Stories
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Products: Motion Control
The 230 Series from Thomas Division (Sheboygan, WI) is a brushless DC WOB-L® air compressor designed for applications requiring a compact, lightweight pump with variable output. The pump measures 3.8 × 2.64 × 3.63" and...
Products: Motion Control
Lenze Americas (Uxbridge, MA) has introduced the Smart Motor for applications ranging from material handling to packaging automation. The device combines a conventional AC motor with electronic drive control technology, and is fully...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
The HS35 series through hollow shaft and OptoPulse EIL580 series solid and hollow shaft incremental encoders are available from Baumer (Southington, CT). They use an optical scanning principle that delivers less than 1 arc...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
Koford Engineering LLC (Winchester, OH) has introduced a line of 2.3"(60 mm) slotless brushless motors available with a variety of windings in either sensor- less or hall sensor configurations. Rated output is up to 800 Watts...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
Bimba Manufacturing (University Park, IL) has released a suite of stepper motors and drives for use with its Original Line Electric®(OLE) actuators. The suite includes the IntelliMotor®, an integrated stepper motor,...
Products: Motion Control
The TOPBALL® slide products from NB Corp. (Hanover Park, IL) are self-aligning and feature a floating wiper seal. The floating load plate adjusts clearance. Tolerances are achieved by grinding, rather than stamping, the raceways...
Products: Motion Control
Nemicon Corp. (Tokyo, Japan) offers the 7S Series incremental rotary encoder that measures 7.2 mm (0.28346") in diameter, and features high resolution and high noise immunity. The encoders offer 3 signals: A, B, and Z (index...
Products: Motion Control
Tolomatic (Hamel, MN) offers ERD electric cylinders in six body sizes. The ERD is a rod-style electric actuator family designed as an alternative to pneumatic cylinders, and an option for automating manual processes. They are...
Products: Motion Control
The DCX 10S and DCX 22L motors from maxon motor (Fall River, MA) are new additions to the DCX series of DC motors. Also available is the GPX 22 gearhead in a version with reduced noise level and with ceramic axes. The...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Sliding Gait for ATHLETE Mobility
ATHLETE (All-Terrain Hex-Limbed Extra-Terrestrial Explorer) is a multipurpose mobility platform for planetary surfaces. It is a cross between a wheeled rover and a walking robot, and travels using powered wheels mounted on the end of each of six robotic limbs. Each limb is a fully articulated robotic manipulator...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Autonomous robotic manipulators have the potential to increase manufacturing efficiency, provide in-home care, and reduce the risk to humans in hazardous situations. The current challenge in autonomous...
Application Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
As the demands of traceability and compliance are put on manufacturers, using a laser provides permanent marking of a variety of information, including 2D bar codes, serial...
Articles: Motion Control
There are two types of voice coil actuators: moving coil and moving magnet. The materials of construction are similar, since they both use rare...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
To achieve power of 250 kW or greater, a large compression ratio of stowed-to-deployed area is needed. Origami folding patterns were used to inspire the folding of a solar array to achieve...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Most automotive fuel systems use a Fuel Delivery Module (FDM) with components to filter and pump gasoline at a specified pressure and flow rate from the fuel tank to the engine. The FDM uses a reservoir...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
NASA’s Constellation Architecture Team defined an outpost scenario optimized for intensive mobility that uses small, highly mobile pressurized rovers supported by portable habitat...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
Position Sensors
Kaman Precision Products/Measuring (Colorado Springs, CO) offers digiVIT, an eddy current sensor for position/displacement/proximity sensing with a self-tuning bridge. At the beginning of any of the linearity...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Among the challenges to advanced robotics and other mechatronic applications is the ability to get a range of precision motion with few components in a compact...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
By suppressing or controlling harmonic currents and voltages of the motor to overcome torque ripple, this system improves the efficiency and torque performance of an AC...
Application Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
At the GF6 six-speed, front-wheel transmission line at General Motors Powertrain in Toledo, OH, a new front-wheel-drive transmission line for smaller, more fuel-efficient...
Articles: Robotics, Automation & Control
Performing closed-loop control of hydraulic servo systems is often more challenging than controlling servomotor systems. The main reason is that hydraulic systems use compressible oil to move...
Products: Electronics & Computers
It’s that time of year when we ask NASA Tech Briefs readers to vote for the annual Readers’ Choice Product of the Year Awards.
Each month, our editors choose a Product of the...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
International Space Station- Based Electromagnetic Launcher for Space Science Payloads
A method was developed of lowering the cost of planetary exploration missions by using an electromagnetic propulsion/launcher, rather than a chemical-fueled rocket for propulsion. An electromagnetic launcher (EML) based at the International Space Station (ISS)...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
A buoyant rover has been developed to traverse the underside of ice-covered lakes and seas. The rover operates at the ice/water interface and permits direct observation and measurement of processes...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Electric Machine With Boosted Inductance to Stabilize Current Control
High-powered motors typically have very low resistance and inductance (R and L) in their windings. This makes the pulse-width modulated (PWM) control of the current very difficult, especially when the bus voltage (V) is high. These R and L values are dictated by the motor size,...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The LVDT linear position sensor can operate successfully over a wide range of temperatures, depending upon its design and the application in which it is operating. While...
Articles: Medical
2013 Create the Future Design Contest
The 2013 Create the Future Design Contest — sponsored by COMSOL, SAE International, and Tech Briefs Media Group (publishers of NASA Tech Briefs) — recognized innovation in product design in eight categories: Aerospace & Defense (new this year), Consumer Products, Electronics, Machinery & Equipment,...
Articles: Robotics, Automation & Control
Fuel Flexible, Ultra-Portable Microturbine Generator
Erik Herold, Jason Ethier, and Ivan Wang Dynamo Micropower, Boston, MA
A large unmet need in the oil and gas industry is...
Application Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
As part of a NASA test course challenge, Teledyne DALSA engineered a winning Miniature Autonomous Roving Vehicle (MARV), earning the company a $350M contract with NASA’s Marshall Space...
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