NASA Tech Briefs Insider Blog

This two-day seminar gives engineers and technical personnel current specifications for, and a better understanding of, the complexities of mechanical joining with fasteners. Featured topics include bolted/screwed joints, elastic interactions and preload stress, loosening causalities, tightening methods, calculating safety factors and limitations, selecting optimal fasteners for your design, evaluating dissimilar materials for thermal expansion and galvanic properties, and insights into materials, threads, and product standards.

For full details and to register click here, or call 1-877-755-2272 (USA) or 973-560-9092, or contact info@SeminarsForEngineers.com.

Engineers at Lehigh and Carnegie Mellon universities, working with Green Lane, PA-based Freedom Lift Corp., have integrated robotics, laser, and wireless technologies into a new system that promises to make it safer for wheelchair users to drive a car.

Current solutions for wheelchair users who desire independent mobility require operators to sit in their chairs while driving. Because they are often poorly secured and not crash-test-approved, wheelchairs provide far less protection than standard seats. The new Automatic Transport and Retrieval System (ATRS) allows wheelchair users to get in and out of their vehicles, stow and retrieve their chairs, and drive while sitting in standard automobile seats.

The ATRS contains three key components: an articulated power seat that extends outside the vehicle to facilitate wheelchair-to-seat transfers, a power lift platform, and a “smart” wheelchair system. ATRS makes it possible for a limited mobility individual to safely transport their wheelchair into and out of a motor vehicle without the assistance of a caregiver.

For more information, click here.

Smart Materials with Precisely Controlled Constriction Properties A multi-billion-dollar electronics company seeks proposals describing responsive materials having controllable planar constriction.
http://link.abpi.net/l.php?20061113A3

Testing of Pressurized Hydrogen Storage Devices and Systems General Motors Corporation/Opel FCA is globally seeking proposals for the testing of pressurized hydrogen storage devices and systems for fuel cell vehicles.
http://link.abpi.net/l.php?20061113A4

The Technology Business Needs portray technology acquisition profiles intermediated by NextTechs Technology Exchange.

NextTechs Technologies, LLC is a Global Technology Investment Bank engaged in technology offers and needs intermediation in over 41 industries and 141 research disciplines. Search NextTechs’ Technology Portfolio at http://link.abpi.net/l.php?20061113A15.

ATK Launch Systems is the world’s leading manufacturer of solid rocket motor systems for space launch vehicles. We are looking for experienced engineers and project managers to work with us on Ares I, the successor to the space shuttle. Open house for qualified candidates will be held November 13 and 14 at the Crowne Plaza Los Angeles International Airport from 3:00 - 8:00 PM.

Please click here to learn more about ATK.

AST Bearings (Montville, NJ) introduced the High Carbon Chromium Steel Tapered Roller Bearings line, comprised of the inner and outer rings, tapered rollers, and a cage (roller retainer). The rings and rollers carry the load; the cage spaces and retains the rollers on the inner ring.
For more information click here.

Harmonic Drive (Peabody, MA) introduced the FHA Mini Actuator, a hollow shaft, brushless servo actuator. The unit is a combination brushless DC servomotor and an encoder, with a through-bore up to 14 mm in diameter. The flanged output is supported by a bearing structure allowing the load to be mounted to the actuator. The maximum torque is up to 250 in-lb, with an accuracy of 1.5 arc minutes.
For more information click here.

Intelligent Motion Systems (IMS, Marlborough, CT) released the MDrivePlus motion control system for brushless motor applications. The unit features 20 microstep resolutions to 51,200 (fell step, degrees, metric, and arch minutes), a motion control system-on-a-chip, electronic gearing, 6,385 bytes of program storage, and analog input to 10 VDC. Drive voltage ranges include +12 to +75 VDC and 120 and 240 VAC.
For more information click here.

MRC Bearing Services (Kulpsville, PA) released the custom-engineered “HNCR” steel bearings made from high-nitrogen corrosion-resistant steel. The bearings display a hardness of 58 HRC, and have an extended fatigue life. Chromium has been added to further augment durability and corrosion resistance.
For more information click here.

See the December edition of Motion Control Technology — inside selected editions of NASA Tech Briefs — for more on these and other new products. Search products by category online by clicking here