Search Results

Sundstrand has been investigating 270-Vdc/hybrid 115-Vac electrical power generating systems (EPGS) technology in preparation for meeting the electrical power generating system (EPGS) requirements for future aircraft (1). Systems such as the one being investigated are likely to be suitable for the More-Electric Aircraft (MEA) concepts presently under industry and military study. The present Sundstrand single-channel testbed is being further expanded to better understand the electrical system performance characteristics and power quality requirements of an MEA in which traditional mechanical subsystems are replaced by those of a “more-electric” nature. This paper presents the most recent Sundstrand 270-Vdc system transient performance data, and describes the modifications being made to the 270-Vdc/hybrid 115-Vac testbed.

The term “3 inch ice shapes” has assumed numerous definitions throughout the years. At times it has been used to generally characterize large glaze ice accretions on the major aerodynamic surfaces (wing, horizontal stabilizer, vertical stabilizer) for evaluating aerodynamic performance and handling qualities after a prolonged icing encounter. It has also been used as a more direct criterion while determining or enforcing sectional ice shape characteristics such as the maximum pinnacle height. It is the authors’ observation that over the years, the interpretation and application of this term has evolved and is now broadly misunderstood. Compounding the situation is, at present, a seemingly contradictory set of guidance among (and even within) the various international regulatory agencies resulting in an ambiguous set of expectations for design and certification specialists.

In the design and development of modern cars with respect to comfort, silence and safety, state of the art experimental modal analysis is one of the essential development tools. Due to the large amount of degrees of freedom of such a large and complex system like a car with all its components, a complete simulation by FEM can not be realised easily and requires an enormous expenditure of work and calculations. In addition the simulations are based on assumed system parameters and thus the vibration behaviour of the resulting prototypes often is not completely identical to the simulated model. In contrast to conventional measurements with accelerometers, the 3-D Scanning Vibrometer enables fast and efficient non-contact measurements of the in-plane and out-of-plane vibration behaviour at all optical accessible surfaces. The method easily allows to increase the number of measured points to obtain a high measurement point density.

During sheet metal forming processes, the friction conditions have a decisive influence on forming limits, the robustness of the production process and the quality of the parts produced, with significant forces required to overcome friction between the sheet and the tools. If lot-to-lot reproducibility is to be guaranteed, an appropriate method of characterizing the sheet surface topography is needed to monitor the sheet metal fabrication process. Newly developed optical measurement techniques and computer workstation technology are presented which enable the topography of sheet surfaces to be described in three dimensions.

A new lightweight gasoline, two-cycle engine for portable tools is described. The total weight of 8 lb with an output of 3.5 hp was achieved by means of compact design with the use of standardized parts wherever possible, rather than by creating all new parts.

To meet the demands of continually increasing energy requirements, the off-shore operations to explore and recover petroleum deposits from beneath the ocean bottom are taking place under increasingly difficult environmental conditions. This has led to the development of types of equipment well beyond the possibilities or the imaginable future requirements of twenty years ago. When conditions require the fabrication of off-shore platforms on land, to be floated to the erection site, lifted and placed as a single unit of up to 3000 tons, revolving cranes capable of performing such lifts become a necessary part of that development.

The scope of this Standard is the definition of the response of a numerically controlled machine to a valid sequence of records made up of 32 bit binary words or ASCII text strings. The Standard defines the structure of these records and of the 32 bit binary words or ASCII text strings which make up the records. This standard addresses the control of machines capable of performing 2, 3, 4, and 5 axis motion of an active tool (mill, laser, pen, etc.) relative to a part, and those capable of 2 and 4 axis tool motion relative to a rotating part (turning machines), including parallel tool slide sets capable of concurrent (merged) motion.

Accurate measurement of countersinks in curved parts has always been a challenge. The countersink reference is defined relative to the panel surface which includes some degree of curvature. This curvature thus makes accurate measurements very difficult using both contact and 2D non-contact measurements. By utilizing structured light 3D vision technologies, the ability to very accurately measure a countersink to small tolerances can be achieved. By knowing the pose of the camera and projector, triangulation can be used to calculate the distance to thousands of points on the panel and countersink surface. The plane of the panel is then calculated using Random Sample Consensus (RANSAC) method from the dataset of points which can be adjusted to account for panel curvatures. The countersink is then found using a similar RANSAC method.

The paper will model a welding process as a moving heat source through the work piece and investigate the effectiveness of various pre-heating mechanisms, including moving heat sources and the thermal strips. The reduction of thermal conductivity in the material around the tool due to rising temperature will be considered in the study. The paper represents an initial attempt to develop a nonlinear, time-discontinuous, p-version Galerkin method for the study of thermal effects in the Friction Stir Welding (FSW) process. Numerical results and the topics for further studies are presented.

