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Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
BI Technologies, Fullerton, CA, offers an absolute encoder that utilizes the company’s proprietary DAPS (Digital Angular Position Sensor) technology. Available with multiple output configurations, the encoder will feature...
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Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
The RB series of roller guides from NSK, Franklin, IN, provides a 26% reduction in overall height compared with NSK’s conventional RA series roller guides. This facilitates downscaling of equipment and lowering the center of...
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Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Ames Research Center (Moffett Field, CA) and Langley Research Center (Hampton, VA) have won the 2008 NASA Government and Commercial Invention of the Year Awards, respectively. The Ames invention is a...
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Articles: Test & Measurement
Many of us believe that if we don’t have ground loops we don’t need to isolate analog I/O signals. Yet there are five very real – and very different – reasons to isolate every one of your analog...
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Application Briefs: Medical
Quantim Coriolis mass flow controller Brooks Instrument Hatfield, PA 215-362-3527 www.brooksinstrument.com Transporting medical fluids that are manufactured on Earth into...
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Application Briefs: Motion Control
SQUIGGLE® custom rotary piezoelectric motors New Scale Technologies Victor, NY 585-924-4450 www.newscaletech.com The Wide-Field Multi Object Spectrometer (WFMOS) is a ground-based...
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Products: Test & Measurement
Jacobs Technology Group, Tullahoma, TN, offers Test SLATE test control and measurement software that enables users to create a data acquisition and test automation program using point-and-click...
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Who's Who: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Dr. Peter Shirron, a senior research scientist with NASA’s Cryogenics and Fluids Group, led the team of researchers credited with...
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Techs for License
Mechanical Mounting/Connection/Release System
The internal mechanism of the connector part of this system works to maintain positioning repeatability and rigidity, and compensates for wear over time, while both the connector and receiver are tapered in two planes to assure repeatable positioning. Together, the two form a rigid connection that can...
Techs for License
Shape-Memory Alloys Replace Traditional Electromagnet Actuators
Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs) are metals that “remember” their original shapes. SMA technology can provide the same mechanical movement and required forces of an electromagnetic actuator, but in a more compact form, while removing the need for motors, gearing, or springs. This SMA...
NASA Tech Needs: Aerospace
NASA’s work in advanced aeronautics includes growing interest in environmentally responsive aircraft, one component of which involves use of composites to significantly reduce weight and,...
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Tech Needs
Moisture Release Technologies
A company seeks technologies enabling a woven or nonwoven substrate to contain liquid/fluid that can be released by applying pressure (to yield a moist/wet substrate). They are interested in solutions that will enable water or other liquids/ fluids to be contained within a substrate and then released under moderate...
Tech Needs
Binder Solutions for the Manufacture of Molds and, Cores in Metal Castings
Binders used for molding are typically self-setting, so that after mixing two or more binder components into sand, there is a short delay before the mixture starts to set hard. Binders used for core-making are typically gas-cured. A company seeks an environmentally...
Blog
Paint That Roof White!
There’s no shortage of solutions proposed to solve the problem of global warming, some devised after long, painstaking, and expensive hours of research. But President Obama’s key energy expert has come up with what appears to be a low-cost no-brainer - paint the roofs of all buildings white. According to U.S. Secretary of...
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Tasty Urine
Much of the attention during the current space shuttle mission has focused on making long-awaited repairs to the aging Hubble Space Telescope. But there are other matters to attend to as well. Such as tasting water recycled from urine. On Wednesday, astronauts aboard the International Space Station conducted the first taste test of an...
Blog: Manned Systems
Godspeed Atlantis
Earlier this week the space shuttle Atlantis took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on the fifth – and what is said to be final – repair mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. Launched in April 1990, Hubble has produced some spectacular images over the years, greatly expanding our knowledge of the universe well beyond...
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Traveling at Warp Speed
Star Trek aficionados will once again get to see their beloved Starship Enterprise traveling at warp speed – the speed of light - when the latest Star Trek movie opens in theatres today. While 'warp speed' has long been associated with the long-running science fiction entertainment series, the concept remains a pipe dream...
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Solving the Mystery of Tornadoes
Tornadoes are fast-moving but deadly events, able to carve out a wide path of destruction in just seconds. Now, scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research and other organizations hope to get a better handle on how and why tornadoes form, by launching what is reportedly the largest and most...
Articles: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
While today’s multi-discipline mechatronic systems significantly outperform legacy systems, they are also much more complex by nature, requiring close cooperation between multiple design disciplines...
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Application Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Fine-grained alumina ceramic charge detector Insaco Quakertown, PA 215-536-3500 www.insaco.com The Chandra X-Ray Observatory was launched into high elliptical orbit in 1998....
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Application Briefs: Communications
Voice-over-IP communications system Quintron Santa Maria, CA 805-928-4343 www.quintron.com Quintron was selected by NASA’s Ames Research Center (ARC) to supply a new...
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NASA Tech Needs
John C. Stennis Space Center provides rocket engine propulsion testing for the NASA space programs. Since the development of the Space Shuttle, every Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) has gone...
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Eye on Innovation: Software
As a career engineer, the need to coordinate large-scale design activity and all of the associated information has presented an ongoing challenge. In my opinion, one of the most exciting...
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Who's Who: Aerospace
Nicholas Johnson is Chief Scientist and Program Manager for NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office. In July 2008 he...
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Products
Autodesk, San Rafael, CA, has introduced the latest releases of its 2D and 3D design and engineering software for manufacturers. The 2010 products include Autodesk Inventor, AutoCAD Mechanical, and...
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Techs for License
Single-Motion Extension Mechanism for Poles
Originally developed and marketed as an extension pole for painting, light bulb changing, and similar operations, the single-motion extension principle in this technology is adaptable to any rod or pole that must be extended and retracted to a compact length. It applies to extendable antennae; tent poles;...
Techs for License
Modular Electronic Air Sterilization Technology for Airborne Bacteria, Molds, and Viruses
This technology sterilizes air, eliminating odors, preventing infections, and extending the shelf life of food. The scalable system results in 100% removal of microorganisms with one passthrough of air. The technology has optimized UV exposure with a...
Tech Needs
3D and/or Flock Printing Technology
A company seeks a printing capability and/or technology that creates a physical 3D texture that is tactile and soft (but not rubbery) in nature onto a flat or curved plastic surface made of polyethylene, polypropylene, or polyester material. This 3D printing enhances the product experience for the consumer by...

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