Author: European Springs Web Team

There are many different types of springs, each with its own physical properties. Knowing which is the right one for your project can be challenging, then, as they can have very different applications due to this, which means that in order to make the right choice you need to know their key features.

Picking out the right spring for your project becomes a lot easier when you know its characteristics and common uses. Here at European Springs Ireland we aim to help you make the right decision at all times, so please don’t hesitate to talk to us if you wish to learn more about what we can do for you!

Needless to say, here at European Springs Ireland, we are passionate about the field of engineering, and the many ways it can impact for positive progress and overall benefit to humankind. Nowhere is this more evident than in the world of medical research.

Therefore we were thrilled to learn about the pioneering work being done by engineering researchers at the Polytechnique Montreal Nanorobotics Laboratory. Here, tests on mice with colorectal tumours have successfully used natural nanorobotic agents to travel through the bloodstream and target those cancerous tumours.

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This precision injection method does no harm to healthy tissue and significantly reduces the toxic effect of strong drugs on the rest of the body.

How Do The Nanobots Function?

Self-propellent force is created by composition of millions of flagellated bacteria. The force is strong enough to allow travel by the most direct path deep into the area requiring treatment. On entering the tumour, the nanorobotic agents detect the hypoxic (oxygen deficient) zones and release the drug. Hypoxic zones are prone to being oxygen starved by aggressive cancer cells, and even radiotherapy has not been able to effectively reach them.

How Do They Navigate?

The travelling bacteria move in the direction of a magnetic field, controlled by computer, steered by a chain of magnetised nanoparticles. They are assisted by a sensor measuring the oxygen concentration levels, and this guides them to the worst affected areas, and allows them to remain there.

What Are The Future Implications?

The most exciting prospect is that chemotherapy, known to be destructive to the whole body, could use these nanorobots to target areas of disease. This would radically reduce harmful side effects and potentially prove more therapeutic. It also means drug doses for humans could be substantially reduced. Sylvain Martel, who has been leading this research, believes that this new innovation with nanotransporters could lead to more advances in engineering for medical intervention methods.

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Bacteria Can Replicate Artificial Nanorobots

The breakthrough in this use of bacteria opens the way for more research possibilities. It begs the question of what other agents could be synthesised for such therapeutic ends. Any discovery which challenges the toxic misery caused by chemotherapy is very exciting news indeed.

If, like us here at European Springs, you are inspired by the possibilities for future engineering progress in medicine and other areas, why not get in touch? We are always open to new collaborations and would love to share your enthusiasm and ideas. Contact us today to find out how we can help you!

The 3D printer has revolutionised society over the past few years. But, the extent of what these wondrous machines can do is still being tested on a daily basis. One such test, recently, has been the printing of food. This may seem like something that is straight out of a Star Trek film rather than reality, but it has actually been developed and is being adapted daily to achieve better results.

3D printer and hamburger, concept for food printing.

But, what is the future of actually printing food and how will this affect the food industry in the future?

The Difficulties

Of course, this is not a development that has come easily. 3D printers deposit layer upon layer to build up an object, but the food 3D printer is a more complicated issue. Crystallised sugar can be formed in layers in just the same way that a 3D printer works, while chocolate can be dispensed with precision syringes to make complicated designs, and a final method involves compressing fresh ingredients to make a wide variety of different food products. Most of the current 3D food printers currently in existence use a variety of these methods in order to create food.

However, none of these methods are yet capable of making overly complicated food products as you might see in sci-fi movies. That will be many years to come, according to experts. However, this has not stopped people from adopting these methods, making way for a future where 3D food printers will, presumably, dominate the food industry as a standard.

Gourmet Food

The world of gourmet food has already begun to see the development of 3D printed food. Moulds can be made in order to help precision needs, such as for more complicated designs in baking, which makes the process of creating complicated gourmet food that much easier. Many in this high-end, specialist, part of the industry expects 3D printing to become a major component of the industry in the years to come.

Creating food is an art form, experimental and constantly changing. It can be as precise as the springs produced here at European Springs or as wild as the most modern of art. The future of 3D printing may mean that further food experiments can revolutionise the industry on a whole new level.

