Design Engineering

16 AU 2009 emphasizes

cloud computing, analysis

24 Integrated drive/motor units simplify machine build

36 Canadian research team

looks to lighter alloys for moving parts in vehicles.

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HOW AUTODESK INVENTOR CONSTRUCTS EXCELLENCE WITH DIGITAL PROTOTYPING. autodesk.com/inventor

Image courtesy of Engineering Center LTD, Russia Autodesk, Autodesk Inventor and Inventor are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product offerings and specifications at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document. © 2009 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Contents | Volume 56, No. 1

IN THE NEWS 8 SME elects first woman president

8 Alcan alloys selected for next-gen spacecraft

10 Cadopolis.com closes shop

10 Dew Engineering secures General Dynamics contract

10 Mechanical engineers expect increase in sustainable design work

12 Brennan opens distribution center

12 MapleSim add-on expands scope of automotive models

14 Global Emissions Systems lands Ontario distributor

14 HP unveils new mobile and desktop workstations

Features

8

16 Autodesk University 2009

Annual CAD user event emphasizes cloud computing, analysis and virtual attendance.

20 Get Your Motor Running

How Autodesk, Stratasys and a Canadian mechanical designer joined forces to create some of the world’s largest rapid prototyped models.

20

Columns 18 CAD Beat CFD simulations play critical role for the Phoenix Mars Lander mission.

24 Motion Control Integrated drive and motor units simplify machine builds and lower TCO. 26 Rapid Prototyping Axis Prototypes helps custom bike maker Guru Bikes wow tradeshow attendees.

28 Fasteners & Adhesives Visible light cure adhesives minimize cure time and eliminate harmful UV light.

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Printed in Canada

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30 Power Transmission Ball screw assemblies key to patentpending petroleum corrosion technology.

24

32 Idea Generator Product news covering the latest in sensors, motors, power transmission, motion control.

38 Canadian Innovator Canadian research team looks to lighter alloys for moving parts in vehicles.

Online

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EditorialViewpoint 7

www.design-engineering.com Editor Michael McLeod (416) 764-1555 mike.mcleod@de.rogers.com Art Director Stewart Thomas (416) 764-1547 Technical Field Editor Pat Jones, P. Eng. Publisher Alan Macpherson (416) 764-1534 alan.macpherson@de.rogers.com District Sales Manager Dean Walter (416) 764-1776 dean.walter@rci.rogers.com Production Manager Natalie Chyrsky (416) 764-1686 natalie.chyrsky@rci.rogers.com Circulation Manager Celia Ramnarine (416) 764-1451 deokie.ramnarine@rci.rogers.com Directory Editor Jessica Badali jessica.badali@de.rogers.com Online Content Manager Janice Bishop (416) 764-1488 janice.bishop@industry.rogers.com Rogers Publishing Limited President and Chief Executive Officer Brian Segal Executive Publisher of the Industrial Group Tim Dimopolous Senior Vice-President, Business & Professional Publishing John Milne Senior Vice-President Michael J. Fox Vice-Presidents Immee Chee Wah, Patrick Renard Rogers Media Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Anthony P. Viner Publications Mail Agreement #40070230 Registration #10817 ISSN number: 0011-9342 Subscriber Services: To subscribe, renew your subscription or to change your address or information, please visit us at www.rogersb2bmedia.com/dsen. Subscription Price: Canada $52.00 per year, Outside Canada $99.00 US per year, Single Copy Canada $8.00. 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. Rogers Publishing Ltd., One Mount Pleasant Road, Toronto, ON, M4Y 2Y5. Montreal Office: 1200 avenue McGill College, Bureau 800, Montreal, Quebec, H3B 4G7 Return undeliverable items to: Design Engineering, Circulation Dept., 8th Floor-One Mount Pleasant Road, Toronto ON M4Y 2Y5.

Cornerstone Publishing Services Customer Service, 220 Yonge St., 8th floor, Toronto, Ontario, M4S 3G3 Mail Preferences: Occasionally we make our subscriber list available to reputable companies whose products or services may be of interest to you. If you do not want your name to be made available, please contact us at rogers@cstonecanada.com or update your profile at www.rogersb2bmedia.com/dsen. 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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Our environmental policy is available at www.rogerspublishing.ca/environment

Olympic Engineering

I

n the history of Olympic competition, Canada holds one distinction that it would rather not: being the only country to host two of the international sporting events without winning a gold medal at either of them.

However, Canadian athletes have been steadily picking up the pace, most recently achieving its best Winter Olympics performance to date by winning seven gold and 24 medals overall at the 2006 Turin Winter Games. To boost their performance further still, the Canadian Olympic Committee, Sports Canada and 13 winter national sport federations have made every effort to ensure a strong showing at the 2010 Vancouver Games. Established in 2005, “Own the Podium” (OTP)—the 5-year, $120-million sport technical program designed to help Canada’s winter athletes—has set the lofty goal of snagging a record 35 medals and breaking Canada’s home-grown gold medal drought.

As part of that effort, the program has funded sports research within some of the nation’s top university engineering departments, all conducted under the cloak of the OTP’s Top Secret research program. In 2007, for example, engineers at the University of Calgary’s Schulich School of Engineering began developing a lightweight, ultra-precise GPS tracking system called the Sensor for the Training of Elite Athletes, or STEALTH for short.

According to research lead Gérard Lachapelle, Canada Research Chair/iCORE Chair in Wireless Location, the system is accurate to within five centimetres and up to .1 millisecond but only weighs 300 grams. This allows downhillers to wear the STEALTH sensor during training runs so their exact trajectory, velocity and acceleration can be later displayed as a moment-by-moment plot of the path down the mountain. Coaches can then spot where, when and how an Olympic hopeful’s run deviates from the perfect line and thereby trim precious milliseconds.

Similarly, a team of engineering researchers at the University of British Columbia has been working on ways to alter the surface of materials to significantly lower friction and therefore improve their ability to slide over snow and ice. Led by engineering professors Savvas Hatzikiriakos and Peter Englezos, the UBC team created laser-structured stainless steel, which is laser irradiated so its surface matches the microscopic patterns of a lotus leaf. As a result, the metal in a laser-structured speed skate blade, for example, becomes superhydrophobic, repelling water rather than slightly absorbing it as in normal metal blades. For the ski team, the researchers used plasma to similarly modify the polymer base of skis, thereby decreasing its friction coefficient by 25 percent.

Of course, no amount of cutting-edge engineering can ensure victory, but barring another heart-breaking Olympic mishap (e.g. Crazy Canuck and OTP leader Ken Read’s blown ski binder incident at Lake Placid in 1980), Canadian Olympians are expected to not just own the podium but crush it beneath their combined weight. So as you’re basking in the national pride of Team Canada’s stellar Olympic performance this year (or not), remember—if engineering were an official sport at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, the gold medal would clearly go to Canada.

Mike McLeod

@

I enjoy hearing from you so please contact me at mike.mcleod@de.rogers.comand your letter could be published in an upcoming issue.

www.design-engineering.com

January/February | 2010

8 DesignNews Up Front SME elects first woman president The Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) elected Barbara Fossum, PhD, FSME as its 2010 president.

Currently, Fossum is an independent consultant and coach in the areas of strategic planning, process engineering and business planning for entrepreneurial startups.

She is also a senior research fellow of the IC2 Institute of the University of Texas at Austin where she works in worldwide economic development projects involving technology commercialization. She holds a PhD in operations management, an MBA, an MS in mathematics/computer science and a BA in Physics.

An SME member since 1989, Fossum has served on the Society’s Executive Committee and Board of Directors, Ad Hoc Lifelong Learning Committee and the CASA/SME Board of Advisors. She was elected an SME Fellow in 1996. www.sme.org

Alcan alloys selected for next-gen spacecraft

A

lcan Global Aerospace Transportation and Industry is set to become the leading supplier of advanced aluminium-lithium (Al-Li) lightweight materials for the Orion crew exploration vehicle being built by Lockheed Martin as part of NASA’s Constellation Program. Orion is being designed to carry astronauts to the International Space Station and other destinations, including the moon.

Wainbee Limited purchases Spécialité Hydraulique C.N. Fluid power and automation components distributor Wainbee Limited acquired Spécialité Hydraulique Côte Nord, Inc. (SHCN) of Sept-Iles, Quebec. As a result of the acquisition, Wainbee now has 13 locations across Canada, from Vancouver to Halifax.

“Wainbee began doing business in Quebec in 1959 and prior to this acquisition we have been serving the province from locations in Montreal, Quebec and Saguenay/ Chicoutimi,” says Wainbee President Ron Rodger.

“The purchase of SHCN extends our strong presence in Quebec to cover the Cote Nord and Labrador regions as well as expanding our existing business in the mining and metals markets.”

Founded in 1957, Wainbee Limited is a 100-percent Canadian, employee-owned company. www.wainbee.com

Concept image of the Ares V Earth departure stage in orbit, shown with the Crew Exploration Vehicle docked with the Lunar Surface Access Module. Credit: NASA

After a two-year materials study, which included composites, Alcan’s Low Density Alloys were chosen for the Orion crew module at NASA’s Orion Project preliminary design review in August 2009. The decision confirms that new alloys will be a key structural material in the Constellation Program, which is being designed by NASA and its contractors to replace the space shuttle for a new era of space exploration.

Al-Li alloys’ inherent low density, high-specific stiffness, strength and excellent mechanical properties are expected to offer significant weight savings and predictable cost performance.

Two alloys are base-lined to have a key role in construction of the crew module that will carry astronauts into and from space. Al-Li 2195 will be used for main, load-bearing structural components called longerons. Additionally, an Al-Li alloy developed by Alcan, designated 2050, will be used for the first time in space. Available in plate form, it will be used for other structural components including frames, ribs and window sections.

