Category: News

When ships take on ballast, they take on more than water. Microscopic organisms, eggs, cysts and even the planktonic larvae of larger organisms are small enough to pass through the intakes and pumps.

If these organisms survive transport to other parts of the globe, their impact can be devastating. In seas that are weakened by overfishing, contaminants and pollution, non-native species can reproduce quickly and deprive local species of food and living space.

Such invasions can jeopardize the health and economy of the local population, and their effects are usually irreversible. IMO has identified the introduction of species via ballast water as one of the four greatest threats to the world’s oceans.

In 2004, the organization adopted the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments, which will phase in requirements for ballast water treatment over the coming years.

PureBallast from Alfa Laval
PureBallast is an easy-to-use ballast water treatment system that meets the new IMO requirements. Unlike many proposed systems, which rely on chemicals or are too large to implement in real life, PureBallast involves no environmental or operational compromises. Using a unique, chemical-free technology, PureBallast produces radicals that neutralize organisms in ballast water.

The process is effective, automated and self-contained, as well as harmless to the ballast tanks and crew. In pilot tests, onboard trials and the initial stages of IMO certification, PureBallast has demonstrated the necessary biological efficiency. Since the system is also remarkably compact, it can be installed even in cramped engine room conditions or in areas that are otherwise difficult to utilize. By combining space-saving design, chemical-free technology and full automation, PureBallast is the clear choice for both installation and operation.

TUBUS Series high performance elastomer bumpers from ACE Controls are highly engineered products that absorb more energy per unit of weight and volume than many known materials.

In various applications, these dependable bumpers significantly outperform rubber, urethane and coiled steel.

TUBUS Series bumpers consistently solve energy absorption problems where other materials have failed or simply don’t exist.

These durable bumpers solve difficult energy management problems in applications involving shock isolation, vibration isolation and return springs.

TUBUS Series bumpers from ACE are reshaping performance standards in cost-effective energy absorption, durability, resilience and application flexibility.

TUBUS Series bumpers are comprised of a thermal plastic co-polyester material that is excellent in resisting oil, grease, chemicals, saltwater, ultra-violet light and microorganisms.
They do not absorb water and will not swell.

The secret is in both the shape and in the proprietary manufacturing process.
Each TUBUS Series bumper is specifically processed to a precise shape to meet the required load rates.
The result is a highly tailored, highly engineered product that adds performance and

Handle noise complaints easily with N/Forcer Noise Meter System

Responding to noise complaints and enforcing local noise ordinances can be hard enough, given the emotionally charged nature of the complaint. Getting objective measurements on-the-spot, with a simple-to-use Sound Level Meter, makes the job easier.
The SoundTrack LxT® N/Forcer is designed for use by anyone whose mission is to obtain noise measurements of evidential quality, conforming to local ordinances or other regulatory requirements.
No prior experience in sound measurement or acoustics is needed; a simple instruction video is included with the system, and customer support is available by phone 24/7. Push a button to obtain the readings, and another to get a printout of the noise measurement, with date and time stamp. For PC download,
software is included at no additional cost.
SoundTrack LxT® N/Forcer is built tough, and has a high visibility backlit display for easy readability, day or night. Part of the Larson Davis family of reliable, accurate sound level meters, you can be sure the quality of your N/Forcer noise data is verifiable and reports are admissible.

In very high structural steel plants with lightweight designs, an additional energy-absorbing counter-frame is also frequently positioned under the screening machine itself for the absorption of reaction forces. The oscillating suspension of the screen is mounted on the counter-mass, which is also elastically suspended, and which slightly reduces the oscillation amplitude of the screening machine, but which dissipates a large portion of the resulting dynamic acceleration through the counter-movement.

From experience, these counter-frames weigh between 50 – 100 % of the weight of the screening machine itself. The more counter-mass, the lower the transmission of the residual force! Due to the large mass inertia of the screening machine, the counter-mass only compensates a relatively small fraction of the effective oscillation amplitude of the screen.

ROSTA offers both the type AB low-frequency screen suspension and the very high-load type AB-D suspensions for the support of the counter-frame. It goes without saying that the supports of the counter-frame mass must also be able to support the weight of the screening machine and the counter-frame.

