Machine design, tập 84, số 03, 2012

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ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONIC

Oscilloscope display via iPad: Today VNC clients can be used to control Windows-based oscilloscopes via mobile platforms such as the iPad.

enable this connection, you connect a USB cable between oscilloscope.

A USB Device connection typically involves some sort

of driver library Scopes from Agilent Technologies Inc.,

Santa Clara, Calif., for example, use an IO Library, which remote commands can control the oscilloscope.

Ethernet connectivity

While USB connectivity has been relatively common

drive storage and GPIB programming.

New connectivity options have started to trickle down

to less-expensive oscilloscopes In almost all cases, USB

on oscilloscopes Now to save a screen or data file, ers simply insert a USB thumb drive into a connection

us-of storage In addition to USB Host connections, many

of being used to connect thumb drives, these tions permit remote control of oscilloscopes via USB To

connec-Even less-expensive oscilloscopes provide data in a variety of formats once available only from top-of- the-line instruments.

Like most technologies, oscilloscopes, or DSOs, for most industrial appli- cations And features that once were available only on expensive, premium DSOs are now becoming com- Windows” scopes that deep memory, large dis- plays, and fast update rates oscilloscopes have offered Less-expensive offerings have gone beyond floppy-

Not

your father’s OSCILLOSCOPE

MARCH 8, 2012 MACHINE DESIGN.com 58

MATERIALS

Structural SMC and BMC materials offer

a number of over metals and thermoplastics, including higher weight, better dimensional corrosion resistance and, often, lower cost.

From car-body panels and helicopter parts to electrical enclosures and sporting goods, manufacturers increas- pound (SMC) and bulk-molding compound (BMC) to address demands for strong, light, and durable materials.

Due to intrinsic limitations with metals and plastics, many engineers are turning to structural thermo- set compounds to bolster strength and corrosion resistance

thermo-maintain excellent structural properties despite prolonged exposure to chemical and temperature extremes The ma- duction efficiency for manufacturers Here’s a closer look.

Structural thermoset basics

Structural thermosets are distinguished from standard thermosets by their use of more specialized resins and strength and stiffness, while resins protect the fibers and improve the compound’s overall physical properties.

Moreover, manufacturers can tailor these properties

by varying ingredients For example, changing fiber type,

Structural thermosets are an attractive alternative

to metals and thermoplastics, thanks to excellent physical properties and surface appearance.

Authored by:

Larry Landis

Director of Technology and Quality

IDI Composites International

• Cross-linked molecules keep structural thermosets dimensionally stable at high temperatures

• Unlike common metals, structural thermosets won’t rust or corrode outdoors or in harsh environments

Components often last for decades with little maintenance.

Structural thermoset SMC

Most structural thermosets are in the form of molding compound SMC is a cost-effective, lower-weight the 40 to 65% range Reinforcement is normally chopped- strand glass fibers 0.5 to 2.0-in (12.7 to 50.8-mm) long tinuous process that combines a viscous paste and glass

sheet-a csheet-arrier film, then cut glsheet-ass fibers sheet-are sheet-added, sheet-along with

is run through a series of serpentine rollers The tine action and resulting pressure causes the paste to coat

serpen-rigidity; varying resin concentration and type affects all strength, along with the compound’s heat or corrosion resistance.

over-Heating the material as it is molded forms sional covalent bonds between polymer molecules This The term “thermoset” accurately describes this chemistry

three-dimen-lets thermosets maintain the desired physical and sets from thermoplastics, which are generally unsuitable remelted after solidification Thermosets tolerate heat-dis- tures (Tg) that would literally melt most thermoplastics.

electri-Three of the most common thermoset resins are ester, vinyl ester, and epoxy Each has its own price and performance characteristics, so base selection on an ap- plication’s functional and cost requirements For example, engineers might choose vinyl-ester resin for corrosion- resistant products, epoxy for high-strength applications, the driving factors.

The

advantages

of

STRUCTURAL THERMOSETS

MARCH 8, 2012 MACHINE DESIGN.com

Access our Reader Service Web site to quickly find and request information on the products and services found

in the pages of M ACHINE D ESIGN

Structural thermosets are an attractive

alternative to metals and thermoplastics,

thanks to high strength, light weight,

corrosion resistance, and excellent surface

appearance

ULE 880: Sustainability for

Manufacturing Organizations

Just because a company states they operate

in a sustainable fashion doesn’t make it so

New procedures from UL E help confirm their

Oscilloscope readings on a Web page? Even

low-end oscilloscopes can provide output in

a variety of formats that make measurements

more useful

What’s hot in CAD

Synchronous technology can move between

history-based and direct modeling The next

step in realistic CAD — stereoscopic design?

And more

VOLUME 84ISSUE 3MARCH 8, 2012

MARCH 8, 2012 MACHINE DESIGN com

2

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SCANNING FOR IDEAS

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Enclosure protects electronics and controls from harsh environments

Editorial content is indexed in the Applied Science Technology Index, the Engineering Index, SciSearch and Research Alert Microfilm copies available from National Archive Publishing Company (NAPC), 300

N Zeeb Rd., P.O Box 998, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-0998, Ph: 734-302-6500 or 800-420-NAPC (6272), extension 6578.

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Subscription Policy: M ACHINE D ESIGN is circulated

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$119; All other countries: one year, $99; two years,

4

The Truth About Compressed Air!

Facts about Blowers

Energy conscious plants might think a blower to be a better choice due to its slightly lower electrical consumption compared

to a compressor In reality, a blower is an expensive capital expenditure that requires frequent downtime and costly maintenance

of fi lters, belts and bearings Here are some important facts:

Filters must be replaced every one

to three months.

Belts must be replaced every three to six months.