The need to improve quality while reducing cost in aerospace manufacturing is requiring new manufacturing methods and processes. Advanced technologies, such as 3D Image Metrology, offer great potential to lean manufacturing, if properly integrated into the production process. Over the last years 3D Image Metrology has developed a level of performance, which make it ideally suited for this purpose. These capabilities include the automatic in-process inspection of tools and parts before machining, machine control for highly accurate positioning during the machining operation, and in-process inspection during machining. This offers jig-less assembly, lower inventory, faster part throughput, and many more advantages.

A continuously growing demand comes from the automotive industry in order to get an experimental tool allowing for the optimization of materials and sound insulating products implementation inside the car, so as to propose the best acoustic performance at reduced costs. The acoustical imaging system LORHA provides part of the solution and its demonstrated capability of measuring the acoustic field inside a vehicle makes it an advanced tool for performing extensive studies of the acoustic transparency of car openings. This paper focuses on the methodology and recent operational results obtained within the tight collaboration established between METRAVIB RDS, its partner HUTCHINSON and well known car manufacturers.

This work describes the definition and implementation of a dedicated system (hardware and software) for the quantitative evaluation of the anthropometrics and morphological parameters of the back shape. This was applied to the digital 3D analysis of subjects affected by spinal pathologies. In fact in clinical practice it is needed to have a repeatable and easy method to frequent non invasive screening of the rib system records a 3D model of the back shape standard and automated procedure. Its clinical validation is presented.

3M is committed to continuously improving products and their manufacture toward the goal of sustainability. The 3M Life Cycle Management (LCM) program has been established to implement this goal. It utilizes a matrix tool to facilitate the review. The matrix consists of LCM Stage (Material Acquisition, R&D Operations, Manufacturing Operations, and Customer Use/Disposal) and Impact (Environment, Health, Safety, and Energy/Resources). The program is coordinated at the staff level by the Corporate Product Responsibility group. The corporate goal is to apply LCM to all new and existing products. The LCM program started with evaluations of new products within business units. Since 3M produces more than 60,000 products manufactured from more than 10,000 different raw materials, the routine evaluation of individual products challenges available staff and business unit resources. A technology-based approach for doing LCMs has been implemented to meet the challenge.

The process of translating customer needs into successful commercialized products and services has been the subject of many books, articles and papers [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. This process has many facets and nuances depending on the type of product or service being developed. Factors impacting this translation include the target audience, cost, timing and return on investment. While some of these factors may be more important than others for any given project, there are six core elements that are present in every successful new product commercialization venture: Commercialization Components: Customer Understanding Technology Understanding Customer Feedback Market Awareness People and Process: Skilled Project Management Commercialization Process In this paper we will define and describe these core elements and some of the important building blocks, tools and tactics. We will illustrate with real-world examples how these elements are used and measured.

This paper aims at providing the scientific community with an overview of the H2020 European project 3beLiEVe and of its early achievements. The project has the objective of delivering the next generation Lithium-Nickel-Manganese-Oxide (LNMO) battery cells, in line with the target performance of the “generation 3b” Li-ion battery technology, as per EU SET-plan Action 7. Its activities are organized in three main pillars: (i) developing the 3b next generation LMNO battery cell, equipped with (ii) an array of internal and external sensors and complemented by (iii) manufacturing and recycling processes at scale. At present, 3beLiEVe is approaching the completion of its first project year (out of a total project planned duration of 42 months). Hence this paper, beyond presenting the overall project’s structure and objectives, focuses on its earliest results in the fields of the cell material formulation, arrangement of sensors and design of the battery pack.

This SAE Aerospace Information Report (AIR) describes field-level procedures to determine if 400 Hz electrical connections for external power may have been subjected to excessive wear, which may result in inadequate disengagement forces.

This SAE Recommended Practice which defines the terms and tabulates the limits of the characteristics for various protective devices used in conjunction with 400-cycle ground power for civil aircraft is intended to assist the airlines in standardizing on 400-cycle protective systems. The limits found to be acceptable in the civil aircraft industry are presented.

The automotive industry is transitioning from the present 14V electrical system to a 42V system. This voltage evolution is due to the number of new systems (safety, fuel economy and customer convenience) being developed which require increased electrical power that a 14V system cannot deliver. During this transition, it will be necessary to control 14V subsystems in a 42V architecture. This paper presents 42V PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) voltage conversion and control technologies as a solution to control these 14V subsystems.

Titanium alloy for forging and pure titanium material for exhaust systems have been developed. The forging alloy will be applied to production of lightweight motorcycle frames and the pure titanium will be applied to improve engine performance. The materials have been made inexpensive by the use of off-grade sponge that includes many impurities for production of titanium ingot. Stable characteristics have been obtained by controlling oxygen equivalent after setting the volume of tolerable impurities by considering mechanical properties and production engineering. In spite of low-cost, the material provides the same design strength compared to conventional material, and enables parts production with existing equipment. A review of manufacturing and surface treatment processes indicated a reduction in the price of titanium parts produced with this new material.