It is above all recommended to install counter-frames if several very heavy screening machines are working on the same processing deck. Two or more screening machines will never work (oscillate) synchronously with each other, which leads to reciprocal bending stresses in the processing deck or in the working platform. In addition to the transmission of the residual forces to the ground, which is very unpleasant for human beings, these asynchronous bending stresses lead to material fatigue in the complete construction of the plant.

Preco Introduces Alternative Laser Processing Technique for Microwave and Frozen Food Packaging

(Somerset, WI) Preco’s new AcuVent™ laser technology produces controlled-depth scoring or cut-through slits. These scores or slits can be registered any place on the film. AcuVent is reliable, convenient and cost effective for microwave venting.

AcuVent offers busy consumers an easy, quick way to prepare sealed frozen and refrigerated foods. When film-covered food packages or bags processed with AcuVent are placed in the microwave, the steam generated from within the package bursts through the scoring and automatically ventilates the package. The AcuVent technology can enhance fresh produce packaging by allowing consumers to steam vegetables in the microwave without removing them from the package.

In addition, Preco’s AcuVent laser technology can be adjusted to properly vent air entrapped within frozen food packages for more compact shipping.

Food packaging converters can rely on Preco’s contract manufacturing services for laser scoring, perforating or slitting processes in a wide variety of film and sizes.

Preco, Inc. manufactures customized automated processing systems for high speed, precision cutting, perforating, welding and other specialized industrial processing applications. Preco is also one of the largest contract manufacturing service providers in North America.

Preco, Inc. manufactures customized automated processing systems for high speed, precision cutting, perforating, welding and other specialized industrial processing applications.

The Z-Carb with JetStream* delivers coolant with targeted precision via 4 connected in-line coolant channels

The uniquely positioned coolant channels are engineered to maximize coolant flow and delivery to the shear zone.

The JetStream Z-Carb end mill was designed to take maximum advantage of the benefits that a properly delivered coolant produces in a demanding machining application.

Enjoy genuine Z-Carb performance enhanced by the benefits of exact coolant delivery in your slotting, pocketing and hard-to-access applications.

Benefits
More consistent machining temperatures
Reduced damage from harmful heat created during machining
Helps to reduce the development of built up edge (BUE)
.
The ability to improve cutting speeds Improved tool life
Improved chip control Decreased damage from recutting chips
Reduced cutting loads and forces Improved workpiece accuracy
Improved workpiece surface finish Helps avoid coolant waste

This end of line robot meets the handling requirements of products upstream from palletization.
It is dedicated to the preparation, grouping and transfer of batches at high working speeds.

Its high level of technology together with our know-how gives it excellent flexibility and productivity.
Thanks to this manipulator, newtec case palletising can provide you with an integral end of line solution.

The Brookfield Plastic VisCal Kit provides all the necessary items to verify the calibration of your Brookfield Viscometer/Rheometer in a glass-free environment. The kit includes a 600mL Plastic Beaker, one liter of Silicone Viscosity Standard in a plastic bottle and a Brookfield-designed metal lid for anchoring the beaker in a temperature bath. The reversible lid fits containers of various sizes.

Laboratories in the food, pharmaceutical and personal care product industries will find this new calibration kit helpful for compliance with health and safety requirements.

Using Brookfield Viscosity Standards, operators have a convenient, reliable way to verify the calibration of their Brookfield Laboratory Viscometer/Rheometer. Brookfield Viscosity standards have an accuracy ±1%, and they offer excellent temperature stability. Special viscosity values and temperature calibrations are available upon request.

