra-modern equipment and boast advanced technologies and manufacturing processes. Officially begun in early September, construction of the campus is scheduled for completion in December 2016 for manufacturing spaces followed by office space in February 2017. www.abb.ca November/December | 2015

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Canadian engineers construct supercapacitor from wood

Light enough to perch on a feather, a new aerogel developed by engineering researchers at McMaster University, combines cellulose nano-crystals and conductive nanoparticles to create a highly flexible and power dense supercapacitor. (Photo credit: Xuan Yang and Kevin Yager).

L

eave it to Canadian engineers to figure out a way to turn trees into just about anything, including an electricity storage material.

More specifically, it’s the cellulose in plants, bacteria and algae that McMaster University researchers have shown holds promise as a superior supercapacitor, capable of powering everything from wearable electronics to electric vehicles.

“Ultimately the goal of this research is to find ways to power current and future technology with efficiency and in a sustainable way,” said McMaster assistant chemical engineering professor Emily Cranston, whose joint research – with materials science and engineering professor Igor Zhitomirsky – was recently published in Advanced Materials. “This means anticipating future technology needs and relying on materials that are more environmentally friendly and not based on depleting resources.”

Zhitomirsky and Cranston’s research centers on using cellulose nano-crystals – which look like microscopic grains of rice – fused together to form a three-dimensional mesh or aerogel. This foam is then used as a substrate to contain conductive polypyrrole nanofibers, polypyrrole-coated carbon nanotubes and manganese dioxide nanoparticles. The result, the researcher’s say, is an exceptionally light and flexible supercapacitor that exhibits “high capacitance retention, low internal resistance and fast charge/discharge rates.”

Unlike batteries, which store energy electro-chemically, and therefore have a limited number of slow charge/discharge cycles, supercapacitors store energy electro-statically. This affords them millions of very fast charge/discharge cycles without degradation of its full storage capacity.

However, although they enjoy high power density (rate of energy transfer per volume), supercapacitors have traditionally suffered from low energy density (i.e. amount of energy stored per unit weight).

The potential of the McMaster researchers’ supercapacitor material is that it will combine the strength, flexibility and sustainability of cellulose with the ultra lightweight of an aerogel. In addition, the www.design-engineering.com

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DesignNews McMaster researchers nanocellulose one-step fabrication process allows for a high density of conductive material to be incorporated into the substrate while maintaining its shaperecovery and other mechanical properties.

Since supercapacitors store relatively large amounts of energy for a very short time, they aren’t seen as a replacement for batteries but as a complementary technology. In hybrid or electric vehicles, for example, supercapacitors could be used to store regenerative breaking energy and release it during acceleration, thereby reducing the burden on, and therefore extending the range of, the EV’s battery. www.eng.mcmaster.ca

Calgary’s Carbon Engineering readies CO2 capture pilot plant In October, Calgary’s Carbon Engineering (CE) unveiled its $9-million pilot plant in Squamish, B.C. designed to capture CO2 directly from the atmosphere and store it for commercial applications. A scaled up version of the company’s first prototype on the University of Calgary campus, the new larger facility is capable of capturing about one tonne of CO2 per day or the approximate output of 100 cars. It’s purpose will be to function as a proof of concept for a planned commercial facility capable of up to 1 million tonnes per day.

CE’s system works similar to an evaporative cooler but also leverages chemical processes commonly used in the pulp and paper industry. In the first stage, large fans, or air contactors, draw air through a corrugated membrane saturated with sodium hydroxide. Atmospheric CO2 dissolves in the hydroxide to produce a sodium carbonate solution. In the second stage, the carbonate solution is pumped to a recovery system where it is

UP FRONT Omron moves Canadian HQ Omron Automation and Safety moved its Canadian headquarters in November to operate out of new offices at Consilium Place, an east Toronto business complex, with facilities that better reflect how Omron does business in the 21st century, the company says.

“Our old building was designed for the way Omron did business in the 1990s, with full warehouse and office space for a large marketing and support staff,” says general manager Peter Brouwer. “Now that we operate as a Pan-American business, we needed to consolidate certain business functions to provide uniform service and support to meet customer needs.”

In anticipation of the move, Omron moved its warehouse services to KWE – Kintetsu World Express (Canada) Inc. to integrate import/export activities with order handling as a way to shorten delivery time and improve customer responsiveness, the company says. https://omron.ca November/December | 2015

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mixed with slaked lime to precipitate limestone. These particles are then heated in a kiln to release pure, compressed CO2 and recapture the slaked lime.

The company isn’t pursuing CO2 capture just for environmental stewardship alone. It plans to sell the compressed gas to major customers, the biggest of which may be oil companies.

Through a process called enhanced oil recovery (EOR), CO2 is injected into reservoirs to extract so-called stranded oil, which is unrecoverable by conventional means. In the process, the CO2 is stored underground.

The company says it will also pursue using the captured CO2 to create a low-carbon fuel, once the first commercial scale facility becomes operational in the next couple of years. The company says it will produce between 200 to 400 litres of gasoline or diesel per day, by combining the CO2 with hydrogen from renewable sources. www.carbonengineering.com

Hydrophobic coating makes steel stronger Material scientists at Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) announced the development of a hydrophobic surface coating for steel that not only repels corrosion-inducing liquid, but also stands up to sustained abuse and makes the underlying metal stronger, the researchers say.

“Our slippery steel is orders of magnitude more durable than any anti-fouling material that has been developed before,” said Joanna Aizenberg, the Amy Smith Berylson Professor of Materials Science and core faculty member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University.

“So far, these two concepts – mechanical durability and anti-fouling – were at odds with each other. We need surfaces to be textured and porous to impart fouling resistance but rough nanostructured coatings are intrinsically weaker than their bulk analogs. This research shows that careful surface engineering allows the design of a material capable of performing multiple, even conflicting, functions, without performance degradation.”

Made from rough nanoporous tungsten oxide, the coating (Slippery Liquid-Infused Porous Surfaces or SLIPS for short) derives its resiliency from the process by which the steel is coated.

Using an industry standard electrochemical technique, an ultrathin film, made up of hundreds of thousands of small and rough tungsten-oxide islands, is grown directly onto a steel surface.

“If one part of an island is destroyed, the damage doesn’t propagate to other parts of the surface because of the lack of interconnectivity between neighboring islands,” said Alexander B. Tesler, former postdoctoral fellow at SEAS, current research www.design-engineering.com

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12 DesignNews just as easily be applied to any instrument or implant capable of transmitting pathogens. By scaling the process up, the researchers say the coating could also save militaries million by repelling barnacles and other organisms from the hulls of ships. http://seas.harvard.edu

New automotive welding technique promises stronger bonds Harvard researchers’ hydrophobic nanoporous tungsten oxide coating makes steel stronger even after sustaining intense structural abuse.

(Photo credit: Alexander B. Tesler, Philseok Kim, Stefan Kolle, Caitlin Howell, Onye Ahanotu & Joanna Aizenberg. Nature Communications, doi:10.1038/ncomms9649)

fellow at Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. “This islandlike morphology combined with the inherent durability and roughness of the tungsten oxide allows the surface to keep its repellent properties in highly abrasive applications, which was impossible until now.”

