Machine design january 2015

Forecast

2O15

machinedesign.comJANUARY 2015

THE RISE OF THE EXOSKELETONS p. 30

QUANTUM COMPUTING 101 p. 36

PROGRAMMING A QUANTUM COMPUTER p. 42

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4 ON MACHINEDESIGN.COM10 LETTERS 12 WHAT’S INSIDE

Helical Gearboxes Handle Higher Torque with Less Noise

DISTRIBUTION RESOURCE

53 DISTRIBUTORS TO HIRE, EXPAND MORE IN 2015

Bearings built for

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FEATURES30 THE RISE OF THE EXOSKELETONS

Trends in sensors, power supplies, batteries, and other technologies are bringing even more potential to the fi eld of developing exoskeletons.

36 QUANTUM COMPUTING 101Here’s a look at the fi rst commercial quantum computer.

42 PROGRAMMING A QUANTUM COMPUTERWalking through the steps for programming a quantum computer illustrates how they solve problems.

COLUMNS 6 EDITORIAL

Nominate a STEM Starter to Our March Bracket Madness

26 INTERVIEWChuck Dolezalek — Banner Engineering Corp.

64 PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT Bradford L. Goldense — Do Your New Products Sell Like Hockey Sticks?

PRODUCTS

59 NEW PRODUCTS62 CLASSIFIEDS62 AD INDEX63 DATA FILES

ON THE COVER: Cover image courtesy of Thinkstock.

30

36

42Printed in U.S.A., Copyright © 2015. Penton Media, Inc. All rights reserved. MACHINE DESIGN (ISSN 0024-9114) is published monthly by Penton Media, Inc., 9800 Metcalf Ave., Overland Park, KS 66212. Paid subscriptions include issues 1-12. Rates: U.S.: $139/year; $199/two years. Canada/Mexico: $159/year; $239/two years; All other countries: $199/year; $299/two years. Cost for back issues are U.S. $10.00 per copy plus tax, Canada $15.00 per issue plus tax, and Int’l $20.00 per issue. OEM Handbook and Supplier Directory, $50.00 plus tax. Prepaid subscription: Penton Media (MACHINE DESIGN), P.O. Box 2100, Skokie IL 60076-7800. Periodicals Postage Paid at Shawnee Mission, KS, and at additional mailing offices.

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2 JANUARY 2015 MACHINE DESIGN

In This IssueJANUARY 2015 | VOLUME 87, ISSUE 1

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GALLERY:

THE FIRST EIGHT X AIRPLANEShttp://machinedesign.com/technologies/fi rst-eight-x-airplanes-mach-1-almost-7#slide-0-fi eld_images-38141

X (experimental) airplanes were built by aviation companies but were fl own and maintained by NASA (or its predecessor, NACA), and the military. These planes, most of which were one-of-a-kind, were used to explore high-speed, high-altitude fl ight, as well as vertical takeoffs and launchings, new materials such as titanium, and variable-geometry wings. Here’s a look at the fi rst 13 years of X airplanes, going from 1946 through 1959.

VIDEO:

ROBOT RECREATES “THE KARATE KID”http://machinedesign.com/humanoid-atlas-robot-recreates-scene-karate-kid

Boston Dynamics and IHMC engineers showcased some impressive control algorithms and had some fun programming their humanoid ATLAS robot to recreate various poses whilst balanced on a stack of cinder blocks, including the crane kick stance made famous in “The Karate Kid.”

WHAT WAS YOUR STEM STARTER?

http://machinedesign.com/blog/what-got-you-started-science-technology-engineering-or-math

Maybe it was a microscope, Erector Set, crystal radio, or even something as simple as clay or Play-Doh. But it got your creative juices fl owing and set you on a trajectory that carried you through engineering school and to a career in discovery, design, or testing. Machine Design is looking for the most popular and treasured Stem Starter as determined by you, our audience. Visit the blog to fi nd out how to vote for your favorite.

3 MYTHS SURROUNDING LEDs

http://machinedesign.com/blog/3-myths-surrounding-leds-0

Light emitting diodes (LEDs) are popping up in more and more places as companies and individuals try to save money and reduce energy consumption. But some people insist there are problems with them. In the latest installment of A Skepti-cal Engineer, Senior Staff Editor Steve Mraz shares three of the myths that have arisen around LEDs.

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EDITORIAL

EXECUTIVE EDITOR: KENNETH J. KORANE [email protected]

SENIOR EDITOR: STEPHEN J. MRAZ [email protected]

TECHNOLOGY EDITOR: CARLOS GONZALEZ [email protected]

TECHNOLOGY EDITOR: JEFF KERNS [email protected]

CONTENT PRODUCTION DIRECTOR: MICHAEL BROWNE [email protected]

CONTENT PRODUCTION SPECIALIST: ROGER ENGELKE [email protected]

PRODUCTION EDITOR: JEREMY COHEN [email protected]

ASSOCIATE CONTENT PRODUCER: ILIZA SOKOL [email protected]

ASSOCIATE CONTENT PRODUCER: LEAH SCULLY [email protected]

INDUSTRY COVERAGE:

AUTOMOTIVE, FASTENING & JOINING, PACKAGING, MEDICAL STEPHEN J. MRAZ

CAD/CAM, FLUID POWER, MANUFACTURING, MECHANICAL KENNETH J. KORANE, CARLOS GONZALEZ

3D PRINTING, MATERIALS, MECHANICAL, ELECTRICAL JEFF KERNS

ART DEPARTMENT

ART DIRECTOR: RANDALL L. RUBENKING [email protected]

GROUP DESIGN DIRECTOR: ANTHONY VITOLO [email protected]

SENIOR ARTIST: JIM MILLER [email protected]

PRODUCTION

GROUP PRODUCTION DIRECTOR: CAREY SWEETEN [email protected]

PRODUCTION COORDINATOR: COURTNEY DENISON [email protected]

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USER MARKETING DIRECTOR: BRENDA ROODE [email protected]

USER MARKETING MANAGER: DEBBIE BRADY [email protected]

FREE SUBSCRIPTION/STATUS OF SUBSCRIPTION/ADDRESS CHANGE/MISSING BACK ISSUES:

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PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR: RYAN MALEC [email protected]

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AK, AZ, CA, CO, HI, ID, IA, KY, MN, MT, ND, NE, NV, OR, SD, TN, UT, WA, WI, WY, WESTERN CANADA:

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JAPAN, ASIA: HELEN LAI [email protected] T | 866.2.2727.7799 F | 866.2.2727.3686

DESIGN ENGINEERING & SOURCING GROUP

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JANUARY 2015

JANUARY 2015 MACHINE DESIGN

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Editorial

STEPHEN MRAZ | Senior Staff Editor

to our March

Bracket Madness

What got you started in engineering? In

many cases, it was a parent who worked

as an engineer that inspired your career

choice. But there’s often a kit, toy, model, or

tool that sparked a lifelong interest in cars and combustion engines,

radios and electronics, or fireworks and

rockets. Maybe it was a microscope

or a telescope, a chemical kit or rock-

polisher, or even something as simple

as Play-Doh. But it got your imagina-

tion working overtime and set you on a

trajectory that carried you through engi-

neering school and to a career in discov-

ery, design, and testing.

Let us know what so-called STEM

Starter got you interested in science, tech-

nology, engineering, or math so Machine

Design can host another March Bracket

Madness campaign, much like last year’s

popular World’s Greatest Engineering

Movie. This time we’re looking for the

most popular and treasured STEM Start-

er as determined by you, our audience.

The first step is for you to remember the

kit, toy, model, or tool you received for

Christmas or a birthday, or perhaps you

bought it with your own hard-earned money, that helped set you

on your course as an engineer, designer, or scientist. Then send it

to us via e-mail at [email protected]. Be sure to put STEM in the

subject line, and perhaps add a short note as to what prompted your

nominating it as a STEM Starter.

By March we should have the brackets filled with a variety

of interesting and memorable STEM Starters and then we will

open the online voting.

So let us know what you got you started in engineering.

Nominate a

STEM Starter

‘‘We’re looking

for the

most popular and

treasured STEM

Starter: a kit, toy,

model, or tool that

helped set you on

your course as an

engineer, designer,

or scientist.

’’


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COATEDBEARING

CONUNDRUM

I found Bob Budny’s article (“Fixing

wind-turbine gearbox problems,” Oct.

9) very interesting. He is a mechanical

designer and probably a good one,

but he ventured off into metallurgy

and that’s where he stubbed his toe a

few times.

First, at the beginning of the article

on p. 54 is a photomicrograph of a met-

allurgical phenomenon he calls “axial

cracking.” He says, “Th is problem’s ul-

timate source is a great modern puzzle

of engineering and generates debate in

the industry.” Actually, the defect is well

known and commonly called a “butter-

fl y wing defect.” It is the result of plastic

deformation of material in the path of

the roller bearing in the presence of a

non-metallic inclusion. Th is causes a

crack and a localized recrystallization

phenomenon, resulting in creation of

nano-ferrite (the light etching material

seen in the photomicrograph).

Th en on pages 60 and 62, he talks

about the desirability of having retained

austenite in the microstructure of the

bearing race material. Wrong. Although

he acknowledges the undesirability of

the volumetric increase that accompa-

nies the transformation of austenite to

martensite, he neglects to mention that

the freshly formed martensite is un-

tempered and brittle, unable to sustain

much strain without cracking.

Also on p. 62, he recommends apply-

ing a black oxide coating to the bearing

elements to extend its service life. Th e

black oxide commonly referred to is

the coating that results from immers-

ing parts in boiling solutions of alkaline

salts, such as those used on commercial

fi rearms and fastener industries. Th ose

oxide fi lms have not been shown to

signifi cantly improve the service life of

dynamic machinery parts.

A lesser-known black-oxide-coating

method called “steam tempering” does

have benefi cial eff ects on break-in and

service life of such parts. However,

steam tempering is done at tempera-

tures that would overtemper and soft en

rolling elements made of low alloy steel

such as those used in the wind-turbine

industry, and shorten their service

lives. Switching to components made

of tool steel (M50, T1) would allow

for steam tempering without hurting

mechanical properties.

— Irving W. Glater

From the author: Th e photomicrograph

illustrates what has become known as

an Irregular White Etching Area or

irWEA. Although structurally similar to

a classical butterfl y wing defect in that it

is composed of nano-ferrite, it does not

have the regular butterfl y wing shape,

hence the “irregular” in the name. Th e

presence of irWEAs has been associated

with bearing failures that most oft en

present themselves as axial cracks in the

inner ring. Such defects are not always,

or even usually, associated with the pres-

ence of non-metallic inclusions and have

been observed in bearings that have been

subjected to contact stress much below

that known to form butterfl ies.

Th e discussion of optimum retained

austenite levels in bearing inner rings

was in the context of case-carburized

inner rings. All case-carburized com-

ponents have some amount of retained

austenite, which is known to increase

fracture toughness. Th ere has been an

ongoing debate about the optimum levels

of retained austenite. Th e recommenda-

tion made in the article was based on

research involving fi eld-tested bearings

that proved adequate retained austenite

plus adequate residual stress can make

carburized bearings immune to irWEAs

and axial cracks.

