Shinya Hasegawa and colleagues at Tokai University, Hiratsuka Japan, have developed a refrigerator (-107°C) powered only by waste heat that generated soundwaves in an innovative multistage travelling wave thermoacoustic engine. [ + ]

An SMC EtherCAT installation at a local abattoir highlights that seemingly complex technology, previously only reserved for high-tech environments, can be implemented in most applications. [ + ]

Bespoke 'ready-to-go' power systems from Australia are set to stabilise the energy flow in Micronesia. [ + ]

In Germany regular inspections involving the total shutdown of process plants are required by law for inspection, safety tests, maintenance and repair. The Dow Chemical plant in Böhlen, Germany, recently engaged TÜV SÜD Chemie Service to assist DOW with the shutdown in order to ensure the safety of the plant up to the next periodic inspection. [ + ]

When your business supplies fresh meat products to major supermarkets and consumers across Australia, you can't afford to get it wrong. Products displaying illegible date codes, damaged packaging or wrongly labelled products can be disastrous for suppliers. [ + ]

The Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad has acheived a robust Ethernet network solution using pre-existing cables. [ + ]

Looking for an automated, cost-effective way to produce its customers' products, TCI invested in 6-axis industrial robots to perform labelling and assembly tasks. [ + ]

Imagine tiny wireless sensors the size of a grain of sand that can be implanted in the human body to monitor nerves, muscles and organs in real time. Sounds like something from the movie Honey, I shrunk the kids, right? [ + ]

As well as causing widespread damage to buildings, roads and infrastructure, tragically the earthquake that struck Christchurch, New Zealand, on 22 February 2011 claimed 185 lives. The massive effort being deployed to restore the city's infrastructure has created a need for a huge amount of resources, challenging local building companies and construction material suppliers to step up their production. [ + ]

At a German delicatessen company, a Busch central vacuum supply for the packaging machines has improved efficiency and reduced energy consumption by 70%. [ + ]

Cabot Carbon's plant in Barry, Wales, needed to solve the problem of how to measure the silo level of fumed silica, a light material that presents significant difficulties for bulk measurement. [ + ]

A self-powered, octopus-inspired, entirely soft robot has been demonstrated in Nature. Soft robots are resilient and have the ability to adapt to some natural environments better than conventional robots made of rigid materials. However, the autonomy of soft robots has been limited by the need for hard batteries or wires to fuel the bots, tethering them to a rigid power source. [ + ]

An ABB manufacturing execution system raises productivity for a nutritional products manufacturer. [ + ]

More efficient production accelerates the spread of ceramic sanitary ware to improve sanitary conditions in Vietnam. [ + ]

A digital assistance system developed by Fraunhofer researchers will enable significantly more workers to ensure the quality of crankcase honing at Volkswagen. [ + ]