Typical bearing replacement is at least once

a year at a cost near $1000.

• Blower bearings wear out quickly due

to the high speeds (17-20,000 RPM) required to generate eff ective airfl ows.

• Poorly designed seals that allow dirt and moisture infi ltration and environments above 125°F decrease the one year bearing life.

• Many bearings can not be replaced in the

fi eld, resulting in downtime to send the assembly back to the manufacturer Blowers take up a lot of space and often produce sound levels that exceed OSHA noise level exposure requirements Air volume and velocity are often diffi cult to control since mechanical adjustments are required.

To discuss an application, contact:

EXAIR Corporation

11510 Goldcoast Drive Cincinnati, Ohio 45249-1621 (800) 903-9247

Fax: (513) 671-3363 email: techelp@exair.com www.exair.com/45/423a.htm

Compare these Blowoffs

Th ere are a variety of ways to blow the water from the bottles shown in the photo below, but

which method is best? To decide, we ran a comparison test on the same application using

four diff erent blowoff methods: drilled pipe, fl at air nozzles, Super Air Knife (each using

compressed air as a power source), and a blower supplied air knife (using an electric motor

as a power source) Each system consisted of two twelve inch long air knives Th e following

comparison proves that the EXAIR Super Air Knife is the best choice for your blowoff ,

cooling or drying application.

Th e goal for each of the blowoff choices was to use the least amount of air possible to get the

job done (lowest energy and noise level) Th e compressed air pressure required was 60 PSIG

which provided adequate velocity to blow the water off Th e blower used had a ten horsepower

motor and was a centrifugal type blower at 18,000 RPM Th e table at the bottom of the page

summarizes the overall performance Since your actual part may have an odd confi guration,

holes or sharp edges, we took sound level measurements in free air (no impinging surface).

Drilled Pipe

Th is common blowoff is very inexpensive

and easy to make For this test, we

used (2) drilled pipes, each with (25)

1/16" diameter holes on 1/2" centers

As shown in the test results below, the

drilled pipe performed poorly Th e initial

cost of the drilled pipe is overshadowed

by its high energy use Th e holes are

easily blocked and the noise level is

excessive - both of which violate OSHA

requirements Velocity across the entire

length was very inconsistent with spikes

of air and numerous dead spots.

Flat Air Nozzles

As shown below, this inexpensive air

nozzle was the worst performer It is

available in plastic, aluminum and

stainless steel from several manufacturers

Th e fl at air nozzle provides some

entrainment, but suff ers from many

of the same problems as the drilled

pipe Operating cost and noise level are

both high Some manufacturers off er

fl at air nozzles where the holes can be

blocked - an OSHA violation Velocity

was inconsistent with spikes of air

Blower Air Knife

Th e blower proved to be an expensive, noisy option As noted below, the purchase price is high Operating cost was considerably lower than the drilled pipe and fl at air nozzle, but was comparable to EXAIR’s Super Air Knife Th e large blower with its two 3" (8cm) diameter hoses requires signifi cant mounting space compared

to the others Noise level was high

at 90 dBA Th ere was no option for cycling it on and off to conserve energy like the other blowoff s Costly bearing and fi lter maintenance along with downtime were also negative factors.

EXAIR Super Air Knife

Th e Super Air Knife did an exceptional job of removing the moisture on one pass due to the uniformity of the laminar airfl ow Th e sound level was extremely low For this application, energy use was slightly higher than the blower but can be less than the blower if cycling on and off

is possible Safe operation is not an issue since the Super Air Knife can not be dead- ended Maintenance costs are low since there are no moving parts to wear out.

The Super Air Knife is the low cost way to blowoff, dry, clean and cool.

If you think compressed air is too expensive and noisy - read this The facts will surprise you!

Blowoff Comparison

Comp Air Horsepower

Required

Sound Level dBA

Purchase Price

Annual Electrical Cost*

Approx Annual Maintenance Cost

First Year Cost Type of blowoff PSIG BAR SCFM SLPM

Drilled Pipes 60 4.1 174 4,924 35 91 $50 $4,508 $920 $5,478

Flat Air Nozzles 60 4.1 257 7,273 51 102 $208 $6,569 $1,450 $8,227

Blower Air Knife 3 0.2 N/A N/A 10 90 $5,500 $1,288 $1,500 $8,288

Super Air Knife 60 4.1 55 1,557 11 69 $518 $1,417 $300 $2,235

*Based on national average electricity cost of 8.3 cents per kWh Annual cost refl ects 40 hours per week, 52 weeks per year.

RS# 104

IDI Composites International’s

new microsite focuses on

structural-thermoset compounds

The materials resist corrosion

and are durable, strong, and

exceptionally light, making them

viable alternatives to metals and

thermoplastics The site details

various resins, reinforcement

fibers, and specific SMC and BMC

products, and gives an overview

of markets and applications See

www.idicomposites.com/products/

structural-thermoset-compounds.

Valve resource

Peter Paul Electronics has launched

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The 1,520-page catalog includes an 87-page technical reference section

Request or download a copy at www.

sdp-si.com/D810/D810cat.htm.

Ball-screw blog

Steinmeyer has added a new blog

to its Web site, www.steinmeyer.com

Content includes product design, engineering calculations, and commercial issues Industry experts are available to offer advice on machine-tool, factory-automation, mechatronic, semiconductor- equipment, and aerospace applications, and users are free to post comments Visit the blog at www.ballscrew-tech.com.

Motor-match tool

Groschopp’s new Web site (www.

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Top 5 robots from CES 2012Engineering TV highlights the most interesting robots on display at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, including

a low-cost quad-rotor UAV, modular robotic building blocks, and a mobile platform that uses a smartphone as the onboard

brains View them all at www.