And it is my experience that case-

carburized bearings better resist the

axial cracks discussed in the article than

black-oxide coated bearings. It has been

shown, however, that applying a black

oxide coating can extend the life of a

bearing against axial cracks. Th ere are

many other benefi ts of black-oxide coat-

ings on bearings, such as improved run-

in behavior, better corrosion resistance,

improved resistance against scuffi ng, and

reduction of chemical attack from oil ad-

ditives. For these reasons, many bearing

manufacturers off er black-oxide coated

bearings as options. Such bearings are

oft en specifi ed for applications known

to benefi t from black-oxide coatings.

However, black-oxide coatings are

not enough to prevent axial cracks

in through-hardened bearings, either

martensitically hardened or bainitically

hardened. And it takes carburized bear-

ings to avoid irWEAs and axial cracks.

Letters

TO OXIDE OR

NOT TO OXIDE?

A reader believes he

uncovered some met-

allurgical problems

with an article on

black-oxide-coated

bearings. But the

author insists he is cor-

rect and dealing with

more up-to-date infor-

mation. Which side do

you come down on?

Let us know..


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ƐŵŽŽƚŚŽƉĞƌĂƟŽŶĂƚǀĂƌŝŽƵƐƐƉĞĞĚƐĂŶĚƚŚĞĂĚǀĂŶƚĂŐĞŽĨŚŝŐŚƚŽƌƋƵĞĂƚĂůŽǁĐŽƐƚ*

>ĞĂƌŶŵŽƌĞĂďŽƵƚDŽŽŐ1ƐƐŽůƵƟŽŶƐĨŽƌǀĞŶƟůĂƚŽƌƐĐĞŶƚƌŝĨƵŐĞƐĂŶĚŽƚŚĞƌŵĞĚŝĐĂů

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THE NEW PE helical gearboxes from Stober Drives Inc. (www.stober.com),

Maysville, Ky., handle more torque, generate less noise, and provide smoother

motion than spur-gear units. The units come in four case sizes ranging from

PE2 to PE5, and can have single or double stages with ratios from 3:1 to

100:1. Output torques range up to 310 Nm and input speed can be as high as

8000 rpm. Backlash ratings are as low as 8 arc minutes.

The units can be ordered as in-line gear units with a motor adapter for

third-party motors, a large motor input shaft option, or an integrated housing

that mounts to the most popular motor dimensions. The gearboxes are said to

have low friction levels and high shaft-load capacities, making them well suited

for a variety of applications, including packaging and general automation.

Edited by Stephen J. Mraz

Helical gearboxes

handle higher torque

with less noise

What’s Inside

Case-

hardened

gears

AccurateAdapt

couplings ensure precise

motor installation

Housing

rated IP64

Planet carriers made of high-tensile

material for higher torsional stiffness

and tensile strength

Motor can

use plate for

adaption or be

integrally cast in

the housing.

Accurate

and precise

running

Contactless sealing at

input lowers losses

Lubed for life

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Towering megawatt wind turbines need strong, large bearings to support their

long blades as they rotate. To meet that growing need, engineers at The Timken Co.

(www.timken.com), North Canton, Ohio, have designed UltraWind bearings, a line of

tapered roller bearings that range up to 9.6 ft in diameter. They are well suited for multi-

megawatt turbines both onshore and offshore.

The new bearings feature two rows of tapered roller bearings with seals, lubrication,

and condition monitoring. The unit’s pre-set internal clearance simplifies accurate

assembly. A lighter, less-costly cage is optimized for capacity and roller retention in

both steel and polymer versions. Raceway profiles control maximum stress levels and

boost durability. The bearings have the highest life ratings in the industry, according to

Germanischer Lloyd, a consulting firm that focuses on industry and energy. And the

pre-loaded bearing maintains its high level of stiffness to manage motions of the main

shaft and rotor.

The bearing can be customized to suit specific design arrangements including

variable bolt circles, shaft-mounted or shaft-less designs, and direct drive or geared

wind turbines.

Timken uses its proprietary Syber System Analysis to improve the main-shaft

design, predict potential damage, and identify ways to reduce friction for each

application. This can reduce the overall development time and capital equipment costs.

In addition, with the recent opening of its wind energy test center, the company can

now predict 20 years of field performance through a shortened five-month test cycle.

Edited by Stephen J. Mraz

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NASA’s first test flight and splashdown of an

Orion space capsule went well, thanks to

three years of testing and simulated splashdowns

of a realistic mockup in the agency’s Hydro Impact

Basin at its Langley Research Center. To collect

information from those preflight tests, NASA wired

up an 18,000-lb Orion mockup with 320 strain gaug-

es, pressure sensors, and accelerometers to capture

data on the capsule’s responses to landing in water

at up to 20 mph.

The data was recorded on 40 TDAS Pro Sims

from Diversified Technical Systems (www.dtsweb.

com), Seal Beach, Calif. Each of these modules col-

lected data from eight sensors or channels, storing

up to 100 sec at 10,000 samples per sec per chan-

nel on non-volatile flash memory. But the focus

was on getting data from the 20-sec. splashdowns.

The data recorders are small, measuring

5.4 × 4.8 × 1.4 inches and weighing 1.7 lb.

The rugged devices had shock ratings

up to 100 gs. All this let

them be mounted close

to the sensors they moni-

tored without significantly

changing the dynamics of

the test. The recorders got

the 12 to 15 V of power

they needed from Smart

Battery packs from DTS,

but each unit also had inter-

nal back-up batteries.

After each test, which took up

to eight hours of prep time, data

was downloaded via USB to a com-

puter. A computer was also used to set

up each recorder’s sample rate, trigger,

and record time.

ORION MOCKUP wired for data during

splashdown tests

A mockup of NASA’s Orion space capsule was drop tested from a vari-

ety of heights, speeds, and angles to determine the estimated vertical

and horizontal velocities it will be going when it parachutes into the

ocean. Data recorders monitored a wide variety of parameters to ensure

the spacecraft would withstand the stresses of impact with the water.

TDAS Pro Sim recorders from DTS were mounted onboard the

Orion capsule to record data from a variety of sensors while the

capsule was dropped in a pool of water. Each module in these racks

store up to 100 seconds of data at 10,000 samples/sec per channel.

Newer versions of the recorder, the Slice Pro, stores 400 times that

amount; up to 11.5 hr at 10,000 samples/sec per channel. The mod-

ules on the Orion were powered by a DTS Smart Battery.

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ELECTRONIC “SNIFFER” searches out nuclear devices

Sandia researchers pose with MINER, a portable device that can detect

and pinpoint the source of neutron emissions from nuclear weapons.

THE NIGHTMARE SCENARIO for the Dept. of Homeland Security is

a briefcase-sized nuclear weapon at loose in a major US city. To

counter this potential threat, engineers at Sandia National Laboratory

have built a mobile imager of neutrons for emergency responders

(MINER). It is a portable neutron scatter camera that detects fast

neutrons emanating from nuclear materials. It should let police forces

pinpoint the source of the neutrons at significant distances and

despite shielding.

MINER’s design is based on that of a larger scatter camera that

stands 5-ft tall and requires a special power source. In contrast,

MINER is about 3-ft tall and weighs 90 lbs. Inside, 16 proton-rich

liquid scintillator detector cells circle a large cylinder. Neutrons travel

through the cells, bouncing off protons like ping-pong balls. These

interactions among the detector cells let the device calculate what

direction those neutrons came from. Compared to other detec-

tors, this technology lets MINER pick out the target radiation from

background radiation and can measure the spectrum of neutrons

being emitted. This lets it tell the difference between neutrons from

plutonium, a threat, and americium-beryllium, a common commercial

source of neutrons and not a threat. MINER also searches a 360°

horizon. Other detectors have a narrow field of view and must be

pointing in the source’s direction to pick it up.

MINER can be set up and operating in 10 minutes and uses bat-

tery power, which makes it more portable.

In a field test set in downtown Chicago recently, MINER found a

sealed radiation source in 30 minutes. In fact, the device could scan

an entire side of a skyscraper at one time, quickly narrowing the

search down to a single room. When the source was shielded, the

search took a few hours.

CLEANING UP coal emissions

with electron beams

SCIENTISTS AT THE Naval Research Laboratory are exploring the use of

electron beam to reduce the amount of nitric acid and nitrogen dioxide

(NOx) emitted by coal-burning power plants. They have already shown

that zapping NOx in the presence of nitrogen breaks apart the nitrogen

and oxygen of the NOx and it reforms into pure nitrogen and oxygen. It

takes about four electron volts (eV) to break the bonds in an NOx mol-

ecule. They are now testing the technique on actual flue gas using a KrF

laser fired at five pulses per second. Firing in pulses rather than a steady

beam lets the laser operate work continually without overheating.

This approach could prove useful and economical when the EPA

comes out with tighter NOx emission restrictions. Current regulations

restrict power-plant emissions to less than 100 ppm. New regulations are

expected to restrict it further to less than 30 ppm. The current method of

reducing NOx emissions, selective catalytic reduction, uses scrubbers, an

expensive solution. They also consume up to 15% of the plant’s gener-

ated electricity to run the scrubbers. And they create ammonium nitrate,

an explosive by-product that must be disposed of. The new approach of

firing lasers into the gas, on the other hand, uses only 10 to 20% of the

cost of scrubbers for the energy and there are no by-products.

A chemist at the NRL checks the KrF laser being used to

clean up emissions from coal-burning power plants by

destroying NOx in the flue gas.

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News

OAK RIDGE LAB moves to acquire Summit,

a next-generation supercomputer

RESEARCHERS AT OAK RIDGE National Laboratory will have a new supercomputer to work

with in 2017 when IBM delivers Summit, a hybrid CPU/GPU computer. It will have at least

five times the performance of Titan, the largest supercomputer currently housed at ORNL.

Summit will use an open-architec-

ture technology called OpenPOWER

Foundation that is being developed

by the major vendor, IBM, and com-

ponent suppliers NVIDIA and Mella-

nox. Software the supercomputer will

run includes IBM XL, NVIDIA, and PGI

environments supporting OpenMP

and OpenACC programming, and

IBM HPC software including Linux,

Platform Computing LSF scheduler,

resource manager, system manage-

ment, and a GPFS parallel file system.

From a hardware perspective,

Summit builds on the hybrid multi-

core architecture the lab pioneered

with Titan. “The large, powerful nodes

allow applications to achieve very

high performance without having to

scale to hundreds of thousands of

Message Passing Interface tasks,”

says the director of the Summit project at the OLCF, Buddy Bland. “The combination of

very large memory per node and the powerful IBM POWER and NVIDIA processors pro-

vides an ideal platform for data analysis as well as computation.”

It will feature more than 3400 nodes, each with:

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The areas and problems that will be explored with Summit include:

COMBUSTION SCIENCE: Understanding combustion so that the efficiency of inter-

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advanced fuels and new, low-temperature combustion concepts.

CLIMATE CHANGE SCIENCE: Understanding the dynamic ecological and chemical evo-

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decadal scales.

ENERGY STORAGE: Exploring chemical reactions at the atomic and molecular level

required to design new materials for energy storage and engineer safe, large-format,

durable, rechargeable batteries.

