Category: News

An LTA customer manufactures sawing blades for various applications which are ground using oil. The oil mist produced during the process is sucked off and fed to an air cleaning system through pipes. As the previous air cleaning was insufficient a new system was purchased. The customer decided for a product by Messrs. LTA who delivered the perfectly adapted filter AC 20001 from the modular large-module series introduced in 2008.
The AC 20001 is an electrostatic filter which is particularly well suited for this field of application. On the one hand, the electrostatic precipitation principle – which is unmatched also for filtering oil – helps to reliably keep within the required limit values. On the other hand, the low pressure loss of the filter grants an energy-saving operation. The oil precipitated in the filter is pumped back in the oil treatment system via a recirculating pump and retrieved.
A corresponding filter with energy-saving EFF1 blower was externally installed to the pipe system adapted by a partner firm. The blower is controlled by a frequency converter as needed. In excess of this, operation over the weekend – when circulation and suction are clearly reduced – becomes possible by means of various switch-points. This is another strong point of this energy-optimized system.

The scope of delivery of LTA for this project comprised the cleanable large AC 20001 type filter (effective suction output approx. 25,000m³) including attachment accessory and external operating panel, one delivery pump for evacuating the precipitated medium and the setting and commissioning of the complete system in January 2010.

The advantage of this system is the high separation degree of the electrostatic filter as well as the use of regenerative filter elements. Thanks to the use of regenerative filter elements, the filters may be cleaned as often as required which eliminates the high disposal and purchase costs for replacement filters.

LTA Lufttechnik is a renowned partner for complete solutions in air technology. The company projects, builds and delivers air filter and fire protection systems for trade and industry. For over 30 years, LTA has been researching, developing and manufacturing aerosol separation products. The electrostatic separation method is eco-friendly and has continuously been further developed and improved.

Robatech’s market appearance has been characterized by a green logo for more than 30 years, and the Concept hotmelters of the latest GREENLINE generation are also „green“ because their working mode is particularly energy saving. Up to 17,4% *) energy can be saved in combination with a heated hose NW 6 mm and the fully insulated SX Diamond applicator heads which Robatech originally presented as a world’s first at the Interpack 2008 exhibition.

This energy saving is the result of an exact analysis which Robatech carried out in-house for each component: We determined where the overall system emits the most heat, and then insulated these areas specifically. „From the applicator head over the hose right to the hotmelter we carefully investigated all appliance components for their energy consumption and heat losses. In this way we found out where to attack in order to achieve perceivable energy savings. The first step was to design our fully-insulated applicator head SX Diamond which consumes up to 60% less energy than the preceding models. Within the framework of our GREENLINE concept we also exchanged the hoses: Energy can also be saved by using a hose of diameter 6 mm instead of the previous 8 mm. The latest measures we implemented with a view to „greener“ and more ecological Robatech adhesive applicator systems are the special insulation with which we provide the melting tank of our well-proven Concept hotmelters and the cover over the adhesive distributor. All these optimizations enable us to save 17,4% *) energy compared with the hotmelt applicator systems offered so far. This puts us in the lead also when it comes to ecologically working hotmelt applicator systems. A further plus of the insulation of the applicator head and the insulated cover over the adhesive distributor is the improved protection of the operating personnel: The danger of personal injury (burns) during operation of the appliances is reduced to the minimum“, explains Hanspeter Huber, Product Manager Packaging Industry at Robatech.

Robatech sets a clear example with its GREENLINE concept: Optimizations as well as new and further developments in the sense of more ecology, environment friendliness and sustainability are initiated and realized step by step.

Since December 2009 the Concept hotmelt series with tank volumes of 5 and 8 litres (the best-selling models of Robatech’s Concept range) come exclusively in the GREENLINE execution with special insulation – and this at the same price as the preceding models. At a later point in time the Concept hotmelters with bigger tank volumes will also become available with the special GREENLINE insulation, at no extra charge. Moreover, Robatech has further „green projects“ in the pipeline.

