Machinery
New fatigue model could lead to more durable, efficient ships
April 23, 2013 11:14 am | News | Comments
An engineer in Finland has designed a new evaluation model that allows developers to determine how fatigue sets in with various welded steel materials. By considering the differences between traditional welds and structural joining technologies and newer more advanced methods, he model allows for the development of lighter structures, and as a consequence, more energy-efficient ships.
Sandia Labs hosts annual Robot Rodeo
June 19, 2013 12:46 am | News | Comments
This week, Sandia National Laboratories is hosting the seventh annual Western National...
Rapid prototyping conference breaks past attendance records
June 19, 2013 12:11 am | News | Comments
More than 2,500 attendees turned out for the 2013 RAPID Conference and Exposition,...
Research shows where trash accumulates in the deep sea
June 5, 2013 5:56 pm | News | Comments
Surprisingly large amounts of discarded trash end up in the ocean. A recent paper by...
New NIST measurement tool is on target for MEMS industry
May 3, 2013 9:19 am | News | CommentsAs markets for miniature, hybrid machines known as MEMS grow and diversify, NIST has introduced a long-awaited measurement tool that will help growing numbers of device designers, manufacturers and customers to see eye to eye on eight dimensional and material property measurements that are key to device performance.
Pratt & Whitney Additive Manufacturing Innovation Center opens at UConn
April 10, 2013 4:39 am | News | CommentsThe University of Connecticut and Pratt & Whitney this week celebrated the opening of a new Pratt & Whitney Additive Manufacturing Innovation Center at UConn, one of the most advanced additive manufacturing laboratories in the nation. Located on UConn’s Depot Campus in Storrs, the center features the latest in 3D manufacturing equipment and rapid prototyping technologies.
Robot hot among surgeons but U.S. taking fresh look
April 9, 2013 6:10 pm | by Lindsey Tanner, AP Medical Writer | News | CommentsThe biggest thing in operating rooms these days is a million-dollar, multi-armed robot named da Vinci, used in nearly 400,000 surgeries in America last year. But now the high-tech helper is under scrutiny over reports of problems, including several deaths that may be linked with it, and the high cost of using the robotic system. Is it time to curb the robot enthusiasm?
GE to acquire Lufkin Industries
April 9, 2013 3:44 am | News | CommentsGE and Lufkin Industries Inc. announced this week a joint agreement whereby GE will acquire Lufkin Industries Inc., a leading provider of artificial lift technologies for the oil and gas industry and a manufacturer of industrial gears, for approximately $3.3 billion. The move accelerates GE’s growth in artificial lift with solutions for a wider variety of well types.
Centrifugal pendulum reduces engine vibrations
March 28, 2013 9:34 am | News | CommentsDriving a car at low engine speed causes torsional vibrations that passengers perceive as a hum. A new type of centrifugal pendulum has been developed in Germany that helps reduce these vibrations. This device might be useful as automakers increasingly use engines with fewer cylinders which are prone to this phenomenon.
Wireless sensor diagnoses “stressed” machines remotely
March 20, 2013 10:18 am | News | CommentsSingapore company Hoestar PD Technology is working with that country’s leading research organization, A*STAR, to deploy wireless piezoelectric sensors that will track vibrations and stresses that affect the health of machinery such as motors, pumps and generators. The size of a coin, the sensors increase productivity by saving time, reducing manual checking, and offering precision at detecting defects.
Thermal Barrier Coatings for Turbine Engines
March 19, 2013 3:24 pm | Product Releases | CommentsInnovnano, a manufacturer of high performance ceramic powder, has produced highly pure 4YSZ (4 mol% yttria stabilised zirconia), a thermal barrier coating material with exceptional properties for withstanding extreme temperature variations found in demanding operating environments. The patented manufacturing process delivers resilient coatings for improved turbine efficiency.
Carbon-Graphite Ball Valve Seat
March 12, 2013 3:37 pm | Product Releases | CommentsMetallized Carbon Corporation has announced the availability of carbon-graphite ball valve seats for use in valves designed to handle hot liquids or hot gases. The ball valve seats are available in more than 150 grades of Metcar’s proprietary carbon/graphite material.
Researchers use combustible gases to power leaping machines
February 13, 2013 3:35 pm | by Peter Reuell, Harvard University | News | CommentsEngineers at Harvard University have already shown that their unusual “soft” robots can already stand, walk, wriggle under obstacles, and change colors. Now, using small explosions produced by a mix of methane and oxygen, these researchers have designed a soft robot that can leap as much as a foot in the air.
KAIST develops wireless power transfer tech for high capacity transit
February 13, 2013 9:51 am | News | CommentsEngineers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and the Korea Railroad Research Institute have designed a wireless technology that can be applied to high capacity transportation systems such as railways, harbor freight, and airport transportation, and logistics. The technology supplies 60 kHz and 180 kW of power remotely to transport vehicles at a stable, constant rate.
NASA testing vintage engine from Apollo 11 rocket
January 28, 2013 9:46 am | by Jay Reeves, Associated Press | News | CommentsYoung engineers who weren't even born when the last Saturn V rocket took off for the moon are testing a vintage engine from the Apollo program. The engine, known to NASA engineers as No. F-6049, was grounded because of a glitch during a test in Mississippi and later sent to the Smithsonian Institution. Now, NASA engineers are using to get ideas on how to develop the next generation of rockets for future missions to the moon and beyond.