NUCLEAR POWER: Simulating reactor-scale operations to determine safe, increased

nuclear fuel burn times, power upgrades, and reactor lifetime extensions, and thereby

reduce the volume of spent fuel.

Supercomputers like Summit, the one ORNL will get in

2017, let researchers address challenging problems, such

as recreating shear-waves shear-wave perturbations

inside the Earth due to seismic activity

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News

HYBRIDIZED 3D-PRINTED PART combines plastic and metal

WHEN A CLIENT quickly needed a working prototype of a rifle magazine, the designers and

technicians at Baklund R&D (www.baklund.com), Hutchinson, Minn., knew they would

have to use hybridized 3D printing. It’s a manufacturing technique that combines parts

made of metal, wood, or molded plastic with printed thermoplastic parts or housings. In

this case, a high-wear component was machined out of aluminum and integrated into the

printed thermoplastic magazine.

Hybridized 3D printing was developed to overcome the structural and aesthetic short-

comings of printed thermoplastics. Printed plastics are weaker than molded plastic and

in most cases will not endure the abuse often required during testing. One option is to

strengthen components, but then they may need to be up to twice as thick as molded

plastic to withstand similar forces. Many times this is not an option due to the need to

maintain accuracy in parts size and operation.

Hybridization, on the other hand, creates accurate prototypes of final parts out of

plastic, wood, steel, aluminum or virtually any other type of material that is required. The

hybridized part can meet specifications for high-wear components, or the need to have

different types of materials and densities in specific areas of the prototype, or simply for

aesthetic reasons.

A great example of this can be seen in the assembly recently developed by Baklund

R&D, which integrated an aluminum high wear section on a rifle magazine. Combined with

the ability to quickly 3D print the rest of the model, hybridization not only let Baklund build

a prototype that could withstand the required testing, but also let the company deliver the

project to the customer more quickly than other suppliers, who would have relied only on

additive 3D–printing processes.

As this hybridization technique becomes an accepted technique, engineers should be

able to create more functional prototypes, as well as more production-ready products.

The hybridization technique will translate to a reduction in time to market and reduced

development costs; it will also allow for designs to be optimized beyond their current limi-

tations, as designs that were not possible before can now be physically validated before

production even begins.

A prototype of

a rifle magazine

made using

hybridized 3D

printing consists

of a thermoplas-

tic printed part

(above) combined

with a high-wear

component made

of aluminum.

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Designers at New Balance use 3D printing to

give elite runners customized spike plates,

the portion of the bottom of the shoe that

uses spike patterns to give them more trac-

tion as they run.

tern of spikes to give runners more

traction as they run. The machine

creates parts out of plastic that uti-

lize a proprietary nylon powder as

well as laser sintering.

The first step in the process is

to collect biomechanical data on

a specific runner using several

different tools. Video capture, for

example, lets researchers create

a three-dimensional force-vector

diagram of the runner’s feet as they

hit the surface of a force plate while

running. Pressure sensors inside

the runner’s shoe provides pres-

sure data as the runner’s feet hits

the ground and lets the researchers

determine how the feet are inter-

acting with the shoe. High pressure

values, for example, indicate an

area of the foot that is important

during that phase of the foot strike.

Armed with this data and some

parametric modeling software,

New Balance designers calculate

the best spike pattern, how large

3D PRINTING builds custom track shoes

ENGINEERS AND SHOE DESIGNERS at New Balance Athletic Shoes Inc.

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shoes for elite runners (professionals and Olympians) in hopes of

improving their performance. The company uses an EOSINT 395

3D printer from EOS (www.eos.info/systems_solutions) to custom-

build spike plates, the bottom part of the shoe that contains a pat-

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Before the engineers at New Balance can

come up with a custom spike pattern for a

runner, they have to study, record, and ana-

lyze his (or her) foot impact using pressure

sensors and motion-capturing video.

shoes for sports other than running. However, the

repetitive foot motions used in running don’t carry

over to other sports in which participants quickly

change directions, pivot, back-pedal or shuffle side to

side. These motions would need to be closely studied

to determine what performance data needed to be col-

lected, and how to analyze it.

the spikes should be, and how they

should be oriented. After the final

design is cleaned up, it gets con-

verted to an .stl file and sent to the

printer to build the spike plate. The

printer lets them build spike plates

that could not be economically

made using traditional manufactur-

ing processes. Designers usually

provide runners with several spike

plates to test and then vary the fit,

stiffness, and design depending on

the length of the race the runners

are facing, along with their personal

preferences. Currently, the 3D

printer makes four spike plates at a

time in five to six hours.

One Olympic runner, Kim Con-

ley, wore her custom spike plates

when she set personal records in

3000- and 5000-meter races, and

during her best international per-

formance – the 2013 World Track

Championships. She credits her

success to the shoes’ improved

traction they provide while reliving

pressure on the outside of her feet.

The shoes are also 5% lighter than

traditionally made track shoes. For

competitive runners, even a small

weight reduction can make signifi-

cant changes.

The goal at New Balance is to

refine the 3D-printing process so

that the company can offer cus-

tom-built spike plates or tread

patterns to everyday consumer-

athletes and possible expand to

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News

now, CNTs could not be grown together

tightly. To get around this limitation, Stan-

ford engineers grew CNTs on a quartz

wafer and then used a metal film that acts

like adhesive tape to lift them off the quartz

and transfer them to a silicon wafer. After

12 more similar transfers, they had assem-

bled one of the densest array of CNTs

ever made, then used it as the foundation

of their high-rise chip. It’s notable that the

team could do this with lab equipment

rather than the sophisticated gear used in

commercial fabrication plants. Moreover,

they showed this technique could build

more than one layer of logic CNTs.

The Stanford team also came up with a

method of building a new type of memory

directly on top of the CNT layer. The mem-

ory is a metal-oxide-metal sandwich of tita-

nium nitride, hafnium oxide, and platinum

– there is no silicon. This sandwich resists

current flow in one direction and allows

it in the opposite direction. The change

from resistive to conductive states lets this

new memory – a resistive random access

memory or RRAM – create digital zeros

and ones. The new memory uses less

electricity than conventional silicon memory

and can be built at lower temperatures, so

it is compatible with the high-rise manufac-

turing processes and materials.

The final breakthrough was drilling thou-

sands of interconnections (nanoscale sig-

nal elevators) through the memory layers

to the layers of CNTs below them. All those

interconnects eliminate the traffic jams of

signals common on conventional circuit

cards. There is no comparable way to add

interconnections between silicon-based

memory and logic on conventional chips

built as high rises. That’s because it takes

temperatures as high as 1000°C to create

silicon memory, and that would melt any

logic components below.

AN ENGINEERING TEAM at Stanford University has devised a way to

improve computer chips by making them taller. According to the

team, current chips suffer from “jammed wires’ when the logic and

memory components become overtaxed. Their solution – adding

layers of logic atop memory and using electronic nanoscale “eleva-

tors” to move data between layers — eliminates bottlenecks cre-

ated by wires and thereby moves data faster using less electricity.

It took the team three breakthroughs to be able to build a four-

story prototype of their high-rise chip. The first was efficiently

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News

In one application, a painless injection

with a microneedle done every three to six

months can replace daily administration of

eye drops to stave off glaucoma. It is the

second leading cause of blindness and

affects about 2.2 million people in the U.S.

It is hoped the injections will provide more

consistent dosages and make it easier on

patients who sometime neglect to apply

eye drops daily. The drug is formulated to

be relatively viscous, letting it stay where

it is injected. In animal studies, research-

ers could reduce intraocular pressure,

the major symptom, using just 1% of the

amount of dug used with eye drops.

In the second application, a solid needle

places precise amounts of a dry drug on

injured area in the cornea. The needles

are held in place for about a minute as the

drug is absorbed. The anti-body-based

drug inhibits growth of new blood vessels,

a problem with neovascularization in which

unwanted blood vessels impair vision.

Although eye injections with hypodermic

needles much larger than microneedles rou-

tinely administer compounds into the center

of eye, those needles are not designed for

eye injections and are not the best for deliver-

ing drugs to various parts of the eye. And eye drops are often unable

to get the drugs where they need to go. Microneedles, however, can

be tailored to penetrate the eye only as far as needed. For the glauco-

ma drug, for instance, the needle is only about half a millimeter long,

which is enough to penetrate through the sclera and outer layer of the

eye to where it needs to be, the supraciliary space.

BIOMEDICAL RESEARCHERS at the Georgia Institute of Technology

have devised two new applications for using microneedles 400 to

700 microns long to help fight eye diseases. The small needles let

doctors target the drug to specific areas of the eye, which should

increase the drug’s effectiveness while limiting side effects and

using less of the expensive drugs.

MICRONEEDLES ACCURATELY DELIVER drugs to the eye

A microneedle used to inject glaucoma

medications into the eye is shown next to a

liquid drop from a conventional eye dropper.

Interview

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Other benefits include durability and design flexibility. Addi-

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A typical lifetime listed by many manufacturers is 50,000 hours.

There are LED luminaires designed for use in extreme outdoor

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the difference in cost between conventional bulbs and LEDs?

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although LEDs excel in cold environments, like coolers or

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as those found inside industrial or commercial ovens. LED

lifetimes are significantly shorter in higher temperatures, and

materials used ... have limitations compared to the glass, met-

als, and ceramics used to make incandescent bulbs.

How far will costs for LED bulbs drop?

Costs have dropped significantly over the past few years. I

expect that prices may continue to drop, but it is believed that

the bigger changes will be increases in efficiency.

Are all LEDs on the market of good quality? How can a busi-

ness or consumer tell the difference between good ones and

the not-so-good ones?

Not all LEDs are high quality, but even with high-quality LEDs,

overall fixture design is important. One key task of the fixture

design is to keep the LED temperature within specifications.

Other design considerations to take into account depend on

the end application of the LED fixture. The requirements are

much different for an LED light intended for a clean, dry envi-

ronment, like an assembly station, as compared to a light for a

CNC machining center that is regularly exposed to water or oil-

based coolants. Having the proper approvals, like CE and UL,

verify the design meets performance and safety requirements,

but this doesn’t always mean that the light will last a long time.

Are any technological changes/upgrades coming to LEDs? If

so, what is pushing them and what benefits will they bring?

LEDs are continually evolving. The efficiencies (lumens/watt)

are increasing and the costs are continuing to decrease. There

is a lot of competition among LED manufacturers to continue

outdoing one another, which is great for luminaire manufactur-

ers, because it gives them more choices and allows them to offer

brighter and more efficient products.

Where are most LEDs made? Any chance LED manufactur-

ing will come to the U.S.?

There is still a lot of the LED die being manufactured in the U.S.,

but for the most part, the packaging of the die into the final LED

is done in Asia ... there is no reason to expect that to change.


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PA R T S 1

D A Y S 7

The Rise of the

ExoskeletonsTrends in sensors, power supplies, batteries, and other technologies are

bringing even more potential to the field of developing exoskeletons.

Engineers relied heavily on motion-

control technology to develop the

first wearable exoskeleton at Cornell

University, the Hardiman-1, in 1965.