*) The following two hotmelt systems were measured and compared:

a) Concept B 5/2, one heated hose NW 8 mm / 1.8 m, one jetting head AX100
b) Concept B 5/2 „GREENLINE“, one heated hose NW 6 mm / 1.8 m, one jetting head SX Diamond

Lüber core sand mixers and mixing plants are suitable for the preparation of many different core sand types such as
Cold Box Betaset SO2 (Epoxy Gas Resin) CO2 hardening processes Hot Box, warm Box Inorganic binder systems.

Plant for 3 core sand manufacturing processes Day silo for one sand type Fluid bed coating unit / cooler Travelling electrical weighing system 100 kg.

3 core sand mixers UCM 100 on drawers
2 distribution vehicles with 3 transport containers each
7 liquid components for the warm box, cold box and EGH processes . Electrical control unit Siemens S7-300

The v|tome|x L 300 is the ideal system for 3D analyses as well as for high precision 3D metrology applications.

Due to his new unipolar 300 kV / 500 W microfocus X-ray tube the system can be used for scans of strongly absorbing samples as well as for high magnification applications (minimum focus-object-distance > 5 mm depending on the sample size).

For the first time a 300 kV microfocus X-ray tube achieves a detail detectability of up to 1 µm. All major components of the system, like the X-ray tube and the temperature stabilized detector are proprietary technology of GE.

The v|tome|x L 300 comes standard with a granite based manipulation and an air conditioned X-ray safety cabinet allowing samples of up to 50 kg and up to 600 mm length / 500 mm diameter to be scanned.

For a number of years, agriculture has been experiencing a strong and regular concentration of operations.The effects of this have been an increase in the size of farms and an increase in distances which need to be travelled to reach farmed areas. Being always on the lookout for ways of increasing productivity, it is crucial for the farmer to limit and even reduce this time taken on the road, which has no added value despite the increase in connection times. This new situation is encouraging manufacturers to produce increasingly powerful, fast and safe tractors.

These changes have very recently been made official as agricultural convoys have been allowed to drive faster. Although the law is changing to authorize these speeds, it also demands that safety levels be increased through significant reinforcement of the braking capabilities of agricultural trailer couplings.

In order to respond to this major development, with proportional, hydraulic or electro-hydraulic control, adaptable to all configurations of tractors available on the market:

A dynamic brake valve incorporating braking assistance to the machine’s steering system : VB0B0
A parking and emergency brake valve: VB0E0
Single or double circuit, priority and safety loading valves for charging the battery: VB100 or VB200
Trailer braking valves

Filter driers are important components to set up refrigeration systems, because moisture has to be extracted, acid should be bind and particles has to be filtered out. The solid cores are easy replaceable via a precision –flange with a guided mounting spring. ESK –Filter driers can be used alternative as a fine strainer element after removal of solid cores.

Application
The ESK filter system with changeable filter elements are used in the liquid
line and suction line of refrigeration and air-conditioning systems.
The marked flow direction must be followed. The pressure drop is easy
measurable with the including Schrader fitting.

Cost-efficient, compact lifting system for screens up to 50″ and weights up to 70kg.
System with high lifting speed. Control box with integratet overheating protection for the screens. Simple installation. Very low noise level allows applications in noise sensitive areas.

The system can be supplied with any stroke up to 1100mm even for single piece deliveries.
Anti-pinch-system can be connected.

Learning from nature – built for nature: with the FinGripper from Festo fruit, bulbs or pressure-sensitive food can be handled quickly and reliably. This is thanks to the so-called “Fin Ray effect” which is based on the design of the tail fins of fish.

If tulip bulbs and soft chocolate eggs are gripped with conventional metal grippers or vacuum functions, the result is a high level of loss and damage. This goes against the grain of the two central objectives of automation technology: speed and quality.

