Industrial design students show us a glimpse of future products

Graduating industrial design students in Ontario have presented their annual vision of "products of the future."

The students competed this month in the ACIDO Rocket Show 2007, organized by ACIDO (Association of Chartered Industrial Designers of Ontario, acido.info) for 2007 graduates of three industrial design schools – Carleton University, Humber College and Ontario College of Art & Design.

This was the 6th year for the show, and the first year as a web-based competition where students submitted their work digitally to a wider scope of peers, professionals and media. At the Rocket Awards Night in Toronto, award recipients showcased their work, including; prototypes, presentation boards and thesis books.

The Rocket "Best Of Show" award went to Phillip Benson of Carleton for his "Hospital Room Family Zone" presentation (Click here for his video). Benson's visitor space is a socializing area for guests, a temporary living accommodation for long term visitors and, as a patient becomes increasingly mobile, is an alternative to the hospital bed.

Humber College students Bartek Zalewski and Klaud Wasiak won the top award in the Transportation category for their Lux luxury limousine. To construct their model, the two used SolidWorks 3D solid modeling software and formed wheel parts using a Z Corp. 3D printer.

Cleaning up in four award categories, including the Future Envy Internship and first place in Toys, Games & Learning Aids, was Shinya Kominami of Humber for his V-Go construction toy for building ride-on vehicles.

Mike Edwards, Editor, DPN Magazine medwards@clbmedia.ca
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USEFUL SITES

Ultrasonic welding. Sonobond Ultrasonics demonstrates its ultrasonic metal welding technology, including wire splicing and digital metal spot welding, in a video (sonobondultrasonics.com).

Ball bearings. SPB-USA has updated its website to include important information needed to specify and order ball bearings. Metric and Inch series chrome and stainless steel are available (spb-usa.com).

Motion control. Delta Computer Systems, with representation in Western Canada, has added an introductory video for end users, OEMs and distributors (deltamotion.com/video).

Power supplies. Excelsys Technologies offers the ability to configure their own application-specific power supply from 100 to 1200 W, and then purchase it from their nearest authorized distributor (excelsys.com).
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       DPNCANADA.COM EXCLUSIVES

PLC switch module. The 6.2-mm PLC-S...S switch module from Phoenix Contact allows "manual-O-automatic" functions to be implemented in applications for setup, tests and manual/emergency operation.

Sealing connectors. Simrit has announced Plug & Seal plug connection technology for leak-free connections between housings, pipes and assemblies which transport gases and liquids.

Castable urethanes. Devcon liquid Flexane compounds are suitable for a variety of applications including strain relief, potting and encapsulating, forming non scratching holding fixtures, and edging and sealing felt belts and dryer fabric in the paper industry.

Injected metal assembly. The capacity of the FisherTech Injected Metal Assembly process has been increased 10-fold with the launch of the AM 51 system. A maximum shot volume of up to 500 g is said to allow for forming and joining of much larger component assemblies and end terminations.

UPCOMING EVENTS

August 7-9, 2007. Austin, TX. Virtual instrumentation conference and exhibition NIWeek 2007 presented by National Instruments (ni.com/niweek).

September 24-27, 2007. Rosemont, IL. National Manufacturing Week conference and exposition includes the Design Engineering and Assembly Technology Expo shows (manufacturingweek.com).

October 22-23, 2007. Montreal. CYCLE 2007: Towards a Life Cycle Economy is the third annual Canadian Forum on the Life Cycle Management of Products and Services (cycle2007.org).


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