Smart Farming by UAVs

/in

With a few taps on a cell phone, a drone in the distance intelligently sows seeds into the field. It only takes 4 minutes to complete the planting of an acre.

Such a scene really happened in Duhu Town, Taishan City, Jiangmen, Guangdong, China. Recently, agricultural science and technology personnel Qin Haigang brought a new type of intelligent spreading drone to the rice fields of various large farmers in Duhu Town to introduce them to the latest direct drone seeding technology.

“This intelligent spreading system drone can load 20 kg of seeds at a time, and the planting area reaches 4 acres.” Qin Haigang opened the operating system, swiped his fingers a few times, and the drone flew to two meters above the paddy field and put Seeds are spread evenly across the field האתר שלי.

Qin Haigang introduced: This drone is very convenient to operate, it can be operated with a mobile phone, and the accuracy is within 10 cm. “It achieves the purpose of seeding by air jet, which can better protect the seeds and the spacing of the seeds is very precise.”

According to on-site statistics, the intelligent planting of 7 acres of experimental fields was completed by drone, and the planting was completed in 30 minutes. The average planting time per acre was only 4 minutes. Li Ziming, the person in charge of Mingyang Agricultural Machinery Professional Cooperative in Duhu Town and other members of the cooperative expressed satisfaction with the test results after the on-site observation.

Large farmer Li Ziming told reporters: Now 120 acres are being cultivated, and drone planting now saves time and effort than I used a rice transplanter. If successful, it will drive surrounding farmers to plant drones together. According to Qin Haigang, UAV intelligent broadcasting technology is a new technology gradually promoted in recent years. Compared with traditional technology, UAV intelligent broadcasting has three major advantages:

The first is to reduce the steps of raising seedlings and transplanting seeds, and to spread the seeds directly on the rice fields.  Second, the cost of sowing is lower.  The third is to save seeds. The traditional transplanting method requires an average of 7-10 kg of seeds per acre, and the drone only needs 4 kg of seeds per acre.

 

Source

Reducing Tool Costs, Increasing Performance

/in

Exchangeable head milling systems are a fairly familiar sight thanks to the cost savings that they deliver over conventional solid carbide milling cutters above a certain diameter.  However, to achieve optimum performance close attention has to be placed on the connection between holder and cutter head. Ceratizit has achieved high levels of performance using an interface technology for its new MultiLock system.

The MultiLock exchangeable head system makes use of a precision sintered interface with a patented ‘Captive Pocket’, guaranteeing high levels of stability and performance. The precision sintered, form-fitting, interface ensures maximum rigidity for optimum power transmission, while enhancing process security and by default extending tool life.

Further benefits of this form-fit connection is that axial and radial run-out accuracy of 0.02mm is achieved, while the combination of carbide head and steel body has excellent vibration-damping properties to ensure improved surface finish.

MultilLock targets applications such as those found in mould and die, aerospace, and hydraulics sectors where complex contours are required or, when difficult to machine materials are common. Using conventional solid carbide tools as the diameter increases so do costs, the MultiLock exchangeable head system reduces these costs and also lowers the environmental impact (through reduced use of carbide material). The ability to use one steel holder in conjunction with multiple carbide heads further reduces the investment required by the end-user and provides added flexibility into the manufacturing process. The latter is enhanced by the multiple choice of milling heads available, including high-feed milling cutters, torus cutters and radius cutters in diameters from 12 to 25 mm; 45° deburring milling cutters are available in diameters of 12 and 16 mm. The HFC and torus heads are screwed to the front of the holder through a hole in the exchangeable head, making it possible to swap the heads quickly and reducing unnecessary machine downtime. Additionally, a variety of screw-in adapters add even greater flexibility to the MultiLock system.

Customers have the choice of two innovative carbide grades (CTPX225 and CTC5240) with proven cutting geometries that cover the majority of applications, both of which make use of Ceratizit’s state-of-the-art Dragonskin coating technology to deliver all round excellent performance האתר שלי.

The PVD coated CTPX225 is a reliable fine grain carbide grade whose toughness lends it to universal use, while CTC5240 has a TiB2 based coating making it suitable for machining titanium and titanium alloys. Analysis from customers shows that these grades deliver excellent service life and chip volumes, in one case when machining tool steel a 310% higher chip volume could be produced than with comparable competitor products, with tool life increasing from 14 minutes to 92 minutes.

