Modern Boar Hunting

Posted on June 27, 2015 by george

“Catch Dogs (boar hunting)” by Tacosunday

The hunting of wild boar is an activity that comes to us from the middle ages. Wild Boar and their domesticated offspring hogs have been a staple human food. Animals were released into the forest and left to fend for themselves such that they could be hunted during the winter. Europeans moving to the new world brought this practice with them. Feral pigs were released into the wild in the US. Like many invasive species they thrived because they have no natural enemies. In US states such as Florida and Texas the feral pig population is growing in spite of our best efforts to cull a few hundred thousand animals per year. The intelligence of the animals is thwarting our efforts. Pigs travel in groups of about 15 called sounders. Due to the cooperation within the groups, traditional control methods such as trapping only catch a subset of the group leaving the rest to repopulate with their high birth rate. It is not about how many animals we cull. It is about
how many we miss and allow to go free.
Every problem is also an opportunity. Just as the buffalo were hunted to near extinction to feed the workers building the transcontinental railroads, the feral pigs could be harvested to feed the hungry in America. It just takes the technology to do it. Enter a commercial use for a drone.

A sentry needs a birds eye view

Unlike humans, sentry drones on solar powered charging platforms guarding the perimeter of our farms do not have gaps in their vigilance. Infrared cameras extend their surveillance to the night. As we are able to add more embedded computer intelligence to drones, it should be possible to emulate the ability of hunt dogs and herd the animals into traps or pens. In the overpopulated regions only trapping results in animals that can be used in our food chain due to rapid spoilage.
I am a firm believer that new technology will be adopted in a somewhat disruptive fashion. Technology like electric drones will open the door to new uses like sentry duty that historically were unaffordable.

3D Niche

Posted on June 21, 2015 by george

Most 3D printed materials have porosity like swiss cheese
Emmentaler Switzerland PDO Cheese image by Dominik Hundhammer

The first successful applications for 3D printed materials tolerate the porosity in the part. Materials from nature such as quartz are essentially porosity free because they were formed over millions of years. This is why we like quartz for kitchen counter tops because bacteria does not have any place to hide. I suspect that man could create porosity free materials if we are willing to wait a million years or so. Given that our life span is a lot shorter than that, pretty much all man made materials contain porosity. With that as a preamble, I am not surprised that 3D printed materials have significant porosity. One of my active 3D printing projects is a two piece case for electric controls. Normally this would be made as an injection molded plastic which is reasonably water tight. I was hoping that the Stereolithography process which uses a photo catalyzed liquid plastic would also be liquid tight. It turn out that only one side has a water tight skin as my 3D printing service company discovered by making custom chocolate candy molds. This matches my experience with other materials. We all get frustrated if the porosity in the case of a transmission causes a big puddle on our driveway. Having made a multritude of transmission cases, I can report that only the skin of the case is liquid tight.

A Transmission + A Seive for a Case = A Driveway Puddle
Oil Stain picture by Christopher Sessums
Seive by DaveMontPhotography
Automatic Transmission by Vestman

When we actually need reasonably porosity free materials it is currently necessary to apply the 3D printing process to creating the mold. We successfully manufacture low volume metal parts by 3D printing a mold made from glued sand. The surface tension of the molten metal retains the metal even though the sand mold is 20% air. A similar strategy is used by Invisalign to make retainers where the high density sheet is vacuum formed over 3D printed molds.

Vacuformed orthodontics are shaped over 3D printed molds by Smikey lo

It is possible to post process a part with porosity. One of my clients makes aftermarket automotive air conditioning compressors. Freon is a gas and is very difficult to contain. Most car owners would be happy if they never had to refill freon in their car AC system. Even though zero leaks is impossible, as a manufacturer it is our goal. Freon is also used to prevent explosions in high voltages switch gear. When a switch in Downtown New York lost its freon and an killed a hundred or so people ABB enlisted my client to solve their leakage problems because the impregnation cell I set up for them is best in class. Even with that level of impregnation talent, I doubt that the anaerobic sealer we use, can fix 3D SLS (Selective Laser Sintered) metal parts because the pores are too big. Other techniques such as burnishing can be used to create a local skin.

