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A small but vital component helps protect people, goods, and ships in some of the harshest conditions imaginable. The Special Materials That Make Harsh Ocean Travel Possible A small but vital component helps protect people, goods, and ships in some of the harshest conditions imaginable. Edited by EE Staff Cool Stuff Feb 16, 2026 When a cargo ship crosses the ocean in heavy weather, there’s a lot at stake. Inside multiple containers might be food for a supermarket, medicine for a hospital, or a long-awaited package on its way to someone’s doorstep. And while most people think it’s size or strength of the ship itself that keeps everything steady, the truth is often something much smaller—a spring, hidden deep inside the system of the cargo ship.  The disc spring is a powerful example of Alleima’s innovative capabilities in developing advanced steels built to withstand life at sea. Disc springs absorb shock, reduce vibration, and help prevent cargo from shifting when a ship hits rough seas. They’re not made to stand out. They are hidden deep within the ship’s systems. But when they do their job, everything stays exactly where it should. If that spring doesn’t work, containers can move, and even small shifts can cause serious damage. That’s when a tiny spring suddenly makes a big difference.  Harsh conditions The marine environment is no joke. Pressure, movement, salt, heat, and vibration all work against the materials used on and inside the ship. That’s why what you put into a disc spring really matters. Alleima, as a materials expert, has developed a spring steel designed specifically for extreme demands like cargo ships and other ocean liners. The material is tough, elastic, and resistant to fatigue. In other words, it doesn’t give up when the conditions get hard. It holds.  Creating a steel that performs under constant movement, pressure, and exposure to saltwater isn’t just experience—it’s innovation. Each new material is tested and pushed far beyond typical conditions to make sure it can handle whatever the ocean delivers. “All of our spring steels are rigorously evaluated for fatigue resistance through extensive testing in our advanced R&D facility,” says Mikael Hansson, Product Specialist at Alleima. “Because when you're out in the middle of the ocean, you need to know your materials will perform. No second chances.”  Invisible, But Essential Disc springs don’t get much credit. You won’t find them on a poster or in a campaign. But they are there, behind the scenes and doing what needs to be done. Disc springs keep cargo secure and protect the systems that keep the ship moving. They help the world move, even when the sea says otherwise.  Premium spring steel developed by Alleima can be used for all types of demanding applications. The company offers a range of spring steels in stainless and nickel-based alloys that combine strength, elasticity, and corrosion resistance for use in automotive, electronics, medical, and other applications. They manufacture disc springs, non-magnetic springs, contact springs, brush springs and more in a large variety of sizes. For information: Alleima Spring Steel *Images courtesy of Alleima. Read more about ocean and deep sea technology >>> Previous Facebook LinkedIn Copy link Next

Honey Extractors for Beekeeping Hobbyists EE Staff Mini Story Nov 17, 2025 Honey extractors spin honeycomb at varying speeds to enable effective and efficient extraction of honey. Trusted by honey producers worldwide, Parvalux provides geared motors that are reliable and durable specifically for professional and home-made honey extractors. Beekeeping is a centuries-old process that removes honey from the wax honeycomb created by the bees. Traditionally, beekeepers extract honey from the wax comb by scraping it away. This laborious method often destroyed the combs. This slowed production because the bees would have to rebuild the honeycombs. Spinning the combs improves production because centrifugal force releases the honey more efficiently. Honeycombs are fragile, which is why honey extractors use special frames to protect the combs from damage, making them immediately reusable. The Parvalux motors spin up very quickly, making them ideal for use in motorized honey extractors. Photo with kind permission of Maxant Industries . Get more information about Parvalux's honey extractors here . Previous Facebook LinkedIn Copy link Next

Although 18,000 festival goers are listening to live music for several days, neighbors needed the noise limited so that they could go on with their normal lives. Dampening Festival Noise to Create Positive Experience for Attendees and Neighbors Although 18,000 festival goers are listening to live music for several days, neighbors needed the noise limited so that they could go on with their normal lives. Edited by Terry Persun Stage Events Oct 17, 2025 Once a year deep in the heart of a Lincolnshire wood, with its winding pathways, derelict buildings, abandoned cars, deserted junkyards, old relics, and fairy lights, 18,000 revellers gather to immerse themselves in four days of live music, arts, performance, food, culture, wellness, and relaxation. Welcome to the Lost Village where music and festivities continue until 2:00 am. At one of the Lost Village events the sponsors—with the help of Three Spires Acoustics—needed to find a new approach in dealing with the night-time music noise limits to provide the festies with a good night out and the local community with a good night’s sleep. The woods are abandoned most of the year, but for four days in summer, a secluded woodland near the village of Norton Disney, Lincolnshire, comes to life when partygoers, DJs, artists, and