OLD CAR PICTURE 1

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OLD CAR PICTURE

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Elisra Presents New Data Link Technology Developments for UAVs at This Year’s AUVSI

world leader in EW and wireless communication technologies, unveils its newly developed UAV data link systems at AUVSI’s Unmanned Systems North America 2009 Conference and Exhibition in Washington DC, August 11-13. The company’s latest C-band Starlink and ADLS-2 solutions will be showcased, underscoring Elisra’s technological prowess in the UAV data link field.

Elisra’s C-band Starlink digital data link was designed for integration on tactical UAS and is now operational worldwide. The system delivers secure UAS-borne payload video images in real time to field commanders, dismounted troops and Special Operations Forces, providing them with critical reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities. Immune to jamming and interference, this data link system provides the best inner-link solutions for interference, multipath, and coexistence. The C-band Starlink employs a Time Division Duplexing (TDD) method that produces high spectral efficiency (4 MHz per channel), operating in Single Frequency or Frequency Hopping modes with uplink and downlink traffic sharing the same frequency for efficient bandwidth use. Based on COTS technology, this latest-generation data link system operates at ranges between zero and 100 km.

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The iPhone puts healthcare in your hands

Pharmaceutical companies have traditionally targeted their communications at doctors, pharmacists and health care professionals since direct communication with patients is heavily regulated and restricted (particularly outside the U.S.).  However, technological developments have triggered a new era in healthcare; the era of rising patient sovereignty.  More and more patients now compare experiences in web forums, google information on treatments and arrive at their surgery sufficiently well informed to debate their doctor’s advice.
Web-based Personal Health Records (PHRs) created an initial flurry of excitement in the industry, but the latest health-related applications for the iPhone take even greater steps to put patients in the driving seat of their healthcare experience.  The ‘My Life Record’ iPhone application, for example, allows users to access and share their medical records, including medical imaging and lab results.  ‘ePocrates’ and ‘iPharmacy’ allow users to browse information on thousands of drugs including dosages, side effects and interactions, and to search for a pill’s profile by entering its colour and size.  ‘Symptom Navigator’ helps users match medical symptoms with treatments, ‘iEyeExam’ offers a quick eye test and ‘MyNetDiary’ lets users analyze and plan their diet and track body fat and muscle percentages.

These applications are just a handful among a plethora of technological and software developments that are increasingly exposing pharmaceutical companies and their products directly to patients.  They are a vital reminder of two things: 1. The growing need for these companies to manage their presence before this audience, and 2. The growing demand, and expectations, of all consumers for tailored and useful content, especially within digital channels.

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Energy and Transport

Meanwhile, humans were learning to harness other forms of energy. The earliest known use of wind power is the sailboat.[40] The earliest record of a ship under sail is shown on an Egyptian pot dating back to 3200 BC.[41] From prehistoric times, Egyptians probably used the power of the Nile annual floods to irrigate their lands, gradually learning to regulate much of it through purposely built irrigation channels and 'catch' basins. Similarly, the early peoples of Mesopotamia, the Sumerians, learned to use the Tigris and Euphrates rivers for much the same purposes. But more extensive use of wind and water (and even human) power required another invention.

According to archaeologists, the wheel was invented around 4000 B.C. probably independently and nearly-simultaneously in Mesopotamia (in present-day Iraq), the Northern Caucasus (Maykop culture) and Central Europe. Estimates on when this may have occurred range from 5500 to 3000 B.C., with most experts putting it closer to 4000 B.C. The oldest artifacts with drawings that depict wheeled carts date from about 3000 B.C.; however, the wheel may have been in use for millennia before these drawings were made. There is also evidence from the same period of time that wheels were used for the production of pottery. (Note that the original potter's wheel was probably not a wheel, but rather an irregularly shaped slab of flat wood with a small hollowed or pierced area near the center and mounted on a peg driven into the earth. It would have been rotated by repeated tugs by the potter or his assistant.) More recently, the oldest-known wooden wheel in the world was found in the Ljubljana marshes of Slovenia.[42]