The Burnishing process can increase density
and make a pressure tight skin
Burnished bearing race picture by Jean-Jacques Milan

Burnishing is a cold working process. We use other cold worked materials like cold rolled steel because this process closes the gaps between the grain boundaries to make them pressure tight. The CNC machining centers ability to burnish in addition to cutting is not widely known, but that does not stop me from using this very useful technique.
Invisalign, SpaceX, and GE have discovered that there are niche 3D printing applications. Engineering the product as match to 3D printing, combined with choosing an application that is not affected by material properties such as density, has enabled their marketplace success

Additive Manufacturing

Posted on June 19, 2015 by george

Your morning coffee delivered in a cup made using additive manufacturing

The value of additive manufacturing has long been known to the human race. Early civilization discovered the benefits of layering clay to create the pottery containers that we use for every day life. Most of us do not give a second thought to the pottery cups that deliver our morning coffee. Linking a coffee cup to additive manufacturing might not be obvious even if you work in the factory that makes coffee cups. A coffee cup factory is all about making an identical copy for everyone. After a coffee cup is designed using additive manufacturing, it is given to the pattern makers. Their precision wood patterns capture the shapes and serve to guide the creation of molds and tooling. This became the backbone of industrial manufacturing until the 1990s when the mathematics within the CAD and CAM programs evolved to replace wood patterns.

Wood patterns have been replaced by 3D CAD models.

Some of the bits of craftsmanship such as the “S” shaped gear spokes that keep the gear round during casting cooling have been lost from modern designs. The STEM skills required for the shape definition task are unchanged even though the practitioners are now called CAD modelers instead of pattern makers. The commercially useful shapes still require corner radii and fillets. Fits, blends, dimensional accuracy and finishes are even more important. As we evolve to a mass customization marketplace more people with this skill will be required.
Convergence is a term used to describe the effect that advancements in computer technology is having on the communications industry. The line between telephone, television broadcast, radio, paging, security, satellite, cable, and internet companies is blurring. The same is happening in additive manufacturing. A robot arc welder heats material fed as a wire and fuses it in a predetermined position controlled by a multiaxis CNC control. Interestingly enough, this is the exact description of what happens in filament style 3D printing.

ROBCAD Offline teaching welding
001 by KOMATSU Ltd
Airwolf 3D printer by Neon Tommy

As we evolve away from one size fits all, it will become possible to manufacture locally the items that we want. Computer controls will add the necessary flexibility to the production equipment that we own and recognize.

Battery Assault

Posted on June 19, 2015 by george

by Reynardo Detroit Electric 1917 taken in Maffra, Vic

“I sell here, Sir, what all the world desires to have – POWER”, Matthew Boulton. From the infancy of the industrial revolution where Matthew promoted his steam engine, we humans wanted to encapsulate power in our hands. In the early 1900s electric cars running on lead acid batteries vied with the early unreliable internal combustion engines. Now, 100 years later, we mostly use vehicles powered by internal combustion engines, but a few remaining vehicles, such as lift trucks and Kiva robots, are powered by lead acid batteries. Lead acid battery life is still an issue. For example, Kiva (now Amazon robotics) robots, require brand new batteries every year.
Modern electronics ratcheted up the demand for portable sources of electric power. When I used my HP45 calculator, the nickle cadmium cells in the battery pod drove most users nuts.

HP45 by Daniel Sancho

As an engineer, I replaced cells in the pods as they died from military surplus. Never figured out what caused this highly variable battery life. Some died the first week, others went for a year or longer. Market pain of this level spurred heavy development effort, which resulted in the NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) battery. The highly toxic cadmium electrode was replaced by an intermetallic electrode, which in the most effective versions includes rare earth elements. This improvement tripled battery storage capacity (almost equaling lithium ion) A few marketplace knee jerk reactions occurred. Chevron bought the patent and blocked NiMH battery use in electric vehicles. NiMH use in hybrid vehicles was approved, because they still run on gasoline. The driving range of a Prius in electric only is about 1 mile. The Tesla end run using lithium batteries, probably caused the NiMH patent sale to BASF in 2012. The Chinese leveraged their short term monopoly on rare earth supply for political purposes.

