Lead recall puts the spotlight on Durata and St. Jude Medical’s Optim insulation

Posted by: MedCityNews.com; Author: Arundhati Parmar

The Class I recall of the two Riata defibrillator leads from St. Jude Medical (NYSE:STJ) highlighted the issue of lead abrasion and insulation, but both those leads don’t have St. Jude Medical’s Optim technology. When lead abrasion occurs, it can cause the electrical conductors inside leads to come out of the insulation.

Optim is a silicone polyurethane hybrid developed by the Minnesota medical device technology specifically to prevent lead abrasion, explained St. Jude spokeswoman Amy Jo Meyer, and is available in the Riata ST Optim and the Durataleads. More than 250,000 Riata ST Optim and Durata leads have been sold worldwide and were not part of the recall. Read Full Article Here

New Ethanol Additive Treatment Announced by Champion

Champion Brands eGuard Ethanol Fuel Treatment helps fight ethanol fuel problems such as ingress of water and corrosion.

Ethanol-blended gasoline interacts with moisture, causing ethanol and water solution to separate from the fuel and pool in the tank. This phase separation poses a serious corrosion problem in fuel system parts – leading to reduced performance or premature failure. 

Read the Chamion Press Release on eGuard Here  and Click here for more information on Ethanol Fuel

10 actions needed now to boost US innovation: report

The Competitive and Innovative Capacity of the United States outlines 10 key action items that policymakers need to undertake or support. The underlying assumption is that it’s up to government action and oversight to make innovation happen. Government can get out of the way or lay the foundation for competitiveness. But there also needs to be more recognition that innovation is something somewhat messy and failure-prone that arises from the grassroots as well, by inspired — or discontented — entrepreneurs, professionals and rainmakers both outside and inside organizations. Often, it’s people going against the grain, against the best-laid plans of policymakers, and even against their own corporate managers’ wishes. Read Full Article Here

44th Anniversary of Silver Bridge Collapse

Posted: Dec. 15h, 2011 on TrackForum.com

Today marks the 44th anniversary of the collapse of the Great Silver Bridge in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. On December 15, 1967, the bridge collapsed into the Ohio River with a loss of 46 people, two of which were never found.

One of the eyebars just below the tower on the Ohio side had a small flaw that grew into a .1 inch crack when it failed. Suspension bridges are designed to be in equilibrium, so other eyebars began popping in a chain reaction. This pulled the towers in toward each other, and the bridge, loaded with rush hour traffic, collapsed. Read Full Article Here

Ford recall: Wheels could fall off Fusion, Mercury Milan

Ford is recalling 2010-11 Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan vehicles that were equipped with 17-inch steel wheels because the wheel studs may fracture, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. No other wheels sizes or styles are affected. Read Full Article Here

Forensic Science Makes for Longer-Living Chevy Cruze

Engineers perform post-mortems to enhance vehicle durability

DETROIT, Oct. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — General Motors Corrosion Engineer Christa Cooper and her team know that rust never sleeps, so they look for corrosion in places the typical automobile owner never sees – underneath welded brackets and joints and among the thousands of spot welds that help hold together a vehicle body.

The Crime Scene Investigation-style effort was performed recently on the 2012 Chevrolet Cruze. The outcome should mean years of little or no rust.  Read Full Article Here

Engine Maintenance Strategies Gain Prominence

Posted by: AviationWeek

 By: Guy Norris

While fuel burn grabs the big headlines in the battle for market share between the mid-thrust engine makers, it is more often maintenance cost which becomes the real acid test when it comes to decision time. Read Full Article Here

World’s lightest material is 99.99 percent air [video]

Posted by Smartplanet.com

Author:  Tuan C. Nguyen

The lightest material in the world is almost as light as air. In fact, it’s made up of 99.99 percent air, weighs 100 times lighter than Styrofoam and can sit on a dandelion without even a hint of strain. The metallic material, developed by researchers from UC Irvine, HRL Laboratories and the California Institute of Technology has a low density of 0.9 mg/cc, yet is quite strong. It can be compressed beyond 50 percent of its mass and return to its original shape as well as absorb high amounts of energy.   Read Full Article and Watch Video Here

Gearbox ‘failed’ in crashed helicopter

Posted by: Worchester News

The operators of a helicopter which crashed into the North Sea killing a Droitwich man, and 16 other crew members, had been planning to replace a major mechanical part a week before the tragedy….as the helicopter was flying to Aberdeen from the Miller Platform on the afternoon of April 1, 2009, the main rotor separated from the fuselage and the aircraft crashed into the sea.  In today’s final report, which followed three interim reports, the AAIB listed 17 recommendations to Eurocopter, the European Aviation Safety Agency, the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority and America’s Federal Aviation Administration….Read Full Article Here

Wind Turbine Gearbox Study Raises Reliability Hopes

By David Appleyard, Chief Editor, Renewable Energy World International

The NREL’s Gearbox Reliability Collaborative (GRC) project is tackling the wind industry’s ongoing challenge of drivetrain failures.

LONDON — Over the past two decades, wind turbine manufacturers, gear designers, bearing manufacturers, consultants and lubrication engineers have been working together to improve load prediction, design, fabrication and operation. This collaboration resulted in an internationally recognised wind turbine gearbox design standard (International Organization for Standardization 2005). But, despite this, most systems still require significant repair or overhaul well before their intended life is reached.  Manufacturers continue to modify and redesign existing turbines and it is difficult to validate the modifications fast enough to prevent multiple units with unsatisfactory ‘solutions’ being deployed.  Read Full Article Here