(see image on p. 32) The arms, legs, and feet used

electrohydraulic servos, while a hydromechanical

servo controlled the hands. The hydraulics oper-

ated off of a 3000-psi pump, letting the person in

the suit lift up to 1500 lbs and walk at 1.7 mph.

The suit itself, however, weighed almost 1500

lbs, making it too heavy and complex to warrant

further funding.

Since then, sensors, materials, drives, and power

supplies have undergone a host of incremental

innovations. Companies developing exoskele-

tons no longer find it difficult to secure funding.

Investors recognize that this technology has many

potentially profitable applications. These include

letting soldiers carry more weight for longer peri-

ods of time, aiding senior citizens and others who

suffer musculoskeletal injuries, and giving long-

shoremen and warehouse workers a competitive

advantage in the shipping and trucking industries.

ADVANCING THE SENSOR

The human body constantly senses its surroundings and

itself to react properly in a wide variety of environments. A con-

stant exchange of information flows between the sense organs,

muscles, and brain. Similarly, exoskeletons require a flow of

data between sensors and the central processor.

Many types of sensors would be required for such a com-

plex machine, and they would have to be small, efficient,

and economical. Fortunately, the trends in sensors are in line

with those needs.

For example, the Nintendo Wii game controller was intro-

duced with a new accelerometer from ST Microelectronics

that was smaller, more sensitive, and demanded less power

than previous designs. It was also developed with high-volume

production in mind. The silicon wafer was increased from four

inches in diameter to eight inches, allowing more “chips” to be

made at once. The size of each sensor was also reduced with

a new micro-surfacing process that made it possible for ST

Microelectronics to make lots of accelerometers for just a few

dollars per sensor.

“The Wii controller grabbed the attention of cellphone com-

panies,” said Tony Massimini, CTO of Semico Research. “They

A paramedic uses the help from Strong Arm Technologies’ V-22 passive exoskeleton

vest to reduce injuries while lifting a patient into the ambulance.

JEFF KERNS | Technical Editor

Medical Technology


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Medical Technology

Multiple microphones use sen-

sor fusion for audio beaming. For

communication devices, this utiliz-

es multiple microphones to reduce

background noise by using soft-

ware and algorithms to locate and

identify which sound is meant to

be heard. This technology is being

used to locate objects in a defined

space. Audio equipment able to

perform this accurate detection of

sound can cost over $150 and need a

few man hours to set up. Eventually

this equipment could be replaced

with the technology in a modern-

day smartphone.

Unfortunately, sensor fusion often

requires two chips, and customers are stuck with the size and

cost of those two chips. To get around this hurdle, companies

like mCube are fabricating chips directly on top of the inte-

grated circuits in standard complementary-metal-oxide semi-

conductor facilities to lower cost and size.

POWER AND DRIVES

To make a viable exoskeleton, engineers need motors or some

other actuators that function quickly to prevent interference

with the user’s natural motions. Hydraulics seems like a good

way to gain mechanical advantage. Lockheed Martin, for exam-

ple, has used them in its Human Universal Load Carrier suit.

Today, hydraulics can provide the desired exosuit’s character-

istics with open- or closed-loop control. Using both gives users

hard set variables (open-loop) and dynamic variables (closed-

loop) that adjust as needed.

Electric actuators, another

good option, offer features such as

variable speed and efficient opera-

tion. They are also becoming more

“intelligent,” thanks to the addi-

tion of sensors, microprocessors,

and software.

Although hydraulics looks like

the most common drive for exoskel-

etons, some designers still use elec-

tric actuators. Many engineers use

both to better combine synthetic and

natural motion.

With technolog y becoming

increasingly mobile, battery density

has increased over the last decade.

In 2007, for example, batteries with

an energy density of 600 Wh/L cost

realized sensors could add value

while maintaining a competitive pro-

duction cost.”

The digital frontier was begin-

ning to take hold at this time and it

was necessary to develop the abil-

ity to communicate between digital

and analog components. One of the

ways that was done was with sen-

sors called MEMS (micro-electrical-

mechanical systems). They gener-

ally range from 0.02 to 1.0 mm in

size, but include electromechanical

components range from 0.001 to 1.0

mm. The development of MEMS has

resulted in countless innovations and

improvements in sensor technology.

For example, ST’s MEMS digital and analog accelerometers

can detect up to ±400g, and measure 2 × 2 × 1 mm. The Kinetis

KL02 from Freescale Semiconductor measures less than 2 × 2 ×

0.6 mm, while the VL6180X module from STS, which measures

4.8 × 2.8 × 1.0 mm, is an optical sensor that accurately measure

distances up to 10 cm.

These improvements mean that multiple sensors can fit in

one package. This further reduces size and cost when using

“sensor fusion.” Sensor fusion lets two or more sensors work

together to improve accuracy or add capabilities. For example,

adding a gyroscope to an accelerometer lets the accelerometer

compensate for drift and be more precise. Sensor fusion can

also add features without adding more sensors, for example,

combining an accelerometer with a magnetometer creates an

emulated gyroscope.

Cyberdyne’s HAL is helping therapy patients walk and be more independent.

Hardiman Prototype arm 1970, courtesy of Chris Hunter,

Curator of the miSci (Museum of Innovation and Science,

formerly the Schenectady Museum in Schenectady, NY) .”


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Medical Technology

ing factors in exoskeleton development,

especially improved hydraulics, and elec-

tromyographic (EMG) control, which

lets patients control electronics by con-

tracting and relaxing specific muscles.

Advances in EMG allow the machine to

get ahead of the human in the control

loop, thereby reducing lag and the asso-

ciated metabolic cost of tightening and

releasing muscles.

The main problem with EMGs is that

it can be difficult to translate their analog

frequencies to a drive or digital system.

A muscle pulse wavers and can even

switch polarity. Rectification, pulse-

width modulation, and algorithms are

used to “smooth” these signals.

EMG electrodes have been made more

sensitive and capable of detecting faint

electric pulses through the skin. This is

leading defense contractors to work on

controls in which human pilots interact

with computers to control aircraft by flex-

ing muscles. This technology has caught

the eyes of computer gaming companies.

YEI Technology, for example, recently

introduced PrioVR, a full-body EMG

suit. The company’s goal is to have it to

market for under $400, and an upper-

about $1,000/kW-hr. By 2013, density had gone to 1,400 Wh/L

at a cost of $300/kW-hr.

The higher a battery’s voltage, the shorter its lifespan tends

to be. To sidestep this conundrum, engineers have developed

higher-capacity electrodes and anodes. They’ve also devised

better chemistries for batteries. Lithium-ion cells, for example,

have the highest specific capacity (3,860 mAh/gm). But there

are safety concerns about lithium batteries’ charging/discharg-

ing cycles. They suffer from thermal runaway and could cause

fires. New carbon nano-composites are helping isolate the cul-

prit: lithium deposits that build up on the electrode.

DEVELOPMENTS AND MARKETS

Lockheed Martin says advances in motion control are driv-

A GENERAL COMPARISON

OF ACCELEROMETERS

FROM 2004 TO TODAY

Accelerometers 2004 Today

Size 5 × 5 × 1.8

mm

2 × 2 × 1.7

Current 4000

microamps

100 micro-

amps

Volt 5 V 1.8 V

Cost +$2 per

sensor in

bulk order

$0.30 per

sensor in bulk

order

This table shows how MEMS accelerometers

have improved over the last decade.


body suit for under $270. The equipment could control a video

character or an exoskeleton.

ReWalk built an exoskeleton that received FDA approval

to be sold as the first motorized device that will act as an exo-

skeleton for people with lower body paralysis due to spinal

cord injury. And in 2009, Cyberdyne said it would build 400

of its Hybrid Assistive Limb suits per year and license them to

hospitals for $2,000/month for rehab.

Three years later, 130 medical institu-

tions were using it.

There are also several robotic com-

panies designing and prototyping exo-

skeletons that could prevent debilitat-

ing muscle injuries, the most common

type of on-the-job injury. In 2011, inju-

ries caused by lifting, pushing, pulling,

holding, and carrying cost businesses

$14 billion, which was up from $8 bil-

lion just two years prior to that in 2009.

These injuries and costs are driving the

need for exoskeletons that serve as lift-

assistance devices.

Another factor driving demand

for exoskeletons is the price of fuel.

Although gasoline prices are currently

low and going lower, higher prices will

likely return. This could lead to more

U.S.-based shipping lines. To stay com-

petitive, longshoremen wearing exo-

skeletons could be used to load and

unload cargo without undue exhaustion

or injury.

Shipping and global competition will

make exoskeletons necessary, according

to Sean Petterson, CEO of Strong Arm

Technologies. Many companies, includ-

ing Strong Arm Technologies, are work-

ing on passive and soft exoskeletons to

promote proper posture and form for

lifting. With modern materials, some of

these devices, like Arm Strong Technol-

ogy’s V-22, weigh only a few pounds but

can lift hundreds.

In September 2014, the U.S. Defense

Advanced Research Project Associa-

tion gave $2.9 million to researchers at

Harvard to develop soft exoskeletons

that are comfortable enough to be worn

under clothing and reduce exhaustion

and injury associated with walking long

distances carrying up to 100 lb.

However, costs and design limitations could hamper prog-

ress in this area, according to the Journal of Mechanical and

Civil Engineering published information on associated design

restraints, and costs that might stand in the way of exoskel-

eton development. Despite these hurdles, the report notes that

with 3D printing and rapid prototyping, exoskeletons might

soon be a reality.


Quantum

Computing

Quantum computing

could change the face

of computing over

the coming decades,

especially when it comes to quickly solv-

ing certain classes of problems such as

optimization, code cracking (cryptogra-

phy), and machine learning. Google and

Lockheed Martin have already climbed

aboard the bandwagon, each purchasing

and now experimenting with a quantum

computer from D-Wave Systems.

However, quantum computing and

its reliance on quantum mechanics and

esoteric phenomenon such as superpo-

sition and entanglement, however, make

it difficult for most people to under-

stand it. But then most people have no

trouble using today’s “conventional”

computers despite knowing little about

transistors, tunneling, or n- and p-type

semiconductor materials and compilers.

So here’s a look at the basics of quan-

tum computing. (Another article in this

issue, Programming a Quantum Com-

puter, further explores and explains

quantum computing.)

THE THEORY

Quantum computers use an entirely

different approach to problem solving

than classical computers. An analogy is

a landscape with mountains and valleys.

Solving an optimization problem can be

thought of as trying to find the lowest

point on that landscape.

Every possible solution is mapped to

a set of coordinates on the landscape,

and the altitude of the landscape at those

coordinates is the “energy’” or “cost” of

the solution at that point. The goal is

to find the lowest point on the map and

get the associated coordinates, since this

gives the lowest energy or best solution

to the problem.

Classical computers can only “walk

over this landscape.” Quantum com-

puters, on the other hand, can tunnel

through it, letting them find the lowest

point more quickly. In fact, they con-

sider all possibilities simultaneously and

determine the lowest-energy required to

form those solutions.