FCI, a leading supplier of connectors and interconnect systems, expanded its D-sub High Density series to address a growing number of applications where higher density packaging is required.
With this addition, FCI now offers one of the largest D-sub portfolios available in the market.

FCI’s High Density range previously consisted of right-angle female versions only. The additional range adds right-angle male, straight male and female, solder bucket male and female, and crimp male and female versions. This new connector range is ideal for applications requiring more signal density.
Higher density connectors with same shell sizes provide 56% to 67% real estate savings on a printed circuit board compared with standard density connectors.

The High Density D-sub series is available in contact layouts from 15 to 78 ways in all terminations. These connectors are operable for indoor applications with a temperature range from – 55°C to +105°C.

Additionally, design-ins are simplified with distribution stock availability; 24-hour sample shipment; online drawings and specifications; short lead-times and reasonable minimum order quantities.

FCI’s full line of D-sub connectors is available on the web, including not only solutions for signal, but also for (mixed) power connectors.

The new High Density range is part of FCI’s IO-Connections portfolio, which provides customers access to a wide range of industry-standard and application-specific I/O interconnect solutions.

In January the first Polish longwall system in Russia reached much higher output than planned. The longwall system manufactured by FAMUR Group and delivered to Baikaimska mine last year has already reach the output of 1 million tons!

The longwall system operates in one of the Kuzbassrazriezugol Coal Company’s Russian mines. It is the first Polish complete longwall system in Russia for mining coal seams with a thickness exceeding five meters. In January the equipment produced 193,000 tons, which was 30 t over the estimated output.

The geo-mining conditions in the Siberian mine are difficult. The seam incline of up to 25º require specific adjustments of the equipment. All elements of the FAMUR Group longwall system are prepared for this character of operation. They are also adjusted to the aggressive environment. The hydraulic control system is filled with fluid resistant to the low temperatures of even minus 50ºC. The powered roof supports are equipped with special sealing and anticorrosive rewelded layers.

Each element of the longwall system was designed complying with all necessary safety parameters. The longwall system successfully passed the compatibility trial in 2008 in FAZOS factory and it was favorably received by the Russian client.

Successful commissioning of the system was carried out by team of 10 professionals and miners, who trained the staff in Baikaimska mine. The longwall system is very modern, it requires only 15 people of staff because each element of the system can be operated from the central PC.
”The FAMUR Group delivers complete longwall systems which include not only the machines and equipment, but also the control and monitoring systems. The longwall system delivered to our Russian client reflects this approach”, said Ryszard Bednarz, FAMUR S.A.’s Vice-President for Research & Development.

The delivery of complete longwall system to the Baikaimska mine is a double success – FAMUR Group equipped the longwall in high performance, modern and effective machines and also tackled a challenge of transferring from an open pit to the underground mine. In Baikaimska mine coal will be transported from the face to the surface through an incline by BSC and belt conveyor, from the road heading to the coal washing plant. The complete longwall system operates in seams lying up to 350m deep, and the mine resourse of 50 mln tons shows a good prospects for the FAMUR Group longwall system.

Green sand control in foundry has always been one of the main goals to be achieved in order to obtain good quality productions and to minimize scraps.

So far, sand control methods were mainly based on the control of return sand moisture and on the consequent water addition to muller to obtain the desired moisture of prepared sand. There are also control systems which determine the compactability of mulled sand and then determine the quantity of water to be added.

All these systems give a partial answer to the demand of quality sand, in particular of constant quality sand. In fact, they do not allow the automatic control of important parameters such as strength, active bentonite, total bentonite, permeability and automatic addition of additives and new sand.