The invention of the wheel revolutionized activities as disparate as transportation, war, and the production of pottery (for which it may have been first used). It didn't take long to discover that wheeled wagons could be used to carry heavy loads and fast (rotary) potters' wheels enabled early mass production of pottery. But it was the use of the wheel as a transformer of energy (through water wheels, windmills, and even treadmills) that revolutionized the application of nonhuman power sources

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Stone tools

Dalja unaprijeđenja dovela su do razvoja peći, koje su omogućile topljenje i kovanje metala (koji su se javljali u prirodi u ralativno čistoj formi). Zlato, bakar, srebro i olovo su bili neki od tih metala. Prednosti bakarnog nad kamenim, koštanim i drvenim alatima su bile učite ranim ljudima, te se bakar počeo koristiti od ranog neolitika (oko 8000. godine pne.). Bakar se ne jablja u prirodi u velikim količinama, ali bakarnih ruda ima mnogo, iz kojih se, zagrijavanjem i topljenjem, dobija metal. Na kraju, rad sa metalima doveo je do pronalaska legura, kao što su bronza i mesing (oko 4000 . godine pne.). Prva upotreba željeznih legura, kao što je čelik, datira iz 1400tih godina pne.

U međuvremenu, ljudi su počeli vladati i drugim formama energije. Najstarija znana upotreba snage vjetra je u jedrenjecima. Najstariji podatak okorištenju brodova nađen je u Egiptu i datira još u 3200te godine. pne. Od prahistorijskih vremena, egipćani su, vjerovatno, koristili "snagu Nila", godišnje poprave, kako bi navodnjavali svoju zemlju, da bi postepeno naučili da je kontrolišu preko izgrađenih kanala za navodnjavanje i bazena za akumulaciju vode. Slično, narodi Mezopotamije, Sumeri, su naučili da koriste rijete Tigris i Eufrat za iste svrhe.
Točak je izumljen oko 4000. godine pne.

Sudeći po arheolozima, točak je izumljen oko 4000. godine pne. Izumljen je, vjerovatno, na područiju Mezopotamije (današnji Irak). Tačna godina ovog događaja, prema naučnicima, nalazi se u intervalu od 5500. do 3000. godine pne., ali većina stručnjaka misli da je to bilo biliže 4000. godini pne. Najstariji artifakti sa slikama koje opisuju vozila sa točkovima datiraju iz 3000. godine pne.; međutim, moguće je da se točak koristio čitav milenij prije nego su nastali ti crteži. Takođe postoji dokaz iz istog perioda da su se točkovi koristili za proizvodnju keramike. (Važno je napomenuti da prvi grnčarski točak, vjerovatno, nije bio pravilnog oblika, nego samo nepravilna okrigla drvena ploča. Nedavno, najstariji drveni točak na svijetu je pronađen u okolici Ljubljane u Sloveniji.

Otkriće tačka revolucioniziralo je aktivnosti poput trasporta, rata i produkcije keramike (za šta je, vjerovatno, najprije bio i korišten). Nije trebalo dugo do otkrića da vagoni sa točkovima mogu nositi teške terete, a brzi (rotirajući) točkovi su omogućili masovnu proizvodnju grnčarije. Ali upotreba ročka kao transformatora (vodenice, vjetrenjače, pa čak i mlinova) je ta koja je revolucionizirala primjenu neljudske snage

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Stone tools

Human ancestors have been using stone and other tools since long before the emergence of Homo sapiens approximately 200,000 years ago.[20] The earliest methods of stone tool making, known as the Oldowan "industry", date back to at least 2.3 million years ago,[21] with the earliest direct evidence of tool usage found in Ethiopia within the Great Rift Valley, dating back to 2.5 million years ago.[22] This era of stone tool use is called the Paleolithic, or "Old stone age", and spans all of human history up to the development of agriculture approximately 12,000 years ago.