Prius by JBleeker

When the Prius first came out the automotive engineering community believed that a short NiMH battery life would be its downfall. Slamming power in and out at variable ambient temperatures is exactly opposite to what is optimum for extending battery life. NiMH battery life proved better than our concern, but is still a factor. Smash and grab thieves currently target Prius battery packs, because they can get $1000 for a used pack when an owner is faced with a $2500 replacement after about five years of use.
We enthusiastically adopted the convenience of laptops when the intersection of lower power usage computer chips coincided with lighter weight lithium battery development.

Laptop Computer

Lithium batteries take advantage of the fact that lithium is the lightest metal. Unfortunately, all high density energy storage materials are a fire hazard. We have heard about lithium battery fires in laptops, planes and even Tesla cars. Our familiarity with normal cars causes us to forget that gasoline fires in cars are also very common. Most lithium battery makers are still focusing on electrode development in that battery life is still a frustration.
Based on a successful trial, Eos has just received third round funding for their grid scale zinc air battery. http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/eos-raising-25m-to-build-megawatts-of-low-cost-grid-batteries They are working with Con Edison to replace coal fired peaking power plants with batteries. It takes a whole lot of batteries.

Modular ZInc Air in Sea Land
picture of Big Bend Power Station by Wkniught94 talk
container picture by Marc Cromme, Denmark

In modern logistic fashion, they package their batteries with the control electronics in sea-land containers. A multitude of these containers equals a power plant. The Eos battery evolved from the zinc dry cell that every one knows. Hearing aid manufacturers needed an affordable light weight battery to create a comfortable unit. The design of the dry cell was evolved to gather one reaction agent from the air. Most people do not realize this is similar to a gasoline engine which burns 10 lbs of air for every one pound of gasoline. Gasoline engine cars would be heavy, like Tesla electrics (4000 lb vrs 2000 lb), if they also had to carry the air that is burned. Eos evolved the zinc air battery further to create a rechargeable battery with a long life. This innovation cut the cost of storing electrical energy in batteries by 50 percent. Most of the electrical vehicle manufactures have taken notice and it would not surprise me if all electric vehicle manufacturers use zinc air for some portion of their batteries.
Batteries are encapsulating power in our hands. The cordless drills, shavers, weed eaters, vacuums, lawn mowers, snow blowers that we enjoy, are just the spin off benefits.

Leaky Buckets

Posted on June 13, 2015 by george

It is hard to fetch water using a leaky bucket (bucket picture by Gregor Scheer www.gnu.org)

Most of us have been spared the chore of winding up water from a well. This task can be very tedious if most of the waterleaks from the bucket on the way up. This frustration gave us the word picture of a leaky bucket. Nature is a lot like a leaky bucket or herding cats. Every time we try to corral it into accomplishing a task, it dissipates our effort.
Sometimes our way of looking at a task clouds our vision as to how to measure efficiency. In the simple analysis, the hydraulic cylinders of an excavator efficiently deliver the applied engine horsepower to lifting the dirt out of the trench. Obviously the width of the boom sets the minimum width of trench that you can dig. The inventor of Ditch Witch wondered why you needed to dig a 12 inch wide trench to lay a 2 in diameter pipe. He invented a chain of buckets similar to a chain saw to slice a narrow trench. In my town they are adding in fiber internet using horizontal drilling. In true disrupting the disruptor fashion, efficiency is simply removing the dirt where the pipe goes saving all the restoration and inconvenience of trenching.

Ditch Witch picture USDA Photo by J M Villareal Horizontal Drill picture by FRAC

A light bulb is a much easier to understand efficiency example. Edison was extremely happy that his device generated light. The fact that it was a very leaky bucket changing 90% of the input energy into heat was of little concern at the time. Technology is all about corraling in nature. A 14 watt LED bulb can produce the same light as the original 60 watt incandescent bulb. Engineers notice technology details. The LED street lights that were just installed, no longer shine in my window affecting my sleep. Lean efficiency is all about concentrating the applied energy on the desired task.In this case the LED light is targeted at illuminating the street.

Energy efficiency is emerging in our lives

Computers are an even more dramatic example of how technology advance changes efficiency. Most of us have seen room size Univac Computers shrink into credit card size raspberry pi.