Benefits

There are many benefits to the development of 3D printing in the food industry. This is especially the case of the ability to reduce malnourishment in the world, whether that is in the elderly and young children who cannot eat whole foods or in third world countries. 3D printers can produce a mix of soft foods, full of nutrients that will help the most unfortunate in the world for relatively reduced costs.

3D printing of food also helps to reduce waste in the future. This is a major concern considering that the food wastage of the world, in comparison to what is being made, is relatively high and often cited as needing to be reduced. It will, theoretically, also make some unappetising food substances more palatable to people in order to use products that otherwise would go to waste, helping both people and the environment.

The world of 3D printing is ever changing and opens up a world of possibilities – if someone has an idea 3D printing may one day be able to print it. Are you looking for the perfect spring for your printing project? Contact our expert team today and we will be delighted to assist you!

If there is a love and hate phase in any design process in engineering, that is, for sure, the moment when the prototype has to be tested. No matter how wonderful the ideas to solve a particular problem are, the final product has to be actually useful in the real world. Testing the prototype is the moment where all engineers – no matter if they are beginners or if they already have an extensive career – are ready to learn from their mistakes. But without this, machines as fascinating as the 3D printer and the NiLiBoRo robot wouldn’t exist!

 

1. Real People

Chances are that your final product will be used by those who don’t necessarily have such an insight on the particularities of this item as you do. That is why you need to test the prototype with real people – and not colleagues. In this way, you’ll be sure they find it useful.

You may be wondering what kind of people you need – age, gender, geography – but nothing is as important as bringing participants who are knowledgeable of the domain or industry you are working with, as they are the potential audience for the final product.

2. Different tests for different results

What do you want to discover about your prototype? To make sure that not a single second is wasted during this phase, you have to design a set of instructions you will deliver to the people testing the prototype, so they do exactly what you need to see if the product has accomplished all that was designed for.

Direct

Direct tests are those in which you tell your participants the exact action they need to perform. They must do what they are told.

Scenario

In a scenario test you allow people more freedom. You just provide them with general guidelines and then they can use the prototype as they think it is best.

Closed

Closed tasks are those in which success can just be reached under specific conditions and anything else will result in failure. They are ideal if you want to test a specific function of your prototype.

Open-Ended

These are tasks that can be completed in many different ways. They are good if you want to know how the minds of your potential users work.

3. Be Aware of Any Regulation

This phase is also the point to make sure that the product you are creating can exist according to the relevant regulations and legislations, such as the British standards. This will assure that the item that will be manufactured in the future is completely safe.

 

4. Communicate with Your Clients

The participants who have been testing your prototype may be happy with it, you may be happy with it, but what about the clients you are creating this for? It is very important that you also invite them to see the prototype and listen to their impressions. If they are not pleased with the design or any of the functions, you are still at a stage when these things can be easily amended.

In most cases, it doesn’t mean that your product is wrong; sometimes clients change their minds on very specific aspects. Communication is the key to make sure everyone is happy with the final outcome.

 

Here at European Springs Ireland we are experts on designing the best springs and pressings. Check out our catalogue and don’t hesitate in contacting our friendly team with any enquiry, we’ll be delighted to help!

 

 

It might be the largest planet of our solar system, but since the past 5th of July we can pride ourselves on having conquered it. After a five-year-long journey – in which it has covered no less than 1.7 billion miles – the probe Juno is finally orbiting around Jupiter.

 

What is Juno?

This spacecraft is part of the NASA New Frontier Mission and was launched on the 5th of August, 2011, from Cape Canaveral. Unlike other spacecrafts used in missions in the outer solar system, Juno is not powered by radioisotope thermoelectric generators but solar arrays. These are more common in satellites orbiting the Earth. Nevertheless, in the case of Juno, its three solar array wings are the largest ever developed in a planetary probe and help it to stabilise and generate power.

 

Juno Operational Components

1. Propulsion

Juno uses hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide for propulsion, providing a thrust of 645 newtons. The vehicle’s orientation is controlled by a monopropellant reaction control system.

2. Telecommunications

Back on Earth, scientists communicate with the spacecraft using a 230ft antenna that utilises an X band direct link. This system is also being used by Juno to send photographs from Jupiter – such as the beautiful ones in which we can see the planet dancing with its four moons.