Although discovered in 2011, the Harvard team has spent the last five years testing the coating’s potential commercial applications. On the smaller scale, for example, the team tested a tungsten oxide coated scalpel that repels blood but the material could

Engineers at The Ohio State University have developed a new welding technique — called vaporized foil actuator (VFA) welding – that the team says requires 80 percent less energy than spot welding, yet creates bonds that are 50 percent stronger. In addition, the process produces strong bonds between metals that are unacceptably weakened by the melting and re-solidification involved in conventional welding. “Materials have gotten stronger, but welds haven’t,” said Glenn Daehn, professor of materials science and engineering at Ohio State, who helped create the technique. “We can design metals with intricate microstructures, but we destroy the microstructure when we weld.

With our method, materials are shaped and bonded together at the same time, and they actually get stronger.”

Unlike resistance spot welding, Ohio State’s VFA process doesn’t melt the metal parts. Instead, a high-voltage capacitor bank creates a short and low-energy electrical pulse inside a

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piece of aluminum foil. As the foil vaporizes, the resulting plasma mashes the metal pieces together, bonding the atoms of one metal to atoms of the other. Seen under a high-powered microscope, the bond features wave patterns where veins of both materials wrap around each other.

So far, the engineers have successfully bonded different combinations of copper, aluminum, magnesium, iron, nickel and titanium, as well as commercial steel and aluminum alloys with weld regions that are stronger than the base metals.

Daehn and his team now want to join with manufacturers to further develop the technology, which will be licensed through Ohio State’s Technology Commercialization Office. www.osu.edu

November/December | 2015

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www.design-engineering.com

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14 CADReport

Solid Edge University Wrap-up

2015

Fast and accurate decision-making.

Siemens PLM Software reveals anticipated MCAD features and new design application at annual user conference.

One solution for concept through manufacturing.

By Ralph Grabowski

Effective collaboration with partners and suppliers.

L

ike Autodesk University or Solidworks World, Solid Edge University is the one time a year when Siemens PLM Software invites users to come together, tells them what’s going to be new software-wise, and provides a couple of days of training in Solid Edge.

Held in October this year, it’s a puzzle why Siemens PLM moved the event from it usual June time slot. June is when the next release of Solid Edge is nearly done, and so users used to revel in the excitement of those new features being demo’ed on the main stage. By October, not so much.

The reason behind the schedule change, Siemens told me, is that by October users will have had some experience with the new release and so the training sessions are

more applicable. Problem is, a show of hands indicated that the majority of attendees hadn’t upgraded that quickly.

Then there’s the issue of the numbers.

Siemens claims a half-million Solid Edge users, yet about five hundred show up for the annual event. Contrast that with the seven thousand or so who show at Solidworks World. A Siemens employee explained to me that the disparity is due to Solid Edge suffering from being a step brother overshadowed by NX, the real CAD money maker for Siemens. Erm, I’m not sure I buy that one.

On the main stage this year, Siemens PLM did roll out one uplifting statistic: Users who employ Synchronous Technology are 61% happier than those who don’t. SynchTech is Siemens’ proprietary, automated intent engine; it guesses what the drafter intends

Figure 1: Cutting with a solid along a spiral path

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5

CADReport 15 to model, and then applies constraints, arrays, uniform hole sizes, and so on, automatically. SynchTech is so important to Siemens that they began renumbering Solid Edge’s version numbers when it got ST, which is why the current release of the 20-year-old software is named ST8.

What’s New for Solid Edge ST9 Despite the October date, Siemens nevertheless brought the next release of Solid Edge out of the back room during the last hour of the conference. Features shown were ones ready to be made public, so what follows is in no way a complete list, nor even the most important features planned for ST9.

Of those revealed, the single biggest feature may well be multi-bodies, which is a group of two or more bodies that are manipulated like a single feature. In sketches, we’ll be able to use AutoCAD-like blocks for positioning features and laying out assemblies.

Also, the new Assembly Relationship Manager offers another way of viewing assemblies. This dialog box lists all relationships and reports problems, allowing us to find and edit them. In addition, Conditional expressions, in the Variables Table, will gain IF-THEN statements, which I think could prove to be quite powerful.

Spirals get a boost from a dialog box that lets us define the way they will be drawn before placing them in drawings.

Related to this, ST9 will be able to make

spiral cutouts by sweeping solids along paths, something that’s especially useful to CNC applications. (See figure 1.)

Solid Edge has always been powerful in sheet metal design, and now we will be pre-alerted in flat (2D) mode when pieces are likely to clash before they get bent into 3D. Also in flat mode, sheet metal parts can be reoriented using new Move and Rotate commands, so that they can be placed along sheet grains; I’m thinking for leather and similar materials.

Tolerances are now listed in a table, with links to their locations in sheets and views.

This makes it a whole lot easier to review tolerances in busy drawings. When holes are annotated with callouts, similar ones are grouped into a single callout with a count added automatically, such as “x 5 places.”

Probably the best new user interface function is tabs that let us switch between models effortlessly, or open multiple revisions of the same drawing (See figure 2). TeamCenter will also get its own tab on the ribbon and, after you customize Solid Edge, ST9 lets you move the preferences to other computers. A set of larger UI elements makes ST9 easier to use on 4K monitors (i.e. display at really high resolutions like 4096 x 2304).

Solid Edge ST9 will also get a Pack-n-Go command found in other CAD systems, where all project files are copied into a single folder and then ZIPed together. To take on the competition, the Drawing Migration tool imports 3D models from

Figure 2: Tabbed interface for Solid Edge ST9

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16 CADReport Solidworks with full associations, making possible updatable drawing views and correctly connected dimensions.

Siemens PLM has begun beta testing ST9, and we can expect to see the new Solid Edge released in July 2016. A Siemens employee told me the company now employs agile programming, which means bugs are more easily identified and quashed, and that features can be developed more rapidly. In fact, he said he was already working on defining functions for 2017’s ST10.

What Else is New from Siemens PLM Mobile CAD: For several years, Siemens PLM boasted how well Solid Edge runs on Microsoft Surface tablets. The boast is an odd one, given that any Windows software runs on Surfaces, because they are just thin laptop computers with the keyboard detached. In this regard, there is nothing special to Solid Edge.

Nevertheless, this year Microsoft Surface was the Platinum sponsor of SEU 15, so we got to see giant ad banners for Surface and most tutorial rooms were equipped with a new Surface Pro 4 at each desk.

Marketing, however, clashed with reality. On the main stage, Siemens executives touted the Surface Pro’s ability to work with pen and finger input. In the classrooms, however, Siemens employees ensured every user had a mouse attached to his Surface; styli and finger input went ignored.

CatchBook: While there isn’t a mobile version of Solid Edge that runs on Android or iOS tablets, Siemens is close to releasing a public beta of simplified parametric-based drawing software called CatchBook.