the beat of dance music pervade the bucolic environment throughout the day and into the night. However, at 11.00 pm sharp, regulatory night-time noise level limits, imposed by the local authority, come into force and the volume is turned down. Imagine the disappointment and the dissatisfaction for both music fans and artists alike where a worst-case scenario could result in crowd management issues. The Right Balance For festivals such as Lost Village noise limits pose the challenge of keeping the right balance between the optimal concert sound and reduced noise in the surrounding environment. Keeping noise levels below prescribed limits is also essential to maintain a Premises Licence (permit to operate) and gaining local community buy-in. To get the balance right, Lost Village founder Andy George has been working closely with Three Spires Acoustics, an independent and leading consultancy involved with event noise management and regulatory control. Specializing in services and solutions for a diverse client base, they assess, resolve, and manage noise and pollution issues for, among others, entertainment venues and outdoor concerts. One of the main causes of discontent has always been the hard level reduction at 11:00 pm, which can result in a significant decrease of allowable offsite noise levels of up to 20 dB. They needed to find a way of overcoming this issue, while remaining compliant with regulatory requirements. An Innovative Approach Lost Village and Three Spires Acoustics came up with a simple but innovative approach—to apply a staggered reduction in sound levels between 11:00 pm and midnight. The solution was only made possible thanks to the flexibility and support of the local authority, North Kesteven District Council, and the use of technological advances in hardware including B&K 2245 sound level meters with Enviro Noise Partner (a complete, focused toolset for environmental noise measurements), combined with Noisy’s noise monitoring platform, integrated for use with B&K 2245 via the sound level meter’s open application interface (API). Once installed, the fully integrated Noisy platform allowed all stages to be monitored at front of house (FOH) or side of house (SOH) positions and provided a central control point displaying all onsite stage sound levels (LAeq and LCeq), along with three permanent offsite monitoring stations (connected via 4G router). Real-time monitoring enabled the engineers to follow, prevent, and correct the acoustic impact of internal sound and external noise levels and manage the staggered level reduction while remaining compliant with condition requirements. Reducing the sound levels gradually at each of the seven main stages discreetly acclimatized the audience to the lower limits over a period of one hour, making the shift/change in volume less dramatic than the step change of previous years. One of the main advantages of the Noisy platform is that it can accommodate SOH or back of house (BOH) mixer desk locations, by locating B&K 2245 sound level meters remotely at the back of a big top stage and Noisy tablet displays at SOH or BOH positions, both connected over a managed network. Traditionally, this was not possible without hard connection using long lengths of XLR cable. Power over Internet (POE) for both sound level meter and Noisy tablet displays also makes the system much more robust. The ability to schedule different parameters by stage and time and make on the spot changes reacting to off-site readings was invaluable. Satisfied audience and artists, full regulatory compliance, and very few noise complaints made the new approach a huge success. Although the Lost Village is located in a dense wood, high technology, flexibility, innovation, and reliable and efficient digital tools were crucial to the success of the event. Photos: Copyright © Lost Village. Thank you to Chris Hurst at Three Spires Acoustics for his help with this article. For more information: Hottinger Bruel & Kjaer Lost Village Three Spires Acoustics Noisy Software B&K 2245 Sound Level Meters Read more about concert technology >>> Previous Facebook LinkedIn Copy link Next

The Island Waterpark at Showboat Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City includes 11 winding water slides, a 500-foot lazy river, and a state-of-the-art surf simulator. What It Takes to Automate a 120,000 Square Foot Water Park The Island Waterpark at Showboat Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City includes 11 winding water slides, a 500-foot lazy river, and a state-of-the-art surf simulator. Terry Persun Attractions Mar 23, 2026 Theme Parks Designed by leading aquatic design and engineering firm Martin Aquatic, The Island features a number of exciting and cutting-edge attractions, suitable for both kids and adults. Park highlights include 11 winding water slides, a 500-foot lazy river, and a state-of-the-art surf simulator. But just as the park’s guest amenities and attractions take advantage of new and impressive technology, so, too, do the mechanical rooms that support them. Located on opposite ends of the 120,000 square foot facility, the park’s two mechanical rooms house a vast array of pumps, regenerative filter systems, UV systems, water chemistry systems and more. To ensure all of these systems work in harmony with one another, each mechanical room features a SplashBotix Main Control Panel (MCP) aquatic system automation controller. The two MCPs integrate with each mechanical room’s vast array of equipment to maintain interlocks between pumps and water quality systems, regulate basin water levels, and continuously monitor field sensors and devices for fault and alarm conditions. The MCPs further support operators by offering