For more information call 800.628.8139 / 508.946.6200,

Technical Data

1. Dielectric: Polypropylene film.
2. Encapsulation: Flame-retardent plastic case, UL 94 V-0,
3. With epoxy resin seal: Black.
4. Temperature range: 25°C to 100°C
5. Capacitance range: 0.1 ~ 4.7µF.
6. Rated working voltage range: 1000V, 1200V, 1600V DC
7. Test category: 25/100/21 in accordance with IEC
8. DAMP-HEAT TEST: Capacitor are subjected to an environmental test chamber at R.H. 90 to 95 %, operating temperatures for 240 hours.
After the test, capacitor shall be conditioned at room temperature for 2 hours and meet the following criteria
( A ) Capacitance change shall be less than 3 %.
( B ) Dissipation factor shall be less than 0.2 %.
( C ) Insulation resistance shall be over 50 % of the minimum requirement.
9. Insulation resistance ( IR ) at 25°C: Measurement shall be mad at 25°C after applyingfor 60 Sec, at 1000VDC, Above 20,000 F.
10. Dissipations factors at 25°C (tan ): 0.1 % MAX. When measured at 1 KHZ.
11. Capacitance tolerances: ± 5 %.
12. Test voltage: 1.6 Ur, 2 sec.
13. PULL TEST: Will sustain 2 Kg steady pull in the direction of lead egress and 1 Kg steady pull at any 90 degree angle for 60 seconds. After test, capacitor shall show no evidence of damage and pass all electrical requirements.

FCI OEM Flow Sensor Family Offers Broad Range, High Accuracy and Reliability In Air, Gas Or Liquids

Ideal For Boiler Systems, Burners & Industrial Furnaces, Chillers, Air & Gas Compressors, Blowers & Dryers, Co-Gen Power Generators and Much More.

Designers of industrial machinery and equipment can expand flow and level sensing performance while gaining reliability and meeting product cost reduction goals with the 180 Series OEM Flow Sensors from Fluid Components International (FCI). The 180 Series is a family of economical flow and level sensors that offers superior accuracy, fast response and long-term reliability using FCI’s thermal dispersion sensor technology to fit a wide range of OEM applications.

Developed for use in equipment or machinery that requires flow or level sensing as part of its control system loop or as part of its operating system, the new-generation 180 Series OEM Flow Sensors provide switching, alarming, rate metering and totalizing of air, gases or liquids. These sensors are ideal for fuel and air feed lines, additive dispensing control, oil and lubricant circulation, pump protection circuits, cooling system controls, over/under flow limit switches and more.

Designed for service in line sizes from 0.25 to 6 inches (6 to 130 mm), the 180 Series OEM Flow Sensors are ideal when embedded in new product designs, offered as optional upgrades or as replacements to existing sensors. They feature FCI’s precision thermal dispersion sensing technology, which has proven itself in hundreds-of-thousands of process and industrial end-user applications worldwide for over 40 years. These sensors combine wide flow and turndown ranges with high accuracy and repeatability to achieve dependable operation in a broad range of applications and conditions.

In comparison to mechanical rotary, float or orifice plate sensors that frequently breakdown or clog, the 180 Series features a no-moving parts, minimally invasive sensor design that is virtually maintenance-free. Its two platinum RTD sensors are mounted in miniature thermowells, which are fully sealed to avoid contamination by the process fluid. With a meantime between failure (MTBF) rating calculated to exceed 60,000 hours of service, the 180 Series delivers unmatched reliability and long-life that will minimize maintenance costs and increase customer satisfaction.

The 180 Series’ miniature sensor design ensures both fast-response and superior repeatability under all process conditions. Additionally, because there is minimal pressure drop, 180 Series OEMs will save cost and increase their equipment’s efficiency by not having to boost line pressure to achieve needed flow rates.

FCI provides over 30 different standard designs. FCI also will create custom designs to any OEM specifications. FCI can engineer custom flow or level sensors to meet requirements for any process media, line size, installation environment, temperature, pressure, calibration and output signals. Various sensor designs comply with industry standards, including UL, CE, FM, ATEX, CSA and more. FCI is a registered and certified ISO9001 manufacturer.

FCI maintains its own world-class, NIST traceable, precision flow calibration facility that provides total accuracy and performance assurance for all of its products. This industry unique, extensive laboratory supports design validation testing as well as calibration of production products for virtually all gas and liquid media in pipe sizes from 0.25 to 36 inches.

The calibration laboratory’s systems accommodate flow rates from 0.01 to 3700 SCFM (0.02 to 6300 NCMH) over various pressures from 0 to 1000 psig (0 to 69 bar) and temperature conditions from –50 to 1000ºF (-46 to 538ºC). FCI’s actual media calibration of its flow sensors ensures delivered products meet their accuracy and total product operation specifications.