3. Solar Panels

Juno has only three, symmetrically arranged. Two of them have four hinged segments, and the third one has three segments and a magnetometer. Each panel is 8.9ft by 29ft long, which makes them the largest ones ever used by NASA on a deep-space probe.

Off

 

Juno’s Travel

1. August 2011

Juno was launched from Earth and placed in a heliocentric orbit.

2. October 2013

After travelling for two years, Juno passed by the Earth again, using the planet’s gravity to propel itself – this manoeuvre has been called a ‘gravitational slingshot’. The spacecraft received a boost in speed of more than 8,800 miles per hour before heading towards Jupiter. But before that, scientists in Earth took advantage of this fly-by and tested some instruments and procedures with Juno.

3. July 2016

When Juno reached Jupiter’s orbit, its trajectory changed from hyperbolic to elliptical. Thanks to this, the spacecraft will be closer to Jupiter than any other machine of its kind before. Besides, it minimises the contact with Jupiter’s dense radiation belts that, potentially, can damage the spacecraft and its solar panels.

4. October 2016

Juno will be orbiting around Jupiter gathering as much information as it can about the planet and its surroundings.

5. February 2018

It is scheduled to disintegrate into Jupiter’s atmosphere. When this happens, it will burn out and disappear very quickly. This has been done so the spacecraft doesn’t collide with any of Jupiter’s moons by accident. This will also reduce the risk of space debris and contamination according with NASA’s Planetary Protection Guidelines.

 

What Mysteries Will Juno Be Able to Explain?

1. Solid Core

Scientists from all over the world keep arguing about the nature of the gigantic planet’s core. Some of them believe it is solid; others that gases present in the atmosphere go all the way down.

2. Sea of Liquid Metallic Hydrogen

Does this exist? Many people believe so, as it will explain Jupiter’s massive magnetic field and its spectacular auroras.

3. The Great Red Spot

This is giant storm that has been alive for hundreds of years. It works like a hurricane but, as far as we know, these need to feed on the liquid that comes from an ocean – and the existence of such thing seems unlikely in Jupiter’s landscape, which is exclusively formed by gas.

 

Here at European Springs Ireland we believe in the power of technology – starting with the smallest elements, such as springs – to change everyone’s life. Looking for the perfect spring for your project? Don’t hesitate in contacting our expert team today and we’ll be delighted to help.

 

 

 

 

We have previously showcased some of our springs that our CNC machinery allows us to manufacture, including wireforms and bespoke solutions. We have looked at compression, tension, and torsion springs, demonstrating how these are found in everyday life.

We will now cover disc, wave, and gas springs, three other springs we create in order to provide the perfect solution for your project.

Disc Springs

Also known as Belleville washers, disc springs are essentially comprised of conically shaped components. Used for more than 150 years, they allow for ease of stacking with similar springs and for ease of carrying very large loads, due to their very resilient shape.

Vehicular clutches and brake mechanisms make use of disc springs, which can be either linear or regressive in dynamic. Glide washers can be fit to avoid friction, which provides the recognisable curves and diverse column length of disc springs.

Gas Springs

Famous for their astounding form variation, gas springs number over 770 different products in our range, with more than 70 diverse fittings and bespoke options. Our experience in manufacturing these springs spans over 60 years, which allows us to easily determine which gas spring is suitable to your personal requirements.

Comprised of a cylindrical body filled with nitrogen gas, a seal, a piston rod, and a guiding function to provide the compression and extension movements as required, gas springs utilise the pushing force exerted by the nitrogen gas to put pressure on the piston. Commonly utilised for opening and closing car hoods or chairs, for example, they allow for ease of regulated movement.

Wave Springs

Unusual in appearance, wave springs’ unique shape is made through “on edge coiling” or “edgewinding”, allowing for a wave shape inside the flat wire to have spring-like properties. These springs are typically compact but can be designed to specified needs, if the one you require isn’t in our catalogue.

If you require a spring that is 50% smaller in height and length than a round wire spring, then wave springs might be an ideal option. They are perfect for replacing coil springs due to their multi-coil framework and cost effective due to the use of less material in manufacturing.

Through our 3D printing abilities we are able to print a replica of your product to scale, allowing to better determine the spring requirements for your project. For more information about our expert and professional services, you can contact us on 028 9083 8605 to speak to our highly-skilled team. We are always happy to answer any query you might have!

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