Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Mechanical Components

Find multimedia resources and technical briefs covering complex mechanical components and technologies. Find the latest applications that design engineers are using to meet their design challenges.

Stories

Question of the Week: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Can Solar-Powered Desalination Solve Water-Scarcity Challenges?

“Seawater is a very abundant resource for clean water, but the problem is how to desalinate it,” MIT researcher Lenan Zhang told Tech Briefs in our April issue.

Articles: Lighting

Resolution, Accuracy, and Precision of Encoders

Here's what you'll need to know when you’re choosing an encoder for a motion control system.

Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Dynamic Force Control and Advanced Electropneumatic Positioning Systems in Automation

As advancements in technology continue to define how pneumatic or electromechanical linear devices lift, move, or place a load, the requirements of excellent closed-loop positioning and accuracy greatly increase

Products: Photonics/Optics

New Products

Motor drivers, position sensors, offset couplings, and more.

Q&A: Energy

Q&A: Simple Solar-Powered Desalination

Lenan Zhang and his team at MIT developed a small, economical, highly efficient device to provide fresh drinking water using only the Sun for its energy input.

Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Choose Surface Treatments Early to Avoid Future Problems

Surface treatments have limitations that demand attention early in the design process.

Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Square Structural Joint with Robotic Assembly Tool

Square trusses replace round for enhanced strength and robotics compatibility.

Briefs: Test & Measurement

Multifunctional Structure Stabilizes and Rotates Satellites

This technology cancels out the vibrations of a satellite by vibrating the solar panels in the opposite direction.

Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Mechanical Controller for Robot-Assisted Surgery

Robot-assisted surgery has advanced dramatically over the past decade in almost every surgical sub-specialty. Robot-assisted surgery is usually performed using surgical robot systems that involve...

Briefs: Materials

Guiding and Harnessing Transition Waves in Multi-Stable Mechanical Structures

The domino effect is used to design deployable systems that expand quickly with a small push and are stable and locked into place after deployment.

Briefs: Automotive

Relaxor Piezoelectric Single-Crystal Multilayer Stacks for Energy Harvesting Transducers (RPSEHT)

Applications include powering portable electronic devices and sensors, and harvesting waste mechanical energy for aircraft, automobile, and other transportation equipment.

Briefs: Nanotechnology

Method for Electrospinning Customizable Nanofibers

The electrospun nanofibers are used for wound healing and 3D matrices for biological tissues.

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Model Predicts Breaking Point of Conducting Material

This work could accelerate the development of flexible electronics.

Briefs: Automotive

High-Reliability Radio Frequency MEMS Switch

Applications include homeland security, vehicle anti-collision systems, telecommunications systems, and industrial instrumentation.

INSIDER: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Small, Precise Gyroscope Navigates Without GPS

A small, inexpensive, and highly accurate gyroscope, developed at the University of Michigan, navigates without GPS. The key to making the gyroscope is a nearly symmetrical mechanical resonator...