Modular Drill Head
October 30, 2012 3:09 pm | Product Releases | CommentsKennametal is now extending its KSEM PLUS range by introducing new KSEM PLUS B1 Heads with DFC guiding pads to deliver reduced cost per hole in difficult drilling conditions. The enhanced capabilities of the B1 Heads can handle drilling through stacked materials, inclined exits, drilling through cross holes, and interrupted cut conditions.
Hydrogen beam injector guides plasma physics research
September 27, 2012 6:39 am | News | CommentsThe Madison Symmetric Torus, a leading piece of equipment in plasma physics research for more than 20 years, recently gained a new capability with the installation of a neutral beam injector. The addition allows University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers to delve further into the basic properties of plasmas, which are important in astrophysics research as well as numerous other applications.
100th shot for LLNL's 'gun in the desert'
September 27, 2012 3:50 am | News | CommentsLawrence Livermore National Laboratory's JASPER gas gun has fired its 100th shot. JASPER (the Joint Actinide Shock Physics Experimental Research) is a key scientific tool for the National Nuclear Security Administrations Stockpile Stewardship Program and its experiments have enabled scientists to understand important properties and behaviors of plutonium and other special nuclear materials without conducting underground nuclear tests.
Astrophysicists get first images for Dark Energy Camera
September 17, 2012 7:08 am | News | CommentsWhen the Dark Energy Camera opened its giant eye last week and began taking pictures of the ancient light from far-off galaxies, more than 120 members of the Dark Energy Survey eagerly awaited the first snapshots. Those images have now arrived.
Damaged metal surfaces repair themselves
September 17, 2012 5:43 am | News | CommentsIf recent research in Norway is successful, a coating filled with tiny lubricant capsules could come to the rescue when metal surfaces dry out and friction builds up. As part of a project at the Gemini Tribology Centre researchers are now testing whether it is possible—where two metal surfaces are in contact with each other—to apply a coating to surfaces formed of hard particles and capsules filled with liquid lubricant.
LHC collides protons with lead ions for the first time
September 13, 2012 5:53 am | News | CommentsThis morning the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) collided protons with lead ions for the first time. This week's short run will give the experiments a first taste of proton-nucleus collisions before the main run in January to February 2013, the last LHC physics before the accelerator is shut down for maintenance.
U.S. research and development most prevalent in small number of regions
September 13, 2012 4:29 am | News | CommentsAccording to data from a 2008 Business R&D and Innovation Survey by the National Science Foundation, businesses perform the lion's share of their R&D activity in just a small number of geographic areas, particularly the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland area and the New York-Newark-Bridgeport area.
Bendable crystals resolve properties of X-ray pulses
September 12, 2012 6:27 am | News | CommentsA frustrating flaw in a set of custom crystals for an instrument at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory inspired a solution for an important scientific challenge: how to accurately measure the colors of each individual pulse from a powerful X-ray laser.
Japanese research vessel sets a new world drilling-depth record
September 7, 2012 9:52 am | News | CommentsScientific deep sea drilling vessel “Chikyu” has set a world new record by drilling down and obtaining rock samples from deeper than 2,111 m (6,926 feet) below the seafloor off Shimokita Peninsula of Japan in the northwest Pacific Ocean. “Chikyu” is designed to reach the deeper part of the Earth such as the mantle, the plate boundary seisomogenic zones and the deep biosphere.
'Seahorse' sees scallops in new way
September 6, 2012 4:45 am | by Jay Lindsay, Associated Press | News | CommentsA new underwater explorer hit the seas this summer, armed with cameras, strobes and sonar and charged with being a protector of sorts to a half-billion dollar resource—the Atlantic scallop catch. Developed by a former scalloper and researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the stainless steel Seahorse gives marine scientists a look at the seafloor they’ve never had before and offers uses beyond policing scallop grounds.
Scientists develop new technique for laser micro-machining
August 30, 2012 8:27 am | News | CommentsMany lasers have linear polarization, in which the electric field of the beam is, for example, vertical everywhere. Radial and azimuthal polarizations, however, have a directional change of electric field. By combining a spatial light modulater, a 100 femtosec pulse laser source, and a wave plate, researchers in the U.K. have produced lasers that use these modes to machine materials with portentially greater process efficiency.
New imaging technique homes in on electrocatalysis of nanoparticles
August 28, 2012 5:20 am | News | CommentsBy modifying the rate at which chemical reactions take place, nanoparticle catalysts fulfill myriad roles in industry, the biomedical arena, and everyday life. Finding new and more effective nanoparticle catalysts to perform applications in these areas has become vital. Now, a researcher at Arizona State University has found a clever way to measure catalytical reactions of single nanoparticles and multiple particles printed in arrays, which will help to characterize and improve existing nanoparticle catalysts.
ChemCam laser sets its sights on first Martian target
August 17, 2012 10:08 am | News | CommentsMembers of the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover ChemCam team have received the first photos from the instrument's remote microimager. The successful capture of ChemCam's first 10 photos sets the stage for the first test bursts of the instrument's rock-zapping laser in the near future.
Seventeenth century shipwreck to be freeze-dried, rebuilt
August 15, 2012 8:16 am | by Michael Graczyk, Associated Press | News | CommentsMore than three centuries ago, a French explorer's ship sank in the Gulf of Mexico, taking with it France's hopes of colonizing a vast piece of the New World—modern-day Texas. Like La Salle in 1685, researchers at Texas A&M University are in uncharted waters as they try to reconstruct his vessel with a gigantic freeze-dryer, the first undertaking of its size.