Announced months back, it now looks like Rogers will soon be releasing the Acer Liquid E. There is no exact release date known yet but we will be sure to let you know as soon as we do! It isn’t the prettiest Android phone, but we have seen that with Android it’s usually the less eye-appealing ones that get all the brains and brawn. The phone packs the following:

• 3.5 inch touchscreen
• 768MHz Snapdragon processor
• 5MP camera
• 7.2 Mbps 3G and WiFi
• Standard Android 2.1

Pictured above is Roger’s set-up instructions for Facebook on the Acer Liquid E. Rogers has recently announced a built-in feature called Social View, which is just a name for phones that sync social networking data to the device’s standard contact book for easy access. The Acer Liquid E will include this Social View ability.

Might We Suggest…

• Canadian HTC Magic Gets Sense UI and 911 Fix
  
  The first of 2 upgrades to the Canadian HTC Magic is officially underway. The two updates spoken about in an earlier post stated that the first of the 2 updates would be a 911 fix and the much appra…

Nice. The latest version of Cyanogen’s modded ROM (version 5.0.7) brings Android 2.1 support all the way back to the G1 and MyTouch. Being a G1 owner I can say I’m pretty pumped about this: check out the video above, it seems to work perfectly well. The only thing we’re waiting on is to get the package size down to G1 size — if he can’t trim it, we’ll probably see a holdover release for MyTouch users, though.

Expect a news post over at CyanogenMod when it’s cooked all the way through.

Just like we told you yesterday, webOS 1.4.1.1 is landing on Verizon webOS devices. With all the HP buyout excitement, it’s nice to see that Palm is sticking to their word that it would be business as usual until the buyout is final. 

Overclockers: Uninstall before updating! Patchers: AUPT should have you covered, so update away. Humans: check out the 1.4.1 changelog and let us know if the promised keyboard fix really is in!

Update: Palm’s official release notes make no mention of keyboard fixes do mention keyboard fixes. We are installing now, will report back to let you know if it’s improved.

Update 2: Update finished and at least provisionally it looks like keyboard input isn’t causing as many repeated letters. Also (and again, this is preliminary), we grabbed an exactl GPS fix in Google Maps right away, an experience that was hard to come by on the Verizon Palm Pre Plus before now.

Thanks to @techjunky79 for the tip!

For many years, we’ve pointed out the futility of the entertainment industry’s constant focus on “shutting down” any source of unauthorized material. Every time they do so, the content sharing continues to grow — it just moves further underground and makes it that much more difficult for the industry to actually use it to their own advantage. It appears this happens not just online, but offline as well. We’ve noted recently that China has been paying lip service to external pressures to “crack down” on infringement, often by using copyright and patent laws to go after foreign companies as well. But it appears to also be playing itself out in other ways.

The NY Times is covering how Chinese officials have been going around to DVD and CD shops that have lots of unauthorized bootlegs, and telling them that for the World Expo (which begins May 1), they need to stop selling that content so directly. It appears most of the shops all responded in nearly identical ways: cutting their stores in half by putting up a wall in the middle, then placing legitimate discs upfront, and putting all the bootlegs on the other side of the wall, with a “secret” doorway. The effort was so consistent that some accuse Chinese officials of suggesting this to store owners. Some stores readily admit that after the Expo ends, they’ll tear down the wall and return to a single storefront.

Either way, it’s quite similar to what we’ve seen online. You can “crackdown” all you want, and it never actually slows down the trade in unauthorized content. It just moves it further underground… or, perhaps, behind a (not so) secret wall.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story

White chili is a delicious alternative to traditional tomato-based versions.  This sweet and spicy white chili gets its flavor and kick from Trader Joe’s well-known and loved Corn and Chile Tomato-less Salsa.  To thicken this chili, I added quinoa, which is a great way to add body to any soup, chili, or stew.  The quinoa will absorb most of the liquid and soften, becoming a flavorful component that binds it all together.  Quinoa is also a healthy addition to any dish since it’s packed with protein and high in magnesium, calcium, and iron. 