Because quantum computers are

probabilistic rather than deterministic,

E.D. DAHL | Senior Research Scientist

D-Wave Systems, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Computer Technology

101

The heart of the D-Wave quantum com-

puter lies inside the gold box, the 512-qubit

Vesuvius processor.

The 10-ft-tall D-Wave Two, D Wave Systems commercial quantum computer, has its roots in

a 16-qubit processor built in 2006. It led to the firm’s 28-qubit processor in 2007, and then its

128-qubit processor in 2010. The Two’s 512-qubit processor was completed in 2013.

Here’s a look

at the first

commercial

quantum

computer.


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Computer Technology

they return many good answers in a short amount of time — 10,000 answers in one

second on the D-Wave 2 computer. This not only gives users the best solution or

single answer, but also a host of other alternatives to consider.

To program a quantum computer, users map problems into this search for the

lowest point. Users interact with the computer by connecting to it over a network, as

they often do with traditional computers. Problems are sent to a server interface that

turns the optimization program into machine code to be programmed onto the chip.

NOT QUITE READY FOR PRIME TIME

IT WILL BE quite a few years, more like

decades, before everyone has a quantum-

computing laptop or cell phone. The require-

ments for the support hardware are simply

too daunting.

For example, D Wave’s current commercial

computer, the D-Wave Two, needs its qubits

(or niobium wire loops) to be kept as cold

as possible, with as little exposure to ther-

mal noise or thermal vibrations as possible.

This translates into –273°C, or 0.02° above

absolute zero. To handle that task, it uses a

dedicated closed-cycle dilution refrigerator.

It consumes much of the 15.5 kW of power

needed to run the 512-qubit machine.

Keeping the processors cold minimizes

thermal noise — a must for inducing or set-

ting the stage for quantum phenomenon. The

processor is also kept in a near-vacuum to

eliminate interference with stray molecules.

Vacuum is said to be one ten-billionth that of

atmospheric pressure.

The processor is also shielded from mag-

netic fields, a step to prevent the Earth’s

magnetic field from interfering with those in

the niobium loops. D-Wave Two’s shielding

knocks the Earth’s magnetic field down by a

factor of 50,000. Engineers also had to con-

struct a way to get 192 lines into the proces-

sor and one fiber-optic feed out of it without

breaking the magnetic or pressure seals.

A technician wires the D-Wave computer.


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it’s a 0. When the current travels in both directions, it’s a qubit.

The programming model used in D-Wave computers does

not let programmers directly control the current flowing

through these qubits. Instead, they influence the qubits and

the computer responds to those influences.

Programmers influence qubits in two ways. First, each qubit

has an associated weight which is part of each QMI and under

ministically on this state, transform-

ing the contents of a few registers or

memory locations at a time. Quantum

computers like the D-Wave, however,

have no registers or memory locations

and, therefore, do not possess anything

analogous to state. Also, as noted before,

instructions for quantum computers are

not deterministic; instead, they return

probabilistic results.

If quantum computers have no reg-

isters or memory locations, how do we

learn anything from executing a QMI?

The answer is that the computer returns

samples from a distribution as a side

effect of executing the QMI. To explain

what these samples are and how this

distribution is defined, we must intro-

duce several entities that are key to the

D-Wave programming model.

The first such entity is the qubit,

which is simply a variable (q) that has

a value from the set 0, 1. Qubits hold

information in quantum computers.

Each qubit’s behavior is governed by the

laws of quantum mechanics and it lets

them be in a “superposition” state—that

is, both a 0 and a 1 at the same time until

an outside event causes the qubit to “col-

lapse” into either a 0 or a 1. This prop-

erty is unlike anything in our everyday

lives and completely nonintuitive. But it

forms the basis upon which all quantum

computers will be built and how they

solve problems.

In the D-Wave computer, loops of

niobium wire measuring 2 microns in

diameter and 700 microns in circumfer-

ence serve as a qubits. After the loops

are supercooled, two currents can be

generated that circle each loop in oppo-

site directions. When the current travels

in one direction, it’s considered to be a

1; when it travels the opposite direction,

The system then executes one or more “quantum machine

instructions” (QMI) to generate results.

QUANTUM BASICS

Classical computers consist of registers and memories.

The collective contents of these devices are referred to as the

computer’s state. Instructions for the computer act deter-


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Computer Technology

more, programmers specify the number

of solutions that they want the computer

to return.

With definitions for qubits and

weights , as wel l as couplers and

strengths, programmers can compose

an objective function that defines the

and qj, the strength of that coupler will be denoted by bij.

A programmer maps a problem to a QMI, whose objec-

tive is to return the minimal values (the optimal solutions).

The programmer must provide two values: the “weights” of

the qubits and “strengths” of the interaction between them.

Up to about 500 weights and 1500 strengths are able to be

specified in the current D-Wave 512 qubit processor. Further-

programmer control. In D-wave programming language,

qubit qi has a weight ai. And second, a coupler makes it possi-

ble for programmers to control the influence one qubit exerts

on another qubit. A coupler is always identified with exactly

two qubits, and therefore the coupler connects the qubits.

Just as a weight is associated with each qubit, strength is

associated with each coupler. If a coupler connects qubits qi

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distribution from which the samples (or solu-

tions) will be selected:

O(a,b;q)=∑Ni=1 aiqi +∑<i,j> bij qi qj

This objective function takes the values of

the weights (ai), strengths (bij) and qubits (qi) as

its input. For each specification of its input, the

function will return an objective value, or simply

an objective.

The first summation in the function encom-

passes all qubits. Thus, the limits range from 1 to

N, where N is the number of qubits in the system.

The second summation covers all couplers and

is denoted by the pairs of qubits corresponding

to a coupler by angle bracket notation < i, j >.

It’s important to note that each QMI consists of

exactly the ai and bij values that appear in the

above objective function.

With a defined objective function, program-

mers can describe samples and the distribution

from which they are drawn. Each sample is sim-

ply the collection of qi values for the entire set of

qubits in the problem. The distribution is (ideal-

ly) an equal weighting across all samples that give

the minimum value of the objective function.

Programmers working with quantum com-

puters encode the various possible solutions to

an optimization problem in terms of the qubit

variables. Then they translate constraints in the

optimization problem into values of the weights

ai and strengths bij so that when the objective is

minimized, the qubits satisfy the constraints.

The Vesuvius processor chip contains 512 loops of

niobium wire, each serving as a quantum bit or qubit,

according to D-Wave Systems.


Walking through

the steps for

programming

a quantum

computer

illustrates how

they solve

problems.

Programming quantum com-

puters is vastly different

than programming con-

ventional ones. To get a

better idea of what it could be like,

this article steps through the process

of programming a quantum comput-

er, a D-Wave System Two, using the

direct embedded method to solve a rela-

tively simple problem.

THE PROBLEM

Map coloring is a type of combinato-

rial optimization problem. For this prob-

lem, the goal is to color the 13 territories

and provinces of Canada so that no two regions shar-

ing a border are the same color, and regions touching only at

one or more isolated points, such as Nunavit and Saskatch-

ewan, are not considered to share borders. There are also a

limited number of colors, C.

The programming involves variables defined in the glossa-

ry and the objective function described in the previous article:

O(a,b;q)=∑Ni=1 aiqi +∑<i,j>bij qiqj

Next, choose a correspondence or encoding between colors

for a region and the qubit values. After fixing the encoding,

work out the form of a quantum machine instruction (QMI)

that will provide valid colorings. This task breaks down into

four steps:

1. Turn on one of several qubits.

2. Map a single region to a unit cell.

3. Implement constraints using couplers.

4. Clone neighbors to meet similar constraints.

Using unary encoding for the possible colors for each

region, assign C qubits to each region of the map. If the ith

color is assigned to a region, then the ith qubit (qi) associated

with that region will have the value 1 in our samples (or results

from the quantum computer) and the other (C – 1) qubits

associated with that region will have the value 0.

TURN ON ONE OF C QUBITS

First, solve the simpler problem of turning on just one qubit

in a two-qubit system. For a two-qubit system, the objective

thus becomes:

E. D. DAHL | Senior Research Scientist

D-Wave Systems, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Computer Technology

Prince Edward Island

Yukon

Northwest Territory

Nunavik

British Columbia

Alberta

Saskatchewan

Manitoba

Ontario Quebec

Newfoundland and Labrador

NewBrunswick

NovaScotia

The goal of this problem is to color the map of Canada so that border-

ing provinces and territories are different colors.

Programming a

QUANTUM COMPUTER


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Computer Technology

O(a, b; q) = a1q1 + a2q2 + b12q1q2

The four possible states in the distribu-

tion are listed in the Two-Qubit System table.

Choose a1, a2 and b12 values so that the dis-

tribution consists of the states with q1 = 0 and

q2 = 1, and the one in which q1 = 1 and q2 = 0.

The other two states in which qi is equal 0 or 1

should not be in the distribution.

To make encodings of either color equal-

ly likely in the distribution, a1 must equal a2.

These values also need to be less than 0 so that

the state characterized by q1 = 0 and q2 = 0 will

not appear. Therefore:

a1 = a2 < 0

To eliminate the state in which q1 and q2

equal 1 from the distribution requires that:

a1+ a2 + b12 = 0

A solution to these equations is:

a1= −1, a2 = −1, and b12 = 2

Substituting those values for a1, a2, and b12 into the Two-Qubit System table

shows that the objective value is minimized for the two states in which one q1 value

is 1 and the other is 0. This means samples from the distribution generated by the

QMI will consist solely of these two states.

These coefficient values would be enough if the map had only two colors, but

most maps require more colors. Therefore we must generalize to the case where C

qubits represent the possible colors assigned to a region. The ultimate goal is to find

values of ai and bij coefficients that will yield a distribution over those samples that

have exactly one qubit turned on (equal to 1) and the other C − 1 qubits turned off

(equal to 0).

To solve this problem, take a clue from the two-qubit problem. In that problem,

two states needed exactly one qubit turned on to be equally represented in the dis-

tribution and thus we set a1 = a2. The solution is symmetric if the two qubits are

interchanged, as expected.

Now apply this principle to the case with three colors, along with a corresponding

number of qubits to simplify the constraints.

If C = 3, then there are three qubits. The corresponding objective function is:

O(a, b ; q) = a1q1 + a2q2 + a3q3 + b12q1q2 + b13q1q3 + b23q2q3

C=2 C=4C=3

Connectivity of Qubits and Couplers

GLOSSARY

COUPLER: A variable (b) that defines how two qubits <i, j> affect each other. For

example, coupler bij determines how qi affects qj.

QUBIT: A variable (q) that has a value from the set 0, 1.

QUANTUM MACHINE INSTRUCTION (QMI): A restatement of the problem to be

solved. The computer comes up with a distribution of qubit values that minimize the

value of the QMI.

STRENGTH: Defines the coupler relationship between qubits and provides another

way to influence qubits. A coupler connecting qubits qi and qj has a strength of b

and is denoted bij.

WEIGHT: In the QMI, each qubit (q) is given a weight (a) as one way of influencing

qubits. For example, qubit, qi has a weight of ai.

In these diagrams, each vertex represents

a qubit and each edge represents a coupler

between qubits.