5-Robots-from-CES-2012;Only- Engineering-TV-Videos.

engineeringtv.com/video/Top-FREE EBOOK: THE BASICS OF ROBOTIC MOTION

There are all types of industrial robots, and most can be broken down into a

handful of fundamental components Among the most basic are the drives

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differences to help determine the best design for your project Download a copy

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MARCH 8, 2012 MACHINE DESIGN com

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This hand-wringing has led to talk of a skills gap and what to do about it But what seems to be absent in these discussions is a recogni-tion of the fact that complaints about kids entering the workforce have been with us for as long as there have been older generations hiring younger generations On that score, it is interesting to go back in time and see what managers thought of the young people they hired in the 1970s Those youngsters, of course, are now the ones doing the hiring and complaining about the quality of people filling out employment forms.

Managers of the time did not paint a pretty picture of the thinking skills demonstrated by kids entering the 1970s workforce

critical-“Increasingly we hear from leaders in business, professions, and ment that it is easy to find people who can do what they are told, but dif-ficult to find people who know what to do without being told,” lamented York University professor David Bakan in 1969 Nor were the commu-nication abilities of that generation anything special Researchers from Ohio University and Eastern Michigan University, writing in the Journal

govern-of Business Communication in the mid-1970s, found that many new graduates had grandiose views of their own abilities to write reports and convey concepts verbally that weren’t shared by their supervisors

I have concluded that some of the bellyaching about work skills is just an older generation forgetting how many facets of performance can come only from experience If I am still around in 30 years, I fully expect to read about managers, who today are supposedly ill-prepared

to hold down their first jobs, grumbling over the abject unreadiness of the kids

Finally, we should remember that academic excellence is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to career preparation On that score, consider the career of someone who might be the poster child for poor high-school preparation, Don Mann In his autobiography, he relates how a teacher once inquired about the location of his textbooks Mann had to admit he had dumped them in his locker the first day of school and had since forgotten where the locker was

This inauspicious start didn’t seem to slow Mann down, though He eventually entered the Navy, earned two BS degrees and an MS degree, and retired as a SEAL/Chief Warrant Officer with a résumé that in-cluded time on the elite SEAL Team Six

Not bad for somebody who graduated near the very bottom of his high-school class

— Leland Teschler, Editor

RS# 107

MARCH 8, 2012

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MARCH 8, 2012 MACHINE DESIGN.com

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RS# 111

my degrees only through sheer

s t u b b o r n n e s s D u r i n g m y first year I took t wo account-ing courses during which the head of the accounting depart-ment asked if I would consider switching majors I was doing well and his impression was I had a gift for it but I politely de-clined I wanted to be an engi-neer I couldn’t imagine really doing anything else

I, too, put in many late nights, and getting my BS degree was

a rg u a b l y t h e h a rd e s t a cco m plishment in my life, but it has made me happy, successful, and

-I continue to learn -It’s nate that students would change majors to improve their grades rather than pursue their passion

unfortu-Perhaps they weren’t quite so sure why they star ted in engi-neering in the first place

Engineering school: A

hard-knock life

You are dead-on regarding the life,

and realities, of an engineering

student (“ Tough Engineer ing

Courses Now Make Headlines,”

Dec 8) For me, graduating and

moving onto a “real job” was a

welcome relief No longer did I

have to study for 16 hours a day,

and often past midnight

Persis-tence and patience earned me a

degree, not my limited 2.9 GPA

o r re t a k i n g t h re e c l a s s e s b e

-cause I initially got Ds in them

After graduation, working 10 to

12 hours a day and going home

with nothing to do was a

won-derful break in life And I could

eat normal food ( You forgot to

mention that engineering

stu-dents are dirt poor because they

don’t have time to work As a

re-sult, the diet during college was

less than healthy.)

Jim Stoor

Great editorial I couldn’t help but

smirk when I read “She switched

her major to psychology and

policy management from

elec-trical and computer engineering

after a particularly tough

assign-ment that ‘kept her and her

part-ner in the lab well past midnight

for several days.’” Several days?

Getting a bachelor ’s degree in

mechanical engineering from

the University of Illinois kept me

in the lab or engineering library

well past midnight almost

ev-ery single night Sure, thoughts

of self-defenestration from the

third-floor library window came

to mind several times a semester

out of sheer frustration But who

doesn’t love failing 80% of their

exams after spending hundreds

of hours preparing for them?

A t t h e e n d o f t h e d a y, I ’m

glad I stuck with it I somehow

m a n a g e d t o g r a d u a t e w i t h a

2.999 GPA, find a satisfying job,

and have been enjoying going

home at the end of the work day

That passion began for me at

an early age I think it stems from the freedom given me by my par-ents to take things apart to see how they worked (without over-concern for the consequences) and my desire to invent, refine, and make things through trial and error This included every-thing from my bicycle to kitchen appliances to model rockets, even my parents cars My parents were not technically minded, so they gave me the support where they could, mostly by giving me the freedom to try

My fourth-grade daughter is currently a victim of the modern school system in which so much emphasis is put on the metrics of mastering tests — reading, writ-ing, math It leaves no time for science In contrast, I recall hav-ing a biology textbook in fourth grade So I don’t see the support from our school system needed

to grow that interest and passion for science Therefore, I do what

I can to interest my children in science

Adrian van der Kroef

MARCH 8, 2012 MACHINE DESIGN.com

12

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RS# 112

LETTERS

I now work for an engineering firm in Tennessee I also own a machine shop that supplies pro-totypes to our company It ’s a whirlwind, but it’s allowed me to provide for a growing family and let my wife stay home with our children since the bir th of our first child (She graduated with a bio-chem degree from WMU.)You are wise to suggest that young graduates learn how to weld or run a CNC machine I’d hire them