It uses Siemens’s own D-Cubed DCM constraint manager to straighten out (and connect) lines sketched by hand into lines, circles, arcs, ellipses and splines. Photographs can be underlaid, and then sketched over – great for home improvement and landscape designers working on-site.

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CADReport 17 Figure 3: Ken Hosch, Siemens PLM’s director of innovation, research and strategy, demonstrating CatchBook at Solid Edge University 2015.

Commands appear in a toolbar-like control, near the pen, but it looked to me that many commands were executed in-context through stylus or touch motions. (See figure 3.)

What I found particularly interesting was the scribble motion. Depending on where we scribble, CatchBook either adds breaks to curves, or removes an entire curve, or erases the entire drawing. Being parametric, CatchBook snaps entities to geometric features.

When the application notices we are drawing the same thing a second time, it resizes and aligns it to match the first one – a touch of Synchronous Technology.

The software also lets us write notes through handwriting recognition; places associative dimensions; and exports drawings as PDFs. Multiple drawings are stored in binders to create collections.

The software is being written for Android, iOS and Windows. Nevertheless, CatchBook is not unique, as a company called ArcTuition is doing a similar thing with a constraintsbased ArcSite app for iPads.

Cloud CAD: Siemens PLM now provides a “cloud” version of Solid Edge on an experimental basis through its online store. The company sees it as one more option for customers. A Siemens employee told me the company is puzzled by vendors like Autodesk who seem to be reducing choices for customers.

What Siemens has is not a true cloud product like Onshape, but a simple streaming of an instance of Solid Edge running on nVidia’s GRID servers hosted by cloud provider Frame (nee Mainframe2). I say “simple” because just about any software can be made to run on those servers. There’s no need to rewrite the software. GRID works by very quickly pushing raster updates of the Solid C

Edge screen to your Web browser. To keep the latency down, the trial version is limited to IP addresses located in USA and United Kingdom.

Even though Solid Edge sometimes seems to be working in the shadow of big brother NX, it nevertheless is providing users with features that keep it abreast and sometimes even ahead of its competition, Inventor and Solidworks.

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18

CADBeat

The RIGHT Mix CFD simulation helps biopharmaceutical manufacturer successfully scale a single-use mixer design.

By Rudolf Pavlik, Szymon Buhajczuk and Mark Goodin

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iopharmaceutical manufacturers continually need to scale up production as they move from small pilot studies to progressively larger clinical trials, then finally into large-scale production as the drug reaches the market. As a provider of single-use systems and bioprocess equipment utilized in biopharmaceutical manufacturing, ASI regularly faces the challenge of providing different sizes of its products for these various stages of the therapeutic development process.

Until recently, biopharmaceutical-manufacturing facilities relied solely on hard-piped systems, such as stainless steel bioreactors, tanks and piping. ASI has pioneered development of single-use equipment, designed to be employed once and then disposed of. These systems drastically reduce the need for harsh and lengthy cleaning requirements while improving production speed due to quick changeover between batches.

ASI is a leading global provider of advanced single-use systems for the healthcare and life sciences industries. The company’s imPULSE single-use mixing series is a unique system that consists of a stainless steel hexagonal mixing vessel and a matching single-use mixing bag. Together, the system can be configured for a variety of end-user mixing applications. The disposable polymer mixing bag is engineered with an integrated mixing disc that consists of multiple slots and film flaps. The flaps open and close as the mixing disc moves up and down within the mixing bag.

On the downstroke, the flaps close and energy is directed to the bottom of the mixing bag and up the sidewalls. On the upstroke, the flaps open, allowing the fluid to flow through the slots, thus producing one-way flow and very effective mixing.

Simulation with ANSYS Fluent helped ASI eliminate the cost and lead time of prototyping, demonstrating that ASI’s design could be scaled up to an industry-leading 5,000-liter size while providing the same mixing performance as smaller mixers.

ASI first developed the imPULSE design in a 250-liter size and expanded the portfolio to include sizes from 30L to 1,500L. As customers further scaled up their batch sizes, they demanded larger mixers. Although it was not difficult to scale up the mixer, it was a challenge to maintain mixing efficiencies and patterns.

The time required to achieve a certain level of homogeneity is critical to the efficiency of biopharmaceutical manufacturing.

To sell the larger mixers, ASI needed to prove that mixing time November/December | 2015

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ASI’s imPULSE single-use mixing series reduces lengthy cleaning requirements and improves production speed in biopharmaceutical applications.

would be consistent in both larger and smaller mixers.

The lead time and cost required to build a prototype of the new 5,000-liter mixer was quite high. So ASI investigated the potential for using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation to validate the design of the larger mixer. Besides being faster and less expensive than building and testing a prototype mixer, CFD provides more diagnostic information, such as flow velocities throughout the tank along with shear rate, all of which are useful in diagnosing and improving a mixer design.

ASI contracted with consultants from Toronto-based SimuTech Group, a supplier of engineering simulation software, support, training, consulting and testing services. The team used ANSYS Fluent to simulate the motion of the mixer discs.

Fluent’s dynamic layering method adds or removes layers of cells adjacent to a moving boundary based on the height of the layer bordering the moving surface, which enables simulation of devices with complex moving parts.

The dynamic layering method allows users to specify an ideal layer height on each moving boundary. The layer of cells neighboring the moving boundary is split or merged with the layer of cells next to it based on the height of cells in the adjacent layer. This unique approach to simulating a moving boundary eliminates accuracy problems, which are caused by cell shape deformation.

SimuTech engineers simulated performance of the bag in mixing two different particles: Salt and bovine serum albumin (BSA). The software enabled engineers to customize material properties to model the properties of each particle type. The simulation showed that the flow traveled up along the outer www.design-engineering.com

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20 CADBeat walls, crossed over at the top of the tank, and returned in a downward moving column. This was expected since the mixing disc, located in the center of the bag, was designed to push the fluid on the downstroke, but not on the upstroke due to the opening of the membrane film flaps.

The result is that, during the downstroke, bulk flow is accelerated, but on the upstroke a more complicated local mixing flow pattern is formed around the mixing disc. A complicated local mixing flow pattern is evidence of the random and aggressive mixing patterns this disc creates. The aggressive behavior creates a turbulence that generates random patterns, which provide additional paths for the solutions and bulk flow to conjoin.

The simulation showed that localized flow near the mixing disc changes significantly depending on its position in the stroke CFD experts at Toronto’s SimuTech used ANSYS Fluent to calculate cycle. On the downstroke, with the membranes closed, the flow velocity vectors and mixing motion created by scaled versions of the is pushed outward toward the tank walls at a high velocity. A imPULSE system.. vortex ring forms around the periphery of the mixing disc, which is beneficial to mixing and persists even column of descending fluid, then agitated by the after the mixing disc starts to move up again. mixing disc and eventually dispersed throughThe vortex generally follows the bulk flow, out the entire tank. The simulations showed so the circulation pattern migrates toward that, within 60 seconds, the concentrations the walls. throughout the tank were relatively uniform.