Two-Qubit System table

q1 q2 O(a,b:q)

0 0 0

0 1 a2

1 0 a1

1 1 a1+a2+b12

This table shows the possible qubit states

and the objective in a two-qubit system.


The Truth About Compressed Air!Compare these Blowoffs

Th ere are a variety of ways to blow the water from the bottles shown in the photo below, but which method is best? To decide, we ran a comparison test on the same application using four diff erent blowoff methods: drilled pipe, fl at air nozzles, Super Air Knife (each using compressed air as a power source), and a blower supplied air knife (using an electric motor as a power source). Each system consisted of two twelve inch long air knives. Th e following comparison proves that the EXAIR Super Air Knife is the best choice for your blowoff , cooling or drying application.

Th e goal for each of the blowoff choices was to use the least amount of air possible to get the job done (lowest energy and noise level). Th e compressed air pressure required was 60 PSIG which provided adequate velocity to blow the water off . Th e blower used had a ten horsepower motor and was a centrifugal type blower at 18,000 RPM. Th e table at the bottom of the page summarizes the overall performance. Since your actual part may have an odd confi guration, holes or sharp edges, we took sound level measurements in free air (no impinging surface).

Drilled Pipe

Th is common blowoff is very inexpensive and easy to make. For this test, we used (2) drilled pipes, each with (25) 1/16" diameter holes on 1/2" centers. As shown in the test results below, the drilled pipe performed poorly. Th e initial cost of the drilled pipe is overshadowed by its high energy use. Th e holes are easily blocked and the noise level is excessive - both of which violate OSHA requirements. Velocity across the entire length was very inconsistent with spikes of air and numerous dead spots.

Flat Air Nozzles

As shown below, this inexpensive air nozzle was the worst performer. It is available in plastic, aluminum and stainless steel from several manufacturers. Th e fl at air nozzle provides some entrainment, but suff ers from many of the same problems as the drilled pipe. Operating cost and noise level are both high. Some manufacturers off er fl at air nozzles where the holes can be blocked - an OSHA violation. Velocity was inconsistent with spikes of air.

Blower Air Knife

Th e blower proved to be an expensive, noisy option. As noted below, the purchase price is high. Operating cost was considerably lower than the drilled pipe and fl at air nozzle, but was comparable to EXAIR’s Super Air Knife. Th e large blower with its two 3" (8cm) diameter hoses requires signifi cant mounting space compared to the others. Noise level was high at 90 dBA. Th ere was no option for cycling it on and off to conserve energy like the other blowoff s. Costly bearing and fi lter maintenance along with downtime were also negative factors.

EXAIR Super Air Knife

Th e Super Air Knife did an exceptional job of removing the moisture on one pass due to the uniformity of the laminar airfl ow. Th e sound level was extremely low. For this application, energy use was slightly higher than the blower but can be less than the blower if cycling on and off is possible. Safe operation is not an issue since the Super Air Knife can not be dead-ended. Maintenance costs are low since there are no moving parts to wear out.

The Super Air Knife is the low cost way to blowoff, dry, clean and cool.

If you think compressed air is too expensive and noisy - read this. The facts will surprise you!

Blowoff Comparison

Comp. Air Horsepower

Required

Sound

Level

dBA

Purchase

Price

Annual

Electrical

Cost*

Approx. Annual

Maintenance

Cost

First

Year

CostType of blowoff PSIG BAR SCFM SLPM

Drilled Pipes 60 4.1 174 4,924 35 91 $50 $4,508 $920 $5,478

Flat Air Nozzles 60 4.1 257 7,273 51 102 $208 $6,569 $1,450 $8,227

Blower Air Knife 3 0.2 N/A N/A 10 90 $5,500 $1,288 $1,500 $8,288

Super Air Knife 60 4.1 55 1,557 11 69 $566 $1,417 $300 $2,283

*Based on national average electricity cost of 8.3 cents per kWh. Annual cost refl ects 40 hours per week, 52 weeks per year.

Facts about Blowers

Energy conscious plants might think a blower to be a better choice due to its slightly lower electrical consumption compared to a compressor. In reality, a blower is an expensive capital expenditure that requires frequent downtime and costly maintenance of fi lters, belts and bearings. Here are some important facts:

Filters must be replaced every one to three months.

Belts must be replaced every three to six months.

Typical bearing replacement is at leastonce a year at a cost near $1000.

• Blower bearings wear out quickly due to the high speeds (17-20,000 RPM) required to generate eff ective airfl ows.

• Poorly designed seals that allow dirt and moisture infi ltration and environments above 125°F decrease the one year bearing life.

• Many bearings can not be replaced in the fi eld, resulting in downtime to send the assembly back to the manufacturer.

Blowers take up a lot of space and often produce sound levels that exceed OSHA noise level exposure requirements. Air volume and velocity are often diffi cult to control since mechanical adjustments are required.

To discuss an application, contact:

EXAIR Corporation11510 Goldcoast DriveCincinnati, Ohio 45249-1621(800) 903-9247Fax: (513) 671-3363email: [email protected]

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Computer Technology

Simplify this objective by applying the

insight about the symmetry of the solu-

tions, and require the three ai values equal

one common value, a. Similarly, require the

three bij values equal a common value b:

O(a, b ; q) = a(q1 + q2 + q3)

+ b(q1q2 + q1q3 + q2q3)

Tabulate the eight states of this system

(see the Three-Qubit System table).

Taking a hint from our previous example,

observe that setting a = −1 and b = 2 will

give the three states with exactly one qubit

turned on an objective value of −1. Among

the other five states, four will have objective

values equal to 0 and one will have its objective equal to 3.

This guarantees samples will consist only of qubit patterns

with one of the three qubits is equal to 1.

A quick check confirms that this same symmetry argu-

ment can be applied to problems with C = 4 or higher. In all

these cases, the distribution is influenced to contain only

qubit patterns with exactly one qubit turned on by choosing

ai = −1 for all the weights and bij = 2 for all the strengths.

MAP A SINGLE REGION TO A UNIT CELL

To finish the first step of transforming the map-coloring

problem to a QMI, C qubits were introduced for each region

in the map and weights and strengths for the qubits and cou-

plers were initialized. The connectivity pattern of the qubits

and couplers is represented in the figure Connectivity of

Qubits and Couplers. It illustrates how each graph vertex rep-

resents a qubit and each edge represents a coupler between

qubits. The Unit Cell figure depicts a small portion of the

pattern of physical qubits and couplers corresponding to the

unit cell. It is easy to find many instances of the complete

graph on two vertices, but there are no instances of the complete graph on three or

four (or more) vertices. This poses the next challenge.

To solve this problem, make a distinction between logical qubits and couplers

and physical qubits and couplers inside the quantum computer. Each logical qubit

corresponds (via an embedding) to one or more connected physical qubits, which is

called a chain. To implement a coupler between logical qubits, it is enough to find a

physical coupler connecting any physical qubit in the chain for the first logical qubit

to another physical qubit in the chain for the second logical qubit.

This strategy makes it easy to map complete graphs on up to four vertices to the

unit cell in the computer. The chain for the first logical qubit cor¬responds to the

top two physical qubits in the unit cell. Likewise, the chain for the nth logical qubit

corresponds to the two physical qubits in the nth row of the unit cell. It is easy to

confirm there is a physical coupler between each pair of chains, yielding a unit-cell

embedding for complete graphs of up to four vertices.

To ensure the physical qubits within one chain faithfully represent a single logical

qubit, we must define weights and strengths for the physical qubits within a chain

that keeps them aligned.

This figure depicts a small

portion of the pattern of

physical qubits and cou-

plers in the D-Wave Sys-

tem corresponding to the

unit cell.

Unit Cell

Three-Qubit System table

q1 q2 q3 Objective

0 0 0 0

0 0 1 a

0 1 0 a

0 1 1 2a+b

1 0 0 a

1 0 1 2a+b

1 1 0 2a+b

1 1 1 3a+3b

This table shows the possible qubit states

and the objective in a three-qubit system.


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By referring to the table of objective values for the two-

qubit system, it is easy to see that assigning a1= 1, a2 = 1, and

b12 = −2 give the aligned chains an objective of 0 and mis-

aligned chains an objective of 1. Note here that the weight and

strengths necessary to implement this desired set of states are

negative versions of the weights and strengths used to solve

the “1 of 2” problem.

To complete this step, supply a rule

to map weights and strengths for logi-

cal qubits and couplers to the physi-

cal qubits and couplers that represent

them. Each logical qubit is represented

by a chain of length two so we divide the

weight of -1 for the logical qubit in half

and apply a weight of -1/2 to each physi-

cal qubit in the chain.

Likewise, we specified a strength of 2

for logical couplers. Because the chains for

each pair of logical qubits are connected

by two physical couplers, we also divide

the logical strength of 2 into two physical

strengths of 1 each in the unit cell.

IMPLEMENT CONSTRAINTS

USING COUPLERS

At this point, colors are encoded for

each region using logical qubits, and the

logical qubits and couplers are mapped

to physical unit cells. Now we need to

enforce the neighbor constraints. With

some foresight, we chose the unary

encoding and logical-to-physical map-

ping to simplify this next step (and the

following one, too).

The task is to adjust the weights and

strengths so that when, for example,

the red qubits for British Columbia and

Alberta both turn on, it increases the

value of the objective function. On the

other hand, the objective should stay

constant when both these red qubits are

turned off or when one or the other (but

not both) is turned on.

Referring to the Two-Qubit System

table, assume q1 refers to British Colum-

bia’s red qubit and q2 refers to Alberta’s

red qubit. By setting a1= 0 and a2 = 0

and b12 = 1, the objective is lifted in the

fourth state, which we need to penalize,

and leaves the other three states at an

objective of 0.

To implement this penalty, it will take a physical coupler

that connects British Columbia’s and Alberta’s red qubits. This

requires a look at a slightly larger portion of the fabric of phys-

ical qubits and couplers that make up the D-Wave computer.

The figure Neighboring cells and chains shows two neigh-

boring unit cells and highlights the chains in each unit cell

that represent the four logical qubits, one for each color. Most

Computer Technology


Computer Technology

importantly, for the current step, this figure additionally rep-

resents physical couplers that are connecting two adjacent unit

cells as arcs.

It is clear these couplers are ideally positioned to imple-

ment the portion of the objective that ensures that if the chain

representing color i is turned on in one unit cell and the chain

representing color i in the neighboring unit cell is also turned

on, it will penalize this state. So the strength associated with

the four arc-shaped couplers should be set to 1.

CLONE REGIONS AS NECESSARY

This last step in mapping the coloring problem to the quan-

tum-programming model is necessitated by neighbor rela-

tions in the map and connectivity of unit cells. Note that

British Columbia, Alberta, and the

Northwest Territories are all neighbors.

Also note that unit cells are configured

in a two-dimensional checkerboard

array. The configuration of these three

regions cannot be mapped to unit cells

while preserving the neighbor relation.

We could assign British Columbia and

Alberta to unit cells that neighbor each

other horizontally (see Neighboring

Cells and Chains) and assign the North-

west Territories to a unit cell positioned

vertically above British Columbia. This

configuration means Alberta is not a

direct neighbor of the Northwest Ter-

ritory in the unit-cell array and, hence,

This table represents a mapping of Canada’s

13 regions to a portion of a unit-cell array.

