Category: Engineering

 

After decades as an extreme science and engineering niche, virtual and augmented reality is now widely used as a mainstream business technology. That’s thanks to the convergence of light, low-power mobile and graphics semiconductor technology, and improvements in screen displays to reduce their size and improve the resolution and detail of images.
As virtual and augmented reality continue to thrive, a range of new VR headsets are manufactured and launched each year. Virtual and augmented technology continues to develop, with new features in every new model.
As an adjunct to VR, augmented reality, viewed through a smartphone’s screen or an augmented headset like Microsoft’s HoloLens, allows workers to simultaneously see the real world and digital information. These technologies combine to create significant opportunities for engineers like ourselves and designers to work on projects with a greater appreciation of their three-dimensional nature, at the cost of hundreds of euros, compared to many thousands for previous generations.

 

How Does Virtual Reality Work?

Virtual reality uses complex technology to simulate a 3D environment where users can explore software created surroundings. From exploring a new city to the more business-focused creating prototypes, VR has many applications in different fields. For example, chemists and physicists can study molecules in 3D, and customers can view their perfectly customised car or kitchen ahead of a build; in many businesses and markets, the possibilities and implications are vast.
These advances provide products that can significantly benefit teams in engineering or CAD tasks. For example, improved visualisation of a design allows workers to adjust properties, sizings and other aspects of a project in real-time. Realtime 3D animations enable workers to see tolerances and physical reactions in action, highlighting problems in material choices or ensuring the right size of supports, springs, screws, and other fittings are perfect for the job. As spring manufacturers, this type of technology can transform how we design and create our springs.

 

 

Engineering in Cyber Space

Augmented reality can make on-site repair processes easier to understand and follow. For example, a set of HoloLens is used on the International Space Station to control robotic devices or follow instruction guides without the astronaut constantly diverting their attention to paper instructions. Meanwhile, at the cutting edge of this technology, F-35 fighter pilots can “see-through” their aircraft and have a total understanding of the battlespace thanks to their €350,000 helmets.

 

VR in Car Design

Using virtual reality in car design is a concept that is slowly becoming more familiar to many car manufacturers. Traditionally, car designs were sketched using pen and paper to be turned into a 3D representation. With the addition of VR, the 2D stage can be skipped, saving manufacturers a lot of time. VR headsets allow car manufacturers to visualise the car design in 3D, viewing it at different angles and rotations. They can even simulate sitting in the design to get a real feel for the car’s looks and functions. Overall, the use of VR in car design means that manufacturing is quicker, and the final plans are more realistic.

 

VR in Rail Construction

The latest developments in virtual reality in rail construction come from the new HS2 railway in England, currently under construction between Wigan and London. High tech sensors will be implemented into the physical infrastructure of the railway line to monitor performance and potential failures. By using VR to create an exact 3D replica, the model can predict and prevent system failures, which saves money and time and helps cut the project’s emissions, making it more environmentally friendly.

 

VR in Architecture

Virtual reality is already a significant part of architecture, with 83% of the top 100 architectural firms worldwide using a form of VR. With a VR headset, the user can walk through a simulation of a proposed building, creating the sense that they are there. This is an excellent piece of technology in architecture as their work relies on visualising structures. VR makes this a much easier task, saving time and money and minimising the risk of errors.

 

 

Though VR is primarily used for gaming, the market for using VR in architecture is promising, and future plans hope to see further developments within this area.

 

How Has Virtual Reality Changed the Spring Industry so Far

Thus far, virtual reality has already made its way into the manufacturing process of springs and pressings. By using virtual reality software, manufacturers can test their products before physical production begins, foreseeing any possible issues and perfecting the design process of springs.
The use of virtual reality in spring manufacturing minimises the risk of spring design error and makes the process more efficient. As wireform manufacturers, it also allows us to predict the outcome of wire forms and various other springs, which ultimately saves resources and money as it increases the probability of the product being flaw-free on the first attempt.

 

The Future of VR in Engineering

While still in constant development for use in the engineering sector, the technology is finally mature enough to allow businesses to invest in and reap the rewards of time and money saved on projects as designs are created with greater accuracy and problems are solved faster.
With an expected growth rate of up to 18% between now and 2028, VR technology is sure to play a more significant role in engineering and manufacturing processes. Over the next few years, it is expected that many manufacturing industries, including the spring industry, will incorporate virtual reality into the design and production process. From its already stellar success, the future of VR in engineering looks very bright, and we can’t wait to see what’s in store!