Jon Rogers

I had a couple of other letters from liberal ar ts degree holders who took what I said the wrong way Regardless of what your degree happens to be in, I’d say learning

a skill at a community college, if necessary, is a good way to get a foot in the door — Leland Teschler

the politicians and federal ers who egregiously helped cre-ate the quagmire we now find ourselves in

work-My son has just started high school and you can bet I’m going

to give him the same advice as you advocate, not just for his own future, but for the future health and prosperity of the good old USA as well I appreciate the can-dor and succinct advice your edi-torial so eloquently provides

Scott J Sanders

I read your editorial this morning and smiled I graduated 10 years ago from Western Michigan Uni-versity with a Liberal Arts degree

in music and Spanish linguistics

My first job out of school was cutting steel and drilling holes

in a machine shop owned by my friend’s dad

Thanks to that experience,

Advice to those listening

I couldn’t agree more regarding

your advice for our job seekers

and “occupy wall streeters”

(“Ad-vice for Occupy Wall Streeters,”

Nov 17.) Whoever thought they

would be well suited for

employ-ment with a liberal arts or history

degree, even 20 years ago, was

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rampant corruption in our

gov-ernment I wish we could send

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but there’s not enough room as

we have to make way for some of

RS# 113 MARCH 8, 2012

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SCANNING FOR IDEAS

Edited by Stephen J Mraz

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RS# 401

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SCANNING FOR IDEAS

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RS# 116

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK

Thermoforms earn a C+ in recycling

There’s plenty of room for improvement

tinguish the difference between PET bottles and RPET thermo-forms,” says Dordan Manufactur-ing’s Sustainability Coordinator Chandler Slavin Theoretically, the two could be recycled together, but that depends on a lot of fac-tors, many of which are a result of the sorting equipment used In manual sorting, there are prob-lems because clamshells and blisters come in all shapes, sizes, and materials, making it difficult

to train workers to sort packages

by material type via visual cues in package design Most clear, thin-neck screw-top beverage bottles are PET, for example, making it easy to identify this recyclable from those destined for landfills, says Slavin

Another issue: Industry experts suggest there may be fluctuations between the intrinsic viscosity (IV) of PET and RPET that would make them difficult to recycle together The IV of a material, measured in deciliters per

gram, depends on the length of its polymer chains The longer the chains, the higher the viscosity Also, RPETs can comprise different ratios of PET, regrind, or recycled polymers This is one reason why

the National Association for PET Container Resources concluded

it would be easiest to just recycle PET thermoforms together and keep them out of the PET-bottle-recovery system

Recycling of thermoforms is an evolving situation, says Slavin Con-sequently, there are no standard practices; all collection, sorting, and reprocessing depend on the end market of the material recycled, which differ from region to region And information about recycling specific materials often gets handed down like folklore among thermoform manufacturers and other interested parties

“Waste management is a large, complicated, and mature industry that is slow to adopt technolo-gies and processes due

to inconsistencies herent in North Ameri-can recycling behav-iors and established patterns of material re-covery,” she says “For example, a package

in-or material type will not be collected for recycling if there is no buyer,” says Slavin “And there will be no buyer if there is not a consistent quantity and quality available for reprocess-ing Moreover, lots of postconsumer plastics col-lected for recycling get sold

Thermoformed packaging such

as blister packs and clamshells

typically end up in landfills, even

though many of are made of PC

PET, the usually recycled material

that is blow molded into soft drink

and water bottles That’s a

prob-lem for manufacturers concerned

about sustainability and product

packaging And the economics of

recycling will probably prevent

widespread recycling of

thermo-form-grade RPET for some time

(The “R” of RPET means the

poly-mer comprises virgin material plus

regrind, or recycled content.)

In a pilot study conducted by

thermoform-packaging maker

Dordan Manufacturing in

Wood-stock, Ill., the company shipped

50 of its RPET clamshells to a local

recycling facility to determine

how well the containers could be

sorted The waste-management

facility uses optics to sort different

kinds of polymers

“The equipment could not

dis-Mail-in

your waste

The goal at TerraCycle Inc.,

Trenton, N J., is to eliminate the

idea of waste It does this by

creat-ing national recyclcreat-ing streams for

previously nonrecyclable or

hard-to-recycle waste Anyone can sign

up for these programs and start

sending the company waste The

company converts this into a wide

variety of products and materials

According to the company, it has

20 million people collecting waste

in over 20 countries and has used

them to create over 1,500

differ-ent products available at major

retailers ranging from Walmart to

Whole Foods Market

The assortment shows examples

of blister packs that Dordan manufactures.

Continued on page 22

MARCH 8, 2012 MACHINE DESIGN com

20

Dordan Manufacturing Co Inc.,

www.dordan.com,

www.recyclablepackaging.org

TerraCycle Inc., www.terracycle.net

For more information, check out YouTube

videos on “how recycling centers work”

like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_

GP3JuiX5BY

Visit this link for a list by material type

of what is recovered based on percent

generation with the focus on containers

and packaging: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/

microsites/energy/documents/Green-Guides-Summary-of-Proposal.pdf

The document describes what is

recycled and in what quantities thereby

demonstrating what is not: http://www.

epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/

msw2008data.pdf

Slavin’s research culminated in the release

of her Recycling Report: The Truth about

Clamshell/Blister Recycling in America with

Suggestions for the Industry:

http://www.dordan.com/pdf/dordan_

recycling_report.pdf

How recycling worksWhen a clear PET bottle goes into a curbside bin, the bottle is often picked up by the same truck carrying waste destined for a landfill Usu-ally the landfill and recovery facility are geographically close to one another, so recyclables are dropped at the recycling facility and waste at the landfill (Transportation is one of the more-costly considerations in waste management.)