real-time dashboards and event logs, delivering complete visibility into the waterpark’s operational health and performance from 10-inch touch screen HMIs. Outside the mechanical room, the two MCPs further support operations by controlling the interlock logic underpinning the park’s network of emergency stop buttons. Images courtesy of SplashBotix. Despite the facility’s sheer volume and diverse mix of attractions, The Island Waterpark was constructed in just eight months–record time for any waterpark, let alone one that size. The project met such an impressive development timeline due in large part to the ease with which contractors and park personnel were able to test and commission park attractions using the MCP’s VFD control interface—saving several man-days of commissioning. One such example is the park’s lazy river, which relies on the synchronization of up to10 feature pumps. Typically, contractors might spend hours pacing between the equipment room and the lazy river, incrementally raising the speed of each pump in order to achieve an ideal flow rate. “Given the number of VFDs being used on the [lazy river], it may have taken us a few days to go through all the parameters and make sure everything was set up correctly,” said The Island Waterpark’s Director of Maintenance Dan Jankovits. “Using the MCP, it took us just a few hours.” Jankovits also pointed out that using the MCP was much easier than having to navigate a conventional push-button VFD interface. “If you’ve ever had to change the parameters on a VFD,” said Jankovits, “you know they’ve got four sets of arrows and an “enter” button. And basically, you’re hitting the arrows to navigate across multiple screens to eventually get the VFD to a certain point. [With the MCP], it’s all a touch screen and everything is spelled out in plain English.” The MCP’s pump control interface helped reduce the commissioning time on the waterslides and other attractions as well. Given the facility’s size and breadth of equipment, daily walk-throughs conducted by facility operators would have been extremely time-consuming if it weren’t for the two MCP controllers, which provide a comprehensive, real-time view of each equipment room. Jankovits explains, “When I go into the pump rooms, the first thing I do is look at the screen. Then I might see, for example, that one of the [filtration] systems was in pre-coat for too long, I’ll check on that first to make sure it’s back to operating normally. It really helps prioritize what needs to be done during my walk-throughs and make the best use of my time.” Images courtesy of SplashBotix. One aspect of the MCP that has been critical for Jankovits is the controller’s Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) feature—a running log of key facility events, reflecting everything from administrative actions to device faults and alarms. Designed to help operators monitor for anomalies that may point to larger problems affecting their facility, the MCP’s SCADA revealed a pattern of irregular water fill valve behavior that drew Jankovits’ attention to a possible leak event one Summer. In another instance, the SCADA system drew Jankovits and his team’s attention to a potential issue with an emergency stop switch on one of the park’s water slides. The SCADA system empowered operators with the foresight to address problems before they escalated. According to Jankovits, it can often take years of industry experience to truly understand and become comfortable working with and maintaining certain kinds of equipment. “I’m used to the old school,” said Jankovits. “I grew up in this industry using high-rate sand filters. I could walk into a pump room and know what issues to look for if I didn’t hear the pump working, the motor working, or the water going through the valves.” The Island Waterpark, however, doesn’t use sand filters. It relies on regenerative media filters—a more recent filtration technology—to maintain water quality. Regenerative media filters use perlite-coated tubes to trap particles as they flow through the filter. Once the perlite becomes fully loaded, a vibration event known as a “bump” occurs, causing the trapped particles to fall to the bottom of the filter. Images courtesy of SplashBotix. “With the media filter, it’s nice to be able to see on the MCP screen that the systems are up and running. I’m not constantly having to check each individual one,” Jankovits said. He also appreciates how easy it is to customize the MCP to better align with the way he and his team operate and maintain the park. The two MCP controllers have contributed to making park operations efficient and straightforward. They have allowed him and his team to get routine work done quickly and painlessly. “Starting things up in the morning is easier, too. We’re not going back and pushing this VFD, and then waiting for it to turn on and then going and doing the same thing to the next one. You push one button and the attraction turns on,” he said. As Jankovits and his team continue to build upon the park’s tremendous success in bringing a family-friendly atmosphere to Atlantic City, the facility’s two MCPs have also played a key role in helping them maintain a safe environment. For more information: SplashBotix Main Control Panel Island Waterpark Martin Aquatic Previous Facebook LinkedIn Copy link Next