Get in touch for more information on how European Springs Ireland plan to use VR in the future to help with your engineering challenges. We also offer expert advice and a wide range of spring sales and manufacturing services.

With many years of experience as spring manufacturers in the engineering industry, we’ve learnt the best way many engineering processes are fulfilled.

Young engineers and those that are new to the job can find the industry very intimidating. The speed at which everything moves in this sector and the variety of processes you need to know can make it easy to feel overwhelmed.

We want to share the knowledge we’ve gained with our experience in the engineering industry for the benefit of any new engineers. So here are five pieces of essential advice that will help you get started!

Be Prepared to Work in a Group as Well as Alone

Too many young people believe they can keep their heads down and work solo when starting out in the engineering industry. As an engineer there will be times when you will have to work alone, though more often than not, you’ll be part of a team and need to work as one. Teamwork requires effective communication to complete your projects efficiently. Additionally, by working closely with others, you will gain access to a wider variety of skills and advice to create a higher quality product.

Working with other engineers is also a great chance to find out more about different roles in either manufacturing or engineering personally.

It Never Hurts To Ask Questions

Engineering is all about precision, and you cant be precise without knowing what you’re doing.

If you are not sure what you are doing at any point, make sure you ask a member of staff for help. An experienced team member will be able to explain or demonstrate how to complete the task at hand. The project you are working on will most likely be delayed if you don’t carry out the work correctly, and then you’ll be back where you started.

It’s much better to ask for clarification than to assume you’re right, proceed incorrectly and repeat the work later. Remember, there are no stupid questions; it never hurts to ask.

Find a Role Model

When you start your career in engineering, you may find yourself shadowing a more experienced staff member for advice daily. Unfortunately, with all the questions you need answering, it might feel like you’re annoying this person with questions, but that’s not true.

Experienced engineers will have seen many young engineers join the industry over the years, and they will remember what it was like for themselves when they started.

Learning never stops in engineering. So don’t be afraid to ask your questions, and embrace the chance to listen to their advice. The more you listen, the more you ask about everything, the more you will learn and grow.

Explore Your Passions

Many engineers will choose their speciality based on their interests. But as you gain experience in the sector, your interests may change. Therefore, it’s always a good idea to be aware of the other sectors within the engineering industry, not so that you can be sure of your place in it but also to explore your options as an engineer.

Here are a few examples of the different engineering disciplines:

Mechanical engineering covers almost everything essential to our daily lives. Mechanical engineers will work on any power-producing machine. Fridges, air conditioning units, elevators and escalators are examples of their work.

Biomedical engineering is a constantly growing part of the industry. With every medical advance, a new technology needs to be created to assist it. There is a constant demand for medical technology to help treat more and more patients in this field.

Electrical engineering will handle the critical components of infrastructure and communication—devices such as laptops smartphones to larger industrial electronics.

There are many fields to explore within engineering, with constant growth as demand rises. The future of technology also opens more possibilities for aspiring engineers. For example, the improvements to robotics have led to an increased demand for engineers alone. Additionally, the increased demand for eco-friendly manufacturing has created environmental engineers. People who wish to work on green energy systems, solar panels or wind farms would be ideal in this field.

Find Additional Training

The engineering industry is a rewarding sector to be a part of. Each generation of engineers helps improve the industry, bringing innovation and taking the industry to new heights! If you’re considering a career in engineering or manufacturing but are unsure where to start, try an apprenticeship.

At European Springs, we proudly accept new apprentices as spring technicians every year. We believe heavily in investing in this industries future. By embracing apprenticeships, we help grow the industry and introduce new knowledge and skillsets.

Apprenticeships are a great way to get started in the engineering industry. As a paid job with training on and off the job, it truly is the best way to be introduced to the sector. Please read our other blog discussing the importance of apprenticeships for engineering for more detail.

European Springs Ireland is here to be the best spring supplier you’ll ever need. To find out how we could help your business, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us here today or on 028 9083 8605.

If you’re just getting started in the spring manufacturing industry, you may be a little overwhelmed at the number of terms and various jargon you come across. Although the day you finally understand what each piece of terminology means might seem far away, we’re here to help.

European Springs, Ireland, are market leaders and have almost 74 years of experience in the industry. We love sharing our knowledge and passing down our expertise to the younger generations, helping them to advance within the manufacturing and engineering sector. This is why we offer apprenticeship schemes and actively encourage those interested in the industry to start a career. To find out more about the work we do and get involved yourself, please get in touch with our team – we’re always more than happy to assist.