To make a stone tool, a "core" of hard stone with specific flaking properties (such as flint) was struck with a hammerstone. This flaking produced a sharp edge on the core stone as well as on the flakes, either of which could be used as tools, primarily in the form of choppers or scrapers.[23] These tools greatly aided the early humans in their hunter-gatherer lifestyle to perform a variety of tasks including butchering carcasses (and breaking bones to get at the marrow); chopping wood; cracking open nuts; skinning an animal for its hide; and even forming other tools out of softer materials such as bone and wood.[24]

The earliest stone tools were crude, being little more than a fractured rock. In the Acheulian era, beginning approximately 1.65 million years ago, methods of working these stone into specific shapes, such as hand axes emerged. The Middle Paleolithic, approximately 300,000 years ago, saw the introduction of the prepared-core technique, where multiple blades could be rapidly formed from a single core stone.[23] The Upper Paleolithic, beginning approximately 40,000 years ago, saw the introduction of pressure flaking, where a wood, bone, or antler punch could be used to shape a stone very finely

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Definition and usage

The use of the term technology has changed significantly over the last 200 years. Before the 20th century, the term was uncommon in English, and usually referred to the description or study of the useful arts.[2] The term was often connected to technical education, as in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (chartered in 1861).[3] "Technology" rose to prominence in the 20th century in connection with the second industrial revolution. The meanings of technology changed in the early 20th century when American social scientists, beginning with Thorstein Veblen, translated ideas from the German concept of Technik into "technology." In German and other European languages, a distinction exists between Technik and Technologie that is absent in English, as both terms are usually translated as "technology." By the 1930s, "technology" referred not to the study of the industrial arts, but to the industrial arts themselves.[4] In 1937, the American sociologist Read Bain wrote that "technology includes all tools, machines, utensils, weapons, instruments, housing, clothing, communicating and transporting devices and the skills by which we produce and use them."[5] Bain's definition remains common among scholars today, especially social scientists. But equally prominent is the definition of technology as applied science, especially among scientists and engineers, although most social scientists who study technology reject this definition.[6] More recently, scholars have borrowed from European philosophers of "technique" to extend the meaning of technology to various forms of instrumental reason, as in Foucault's work on technologies of the self ("techniques de soi").

Dictionaries and scholars have offered a variety of definitions. The Merriam-Webster dictionary offers a definition of the term: "the practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area" and "a capability given by the practical application of knowledge".[1] Ursula Franklin, in her 1989 "Real World of Technology" lecture, gave another definition of the concept; it is "practice, the way we do things around here".[7] The term is often used to imply a specific field of technology, or to refer to high technology or just consumer electronics, rather than technology as a whole.[8] Bernard Stiegler, in Technics and Time, 1, defines technology in two ways: as "the pursuit of life by means other than life", and as "organized inorganic matter."[9]

Technology can be most broadly defined as the entities, both material and immaterial, created by the application of mental and physical effort in order to achieve some value. In this usage, technology refers to tools and machines that may be used to solve real-world problems. It is a far-reaching term that may include simple tools, such as a crowbar or wooden spoon, or more complex machines, such as a space station or particle accelerator. Tools and machines need not be material; virtual technology, such as computer software and business methods, fall under this definition of technology.[10]

The word "technology" can also be used to refer to a collection of techniques. In this context, it is the current state of humanity's knowledge of how to combine resources to produce desired products, to solve problems, fulfill needs, or satisfy wants; it includes technical methods, skills, processes, techniques, tools and raw materials. When combined with another term, such as "medical technology" or "space technology", it refers to the state of the respective field's knowledge and tools. "State-of-the-art technology" refers to the high technology available to humanity in any field.

Technology can be viewed as an activity that forms or changes culture.[11] Additionally, technology is the application of math, science, and the arts for the benefit of life as it is known. A modern example is the rise of communication technology, which has lessened barriers to human interaction and, as a result, has helped spawn new subcultures; the rise of cyberculture has, at its basis, the development of the Internet and the computer.[12] Not all technology enhances culture in a creative way; technology can also help facilitate political oppression and war via tools such as guns. As a cultural activity, technology predates both science and engineering, each of which formalize some aspects of technological endeavor.