When the mixing disc is moving up, the To quantify the mixing of BSA particles bulk of the fluid in the center column continover a longer period of time, researchers created a ues to move down, but now the mixing disc monitor point in the three tanks. This point opposes this motion. With the memwas placed 25 percent of the way up the branes/holes open, the flow is free to height of the tank at a radial position of bypass the mixing disc by moving 75 percent. The results showed that the through these holes, which further agismaller tanks mixed faster than the larger tates flow. The localized vortices illustrated in tanks, but within practical limits, all tanks mixed the CFD results generate turbulence with the very quickly. ability to mix even difficult powder/liquid Flaps on the imPULSE disk open and Within 60 seconds, the volume fractions solutions at a rate that will enhance conjoin- close during mixing downstroke (top) and in all of the tanks stabilized at about the ing the bulk fluid and powder/liquid product upstroke (bottom) to maximize flow. same level. Overall, while slight differences solution. The localized vortices near the disc were present in time scales in the different show that air is not being entrained or pulled in; only unmixed tanks, the tanks all scaled well, since they all mixed in less than product is pulled in through the submerged disc. a minute and displayed similar mixing patterns for the specific To compare and predict scalability across various sizes, CFD testing conditions.

SimuTech engineers compared flow patterns of three differentBecause ASI engineers confirmed the simulation predictions sized mixers – 250 liters, 1,500 liters and 5,000 liters – to deter- with actual data in three sizes, they can draw a correlation mine whether or not the tanks behave similarly. The results between the actual and simulated data for application across showed that flow patterns were largely unchanged in the larger the company’s entire portfolio of mixing products. Overall, devices compared to the 250L baseline. Within a few seconds, CFD simulation saved hundreds of thousands of dollars, providall the tanks establish the pattern of flow moving up along the ing characterizations that apply to the overall scalability of ASI’s outer walls and down through the center column. products and significantly reducing the need for building and The mixing patterns were observed directly through multiphase testing prototypes.

DE simulations with salt and BSA particles present in the tank. These www.asisus.com results showed that, at 6 seconds, all three mixers had significantly www.simutechgroup.com suspended salt into the fluid. For the smallest equipment size, significant concentrations of salt were present at the top of the Rudolf Pavlik is Director, Product Development at ASI, Millerstank; even for the largest sizes, significant concentrations were burg; Szymon Buhajczuk is Principal CFD Engineer (Canada); present two-thirds of the way up the height of the tank. and Mark Goodin, CFD Consulting Engineer (U.S.A.), for The near-neutrally buoyant BSA particles, which started in a SimuTech Group Inc. This article first appeared in the Volume thin layer at the top of the bag, were drawn down in the center IX, Issue 1 2015 issue of ANSYS Advantage Magazine.

November/December | 2015

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22 CoverStory

Turning the TIDE

Hydrokinetic systems poised to reap renewable energy from Canada’s legendary tidal flows.

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Black Rock Tidal Power’s 2.5MW in-stream tidal energy array features 36 SCHOTTEL Hyrdo turbines mounted on the company’s Triton platform.

By Mike McLeod

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eside China, no other country harnesses the electricity generating potential of its waterways more than Canada. Overall, the nation produces approximately 60 percent of its power from hydroelectric dams. In some provinces, it’s as high as 90 percent.

However, much of Canada’s energy production potential has yet to be tapped, in the form of hydrokinetic power generation.

Similar in concept to hydroelectrics, hydrokinetic systems generate power by harnessing the movement of water via the natural movement of ocean waves, tidal forces or river flow, yet without environmental impact created by large dams. As such, hydrokinetics falls into the renewable energy category along with wind and solar, but without those sources’ unpredictability.

Consequently, hydrokinetic power contributes to base load, a critical component in an industry pressured to displace “dirty” sources like coal with a “green” alternative. As a bonus, most hydrokinetic systems operate, unlike a wind farm or solar array, out of sight well below the water’s surface.

Despite its potential and environmental upside, hydrokinetics is still in its infancy. Experts in the field liken it to wind power in the 1970s. However, the industry, at least in North America, is on the cusp of a major milestone. By the end of the year, the first of four major in-stream tidal energy projects is scheduled to begin installation at The Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy (FORCE) in Nova Scotia.

Situated in the Minas Passage, which connects the Minas Basin to the Bay of Fundy, the research facility will allow four approved tidal energy turbine platforms to tap some of the most powerful currents in the world. Tides there typically rise and fall by 55 feet or 14 billion tonnes of water, roughly the combined flow of all the rivers and streams on Earth, travelling at up to 5 meters per second.

Considering that the kinetic energy equation for continuous fluid flow includes density, water, at more than 800 times the density of air, holds vastly greater energy potential than wind. The equation is also proportional to fluid velocity cubed, meaning water turbines don’t spin as rapidly as wind turbines and even small increases in tide velocity have a marked impact on output.

According to a 2006 feasibility study by the U.S.-based Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), roughly 1,013MW of power is embodied in Minas Basin alone, of which about 152MW could be extracted without impacting the environment. However, more recent research, conducted at Nova Scotia’s Acadia University, November/December | 2015

suggests the passage’s potential is significantly greater: 7,000 megawatts in total, of which 2,500 megawatts could be harvested.

But what makes the Bay of Fundi, and other locations like it, so appealing for in-stream tidal energy is also what presents the greatest challenge. Designing systems to harness that raw power have to factor in production and deployment costs, on-going maintenance and wildlife protection, not to mention the corrosiveness of seawater and the enormous forces involved.

Irish tidal energy developer, OpenHydro, is no stranger to the challenges the Bay of Fundi poses. In 2009, a 400-ton, six-story prototype of the company’s Open-Centre turbine design suffered damage to its rotors within six months of installation, forcing the $10 million project to be removed the following year. Now, five years later, the company is poised to test its technology again. By the end of December, Cape Sharp Tidal – a joint venture between OpenHydro and Halifax-based electric utility, Emera – will be the first to connect its project to the Nova Scotia grid.

The initial demonstration will include a pair of the OpenHydro’s 2MW Open-Centre turbines, each characterized by a horizontal axis rotor surrounded by a hydrodynamic duct. In addition to accelerating water flow over the turbine, the duct also contains a direct-drive permanent magnet generator that eliminates the need for lubrication. The turbine structure is anchored to a gravity-based foundation, which is deployed using a steel recovery frame that lowers the system to the sea floor using heavy-lift winches.

Beyond the basic bullet points, however, the company offered little in the way of the turbine’s design approach or any specific innovation. Other players with projects destined for the Bay of Fundi are less reticent. For example, Black Rock Tidal Power (BRTP), a tidal energy development company owned by German marine propulsion systems company, SCHOTTEL Group, talks openly about its project. The company aims to deploy its first 2.5 MW turbine array in Fall of 2016, followed by another in 2017.

Unlike OpenHydro’s project and other monolithic single turbine approaches, BRTP’s project features an array of 36 smaller SCHOTTEL turbines supported by the company’s Triton platform. According to Dr. Sue Molloy, PhD, M.Eng, president and general manager of Black Rock Tidal Power, multiple turbines modularize the platform’s power production, reducing the risk that the entire system would be taken off-line if hit by debris.