Furthermore, in today’s blog, we’re providing a starting point for those beginning their careers in spring manufacturing by offering a list of common jargon used in the industry. Additionally, if you’ve worked in spring manufacturing for many years, don’t go anywhere. You may just pick up some new and valuable information.

Our Glossary of Spring Manufacturing Terminology

Without further ado, here is a list of spring manufacturing jargon.

A

Active Coils – These are the coils inside the spring that are free to move after loading the spring.

Angular Relationship of Ends – The position of the hooks of tension springs, for example, next to each other.

B

Baking – Releasing hydrogen embrittlement through heating.

Buckling – The bowing or deflecting of compression springs during loading.

C

Closed Ends – The ends of a compression spring where the pitch of the end of the coil is reduced.

Closed and Ground Ends – The ends of a compression spring where the coils’ pitch is ground square and flat.

Close-wound – Coils with adjacent coils touching each other.

D

Dead Coils – Coils of a spring that don’t affect the spring rate.

Deflection – This is what happens when a spring responds to force being applied or released.

E

Elastic Limit – The limitation of a spring’s stress before it is permanently set.

Endurance Limit – The limit of a spring’s lifetime.

Extension Spring – This is another term used for a tension spring.

F

Fatigue – The type of defeat which takes place after repeated or fluctuating stresses below the limit of the spring.

Fatigue Strength – Another term for Endurance Limit, referring to the limit of a spring’s lifetime.

Free Angle – The angle between the arms of an unloaded torsion spring. Additionally, this could also refer to the position of the torsion spring’s legs.

Free Length – The length of a spring in an unloaded position.

Frequency – This refers to the rate of vibration coming off a spring whilst both ends are grasped or attached.

H

Heat Setting – Reducing the load loss at the operating temperature by putting a spring under an elevated temperature.

Helix – Meaning round or circular.

Hooke’s Law – A Law of Physics by Robert Hooke – the load is proportional to the deflection.

Hooks – The ends of an extension spring after being bent out to form hooks.

Hot Pressing – Another term for Heat Setting.

Hourglass Spring – This is a spring with coil diameters that are larger at the end.

Hydrogen Embrittlement – This happens when hydrogen is absorbed in electroplating, making them perceptible to cracks and failing under constant loads.

Hysteresis – When the mechanical energy is lost due to cyclic loading.

I

Initial Tension – The force gathered between the coils of an extension spring, making them stay together.

L

Load – The weight or force being applied to a spring.

Loops – Another term for hooks and sometimes referred to as eyes.

M

Mean Coil Diameter – This is the outside spring diameter (O.D.) minus one wire diameter (d).

Modulus in Shear or Torsion – Referring to the coefficient of stiffness used for compression and extension springs, also known as Modulus of Rigidity.

Modulus in Tension of Bending – Coefficient of stiffness for torsion and flat springs. Also known as Young’s Modulus and Modulus of Elasticity.

O

Open Ends – The final coils in the compression spring.

Open Ends, Ground – When the wire’s end is ground, it lets it stand.

P

Parallelism – The level to which two ground ends of a spring run parallel.

Passivating – Treating stainless steel with acid to remove contaminants and improve corrosion resistance.

Permanent Set – When a spring is deflected past its elastic limit and maximum safe load, Permanent Setting occurs. The spring loses its force and memory and will not return to its original length.

Pitch – The space between two coils in open wound springs such as compression springs.

Plain Ends – End coils of a tension spring that have no loops or other end forms.

Poisson’s Ratio – The ratio of the strain in the longitudinal direction to the strain in the transverse direction.

R

Rate – This is the change in load proportional to the change in deflection. It is usually given in lb/in or N/mm.

Remove Set – This refers to the process of closing to solid height, which was coiled longer than the original desired finished length. This increases the apparent elastic limit.

Residual Stress – The deflection of a spring available past the top working position up to the solid position.

S

Shot Peening – This refers to the process of a spring that has been cold-worked and where the surface of the material is peened to cause compressive stress. This is often done to improve fatigue life.

Slenderness Ratio – Ratio of spring length (L) to the mean coil diameter (D).

Solid Height – This is the height of a compression spring once it’s been fully compressed and all of its coils are touching.

Spring Index – Ratio of mean coil diameter (D) to the wire diameter (d).

Stress Range – The difference between operating stresses at minimum and maximum loads.

Stress Relieved – This is the process of subjecting springs to low-temperature heat treatment to relieve residual stress.