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Internet

 

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries a vast range of information resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support electronic mail.

Most traditional communications media including telephone, music, film, and television are reshaped or redefined by the Internet, giving birth to new services such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and IPTV. Newspaper, book and other print publishing are adapting to Web site technology, or are reshaped into blogging and web feeds. The Internet has enabled or accelerated new forms of human interactions through instant messaging, Internet forums, and social networking. Online shopping has boomed both for major retail outlets and small artisans and traders. Business-to-business and financial services on the Internet affect supply chains across entire industries.

The origins of the Internet reach back to research of the 1960s, commissioned by the United States government in collaboration with private commercial interests to build robust, fault-tolerant, and distributed computer networks. The funding of a new U.S. backbone by the National Science Foundation in the 1980s, as well as private funding for other commercial backbones, led to worldwide participation in the development of new networking technologies, and the merger of many networks. The commercialization of what was by the 1990s an international network resulted in its popularization and incorporation into virtually every aspect of modern human life. As of 2009, an estimated quarter of Earth's population used the services of the Internet.

The Internet has no centralized governance in either technological implementation or policies for access and usage; each constituent network sets its own standards. Only the overreaching definitions of the two principal name spaces in the Internet, the Internet Protocol address space and the Domain Name System, are directed by a maintainer organization, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The technical underpinning and standardization of the core protocols (IPv4 and IPv6) is an activity of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), a non-profit organization of loosely affiliated international participants that anyone may associate with by contributing technical expertise

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Digital Servo Drives

Our xDrive all-digital brushless servo drives are standalone, housed units that are ideal mates to power our brushless torque and servo motors.
xDrive
Model Power Supply Cont. Current (A Pk / A RMS) Peak Current (A Pk / A RMS) Command Digital I/O Feedback DA-XDA-230 AC: 230 VAC, 50/60 Hz, 1- or 3-phase 4 / 2.8 8 / 5.6 16 / 11.2 8 / 5.6 16 / 11.2 32 / 22.4 (2) ±10VDC, 12-bit 9 (5 hi speed) IN, 5 (3 hi speed) OUT Hall, encoder, serial encoder, resolver

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llied Motion offers three series of power differentiating transaxles, the DDA, TAA and the TAB series. The DDA series is a dual-drive unit that uses two opposed parallel-shaft gearmotors to effect the capability of a zero turn radius transaxle. The TAA series is our standard-duty transaxle with up to 3/8 HP output shaft power, and the TAB series is our heavy-duty transaxle with over 1 HP output shaft power. In addition to our standard transaxle offering shown here, Allied Motion can design custom transaxles to fit the requirements of your specific application.
Standard and Heavy-Duty Transaxles
DDA Transaxle	TAA Transaxle	TAB Transaxle
Series Voltage Motor Type Rated Power Rated Torque Rated Speed Vehicle Weight DDA 12 - 240 VDC PMDC (x2) 0.33 HP (250 W) (x2) 175 lb-in (19.8 Nm) 121 RPM 1000 lb (454 kg) TAA 24 VDC PMDC 0.25 / 0.3 HP (187 / 224 W) 100 / 125 lb-in (11.3 / 14 Nm) 156 RPM 1200 lb (544 kg) TAB 36 VDC PMDC 1.03 / 0.74 HP (769 / 552 W) 836 / 200 lb-in (94.5 / 22.6 Nm) 78 / 233 RPM 2000 lb (907 kg)

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Frameless Brushless Torque Motors

