March 1, 2007
Articles
Web contents
We invite you to spend some time at Motion System Design's website. Our website is updated frequently to include online-exclusive content, like in our...
Vene, vede da Vinci Sfumato
For the past few months, we've been following the life of Leonardo da Vinci, looking for clues into his extraordinary creativity. Our journey has taken...
World in Motion
Back story Engineers working at iRobot proposed the concept of a vacuuming robot to the company's co-founders, Colin Angle and Helen Greiner, who gave...
Automated manufacturing revs up Nissan plant
To achieve successful production of full-size vehicles at a new plant in Canton, Miss., Nissan North America replicated its flexible automation systems...
Webcasts provide free online education
In the next month, Machine Design, Motion System Design, and Hydraulics & Pneumatics will present two webcasts for engineers designing motion control...
Correction
The January issue's Productivity Forum on control platforms (p. 28) incorrectly listed the web address for Cleveland Motion Controls. The correct website...
Learn to control noise and vibration
The Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) will present an on-site seminar, Vibration and Noise Control for Industrial and Mobile Machinery, to be held...
Direct flight to power
Brushless motor construction includes stator windings and permanent-magnet rotors, similar to that of ac permanent-magnet synchronous motors. Too, in...
Riding through the turns
Universal joints are cost-effective power transmission shaft couplings. What makes them particularly useful is that they also compensate for significant...
Distributed intelligence gets smart
It's always the same. Packaging end users want higher product throughput out of smaller, lower cost machines, without sacrificing one iota of product...
Muscles, not motors
In the last 20 years or so, researchers have developed several classes of electroactive polymers plastics that can change shape when one applies a charge...
Nonfiction of nonfriction
Rolling elements to move heavy items date back to ancient Egyptians, who used logs to roll stone pieces to pyramid construction sites. Later, Romans used...
Activating shields big and small
Large bellows protect ways, ballscrews, and cylinder rods against chips and dirt. They're manufactured to fit over parts, or to ride on top of machine...
Designer labels: Top trends in printing/labeling machine design
Today's motion control systems offer many features and improvements to packaging machine builders. For example, the controller, servo drive, and motor...
Open your eyes
Many forces have conspired to create demand for machine vision pressure on suppliers to ship fewer defective parts, the growing sophistication of robotics...
Slowing it down
With planetary gearmotors, gear ratios can range from 3:1 (in a single stage) to 2,563:1 in a four-stage planetary. So it's always easy to add to the...
Product Spotlight: Proximity Sensors
Inductive sensors Pre-programmed ASIC technology on Mega proximity sensors reduces size and improves sensing consistency. Features & benefits 3, 4, 6.5-mm...
Torque and force density
Packed with power. Mini but mighty. Compact housing. What do these phrases have in common? Each hints at a design optimizing torque density. At its core,...
Products
Locking assemblies Ecoloc RfN 7003-7006 internal locking devices provide high torque, self-centering capabilities, and axial capacities in rotating machinery....
Fun with fundamentals
Win a power supply The winner of this month's problem receives a RHINO PSP series power supply from AutomationDirect, Cumming, Ga. These provide tightly...