For laboratories looking to pre-concentrate protein solutions prior to separation (size exclusion chromatography, electrophoresis) or analysis (x-ray crystallography) the miVac sample concentrator from Genevac provides a highly efficient, cost effective alternative to traditional membrane centrifugation techniques.

Using membrane centrifugation valuable sample is often lost due to protein binding to the membrane. By comparison using a miVac sample concentrator ensures complete sample recovery even when taking proteins to very high concentrations. For protein laboratories that handle large numbers of protein samples – the miVac also offers the benefit of greatly reduced spending on consumables.

The miVac range has been designed to meet the requirements for speedy, yet careful biological sample concentration. Each miVac sample concentrator is designed to provide very high performance, precise temperature control and ease of use – all within a small benchtop footprint. miVac sample concentrators are capable of removing water and organic solvents from a variety of sample formats including tubes, microplates, and vials. Built-in stored methods for drying aqueous and alcohol-based samples improve performance and optimise concentration time.

To request further information on efficient concentration proteins using a miVac sample concentrator please contact Genevac on +44-1473-240000 / +1-845-267-2211 or email [email protected].

Genevac, an SP Industries company, was founded in 1990. Today the company employs around 85 people, with manufacturing, R&D and marketing headquartered in Ipswich, UK. Genevac today offers a comprehensive portfolio of evaporators to suit almost any solvent removal application, purchasing budget or productivity requirement.

Google’s Street View team famously photographs all kinds of weird stuff as they drive the world, but Navteq, who basically invented this stuff, just built a mount with seven cameras and 64 lasers to see everything better, in 3D.

Mounted atop a VW Jetta wagon is this crazy apparatus with a 12-megapixel panoramic camera on top and six more cameras pointed in specific directions to pick up signs and other data points. But the best gadgetry—the laser array—is housed inside a rapidly spinning barrel positioned at an angle. By using LIDAR, basically radar but with lasers, they scan everything within view, capturing 1.2 million points of data every second. The result is all kinds of terrain data that is not possible using just cameras.

The goal is “high accuracy maps,” a deliberately vague notion that ranges from additional information—bridge underpass clearance heights, multilayer cloverleaf navigation and other obvious issues—to super rich 3D environments like the ones you see below. Those aren’t CG renderings, in the traditional sense, it’s laser-enriched photography.

Navteq, a Chicago company owned by Nokia who has been driving around making maps since the first GPS satellites were hurled into orbit, still provides a massive share of map data for web and devices, so the fruits of this tech might get to you sooner than you know.

As for your own personal rig, I sure want one, and my guess is that Google wants one too—if they don’t have it already. [Navteq]

The allroundtalent mic+ with film-coated ultrasonic transducer: crm+. Thanks to the dirt-repellent membrane and its stainless steel housing the crm+ sensor copes with maximum operational demands.

Filling often entails some spatter getting onto the sensor membrane. The risk here is that the sensor membrane might get damaged.

In such instances microsonic has now fitted out the mic+ ultrasonic sensor with a protective foil making it easy to remove caked-on soiling, such as hardened casting compound and cement spatter. The protective film is also highly resistant to corrosive media. The threaded sleeve is made of 1.4571 stainless steel.

Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ/NGS:LFUS), ) today introduced the 440 Series surface mount 1206-size high I2t surface mount fuse with excellent electrical stability and reliability.

With its fast response characteristic and operating temperature capability up to 150°C, 440 series makes possible, even in ultra high operating temperature conditions, the AC/DC circuit of the electronic appliance well protected when over-current occurs.

The 440 series has the highest inrush current withstand (I2t) rating of up to 12.95A2s (8A current rating) for eliminating nuisance fuse open during momentary overload conditions. The series has a maximum fault current rating (Interrupt Rating) of 50A at the rated voltage and is 100% lead-free, halide-free and compliant to RoHS requirements.

The 440 Series has UL and CSA agency approvals and has a broad line of current ratings from 1.75A to 8A (32VAC/32VDC) to meet different application needs. Current ratings from 250mA to 1.5A will be introduced soon in the second phrase of the launch.

