When cost barriers drop, suddenly old problems start to look like new opportunities. There are many examples of older technology that has never become widely adopted due to cost constraints. The technology may be forgotten, but the problem that drove it still exists, and the application might still benefit from a new solution. What happens […]
The next generation of grinding
by Steve Meyer, Contributing Editor One company is leveraging CAD, vision systems and robotics to make dramatic improvements in grinding large castings. The next generation of grinding will not look anything like the past. Traditional machining and grinding processes have been around for a long time. Historians record that one of the earliest known lathes […]
Are we there yet?
Industry 4.0 is a marketing campaign to create a perception of value in something that doesn’t exist yet. What it really is, is a useful framework to start talking about how manufacturing will evolve in the coming years. On one hand, the emergence of lower cost, intelligent peripherals and networks is making it practical to […]
Robot Hero: How Robots Are Assisting in Emergencies
The world of mechatronics has an unlikely hero. A bomb disposal robot became the delivery system for 1 pound of C4 explosive which killed the sniper in Dallas that shot 12 police officers. Strange as it seems, the bomb disposal robot became a bomb delivery system. Is it a form of Improvised Explosive Device, as […]
Is Driver-less Driving the Answer?
Tesla Motors had its first fatality. The response from Tesla included a very odd statistic. The company estimates that there were 130,000,000 miles driven last year in Tesla vehicles. The implication being that 1 fatality is below the ‘norm’ reported in Department of Transportation statistics. Thus, we can conclude that the driving record for […]
Control Fast Forward
There are three major trends that will shape the coming generation of control technology. These trends are largely independent and not likely to go away. They are increasing compute capability, decreasing cost, embedded networking and package independence. These are all increasing in capability simultaneously which makes possible a universe of new products that weren’t even […]
Control Architecture and the Future of Control
The architecture problem is stretched further as the next generation of computing emerges. When it is possible to embed a 32 bit processor that costs $1. into a peripheral, it is more effective to put the processing capability at the point of use. This enables high data rate traffic between a network of intelligent peripherals […]
Control and Architecture
The next wave of control system architecture is already emerging. As processor power continues to grow and cost continues to decline, how do we leverage that emerging capability? Through an understanding of control system architecture. Industrial control systems are really arrangements of processors whose internal and external structure is designed to solve a unique equipment or […]
Manufacturing USA
The Department of Commerce produces information on about the US economy every five years. In an economy estimated at $28.7 trillion, the largest segment was Manufacturing at $5.8 trillion. Manufacturing is all the categories of products from breakfast cereal to the car you drive. Within the $5.8 trillion manufacturing economy, the Apple, HP, IBM and Dell […]
Five keys to mechatronic success
by Steve Meyer, Contributing Editor Decades of exposure to the realities of keeping farm equipment running have provided FireFly Equipment with insight to the problems, and the solutions, needed to making highly automated agricultural machinery a reality. Forest for the trees? Sometimes we get too close to a problem and the big insights escape us. […]
The State of the Art in Wind Power
Wind turbines are complex systems that convert the low speed, low kinetic energy of wind into electricity. The current state of the art involves using very large propellers turning at around 20 rpm to turn a 60 times gear increaser and spin a generator at 1200 RPM. From a purely mechatronic standpoint, this is a […]
Insights from 1400 Year Old Windmills
Windmills have figured prominently in mankind’s ability to prosper on planet earth. The windmill gets its name from using wind power to grind (mill) grain for food. One of the main building blocks of sustainable food production is flour. If you haven’t ever tried it, manually grinding flour requires a lot of work. As with […]
The Obvious isn’t always…
Engineering of complex systems can sometimes be represented as a series of simplified approximations based on the performance of known subsystems. In the case of wind turbines, there are 4 subsystems, aerodynamic, gearing, generator and power conversion. In order to simplify the evaluation process of competing technologies in each category, they can be assigned an […]
Pumps and Pumping
Processing water after it has been used into potable water is a complex mix of chemical, mechanical and electrical engineering disciplines. The mechanical problems to be solved include things like how we store water, how we deliver water and creating special equipment for each unique process required when treating water. In the US we pay […]
Water Crisis in America
Water, somewhat like matter and energy, is not really created or destroyed. We do not literally consume water, and then there is no more, we use water and it is directly or indirectly recycled. The notion that we are running out of water in the United States is a misconception. What is really happening is […]
Mechanics, Load and Gearing
A thorough understanding of the mechanical load is crucial to successful motion applications. Gear designers are experts in understanding the mechanical load. Not just the RMS power requirement, but other issues such as impulse loads, the impact of heat on part geometry and life expectancy. Gear design, like electric motor design, has continued to evolve as clever designs have been […]
Position or not Position?
In the last post there was some discussion of how positioning is accomplished from a general perspective. As with all things in the world of mechatronics there are at least three perspective on the subject; mechanical, electrical and control. In order to understand the performance requirement, the underlying variable that ties everything together is the […]
Understanding the Notion of Positioning
One of the most difficult challenges to machine builders is understanding the notion of positioning and how it is reflected in component selection in their equipment design. Positioning an object based on a rotary or linear input can be really simple or really complicated. Everything you need to know is based on the work statement […]
Drone Wars
Research into unmanned aircraft has been going on for some time. Called UAVs for Unmanned Airborne Vehicles, systems of various types have been under development since the 1908’s. The 1982 war between Syria and Israel was heavily impacted by Israel’s use of UAVs to sustain a major military advantage over Syrian armed forces. As with […]
Motor Changes
Electric motors are the workhorse of industry. Globally 20% of all energy generated is in the form of electricity. Electric motors consume 40% of all electricity. Electric motors are a big part of how things work, industrially and on the consumer level. Major and small appliance account for huge numbers of motors manufactured […]
Mechanics and Motion
Engineers with a mechanical engineering background typically have the best grasp of motion control. This should not be a surprise to anyone. Motion control is the science, sometimes the art, of moving mechanical loads. So the premise of any motion control problem statement is all about the mechanics. The basic mechanics of moving something boil […]
Managing Complexity
Engineers and designers frequently seek simplicity as a measure of merit in products and machine designs. Simplicity has many virtues. Simplicity often means high reliability. Simplicity can translate to long life-expectancy. Simplicity can often embody elegance in design or some insight that translates to a better user experience. So when planning products and machinery designs, several basic […]