Once at the reprocessing facility, recyclables are “dumped” on the plant floor where a variety of conveyer belts spread the materials along the line for easier identification Paper is usually sorted first, falling through slits in a tumbler due to weight and dimensions Plastics are sorted manually or automatically, depended on the facility In manual systems, workers on the line visually identify materials of a specific type, i.e., HDPE milk jugs They remove the jugs and place them in separate containers that go to another sorting scheme in the facility or are baled for transportation to an intermediate reprocessor One popular auto-mated sorting technology uses optics to separate PET from PVC and other undesirables Aluminum is sorted from other recyclables, and glass

is sorted through a weight-based scheme Sometimes, the municipally contracted hauler or reprocessor separates materials by feedstock type (i.e., paper, plastic, and glass) and then sells the materials to an interme-diate plastics or paper reprocessor It is often privately owned and em-ploys more-sophisticated sorting techniques based on the requirements

of the end market

The machines are

converting PC PET film

via thermoforming into

clamshells or blister packs.

MARCH 8, 2012 MACHINE DESIGN com 21

as how to determine the types of packaging recycled and the quan-tity recycled in different geograph-ical regions; whether a community has access to a facility that can re-cycle the packaging; and whether collection, end markets, and auto-mated sorting are available.Industry figures suggest that

30 to 59% of American ties can recycle PET thermoforms, which falls within the “limited recyclability” category as per the FTC Green Guides’ definition “This

communi-is changing, however, as industry begins to take a more proactive approach to recycling packaging,” says Slavin “I foresee the manage-ment of recyclables as shifting from publicly to privately owned sys-tems, due in part to the success of such approaches overseas.” MD

specs, or the specifications a buyer outlines to suppliers of PC plastics upon procurement, require the material be of a specific material type, such as PET, and packaging type, such as thin-neck screw-top PET beverage containers For instance, most PET buyers say they do not want bales with RPET thermoforms included for fear of contamination This discourages MRF’s from investing in sorting technologies that could pull out RPET thermoforms from a batch of look-alike contaminates like PVC

“The Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) developed the

Labeling for Recovery Project to educate consumers on what types

of packaging are recycled via a simple labeling scheme Under the scheme, the label lists compo-nents of the packaging and mate-rial it is made from It is intended

to tell consumers what can and can’t be recycled rather than what

is assumed to be recyclable,” says Slavin “The hope was to have consumers understand recycling

to China where the cost to

manu-ally sort it is less than the cost of

manually sorting it in the U S This

reduces the available recycling

stream in North America, making

the amounts necessary to sustain

recycling difficult to quantify.”

In addition, a community’s

ability to recycle a package with

limited recyclability, like RPET

thermoformed containers, can

be dictated by whether facilities

are private or publicly owned,

says Slavin “Private facilities tend

to be better run and maintained

than municipally funded ones,”

she says “They also tend to be

more economically sustainable

And they use more-sophisticated

technologies for sorting and

re-processing Other factors include

the geographical location of the

facility (East versus Midwest versus

West), which determines what

types of materials are collected

for recycling and technologies

used, based on the available end

markets.”

And consider the collection

scheme, says Slavin “How

materi-als are collected for recycling —

curbside, drop off, single stream,

or commingled — determines

how materials comes to recycling

facilities,” she says “This also

af-fects how and what materials are

collected for recycling and what

sorting schemes are used.”

Com-plicating matters further, buyers’

The film has been formed into clamshells.

Continued from page 20

MARCH 8, 2012 MACHINE DESIGN.com

22

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Laser-guided bullets hit targets a mile away

Researchers at Sandia

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MD

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Sandia National Laboratory, http://tinyurl.

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an excellent, lightweight ing material that meets safety and environmental standards In addition, Formex lends itself to fabrication and folding into three-dimensional shapes that retain their form It can also be embossed or printed with product or safety information

insulat-To meet Barron’s specifications, Fabrico die cut Formex into a box shape that included tabs for secure closure Die cutting is held to tight tolerances with high repeatability, making it ideal for long production runs Tolerances can range from ±0.015 in to ±0.005 in., at speeds up to 500 fpm Electronic web-tension control ensures precise registration Material thicknesses can range from 0.001 to 0.015 in., with widths up to 13 in There is no limit to the length of sheeted materials, and individual die-cut parts can be up to 22-in long

After die cutting, Fabrico printed the Formex boxes with warning and voltage information Then, they were scored for easy folding during assembly, and shipped flat

“The box has been a success,” according to Glaser

It keeps the circuit board completely insulated, yet provides ready access to the electrical connections and voltage dip switch, he notes “And the design has proven to be easy for our production personnel to in-stall Keeping it simple has minimized production time and gives us a competitive advantage,” says Glaser MD

By its very nature, emergency and exit lighting

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Company engineers needed to keep circuit

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would simplify installation and display operation and

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“We had a design in mind,” said Barron Lighting

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material selection, box fabrication, and developing the

interlock,” he says

They turned to Fabrico, an experienced converter

based in Kennesaw, Ga It has an in-house lab that

can test a wide range of material parameters, such as

temperature resistance, shear and tensile strength,

out-gassing, dielectric strength, and electrical and thermal

conductivity After investigating a number of materials,

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Formex material for lighting insulation was die cut into a box shape, printed with warning information, and scored for easy folding during assembly.

