Uncategorized – Antares Engineering Services

Have You Been Alerted to Safety Alerts?

Cathal — Sun, 03 Nov 2019 06:29:38 +0000

Raising safety awareness saves lives and prevents devastating injuries. One of the most effective ways of raising awareness is by reading and distributing safety alerts. Safety alerts are prepared by government and industrial organizations after a serious incident has occurred. It summarizes the incident, describes the causes of the incident, and recommends actions to prevent similar incidents occurring in the future. In most industries, serious incidents where workers or members of the public are injured or put at serious risk of injury must be reported by law. In my opinion these alerts are so valuable that I prepared a list of locations on government and industry websites, where you can find these safety alerts. You can find the list here: Safety Alerts

You could pick a recent alert, relevant to your industry and post it on your company notice board. Or you could use one as an example or reminder at your next safety meeting.

Potential Goldmine in Logistics?

Cathal — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 02:14:24 +0000

What is LCL, FCL and groupage? LCL is a logistics term and means “less than container load”. It is also known as LTL (less than truckload) or groupage. In a nutshell, if you have a relatively small shipment, by availing of an LCL shipping service, you can share part of a shipping container with someone else. LCL shipping is a service offered by many logistics companies.

This type of service is becoming increasingly popular for one main reason. Global logistic systems are becoming more efficient. Companies and individuals want to minimize cost. Some of the underlying influences and driver’s are:

the world is getting smaller
consignments are smaller and more specific
more frequent shipping
greater availability of supply chain data
rising demand from e-commerce
democratization of logistics

The potential growth in LCL shipping is huge. According to a Flexport analysis of publicly available trade data, inbound US containers in 2018 were only 65 percent full on average (See link: Huge Growth Potential ).

However there are fundamental problems with existing LCL shipping methods which, in my opinion, will severely limit this growth. Some of these problems are:

increased risk of damage
delays
increased cost per unit delivered
increased paperwork
more complex systems required
bigger potential for things to go wrong
increased risk of contamination

The following article explains in detail, the pros and cons of LCL shipping: LCL vs FCL.

Is it possible to fundamentally change existing LCL shipping systems? In my opinion, yes it is possible, and many of these problems can be “engineered out“. Do you want to investigate the possibilities further? Feel free to contact us at: contact link.

3d Printing

Cathal — Mon, 22 May 2017 18:44:27 +0000

3d printing has been predicted for a number of years to revolutionize manufacturing and our lives. It’s proponents promised that we would soon be able to buy consumer goods, auto parts, etc., printed in a matter of hours from our local 3d printing hub. Manufacturing would become local, similar to how the internet revolutionized our access to knowledge. Anything could be manufactured and assembled anywhere, from a hut in Swaziland to the plains of Mongolia. While this reality is still a long way off, 3d printing has enabled substantial developments in the engineering world.

Many of the strengths of using additive manufacturing are seen during product development. Instead of using expensive machining or injection molding, a one-off prototype model can be quickly produced by widely available off-the-shelf 3d printing machines. It gives designers the opportunity to see how a part or assembly looks in reality, which can sometimes be difficult to appreciate from an electronic model. Dynamic movements and basic functionality can be verified, without loading the parts to their in-service working loads. Industrial designers and architects are increasingly making use of the technology in order to present and critically analyze their designs.

3d printing is becoming more widely used in the pre-manufacturing stages in producing metal and plastic parts. Molds for plastic injection molding or metal casting can be created quickly at a low cost. Ford motor company is using 3d printing to greatly speed up it’s casting manufacturing process. Aircraft manufacturers for example are developing lightweight magnesium casted seats using 3d printed molds (Manganese Airplane Seats).

The step to move from polymers to metals as a 3d printing medium is expensive. Good quality parts with high surface definition can only be achieved by using expensive high end machines. 3d printing is finding its niche however where complexity of form is combined with high performance specifications. Bike and yacht parts for sports professionals competing at the highest levels are good examples (3d Printing a Tour de France Winner). Some regular equipment manufacturers are also slowly making the step towards manufacturing high value components using the technology. Damen, a Dutch shipbuilding company, is currently developing a 3d printed propeller (Damen 3d Printed Propeller) .

Aerospace companies are keen to use 3d printing technology as it has the potential to deliver substantial weight savings. The design of components can be refined so that only material that is absolutely required, to deliver part characteristics such as strength or heat dissipation, is used. These refinements can lead to intricate components which are almost impossible to manufacture using conventional methods. 3d printing has not been the catalyst of a new industrial revolution as many predicted, but it is gradually expanding it’s usefulness in the engineering world.