You may wonder why quinoa cooking instructions always recommend rinsing quinoa.  Quinoa seeds naturally have a soapy coating that can be bitter.  Processing usually removes this coating, but it varies from brand to brand, so it’s a good idea to give quinoa a quick rinse before using.  If the water becomes slightly sudsy, then you know that the coating was there. 

Chicken and beans round out this white chili.  For a vegetarian version, use a vegetarian broth and substitute two packages of Trader Joe’s Chickenless Strips.  Alternatively, you can simply leave out the chicken and add extra veggies or increase the quinoa.

The chili has a little bit of a kick from the salsa, but the heat is balanced out with some sweetness.  I thought it was slightly spicy for the kids, so for them I mellowed it out by serving with some plain brown rice and a dollop of greek yogurt.  They happily ate it up. 

White Lightning Chili

1 1-lb container of Just Chicken (or 4 cups of cooked and shredded chicken) cut into bite size chunks
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed
1 15-oz can White Kidney Beans (Cannellini Beans), drained and rinsed
1 15-oz can Pinto Beans, drained and rinsed
1 13.75-oz jar Corn and Chile Salsa
Optional: Shredded cheese for garnish

1.) Pour the broth into a medium or large pot.  Add the quinoa (make sure quinoa is rinsed and drained).  Bring to a boil.
2.) Add the remaining ingredients (making sure beans are rinsed and drained) and return to a boil.  Lower heat, cover, and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed.
3.) Serve in bowls, topping with shredded cheese.

Serves 8

Note:  For leftovers, add a little extra liquid, either broth or water, when reheating.  

by Julian Ku

Our own Ken Anderson joined a number of other law profs, including Prof. David Glazier, in testimony today before the National Security and Foreign Affairs subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to discuss, what else, the legality of U.S. targeted killings policy. Wired has a nice report summarizing the testimony, and the issues are already familiar to the folks on this blog.  Meanwhile, the ACLU weighs in today with a tough public letter challenging President Obama’s targeted killings policy on legal grounds.  The ACLU’s analysis appears to concede that targeted killings may be used (subject to law of war limits) within recognized conflict zones.  But outside of those zones,

…the use of lethal force by the United States is strictly limited by international law and, at least in some circumstances, the Constitution. These laws permit lethal force to be used only as a last resort, and only to prevent imminent attacks that are likely to cause death or serious physical injury. According to news reports, the program you have authorized is based on “kill lists” to which names are added, sometimes for months at a time, after a secret internal process. Such a program of long-premeditated and bureaucratized killing is plainly not limited to targeting genuinely imminent threats. Any such program is far more sweeping than the law allows and raises grave constitutional and human rights concerns.

The letter goes on to draw a distinction between detention of enemy combatants and targeted killing of them that I don’t find all that persuasive.  But taken together, the Congressional interest in these issues and the ACLU letter makes a cogent legal and policy case against targeted killings outside of Afghanistan and Iraq.  The letter may be the first sign that President Obama (and Clinton and Koh) will no longer be getting a pass on their war on terrorism policies.

The “Rapture Metro Pack” DLC of Bioshock 2 was supposed to come out early this week, but due to unspecified reasons, 2K decided to push back the content. So what can we expect in this long overdued

Mobile devices such as smartphones are truly amazing in what they can do, but are often frustrating to use – many people don’t particularly enjoy poking at tiny buttons, or obscuring the onscreen display with their own fingers. Newly-developed technology, however, is addressing these annoyances. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute have found a way of turning mobile devices into their own mice…
Continue Reading Mobile devices could become their own mice

Tags: Mobile,
Mouse,
Optical sensor,
Smartphone

Related Articles:

• Skinput turns your hand into a touchscreen and your fingers into a keypad
• Pop-up buttons the future of touchscreens?
• Hug and SenseChair Robotic Prototypes
• HAL and Artoo win a place in the Robot Hall of Fame
• Snackbot serves up some human-robot interaction… and snacks
• Microsoft shows off the future at TechFest 2010