Shipments of 2050 plate for Orion from Ravenswood, West Virginia, began in December 2009. Shipments of 2195 alloys from the Montreuil-Juigne and Issoire plants in France will take place early 2010. www.alcanaerospace.com

January/February | 2010

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DesignNews Up Front Cadopolis.com closes shop Vaughan, ON-based Cadopolis.com, the CAD product web site, announced recently that it will cease doing business, effective early February.

Dew Engineering secures General Dynamics contract Ottawa’s Dew Engineering and Development has been contracted by General Dynamics’ Land Systems Canada unit to supply its armor solutions for integration with Stryker tactical vehicles. Under the $39.5M deal, Dew will provide General Dynamics with its ceramic composite hull armor kits.

Officials say the kits will be integrated with 352 of General Dynamics Stryker vehicles which are widely deployed by the U.S. Army to support ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to the company, Dew has been the exclusive supplier of the ceramic composite armor system for the United States Stryker program. www.gdlscanada.com www.dewengineering.com

Established in 1998, the primarily Autodesk product retailer also functioned as an aggregator of autodesk-related news, blogs and other online resources. www.cadopolis.com

General Kinetics acquires Active Shock Inc. General Kinetics Engineering Corp (GKE) announced that it completed its buy-out of Active Shock, Inc.(ASI), from its founders. The Brampton, ON-based GKE designs and manufactures suspension system and damping components exclusively for military vehicles. ASI develops semi-active damping technology with applications from construction and mining to military vehicles. www.kinetics.ca www.activeshock.com

Mechanical Engineers expect increase in sustainable design work American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and Autodesk released the results of the second annual Sustainable Design Trend Watch Survey. The study’s findings indicate that mechanical engineers expect to see an increase in sustainable design work in 2010. The survey also reported that more than two-thirds of the mechanical engineers who participated in the study have worked on sustainable products, and more than half of ASME student members are involved with sustainable design in their studies.

According to survey results, designs that use less energy or reduce emissions remain the most important sustainable technology practice, while manufacturing processes that use less energy and natural resources were also a priority. The survey indicates that top drivers of sustainable design practices within organizations include regulatory requirements, rising energy costs and client demand. In addition, respondents indicated that cost is a major consideration, with one-third of respondents reporting they would consider sustainable technologies for new products only if they are cost saving.

The online survey polled approximately 53,000 ASME professionals and nearly 20,000 ASME student members over a two-week period, generating more than 3,000 respondents in the United States. www.autodesk.com/sustainabilityreport

Continental Conveyor to receive FedDev funding Napanee, ON’s Continental Conveyor Ltd. announced it would acquire new manufacturing equipment and productivity improvements thanks to an Economic Action Plan investment of $302,534.

The Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) will provide funding through its Southern Ontario Development Program (SODP). The funding will help Continental Conveyor Ltd. replace older production equipment with more efficient, state-ofJanuary/February | 2010

IFPS launches Electronic Controls certification The International Fluid Power Society (IFPS) has launched its Electronic Controls Specialist (CFPECS) certification. The certification is designed to review and test understanding, specification and application of the electronics used in the fluid power industry from simple sensors and limits to HMIs, controllers and networks. It includes a brief review of applicable pneumatic and hydraulic principles, as well as in-depth examples of the electronics for both mobile and industrial fluid power equipment.

Certification requires successful completion of a three-hour written test.

IFPS members may download a complimentary study manual; non-members may purchase the manual. Candidates may register for the CFPECS Certification test on the organizations web site; testing will begin March 2010. www.ifps.org www.design-engineering.com

12 DesignNews Up Front the-art machines. The company also intends to create its own Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machining centre, eliminating the need to contract out. The new production improvements will result in the hiring of 15 new workers by the end of 2011.

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MapleSim add-on expands scope of automotive models Maplesoft announced MapleSim Tire Component Library, an add-on for MapleSim, that extends multi-domain MapleSim vehicle models with high-performance pneumatic tire components. Within MapleSim’s graphical environment, fully parameterized force models can be integrated into existing vehicle dynamics models by dragging the component into a diagram and connecting the component to the vehicle model.

Using MapleSim Tire Component Library, engineers can control how the tire slip and rolling radius are calculated and include tire transients through differential equations involving relaxation lengths. In addition, kinematic quantities—such as slip angle, longitudinal slip, and inclination angle—are

Brennan opens distribution center Brennan Industries has opened a distribution center in Mississauga, Ontario, eliminating the need for shipments to clear customs and customhouse brokerage fees to be avoided, the company says. The company’s products include pipe and straight-thread fittings, O-ring face-seal fittings, 37 degree flare tube fittings, bite-type fittings, metric fittings, international fittings and a double ferrule instrumentation tube fitting line. www.brennaninc.com

January/February | 2010

MapleSim add-on lets users produce accurate real-time vehicle system models.

www.design-engineering.com

14 DesignNews Up Front

derived automatically to determine the tire forces and moments. The library also adds support for industry-standard tire models, including Fiala, Calspan, and Pacejka 2002, as well as user-defined tire models. www.maplesoft.com

Global Emissions Systems lands Ontario distributor Harper Group Inc. has added Global Emissions Systems (GESi) emission control products to its portfolio. GESi, located in Whitby, Ontario, designs and manufactures Dry Selective Catalyst (DSC) emissions control technology that reduces up to 99 percent of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxides from fossil fuel combustion engines. www.harperpowerproducts.com

KSB Pumps opens Montreal office KSB Pumps has opened a new regional office in Montreal located close to the Montréal-Trudeau International Airport.

The new office is headed by regional business development manager and mechanical engineer, Makram Mouhli. www.ksb.com

HP unveils new mobile and desktop workstations At CES 2010, HP previewed two new mobile workstation models: the HP EliteBook 8540w and HP EliteBook 8440w. Engineered to meet the militarystandard tests for vibration, dust, humidity, altitude and high and low temperatures, the laptops feature an aluminum finish over a magnesium alloy chassis that protects the top and bottom of the notebook.

Both HP EliteBooks feature either an Intel Core i7 or i5 processor and a choice of NVIDIA’s Quadro graphics chips. The lower end 8440w comes with a 14-inch LED-backlit display and an NVIDIA Quadro FX 380M, while the 8540w features 15-inch display and either the Quadro FX 880M or the Quadro FX 1800M. In addition, both laptops will support up to 16 gigs of RAM and up to a 500 GB 7200 RPM hard drive or 256 GB solid state drive.

HP also tacked on an entry-level option to its z-Series workstation line. The z200 will be available with dual-core Core i3 or i5 processor, or quad-core Xeon 3400. Like the it’s pricier siblings, the z200 will come with an 89-percent energy efficient power supply and a tool-less component chassis. Internally, the model can hold up to three hard-drives (4.5TB maximum) or optional 64GB SSDs. Graphics options range from an integrated GPU up to either NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800 or the ATI FirePro V5700. The z200 is projected to go on sale in February starting at US$769. www.hp.ca

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16 CADReport

Autodesk University 2009 Annual CAD user event emphasizes cloud computing, analysis and virtual attendance.

By Ralph Grabowski

A

utodesk University welcomed some 6,000 users, resellers and Autodesk staff to Las Vegas in early December. Through training classes and social events, the conference is aimed at heads-down drafters and modelers. In light of this, it was not surprising that Autodesk revealed little of what features we might expect to see in the “2011” series of updates due out next March and April. Instead, Autodesk executives talked in generalities about future direction, even as an Elvis impersonator crooned the company’s standard disclaimer statement: “Don’t make any decisions based on anything said at this conference.”

Inventor Publisher Unveiled on the first day of Autodesk University was the new Inventor Publisher. It is meant to get Autodesk into the lucrative technical documentation market, which generates static and dynamic files for used by marketing, sales teams, shop floor repair instructions and interactive training.

After a model is imported into Publisher, you can apply visual styles, explode the model and selectively toggle the visibility of parts. You can add a variety of callouts and then generate scenes.

These scenes show the model in different stages, such as for assembly instructions. Finally, you can generate animation of the scenes. The software is meant to be easy for non-CAD users.

During his keynote address, Autodesk CEO Carl Bass emphasized the inevitability of cloud computing for engineering software.

Right now it only reads Inventor and DWF files, senior project manager Abhijit Singh says. But eventually it will read “all” file formats, including those from Catia and Pro/E, added division vice president Buzz Kross. The version of Publisher that is currently available for testing in Autodesk Labs outputs in Flash, AVI, Word, Excel and a variety of raster formats, as well as in an HTML format for iPhones. Curiously, it does not output in the de facto technical document format, PDF. No release date or price yet, but I expect it to be significantly January/February | 2010

Autodesk demo’ed a preview of Inventor Publisher, CAD neutral tech publication software for creating training, maintenance and marketing materials.

cheaper than Dassault’s Systemes’ equivalent 3Dvia Composer.

You can try out the software by downloading it from labs.autodesk.com At the Inventor keynote, we saw a version of Alias Sketch embedded in Inventor and AutoCAD. This conceptual modeler would allow users to sketch new ideas prior to design. The other “new” items shown were already old hat for many of us: a version of Alias Sketch for the iPhone and iPod Touch “mobile computers,” and Inventor Fusion for direct 3D modeling and editing, which I expect to see added to Inventor 2011.

Emphasis on Simulation Grant Rochelle, Autodesk’s senior manager of industry management and competitive intelligence, told me that Autodesk’s mechanical division recently underwent reorganization into these four product lines: Digital concept (sketching, shaping, surfacing); Digital engineering (Inventor, AutoCAD Electrical); Mechanical simulation (includes Algor and Inventor Simulation); and Digital factory (Navisworks, Publisher).

Mr Rochelle said that not enough users are doing simulation, because it has not been scalable or cost effective. His goal, then, is to make simulation available to everyone. “Easier to use does not mean stupid results,” he emphasized.