“We also have passive pitch on the blades,” she says. “As the www.design-engineering.com

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24

CoverStory force increases to approximately 400 tonnes, the to put something under 100 feet of sea water, composite blades start to bend so they’re put in the design requirements and development costs a less efficient position to limit the amount of go through the roof. An advantage of our vertithrust. A big part of this is that, once the force cal axis turbine is the ability to have the expengets to a certain level, it really puts a load on the sive electrical components above the waterline.” support structure. You have to compensate with Grovue says, in addition to simplifying a more expensive and heavier system.” maintenance and installation, vertical turbines Cost control informs the Triton platform’s like Instream’s have the added advantage of not design as well, Molloy says. Developed by being sensitive to water flow direction, but with SCHOTTEL Hydro, the support structure carthe downside that typical VAHTs struggle with ries the turbines on a grid of four horizontal efficiency. To maximize the output of its Darcross members attached to two vertical spar rieus-type turbine, the company partnered with buoys. The spars attach to rigid tether arms BAE Systems to leverage the international which anchor the grid to a gravity-based foun- Developed in partnership with BAE defense and aerospace contractor’s engineering dation by a 3DOF hinge.

Systems, Insteam Energy System’s 25kW and fluid dynamics resources. The result was a That hinge allows the turbine array to swivel, vertical axis turbines are currently testing proprietary rotor design that has increased the like a weather vane, as the tide flows at various in river flows in preparation for a larger efficiency of its 25kW units by over 70%. angles. During deployment and maintenance, off-shore tidal deployment.

Now, Instream Energy Systems is looking to the tether arms also allow the grid to pivot up embark on the next evolutionary step. In Octoto the water’s surface. In this mode, the spars become pontoons ber, the company was approved for financial support from the that allow the platform to be floated into place during installation National Research Council of Canada and awarded the EUREKA and, later, give service crews easy access to the turbines. label. Working in collaboration with U.K.-based IT Power Consult“Cost is going to be the defining factor of this industry,” says ing Ltd., the partners will design a multi-turbine floating platform Molloy, who is also an adjunct professor at Dalhousie University. for coastal marine applications.

“Right now, the turbine itself is only 9 and 15 percent of the over“It will depend on the environment but we are looking at our all project cost; everything else is what costs the money. If you have fundamental turbine building block being approximately 100kW,” a system that requires it be brought to shore every time you need Grovue says. “Larger scale is achieved by networking ten or more to fix it, then you have a problem.” of those to hit the 1MW level. That then becomes the core replicatWhile large, multi-million dollar in-stream tidal energy projects ing element to scale up to multi-megawatt sites.” get most of the attention, other hydrokinetic players are less aggresAlthough much of the public focus is on turbines, to Black Rock sive to start, both in terms of turbine size and capital risk. Com- Tidal’s Molloy, the real economic potential lies in the power dispanies like Vancouver-based Instream Energy Systems, for tribution and support industries, rather than the power plants. example, have taken a building block approach by developing “When I talk with industry and government, I say that for scalable vertical axis hydrokinetic turbines (VAHT) initially Canada there is a $1 million, a $10 million and a $100 million designed to reap power from river and canal flows. opportunity. The $100 million opportunity is a subsea substation “From a design perspective, one of the challenges is dealing with and the cabling for all these projects. Plus, someone has to install submerged components, like rotating seals and underwater cable them and maintain them. In Canada, we have the expertise here connections,” says Shane Grovue, P.Eng, Director of Engineering to do that, because we know hydro power. We own that.”

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26 MotionControl

Sailing AWAY

Emerson modular drive helps luxury yacht manufacturer boost vessel fuel efficiency by 20 percent.

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IDER Srl, based in Castelvecchio di Monte Porzio, Italy, specializes in the design and construction of composite and aluminum pleasure craft with a strong focus on performance combined with low fuel consumption. The company’s Superyacht Division, where yachts up to 165 feet are manufactured in aluminium, is located at the company’s satellite facility in nearby Ancona, which offers direct access to the sea.

For its latest 150ft vessel, the luxury yacht manufacturer is using Powerdrive MD2 modular drives from Emerson as part of a unique power management system. The application forms part of a bespoke system that delivers a 20 percent reduction in fuel consumption and allows the yacht to travel further between refuelling.

The vessel, which features diesel-electric propulsion, is equipped with four MAN engines. Each engine is connected to an alternator to produce 350kW of power that drives azimuthal pods.

“The power generated can be stored in lithium polymer battery banks, allowing the yacht to cruise completely under electric power and in total silence,” said Tilli Antonelli, founder and CEO of WIDER Srl. “Importantly, the propulsion system is managed by the proprietary Wider Management System (WMS), which was developed conjointly by WIDER’s engineering team and Emerson.”

Four variable speed generators deliver electrical power to the super yacht, with diesel engine speed controlled by the WMS featuring Powerdrive MD2 modular drives. This ensures the engines run at best efficiency in any cruising conditions to optimize overall consumption and maximise comfort for those sailing on the vessel. A DC variable voltage switchboard with a working range of 500-750V distributes the generated electrical power.

Here, power levels are adapted instantly to the requirements of the system with the support of a battery pack. Of significant note is the fact that the super yacht can spend an entire night November/December | 2015

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at anchor without ever having to start a generator as the entire hotel load can be run from the batteries, offering clear benefits in terms of fuel savings and comfort on board.

“Traditional yachts run the generators at a constant speed and produce a fixed output,” explained Antonelli.

“This is often too much or too little for the yacht’s needs, and as a result they are in frequent need of services and overhauls. The same is true of a yacht’s engines – these run at varying speeds according to requirements, consuming vast amounts of fuel and demanding regular attention and service.”

Emerson’s Powerdrive MD2 modular The diesel electric system drives provide high efficiency motor on board the WIDER 150ft control for WIDER’s hybrid diesel/ super yacht is different. By electric luxury super yachts. connecting MAN engines to alternators, they can be employed as variable speed generators, producing only as much power as necessary at any given time.

This results in greater efficiency from the engines; the engineering team at WIDER estimates fuel savings of up to 20% are achievable (depending on usage) compared with the same boat using traditional twin screw propulsion. At 11 knots, this efficiency gives the super yacht a range of 4,200 nautical miles www.design-engineering.com

15-11-17 2:40 PM

MotionControl

between refuels, a substantial distance for a vessel with a fuel capacity of 45,000 litres.

“The Powerdrive MD2 drives help make this possible, with power from the generators or the battery banks converted into what is needed at the time,” Antonelli said.

“This always assures the best performance in terms of consumption and efficiency – taking into account the overall demand for power on board.”

Powerdrive MD2 is a range of high power, compact and user-friendly modular drives.

The combination of power modules and choice of cooling methods make it possible to achieve multiple optimized configurations: six-pulse, low frequency harmonics, regenerative or DC bus solution. The Emerson drive provides high performance motor control, making it the ideal choice for any industrial or commercial variable speed application up to 2,800kW. A further benefit of the greater efficiency achieved on the WIDER super yacht through the use of variable speed generators and the power management system, is that it produces less noise and vibration. This results in greater enjoyment on board, which is the basis of WIDER’s philosophy to yachting, as well as longer intervals between maintenance.