RS# 119

MARCH 8, 2012 MACHINE DESIGN.com 25

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The DoE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory recently unveiled

Olympus, a new 162-teraflop supercomputer It’s the lab’s first large-scale supercomputer and has the computational speed and power of about 20,000 PCs The $4.4 million computer features a closed-loop, water-based cooling

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The new puter also has:

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Agilent Technologies Inc., Santa Clara, Calif., has released the results

of a customer-focused study that ranked the company’s electronic test and measurement products highest in quality, compared with competitor’s products

Conducted worldwide in 2011, the independent, blind survey showed that customers who purchased radio-frequency and micro-wave products from both Agilent and its key competitors, rated Agi-lent statistically higher in product quality

SERVICES

TÜV SÜD America Inc., Peabody, Mass., has added Certified

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RS# 120

MARCH 8, 2012

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A recent report from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, a

facil-ity run by the Dept of Energy, found that federal buildings built to green

standards emit 34% less carbon dioxide, use 11% less water, 25% less

energy, and cost 19% less to maintain than similarly sized conventional

buildings The report also says those working in the buildings are 27%

more satisfied The Lab evaluated 22 green federal buildings across the

country to compile the findings MD

Resources:

Pacific Northwest Laboratory, www.pnl.go

The U S

courthouse in Seattle, built to green standards, features radiant floor heating, high-efficiency lighting, waterless urinals, a natural gas boiler, and a high-tech energy- management system It has operating costs 35% less than the industry baseline despite slightly higher janitorial costs.

PERSONNEL

Simrit, Elgin, Ill., has appointed José Caro as the head of global Simrit,

where he will be responsible for leading Freudenberg Sealing

Tech-nologies Caro succeeds Dr Jan Gupta, who has been appointed to

head of the oil seals division and will be responsible for directing the

largest division within Freudenberg Sealing Technologies

Service Machine Co Inc., Loves Park, Ill., has selected Costimator

cost-estimating software from MTI Systems Inc., West Springfield,

Mass., to speed up cost estimating and enhance the accuracy of their

quotations Service Machine Co, Inc manufactures a variety of

pro-duction parts ranging from small lot and high-volume parts to

proto-typing MTI Systems is a software provider MD

RS# 121

MARCH 8, 2012

Up, up, and away!: The strap-on,

upright-flying aircraft known as

the SoloTrek Exo-Skeletor Flying

Vehicle has made its first controlled,

manned flight During the test trip,

Michael Moshier, CEO and CTO of

the aircraft’s developer Millennium

Jet Inc.,

Sunnyvale, Calif., hovered for 20 sec about 2 ft off the ground

Safety tethers kept the aircraft in check while it hovered “The tethers

provide enough slack so we can tune the fly-by-wire control and sta-bility system, but not so much that

fine-we can get into trouble,” explains Moshier Engineers plan to remove the tethers for the next development phase: free-hover testing

30 YEARS AGO — 1982

Coil readied for fusion tester: An

11-ton magnetic-field coil is the first

of 22 identical units being built by

Westinghouse Electric Corp for the

Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor Some 1,500 ft of copper conductor were used to wind

the coil to a 10-ft ID and 14-ft OD At

the Princeton University Plasma Physics Laboratory, the water-cooled elec-

tromagnets will be used in principle experiments designed to achieve fusion-energy breakeven for the first time The strong magnetic field provided by the coils will hold the fusion plasma, which is expected

shops of Industrial Equipment Div., Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton Corp., the

casing will channel and distribute Colorado River

water to ner blades of

run-a Frrun-ancis-type hydraulic tur-bine Surfaces are held to dimensional and flatness tolerances within a few thousandths of an inch, assuring watertight mating with matching covers The turbine, rated

at 115,000 hp, 180 rpm under a net effective head of 480 ft, is the sixth and final large powerplant phased into the Hoover-Dam project over the past 25 years MD

MARCH 8, 2012 MACHINE DESIGN.com

28

RS# 123

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REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK

COMPANY NEWS

CERTIFICATIONS/

REGISTRATIONS

Two manufacturing facilities of Web

Industries, Atlanta, Ga., have received

industry certifications or registrations

Its Atlanta facility has earned

AS9100C certification, and its Hartford,

Conn., location is now an FDA-registered

Medical Device Establishment Web Industries is a provider of custom manufacturing and development services for flexible materials

Sterling Instrument, New Hyde

Park, N Y., a manufacturer of precision electromechanical components and assemblies, has received certification of its new ISO 7/Class 10000 Clean Room

GREAT PLACE TO WORK AutomationDirect, Cumming, Ga., has

been ranked #4 on the “The Great Place

to Work Rankings: 2011 Best Small & Medium Workplaces,” presented by

Entrepreneur This annual list

recog-nizes companies that have exceptional workplace cultures In its eighth year, the competition is divided into two cat-egories, small (50-250 employees) and medium (251-999 employees)

AutomationDirect provides ity automation products

high-qual-ACQUISITION 3D Systems Corp., Burlington, Mass., has acquired Z Corp 3D will now be

capable of delivering an integrated platform of mixed 3D printing technologies, 3D content, and 3D design services

BOARD ELECTIONS

John Kowal, packaging market

devel-opment manager for B&R Industrial Automation, Roswell, Ga., was elected

to the Board of Directors of the aging Machinery Manufacturers Institute (PMMI) Kowal is the first

Pack-Supplier Member to be elected to the PMMI board B&R provides automa-tion-equipment products

EXPANSION Balluff Inc.’s Automotive Industry

Management Team has expanded and moved into a new facility in Troy, Mich The Automotive Industry Management Team consists of 14 industry managers, strategic account managers, project managers, and technical support managers

Balluff, Florence, Ky., manufactures inductive, photoelectric, vision, capacitive, and magnetic sensors, as well as linear position transducers, RFID systems, and networking products MD RS# 124

MARCH 8, 2012 MACHINE DESIGN.com

30

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Durability vs Distance – It’s No Longer a Decision

When selecting the best proximity sensor for abusive environments, the decision has always carried

a difficult tradeoff – durability vs sensing distance The 100% stainless steel X-series Pile Driver is the first sensor to deliver both

How durable? Impact withstandability is 20X beyond traditional plastic-face products.