“MultiLock meets a specific need in the market and brings with it certain cost and environmental advantages over solid carbide milling cutters, especially in applications where longer reach is required. Cutting data is improved by virtue of the increased number of cutting edges that can be introduced, and with those cutting edges being generated by the precision sintering technology costs are also reduced.

 

Source

New Composite Material for 3D Printed Functional Aerospace Parts

/in

Windform FR2 is a Flame Retardant polyamide-based glass fibre reinforced material. Owing to its flame-retardant quality and insulating properties, Windform FR2 is suitable for aerospace applications. It diverges from Windform FR1 on some properties, including: reinforcement material (Windform FR2 is glass fibre reinforced, Windform FR1 is carbon fibre reinforced), colour (Windform FR2 is off-white, Windform FR1 is dark gray), electrical behaviour (Windform FR2 is electrically insulating), smoother surface finish.

The material passed successfully the FAR 25.853 12-second vertical and 15-second horizontal flammability tests as well as the 45° Bunsen burner test and Smoke density test.

“CRP Technology constantly produces technological breakthroughs and highest-level solutions,” commented Franco Cevolini, VP and CTO at CRP Technology. Only a few months ago we launched Windform FR1, flame retardant carbon fibre reinforced material. Now we introduced Windform FR2, a flame-retardant material which is glass fibre reinforced.

“Flame retardants are not new to the 3D printing market but flame-retardant materials which were also reinforced and presenting significant mechanical properties, lacked. We at CRP Technology were the first to fill this void; we have created not only the first material of its kind, but now two. In order invent these materials, we must anticipate, intercept and satisfy the requests of the most demanding and innovative industrial sectors.”

Windform FR2 is halogen-free polyamide-based material, which combines outstanding wear resistance and good temperature resistance. It is not electrically conductive. It allows for good detail resolution with smoother surface finish when compared to Windform FR1 znajdź więcej informacji.

 

Source

Researchers Develop a Drone that can Bend its Wings Similar to Birds

/in

Creating drones that can bend their wings will make it easier to manoeuvre.

Aiming to create drones that are more manoeuvrable as they fly through the air, researchers at Stanford University turn to birds for inspiration.  A group of researchers from Stanford University’s Lentink Lab developed a flying robot that has a wing design that’s similar to that of a pigeon.  Dubbed  PigeonBot, the drone is able to extend its wings, bend them and move similar to birds. By making drones less rigid and more bird-like, they will be able to manoeuvre in smaller spaces and to handle more severe winds.

In a future where drones are delivering packages to the masses, being able to navigate through tight spaces and around buildings and trees will be necessary.  “Birds can dynamically alter the shape of their wings during flight,” the researchers wrote in one of two studies they published on the matter.  “How this is accomplished is poorly understood.”

To determine how pigeons control their wings they studied the wings of dead pigeons. Through their experiments, they learned the angles of the wrist and finger joints impacted the alignment of the feathers used in flight. The angle of the flight feathers dictates the shape of the wing.

“Whenever the skeleton moves, the feathers are redistributed passively through compliance of the elastic connective tissue at the feather base. To prevent the feathers from spreading too far apart, hook-shaped microstructures on adjacent feathers form a directional fastener that locks adjacent feathers,” the researchers wrote.

Armed with that knowledge they used real pigeon feathers to build the flying robot. The PigeonBot has 42 degrees of freedom that control the position of 40 elastically connected feathers via four servo-actuated wrist and finger joints.

“Our flight tests demonstrate that the soft feathered wings morph rapidly and robustly under aerodynamic loading. They not only enable wing morphing but also make robot interactions safer, the wing more robust to crashing, and the wing reparable via ‘preening,” the researchers wrote in another study. “In flight tests, we found that both asymmetric wrist and finger motion can initiate turn manoeuvres—evidence that birds may use their fingers to steer in flight.”

 

Source

Marshall wins £9.5m contract with Lockheed Martin

/in

Marshall Advanced Composites has signed a £9.5m contract with Lockheed Martin to manufacture cockpit trim panels for its C-130J Super Hercules airlifter for the next five years.