It is particularly designed for protecting AC/DC over-current conditions of a wide range of end device applications which are subject to high operating temperature including inverters of LCD TVs, LCD monitors, notebook computers, hard disk drives, XDSL modems, set-top boxes, Li-ion battery packs and gaming consoles.

by David Roberts

Today the Obama administration unveiled $2.3 billion in new tax credits to clean energy manufacturing companies. There were 183 projects selected out of some 500 applications; one-third were from small businesses; around 30% are expected to be completed this year. The winners are spread across 43 states. Here’s a map from White House adviser Carol Browner’s post:

Couple of things to say about this.

First: this is industrial policy, but it’s better than average industrial policy. As Duncan Black says:

One of my longstanding pet peeves is that everyone in the US pretends we don’t have an “industrial policy” because that implies naughty state intervention in certain sectors. But of course we have lots of naughty state intervention in certain sectors, we just don’t do it even notionally for any good reason. We prop up the single family homebuilding industry and the automobile industry (even before the bailouts). We prop up certain agricultural sectors. We favor big business over small. Now we’re massively propping up one skimmer industry – the financial industry – and are about to prop up another skimmer industry – health insurance.

So, yes, by design or accident we have industry policy. We should recognize that and then decide what we should be doing instead of pretending we don’t have any.

Right. What should we do instead? Nurture small businesses in markets that are almost universally forecast to undergo rapid growth for decades to come; put struggling American workers and idled American manufacturing capacity back to work; reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Still, this kind of policy has its limitations. Though “senior administration officials” (what a goofy convention that is, by the way) say every application went through five levels of review, inevitably there are going to be political considerations in how the money is distributed—it’s probably no accident the credits are spread so widely, geographically and across industries. (Though this detracts from the economic efficiency, in may improve the politics—see below.)

It’s also absurd that clean energy industries still depend on capricious, short-term extensions of tax credits. Tax-based policy has become more and more common lately, mainly because the legislative branch has become so dysfunctional (budgets are passed by a majority instead of the 60 votes required of legislation), but it’s a bad thing. A carbon price, direct public investment, performance standards, renewable energy standards, feed-in tariffs—anything structural and persistent is better than these come-and-go dispensations of cash. Obama has called on Congress to cough up $5 billion a year for these credits, but how enduring will yearly appropriations be the next time Congress changes hands?

Second, despite reservations about the policy, this is the kind of thing Obama needs to do to build real, on-the-ground support for clean energy. Have a look at this fantastic new video from News21:

The people in this Texas town—and their families, and friends, and visitors—will never again think of clean energy as something by and for dirty hippies. The more such people there are, the more politics become friendly to ambitious legislation. In fact I’d argue that deploying clean energy and efficiency will matter far more to the politics of this issue than anything done by NGOs. No amount of “framing” competes with having a wind turbine save your farm.

Related Links:

Climate success in 2009 should inspire the new year

Break with consumerism to save the world, Worldwatch report urges

Grist exclusive: A fiery battle over land in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest

Next weeks Rock Band update will feature the old school grunge rockers, Alice in Chains. The five pack tracks will include classic hits such as “Grind” and “Heaven beside you”. It will also feature the band current

Taking design cues from the Oakley Thump MP3 player sunglasses is never a good idea. But that’s not the only fault these Vuzix Wrap 920AR glasses have. The resolution sucks.

Unless you’ve never picked up an iPhone or Android handset—or don’t have boasting friends with them—you would’ve heard of augmented reality, right? These glasses use stereoscopic cameras to create a “virtual world” where something you’re fixing your begoggled vision on suddenly turns animated, with different 3D layers. You can connect the glasses to a screen so your pals can watch whatever you’re viewing—and they’re the lucky ones, because what you’re watching, the wearer, sucks. The video you can see in the glasses is really low-res, and I actually had trouble with seeing the bottom of the picture. The lower the video gets, it seems to just fizzle and fade out.

The demo Vuzix was giving at CES was pretty fun. I was given a chart with rows of QR-type barcodes on, and when I looked through the glasses at it, it looked like one of those games where you tilt the board to roll a marble through a series of challenges. Just like “Maze” on the iPod Nano, actually. It was a really hurried demo, and actually I was thoroughly confused—the quality of what you’re seeing through the glasses is so poor, I could barely see what I was doing. Everyone watching me had a hoot though, watching my gameplay on the TV screen above.