“As a result of running efficiently, maintenance such as checking for exhaust build and dirt/grime on the generator valves is reduced,” Antonelli said. “Additionally, although we have four generators, it is likely that most of the time only one or two will

27

be used, together with the batteries, which means less hours/miles on the clock and less maintenance. It should even be possible to extend intervals between standard maintenance tasks such as oil and filter changes as the engine hours are managed more efficiently than on a standard yacht.”

Another important and beneficial feature of the design is that the Powerdrive MD2 drives convert the power from AC at the generators, to DC at the battery banks, and back to AC again when it powers the azimuthal pods or the appliances on board.

This guarantees the greatest possible efficiency for the propulsion system, but also acts as a voltage stabilizer, thus eliminating voltage spikes that can be harmful to appliances. The battery banks are connected to a DC distribution bus that works at a nominal 675V DC, guaranteeing considerable power to the vessel but also allowing enormous flexibility in the way the power is managed.

Everything is controlled by the power management system, which governs power generation, flow and storage. The number of generators that are running and their speed is checked constantly against the vessel’s requirements for safety, the demand for power and the state of the battery banks. A power management strategy can even be adopted to cater for specific requests from the yacht owner, such as noise reduction, high performance, zero emissions or night mode. Each profile can be selected manually.

“We are the first yacht builder in the world to offer luxury yachts in this size range with diesel-electric propulsion combined with azimuthal pods,” said Antonelli.

“In fact, the 150ft model is the first super yacht produced by WIDER and the entire range (including 125ft and 165ft models) will be powered by Emerson solutions.”

“Emerson is now a dedicated and trusted partner of WIDER and was instrumental in the development of the power management system,” added Antonelli. “They recognized our needs and developed an innovative solution that provides us with a distinct competitive advantage.” DE www.emersonindustrial.com

This article was provided by Emerson Industrial Automation.

www.design-engineering.com November/December | 2015

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28 FluidPower

Raising the COSTA CONCORDIA Flexible hone smooths the way for massive effort to salvage doomed cruise ship.

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hen the Costa Concordia, a 952-foot-long, 17-deck-high cruise ship, was wrecked off the coast of Isola del Giglio in Italy on 13 January 2012, it was declared a total loss and 32 people lost their lives. The ship eventually settled on its starboard side in shallow waters with half the boat still submerged.

Concerned about a potential environmental disaster that could result from the large quantity of fuel and oil remaining in the ship’s tanks, not to mention a large quantity of rotting food and other health concerns, a salvage effort to move the ship to a suitable port where it could be properly dismantled was commissioned.

The effort, awarded to the American salvaging firm, Titan Salvage, and Italian underwater construction firm, Micoperi, ultimately cost an estimated two billion dollars and took several years.

The endeavor to raise the Costa Concordia enough to move it, involved a series of complex steps, several of which had not been attempted in decades.

The first step was to secure the hull to the land using steel cables to prevent the ship from slipping into deeper water. A horizontal underwater platform was then built just below the ship’s position to hold the ship once it was raised.

Hollow, watertight tanks, called sponsons, were then attached to the exposed port side of the ship. When sponsons are flooded with seawater, they exert a downward pull on that November/December | 2015

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side of the ship. With the assistance of winches attached to the platform, a process called parbuckling, the ship was pulled into an upright position on top of the underwater platform.

Once the ship was vertical, water-filled sponsons were attached to the starboard side as well. Then, both sponsons were emptied of water to create the required buoyancy to raise the ship enough so it could be towed to port.

The challenge for Micoperi, a leading offshore contractor that provides subsea solutions for the offshore oil and gas industry worldwide, was to find a way to attach 15 massive steel sponsons to each side of the ship. The 30 sponsons weighed 11,500 tons, combined.

The plan was to weld the steel sponsons to the hull of the ship, but also to join them together to form “one single, robust, stable body,” similar to one integral floating chamber. For this, male and female “joints” were attached to each container so they could be connected to each other. A tubular frame would then be run through each of these joints to attach all the containers together. Hydraulic pistons within the tubes would pressurize the system to further hold the tanks together as one unit.

Since it was not possible to introduce a single tube more than 100 meters in length, the engineers decided the best solution was to start with a small section of tube approximately 2 meters long and push it through the first male/female joint. www.design-engineering.com

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FluidPower Then another section of tube would be welded to the first, which would be pushed through the joints a little further, and another section welded, and so on.

This operation would be repeated for the port side, once the ship was raised enough vertically from the initial parbuckling procedure. To remove the excess material from the welds as they were created – both on the interior and exterior of the tubing – Micoperi required a tool that could remove the excess material and worked on an industrial hand-held drill.

For assistance, Micoperi contacted Vogel, an Italian distributor of machine tools, industrial equipment and metals.

Among its offerings is the Flex-Hone from Los Angeles-based Brush Research Manufacturing.

The Flex-Hone is available in many sizes, 11 abrasive types and eight grits. It works well when hand-held because the design is automatically self-centering. Using the tool, parts such as carbide bushings, bore sleeves, hydraulic and pneumatic cylinders, and other cylindrical cavities can be surface finished on the production line or resurfaced in the field using a relatively inexpensive tool that requires little set-up time.

“Micoperi called us and we discussed whether the Flex-Hone Tool could be a solution for its problems,” says Sven Pilling of Vogel. “During the discussion, we determined that only the Flex-Hone was suitable. Other tools, like abrasive nylon brushes,

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would not guarantee enough stock removal.”

Micoperi ultimately purchased Brush Research Manufacturing’s BC 3-inch SC 60 and BC 3-inch SC 80 Flex-Hone Tools.

The Flex-Hone served another important function by smoothing the way for the hydraulic pistons that were introduced into the tubes.

No stranger to the hydraulics industry, the Flex-Hone tool is already widely used to manufacture all manner of hydraulic cylinders, pumps, jacks, and valves. Hydraulic toolmakers often used the tool to obtain the proper finish in the cylinder bore. If the hydraulic cylinder finish is too rough, U-cups and seals can wear out. If the cylinder surface is too smooth, hydraulic seals may leak.

“In order to allow a smooth movement of the pistons and in order to avoid leakages, the internal tube walls were cleaned and polished successfully with the Flex-Hone,” says Pilling.

Although the Costa Concordia project is now complete, the Flex-Hone remains a go-to tool for overhaul and repair for marine applications. The tool is used for cylinder refinishing of big bore (up to 40-inch diameter) diesel main engines of large vessels as well as smaller diesel generators. The tool can also be used for cleaning pipe bores for pipes or other cylindrical bores such as valves on some pump designs.