Advanced Composites general manager, Carl Morse, said: “We are delighted to have received this five-year contract from Lockheed Martin.  It really is testament to the hard work of the team and strength of our partnership with Lockheed Martin više detalja.  We’ve been supplying the panels for over 20 years and have historically been on a series of relatively short term contracts, however our proven ability to drive cost out of the supply, outstanding on-time delivery record and appetite to innovate our processes has given our customer the confidence to make another long-term commitment.  We are all very proud to be able to play a part in supporting the valuable service of C-130 fleets across the world so often pressed into action to help protect people in critical situations.”

The panels are manufactured at Marshall’s composites facility in North Yorkshire from phenolic glass fibre sandwich panels with a Nomex honeycomb core, followed by finishing operations such as painting, electrical assembly and integration to provide Lockheed Martin with lineside kits of plug and play parts to its Marietta facility.

Panels are supplied in various sizes and complexity in kits of 14 or 18 panels to form the centre console in the C-130 cockpit.

Advanced Composites is part of Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group, which has been maintaining, repairing and overhauling C-130s for more than 50 years.

 

Source

Airbus’ New Design That Could Revolutionize Flying

/in

One big difference between land-based vehicles and aircraft is that there’s been much less innovation for airplanes in the last few decades than there has been for cars.  Aerospace company, Airbus, is looking to change that. Their MAVERIC is not set to fly in the skies anytime soon, but the prospects certainly look promising, and more efficient than current airplane models.

You may have noticed that most aircraft have a similar design: a single or double aisle long fuselage that has wings attached on either side. There are exceptions, of course, namely when it comes to military aircraft.

Now, it looks like Airbus has taken a few pages out of the military plane book and turned them into a design for commercial flights.  It has named it the Model Aircraft for Validation and Experimentation of Robust Innovative Controls, or MAVERIC. The MAVERIC features a blended wing body design where there is minimal structural separation between the main body and the wings of the aircraft. What’s interesting about it is that its design should include more interior space than a regular fuselage plane. Moreover, thanks to its impressive aerodynamics it should bring fuel consumption down by 20%.  Airbus is showcasing the MAVERIC, however, don’t expect to board it on your next flight, or even the one after that. It’s currently just a scale model that spans 2 meters in length and 3.2 meters in width.  It’s still too early to tell whether or not Airbus’ innovative design will take off — literally and figuratively — but it certainly opens up the aviation industry into looking at new possibilities once again.

 

Source

Tesla Creates Advanced Aluminum Alloys for Die-Casting Electric Cars

/in

Tesla’s push to advance transportation technology comes on the heels of the company’s ongoing curation of the superstar engineering teams. Together, they are literally inventing the advanced materials needed for their full suite of next-gen products.  This innovative trend began in 2016, when Elon Musk hired Apple’s alloy expert Charles Kuehmann to lead both Tesla’s and SpaceX’s materials engineering departments, according to an Electrek report. Obviously, that’s already an exceedingly-intimidating resume, but Kuehmann is also the man behind these advanced new alloys.

Why new alloys are needed for next-gen transportation

The newly-released Tesla patent describes the problem Kuehmann and his team set out to solve:

“Commercial cast aluminum alloys fall into one of two categories — either possessing high-yield strength or possessing high conductivity. For example, the A356 aluminum alloy has a yield strength of greater than 175 MPa, but has a conductivity of apporximately 40% IACS. Conversely, the 100.1 aluminum alloy has a conductivity of greater than 48% IACS, but a yield strecngth of less than 50MPa. For certain applications, for example, parts within an electric vehicle like a rotor or an inverter, both high strength and conductivity are desired. Further, because it is desired to form these electric-vehicle parts through a casting process, wrought alloys cannot be used. Rather, it is desirable to form the parts through a casting process, such that the parts may be cast quickly and reliably, such as through a low pressure and high velocity metal injection or a high pressure die casting process. After casting, suitable alloys must maintain their properties sufficiently for the necessary application. Poor castability of the alloy often results in observed hot tearing, and can cause fill issues which typically decreases the mechanical and electrical properties of the end cast part.”

This means Tesla needs to manufacture alloys that have both high-yield strength and conductive, while also maintaining resistance to hot tearing, to properly function in die casting unit components.

Further materials toward new alloys for electric cars

In the patent, Tesla further explains that its advanced aluminum alloys can be adjusted to offer a yield strength of 90 Mpa, and electrical conductivity that ranges from 40% IACS to 60% IACS.