Algor will not be a separate product forever, he forecasted, saying that it will eventually become part of Inventor, Revit and perhaps even AutoCAD. He is looking at what kinds of 2D simulation could be added to AutoCAD, and speculated that even some of Maya’s smoke and water effects for movies and games could be ported over as well. The new frame analysis in Inventor 2011 will be “super fast,” he told me, doing analyses in seconds.

A brief demo showed three real-time dials added to Inventor’s plastic design module. As users design parts, the dials update to provide feedback on the parts’ level of manufacturability, energy requirements and sustainability. The dashboard could be extended www.design-engineering.com

CADReport 17 to stress and strain, weight, cost and other factors.

At one of the keynotes, Autodesk suggested it would like to move analysis ahead of design. The designer enters in variables, and the software generates 50 design alternatives as well as providing tools to help the designer select the best few from the many.

From this pre-design analysis, the final design would emerge.

Plans for AutoCAD At the AutoCAD keynote, senior VP of platform solutions and emerging business Amar Hanspal delivered generic statements on future releases of AutoCAD, but very few details. The path lays along better modeling of the real world, more realistic modeling and continued improvements of its basic 2D drafting tools. “It’s not like 2D documents are going away any time soon,” he added.

During the general keynote, Autodesk CEO Carl Bass emphasized point clouds and cloud computing. From broad hints dropped by executives, it became clear to me that AutoCAD 2011 will import 3D point cloud data natively and then provide tools for easily converting them to surfaces. Just as we used to draw in 2D over scanned paper drawings, we will now model in 3D over laser scanned point clouds.

To show how cloud computing might work, Mr Bass demo’ed “co-editing,” where two or more people view and mark up drawings. He explained that the application was written natively for Web browsers and servers: A server manages the data so multiple people can access it using their Web browsers.

The software is designed from ground up to run this way — unlike Project Twitch, which is more like “a really long video cable,” he joked. In Project Twitch, AutoCAD runs on servers, delivering compressed graphic images in response to the keyboard presses and mouse clicks generated by users.

Mr Bass foresees a day, 3 to 5 years hence, when users will receive a hundred simulations in an hour from clusters of cloud computing. Moving the computing power from the desktop to the cloud is no longer a question; like the “Severe tire damage” spikes at the exits of rental agencies, he analogized, there is no backing away from cloud computing.

I asked Mr Bass to explain in greater detail how cloud computing would be implemented for his software, but didn’t get a clear answer. Later, however, I learned from nVidia one possible approach. Their GPU-based CUDA software already doubles the speed of Moldflow’s calculations. The company is working with Amazon.com to implement CUDA; when data from a cloud-enabled MoldFlow arrives at Amazon.com’s EC2 cloud computing service, the data would be redirected automatically from generic servers to the specialized nVidia servers.

On the Cusp of 3D On the exhibit floor, I saw several technologies that tell me 3D displays may well be on the verge of becoming mainstream.

That is, once their still-high prices come down to earth.

Nvidia showed off their 3D display that uses wireless polarizing glasses. An infrared transmitter synchronizes the left and right lenses with the left and right images displayed by the www.design-engineering.com

monitor. This is no red-green cellophane trick; the 3D images generated by Autodesk’s Showcase software are in full color.

Going one better is Aliosopy’s 3D monitor that needs no glasses.

The drawbacks, however, are that the monitor’s lenticular lens lowers the effective resolution. I found myself getting a mild headache from watching the quickly alternating images. Price is $5,500, including content-generating software.

There were many 3D printers on the exhibit floor, and the impressive twelve-foot-tall turboprop engine that had been 3D printed by Statsys. The conceptual model had been designed in Inventor over a period of two years. The propellers were the largest of the 300 parts, and just managed to fit inside Statasys’ largest 3D printer.

Although in-person attendance dropped by 40 percent over last year’s event, AU Virtual gathered more than 15,000 online attendees.

Faro demonstrated their laser scanner that captures point clouds at a rate of up to one million points per second. A spinning mirror rotates 320 degrees vertically and 360 degrees horizontally to capture a sphere of 3D data. A synchronized digital camera captures images to provide color data to the points. A column-free room typically takes six scans. Autodesk might be democratizing point clouds, but most of us can’t afford the price of the $99,000 scanner. Note that you needn’t wait for AutoCAD 2011; Faro has software that imports point cloud data into AutoCAD 2007 onwards.

AU 2010 Autodesk liked to pretend that 21,500 attendees were more than double last year’s number. In reality, however, participation dropped 40% to 6,000 as bosses realized their staff could attend the parallel online AU Virtual for free. The difference of 15,500 represents the virtual attendees who viewed realtime video back home. Autodesk plans to continue both versions of the event for the next several years. The physical Autodesk University returns to Las Vegas next year, beginning November 30, 2010.

DE au.autodesk.com

Ralph Grabowski is the author of more than 100 books about computer-aided design and writes a daily blog on the industry at worldcadaccess.typepad.com.

January/February | 2010

18

CADBeat

How’s the Weather on Mars?

CFD simulations play critical role for the Phoenix Mars Lander mission.

By Jeff A. Davis, Post-Doctoral Fellow and Carlos F. Lange, Associate Professor, Computational Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, University of Alberta

B

ecause Mars is the planet closest to Earth, it has been host to numerous interplanetary missions. The Phoenix Mars mission was designed to study the history of water and habitability potential in Martian arctic ice-rich soil.

As the Phoenix Mars spacecraft landed on the Martian surface in May 2008, communications stopped during the switch to orbiter relay. Two hours later, a sigh of relief erupted when data from the lander began streaming in. With space missions, there is only one shot at getting it right. Any minor flaw in the spacecraft or its instruments could result in the loss of years of preparation and hundreds of millions of dollars.

Canada’s contribution to the Phoenix Mars mission has been to provide the meteorological suite of instruments (MET) that measures the temperature, pressure, velocity and particle content in the planet’s atmosphere. Mars has a unique atmosphere composed mainly of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and argon. In addition, the gravitational constant is 38 percent that of Earth’s, and the atmospheric pressure is 1 percent of ours. As a result, pre-mission design and calibration experiments for the lander and its instruments were difficult and expensive to perform, making numerical simulations the most economically viable solution.

Even so, numerical simulations have been notoriously absent from the extensive preparation process for data collection of earlier planetary missions. The Phoenix Mars Lander is the first project that has used computational fluid dynamics to aid calibration of a planetary mission’s instruments.

The deck of the lander contains most of the instruments used to collect external data. Of particular interest are pressure, velocity and temperature sensors, whose measurements can be influenced by the lander itself. For example, the internal heat generation and emission of radiation from the lander’s surface may result in a thermal convective plume, which can increase temperature measurements. Similarly, obstacles upstream from velocity and pressure sensors can alter readings of magnitude and/or direction of Martian winds.

Researchers at the University of Alberta calibrated these instruments pre-flight through a large parametric study using ANSYS CFX fluid dynamics software by virtually varying the environmental conditions and the lander’s heat output. Results revealed certain wind directions in which the lander’s heat emission caused the lowest of the three temperature sensors to show higher-than-atmospheric values. The University of Alberta team used the results of these fluid dynamic simulations to evaluate the raw mission data and to find instances when these wind directions occurred. This allowed the team to January/February | 2010

incorporate an increased measurement uncertainty for these cases. In this manner, simulation was the key to preventing data from being misinterpreted.

A similar study was completed for the pressure sensor, in which the pressure difference was correlated with wind speed.

The Telltale wind sensor was a completely new design for the Martian lander, so it required a more in-depth calibration that focused on velocity measurements. The concept for this wind sensor originated at the University of Alberta and was designed and built in Denmark. The wind readings from the Telltale played an important part in data interpretation from the Mars lander.

Lower Temperature sensor

Temperature contours showing the effect of the lander’s heating on the lowest of the three temperature sensors.

In addition to the model size and number of simulations performed, the duration of each simulation was a factor. During the mission, the lander instrumentation had limited time and power resources. Power and operating time allocations were calculated daily, based on prevailing conditions. In order to decide these allocations, strategic planners sometimes required input from the simulation data, so it was essential for the team to have rapid simulation turnaround on new cases.

The short time-response requirement was met by running the simulations in parallel on a AMD-based, 64-bit Linux cluster.

The efficiency of the parallel processing and multi-domain scheme used in Ansys CFX software combined with AMD’s multi-core architecture enabled new simulations to be completed within the timeframe required for the decision-making process.

Calibration of the Phoenix Mars Lander, using Ansys CFX technology, was deemed successful in both the pre-mission and operation phases. The success has allowed for additional simulations to be performed to aid in the explanation of certain phenomena found in the raw data. de www.engineering.ualberta.ca www.ansys.com www.design-engineering.com

20

Get Your Motor Running How Autodesk, Stratasys and a Canadian mechanical designer joined forces to create some of the world's largest rapid prototyped models.

By Mike McLeod

Y

ou may not immediately recognize the name of Canadian designer and application specialist Nino Caldarola, but for anyone who’s been to either of the last two Autodesk University user conferences or read about them, you most likely know his design work.

At AU 2008, the life-sized rapid prototyped model of his fireengine red “chopper” motorcycle design became the iconographic focal point of the event. Similarly, the prototype of his twin turbo prop engine design stole the show at Autodesk University 2009.

With its six spinning, 4.5-foot blades, it was impossible to miss sitting center stage during the manufacturing keynote.

IMAGINiT Technologies' application specialist Nino Caldarola with the rapid prototype of his turbo prop design at Autodesk University 2009.