Univac by Matthias Kirschner at German Wikipedia
Raspberry Pi by cowjuice

Unlimited wants apply, we would like Dick Tracy style smart watches with one week battery life. The heroics of open heart surgery will disappear because stent are more effective. The operation was a success but the patient died from complications during the recovery.

Stent picture by Frank C. Miller

As we endeavor to support more people on a finite size planet, lean efficiency will be a controlling feature of our lives. We will learn that all losses from our leaking buckets are opportunities to improve.

Cobots

Posted on June 7, 2015 by george

C3P0 Model at Comic-Con by Ewen Roberts

Science fiction writers have given us a glimpse into the future. I can picture a time beyond my lifetime where we have advanced our robot technology to the point where a robot can be created in human form and work along side us. Certainly Star Wars caught all of our imaginations. The starting point for Collaborative Robots (COBOTS) was a lot more mundane. Early robots, like Unimate, were prone to deviate occasionally or drift from their programmed path. Our safety standards evolved to compensate for this short coming by enclosing them in locked bullet proof cages. Like wayward children, we had them play in their own sandbox. We were content to avoid joining the robots in their sandbox because most of the earliest robot applications were chosen because the robot was in a dirty and dangerous sandbox. The 6 axis electric robots that replaced the first hydraulic Unimates were more reliable, but still were less than perfectly safe. This history colored our vision of what a robot should look like. Innovation usually comes at us from the fringe, tearing up the “rule book” in the process. The Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner is a good example

First generation Roomba (Roomba is a trademark of iRobot) by Larry D. Moore

It doesn’t look like a robot. It doesn’t even look like a vacuum. As one of the early Cobots it could safely work side by side with humans without danger. Cats — We are less sure about them, based on some funny Youtube video showing how they react to Roomba vacuums. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk4XB2wZqF4 This early cobot spawned a few commercial derivatives to tackle what my wife’s grandmother called uphill work. This is work like laundry that you finish this week, just in time to start again at the beginning next week. As a teenager I did some of that running an industrial floor scrubber for my aunt’s janitorial business. No matter how good a job you did cleaning the floor one night, the floor started just as dirty the next night.

T5 walk-behind floor scrubber by Tennant (left) and HydroBot floor scrubbing robot by Intellibot Robotics picture by Z22

The robotic scrubber does not consider this task a dead end job like I did. A new template for robots emerged. AGVs (Autonomous Guided Vehicles) sprouted into wide spread use. Their slow speeds and limited range of motions enabled co habitation of working space with humans.

Packmobile with trailer AGV, Egemin Automation picture by AGVExpertJS

It could be argued that the first versions of AGVs were not full robots because they simply tracked a wire buried in the floor. Evolved AGVs such as the Kiva robots that Amazon uses to accomplish same day delivery are full Cobots. Even though Amazon got a jump on the rest of the industry by the strategic purchase of Kiva, competition is beginning to emerge http://netonomy.net/2015/04/29/three-robots-that-will-change-ecommerce/. In much the same fashion that Roomba came in at the fringe, the need for a robot that could work side by side with a human ushered in the gantry style robot. The gantry has predictable X Y Z motions with hard end stops which eliminates the need for the bullet proof cage. The space advantage of a Cobot makes it my favorite choice when implementing an automotive cell. I am particularly proud of a jet engine turbine blade inspection machine that uses ultrasonics to detect cracked blades before they fail.

New Automation Ultrasonic Jet Engine blade
inspection machine

Honda thinks the same way and I was not surprised when I saw a gantry robot carrying cylinder heads between machining stations at their Alabama assembly plant. The electronics industry is faced with the same issues of mixing automated and human assembly. They also have adopted gantry style cobots for their surface mount technology

Internals of a Juki KE2010L 4 head pick and place surface mount machine. the machine is used to place electronic components that are soldered to the face of a printed circuit board rather than having leads go through holes in the board. The machine is loaded with standard 8″ reels on mechanical feeders (front right) and a tray of QFP microprocessors (rear center) Picture by Peripitus

Technology will advance to the point where we can build a C3P0 Cobot. It will happen as a step by step evolution. We are on our way. Currently in the lab are vision, tactile and capacitive skin collision sensors which will become affordable.

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Monthly Archives: June 2015