The glasses themselves look really shitty, and unlike the Oakley Thumps, you can’t wear them like sunglasses. At $800, and with only one purpose, I’d say avoid.

My dear editor wanted a reflective piece on the past three months I’ve spent in D.C. and my subsequent return to the Farm. Briefly speaking, the reintegration process has been rather arduous. Like many of my Stanford in Washington peers, I am experiencing a kind of cultural shock–undoubtedly thrilled to the back (people here actually smile! The OMG amazing weather, laid-back atmosphere), yet there is a sense of dislocation from having spent a quarter away.

The healthy dose of pragmatism as result of time in the real world raises questions concerning the value of our liberal arts degree and exacerbates the tension of junior year. The increasing awareness of the transient nature of the Stanford experience brings the dilemma of whether to spent our remainder time acquiring practical skills or doing what we actually enjoy (immersing in humanities, leadership roles, company of some incredible people) into sharper focus.

My tendency for delayed processing means that the promised column will probably be delivered at a later date. So instead, I am going to talk about one of my favorite subjects, undergraduate admission. Admission has remained a topic of intense interest for me despite having being in college for three years. Perhaps it is linked to how the admission is a dynamic field that influences the state of higher education, offering fascinating insights into the zeitgeist or that fact that like many others, the drama of my own experience applying to college has not yet been forgotten–the American system can be totally byzantine to navigate for students abroad.

On Dec. 11, the Office of Undergraduate Admission accepted 13.5 percent of the 5,566 early applicant pool, offering admission to 753 restrictive early action applicants. The number of restrictive early action applicants, a non-binding option that allows admitted students until May 1 to respond to the University’s offer is the highest in Stanford’s history, increasing by almost 3.8 percent from last year.

There are many possible topics of contention regarding the admission philosophy at elite institutions like Stanford. Questions arise concerning the fairness of legacies consisting approximately a fifth of the Class of 2013, the possibility of increasing the number of international students from its current proportion of seven percent (lower than the average 10 percent of the Ivies) or the type of student that the University accept. Some friends are convinced that the holistic admission principle is doing no favor to enhancing intellectualism at Stanford, as it selects superficially engaged polymaths; I disagree.

However today, the topic will focus on the importance of expanding the pilot alumni interview program, the latest evolution in Stanford’s application policies to all regions for future admission cycles. After the inaugural year in 2008-09, optional interviews are now offered to applicants attending high school in nine metropolitan areas that represent a cross section of the applicant pool, including New York City, Portland, London and the state of Massachusetts.

Currently, most of our peer institutions, such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Brown, offer personal interviews as part of the application process. There are several compelling reasons for requiring this step. A face-to-face exchange constitutes a mutually constructive exchange. Applicants are offered an opportunity to learn about Stanford in a unique manner by listening to alumni discuss firsthand experience in academics and student life. The admission committee can learn about the candidate from another perspective, beyond the written materials. Additionally, it serves as a tool to recruit exceptional candidates from peer institutions, potentially improving Stanford’s yield rate. The interview initiative, operated by Stanford’s Outreach Volunteer Alumni Link (OVAL) is a meaningful and tangible way of keeping alumni emotionally and intellectually engaged in the future of their alma mater.

Stanford is currently undertaking an evaluation of the interview pilot’s inaugural year. While there are legitimate concerns since interviews are inherently a subjective exercise, these can be forestalled. For example, alumni participants should be provided with a formal set of guidelines and procedures before they are accepted as interviewers. There are mechanisms already in place to ensure that an interview’s bias does not negatively impact upon the applicant’s admission prospect.  The interviewer’s perspective is one of many factors–grades, standardized test scores, teacher recommendations, extra-curricular activities and essays–considered by the admission committee. The submitted interview report does not supplant other aspects, but might warrant further scrutiny on an applicant. There should also be avenues available for students to offer feedback to the University regarding their experiences.

Then, there are those who claim that interviews are unfair because they do not reflect realistic potential for scholastic success. Stanford receives applications from thousands of candidates who all look great on paper. Most of them can handle the academic rigor of a Stanford education. However, the strength of American higher education is that it looks beyond the numbers. College means much more than success classes. Stanford’s reputation is based on a student body that brings diverse talents and aspirations. And interviews are an appropriate medium to gauge that.