But how those models ultimately ended up on a Las Vegas stage follows a winding path from the Winnipeg branch of Autodesk CAD reseller IMAGINiT Technologies to the CTO’s office at Autodesk corporate in San Francisco to the Eden Prairie, Minnesota facilities of Red Eye, the RP service bureau unit of Stratasys, Inc. Along the way, the three companies pushed the limits of their respective technologies and in-house talents to create two of the largest and most complex rapid prototyped models ever created.

January/February | 2010

Debuted at AU 2008, this prototype of Caldarola's "chopper" was designed in Inventor over 2.5 years as a "hobby" project.

Head out on the Highway The story begins circa 2007 when Caldarola was working for then Autodesk CAD reseller CADCAM Solution (then a subsidiary of Bell Canada but now IMAGINiT Technologies Winnipeg branch). After a decade and a half working as an engineering technologist for transit bus manufacturer New Flyer Industries, agricultural equipment maker New Holland Canada and a stint at Pratt & Whitney Canada’s Mississauga facilities, Caldarola had accumulated considerable automotive and aerospace design skill.

But it wasn’t the work Caldarola performed during business hours that would earn him wider acclaim within the Autodesk community. After hours and on weekends, he began playing with ideas he had for a motorcycle design. According to Caldarola, the project was a way to test his own abilities and deepen his knowledge of Autodesk Inventor.

“The motorcycle started as a very simplistic tubular frame demo I created in Inventor 10 for a Winnipeg customer that builds bicycles for handicapped children,” he says. “We got the business but I kept the data set.”

After tinkering with that simple design to match the specs of a chopper frame he’d penciled out, Caldarola began adding wheels, forks and a 210cc V-Twin power plant—a hybrid of Harley Davidson’s Evolution and Suzuki 1500 engines. From there, he modeled the remaining hardware, experimenting with surfaces for the tank and seat and dabbling with the tubing and hydraulic line generators in Inventor Professional.

As the motorcycle assembly took shape bit by bit over two and a half years, people within Autodesk took a growing interest in Caldarola’s “hobby” project. Eventually, word of mouth brought the design to the attention of Gonzalo Martinez, director of strategic research in the Autodesk CTO’s office. At the time, Martinez says he had been researching the burgeoning 3D printing market and realized that while the technology had progressed, people’s awareness of its capabilities hadn’t kept pace. www.design-engineering.com

21 “People see 3D printing in terms of very small objects but I thought, what if we tried to print something really big for Autodesk 2008,” he says. “We asked for the rights to Nino’s motorcycle model and I started contacting the larger rapid service bureaus. The interesting part of the story is that we didn’t tell Nino we were going make the model.”

Gonzalo approached his contacts at Stratasys business unit, RedEye On Demand, to see if they could output a full scale version of the model. With only two months to output the 10-and-a-half-foot motorcycle and assemble its 100+ parts in time, the crew had to put the company’s production facilities into overdrive.

“The challenge on the motorcycle project was that Nino had designed it as a concept rather than a model intended for rapid prototyping,” says Brian Sabart, senior applications engineer, direct digital manufacturing, at Stratasys. “Since the chopper was intended to be made out of metal, we had to determine if the structure could handle its weight in plastic. In the end, we did have to put in two metal pipes down the front forks to add rigidity, but everything else was 100 percent FDM.” Over the next four weeks, RedEye ran a combination of six Stratasys FDM Maxum and FDM Titan machines non-stop to produce the chopper’s various assemblies from ABS M30 thermoplastic. In the final run up to AU 2008, the RedEye crew assembled the parts into the final model including articulating steering, illuminating headlights and rotating wheels before it was transported to Las Vegas for its surprise unveiling.

Stratasys' RedEye output and assembled the turbo prop's 188 individual parts in 6.5 weeks.

“I thought Autodesk was just going to use a rendering for display, but when they played ‘Born to be Wild’ and I saw my creation coming out of the ceiling, I literally fell off my chair; people thought I’d had a heart attack,” he remembers. “Afterwards, I became the celebrity of the show. My little side project has blossomed to the point where I am completely stunned by the feedback I've gotten.”

Taking Flight As impressive and well received as the motorcycle had been, the 44-year-old designer hadn’t yet shown off his best work.

Over the same three-year span that had seen the creation of the chopper model, Caldarola had also been devoting his free www.design-engineering.com

time to his true Modeled in Inventor passion: an Professional, Caldarola's experimental turbo turbo prop CAD model is prop engine. composed of more than “That was another 4000 individual parts. project where I wanted to challenge myself; to see if I could do something in Inventor that the higher-end CAD products were able to create,” Caldarola says. “I’ve always loved jets and found the forms of those early post-WWII engines to be very intricate and industrial.

So, for my design, I started delving into my old technical manuals and history books.”

Caldarola says his engine design is composed of three general sections—gas generator, gearbox and the twin propellers themselves—each drawing on a different era of aerospace history. For the gas generator, he was inspired by historic RollsRoyce and De Havilland engines combined with modern designs, particularly the Piaggio Avanti II aircraft engine.

“My turbo prop design is known as a free wheel turbine, meaning that there are two turbine wheels—one dedicated to the gas compressor and a second turbine dedicated to driving the propellers,” he explains. “Because they aren’t physically connected, each rotates at its optimum RPM and in opposite directions which provides for a well balanced engine.”

For the turbo prop’s double reduction gear box, he drew on the compact design of the Pratt and Whitney PT 6 series of the 1960s combined with the counter-rotational gear boxes of Russian military aircraft. Finally came the propellers themselves, the most challenging component to model, he says, due to their mid-blade twist. All told, Caldarola says there are more than 4000 parts in the final design, including all the components needed to manufacture a working engine.

“To create it, I went through every feature and function Inventor Professional has—not only the modeling portion but also the harnessing, tubing and FEA features,” he says. “For instance, I had to make sure that some of the gearing was able to withstand certain loads, so I ran it through FEA analysis to make sure it wouldn’t start stripping teeth.”

In the Spring following AU 2008, Caldarola approached his now friend, fellow aerospace enthusiast and former aerospace engineer Martinez with his turbo prop design. Stunned by complexity of the design, Gonzalo says he jumped at the chance to work with the Canadian designer again.

But with 4000+ parts, the pair quickly realized the turbo prop CAD model would need to be simplified. After a series of meetings with the build crew at RedEye, the team settled on a more manageable 188 part design that included all the exterior features, the complex gear box and an electric motor to set the 11.5 foot span of the blades turning.

“Over a four week period, we were able to build everything January/February | 2010

22 one time with no surprises,” says Stratasys’ Sabart. “Considering the detailed parts in that assembly, particularly in the gear box, the tolerance stack-up could have introduced a lot of error potentially. However, the FDM systems can hold plus or minus .005 accuracy so, when you put the parts into the assembly, they are usually true to the original design.”

As with the motorcycle the year before, RedEye’s build crew split the larger components of the turbo prop into small sections to fit the build space of their FDM machines. The smaller sections were then fused together using a combination of solvents and a plastic hot air welder that uses the FDM build material as filler.

“Once the seam solidifies, you’ve got solid plastic so you aren’t introducing a second material that could be the weak point within that bond,” Sabart explains. “The process adheres the FDM material to itself so that the welded component becomes one solid part.”

Overall, Sabart says the turbo prop took about six and a half weeks to complete from initially receiving the CAD file to completed model at a cost of approximately $25,000. While pricey, he says that pales in comparison to the nine-month construction time and estimated $800,000 price tag if they had

L

DEPENDABLE.

This internal view of the turbo prop design shows off the engine's free wheel turbine structure and counter-rotational gear box.

used conventional processes. For Caldarola, the stir created by two physical prototypes, given their size and complexity, has created a new mindset.

“Because the materials that the engine was made from is on par with an injection moulded part, direct digital manufacturing is within reach if the technology can advance a little bit more,” he says. “For me, this is a very exciting field and I just happened to have fallen smack dab in the middle of it.”

Now that Autodesk, Stratasys and especially Caldarola himself have set the bar progressively higher, will they be able to top themselves for AU 2010? When asked, the team members are non-committal, but Caldarola hints that he may have a more ambitious project in the works.

“Let’s just say that I might have started working on a 1932 Ford Deuce Coup that I’ve always had an eye on,” he says, “but there’s no telling what the future will bring.”

DE www.imaginit.ca www.autodesk.com www.stratasys.com

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24

MotionControl

Doing More with Less Integrated drive and motor units simplify machine builds and lower TCO.

I

n the world of factory automation, “doing more with less” is a fundamental, ongoing goal that’s led to a major development in drive technology—integrated drive/motor combinations.

With integrated servo drive/motor technology, the drive electronics are mounted directly on the motor at the machine, which conserves space, reduces equipment components and cabling and offers a modular, more efficient drive solution.

One final misconception is that combined drive/motor units are underpowered as a way to control heat production, thus limiting their range of application. However, current designs make it possible for motors of a given size and geometry to deliver the full measure of torque. For example, the Rexroth IndraDrive Mi is available with power/torque curve ranges from 8 to 30 Nm.

Conventional Servos vs Integrated Drive/Motors Conventional servo drives place the power units and drive control in a separate cabinet to protect sensitive electronic elements from harsh factory floor conditions such as heat, vibration, static discharge and other factors.

Advances in current-day drive electronics, which are smaller and more rugged, have helped make integrated drive/ motor units practical for locating outside of the control cabinet. This helps reduce cabinet size and leads to a reduction in components such as cabling, distribution boxes and cabinet cooling devices.

Plus, integrating the drive control and motor into one package creates a more flexible “plug and play” capability.

This can help OEMs speed system development and installation, as well as ease changes for maintenance or machine upgrade requirements. In addition, machine axes can be added with minimal set up at the main controller, since the drive control functionality is resident in the combination unit.

Common Misconceptions In the past, there have been several attempts by servo manufacturers to commercialize the combination drive/motor concept for factory automation. The first products on the market simply attached conventional drive control to the motor frame, without truly engineering integration into a single package.