Engineers had to overcome challenges such as durability, weatherproofing, and isolated locations when designing a scale to track hive numbers, winter honey reserves, and more. Beekeepers Are Buzzing Over a Hive Monitoring System with Hourly Reports Engineers had to overcome challenges such as durability, weatherproofing, and isolated locations when designing a scale to track hive numbers, winter honey reserves, and more. Edited by EE Staff Cool Stuff Feb 2, 2026 Hobbies Beekeepers wishing to stay focused on their bees and harvests needed a way to continually monitor their hives. One way to do this would be to create a source of information that would be easy to decipher, such as the number of bees leaving the hive or an accurate estimate of the winter honey reserve. To do this, Thierry De Vreese, director of HoneyInstruments, put the first elements of a connected hive scale on paper. Technical challenges included how to create a highly accurate energy self-sufficient and absolutely reliable scale capable of delivering data in sometimes very isolated locations. The final product had to be extremely robust, very easy to use, weatherproof, and within a reasonable budget. The connected scale is aimed at professionals who generally work with more than 150 beehives, most often in transhumance: the hives are transported to different areas depending on the flowering season and the type of flowers to produce a specific honey. Images courtesy of HBK. To evaluate the weight of the hive with precision, HoneyInstruments incorporated the PW10 load cell developed by HBK. This device can measure a weight of up to 300 kg with an accuracy of 20 grams, has minimal power consumption, and is known to be totally reliable. The load cell operates outdoors and can easily withstand the harsh winters and hot summers that hives are often subjected to. With an accuracy of 20 grams, it is possible to estimate the entry or exit of about 200 bees. A hive contains more than 50,000 bees. The sensor is fixed in the heart of a metal structure known as a double H structure, which forms two support arms. The lower part is placed on the ground and connected to one side of the sensor, the upper part supports the hive and presses on the other end of the sensor. This structure creates a deformation proportional to the weight of the hive. A temperature sensor located in the housing completes the weight information. However, this is not the temperature inside the hive but the temperature outside in the local environment. Images courtesy of HBK. The sensor is powered by an electronics box that performs several essential functions and is powered from a single 3.7-volt lithium battery. The battery is changed once a year and has been preferred to the more expensive and more fragile solar collector. Once digitized, the signals of the hive's weight variations must be transmitted to the user. Beekeepers place their hives in places chosen for the quality of their flowers but often isolated from any communication network. GSM technology has been automatically excluded because it uses far too much energy. To solve the transmission issue, HoneyInstruments chose the Sigfox network. This network uses the ISM frequency band, which is particularly well suited to long-range, low-speed exchanges in rural areas. Images courtesy of HBK. This is because the hourly weight and temperature information does not represent a large volume of data. The range is about 40 km with a simple antenna of about thirty centimeters. The network of 2000 antennas cover more than 95% of the territory and is present in 70 countries. Once transmitted, the data is transferred to the Internet network and made available to the user on the Cloud HoneyInstruments platform. Users accesses their data using the serial number of the hive. Beekeepers generally have a great deal of knowledge about what is happening in the hive at different times of the day and in different seasons. Weighing results confirm day after day the evolution of the swarm and the normal course of these events. All of this attention results in fewer hive movements and an optimal honey harvest. For more information: HBK Load Cells HoneyInstruments Sigfox Read other articles about bees >>> Previous Facebook LinkedIn Copy link Next

Motion control for the chairs in "The Voice" had to operate smoothly every time. The Technology Behind the Rotating Chairs on The Voice Motion control for the chairs in "The Voice" had to operate smoothly every time. Terry Persun Film and TV Jun 16, 2025 Stage Events The Scenic Route is a Southern California based global resource company that provides design and integration services to the entertainment, live event, and trade show industry. The company was tasked with the opportunity to work with The Voice, which required their chairs to rotate 180 degrees based on a simple push of a button. Also from Entertainment Engineering The chairs had to move smoothly and stop smoothly for the show. They chose to apply a proven motor drive to operate the motor. The operation required that the drive could sense two end-of-travel limit switches set at either end of the 180 degree movement. The company chose the AllMotion RGA440-10-CYC smart drive, which is a full-featured regenerative controller with the internal intelligence of a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) built into the drive. When either of the end of travel limit switches would be tripped, the motor drive would stop the motor in that position. Resetting the chairs to the previous position would be accomplished by pressing a reverse pushbutton. Photo: The swiveling chair from The Voice The RGA-CYC Series provides an added logic board to AllMotion’s RGA400 controls. These controls are dual voltage, fully-featured regen drives in a rugged enclosure. As high-performance controls they maintain motor speed with automatic motoring and braking torque, while allowing high-duty cycle reversing and braking—great for limit switch applications. Included are a power on/off switch and separate forward and reverse speed potentiometers so independent speeds for each direction can