Phinergy and electrical contractor Rosendin Electric have published a second white paper examining how aluminium-air generators (AAGs) could support data centre power needs beyond conventional backup systems. The paper outlines three potential uses, including providing power for AI and cloud facilities, increasing available grid capacity and supporting renewable microgrids. Titled “From Backup Power to Grid Enabler: Use Cases for Aluminum-Air Generator (AAG) in AI-Era Data Centers,” the paper compares aluminium-air generators with diesel generators and lithium-ion battery systems. The report comes amid growing pressure on electricity infrastructure from data centre expansion. In Northern Virginia, more than 9,000 backup diesel generators serve data centres, according to Virginia Mercury....
Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have developed an aluminium-based catalyst that could help make sodium–sulphur batteries last longer. The catalyst addresses a problem that has limited the technology: Sodium polysulphides can dissolve and move away from the cathode, reducing battery life. The research team, led by Professors Wang Hui and Zheng Fangcai at CAS's High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Hefei, changed the atomic structure of aluminium by replacing one oxygen atom with nitrogen. The team wrote in the press release, “This created an asymmetric structure with three oxygen atoms and one nitrogen atom around each Al atom.” It is an Al–O3N structure (three oxygen atoms and one nitrogen atom surrounding each aluminium atom). Explore AL Circle’s report ALuminium Wires &...
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Supplier to the fenestration industry, Kestrel Aluminium Systems, has strengthened the relationship with its main supplier of extruded aluminium products, Oslo-based Sapa Profiles. Black country firm Kestrel originally started as a simple distributor of shopfront systems in 1989. However, the business has since developed considerably to include a range of complex, domestic products. All Kestrel’s products, including their Commercial Door System, Folding Sliding Door, Curtain Walling and Shopfront System use aluminium extrusions from Sapa Profiles and today Sapa supplies Kestrel with approximately 500 tonnes of aluminium each year. Kestrel Aluminium Systems managing director, Steven Shute, said: “We have worked with Sapa for many years and their knowledge of the material has been...
First quarter results for aluminium foil deliveries from European suppliers showed positive growth in domestic demand, after a sustained period of mixed or declining results. Exports, however, remain under pressure due to strong competition from non-European producers, the European Aluminium Foil Association EAFA reported. Overall the first three months of 2016 saw a small decline of 0.6 per cent in total tonnage to 217,000, compared with 218,500t for 2015, according to the latest figures released by the association.
According to a UN Report published last year, the current world population of 7.3 billion is expected to reach 8.5 billion by 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050 and a whopping 11.2 billion in 2100. Already, says WWF, it takes a year and a half to generate the resources that the human population uses in only a year. The challenge to accommodate this burgeoning population while reducing humanity’s footprint is a major one. What this growth in any case will require are trillions of dollars of new infrastructure. And this will drive the construction industry to seek solutions for sustainable materials and innovative techniques to enable the building of affordable, energy-efficient houses while contributing to the smart use of global resources based on circular-economy principles. William McDonough +...
Cornell Dubilier Electronics (CDE) has introduced the Slimpack, type MLSH, the first in a series of hermetically-sealed aluminium electrolytic capacitors that the company plans to introduce over the next several months. With its glass-to-metal seal that prevents dry-out, the capacitor technology has extraordinarily long life to meet the most demanding applications for defence and aerospace applications, says the company. The hermetic Slimpack is a spin-off of the company’s established hermetic Flatpack series. The company expects this technology to replace parallel and series banks of wet tantalum capacitors for new and existing designs, especially where bulk storage is paramount. According to the company, the aluminium MLSH Slimpack measuring 1 x 1.5 x 0.5 inches will weigh less and will...
Kirkby Tyres, “one of the largest stockists of truck trailer and industrial wheels in the UK and Ireland," is introducing Accuride forged aluminium wheels for the European market, a brand that occupies top supply positions to American OEMs. The long established brand, manufactured in USA for over 40 years, is available in machined finish, polished finish and Accushield – an easy clean, wash-off, no-polish finish. Based in Liverpool and Dublin, Kirkby holds a large stock of steel and aluminium wheels for most applications, with popular sizes manufactured and tested to ETRTO and TÜV standards. It is also a major supplier of wheels for agricultural applications. Tony Rosenthal, general manager – OE, explains, “Kirkby can supply wheel to fit all the sizes of tyres in their extensive range to...