Frameless sizes range from 17.3 mm (0.68") through 792 mm (31.2"). In addition to this standard range, custom sizes are also available to suit specific requirements. Housed versions of most of our frameless motor models are available up through the Megaflux MF310 with a housing diameter of 310 mm (12.2").
HT High Torque	Megaflux
Series Continuous Stall Torque Winding Voltage Stator Diameter HT 0.007 - 8.41 Nm (1.0 - 1192 oz-in) 24 / 100 / 145 VDC 19.3 - 239.2 mm (0.78 - 9.42 in) Megaflux Frameless 3.5 - 2020 Nm (2.5 - 1490 lb-ft) 48 / 150 / 300 VDC 170 - 792 mm (6.69 - 31.2 in)
Housed Brushless Torque Motors
CM Series	Megaflux Series
Series Continuous Stall Torque Winding Voltage Housing Diameter Thru-Hole Diameter CM Series 0.215 - 27.6 Nm (1.88 - 244 lb-in) 24, 48, 100, 150, 300 66.3 - 170.2 mm (2.61 - 6.7 in) 19 - 88.9 mm (0.748 - 3.50 in) Megaflux Housed Series 3.89 - 213.41 Nm (2.87 - 157.4 lb-ft) 150 / 300 VDC 186 mm (7.32 in) / 248 mm (9.76 in) / 355 mm (13.98 in) 35 mm (1.38 in) / 52 mm (2.05 in) / 150 mm (5.91 in)

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Small Precision Motors

Our small-frame motors have been successfully applied to a wide range of applications, particularly in medical, pump, and scanning equipment. See our Market Solutions section for application solutions using Allied Motion small-frame precision motors. Available standard models are summarized below, but keep in mind that Allied Motion specializes in custom-design motion control products to fit specific application requirements.
Miniature Brushless DC Motors
PerformeX Series
Series Dia. (OD) Cont. Torque Stall Torque Voltage Speed (NL) PerformeX Size 5 0.5" (12.7 mm) 0.95 oz-in (6.71 mNm) 2.6 - 5.23 oz-in (1.83 - 3.7 mNm) 24, 48 VDC 48939 - 99874 RPM (5125 - 10459 rad/s)
Small Precision Brushless DC Motors
BL 21 EB Series	KineteX 32 EB Series	BL 48 EB Series	BL 58 EB Series
BL 70 Series
Note: EB models include integrated electronic speed drive; EE models are motor only
Series Dia. (OD) Rotor Power Cont. Torque Voltage Speed (NL) BL 21 EB 0.93" (24 mm) Outer 2, 1.5 W 0.85 oz-in (6 mNm) 12, 24 VDC 4500 RPM (471 rad/s) KineteX 32 EB 1.26" (32 mm) Outer 7.2 W 4.25 oz-in (30 mNm) 12, 24 VDC 5000 RPM (523 rad/sec) BL 48 EB 2.13" (54 mm) Outer 8, 12 W 4.25, 6.09 oz-in (30, 43 mNm) 12, 24 VDC 4600 RPM (482 rad/s) BL 58 EB 2.68" (68 mm) Outer 35, 50 W 11.3 - 24 oz-in (80 - 170 mNm) 12, 24 VDC 3650, 6000 RPM 382, 628 rad/s) BL 70 EB 2.72" (69 mm) Inner 85 - 110 W 42.5 - 68 oz-in (300 - 480 mNm) 24, 42 VDC 3580 - 4000 RPM (375 - 419 rad/s)
Small Precision Coreless DC Motors
CL29 Series	CL40 Series	CL66 Series
Series Dia. (OD) Power Cont. Torque Voltage Speed (NL) Commutation CL29 1.14" (29 mm) 3 W 1.42 oz-in (10 mNm) 6 - 24 VDC 3840 - 4010 RPM (402 - 420 rad/s) Precious metal CL40 1.57" (40 mm) 7, 12 W 3.12, 3.68 oz-in (22, 26 mNm) 6 - 30 VDC 3780 - 5280 RPM (396 - 553 rad/s) Precious metal, graphite-copper CL66 2.6" (66 mm) 25W 14.2 oz-in (100 mNm) 12 - 36 VDC 2560 - 3210 RPM (268 - 336 rad/s) Graphite-copper