be easily set. Controlling the motor is user-friendly too, by pressing a button on the membrane panel for stop, run, reverse, or jog (jog speed is adjustable). The user can also wire in remote pushbuttons in conjunction with the on-board buttons. These controls can operate in several modes with either one or two limit switches, including continuous cycling, single cycle, dwell, and more—including adjustable stop and dwell times. Although this application might appear to be very simple, it comprises many of the facets of motion control that would have previously required several components to accomplish. The AllMotion motor drive essentially replaced a PLC plus the PLC power supply. Not all applications will be this straight-forward, but as design engineers maintain an open mind about what the new smarter drives are capable of, they can apply the technology to solve applications in simpler and more efficient ways. For more information: AllMotion American Control Electronics The Scenic Route Previous Facebook LinkedIn Copy link Next

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To place the viewer at the center of the action, the French media company CANAL+ deployed multiple cameras to catch the raw speed of the French Grand Prix. High-Tech Camera and Software Capture the Speed of the French Grand Prix To place the viewer at the center of the action, the French media company CANAL+ deployed multiple cameras to catch the raw speed of the French Grand Prix. Blackmagic Sports Jul 22, 2025 MotoGP™, the motorcycle road racing world championship, has always tested the limits of what audiences can see and hear on screen. For its latest project, CANAL+ set out to capture not just the speed but also the quieter moments that define a race weekend. The documentary was filmed entirely with the new Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive camera and finished in DaVinci Resolve Studio. The sports documentary is part of a new generation of immersive workflows for capture, postproduction, and viewing on Apple Vision Pro. Produced in collaboration with MotoGP and Apple, the documentary follows world champion Johann Zarco and his team during their dramatic home victory at the French Grand Prix in Le Mans. The event was captured using the URSA Cine Immersive camera with dual 8160 x 7200 (58.7 Megapixel) sensors at 90fps, delivering 3D immersive cinema content to a single file mixed with Apple Spatial Audio. The MotoGP sports experience places viewers in the heart of the action, from the pit lane and paddock to the podium. All photos courtesy of Blackmagic Design “MotoGP is made for this format,” said journalist Etienne Pidoux at CANAL+. “You feel the raw speed, and you see details you’d otherwise miss on a flat screen. It puts you closer to the machines and the team than ever before.” To place the viewer at the center of the action, CANAL+ deployed multiple URSA Cine Immersive cameras. “Two cameras were on pedestals and one on a Steadicam,” explained Pierre Maillat of CANAL+. “We needed to swap quickly between Steadicam and fixed setups depending on what was occurring at the moment. The Steadicam setup was extremely valuable,” noted Pidoux. “It made us more reactive in a fast-changing environment, giving us more agility while filming.” All photos courtesy of Blackmagic Design “Immersive video changes how you shoot,” added Pidoux. “You plan more, shoot less, and you rethink composition because of the 180 degree view, especially in tight or crowded spaces like the pit lane.” Lighting was also a consideration inside the team garages. “We added some extra light to compensate for the 90 frames per second stereoscopic capture.” Each camera was paired with an ambisonic microphone to capture first order spatial audio. The mics were then supplemented by discrete microphones for interviews and other critical sound sources. The documentary was recorded in ambisonics Format A for the immersive mix and channel based for other sources. Everything was timecoded wirelessly and synced on both the cameras and the external recorders. Post Production A portable production cart with Mac Studio running DaVinci Resolve Studio, alongside an Apple Vision Pro, was set up trackside to monitor and test shots in context. “This approach allowed us to check the content right after shooting and helped us verify framing while still on location,” said Maillat. Canal+ had a second Mac Studio running DaVinci Resolve Studio and an Apple Vision Pro set up at the hotel in Le Mans to handle media offload and backups. With 8TB of internal storage, recording directly to the Media Module, the crew could film more than two hours of 8K stereoscopic 3D immersive footage on the track without needing to change cards. Postproduction took place in Paris, where Canal+ used a Mac Studio running DaVinci Resolve Studio for editing, color grading, and audio mixing. They were even able to preview the stereoscopic timeline directly in Apple Vision Pro, which was crucial for immersive grading. Spatial Audio was mixed using DaVinci Resolve Studio’s Fairlight. “Initially, we planned to use a different digital audio workstation (DAW), but DaVinci Resolve Studio and Fairlight was the platform that gave us both creative flexibility and the high-quality deliverables for Apple Vision Pro,” explained Maillat. “Filming with the URSA Cine Immersive camera and viewing it in Apple Vision Pro, we found incredible moments we’d normally treat as background,” Pidoux concluded. “Cleaning the track, helmet close ups, the crowd, they all become part of the experience.” NOTE: The MotoGP™ Apple Immersive sports experience will be available exclusively on the CANAL+ app on Apple Vision Pro starting September 2025. For more information: Blackmagic Design MotoGP CANAL+ Previous Facebook LinkedIn Copy link Next

