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Completely Updated New Full Line Catalog: Full of New Fasteners Micro Plastics introduces its new 300-page catalog #40 containing thousands of fastening solutions for engineers and product designers. Find hundreds of new problem-solving products, including Spacers, Washers, Clips, Clamps, Ties, Bushings, Screws, Nuts, Rivets, and Plugs. Micro Plastics specializes in Nylon threaded fasteners, but the company also offers extensive product lines for wire management and circuit board hardware. FREE samples are available upon request.
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In this issue of Designfax |
News |
Cover Image: Nelson Publishing
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The next big thing? Researchers develop ultra-fast charging batteries that last 20 years Nissan develops first 'self-cleaning' car prototype |
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2015 COOL PARTS CALENDAR Designed by designers and engineered for engineers, our annual Cool Parts Calendar features the visions of product developers across the nation and around the world. It features holidays, industry tradeshow dates, and (of course) those elusive days of the week.
Request your free calendar today.
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| Featured Articles |
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Wings: Micro cracks in titanium part cause F-35 Lightning II jetfighter fire, multiple fixes investigated The head of the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter program office said Oct. 30 that he expects to have decided on a permanent solution by the end of December for the design issue that caused an engine to fail in June in an F-35A at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. The engine's manufacturer, Pratt & Whitney, has offered several potential fixes, some of which already are being tested.
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Engineer's Toolbox: Rifle-barrel maker takes hole-making to new level Fred Feddersen is a rifle-barrel maker on a mission to do something that's never been done before: create a production barrel that can shoot successive bullets through the same hole, using an inexpensive semiautomatic rifle, not a bolt-action Olympic race gun.
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Tiny inverse-Wankel rotary engine concept is 4-lb powerhouse Noise, excessive vibration, and relative inefficiency are drawbacks of the piston-based internal combustion engines (ICEs) that power today's lawn and garden equipment, such as leaf blowers and lawn trimmers. But now MIT startup LiquidPiston has developed a 4-lb rotary concept that it says is significantly smaller, lighter, and quieter, as well as 20 percent more fuel-efficient than the ICEs used in many such small-engine devices.
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Way better than LEDs? Using 1/100 the power, these brighter, flat-panel lights are based on carbon nanotubes Even as the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics has enshrined light emitting diodes (LEDs) as the single most significant and disruptive energy-efficient lighting solution of today, scientists around the world continue unabated to search for the even-better bulbs of tomorrow. Enter carbon electronics.
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Wheels: Best-ever efficiency points to clean, green gas-diesel engine The one-cylinder test engine in the basement of a University of Wisconsin-Madison lab is connected to a life-support system of pipes, tubes, ducts, and cables like a patient in intensive care. The elaborate monitoring system shows that the engine can convert 59.5 percent of the chemical energy in its fuel into motion -- significantly better than the 52 percent maximum in modern diesel truck engines.
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Robots with guns: Army researchers address challenges of remote lethality In popular culture, the idea of robots that perform human-like functions has a special hold on the imagination, based on real-life examples like space exploration, unmanned aerial drones and stoked by futuristic scenarios in movies like the "Terminator" series. However, when it comes to the U.S. military integrating lethality, such as a weapon capable of firing 10 rounds per second onto an unmanned ground vehicle, issues arise such as safety, effectiveness, and reliability, as well as military doctrine on how much human involvement is required.
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Wheels: Exhaust recirculation tech and the road to 54.5 mpg A new engine design that improves fuel economy and lowers exhaust emissions has received a prestigious 2014 R&D 100 Award. R&D Magazine selected Southwest Research Institute's Dedicated Exhaust Gas Recirculation (D-EGR) engine technology as one of the 100 most significant technological achievements introduced in the past year.
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Stanford scientists develop water splitter that runs on ordinary AAA battery Hongjie Dai and colleagues have developed a cheap, emissions-free device that uses a 1.5-V battery to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen gas could be used to power fuel cells in zero-emissions vehicles.
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Engineering better Army technology: Overmatch Overmatch in weapon systems "means we have an advantage in every sense of the word ... it's much bigger than lethality," says Keith Jadus, acting director of the lethality portfolio for the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Research and Technology. This article looks at issues in developing technologies with extended range, precision, using direct energy, and more.
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Top Mike Likes: Plastic parts with no molds required How often have you wondered what life would be like without having to worry about paying tooling charge after tooling charge for products in early development? The "No Molds Required" (NMR) manufacturing technology from Envision Plastics & Design could be your answer. This unique production process harmonizes a combination of sheet metal fabrication and woodworking practices to produce plastic parts used for enclosures, panels and shrouds, brackets and shields, medical-based products, and more.
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Top Mike Likes: Powerful pen oscilloscope Saelig announces the Owon RDS1021 Wave Rambler, a new USB pen scope that packs all the features of a high-performance bench-top oscilloscope in a small, lightweight, and ergonomic probe that fits perfectly in the hand. Used with the included PC software, the RDS1021 Wave Rambler converts any laptop or desktop PC into a powerful oscilloscope without the need for additional probes or power supplies.
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| Most Popular |
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Part 1 | Designfax Most Popular Stories, Products, Toolbox, And More What were the most-read stories in Designfax for the second half of 2014? What research stories did readers find most interesting in the past six months? What products and tools generated the most buzz? Find out these answers and more in the first of our two-part Designfax special. Go to the Most Popular issue Part 1.
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| Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action |
| Smashing pumpkins: The physics behind punkin chunkin | |
| Learn how the American Chunker team won last year's national Punkin Chunkin Championship with ingenuity and engineering skill, and how they continue to revolutionize the sport by staying ahead of the competition with new ideas and CAD-embedded testing in SOLIDWORKS Simulation.
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