The global metal packaging industry has shown some signs of revivals as aluminium premium and tinplate prices have softened, though the market has still not been fully out of doldrums. Matured metal packaging markets exhibited stable growths at low levels, while emerging markets benefited from swift shifts towards the high-growth plateau. However, some of these high growth markets remained more fragmented in terms of the competitive landscape which rendered producers less control on margins. For instance, almost all multinationals cans manufacturers in China are currently struggling to make profits due to numerous reasons including overcapacity and a peculiar cost-profit relationship in the market. However, the overcapacity problem does not only exist in China but also in more matured...
3D printing service bureau i.materialise has introduced a new member to their 3D printing material family: aluminium. This is the freshest addition to Belgium-based company's 3D printed metal roster, which includes titanium and steel. 3D printing service bureau boasts an extensive list of material options comprising 21 different materials and over 100 color and finish combinations. The newly unveiled 3D printed aluminium is ideal for producing parts that are strong and lightweight, particularly useful for functional and spare parts, as well as jewelry. The 3D printed aluminium that i.materialise is now offering has a slightly more matte appearance in comparison to traditionally milled aluminium, and is a bit rougher around the edges too. To print their new aluminium material, the 3D...
Automobile parts makers will face the heat of rising commodity prices in the coming quarters. After all, in the last six months, steel prices, the key input for most auto components, rose by about 36 per cent. Aluminium and copper prices too gained across major global markets. All this means higher input costs. Logically, this will translate into higher expenses and lower profitability. An Icra Ltd report analysing 48 large-sized auto component firms shows the positive correlation in the last eight quarters. In the June quarter of fiscal year 2015, when raw material (steel, aluminium, copper) costs comprised 61.1 per cent of sales, the operating margin was 13.6 per cent. Seven quarters later in March 2016, when raw material costs fell sharply to 56.8 per cent of sales, the operating...
Gearing up for the race of the slimmest and highest-performing laptop, HP's luxurious Spectre 13.3 will take the Indian consumer by surprise. At just 10.4 mm, the feather-weight 33 cm (13") diagonal laptop is touted as the world's thinnest and it weighs just about 1.1 kilograms, thanks to its aluminium and carbon fibre built. With the Spectre 13, HP will feature its new logo. HP has crafted Spectre 13 from aluminium and carbon fibre. To give it a nearly a hingeless look, HP has gone for Piston hinges. The Spectre 13 will be available in a dark gray and copper color scheme. The aluminium-carbon fibre made notebook features 13.3-inch full HD screen with Corning Gorilla Glass (1920 x 1080) protection. It is configured with sixth generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors. According to the...
In an effort to address the growing frustration of the residents over the recent bout of power outages, City Power, the electricity provider of South Africa, has developed a contingency plan that would help curb both cable theft and network overloads. City Power acting spokesperson, Yumna Sheik said,”We have started to provide electricity to informal settlements, replacing copper cables with aluminium cables and building infrastructure to curb cable theft.” The aluminium cable replacement will cost City Power R267 million but Sheik said the value of these cables is far less than that of copper cables. The power utility will, instead of simply replacing copper cables, add measures to substations that will “make it more difficult for cable theft to happen”. In April, it was reported that...
Under the well-known brand name HYLITE® the supplier 3A Composites recently started to also market aluminium composite panels with a foamed core. The core material for the 3 mm and 4 mm -panel thicknesses is foamed in a manufacturing process specially developed for this purpose. The result is an ultra-light aluminium composite panel that is up to 80 per cent lighter than conventional steel sheets or up to 60 per cent lighter than aluminium sheets yet provides the same flexural rigidity. The foamed core panel features other superlative technical properties. Major advantages include dimensional stability at high temperatures and excellent digital printing results, due to the high quality aluminium strips used in the production process. Applications range from totems or canopies over store...
The European Union on Monday, June 20, cleared packaging company Ardagh SA’s roughly $3.42 billion acquisition of assets belonging to Ball Corp. and Rexam PLC, clearing the way for the aluminium beverage can-makers’ merger. The European Commission, the bloc’s antitrust agency, said in a statement that it “concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns, because Ardagh is not active in the manufacturing of aluminium beverage cans, nor on related markets.” In January, the EU waived through Ball Corp.’s £4.4 billion ($4.96 billion) acquisition of rival aluminium beverage-can maker Rexam PLC after Ball agreed to sell 12 production plants in Europe. The EU had opened an in-depth investigation into the deal, over concerns the combination of the world’s two biggest...