Rows and column indices are 0-based.

Regions are labeled using standard two-

letter postal codes.

0 1 2 3 4

0 NL ON MB SK AB

1 PE QC NU NT AB

2 NB NS NT BC

3 YT BC

Neighboring Cells and Chains

Yellow

British Columbia Alberta

Red

Green

Blue

This diagram shows two neighboring unit

cells (British Columbia and Alberta) and

highlights the chains in each cell represent-

ing four logical qubits, one for each color.


there are no physical couplers to ensure the same color qubits

will not be simultaneously activated in these two regions.

Using clones can solve this problem, though. Clones are

analogous to chains of physical qubits representing a single

logical qubit. In this case, several unit cells represent the color

of a single region. Just as with chains of physical qubits, clon-

ing extends the footprint of a single region in the unit-cell

array to provide more neighbors for a cloned region. This lets

us enforce neighbor constraints arising from Canada’s map

that do not transfer directly to the unit-cell array.

The Map of Canada in Unit Cell Array maps Canada’s 13

regions to unit cells with Alberta (AB), British Columbia

(BC), and the Northwest Territories (NT) all cloned. It is easily

checked by referencing the Map of Canada that each neighbor

relation from the map of Canada corresponds to some adja-

cent pair of unit cells in the cell array.

To complete this step, the strengths for the intercell couplers

must be adjusted so that the color assigned to Alberta in the

unit cell in row 0 and column 4 matches the color assigned to

Alberta in the unit cell in row 1 and column 4. This problem is

solved in exactly the same way as solving for chains of physical

qubits representing a logical qubit. For the physical coupler

connecting the red qubits in Alberta’s top and bottom cells,

adjust the strength of the coupler to -2 and add a weight of 1 to

the two physical qubits connected through the coupler. Repeat

this for each of the other colors as well as for British Columbia

and Northwest Territories, which have also been cloned.

These four steps transformed the problem of generating

a valid coloring for the regions of Canada into a single QMI

for a quantum computer. They followed naturally from the

decision to represent colorings via a unary encoding scheme,

which requires 13C qubits to represent the possible C color-

ings of the 13 regions of Canada. (Implementing the steps in a

conventional programming language such as C is shown in an

appendix available to those who request it via email to mdedi-

[email protected] with quantum n the subject line.)

Regardless of language, standard constructs generate the

weights and strengths of the QMI. Special library routines are

used to pass the QMI to the D-Wave computer and retrieve

samples from the resulting distribution.

Three conclusions can be drawn from this exercise. First,

mapping this problem to a QMI could be simplified via rou-

tines that create embeddings of a logical formulation to a

physical QMI. Second, a map that can be colored using this

strategy is limited size-wise by the amount of unit cells. A more

scalable strategy allows larger maps to divide into chunks that

can be handled individually. Results from several chunks

could be synthesized to color larger maps. Third, the D-Wave

unit cell is large enough to handle four colors with this encod-

ing, but the scheme must be modified to handle more general

mapping problems using more than four colors.


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JANUARY 2015

f r om

globalpurchasing.com

VICTORIA FRAZA KICKHAM | DISTRIBUTION EDITOR [email protected]

AS 2014 WOUND DOWN, industrial distri-

bution executives said they experienced

a better year than 2103 and were reason-

ably upbeat as the New Year approached.

At Motion Industries in Birming-

ham, Ala., senior vice president Randy

Breaux saw overall improvement.

“It’s been a little bit better than 2013,”

Breaux said, “and the second half of the

year has shown steady improvement.”

He said that growth resulted from

“good and steady business” from a num-

ber of product lines and customer bases.

“We’re seeing market increases pretty

much across the board,” he said. “People

are spending a little bit more money on

new projects … and on maintaining

equipment in the plants.”

Motion is very diverse, with an array

of product lines and a customer base

heavy in the OEM/MRO industries.

“Primary industries for us would be

food and beverage, oil and gas, pulp and

paper, iron and steel,” Breaux explained.

Sensor Market Heats UpSensors drive growth for sup-

ply chain companies in 2015,

with wearable electronic

devices leading the way.

SENSORS ARE AMONG the hottest tech-

nologies in the electronic components

market these days, as the drive to con-

nect everything from industrial systems

to health monitoring equipment to the

Web creates new demand for sophisti-

cated products that incorporate a higher

number of sensors. This is especially

true in the wearable electronic devices

market, where sensor shipments are

expected to increase nearly seven-fold

between 2013 and 2019, according to a

recent industry report from researcher

IHS Technology.

IHS predicts that shipments of sensors

for wearable electronics will hit 466 mil-

lion units by 2019, up from 67 million

units in 2013. Sensor shipments will rise

more quickly than the market for wear-

able devices themselves, the researcher

adds, forecasting wearable devices ship-

ments will increase to 135 million units

by 2019, compared to 50 million in 2013.

“Wearables are a hotbed for sen-

sors, with market growth driven by the

increasing number of these compo-

nents in each product sold,” said Jérémie

Bouchaud, director and senior principal

analyst, MEMS & Sensors, at IHS Tech-

nology. “The main factor propelling this

phenomenon is a transition in market

share away from simple products like

pedometers and toward more sophis-

GO TO MACHINEDESIGN.COM 53

The uptick in manufacturing is boosting business for indus-

trial distributors, as more expect to make new hires and

expand their geographic footprints in the New Year.

JOE NOWLAN | CONTRIBUTING EDITOR [email protected]

Distributors to Hire, Expand More in 2015

VICTORIA FRAZA KICKHAM

Continued on

ticated multipurpose devices such

as smart watches and smart glasses.

Instead of using a single sensor like

the simpler devices, the more com-

plex products employ numerous

components for health and activity

monitoring, as well as for their more

advanced user interfaces.”

The average wearable device

shipped in 2019 will incorporate 4.1

sensors, up from 1.4 in 2013, accord-

ing to IHS. The researcher also expects

components such as humidity sensors and pulse sensors to

move from handsets to wearables, also boosting sensor sales.

Examples include smart watches from Samsung and Apple.

RAMPING UP IN 2015

Many industry-watchers say 2015 will be an acceleration

point for sensors. IHS points to a doubling of wearable sen-

sor shipments next year, for instance. Sensors were also a key

topic at October’s Electronic Components Industry Associa-

tion Executive Conference, as manufacturers and distributors

discussed their potential across industrial, automotive, health,

and fitness categories.

“We think it’s a big growth oppor-

tunity,” said Lew LaFornara, vice

president of supplier marketing for

electronics distributor TTI, Inc.

“And it plays into everything being

connected.”

LaFornara pointed to Honeywell’s

new line of thermostats that can

be controlled by an iPhone as one

example. He also noted that recent

acquisitions in the sensor manufac-

turing market — TE Connectivity’s

recent acquisition of American Sensor Technologies is one

example — are helping distributors add or expand sensor lines

to take advantage of the growing market.

And in a presentation on the sensor market during the

ECIA event, Dr. Janus Bryzek explained that sensors have the

potential to change the global economy. He said sensor usage

by mobile devices increased by more than 200% from 2007 to

2012, and that demand will surge to the trillions in the next

decade. Bryzek cited the digital health market — which is

predicted to be a $50 billion industry by 2018 — as one of the

greatest opportunities for manufacturers and sellers of elec-

tronic components.

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54

“However, we participate in just about

every industry sector out there.”

Though product diversity can pro-

vide a bit of a safety net against an eco-

nomic downturn, Motion had no need

for one in 2014, Breaux explained.

“All product lines are growing. We

have a very large concentration in the

bearings and power transmission prod-

uct lines,” he said. “Those product lines

are growing, and [they] picked up in

the second half of the year after being a

bit slow in the first half. Our industrial

supplies product lines have also grown

nicely. Those product lines, as well as

our fluid power and pneumatics prod-

ucts, are all growing at a very good rate.”

At Cleveland-based BDI-USA, John

Ruth, president and chief operating offi-

cer, was slightly less upbeat, calling 2014

“an average year for BDI. Growth has

been strongest in food and automotive

and soft in defense.”

Ruth referred to the difficult winter

of 2013-14 and its effect on business.

“The year started slowly, with severe

weather impacting our customers, but

improved steadily thereafter,” Ruth said.

As at Motion, Ruth and BDI know

that their diverse choice of products and

customer base can help assure a steady

flow of business at least.

“Our food customers tend to fare well

in an economic downturn, but we aren’t

isolated from macroeconomic forces,”

Ruth explained. “We do find that servic-

es and repair grow when the economy

softens and we are well positioned in

both areas. [But] MRO in food has been

very strong in 2014.”

At Steven Engineering, Paul Burk,

vice president of marketing, described

a “very strong” 2014, but explained that

the company’s focus on products and

service, rather than product and cus-

tomer diversity, may have been the key.

“We actually are not as diverse as

a lot of the other distributors,” Burk

explained. “I actually think we’re fairly

Distributors to Hire

Continued from Page 53

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GO TO MACHINEDESIGN.COM 55

well focused, but we’re

not a broad line distribu-

tor. When you look at our

site … what is listed there

are the manufacturers,

but also the brand names.

B ecause there are so

many acquisitions in our

business, we do both. We

actually only represent

49 manufacturers. If you

go to our site, you would

think we have over 100.”

Based in San Francisco,

Steven Engineering had a

strong 2014.

“We are exceeding our

forecast both from the

top line and a bottom-line

perspective,” Burk said.

“We saw some softening

toward the middle part

of the year, during July

and August, primarily.

We have invested heav-

ily in infrastructure. We

brought online some

new services that have

paid huge dividends for

us. And we have started a

new initiative for a port-

folio of products that we

did not have before. ”

Burk said that Steven

Engineering’s focus is in

electrical, automation,

and pneumatic controls. But the com-

pany also added motion control in 2014.

“Our motion initiative is a three-

year initiative that we kicked off this

past August,” he said. “We are focusing

on seven core manufacturers, and that

gives us the motor, the controller, and

the mechanical side of a motion control

solution. Motion is not an easy sell. So

for us, it has been a large learning curve.”

With growth has come a certain

amount of hiring. At Motion Industries,

Breaux said that new hires also resulted

from some acquisitions.

“We have hired some new people this

year. We are continuing to increase the

level of talent with new

hires,” he said. “Also,

some of our new talent

comes from acquisitions

we make. We made one

significant acquisition

this year [Commercial

Solutions Inc. in Canada]

and we continue to look

for others that make stra-

tegic sense.”

BDI made new hires

on the technology side of

the business.

“We h i re d a nu m-

ber of technical people

in 2014 to work on our

SAP, e-business , and

supply chain projects,

and [we] opened sev-

eral new branches,” Ruth

explained. “We will open

several more branches in

2015 and add resources

as needed for tech-based

projects.”

The topic of new hires

is also a source of poten-

tial concern for Ruth, one

that many in distribu-

tion have voiced: how to

attract new people to the

distribution end of the

supply chain.

“A topic of conversa-

tion at every Bearing Spe-

cialist Association and Power Transmis-

sion Distributors Association meeting

we attend is how to attract new people to

the distribution industry,” he said. “Not

enough people are aware of the great

careers available [here].”