Of course, Tesla also claims that its new alloys can still successfully perform die casting:

“In one embodiment, the alloy has the proper fluidity to ensure that the alloy wets the entire length of a mold and the mold is properly formed, and such that the alloy resists hot-tearing and retains the desired yield strength when the cast solidifies.”

Clearly there is a treasure-trove of new and interesting engineering in the patent alone, which is worthwhile reading for every aspirational engineer (feel free to download at-casinos.com!). But the applications of new alloys are the stuff of dreams, which is where the seemingly-endless advancements of Tesla intersect with lived reality: in the utopic possibilities of a new, sustainable future for transportation technology.

 

Source

INDOAEROSPACE 2020 EXPO & FORUM : 4-7 November, 2020

/in

INDOAEROSPACE 2020 EXPO & FORUM taking place from 4-7 November, 2020 at Jakarta International Expo Kemayoran, Indonesia.  The expo will be one of the biggest aerospace, airport technology, commercial aviation and aviation security event in the region.  A website link of the event is given below for companies interested to participate, please;

https://indoaerospace.com/

Launch Startup Skyrora Successfully Tests 3D-printed Rocket Engines Powered by Plastic Waste

/in

Rocket launch startup Skyrora, an Edinburgh-based company that’s developing a new launch vehicle for small satellites, has successfully tested its new rocket engines in their first stationary ground-firings, a huge step on the way toward developing their launch vehicle. Skyrora’s rocket engines are novel not only in their use of 3D printing, but also because the fuel that powers them is developed from plastic waste — a new type of fuel called “Ecosene” the startup says makes its launch vehicles greener and more ecologically sound than the competition.

The rocket engine that Skyrora is testing will eventually power the final stage of its 22-meter (72-foot) Skyrora XL launch vehicle (closer to Rocket Lab’s  Electron at 57 feet than SpaceX’s  Falcon 9 at 229 feet), which will be capable of delivering multiple payloads to separate orbits ranging up to 500 km (310 miles) above Earth, a popular low-Earth orbit target range for small satellite payloads.  Skyrora fired the engines both with its Ecosene fuel, which is its kerosene directed from waste plastics using a proprietary process, and with traditional kerosene RP-1 rocket fuel, giving the company the opportunity to compare the two fuel sources in terms of performance.

Skyrora says it can create around 600 kg (1,300 lbs) of kerosene form 1,000 kg (2,200 lbs) of plastic waste, and its fuel results in around 45% less greenhouse gas emissions. The Ecosene also has the advantage of not requiring cryogenic freezing, and it can be stored in tanks for long periods of time, something that the startup says helps it work particularly well for launch conditions from the Scottish spaceport from which the company plans to launch.

Ultimately, this is just one test on the path to validation and eventual launch, but Skyrora is encouraged by the results of this test, and it plans to fly its first Skyrora XL vehicles from its U.K.-based launch site starting in 2022.

 

Source

Aero-Craft

Pakistani scientist set to unveil world’s first eco-friendly aircraft engine

/in

ISLAMABAD: The world’s first-generation contrail-free aircraft engine, currently being built in Pakistan for the global aviation industry, is expected to be ready between mid-to-late 2020, the technological marvel’s inventor, Dr. Sarah Qureshi, revealed while her interview cz-lekarna.com.

Dr. Sarah has been working on the project since 2018 to eliminate the negative impact of commercial air carriers on the stratosphere that contributes to global warming.

In a one-on-one with this publication, the Pakistani scientist explained the contrail phenomenon, a visible white streak of smoke emitted from an aircraft’s jet engines during flight, and discussed its harmful effects on Earth’s atmosphere.

An environmentalist at heart, Qureshi turned her academic research at Cranfield University, UK, into a save-the-planet endeavor and embarked on a mission to build the world’s first pollution-free jet engine.

The world aviation industry, she claimed, ignored to develop the technology and focused more on extracting monetary value by building fuel-efficient engines.

With global temperatures rising, oceans warming up, Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets shrinking, glaciers retreating, Arctic sea life declining, and oceans acidifying as carbon dioxide levels skyrocket, the climate change debate has grown fierce as activists across the world highlight environmental hazards and try to spread awareness about the phenomenon.

Taking a swing at Elon Musk’s trip to Mars program, the scientist says that “unless you have a confirmed ticket” to the red planet, “which does not have a livable atmosphere,” Earth is the best bet and must be saved.