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Servo Motors

The Quantum (QB) series is offered in both frameless and standard NEMA housed versions. The frameless models are designed for direct integration with the driven shaft or gearbox. The housed NEMA models can be equipped with an encoder or resolver for feedback. Custom versions of the Quantum series to exactly match application requirements are easily developed from our standard platform designs.
Quantum Frameless Brushless Servo Motors
QB Frameless Series
Series Continuous Stall Torque Winding Voltage Stator Diameter Quantum Frameless 0.08 - 14.1 Nm (11.5 - 1997 oz-in) 24 / 40 / 130 VDC 40 / 130 / 300 VDC (QB056) 35.8 - 127 mm (1.41 - 5.0 in)
Quantum NEMA Series Brushless Servo Motors
QB017 Series	QB023 Series	QB034 Series	QB056 Series
Series Frame Cont. Stall Torque Cont. Output Power Winding Voltages No-Load Speed Range QB017 NEMA 17 11.5 - 33.5 oz-in (0.08 - 0.23 Nm) 68 - 167 W 24, 40, 130 VDC 6318 - 29095 RPM QB023 NEMA 23 51 - 138 oz-in (0.36 - 0.98 Nm) 202 - 411 W 3014 - 10254 RPM QB034 NEMA 34 115 - 328 oz-in (0.81 - 2.32 4 Nm) 410 - 846 W 1413 - 8037 RPM QB056 NEMA 56 3.17 - 10.40 ft-lb (4.29 - 14.10 Nm) 1.0 - 4.5 kW 40, 130, 300 VDC 2156 - 5896 RPM

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Gearmotors

• Right-angle, parallel, and inline (planetary) shaft versions
• Choice of BLDC or PMDC motor
• Continuous output power to 1/2 HP
• Cast aluminum gearboxes and precision gearing for durability and long life
• Custom versions available to suit specific application requirements

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Brushless DC Motors

• Economical brushless DC motors with or without integrated drive electronics
• Designed for durability in commercial and industrial speed and torque control applications
• Hall effect sensor commutation
• Drive electronics protection, including reverse voltage
• Thermal protection

» BLDC Motor Details

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ALIA DP D series-Diaphragm seal

 

ALIADP D series is a diaphragm seal product combining
APT8000 / ADP9000 / ADP9000L transmitter, which designed for the high-viscosity/ granular/ high-temp./ high-corrosivity situation.
D series diaphragm seal assembles Alia pressure/DP transmitter to form direct-mount / capillary-connections style.

FEATURES
The maximum temperature comes up to 280 deg.C
Multiple connection modes- Flange style / Tri-Clamp style
Multiple diaphragms/alternative connection material
Vegetable oil can be used to fill fluid for food industry
Extreme hot and cold temperature
Stainless Steel with PPC coating capillary
IDF Tri-Clamp or union screw connection for food industry
Oil free treatment & water free treatment
Fast and dynamic response
Improved performance, increased accuracy, great stability

SPECIFICATION
Process Fluid:Liquid, Gas or Vapor
Application:Liquid Level, Differential Pressure,Gauge Pressure, Absolute Pressure
Installation Style:
Direct-mount:APT8000 only
One-sided capillary:APT8000 / ADP9000 / ADP9000L
Two-sided capillaries:ADP9000 only
Extension Length:2'' , 3'' , 4''
Accuracy: +/-0.075% of Span
Stability:+/-0.15% of URL for 2 years
Capillary Length:1.0 M ~ 10 M
Max. Temperature:
Direct-Mount:-20 to 80 deg.C
Remote Diaphragm:40 to 280 deg.C
Max. Pressure:6.8 Mpa
Fill Fluid and Maximum:Silicone (Max. Temperature 130 deg.C)
Ambient Temperature Effect:+/-(0.02% URL +0.025% Span)

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Linear Series - LIN-100-TS Blow molding machine

 

 This series was specially designed to target customers in need of producing low and high volume container in large quantities. With the latest technological developments each model reaches high speed dry cycle times that enable to meet stringent production requirements.Equipped with world wide recognized electrical, hydraulic and pneumatic components, energy consumption levels are certainly minimized to achieve strict efficiency targets thus contributing to reduce the negative impact on the environment.This series has been proven to perform at the same level, at times higher, when compared to the top name brands or European manufacturers. At less than two thirds the cost it proves to be a very sound investment for customers looking to increase their production while maintaining the integrity and consistency of reliable equipment.
LIN-100-TS The main features that differentiate this model are the increased transfer stroke at 700mm, when compared to the previous model, as well as the 100mm extruder. These features allow for higher output while at the same time adding flexibility to increase the number of cavities when product allows for it.