How far? Sensing ranges exceed industry standards by up to 2.5X

So what does this 1-2 combination mean to you?

n Fewer sensor-target impacts

n Increased machine uptime

n Reduced maintenance and troubleshooting

n Fewer rejects and increased quality

n Lower spare parts inventory

The abILITy To wIThsTaND puNIshmeNT Is gooD buT avoIDINg IT Is eveN beTTer

www.sensing.net/xpd Pepperl+Fuchs, Inc • Twinsburg, Ohio • 330.486.0001

SENSOR SENSE

The light from the emitter reflects back to multiple

photoelectric sites within a multipixel-array sensor The

angle of reflected light, as measured by where it strikes the

array, is used to calculate the distance of the target object

from the sensor Objects closer to the sensor produce a

higher angle of reflection as shown by the dashed lines.

Multipixel-array sensors

Multipixel-array (MPA) sensing for target detection within specific

dis-tances combines the benefits of background suppression, sharply

de-fined sensing, and insensitivity to object color with the distance-based

detection of a distance-measurement sensor This lets the user customize

sensor-target detection based on the distance to an object, whereas a

conventional photoelectric sensor simply detects an absence or presence

of an object

MPA-type sensors emit light that’s re-flected by the target object back to the sensor’s light-sen-sitive receiver area

Unlike conventional photoelectric sen-sors that use only a single light-sensitive sensor, the MPA uses a pixel array consisting of many photosensitive sites

Earlier technologies used differential di-ode (two-segment) receivers A target closer to or farther away from the sensor changes the angle of the light beam, splitting the amount of light that falls upon each light-sensitive diode By measuring the difference in light striking each diode, a rough estimate of the target’s dis-

tance would determine if it was the valid target and not a false trigger

In contrast, MPA sensors often use over 100 receiver elements per array

for higher resolution Triangulation calculations of the reflected light

be-tween the source and where it hits the pixel array determines the distance

to the target object In other words, MPA sensing is determined by the

ge-ometry of the reflected light Closer objects reflect light at greater angles

than farther objects Where the greatest concentration of light centers on

the array determines if the target is at the desired distance

The high number of light-sensitive pixels in MPA sensors gives the

ability to create multiple switching thresholds or to establish sensing

win-dows that force the target to fall within a specific distance from the sensor

before triggering the sensor output This lets the sensor offer a higher

level of control than standard background-suppression (BGS) models that

have just one distance threshold

And the fact that MPA sensors detect where the light is reflected rather

than how much light is reflected makes these sensors insensitive to

varia-tions of an object’s reflectivity or color

Sensing distances or spans are set using electronic rather than

me-chanical adjustment The use of multiple sensing ranges lets a single

sen-sor act as multiple single-point sensen-sors

Typical applications for MPA photoelectric sensing include presence

checking, trigger or leading-edge sensing, stack-height detection, tension

checking, stroke-height monitoring, fill-level monitoring,

collision-avoid-ance monitoring, and web-break monitoring MD

Pepperl+Fuchs (www.pepperl-fuchs.us) supplied information for this column.

Edited by Robert Repas

You often hear about how excited kids get when they participate in technology programs such as the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) This program tries to cultivate interest in science and technology by having young people learn about robots, build them, and then compete against other FIRST teams But the reality that emerges when you talk to some of the teachers actually in the trenches is that

it is often tough to get kids interested in technology

For example, a friend of mine who teaches a high-school “Tech Prep” course at

a community college in a nearby state says too many students today lack professionalism “That means being on time, having your materials ready, and not sleeping during class,” he says

“Many students don’t take education seriously Kids fall asleep

in class saying it is boring Like real life though, not every job or class can be exciting Teachers can try to make things interest-ing, but sometimes kids must buckle down and do the tough stuff like learn formulas.”

A lot also depends on circumstances A kid’s lack of interest can be because of personal stuff Maybe the parents are divorc-ing or there are problems at home Or a kid might have depres-sion issues and sleep in class because he is on medication

A teacher may feel sorry for the kid, like the bright guy who could have straight A’s but cuts class every other day “And consider the intelligent kid who looks at me like

I just came from the moon when I dock points because he was late for class,” says the teacher “It’s like they try to play the system instead of just trying to succeed.”

Although the No Child Left Behind program initiated under President George

W Bush has been mostly phased out, similar restraints arguably restrict teachers

For example, one solution put in place is the so-called Individualized Educational Program (IEP) When a kid does poorly in math or reading in the lower grades, the IEP kicks in, and the teacher must give a student one-on-one help Case workers also create a help list, like “student needs extra time during tests,” or, “student should al-ways use a calculator.” By law, teachers not following through with IEPs can be fined

Ostensibly, IEPs were designed to allow every student to succeed in school But they can slow down a class

“What about those students who should really not be in a technical field? They need too much time, too many adjustments made for them, and they will never fully succeed,“ says my friend “Some students might squeak by and then get a job The school cannot tell the employer that the kid was in an IEP The employer just sees the good grades The kid gets hired and — boom — he or she cannot function Needless

to say, the company will take no more students from that particular prep class.”

— Leslie Gordon, leslie.gordon@penton.com, Twitter @LeslieGordon

Problems with

PRE-ENGINEERING EDUCATION?

