It’s a mere 40 days until the opening of the planet’s biggest industrial tradeshow, the Hannover Fair. It seems to me that a lot of companies in there fluid power industry use Hannover as a place to launch new products. Here are three things I’m particularly interested in seeing: 1. RFID pressure transmitters. I had […]
Dean Kamen—Leadership in Engineering
By Paul J. Heney • Editorial Director America’s favorite inventor is moving forward with some exciting new projects, after some critical lessons learned. What makes a true engineering leader? Is it outright technical brilliance? Tenacity? Or creativity in tackling and executing projects? Maybe it’s passion. Or the desire to give back to future generations. Well, […]
Industry 4.0 to be focus of 2015 Hannover Fair
On Tuesday, representatives of Hannover Messe, along with dignitaries that included the Indian ambassador to Germany, Vijay Gokhale, gave a sneak peak of this year’s Hannover Fair, the world’s largest industrial trade show, scheduled for April 13-17 in Hannover, Germany. The preview, held in Berlin, included more than 40 exhibitors, many of them in the […]
Dean Kamen speaks out on science vs politics
Design World spoke with master inventor Dean Kamen (of FIRST and Segway fame) and he’s the star of our “Leadership in Engineering” January cover story. As a preview of that article, here’s an online extra from our conversation with Kamen. * * * * * * * Kamen, who is a huge proponent of STEM […]
Top hydraulics stories of 2014
What is is about the new year that causes us to try to measure things? Must be human nature, or we’re just subconsciously influenced by all the pop culture TV programming that divides things into lists and countdowns and anniversaries. Regardless of the reason, we thought it would be fun to see what were the most […]
Q&A with NC State’s Dr. Paul Cohen
Recently, I chatted with Dr. Paul Cohen, head of NC State University’s Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) Department. The department leads an advanced manufacturing institute that is focused on power electronics, as part of a White House project to advance specific technologies and create new manufacturing jobs in the coming years. He touched on everything […]
Hydraulic O-ring kits
Variety of O-ring and bonded seal kits are offered—these are a necessity for both maintenance and repairs. Most fluid piping system sizes are measured by dash numbers. For example, a –04 port is 4/16 or 1/4-in. Dash numbers are usually nominal and are abbreviations that make ordering of components easier. Each kit is packaged in […]
How magnets can help your maintenance schedule
Probably the most interesting object on my desk is the shaker bottle demonstrator for a company called FilterMag. The small, clear bottle is filled with iron shavings suspended in vegetable oil. Slap on the FilterMag product (a specially engineered rounded magnet) and shake the sample—pretty quickly, voila! You can see the shavings aligned to the […]
Countdown to Hannover Fair
If you’ve never had the chance to attend a Hannover Fair, now’s the time to start planning. The venerable event has a particular focus on fluid power in odd-numbered years, so the 2015 event, scheduled for April 13-17 in Hannover, Germany, would be a good opportunity to see the latest technology from around the globe. I […]
Balluff opens new facility in Florence, Ky.
Balluff Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Balluff GmbH, opened the doors of its impressive new three-story, 48,000 sq-ft customer support center in Florence, Ky., just south of Cincinnati, with about 100 guests in attendance, including Kentucky Governor Steve Bushear and a host of local politicians. Ken Howard, Balluff Inc. president, said that the building symbolizes […]