Screw:                                                    100mm
Screw L/D:                                              26:1
Screw Speed:                                         11-55 rpm
Extruding Volum(PE):                              40-270Kg/h
Extruding Heating:                                   5 zones
Transfer Stroke:                                       700mm
Clamp Stroke:                                         120mmX2
Clamping Force:                                      19.6 t
Dry Cycle:                                                3.6s
Parison Programming:                             100 points
Water Consumption:                                 3-5 cubic m/h
Air comsumption:                                     2-3 cubic m/min
Net Weight:                                              22t

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Why Obstinate Humans Find It Hard To Believe Science

Not even those of us who are scientifically trained actually do objective science consistently well. Like all other humans, we are predisposed, with biased, emotionally prejudiced human minds, to first see what we want or expect to see—a dilemma first illustrated by Plato as “The Allegory of the Cave.”

In one of the few things Plato got right, he showed how each of us allows our subjective will to overlay and mask anything inconvenient about the objective world…

cave

Now Chris Mooney, author of The Republican War on Science, explains how this age-old human flaw is being analyzed in scientific detail, by researchers who reveal it to be dismayingly intractable. It seems that obstinacy is as deeply rooted as love or sex!

From Mooney’s new article, “The Science of Why We Don’t Believe Science”:

    Reasoning is actually suffused with emotion (or what researchers often call “affect”). Not only are the two inseparable, but our positive or negative feelings about people, things, and ideas arise much more rapidly than our conscious thoughts, in a matter of milliseconds—fast enough to detect with an EEG device, but long before we’re aware of it.

    That shouldn’t be surprising: Evolution required us to react very quickly to stimuli in our environment. It’s a “basic human survival skill,” explains political scientist Arthur Lupia of the University of Michigan. We push threatening information away; we pull friendly information close. We apply fight-or-flight reflexes not only to predators, but to data itself.

    We’re not driven only by emotions, of course—we also reason, deliberate. But reasoning comes later, works slower—and even then, it doesn’t take place in an emotional vacuum. Rather, our quick-fire emotions can set us on a course of thinking that’s highly biased, especially on topics we care a great deal about.

Of course, there’s hope, or we would never have climbed so far. In the last few centuries, we discovered a general way around this dilemma. It is through the enlightenment process that underlies almost everything successful about our civilization—not only science but also free markets, justice and democracy. It is the one tool that has ever allowed humans to penetrate the veil of their own talented delusions.
citokate
It is called Reciprocal Accountability. Or criticism, the only known antidote to error.

We may not be able to spot our own mistakes and delusions, but others will gladly point them out for us! Moreover, this favor is one that your FOES will happily do for you! (How nice of them.) And, in return, you will eagerly return the favor.

In our Enlightenment—and especially in science—this process is tuned to maximize truth-output and minimize blood-on-the-floor. But it requires some maturity. Some willingness to let the process play out. Willingness to negotiate. Calmness and even humor.

It doesn’t work amid rage or “culture war.” Which is precisely why culture war is being pushed on us. By those who want the Enlightenment to fail.

And that brings us back to Mooney’s cogent and detailed article, which explains the problem of “narrowcasting” to specifically biased audience groups, who get to wallow in endless reinforcement of their pre-existing views, avoiding the discomfort of cognitive dissonance from things like evidence ...