Developments in Seaweed Harvesting

Cathal — Sun, 14 May 2017 16:22:06 +0000

Recently a prototype seaweed harvesting machine was tested off the coast of Den Haag, 50km southwest of Amsterdam, by the Noordzee Boerderij (North Sea Farm). The seaweed was “sown” last Autumn, by seeding synthetic rope. This rope was placed in lines in the sea and supported at intervals by buoys. The prototype harvester consisted of guiding rollers and a rotary cutter with cutting height adjustment. The main design requirements were to develop a lightweight, inexpensive, compact machine, which could harvest seaweed from the seaweed lines. Many of the smaller seaweed farms use relatively small work boats, and a lightweight, compact machine would be most suitable for use on such boats. In the future it is possible seaweed lines of up to kilometers in length will be sown and harvested. The lessons learned from the testing of this and similar machines could lead to large scale farming and harvesting of millions of tonnes of seaweed worldwide annually.

More information about the machine is shown at the following link: Prototype Seaweed Harvester

Drilling into Volcanoes

Cathal — Mon, 17 Apr 2017 19:02:53 +0000

The worlds hottest well has recently been drilled in Iceland. Working on the EU funded Deepegs project, drillers drilled to a depth of 4.6km into an active volcanic area. The temperature of fluid at the bottom of the well was measured at over 420 degrees Celsius at a pressure of 340 bar. Scientists hope that these downhole conditions can lead to a tenfold increase in power generating capability. Drilling such a well can be risky, and a previous well was abandoned when it struck magma. Herrenknecht Vertical GmbH is a partner in the project.

Iceland has a very strong track record in generating electricity and heat from geothermal energy and produces approximately 50% of its primary energy from geothermal sources. It’s five geothermal power plants ranging in capacity from 60 to 300MW produce approximately a quarter of the country’s electricity.

See the link below for more information on the Deepegs project:

Worlds Hottest Well

Tesla Model S

Cathal — Fri, 12 Aug 2016 12:21:58 +0000

Recently I visited my local Tesla car store. There were two Model S cars there on display. Amazingly there was also a stripped down car in the back of the showroom. The body was removed to clearly show the chassis, undercarriage, drive train and motors. Elon Musk seems to be serious about open-sourcing the design. I have included a few pictures below, to help him with this objective.

It’s remarkable how compact and tidy the design is. The electric motor which accelerates the car to 60mph in under 5 seconds (an astounding 2.8 secs in newer models) is not huge. It’s about the size of a watermelon. The car is all wheel drive, with an AC motor in the front and rear.

The battery pack is contained in the chassis and covers most of the base. Unlike conventional cars this gives the Model S a lower center of gravity and excellent road handling capability. Most of the body and chassis is made of aluminum alloy. Musk was uncompromising in achieving this, much to the exasperation of his engineers. Aluminum isn’t easy to work with. Welding, pressing and painting aluminum can be very problematic.

The car looks very sleek. One of it’s most stylish features is the car door handles. They are flush with the body and emerge from their recesses when you want to open the door. This design feature was very important for Musk and his main designer Franz von Holzhausen. Similar to many architects who hate protruding balconies, car designers like smooth uninterrupted surfaces. The price tag is not within my budget at the moment but overall this car is an incredible achievement by Musk and his team.

Bauma 2016

Cathal — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 08:47:23 +0000

Bauma is the largest construction equipment fair in the world. It takes place at the Munich Messe every three years. Over half a million people visited the fair in 2016. It is no surprise that accommodation rates in the city skyrocket during the week long fair. There were over 3,400 exhibitors from 58 countries this year, with over one third of exhibitors from Germany. It is an unbelievably huge event and you need at least three days just to walk through most of it.

Bauer had a very impressive stand this year. Calling their stand a “stand” is a gross understatement. Many of the larger companies including Bauer build office block sized stands and rent huge areas of ground to display their equipment. One of the machines that Bauer had on display was a huge foundation cutting machine. A couple of pictures of this are shown below.

One of the more interesting companies exhibiting at the show was Tracto Technik. This company designs very innovative products from pipe rammers to mini-steerable bore rigs and horizontal directional rigs. And then there were some machines that you never knew existed, such as a concrete block machine from the Hess Group. The company had a fully operational block making machine at the show. You can see the machine in action in the YouTube video below.

Most of the German stands were very welcoming and were more than willing to explain their products down to the minutest detail. It was well worth the visit and if you are keen to visit the next fair you will only have to wait until 2019.