This led to performance issues that established some misconceptions about the value and reliability of the drive/motor architecture. The most prevalent concern has been heat dissipation; some machine designers fear that placing drive electronics on the motor will adversely impact drive performance.

Thermal management is a legitimate concern. In a combined drive/motor configuration, the heat sources are the motor, the drive electronics and overall machine/factory floor conditions, which can top 100°F in some settings.

However, most suppliers have resolved this issue in various ways, such as improving heat dissipation through ventilator fans, more efficient heat sinks and more robust drive electronics.

These improved drive electronics also resolve other misconceptions about combined drive/motor units: that they are too sensitive to withstand harsh operating environments and that they will wear out too fast.

January/February | 2010

Modern integrated motor/drive units, like this Rexroth IndraDrive Mi, incorporate the efficient heat sinks and robust electronics needed to perform in harsh environments.

Combined Drive/Motor Design Configurations There are two basic design considerations that distinguish how different suppliers have implemented integrated drive/ motor packages. Each have their advantages and limitations that are important for OEMs to consider.

The first is how the drive is mounted. For example, some combined motor/drive units mount the control electronics on the back end of the motor, where it is typically cooled with an axial fan. While this mounting approach can work, it also makes the entire drive/motor package longer, potentially reducing the motor’s effective length, and thus its power rating.

Its size may also make it more difficult to fit cleanly into machine designs with limited space, or as a retrofit option.

In addition, mounting the drive this way limits the heat dissipation efficiency of the drive casing, which is why an axial fan is typically added to ensure sufficient cooling. However, the fan itself represents an additional moving part subject to wear, breakdown and replacement. www.design-engineering.com

MotionControl An alternative approach is to mount the drive horizontally, on the long axis of the motor. This design uses the motor casing as a heat sink. The casing itself is textured to increase its surface area, improving its thermal dissipation characteristics, while the horizontal mounting provides a longer radiating surface.

Cabling Configurations Combo motor/drive units offer OEMS the opportunity to implement new cabling architectures between the control cabinet and the drives. The efficiency of these architectures is a key assessment criterion for machine builders.

One approach still uses separate power and control cables; however, instead of connecting each motor individually to a control system, each motor on a machine is connected to the next in sequence; this approach cuts down on the cable lengths, but does not reduce the number of cables needed.

A second approach combines drive power and communications into a single cable. This combination cable connects to a distribution box, which can link up to five drive/motor units (one cable per drive.) While this option does reduce the aggregate number of cables, it adds a distribution box to the cabling architecture. This box must be mounted in a convenient location for the drive operation; plus, if an application requires more than five axes, an additional box must be purchased and installed.

www.design-engineering.com

Motor/drive units allow for a single power and data cable to daisy chain multiple units from one power supply.

A third approach shown in Rexrothâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s IndraDrive Mi provides a single cable that carries both power and SERCOS communications. Up to 20 units can be â&#x20AC;&#x153;daisy-chainedâ&#x20AC;? off a single power supply.

Integrating drives and motors into a single, compact package is part of a continuing and growing trend in factory automation: using fewer components with greater functionality can reduce machine footprint and achieve substantial savings in machine components, design time and delivery to the factory floor.

While some may argue that the initial cost of combo drive/ motor solutions can be higher than conventional servos, the overall system costs are lower when the savings of reduced cabling, installation, testing and maintenance are factored in.

DE Article contributed by Bosch Rexroth.

January/February | 2010

25

26 RapidPrototyping

The Need for Speed Montreal’s AXIS Prototypes helps custom bike maker Guru Bikes wow tradeshow attendees in record time.

By Mike McLeod

W

hen most people think of the top bike manufacturers in the world, their first thought may not be Laval, Quebecbased Guru Bikes. With a crew of approximately 40, they’d be easy to overlook. That is unless you’re a competitive Iron-Man triathlete; within those circles, the small custom bike manufacturer’s products are considered the gold standard.

The company’s notoriety stems largely from its Chrono bike frame design and its singular monococques unidirectional carbon fibre construction. The CRONO holds more time trial/ triathlon records than any other custom carbon fibre bike in the world, including that of Canadian Olympic gold medalist, Simon Whitfield, who holds the fastest Olympic triathlon time.

“We work on lean production,” says Mike McGinn, head of design for Guru Bikes. “When someone buys one of our bikes, their measurements are taken and we manufacture the bike geometrically for them and ship it four weeks later.”

But even if you’re on the cutting edge of the bike business, one of the key events of the year is the international Interbike Bicycle Expo, the premier North American cycling equipment trade show held in September in Las Vegas. The event allows international cycle designers to show off their latest models to their high-end clientele but is also the event for building “buzz” in the industry. Showing up without your latest and greatest product not only fails to excite the cycling elite but could also leave dealers with a less than favorable impression.

That’s the position Guru Bikes found itself in during the run up to Interbike 2009. The company had just completed the finishing touches on the Chrono 2.0, an aero-dynamically re-engineered version of the original bike frame, but there wasn’t time to craft the moulds and complete the complex manufacturing process to create a one-off in time for the event.

For help, Guru turned to Montreal-based service bureau AXIS Prototypes to create a true-to-life SLA prototype of the highly anticipated Chrono 2.0.

“If a picture is worth a thousand words, a prototype is worth a thousand pictures,” says Vincent Laithier, marketing director for AXIS Prototypes, which sports the largest installation of machinery in Canada including SLA, SLS, Objet, FDM and 3D Printing. “For Guru, what they needed was a life-sized model that not only looked indistinguishable from the final product but was very close to its weight as well.”

To accomplish that, Laithier says AXIS in-house model makers post-processed (i.e. sanding and finishing) the rapid prototyped frame so that Guru’s painters could give it the same lustrous paint job they give their production frames. In addition, AXIS used their SLA machines and an ABS-like plastic resin January/February | 2010

build material to create a 1mm thick skin for the frame. For reinforcement, the company used specialized software to create an internal latticed truss system so that the prototyped Chrono 2.0 was the same weight as carbon fiber yet still strong enough to bear the load of the bike’s wheels, crank, seat post, handlebars and wiring.

Axis’ SLA protoype of Guru’s Chrono 2.0, complete with paint and decals, is nearly indistinguishable from the real production frame.

“SLA used to be considered one of the weaker processes but with the advent of new materials, it is now one of the strongest,” says Laithier. “For example, DMX-SL100 is an impact resistant material that can stand up to ballistic testing. For the Chrono 2.0 model, what they needed was heat resistance because it was going to Las Vegas in a non-refrigerated truck. We didn’t want the model to warp or melt in transit.”

According to McGinn, it took a keen eye to tell the finished Chrono 2.0 prototype, after paint and decals were applied, from a true carbon fiber frame. In fact, many Interbike attendees wanted to ride the prototype thinking it was real.

“Rapid prototyping at that level was a life saver,” says McGinn.

“We’ve had a lot of clientele waiting for the next evolution of the Chrono. Combined with our debut of the Photon, the world record holder for lightest production road bike, we made a huge impression at Interbike. For a small Montreal company, we’re pushing the envelope quite a bit.”

DE www.gurubikes.com www.axisproto.com www.design-engineering.com

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28 Fasteners&Adhesives

Seeing the Light Visible light cure adhesives minimize substrate heating and cure without potentially harmful UV light.

By Christine Salerni Marotta

I

n the last two years, light cure adhesive technology has experienced huge advancements, the greatest of which is the elimination of UV light as a cure requirement. Adhesives are now available that require only light in the visible spectrum to deliver safe, efficient, immediate cure for a broad array of industrial assembly applications.

Visible light cure adhesives feature new photo-initiators that react solely with light exceeding 425 nm in the electromagnetic spectrum. These new adhesives cure in less than 10 seconds and are compatible with metals, glass and a wide array of plastics.

Visible light curing materials offer adhesion comparable to most commercially available UV/V adhesives, with particularly high adhesion on polycarbonate and polyvinylchloride (PVC).

Manufacturers look to light cure adhesives primarily for their rapid cure times, cure on demand performance and high bond strengths on most plastics. Current grades of visible light adhesives meet strict ISO-10993 biocompatibility requirements for medical device assembly. Visible light cure adhesives can cure to depths in excess of 0.5 inch, making them suitable for potting.

Much of the benefit of visible light cure technology is directly tied to the cure equipment. Safety is perhaps the most significant benefit afforded by higher wavelength visible light cure systems. Because the light output is visible, UV-related shielding and operator protective equipment can be eliminated. Safety glasses are often still recommended due to the brightness of visible light sources. By eliminating infrared and ozone, however the systems do not require heat protective equipment or extensive and costly ventilation.

Highly focused visible light cure systems are available in both Visible light cure technology’s benefits include: • Provides quick cure times for high speed assembly processes • Eliminates exposure to UV rays • Minimizes equipment costs and requirements • Reduces maintenance costs • Requires no venting or specialized protective equipment to ensure worker safety • Cures through UV blocking clear and select colored substrates including translucent variations of blue, purple, gray, white and green • Offers excellent adhesion to polycarbonate, PVC and ABS • Generates less heat than traditional curing systems • Delivers superior results on temperature sensitive substrates and sensitive medical devices such as pre-filled syringes.

January/February | 2010

point and flood configurations that can be lamp or bulb based, similar to some early UV systems. The output of these light sources is considerably narrower banded than current UV systems. Typical bulb-based visible light sources provide output ranges of approximately 400 to 600 nm and minimize excess unusable light and infrared (heat) energy output.

Visible light cure adhesives react solely with light exceeding 425nm in the electromagnetic spectrum, eliminating the need for UV shielding.

The initial cost and on-going maintenance expenses for visible bulb systems are considerably less than those of traditional UV and UV/V systems. Most commercially available visible systems cost well under $2000. With bulb lives twice those of standard UV and UV/V bulbs, manufacturers can realize a nearly immediate cost savings in maintenance alone.