DE www.brushresearch.com

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30 IdeaGenerator Electrical Robotic Cable Retraction igus introduced its Triflex RSE, a plastic retraction system that prevents looping of the cable carrier, allowing power, data and media to be safely supplied to the end of a robotic arm. The system is based around the company’s self-lubricating DryLin linear bearings. A moving carriage guides the cable carrier, allowing for a retraction stroke of up to 23.6 inches, while a elastic cord automatically retracts any excess slack. The low profile RSE features integrated adjustable attachment plates and was designed for use with igus’ Triflex R line of cable carriers. www.igus.com

Wiring Connector HARTING introduced its Han F&B connector, a series of modular, user-configurable connectors with IP69K protection for food and beverage Zone 2 applications. The FDA 21-approved circular connectors are made of non-toxic PP plastic and offer chemical, heat and cold resistance, as well as Ecolab certified cleaning agents. Their hygienic design features large radii and smooth surfaces to resist build up of dirt pockets and potential bacteria load. Users can configure the Han F+B by selecting from 25 Han 3A contact inserts for transmitting power (up to 40A), signal (up to 21 contacts) and data (up to 10 Gbit/s).

There is also a Han F+B insert (up to 16A) especially designed for this series. www.harting.ca

Automation DC Servo Controllers Sprint Electric released its latest line of DC servo controllers, the company’s XLV range of miniature DC motor speed controllers designed for use with permanent magnet brushed DC servo motors. The latest additions include the 400 XLV model for motors rated up to 4 Amps; the 800 XLV for 8 Amps; and the 1200 XLV for 12 Amps. Measuring 60mm x 120mm x 105mm deep for the 400 and 800 models (69mm wide for the 1200 model), the XLV is a genuine four quadrant drive that can motor and brake in both directions of rotation. The controllers are suitable for use on DC supplies up to 48V and can be used in either current (torque) or speed control modes. The reference signal for both current and speed control can be either bipolar (+/-10V) or unipolar (0 to 10V). www.sprint-electric.com

Piezo Drive Aerotech unveiled its Ensemble QLe, a panel-mount nanopositioning piezo drive designed for the company’s Ensemble family of drives and controllers.

Featuring a dual-core 456 MHz, double-precision, floating-point DSP, the drive provides high-speed interrupts, data logging, high-speed position latching and multi-axis position synchronized output. Using high-resolution A/D and D/A converters, the QLe enables sub-nanometer positioning resolution at high bandwidths, with linearity better than 0.01% over the full travel range in closed-loop mode. In addition to two high-speed digital inputs and four optically-isolated digital outputs, the drive is equipped with analog inputs and outputs including an 18-bit analog input and one 20-bit analog output. www.aerotech.com November/December | 2015

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IdeaGenerator

PLC

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Clippard www.clippard.com/scientific-a Tel: 1.877.245.6247 • Email: sales@clippard.com

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MasterSil 151AO has an exceptionally low viscosity and offers remarkable flexibility while maintaining high temperature and thermal cycling resistance.

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

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Omron Automation and Safety introduced it CP1L-E, a compact PLC line that includes an embedded Ethernet port with socket services. This feature allows for the adoption of multiple protocols, including UDP, TCP, Modbus TCP and the Omron FINS Ethernet protocol. The CP1L-E’s Automatic-Connect function connects instantly over a default IP address to a switch or directly to computer or HMI without a crossover cable. There are currently three Ethernet-enabled versions of the CP1L-E available, offering 20, 30 or 40 I/O points (expandable to 160 I/O points). These models include two embedded 1-10V analog inputs. If more analog I/O is required, the unit can be expanded with modules to add two additional inputs and outputs. All models of the CP1L series provide four high-speed encoder inputs and two high-speed pulse outputs, as well as several function blocks. Expansion capability includes options for digital and analog I/O, temperature inputs and serial interface boards. www.Omron247.com

Multi-Axis Servo Drive Beckhoff Automation debuted its AX8000 servo drive system, designed to meet high control speed and accuracy requirements.

Measuring 223mm high and either 60 or 90mm wide, the multi-axis systems feature the company’s One Cable Technology and combines FPGA technology with multi-core ARM processors to provide response times of less than 1 µs for current control, as well as velocity control cycle times as low as 16 µs. The series includes two 60mm and two 90mm wide power supply module variants for different worldwide voltage systems: 100 to 230VAC with 20 or 40A for Asia and North America, as well as 400 to 480 VAC with 20 or 40A for Europe and North America. A brake resistor, brake chopper and mains filter are integrated in all four versions. www.beckhoff.com

Fluid Power Sensor Valve Camozzi Pneumatics released its Series 3 mechanically-operated sensor valve (i.e. whisker valve), which can function as a limit switch in applications where very low actuation forces and high-flow rates are required. The actuation force of the valve’s mechanical lever is less than 0.5lb (2N) at 90 psi operating pressure. The actuation sensitivity may be increased by adding a 3mm diameter “whisker rod” to the predrilled hole at the end of the lever. When

November/December | 2015 www.design-engineering.com

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IdeaGenerator the mechanical lever is actuated, it releases an internal pilot signal to atmosphere. The depressurization of the spool plunger allows the internal mechanical spring to shift the valve spool. The valve functions as either 3-way/2-position normally closed or normally open (spring return), and 5-way/2-position (spring return). It features 1/8-inch NPTF or BSPP ports and operates at 32°F - 175°F and pressures from 58 – 145 psi www.camozzi-usa.com

Pneumatic Service Module Festo introduced its MS6-E2M service module that automatically monitors and regulates pneumatic operating parameters, such as flow and pressure, to detect and report anomalies that would suggest leaks in the machine or piping.

During stand-by operation, the module actively intervens in the air supply, preventing any from escaping through leaks on the machine. In shut-off mode, it continually checks for leaks and reports any greater than allowable pressure drop in the piping system.

Measured values for flow rate, air consumption and pressure can be called up from the E2M at any time. The E2M can be integrated

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to an installation via a manual input device (MMI) or Profibus, specifying the parameters for detecting whether the machine is in a production run or not. www.festo.ca

Valve Terminal System In cooperation with partners Festo, ASCO, Numatics and Aventics, B&R has created a solution for integrating pneumatic valve terminals using the company’s POWERLINK communication protocol. Pneumatic terminal families can be integrated in the B&R engineering environment using a device description file. Graphical display, simple component configuration, automatic firmware downloads and diagnostics features are available for valve terminals just as they are available for other B&R products. According to the company, the integration of pneumatic solutions into the B&R automation system allows high-speed response times in the field of pneumatics. In addition, mechanical sequences can be more precisely coordinated. Valve terminals from Festo, ASCO, Numatics and Aventics can be seamlessly integrated in B&R automation solutions using POWERLINK. www.br-automation.com

www.design-engineering.com November/December | 2015

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IdeaGenerator Sensors Magnetic Encoder Module Encoder Products Company (EPC) introduced its Model 30M, a lowprofile 30mm diameter magnetic encoder module. The encoder combines a hall-effect sensor, advanced signal processing circuitry and a small magnetic target, which can be affixed to a rotating shaft via an optional shaft adaptor or insert. The Model 30M tolerates shaft misalignment due to its wide sensor-to-magnet air gap (0.022 inch) and excellent waveform symmetry and repeatability. In addition, it offers resolution up to 1,024 CPR; a maximum frequency of 350MHz; up to 8-pole commutation; an optional index channel; two voltage selections and four output types. Connector options include an 8-pin M12, or an 8-pin or 16-pin Molex with an integral strain relief. An optional centering and gap-setting tool enables quick installation.