T

Torque – This is the product of the distance from the spring axis to the loading point and the force component to the distance line – often portrayed in N/mm. This is also sometimes known as Moment.

Total Number of Coils – The amount of active and inactive coils in a spring.

W

Wahl Factor – This corrects stress in helical spring’s effects of curvature and direct shear.

Are You Interesting in Learning More?

Although this is not an exhaustive list, we hope it has been helpful, and you now have a better understanding of some of the spring manufacturing jargon you will encounter during your work in the industry.

As leading spring suppliers and spring manufacturers in Ireland, we’re here if you need further assistance understanding any of the terminologies in today’s blog Please get in touch to enquire about any of our products or more information about our apprenticeship schemes.

Engineering has come a long way since ancient times, and we’re able to invent and create incredible things that we wouldn’t have been able to comprehend years ago. Initially, engineering was considered to be inventions such as the wheel. Since then, engineering has advanced tremendously, with advances in technology and the digital world to thank. As a result, the engineering industry now use machines and software to develop incredible designs and structures. We welcome new engineering techniques to create bespoke springs and pressings as spring suppliers.

 

 

However, some works of ancient engineering still impress and amaze us today due to the level of advancement at such an early time. We take a look back at some of the world’s most impressive ancient engineering pieces that still stand to this day.

 

Göbekli Tepe

This stone creation is incredible to view, with its massive stone pillars arranged into a set of rings. Foxes, snakes, boars, and other animals are carved into the stone as 2D pictures and 3D models. But what makes this collection of rough stones remarkable is that it’s thought to have been built around 9000 B.C. That’s so early that it predates farming; it also predates Stonehenge by 6000 years. The largest of the stones is 18 feet tall and weigh around 60 tonnes, so the question remains, in a time before farming, how did these ancient people build this fantastic work of architecture?

Researchers have found that the Göbekli Tepe was built using limestone and followed a strict architectural plan. It was cleverly designed so that if a line were to be drawn through the centre points of three of its enclosures, it would form a near-perfect equilateral triangle. In details like this and its pre-historic age, the Göbekli Tepe remains one of the unique archaeological pieces today.

 

 

Coliseum Wonders

The coliseums are impressive enough as they are, but what amazes modern-day scientists is the lengths to which the Romans would go for a good show. One such form of entertainment featured the re-enactment of epic naval battles. The Colosseum would be flooded with water and filled with ships which slaves and prisoners of war were forced to board and act out battles. Archaeologists discovered that they used a system of aqueducts that led to the arena.

The most famous Colosseum in Rome was built in 70 A.D. using tufa blocks, a variety of limestone. Arches and Vaults were built into the design to create solidity in the structure, an addition that worked well as the structure still stands today. The Romans also used efficient techniques such as building seats and stairs in a workshop to be installed on-site later. This saved them time in construction and highlighted that efficiency has always been at the forefront of engineering. At European Springs, we also adopt efficient methods to create high-quality springs, such as clock springs.

 

Derinkuyu’s Underground City

In 1963, a man of the Nevşehir Province of Turkey discovered the underground city of Derinkuyu when he knocked down a wall in his home and found an intricate tunnel system. This vast city dates back to somewhere between the 15^th century and 12^th century B.C. What’s truly incredible about the city is the depth to which it goes. It’s fascinating to think that those who built and excavated it would have been equipped with primitive tools, yet they were able to create a city large enough to house around 20,000 people.

The underground city was built using the debris from previous volcanic eruptions. The layers of built-up ash solidified to create a stable rock which they then used to carve living spaces out of. The city consists of multiple rooms, including a church, storage rooms and wine cellars and is open for tourists to visit in Turkey.

 

 

How Engineering Has Changed Since Ancient Times

Though these magnificent pieces of engineering remain to this day, it is clear to see that modern engineering has come on leaps and bounds. Technology is now commonly used in engineering, allowing us to design using the most innovative technologies and techniques. For example, at European Springs, we use the latest machinery and technology to manufacturer all types of springs and pressings. Without these latest advancements, we wouldn’t be able to deliver the excellent service you see today.

Springs did not appear until around the 15^th century, made initially using casts and bronze. Though they still served their purpose, the latest machinery allows us to create a bespoke spring of different sizes tailored to its required job, which would not have been possible in ancient times.

 

Here at European Springs, we’re fascinated by the evolution of engineering and how far we have come in the past few thousand years. We’re suppliers of a whole range of products essential to the engineering world, including gas springs in Ireland. For more information about any of our products or services, please get in touch with us today by calling 028 9083 8605 to speak to a member of our team.