The entire fleet of San Francisco Cable Cars now have better illumination while reducing the need for battery changes. Historic SF Cable Cars Upgrade to LED Lights The entire fleet of San Francisco Cable Cars now have better illumination while reducing the need for battery changes. Cool Stuff Aug 7, 2025 Opportunity Since 1873, the best lighting the historic San Francisco Municipal Cable Cars had was dim incandescent headlights that did not do anything for illumination. They were merely bright enough to serve as an indicator that a cable car was coming. Plus, the old incandescent lights would quickly burn out or break from the constant vibrations. “The biggest issue was the light on cold, wet, dark nights,” said Arne Hansen, Supervisor of Maintenance at the San Francisco Municipal Cable Car Barn. “We would change the batteries in the cars maybe 10 or 12 road calls in a night. We have better batteries that last much longer now, but still, with the GPS system and cameras, the equipment was draining the batteries pretty fast.” All Cable Car photos Courtesy of San Francisco Cable Cars. After over 140 years, the Cable Cars solved their lighting problems by simply upgrading to LED light bulbs from LEDtronics. Hansen said they ordered LED lights for the entire fleet and are very happy with their choice. Other operators have commented that the LED headlights have increased visibility tremendously. Photo Courtesy: LEDtronics. A19 style LED light bulbs were also installed inside the passenger cabins. Those lights, along with the PAR46 LED headlights, are saving the city money on energy as well as maintenance—especially in the winter when the lights are left on much longer. Between those advantages and the increased visibility, Hansen acknowledged that, “All the operators give it a thumbs-up. They all approved the change, and they all loved it. The project was a complete success.” For more information: LEDtronics San Francisco Cable Car Previous Facebook LinkedIn Copy link Next

In an unprecedented and innovative approach to cooling technology, one company has found a way to use water as a refrigerant. Using Water as a Refrigerant? This Company Says "Yes" In an unprecedented and innovative approach to cooling technology, one company has found a way to use water as a refrigerant. Terry Persun Cool Stuff Feb 2, 2026 This is the type of innovation Entertainment Engineering loves to report on. It’s interesting and inventive and can be used across multiple industries. Cooling is important, particularly during certain times of the year when cooling becomes necessary for industrial manufacturing processes, machine and cabinet cooling, IT computer centers, control rooms, offices, and more. Cooling plays an important role in controlling energy costs and complying with energy efficiency regulations. It can also eliminate costly losses due to damaged IT equipment, machines, or food spoilage—and creates a safe place for people to work. Most refrigeration systems rely on traditional refrigerants like fluorinated gases (F-gases), ammonia, or propane. However, these conventional refrigerants pose threats to the environment, safety, and human health. F-gases contribute to ozone depletion and global warming while ammonia is toxic and propane inflammable. Therefore, there has been a widespread search for safe, clean, sustainable, and affordable refrigerants. When a KNF customer developed their design to use water as a refrigerant, one of the key components they incorporated was a KNF pump. The cooling system relies on pure water, also called R718, to be used. This solution is the first and only water-based chiller in the world to be mass-produced. The core of the technology is that water, as highly energy driven refrigerant, works in a closed circuit where it is continuously evaporated, compressed, and condensed. The inherent system requires a constant and precise vacuum. The main advantages lie in the technology's outstanding efficiency and sustainability. It enables electricity savings of up to 80 percent compared to current conventional cooling systems and generates almost zero CO2 emissions. Because it uses only water, the technology poses no risk to humans or the environment. Filling the system, service, and maintenance, including the recycling is simple and there is no need to lean on safety regulations like the ones used for traditional refrigerants. Water can be used as a refrigerant thanks to a precise and constant vacuum in the system, which needs to be maintained during all operations. Only under the right vacuum does water undergo the changes of state at temperatures required for using water as a refrigerant. This creates high demands on the vacuum pump. It needs to operate in areas between 10 and 100 mbar abs. and in temperature ranges from 5 °C to 45 °C. In addition, the pump must operate oil-free and reliably over long periods without maintenance. A small footprint and a general high robustness are vital, and the pumps must be able to cope with the challenging steam environment in the chiller. Therefore, diaphragm pump technology is ideal for the task and ultimately led to a collaboration between the system’s manufacturer and KNF, the leader in diaphragm pump technology. Pump image courtesy of KNF. The final pump used in the system is based on the KNF N 813.3 series, tailored to the specific customer application. For a higher rotational speed, the motor has been digitally parametrized. This is possible because the brushless DC motor is an in-house developed component, allowing KNF to make advanced digital adjustments. On the suction side, the pump was fitted with a head plate with permanently open gas ballast, a filter, and a nozzle. The gas ballast helps remove condensate from the pump, ensuring ideal performance. Despite its powerful performance and the high motor rotation speed, the vacuum pump operates very quietly and with low vibration. This opens the possibility to use the chiller in residential buildings and in manufacturing processes where low-noise operation is important. This example illustrates how the quality of one component like a pump can have a major effect on the entire system and its applicability for different areas. It also shows that customizing a pump collaboratively can lead to solutions that would otherwise not have been possible. For more information: KNF Pump N 813 * Pump image courtesy of KNF. Other images are from Depositphotos.com . Previous Facebook LinkedIn Copy link Next