The encoder’s operating temperature ranges from -40ºC to 120ºC and can be sealed to IP69K. It also holds ratings of 100g at 11ms for shock and 20g at 10 to 3000 Hz for vibration. www.encoder.com

IO-Link Master/Sensors Rockwell Automation unveiled a line of enhanced IO-Link sensors and an IO-Link master for the Allen-Bradley POINT I/O system. The sensors featuring embedded IO-Link act the same as standard I/O sensors until connected to a master. Once interfaced with an IO-Link master, users can access advanced data and configuration capabilities while using the same three-wire cables.

The sensors talk via simple IO-Link protocol to the master and the POINT I/O system communicates with the controller via EtherNet/IP. Additionally, users can program sensors and controllers in the same design environment, Rockwell Software Studio 5000 Logix Designer. With automatic device configuration, settings for the master and sensors are saved and can be downloaded from the controller when switching operations or replacing a component. www.rockwellautomation.com

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36 IdeaGenerator Power Transmission Linear Drive Amacoil-Uhing announced that its linear drives are now available with a combination shaft wiper/grease fitting for automatic cleaning and lubrication of the drive shaft. The shaft wiper is an O-ring made of

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specially formulated rubber which is mounted in a Delrin brand plastic fitting. One wiper is attached to each end of the drive unit.

As the drive moves back and forth, the wipers push debris to either end of the shaft. When equipped with the grease fitting, the Delrin plastic fitting is made larger to accommodate the addition of the fitting and a felt ring which absorbs and evenly distributes lubricant around the shaft. The grease fitting is filled with a molybdenum disulfide-free grease which must be used with Uhing rolling ring linear drives. www.amacoil.com

Bearings Stand-off Regal Power Transmission Solutions has developed a new single-piece stand-off for flanged mounted bearings that integrates the bolt-spacer ferrule and stand-off in one assembly for sanitation compliance in food/beverage operations. Engineered for use with System Plast flanged mounted bearings and Sealmaster composite-flanged PN Gold bearings, the patentpending one-piece design eliminates loose parts during installation, improves bearing installation alignment and creates a 5/8-inch gap behind the bearing flange. Available for OEM or retrofit applications, the standoffs can be factory installed in new bearings or retrofitted with common tools.

The stand-offs are made of 300 Series passivated stainless steel, and sold in packs of four. www.regalbeloit.com

Brass Collars & Couplings Stafford Manufacturing Corp. introduced a line of brass collars and couplings with stainless steel fasteners. The collars are offered in one-piece, two-piece, set-screw and hinged styles and the brass couplings in one- and two-piece styles. Machined from C360 brass or optional C464 Naval brass, these corrosionresistant shaft collars and couplings are a lower cost alternative to 304 and 316 stainless steel products. Suitable for commercial, industrial and military applications, Stafford Brass Shaft Collars and Couplings are available in six standard sizes from 1/2 to 1-1/2-inch I.D. Designed for use with pumps, mixers, impellers, propellers and other brass components, they can be modified with special features such as keyways, square and hex bores, grooves and other treatments. www.staffordmfg.com www.design-engineering.com

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IdeaGenerator Modbus Gateway Moxa, Inc. unveiled its MGate MB3660 series of redundant Modbus gateways that can physically manage up to 248 serial slave nodes for 8-port models or 496 serial slave nodes for 16-port models. Each RS-232/422/485 serial port can be configured individually for Modbus RTU or Modbus ASCII operation, as well as for different baudrates. Up to 31 serial devices can be connected per port. The gateway is compatible with almost any Modbus network. It’s AutoScan function automatically detects devices, while the AutoCalibration function configures response timeout settings. A QuickLink function automatically detects parameters and maps them into a format suitable for use by PLCs. www.moxa.com

Torque Limiting Couplings Eaton announced its Airflex Torque Limiting Coupling, which increases torque by 25 percent and provides an automatic slip detection system, the company says. Designed to withstand high torque spikes, the coupling utilizes automatic reset and re-engage and automatic wear compensation. The coupling also features adjustable slip detection control, which automatically disengages the torque limiting coupling if slip is detected between the motor and the pinion. The required overload torque can be set and adjusted

High-Quality Components for Industrial Applications Replacement Parts Large Quantities for the OEM Hard to find bearings Plastic bearings Rod ends and more Get your free catalogs – B620 and B700 Technical assistance and bearing services

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November/December | 2015

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by varying the applied air pressure. Reapplying the predetermined air pressure quickly and automatically resets the coupling. The couplings are available in sizes from 51 to 76 inches, with a torque range capacity of 2.5 million inch-pounds (mil in.-lbs.) to 12.1 mil in.-lbs. on grinding mill applications of 4,000 horsepower and above. www.eaton.com

IO-Link Master Block Balluff introduced an extra-long PROFINET based IO-Link master block with 16 IO-Link ports. If sensor/actuator hubs are connected to this IO-Link master, up to 256 I/O signals can be processed. When combined with Balluff expansion I/O hubs, up to 480 I/O signals can be processed. Each IO-Link port can transmit up to 32 bytes of process data in cyclical form, as well as parameter or diagnostic data acyclically at each port. Total capacity of this module is 1024 bytes of process data.

Like all Balluff PROFINET modules, the 16 port master has an integrated display, integrated switch and built-in webserver. www.balluff.com

Advertisers Index Advertiser

Website Page

Aerotech, Inc. www.aerotech.com 16 Allied Electronics www.alliedelec.com 2 Automation Direct www.automationdirect.com 7 Baldor Electric Company www.baldor.com 40 Baumer Inc. www.baumer.ca 34 Beckhoff Automation www.beckhoff.ca 13 Clippard Instruments Laboratory Inc. www.clippard.com 9 Daemar Inc. www.daemarinc.com 11 Designfusion www.designfusion.ca 14-15 Drive Products, Inc. www.driveproducts.com 27 Festo Canada, Inc. www.festo.ca 17 FLIR Systems, Inc. www.flir.ca/design-engineering 23 Great West Life Assurance Co. www.engineerscanadafsp.grsaccess.com/app 21 Harting Canada Inc. www.harting.ca 12 Hy-Pro Filtration www.hyprofiltration.com 39 Independent Electricity System Operator www.ieso.ca 25 igus Inc. www.igus.com 3 Industrial Encoder Corp. www.globalencoder.ca 30 QTC Metric Gears www.qtcgears.com 38 Rittal Systems Ltd. www.rittal.ca 19,31 Roto Precision Inc. www.rotoprecision.ca 33 SaskTel www.sasktel.com 37 Schaeffler Canada Inc. www.ina.com 4 SSAB www.ssab.com 35 Stock Drive Products www.sdp-si.com 34 Tsubaki Canada www.tsubaki.ca 36 University of Guelph www.recruitguelph.ca 29 VJ Pamensky Canada Inc. www.pamensky.com 24

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