“…sometimes kids must

buckle down and do the tough stuff”

MARCH 8, 2012 MACHINE DESIGN.com

34

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When you look at the normal 120-V outlet in your home, there are two tical slots and a round hole centered below them The left slot is slightly larger than the right slot The left slot is called “neutral,” and the right slot is called

ver-“hot.” The round hole is a ground connection If an appliance is working erly, all electricity the appliance uses will flow from hot to neutral The ground

prop-is not normally in the circuit that causes the appliance to function The ground

is normally connected to the shell of the appliance so if the hot wire touches the shell (a broken hot wire perhaps) the current from the hot wire will flow

to ground and cause the fuse or circuit breaker to overheat, pop, and stop the current flow The normal level of current necessary to actuate a breaker or fuse

is generally 20 A In contrast, the amount of current necessary to put the heart into fibrillation is less than 100 mA

It is important to know what GFCIs do and don’t do They are designed to prevent electrocution by detecting a difference in current flow between the hot-wire current flowing into the appliance and the current flow out of the appliance

to the neutral When this measured difference is as low as 6 mA, the GFCI will shut down the circuit within one-thirtieth of a second This means if the mea-sured 6 mA or more at 120 V is going through you, you will get the full impact of the shock, but the shock will not last long enough to put your heart into fibrilla-tion, which could kill you

As an example, consider a person using an electrical appliance outside in the rain Suppose that person is barefoot (another of God’s ways of thinning out the gene pool) The appliance is wet, and there is a path from the hot wire through the operator to ground Electricity flowing from hot to ground through the op-erator could be fatal The GFCI will sense that current may be flowing because there is an imbalance between current flowing out of the hot wire and into the neutral wire As soon as the GFCI senses this imbalance, it will trip and cut off the electricity

The National Electrical Code requires GFCIs for receptacles in bathrooms, some kitchen receptacles, some garage receptacles, and outside receptacles Be-cause of the many electrocutions that resulted from dropping a hair dryer into the bathtub while bathing and the lawsuits that resulted from such incidents, most manufacturers of hair dryers now build in GFCIs as an integral part of hair dryers

Remember, the GFCI will protect your heart from going into fibrillation but will not protect you from getting severe shock And you can still get hurt I tell

my students when I am teaching Loss Control classes that, “If you are using a GFCI-protected electrical tool while standing on a 12-ft ladder and the tool shorts to the case, the electrical shock will not kill you But the fall from the lad-der could.” MD

Lanny Berke is a registered professional engineer and Certified Safety Professional involved

in forensic engineering since 1972 Got a question about safety? You can reach Lanny at lannyb@comcast.net.

Edited by Leland Teschler

GFCIs — What they are and are not

RS# 129

MARCH 8, 2012 MACHINE DESIGN.com

36

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VANTAGE POINT

Mark C Tomlinson

Executive Director and CEO

Society of Manufacturing Engineers

In his State of the Union address, President Obama

show-cased the domestic manufacturing sector as the blueprint

for our nation’s future He spoke of Òan economy built on

American manufacturing, American energy, skills for

American workers, and a renewal of American values.Ó

No surprise there

He referenced reshoring, skills training, and workforce

development as keys to continuing the momentum of

American manufacturing that we in the industry know to

already be driving the national economic recovery

No surprise there, either

The critical shortage of skilled workers is indeed the

greatest threat to American manufacturing While the

President did note some solutions to this crisis do

ex-ist, many manufacturers should have been surprised by

the implication that more programs and more tools are

needed to truly solve the problem

The Society of Manufacturing Engineers has, for

years, been developing and executing solutions to our

na-tion’s shortage of skilled manufacturing workers, and I can

say without hesitation that the tools to solve this problem

are already available

SME has done more than simply talk about these issues

Our organization of manufacturing professionals has been

supporting, advocating, and actually addressing workforce

concerns with companies, educational institutions, other

associations, and government partners

Surely, continued government support is necessary and

appreciated Ñ for example, tax incentives for businesses

creating American jobs But what we really require now is

a stronger commitment from manufacturers and academia

to existing industry and government programs

For instance, the recently expanded Skills for America’s

Future program links corporations with community

col-leges It fosters the use of industry-created certifications

and mentorships focused on building the educated and

skilled workforce that U S manufacturers need to

success-fully compete in the global economy

The Manufacturing Institute’s Manufacturing Skills

Certification System Ñ which SME and other key

orga-nizations validated Ñ creates a framework by which both

companies and individuals can understand the needs of

the future workforce This system aligns with the Dept of

Labor’s Workforce Development Pyramid

Ohio-based Tooling U, an SME program, offers more than 400 technical courses in a flexible, on-demand, and customizable online format More than 1,200 companies and 500 schools have already taken advantage of the pro-gram and helped more than 100,000 workers upgrade their skills to meet the needs of today’s advanced manufacturing workplace

These collaborative efforts pay off with qualified ers The President spoke of the successful job transition of single mother Jackie Bray, who lost her job as a mechanic and earned new employment by redeveloping her skill set through a partnership between North Carolina-based

work-Siemens and Central Piedmont Community lege, both of which use online technology training from Tooling U

Col-Millions of Americans are confronted with the same dilemma Ñ needing new skills to secure employment, but facing financial or other hurdles to achieving those skills Likewise, the skills gap Siemens recognized is far from an isolated situation There are currently more than 600,000 available manufacturing jobs that are unfilled due to lack

bar-of Americans This will provide the human capital this tion needs to continue its recovery

na-Manufacturing must be at the core of a viable economy But we can’t wait months or years for the government to cre-ate new programs The answer is to use existing programs more effectively and to encourage widespread adoption That can be accomplished by generating greater awareness

of mutual benefits and by cutting through the Òmaze,Ó as the President put it, of confusing training options MD

The Society of Manufacturing Engineers, a leading source for manufacturing knowledge, education, and networking, collaborates with industry, academia, and government partners to support a skilled workforce For more information, visit www.sme.org.

Edited by Kenneth J Korane

MARCH 8, 2012 MACHINE DESIGN com

38