At Steven Engineering, the mood is

upbeat and Burk explained the company

hopes to expand to other Western states

including Oregon, Washington, Arizona,

Colorado, and Utah in 2015 and beyond.

“What we see, at least for our ability,

is to be able to expand geographically in

the next five years,” he explained. “Right

now, we are primarily in California,

which is about 70% of our revenue.”

DistributionResource|GlobalPurchasing

“We’re seeing market increases

pretty much across the board.

People are spending a little bit

more money on new projects …

and on maintaining equipment

in the plants.”

Randy Breaux,

Motion Industries

“We are exceeding our forecast

both from the top line and a bot-

tom-line perspective.”

Paul Burk, Steven Engineering


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in., the Lo-Pro enables convenient

loading of multiple loads via hand-

powered pallet jacks or electric

“walkies” equipped with long forks.

It’s also suitable for half-pallets, which

are becoming more popular within

the beverage industry. These pallets

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offering flexibility in building and

locating in-store displays.

The Lo-Pro conveyor best fits fa-

cilities that use one vehicle to carry

multiple pallet loads (e.g., beverage

distribution). The operator brings the

load to the infeed zone of the convey-

or, and then lowers it onto the chain

drive. The machine’s logic control

then takes over staging the load and

conveys them one at a time into the

wrapping zone of an Orion MA rotary

tower automatic stretch wrapping sys-

tem for unitizing with stretch film. Up

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Linear labeling system

THE AR-BOX is a high-speed, auto-

matic linear labeling

system designed to ap-

ply self-adhesive labels

or tamper-evident seals

and tuck flap cartons on

upper and/or bottom

faces of closed boxes.

Manufacturers can add printers and

data capture of traceability informa-

tion with e-Pedigree and sterilization

systems, without the need to add a

mass amount of additional space to

the productivity line. It is controlled

by a PLC with a touchscreen, a thin-

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can incorporate up to three labelling

heads, reaching a maximum output

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3D printer with DLP layered

projection system

ROLAND DGA

introduced the

monoFab series,

which includes the

company’s first 3D

printer, the ARM-10,

and a compact

3D subtrac-

tive milling

machine,

the SRM-20.

The ARM-10

3D printer is

optimized

for validat-

ing a design

in the initial

stages of prototyping or

modeling a complex shape. It

incorporates a digital-light-pro-

cessing (DLP) layered projection

system to build models by se-

quentially curing layers of resin

from a resin tray. The suspended

build system minimizes resin us-

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modeling time. Included mono-

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features automatic functions to

fill in gaps in 3D data and to sim-

plify meshes.

The SRM-20 desktop mill

features a new milling spindle,

independent collect, and sub-

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non-proprietary materials used

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Products

Color-label printers

QUICKLABEL SYS-

TEMS made a splash

at Pack Expo 2014

today with the launch

of two new label print-

ers that fall under its

Kiaro! family umbrella.

First, in response to

demands for a smaller

color-label printer, the company developed the Kiaro! 50

inkjet label printer. Designed for printing small, high-quality

labels (1 to 2.16 inches wide) in moderate volumes, the

system weighs under 10 pounds and measures just over

10 inches tall. With 1200-dpi quality, it prints up to 4.8

images/s—enough to print 68 labels per minute based

on a 2-in.-wide by 4-in.-long label. It prints on blank stock,

from four individual CMYK dye ink cartridges. The system is

best suited for applications that intend to lessen costs of

labeling multiple SKUs (i.e., buying and storing pre-printed

labels) via on-demand label printing.

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PRODUCTS/SERVICES

In most cases, advertisements contained in MACHINE DESIGN employment section indicate that the companies are equal opportunity employers. The Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, and other laws, prohibit discrimination in employment based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, or for any reason other than lack of professional qualification for the position being offered. It should be noted that employ-ment advertisements in MACHINE DESIGN are published for the readers convenience and, in no way, to the best of our knowledge, promote unlawful discrimination.

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E-MAIL:

[email protected]

Company Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page#

Allied Electronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Altech Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ifc, ibc

Automationdirect.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Balluff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Belt Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Bokers Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Braxton Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Carlyle Johnson Machine Company . . . . . . . 21

Clippard Instrument Lab Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . bc

Counterbalance Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Diequa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Dorner Mfg Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Dura-Belt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Dynaflo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Eagle Stainless Tube Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Exair Corp.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Fabco Air, Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Floyd Bell Incorporated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Gripnail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

igus Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Iko International Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Indo-Us Mim Tec Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Intech Powercore Corporation . . . . . . . . 12, 56

Kepner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Ketterer Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

KNF Neubergers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Lubriplate Lubricants Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Magnetic Component Engrg-Mce . . . . . . . . . 60

Maxon Motor Usa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Metal Powder Ind Federation . . . . . . . . . 50, 59

Micromo Electronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Miki Pulley Us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Moog Components Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Motion Industries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

National Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Nb Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Novotechnik Us Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Parker Hannifin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Pelican Products Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Penn Engineering & Mfg Corp . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Peter Paul Electronics Co. Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Physik Instruments Lp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Pivot Point. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Precision Paper Tube Company. . . . . . . . . . . 58

Proto Labs, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Pyramid Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Reell Precision Manufacturing. . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Sab North America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Schaeffler Group Usa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Schmersal Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Sew Eurodrive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Smalley Steel Ring Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Source Esb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Specialty Motions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Spirol Intnl Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Stratasys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28-29

Tdk-Lambda Americas Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

The Lee Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Trim-Lok Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Watlow Electric Mfg Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

While every effort has been made to ensure the

accuracy of this index, the publisher cannot be

held responsible for any errors or omissions.

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New 50th Anniversary Parts and Engineering Catalog

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Expanded Compression Limiters Design GuideThis informative Design Guide

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Trim-Lok offers custom co- and tri-extrusion capabilities!

Using the highest quality standards and utilizing the best materials available, including closed cellular sponge EPDM, Silicone,

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CUSTOM RUBBER & PLASTIC EXTRUSIONS

Get a FREE copy of our book that will help you make better parts —fast.

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go.protolabs.com/MA5S

Cross-referenced to metal cam followers foreasy replacement

Only our patent pending iCamFollowers® offer all these advantages: plastic tire elimi-nates rail wear; no lubrication is required in the bearing or on the rail; reduce noise up to 10dB; absorb shock and vibration; high load capacity; ball bearings permit higher linear speeds; lighter weight reduces inertia; are suitable for use in clean rooms; wash downs; work well in subzero temperatures (-40F). For load ratings and sizes go to www.intechpower.com/icam.Intech Corporation, 201-767-8066

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Stock and specialty Non-Threaded Fastener Solutions include Clevis Pins, Cotter Pins, Quick Release Pins and devices, Locking Pins, Steel Lanyard assemblies and more. Buy direct from Manufacturer! Several exclusive award-winning fastener inventions include SLIC Pins (pin and cotter all in one), Bow Tie Locking Cotters, Rue Ring Locking Cotters and Nylon Lanyards.

Pivot Point Incorporated

High-Performance MagnetsNew catalog features high perfor-mance magnet materials such as NdFeB and SmCo, molded mag-

nets, ceramic and alnico magnets. MCE offers magnet circuit design, custom fabrication, assembly, and

advanced coatings. Complete traceability is offered.

Phone: (310) 784-3100 Fax: (310) 784-3192

[email protected]

Magnetic Components Engineering

desmarketing.penton.com

The Power of our NetworkWe Reach Your Buyers in ALL Markets and IndustriesPenton’s Design Engineering & Sourcing Group is the only network of brands that reach 100% of the design

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information necessary to get their job done successfully.

Do Your New Products

Sell Like Hockey Sticks?

Have you heard the term “hockey stick sales”

before? This is when there are relatively few

sales right after launch, but a few weeks or

months later, sales increase significantly.

(The blade of the hockey stick represents a graph of the flat

sales period; the handle represents the rise.)

The blade is often avoidable, but not always. If your com-

pany’s products must get “spec’d-in” to a customer’s final

assembly, flat initial sales may be expected as the customer

assimilates the product into theirs. This is often the case

in the automotive, aerospace, semiconductor, and other

heavily tiered industries. Only when the customer’s model

is released do your pull-through sales start rising up the

handle. Flat sales may also be expected in municipal, gov-

ernment, and capital-intensive industries awaiting the next

fiscal year budget or capital approval cycle. When the next

year’s plan is approved, your sales begin.

Blades are also expected when products are new-to-the-

world or too innovative for their value to be immediately rec-

ognized. It takes a while for the market to warm up to your

offering and, hence, sales are flat. Geoffrey Moore’s 1991

book, Crossing the Chasm, addressed this “chasm” of no sales

while the market assessed a new product’s value equation.

The most difficult situation to fix is when a company has

a poor reputation for new products. It is often described as,

“Company X always releases products prematurely and they

are unreliable. Wait a year until they get the bugs out and

then buy it.” Causes for this reputation include aggressive

sales organization pull, management-imposed launch dates,

and poor product testing. All these scenarios require system-

atic fixes and often culture changes as well.

Another hard situation to fix is actually caused by product

development. Product-development teams are usually late to

market. Sales has learned this and adjusts accordingly. They

don’t get customers excited early because they know they

might have to ask them to wait on a delay. So sales waits until

they have the product in their hands.

More often than not, simple tweaks to the product-devel-

opment process (PDP) will transform it into a “product com-

mercialization process.” Many PDPs are designed to opti-

mize development, not commercialization. So new products

get thrown over the wall to sales.

Developing pieces for trade publications and advertising,

sales-force training, scheduling customer visits, customer

assimilation time, and other launch necessities all take time.

True product commercialization processes overlap many

of these activities with testing and ramp-up activities that

precede launch.

Take a look at your PDPs after the design phase. What

are the earliest points that business development, market-

ing, sales, and technical publications can engage? Can these

points be pushed earlier or engagement intensity increased?

Where do customers first engage? Are customers able to be

engaged earlier even if they can’t place orders yet?

Moreover, can customers get first dibs on products even

if an exact price and or delivery time cannot yet be forecast?

Are there distinct Alpha and Beta phases during ramp-up,

or equivalent clear points where developers and promoters

can agree that customers check out the product without too

much risk?

Thinking agile, are there tasks that are usually all done

at the end of development that could be broken down into

batches that start earlier? We have at least a decade of expe-

rience using this approach in development. Let’s take this

thinking and apply it to commercialization.

Hockey-stick sales reduce developer satisfaction as market

acceptance is delayed. They also slow down company sales

and profits while giving customers pause for thought as they

wait for others to take the plunge. The best business hockey

stick has no blade, only a handle.

BRADFORD L. GOLDENSE, NPDP, CMfgE, CPIM, CCP, presi-

dent of Goldense Group Inc. (GGI), Needham, Mass. (www.

goldensegroupinc.com), has advised over 300 manufactur-

ing companies on four continents in product management,

R&D, engineering, product development, and metrics. GGI is

a consulting, market research, and executive education firm

founded in 1986.

Goldense on R&D-Product Development

BRADFORD L. GOLDENSE | Contributing Technical Expert


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Machine design january 2015

Technology

Transcript of Machine design january 2015