Live production and signage workflow incorporates live social content into lively display screens Social Media Engages Recreational Crowd Live production and signage workflow incorporates live social content into lively display screens Brian Galante Sports Jun 4, 2025 The rallying cry of “Attention all sand addicts, duners, and dirtheads” resonated loud and clear in the YouTube event announcement for Polaris Camp RZR, one of the biggest dune gatherings of the year. It was the first serve in a social media volley that amplified the fan experience throughout the three-day recreation event. The annual event celebrates the sport and the machines, taking place at the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area near Glamis, California. The location is roughly two hours east of San Diego in a region considered the Mecca of North American sand dune recreation. The reputation of the event and the region was enough to draw thousands of enthusiasts this year, driving everything from backyard quads to full-blown desert racers. Overnight, attendees transformed Glamis Beach into a massive campsite as the event prepared to open on Halloween day. Those preparations included the installation of three video walls and a fully loaded digital production facility. Alpha Sports TV, experts in delivering specialized broadcast content for sports and live events, provided the production front-end and handled content creation and delivery. This included playout of sponsor advertisements and more than 30 special features, as well as live content captured on a roving, wireless Sony HXC100 camera with embedded audio. “A lot of what we did involved processing literally terabytes of media files, primarily video, from many different sources,” said Andrew Allan, president of Alpha Sports TV. “We made sure that the high-quality content we processed was rendered in equally high quality with no artifacts, even though outdoor video walls are quite tolerant of high compression. We needed to make sure all the content, whether from an outside source or acquired live on-site, ultimately looked the same in terms of aspect ratio and overall quality.” Allan points out that many production companies can handle this, but Alpha Sports TV, with its history in Olympic Games and other high-profile events, was brought in for its expertise in integrating graphics, video, and data into live broadcasts and events. This was especially important for the social media aspect, which proved to be a major attraction and source of engagement for attendees. The social media gateway was opened courtesy of software from Bannister Lake, a graphics and broadcast automation specialist. Allan integrated Bannister Lake’s TweetOut and TweetOut Nano products into the workflow to keep screen content refreshed and dynamic. Allan ran TweetOut on the Ross Video XPression Studio platform, creating Twitter and Facebook routines for several different graphics layouts including insertion over the prerecorded Polaris features. This included full-page and lower-third layouts, the former of which could take advantage of TweetOut’s inline photo support. This means that the full-page graphics space was mostly reserved specifically for photos taken by attendees with their “feet on the ground.” Those photos were stored in the Flow database along with tweets and other data content, and made available for output into the lower-third layouts. Room to Spread The TweetOut Nano solution essentially offers users a compact form factor for integrating social media content into live broadcasts – especially ideal for temporary facilities where rack space is limited. Allan likens its size to “a few decks of cards,” noting that it’s very quick, reliable, and networkable. “We can conceivably have several different ‘content moderation clients’ networked into the switch, all providing their own social media contributions to the stream,” said Allan. At the Polaris event, the TweetOut software constantly polled Twitter and Facebook content based on search parameters, including several different hashtags provided by Polaris. The production team regularly received hits based on those hashtags. A built-in interface allowed for downstream editing of content that was raw or inappropriate. From there, the content went straight into XPression. That flexibility to moderate streams with simplicity also meant that Allan could focus on higher-end production aspects, including live camera feed monitoring and on-the-fly graphics creation. “I like to have all these different components broken out into modular functionalities, which is why we have TweetOut Nano dedicated to managing the raw data,” said Allan. “That way when there is someone on site who can help, we can put them in front of the Nano box to moderate the content. Everything that comes from the Nano into my Ross XPression has been pre-moderated. That relieves me from having