Aluminium base LED PCB, also referred as MCPCB, has more efficient thermal transfer capability compared to rigid PCB, hence considered an ideal material for LED manufacturing. Rayming Technology started to use aluminium as base material for manufacturing LED PCB. Rayming Technology, an LED PCB manufacturer from China making rapid progress as a premier OEM supplier for the global LED manufacturing industry, recently started using aluminium as the primary base material for the LED PCB components that they manufacture. The manufacturers said that the thermally conductive PCBs that they manufacture have been proven highly effective in LED lighting system manufacturing. During a recent press conference, the owners of the China based PCB prototyping company explained the benefits of using...
The BMW R 5 Hommage is a spectacular custom motorcycle introduced to the public at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2016. The machine pays tribute to the original R 5 model released 80 years ago. This anniversary bike featuring a host of aluminium-made special parts embodies the essence of what motorcycling was back in the day, albeit in a modern, custom form. The BMW R 5 Hommage is a rather minimalist build, with everything kept clean and simple, and carefully hiding the modern, high-tech solutions behind the strong old-school vibe. The BMW R 5 Hommage features a eange of special parts that were missing in the original R 5 model. The designer duo, whom the manufacturing of the motorcycle was entrusted upon, added valve cover and the breastplate, machined from billet aluminium. Save...
Schueco Australia has taken innovation to a whole new level with the availability of a new surface finish that can be specified for their aluminium window systems to kill harmful bacteria, including multi-resistant bacteria such as MRSA and MRSAE. A product first in the Australian market, the new Schueco SmartActive is a surface finish for aluminium window systems incorporating micro-silver particles with anti-microbial properties. Germs that come into contact with this surface finish are killed immediately, actively preventing further proliferation and bacterial contamination. Given that the battle against all types of bacterial infection is being rightly seen as a public health priority, Schueco SmartActive will be warmly welcomed not just in hospitals and nursing homes, but also...
Siemens has signed a partnership deal with temporary structures specialist Herchenbach to provide semi-permanent warehouses and workshops constructed out of aluminium to projects in Europe. In a bid to reduce transport costs for heavy components in need of repair, Siemens is taking the workshop to the projects. Herchenbach provides temporary and semi-permanent aluminium structures. It has come up with a 10 x 15 metre structure, 6.4 metres tall at its highest point. The structure comprises a corrosion-free aluminium frame and a mixture of polyvinvyl chloride (PVC) industrial-grade tarpaulin in the roof and walls made of trapezoidal sheet metal and tarpaulin. Components can be lowered into the workshop through the roof, Herchenbach explained. A section of roof tarpaulin can be lifted off...
Access Fixtures, an industry leader in LED commercial, industrial, and sports lighting, announced the introduction of a new 16 watt LED stainless steel bollard light with cast aluminium louvers. Bollard lights with louver-controlled light sources are favored for their ability to limit light distribution to that which aims down toward the ground. With the LED light source blocked from direct view, the cast aluminium louvers minimize glare and limit light trespass. Manufactured with 316 stainless steel, this new bollard light is part of Access Fixtures' comprehensive lineup of LED, HID, and fluorescent light sources in stainless steel and powder-coated aluminium bollard lights from Access Fixtures. Access Fixtures offers commercial and sports lighting for less and features light fixtures...
Trends in shipbuilding have become similar to those in the automobile industry in recent years and the growing demand for automobiles, heavy duty vehicles, aircrafts, trains and ships is also set to significantly spur demand for aluminium flat rolled and extruded products. In fact, the use of aviation, marine and rail transportation will likely increase to such an extent that their combined energy demand is expected to equal about 85 per cent of the amount used by light-duty vehicles by 2040, up from about 50 per cent in 2014, according to Exxon Mobile. The necessity for lowering the weight of different ships, in order to increase the payload and reduce fuel consumption, has turned shipbuilders towards aluminium alloys due to their potential to reduce the weight of ship structures by up...
