When people at a trade show find out you’re a journalist, they tend to ask, “What’s the theme of the show?” While that’s a fair question, often times there isn’t an easy answer. There are so many industrial trade shows these days—with both regional and national locations, it seems as though there is one every […]
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Compressed air fail: What a non-standard component!
An auditor recently received a call about low pressure from a client operating a printing plant. The main presses were having production issues and the plant pressure needed to be increased to compensate. Because the client had received a financial incentive for lowering his pressure, the power company was breathing down his neck to return […]
A short-sighted purchase policy on compressed air equipment?
An emergency call was placed to a compressed air auditor recently to help solve a problem with a new collating machine at a local printing. This plant had previously upgraded their compressed air system to state-of-the-art variable speed drive control and had been able to drop their plant pressure by 20 psi due to the […]
Pressure measurement: 8 things to know
1. Pressure is the force applied to an area. There are many different systems of pressure measurement. Absolute pressure and sealed gauge pressure are two of the most common. There are many differences between these two measurements of pressure that have significant effects on their use and measurement. Depending on why you are measuring pressure, […]
9 questions for choosing your next pressure transducer
1. Do your measurements need to be in volts or in milliamps? What type of output does your application require? 2. What pressure range is needed? How will you measure it, gauge, absolute or differential? 3. What is your sampling environment? Is the transducer rated only for low-risk environments such as clean, dry air? Or is […]
Air motors give extra power to bicycles
For several years, I had the pleasure of being able to attend Parker Hannifin’s Chainless Challenge competition, a research and design contest that the company sponsored for several different engineering universities. In it, students were charged to create a bicycle that would use fluid power to increase the speed and power of bicycles traveling on […]
Fly like a dragonfly with motion control intelligence
It’s always fun to see what new biologically inspired creation the people at Festo Corp. come up with, and the latest incarnation, the BionicOpter, is no letdown. This mechanical dragonfly was unveiled in April and it incorporates flight characteristics from airplanes, helicopters, and gliders—and you can even control it from your phone. After Festo engineers […]
Compressed air gone wrong: Super pressure control is wasted
A recent compressed air audit revealed superior compressed air pressure control at a local fiberglass products manufacturer that had installed a VSD compressor in their plant several years ago. The discharge pressure at the compressor was very nicely maintained at a precise 125 psi by the compressor’s ability use electronic control to speed up or […]
Going old-school with a pneumatic fountain pen
As a young girl who always wanted to be a writer, I always loved the idea of fountain pens. They were classic and beautiful and the style of writing they made was—to me anyway—so sophisticated. I had one once but have since misplaced it in the mess of my office. Although not the typical, “dip-the-nib […]
Notes from MD&M East
Day one of MD&M East (and its related packaging/manufacturing/plastics shows) at the Philadelphia Convention Center was a bit sluggish, perhaps due to the occasionally dreary weather outside. But medical issues seemed to be the hot topics, with attendees looking for medical grade materials, solutions for implantable devices and, of course speed—from idea to finished product. […]