Light Emitting Diode (LED) cure systems emit very focused visible light wavelengths – a significantly tighter range than visible lamps. In most cases, LED curing systems emit at one primary wavelength such as 420 nm and offer slight amounts of residual light in nearby wavelengths (+/- 15 nms). LED systems are extremely efficient and cost effective as they do not emit unnecessary broad-band light and heat/infra-red energy.

LEDs produce high irradiance outputs of more than 2 W/cm2 to effectively cure the adhesives.

LED curing systems, currently available as point or spot sources, are predicted to have light output lives in excess of 10,000 hours and are typically built into solid-state housings that make them extremely durable and portable. This long-life and durability translates to immediate and on-going cost savings.

New LED flood systems are now also available providing enhanced cure areas for larger parts and fixtures. All the benefits of the point/spot systems apply to these new configurations of LED curing systems.

DE Christine Salerni Marotta is the market development manager at Henkel Corporation, where she has served as a development chemist and as an applications chemist in Henkel’s North American Engineering Center. www.design-engineering.com

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30 PowerTransmission

Refined Solution Ball screw assemblies key to patent-pending petroleum corrosion technology.

T

he 21st century has presented a technological shift in oil field drilling as most of the easily accessible oil is tapped and well producers are forced to go deeper to procure highly corrosive sour crude oil (H2S). Sour crude oil is a sulfurous mixture that corrodes the iron in the carbon steel pipe that extracts it. Due to that fact, the petroleum industry has been determined to develop drilling technology that can overcome these corrosive effects to produce oil.

In an effort to provide protection from pipeline failure and allow for oil production in new deep water sour oil fields, leading custom automated and robotic equipment manufacturer ARC Specialties, Inc. has developed a new cladding technology that controls this corrosion to safely extract and process sour crude. The KLADARC advanced TriPulse Hot Wire Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTWA) system leverages oscillation welding to deposit a metallurgically clad two-layer corrosion-resistant alloy overlay (nominal thickness of 3.5 mm and guaranteeing the 3.0 mm minimum thickness) on clad pipe up to 20 feet in length and inside diameters up to 30 inches. Ultimately, this patent-pending technology reduces oxide inclusions and iron dilution in the cladding process – thus, mitigating the corrosive effects of H2S. Ball Screws Key to Oscillation Paramount to this 5-axis cladding machine’s advancement is the capability to oscillate the arc inside the pipe. This crucial element of oscillation in the process is driven by ball screws manufactured by Nook Industries Precision Screw

ARC Specialties’ KLADARC system uses oscillation welding to protect clad pipe from the corrosiveness of sour crude oil.

Group as part of its Power-Trac line of precision ball screw assemblies. The company’s precision-rolled ball screw, with a double bearing support, provided a means of converting rotary motion to linear motion on the dual-torch oscillation axis (X & Y) of the machine .

Ultimately, the dual-torch oscillation simultaneously overlays two layers of CRA onto the pipe’s inner surface and provides a molten “puddle” with longer residence time to bond and eliminate common problems of overlay welding (i.e. leaving holes that penetrate through the overlay layer and thereby expose the outer steel pipe to corrosive sour crude.)

The dual-torch oscillation process involves feeding CRA

DesignSolutions Clippard Offers Miniature Pneumatic Products Catalog for Scientific/Medical Applications Clippard, a manufacturer of the most complete line of miniature fluid power products, has a 48-page catalog featuring products and services for professionals in the medical, pharmaceutical analytical and dental fields. Some of the many products include electronic valves for Oxygen-enriched environments, check and control valves, proportional valves, regulators, fittings, tubing and more.

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Industrial Exhaust Fans, Immediate Delivery N.R. Murphy carries a large inventory of industrial Exhaust Fans in a vast range of sizes. The most popular designs, arrangements and sizes are fully built and ready to ship. When an unusual requirement turns up, they have the experience and manufacturing capacity to quickly modify or build a new fan. Free catalogue, includes N.R. Murphy’s line of fans, specifications and guidelines.

Contact: 4nodust@nrmurphyltd.com Visit us at: www.nrmurphy.com | your | 2009 solution www.design-engineering.com August/September January/February November/December To advertise| 2010 2009

in this section call Alan Macpherson at 416.764.1534 www.design-engineering.com August/September | 2009

PowerTransmission

The TriPulse Hot Wire Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) system overlays CRA onto the pipe’s inner surface.

wire into a 20' long torch that welds it circumferentially along the inner wall of the steel pipe. The circumferential weld is created by Nook’s ball screws wiggling the torch into the pipe back and forth approximately 1" per second, while motorized pipe rollers steadily turn the pipe. The first 20 feet of pipe is coated, then flipped 180 degrees. The torch is then put back to coat the other half of the pipes’ inside diameter.

Each oscillation places a heavy load on the ball screw with the 20' torch decelerated, stopped and reversed 120 times a minute with loads running just under 1,000 lbs. during acceleration. The accelerate/decelerate rate is a harsh and rapid speed/load oscillation of .8" at around 1 hertz (Hz) per second.

The oscillation process also moves the weld puddle side-byside, which generates approximately two times the weld yield.

Additionally, this single-pass circumferential weld ensures that the CRA overlay is seamless and also allows the pipe to undergo long-radius bending after the overlay process.

“The oscillation process is a harsh application since it runs and repeats without stopping for hours at time,” says Dan Allford, president of ARC Specialties. “Therefore, the reliability and performance of Nook’s ball screws is vital and a key basis for our patent-pending process.”

Nook provided ARC with its Precision-Rolled Ball Screws and ARC customized them to meet their unique application specifications. Nook offers its ball screw assemblies in a wide range of materials including alloy, stainless steel, titanium and other exotic metals. Nook’s ball screws are available to meet a customer’s application performance requirements (e.g. stainless steel for medical, non-magnetic, non-corrosive applications).

A myriad of forces continue to contribute to the need to develop advanced technology to battle sour crude petroleum pipeline corrosion including demand, environmental concerns, energy independence and aging infrastructure. For example, many of the sour crude oil reserves located in the Gulf of Mexico reside at very deep sub-sea locations that present volatile conditions such as high pressures which increase the oil’s corrosiveness – thus, making corrosion technology crucial to production. Corrosion technology also provides safety and protection from environmental catastrophes resulting from corroded pipelines.

Nook Industry’s Power-Trac ball screw assembly allows the 5-axis GTWA to maintain its rapid and heavy-load oscillation rate.

Currently ARC has produced two of its advanced TriPulse Hot Wire Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTWA) systems that are currently active in the Gulf Coast region − two more are scheduled for delivery in 2010.

“Oscillation welding really sets apart our clad quality from the traditional methods of cladding and produces a long-life coating that prevents pipeline failure,” says Allford. “KLADARC’s cladding technology controls the H2S corrosion, and trust in Nook’s product to coat the pipe is directly related to this crucial feature which allows us to meet stringent Quality Assurance requirements for the Petroleum industry.”

DE www.arcspecialties.net www.nookindustries.com

DesignSolutions Dilbert™ new Horizons® in wireless communications version no. 24 Contains over 95 full color pages of the latest information and top selling products from the wireless market including our Engineers’ Choice Award winning Thermocouple-to-Wireless Connector/Converter, The Smart Connector(tm). Other top selling products include the Z Series sensor system, the OMWT-TEMP15 temperature transmitter, and the iDRN programmable signal conditioners/transmitters. The literature is comprised of cutting-edge technology in Wireless Transmitters and Receivers, Ethernet Measurement, Control Devices and the list goes on!

Contact: info@omega.ca Visit us at: www.omega.ca Innovative New Series of Smalley Metric Crest-to-Crest® Wave Springs Now Available in Canada from RotoPrecision Inc. Smalley’s new series of Metric Crest-to-Crest® wave springs enable manufacturers to reduce the size of assemblies by up to 50% while still maintaining the same amount of force and deflection as a regular coiled spring. The reduced spring cavity required minimizes both the cost and the overall size of the assembly. Available in stainless or carbon steel with dimensions ranging from 6 to 60 mm. Free samples available from stock at RotoPrecision Inc. Contact: applsupport@rotoprecision.ca Visit us at: www.rotoprecision.ca/Products/Wave_Springs/index.html www.design-engineering.com To advertise

| 2010 your solution in this section call Alan Macpherson January/February at 416.764.1534

31

32

IdeaGenerator Sensors

Motors

Chlorine Dioxide Sensors

Bent Axis Motor

Omega’s new CLDTX series of chlorine dioxide sensors and FCLTX series of free chlorine sensors feature amperometric measurement technology. Both series are available in multiple ranges to detect ppm levels of chlorine dioxide or free chlorine. Both models are easily maintained and are designed for use in water treatment disinfection applications and for use with chlorine dioxide or chlorine generators, pools, etc. www.omega.ca

Sauer-Danfoss has released its H1 60cm³ bent axis motor, the next size in a series of motors designed to complement the company’s range of H1 axial piston pumps. Optimized for electrical control, they are fully PLUS+1 compliant and are IP67 and IP69K rated. The H1 60cm³ bent axis motor provides for shifting from 32 to zero degrees with little or no torque interruptions or sudden speed changes, the company says. The motor will also shift seamlessly between two speed ranges, for example, work mode and travel mode, regardless of displacement settings.

Designed around electrical controls, the H1 system can be optimized to match the requirements of specific vehicle functions by adjusting the software parameters. www.sauer-danfoss.com

Laser Distance Sensors Baumer introduced its IP69K-rated laser distance sensors featuring stainless steel housings. Available in six different models, the OADR 20 sensors feature a PMMA front screen that is safe for use in food and beverage processing. The sensors are available with three teachable measuring ranges: 30 to 600 mm, 50 to 300 mm and 100 to 600mm.