to keep my eye on four different machines.” Flow Motion The complete workflow included transcoding tools from Handbrake and Adobe for format conversion, and a temporary site-wide satellite broadband solution for local WiFi device connections so that attendees and participants could engage and connect via social media. The combined output of video, graphics and social media was ultimately output through a Ross Carbonite switcher, which, along with the videowalls, Sony camera and RF hardware – including six antennae spread around the site for camera feed transmission – was provided under a contract with Screenworks. The broadband link was partitioned for private and public use. This ensured that Alpha Sports TV wouldn’t lose its slice of the bandwidth if attendees swamped the network. “Nano doesn’t require much bandwidth at all – it’s purely XML data, and as such doesn’t cause any bottlenecking in terms of data throughput,” said Allan. “It was essentially an input into the Carbonite switcher, networked with one of the laptops running XPression. We used a third laptop for standalone Xpression graphics, which were basically content layouts built in advance so we could quickly post updated event schedules.” Elsewhere, Allan notes that aspect ratio was an interesting challenge. All video content was delivered to Alpha Sports TV in HD 16:9, while the main giant screen was SD 4:3. To compensate, videos were formatted for HD and letterboxed to the screen to avoid loss of content. The screen's huge size allowed the letterboxing to be an acceptable compromise. Ultimately, turning the typical event production into a “SocialTV” experience was an important step. “You can very quickly tell when people catch on to tweets and social media activity on the screens, because the comments quickly increase in quantity,” said Allan. “If you make it clear that you’re looking for photos and things to accompany tweets, it comes fast and furious. That’s really what you want to see out of an event like this, and we had the right tools in place to out as much content as possible.” For more information: Alpha Sports TV Sony HXC100 Camera Bannister Lake (now part of Ross) Handbrake transcoding tools Adobe transcoding tools Previous Facebook LinkedIn Copy link Next

Using Kodak film and Panavision lenses, director Gareth Edwards sought to capture the magic of Spielberg's original vision. Here's How Jurassic World Rebirth Captured the Nostalgia of Film Using Kodak film and Panavision lenses, director Gareth Edwards sought to capture the magic of Spielberg's original vision. Joe Gillard Film and TV Jul 8, 2025 Can you believe there are now seven Jurassic films? I still remember seeing the first two in theaters, and they were big moments in my childhood. They were all I could think about. And I’m far from the only one who experienced that joy in theaters. The films are some of the most influential ever made. “All those films you love, that you grew up with, that have that certain look that really hard to describe? It’s because it was shot on Kodak.” – Gareth Edwards, director, Jurassic World Rebirth. Jurassic World Rebirth premiered on June 17th and stars Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, Mahershala Ali. Capturing the Spielberg look with Kodak and Panavision technology The Jurassic films are known for pioneering visual effects , but all but one of the films was shot on traditional 35mm film. Jurassic World Rebirth continues the tradition. The past few decades saw a transition into digital to film movies, but there has been a nostalgic resurgence of interest in using traditional methods. Also from EE: The Technology Behind the Rotating Chairs on The Voice You can thank director Gareth Edwards for the decision to use Koday 35mm film and Panavision lenses. “All the films I grew up loving were ... shot on Kodak,” says Edwards in a video uploaded to YouTube. He says he “fought really hard” to shoot Jurassic World Rebirth on Kodak film a Panavision lenses. “All those films you love, that you grew up with, that have that certain look that really hard to describe? It’s because it was shot on Kodak,” said the nostalgic Edwards. But it goes beyond nostalgia. For Edwards, a film can look “better” than reality, even with the right camera technology, because of how colors can appear. “Having the film stock and the film veneer and grain and these really beautiful wide, animorphic, distorted lenses to work with has been really beautiful,” says David Vickery, Visual Effects Supervisor, in the video. “It’s something to help us bed the visual effects and creatures into, how much bowing and distortion and stretching of the image happens towards the edge, all sorts of chromatic aberration that happens to the highlights and make sure that when we add digital elements into the frame that we can sample that and put it all back on.” Panavision lenses preserve the magic In addition to Kodak film, the team also tried to recreate the magic behind Spielberg’s first film by using the iconic Panavision anamorphic lenses to shoot the film. Animorphic lenses work by using cylindrical lenses to compress the image during recording, rather than cropping or matting. Then, an additional lens expands the image back to widescreen proportions. This way, more image resolution is preserved. It's interesting to see film studios lean into the public demand for experiences that feel familiar, even if the technology is older. I suspect we'll see even more of this attitude towards film and TV as too much AI has the potential to overwhelm and exhaust audiences, particularly Millennials and Gen Xers who will likely pine for a simpler time. For more information: Jurassic World Previous Facebook LinkedIn Copy link Next