... a problem—exacerbated by the Internet age—that I predicted in my 1989 novel Earth, describing a near future in which people shift their attention only to those sources that confirm and reinforce their pre-existing beliefs. (A forecast I would rather not have seen come true.)

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Our Worst Frailty: An Electro Magnetic “Hit

The Electric Infrastructure Security (EIS) Council agitates for better infrastructure protection against electromagnetic threats. EMPACT America is a bipartisan, non-profit NGO for citizens concerned about protecting the American people from a nuclear or natural electromagnetic pulse (EMP) catastrophe.

To be clear, we face other dangers of a chronic nature, for example the need to develop sustainable energy to escape dependence upon foreign oil-masters and to possibly save the planet. Educating a smarter generation and rescuing our decaying infrastructure also matter a great deal, over the longer time scale.

But acute-impact threats fall into another category. They are events that could possibly knock us flat in a single day, or instant. Those of us with memories of the Cold War know how it feels to be constantly aware of a Damoclean Sword, hanging overhead…

By that standard, an EMP calamity ranks higher than anything else visible on the horizon—unlike the trumped-up panic and distraction that were foisted upon us over ‘terrorism’.* (We could have suffered a 9/11 hit every month for the last ten years and still maintained a vibrant, healthy civilization. Our parents suffered worse in WWII. It was one long scam.)

There are two possible ways that we might be hit by an EMP pulse strong enough to cripple a continent.

1) Natural cycles can apparently lead to the sort of solar flares that did little to disturb our ancestors - other that creating scary-gorgeous aurorae - but that could devastate an electricity-dependent civilization. For example, the “Carrington Event” of 1859 and another large solar storm in 1921 show that such things happen fairly frequently, and we’ve been lucky, so far.

Even lesser events can wreak havoc. According to a report in IEEE Spectrum: “In March 1989, such a geomagnetic disturbance took down the entire Hydro-Québec power grid, leaving six million customers in the Canadian province without electricity for 9 hours, and also knocked out power stations in the Northeastern United States. That disturbance occurred at one peak of an 11-year solar cycle,”

A Congressional EMP Commission report recently estimated that a once-in-a-hundred- years solar flare could cause $1-2 trillion worth of damage, if the electric grid went down for weeks. Worse, if most truck transport failed, millions of Americans might simply starve.

2) A devastating electromagnetic pulse can also be man-made. Already, more than half a dozen nuclear-armed nations have missile capabilities that- - now or soon—would tempt them to try knocking out Pax Americana with a single blow.  Just one warhead, detonated high over North America, could cause untold amounts of EMP chaos. Weighing the scenarios, this is a no-brainer. Sending such a missile to take out one US city would be a nasty hit, but it would leave us almost intact and ready for vengeance. But knocking us back to the stone age? Far more tempting, whether it is realistic or not.

With the number of nuclear armed states rising, is that a temptation we really want to be left on the table?

At recent congressional hearings on the matter, several agency heads agreed with the assessment that “it is now a matter of if, but of when.” According to Lifeboat Foundation member Paul Werbos: “One official said, after looking at the report, that $1-2 trillion was a ridiculously low estimate of the risk. ‘Yes, we have three months food stockpiled, but with electricity out for more than three days, it will all go bad. And how long can we live without water?”

“So there was serious talk of the end of civilization (their words) and of more than half the US population dying (and likewise other nations), and so on. Franks, a staunch conservative from the oil business, basically said “hey folks, this is no CO2 thing, this is real…”

Werbos continues: “And so stakeholders will take strong and vigorous action. In the face of 2012, there will be stakeholder’ s meetings. And maybe some education campaigns. And a few more spare transformers. But will anyone install the relatively simple isolators to protect transformers? Will the planning include anyone who knows what a transformer IS? And all of the usual complex ways of doing nothing useful all come into play, in all the usual myriad of ways. It will be interesting to see whether a few meager bits of light can help…. maybe…”

Now, in full disclosure, let me say that I haven’t really pored through the thousands of pages of material, and there is certainly a lot I still have to learn about this topic, as it has evolved since I last studied it.

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