Each measuring range is available with either a point beam for highly focused applications or a line beam to monitor larger areas and rough or uneven surfaces.

The OADR 20 offers resolutions up to 0.005 mm and response times of less than 0.9 ms. www.baumer.com

Photoelectric Sensors Pepperl+Fuchs’ Econo-Vue family of photoelectric sensors are now available in AC/DC versions, in addition to the existing DC types. The EconoVue’s universal supply voltage allows machine builders to stock a single sensor that can be used for AC or DC applications. Additionally, AC supply sensors could result in longer runs of interconnected sensors than is otherwise possible for DC types only. As a whole, the Econo-Vue series is available in five sensing modes and over 100 models to suit varied application requirements. www.pepperl-fuchs.com January/February | 2010

Gas Safe Motors Johnson Electric introduced its Saia Motor EGD 402 Gas Tight Motors and EGD 421 Fail Safe Gas Tight Motors. Designed specifically for use with all types of heating gases, EGD series motors are certified according to Gas Appliances Directive 90/396/EEC to perform fail safe gas flow modulation and closing functions, and include a mechanical safety return feature. With Class B insulation and a stainless steel tube between the stator and the rotor, these gas sealed motors are rated to deliver a minimum of 500,000 operating cycles, at operating frequencies of 25 to 200 Hz, in temperatures ranging from -15 to +85°C. These motors are available with a 12 or 24 V unipolar coil (bipolar available), deliver 10 or 15 mm travel, and provide 21 or 42 μm step resolution: 240 or 720 steps. Integrated safety functionality provides closing time of ≤1 second. www.saia-motor-usa.com

Stepper Motor Portescap has introduced hollowshafted versions to its family of h3 stepper motors, which allow wires or other media to be routed through the motor shaft. The motors are available in NEMA 17, 23 and 34 frame sizes (short, one and two stack lengths available in each frame size), with hollow shaft diameters of 4 mm in diameter, 7 mm in diameter and 11 mm in diameter, respectively. According to the company, the 1.8-degree step motors’ design enables them to deliver up www.design-engineering.com

IdeaGenerator 33 to 30+% higher torque than traditional hybrid step motors. They also feature an aluminum housing, Neodymium iron boron magnets and a bearing retainer and O-ring to help reduce motor noise. Larger bearings enable the motor to effectively handle higher side and radial loads. www.portescap.com

Power Transmission Composite Compression Springs Lee Spring introduced its LeeP Plastic Composite Springs that combine the strength of metal with the attributes of high performing engineered thermoplastics, the company says. Fabricated from Ultem PEI resins, LeeP Plastic Composite Springs are stocked in a variety of standard sizes and six increasing strengths.

According to the company, the springs’ advantages including high strength to weight ratios, physical and mechanical stability up to 340°F, corrosion resistance, non-magnetic / non-conductive material, low flammability and toxicity and are recyclable. www.leespring.com

Ball Screw Nook Industries introduced its miniature metric 8x6 Ball Screw designed for light load applications.

Originally developed for medical applications, the combination of small screw and high-precision makes the ball screw well suited for light load applications including military, optics, instrumentation, sensors, etc. The company offers stainless steel (dynamic rating: 133 lbf; static rating: 108 lbf) for medical and atmospheric applications and alloy steel (dynamic rating: 302 lbf; static rating: 367lbf) for general purpose. It also offers two ball nut mounting options: standard V-thread (M15x1) and custom solutions including integral flanges, involute splines and other configurations. www.nookindustries.com

www.design-engineering.com

Drive Shafts Misumi USA, Inc. announced a line of new drive shafts in a variety of product models, each available in different sizes, dimensions, and configurations.

The new product configurations include straight drive shafts; one end stepped drive shafts; both ends stepped drive shafts; one end stepped, one end double stepped drive shafts with flange; and one end stepped drive shafts with flange.

All are available in 1045 carbon steel with optional black oxide or nickel plating and 1045 induction hardened carbon steel and some with 304 stainless steel. They are also available in various sizes/dimensions and with various machining alterations such as threaded or tapped ends, wrench flat and key groove additions. www.misumiusa.com

We’ve Covered All The Angles -Without Contact With more than a thousand different series, models, sizes, and options there is a Novotechnik non-contact rotary position sensor to match your application, and there’s one very good reason to choose Novotechnik: A level of precision that’s unmatched in the industry. Whether you’re looking for non-contacting, or even touchless, single-turn, or multi-turn rotary position sensors, Novotechnik has the sensor you need. They are all detailed in our 96-page rotary position sensor catalog. For your free copy, contact Novotechnik.

Setting A Higher Standard: • Operating lives to: unlimited movements • Independent linearity to ± 0.3º • Resolution to 0.09º • Repeatability to <0.03% of signal range • Maximum rotating speed to: unlimited rpm • Sealed to protection class IP 67 • Absolute measurements to 360º • Housing diameters from 8.45 mm

Novotechnik U.S., Inc. 155 Northboro Road Southborough, MA 01772 Tel: 508-485-2244 • Fax: 508-485-2430

For complete information, visit www.novotechnik.com/ncr

January/February | 2010

34

IdeaGenerator

Miniature Ball Bearing Spyraflo Inc. introduced a line of mounted, miniature ball bearings designed for mechanisms used in the medical, pharmaceutical, scientific and other precision-oriented fields. The bearings consist of Japanese stainless steel ABEC 3 ball bearings mounted in a sintered aluminum pillow block housing. Initially, they are being offered as non-aligning types and will be offered in both inch and metric sizes from 1/8" to 3/8" (4mm to 10mm) shaft diameters. In addition, sealed miniature ball bearings are available as an option. www.spyraflo.com

Motion Control WAGO ECO Ethernet Coupler WAGO Corporation released its 750-352 ECO Ethernet Fieldbus Coupler, which supports protocols such as MODBUS TCP/IP and EtherNet I/P, and accommodates 64 I/O modules. The DIN-rail mount, UL listed coupler features high-speed communication via a 10/100 Mbit/s Ethernet port and is compatible with the 300+ analog, digital and specialty modules within the WAGO-I/O-SYSTEM. In addition, the ECO Coupler is compatible with Allen-Bradley RSLogix 5000 systems with WAGO’s free add-on instructions. www.wago.us

32-bit Electrohydraulic Controller Rexroth unveiled its BODAS RC36-20 controller that utilizes 32-bit TriCore technology for mobile hydraulics equipment. With 125 input and output channels, as well as four CAN bus interfaces, the controller serves as the central ECU for mobile applications, including “shift on fly” gear shifting, electrohydraulic flow matching (EFM) for operating functions, or the hydrostatic regenerative brake system (HRB) from Rexroth. The TriCore technology includes 150 MHz clock timing and parallel processing to run control circuits and mathematical floating-point operations. The unit is rated for IP65 protection against water spray down/penetration, shock, vibration, moisture, salt spray and electromagnetic radiation. www.boschrexroth.ca

CANopen Module HMS Industrial Networks introduced its plug-in 1SI CANopen extension module for the Siemens SIMATIC ET200S I/O system. This new module brings CANopen connectivity to the SIMATIC ET200S distributed I/O system. The module fits mechanically into the standard ET200 system rack and can be used in combinaJanuary/February | 2010

www.design-engineering.com

IdeaGenerator 35 tion with all other Siemens modules of the ET200S family. Via the standard Siemens Profibus or Profinet bus coupler of the ET200S, the 1SI CANopen module can be used along with the large range of Siemens automation and control systems including SIMATIC, SIMOTION and SINUMERIC systems. www.hms.se

Power Supplies Carlo Gavazzi announced its SPD24901L, a 90 watt switch-mode power supply. Two diagnostic LEDs, one for Output “Good”, and another for Output “Low”, provide an visual indication of DC output power status. Electronic monitoring and signaling of the output power status can be automatic via a Power Ready Relay contact. The SPD242901L also offers these standard features: short circuit protection, overload protection and power factor correction functionality. The UL 1310 Class 2 rated power supply is certification for use in hazardous locations, per Class 1 Div 2 groups A, B, C, and D. www.gavazzionline.com

Piston Pump Eaton Corporation has added a hydro-mechanical torque control option and several performance upgrades to its 420 open circuit piston pump product line. The 420 pump automatically senses heavy loads and adjusts hydraulic fluid flow accordingly. To accommodate the new torque control, the pump housing was designed to decrease airborne noise to 76 dBA at 1,800 rpm and 207 bar. A case-to-inlet check valve was added to improve cold weather operation and provide added protection to the seals and rotating group. The new torque control works in parallel with the standard compensator, using a special mechanism to replace the control piston. www.eaton.com

Actuators Programmable Linear Actuator Nook Industries introduced its Series 500 programmable linear actuator. The Series 500 offers an optional external Linear Position Sensor (LPS) that provides programmable positioning and verification feedback for both parallel and higher speed in-line configurations.

Load capacities range up to 550 lbs. for in-line configurations with parallel configurations ranging up to 1,000 lbs. and offering stroke lengths ranging from 2” to 24”. The Series 500 actuator is designed to be configured with stepper or servo motors and controls. Ball screw driven designs can operate at speeds up to 25 inches per second. www.nookindustries.com www.design-engineering.com

January/February | 2010

36 IdeaGenerator Electric Cylinders Kollmorgen introduced its EC1 Electric Cylinders, a linear positioning alternative to pneumatic and hydraulic systems in applications requiring continuous thrust of ≤150 lb. (660N). They deliver speeds up to 0.325 m/s [13 in/s] and standard stroke lengths from 50 mm up to 200 mm. They can handle a maximum payload weight of 150 lbs at 100% duty cycle and repeatability to ± 0.001 in. with lead accuracy to ± 0.004 in./ft., with backlash of just 0.015 in. This performance, coupled with a compact 4.60 in. + stroke length x 1.89 in. x 3.25 in. (117.0 mm + stroke length x 48 mm x 82.6 mm) footprint, make the EC1 suited for use in space-restricted applications www.kollmorgen.com

Stepper Linear Actuator Haydon Kerk Motion Solutions, Inc. introduced the G4 37000 Series Can-stack Stepper Motor Linear Actuator. The 37000 Series is a 36mm linear actuator with an optimized stator tooth geometry, high energy neodymium magnets, an oversized out-

put spline, custom engineered plastics and larger ball bearings for greater rotor support and high axial loading capability.

There are three configurations available as with other Haydon stepper motor linear actuators: captive, non-captive and external linear. www.haydonkerk.com

Material Handling Miniaturised Gripper SCHUNK introduced a miniaturised RP gripper rotary unit designed for assembly of minuscule components. It is made up of a combination of the RM rotary module with a pneumatic parallel gripper based on the MPG. The rotary module sizes 08 and 10 can be combined with gripper sizes 12, 16 and 20 to

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January/February | 2010

www.design-engineering.com

IdeaGenerator 37 form four different sizes of RP gripping rotary unit. Since the gripper can also be equipped with two different types of I.D. or O.D. gripping force safety device, a total of ten variants of the RP gripping rotary unit are now available. The angle of rotation of the mini rotation modules is 190° the end position accuracy reaches +/- 0.05°. The drive torque is 0.107 Nm (RM 08) or 0.224 Nm (RM10). www.schunk.ca

at up to 356°F and are available in standard 1/8” to 2” O.D. sizes and in flat, single and multi-bellows shapes. The cups can be supplied in custom sizes up to 5” O.D. The medium durometer (50) suction cups will outlast EPDM, NBR, neoprene, nitrile, silicone, TPU polyurethane, Viton and vinyl, in many applications, the company says. www.anver.com

Vacuum Suction Cups

Clippard introduced its Air Jets line, designed to deliver a concentrated flow of air or liquid to a designated location.

Featuring a unique ball nozzle design, the Air Jets line is available with a wide range of nozzles, bases and mounting hardware. The ball nozzle accepts a variety of tube configurations that can be aimed and locked into position. This capability enables the Air Jets to deliver the air or liquid with precision, the company says. www.clippard.com

Anver Corp. released a line of silicone-free vacuum suction cups that are heatresistant, non-marking and long-wearing for handling molded plastic parts and others that may require painting. Anver Nomathane Vacuum Cups are made from a proprietary hybrid material that was developed for use on end-of-arm tooling in the plastics injection molding industry. The suction cups can operate

Advertisers Index Advertiser

Website

Asco Valve Canada

www.ascovalve.ca

11

Autodesk Canada Inc.

www.autodesk.ca

2

Page

Automation Direct

www.automationdirect.com

15

Baldor Electric Co.

www.baldor.com

40

Baumer Inc.

www.baumer.ca

22 19

Beckhoff Automation

www.beckhoff.com

Clippard Instrument Laboratory Inc.

www.clippard.com

Lapp Canada Inc.

www.lappcanada.com

9 23

London Life

www.ccpe.ca

29

Master Bond Inc.

www.masterbond.com

22

Myostat Motion Control Inc.

www.coolmuscle.com

12

Nord Gear Ltd.

www.nord.com

Novotechnik

www.novotechnik.com

6 33

Omega Engineering Inc.

www.omega.ca

3

Parker Hannifin Corp.

www.parker.com

13

Proto Labs Inc.

www.protolabs.com

27

Quickparts

www.quickparts.com

25

Reid Tool Supply Company

www.reidsupply.com

35

Rosta Inc.

www.rostainc.com

14

RotoPrecision Inc.

www.rotoprecision.com

34

SME Canada

www.sme.org

Schaeffler Canada Inc.

www.ina.com

Tecom Inc.

www.crbearing.com

www.design-engineering.com

Air Jets

36, 39 4 37

January/February | 2010

38

CanadianInnovator

No Light-Weight Canadian research team on the cutting edge of using lighter moving parts in vehicles.

By Treena Hein

U

sing lighter materials in vehicles and airplanes is nothing particularly new. For years, lighter metal alloys and composites of various kinds have been finding their way into many car parts – helping to whittle away at cost while boosting fuel efficiency. Lower mass also means lower greenhouse gas emissions – something everyone in both automotive industrial and consumer spheres can get behind.

U of Windsor professor Ahmet Alpas and his team are searching for ways to use light metal alloys in high-wear auto part applications.

“Many aluminum and magnesium alloys offer the same strength-to-weight ratio as steel and are being widely used to manufacture structural components,” says Professor Ahmet Alpas, the NSERC University of Windsor Industrial Research Chair in Tribology of Lightweight Materials. “These materials offer improved fuel economy at almost to 1:1 ratio. That means, if you could reduce the weight of a vehicle by 10 per cent, 8 per cent less fuel will be needed to run it.”

Employing alloys of aluminum and magnesium in moving engine parts, however, is a whole other ballgame, he says. For example, engine parts are mostly still constructed of cast iron, which is obviously heavy but provides excellent wear resistance and durability. Aluminum is the current alternative material of choice. “Aluminum engine blocks weigh about 40 per cent less,” Alpas notes. “Some higher-end European cars already have engines that feature all-aluminum engine blocks.”

However, the aluminum cylinders in North-American vehicles are almost all currently lined with cast iron.

“Aluminum alloys just don’t yet deliver the durability required,” Alpas observes, “and you still have the weight issue with these sleeves.”

“It’s crucial to make steady advances in these areas,” he adds.

“More often than not, it’s surface tribology that limits performance of materials in automotive applications.”

In the quest to expand the range of physical and mechanical January/February | 2010

properties of commercially-available materials used in auto manufacture, there are many solutions to be explored. Alpas’ research is part of the AUTO21 Network of Centres of Excellence, a partnership between public and private sectors that currently supports more than 54 projects and 300 researchers across Canada. He and his colleagues, which include nine other PhD’s and nine graduate students, are investigating surface tribology research issues relating to manufacturing processes as well as final vehicle performance.

In their investigations, the Industrial Research Chair team is developing models of the friction process and new tribological design methods, as well as experimenting with wear-resistant engineered surfaces for industrial applications and final parts.

They are also examining the development of ultra-hard surfaces through methods such as the application of nano-crystalline coatings.

He and his team are therefore unravelling the mystery of how the microstructure of these new alloys can be hardened – through heat treatment for example – so that the friction they offer during engine operation is acceptable.

But before these parts can be placed in an engine on an assembly line, they also must be able to withstand the rigors of manufacturing.

“Right now, removing the bits of aluminum that are shaved off during machining requires relatively large amounts of cutting fluids, and these substances present both health and cost issues,” notes Alpas. “We’re moving towards a point where because of their chemical properties, they will be legislated out of use.” To be able to use near-dry machining on aluminum alloys without sticking issues, Alpas’ team is investigating carbon-based diamond-like coatings.

New coatings and surface technologies are also needed when aluminum alloys are used to form auto parts such as body panels. “During high-temperature (superplastic) forming, the alloys become very stretchy, almost like a viscous fluid,” says Alpas. “This creates an excellent way of forming light weight metal sheets but, once stretched, they stick to the dye, so we are looking at novel surface solutions, using new high temperature coatings and lubricants there as well.”

Obviously, Alpas and others in his field would like to see lighter weight materials widely used in moving vehicle parts as soon as possible, but solving the problems will require a good deal of time.

“The surface tribological issues in automotive materials are so extensive that we’ve just started to scratching the surface,” he says. de www.uwindsor.ca/tribology www.auto21.ca

Treena Hein is an Ottawa-based freelance writer. www.design-engineering.com

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PlaCE BonavEntUrE

SPACE rESErvEd

MontrEal, QUEBEC

The Montreal Manufacturing Technology Show (MMTS) is the unique event to present your products, services and innovations for the manufacturing sector in Quebec.

PartiCiPatE in MMts 2010 and sUCCEEd! » More than 6,000 quality visitors attend MMTS » 71% of MMts visitors are decision makers with buying influence from the following industries: Aerospace – Transportation – Pharmaceutical – Medical – Food Alternative Energy – Mining and more!

» top attending companies: Air Canada – Bell Helicopter – Bombardier Aerospace

GE – Honeywell – Hydro Quebec – IBM Canada – Johnson & Johnson – Kraft – Magna Petro Canada – Pratt & Whitney – Siemens – SNC Lavalin – And more!

» The manufacturing sector employs 1 in 6 people in Quebec and accounts for

19% of all economic activity. Access this vital marketplace and succeed where the Quebec manufacturing industry comes together every two years – at MMTS!

» Innovative multi-level marketing campaign for visitors across Canada.

MMTS will not return until 2012, it is your unique opportunity to meet face-to-face with the decision makers and industry influencers in key industries.

don’t miss this opportunity to let MMts be your key to sales success in 2010. rEsErvE yoUr sPaCE today!

organizEd By:

mmts.ca

Contact Nick Samain, Show Manager 1.888.322.7333 #206 nsamain@sme.org

EvEnt PartnErs:

The Industrial Choice

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When it comes to industrial electric motors, power transmission products and drives, no other manufacturer offers more than Baldor...that is why Baldor is The Industrial Choice! Whether your application requires a fractional or 15,000 Hp motor, a variable frequency drive, mounted bearings or gearing, a pulley or sheave or even a standby generator, Baldor is the choice most preferred by industry.

• Superior Reliability

When your next project demands the most reliable and energy efficient products available, look to Baldor as your one source for more industrial solutions.

• Local Sales and Support

baldor.com

• Quickest Delivery Available

©2009 Baldor Electric Company

• Unmatched Quality