Germany – Shanghai Metal Corporation

Use of Solar mirrors to Melt Metal, an efficient metal processing Method

As manufacturing plants are being under pressure to reduce their energy spending, many countries and companies are trying to make progress in innovating. some researchers from Germany and South Africa have proposed a technique to reduce the emission in metal processing factories. and will use South Africa’s large aluminium processing industry as a test bed.

In addition to powering electricity-generating turbines , the large mirrors can also melt metals thanks to their ability to concentrate solar rays. The process helps reducing carbon footprint of the metal processing industry.

The preliminary concept is going to be tested first in Germany at the Aerospace Centre’s (DLR) by the Institute of Solar Research in Julich before launching it in South Africa.

According to these researchers, solar mirrors would focus sun rays reaching 700°C to a rotary solar kiln which will be able to melt aluminum ore but also recycled aluminum objects. In addition the research team will develop a logistics plan to transport the molten aluminium from the central solar melting plant to the production facilities where liquid metal will be processed.

“The aim of the project is to develop an energy and cost effective method that can be implemented across a variety of system sizes, depending on the requirements,” said Martina Neises-von Puttkamer, project manager at DLR.

South Africa is a particularly interesting place to start the project because the country’s metal processing facilities rely mostly on electric energy coming from coal-fired power plants which brought them to become the 15th largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world. Also Metal processing is the country’s largest industry.

source: eandt.theiet.org

Shanghai Metal Corporation is specialized in manufacturing a wide variety of metal products and understand the importance of a green environment and efficient manufacturing. For more information, you can visit the company’s website or contact us for any inquiry.

Scan the QR code below and stay informed about our latest updates:

Houria // SMC Editor

Cows As an Inspiration for Shipping Container Restaurant

Nowadays shipping containers have been becoming a great boom in numerous architectural applications. Shipping containers can turn into beautiful houses, bars, clubs, schools, gardens where you can enjoy your beer, but also into amazing restaurants. One of the examples is this very special vegetarian restaurant called Till The Cows Come Home.

The image of cows coming down from their pastures in the mountains at the end of the summer served as an inspiration for the restaurant’s name. Till the cows come home, they take time for the food.

This Berlin-based slow food kitchen is set in 40-foot-long cargo container designed by Natalie Viaux who used Norwegian birch wood with copper details. The outside of the container has been painted a vibrant green. A view of a expansive outdoor terrace, that which features a mural of cows grazing in alpine pastures, is provided with its five-meter-long window. They use a selection of products sourced from regional sustainable and biological farming for their recipes.

So if you are in Berlin, don’t miss this sustainable restaurant and try their biological specialties!

Shanghai Metal Corporation as a manufacturer of shipping containers can make your dreams come true. Just visit our website, search for more information or send us inquiry. English speaking stuff will help you to find the most suitable product for you. Follow us also in Social Media platforms and learn more about company and company products.

Silvia M.//SMC Editor

Read more articles written by this author here.

Credits : ttcch.de, inhabitat.com

Germany’s Key in Increasing the Uses of Green Energy

The majority of the world’s energy consumption is still supplied by fossil fuels. Even though this type of source has negative impacts on environment and has a limited quantity, the world still hasn’t found a satisfying solution to replace it.

The improvement of technology creates another alternative, which is the natural and renewable energy. The use of natural energies grows each year, but its development is low because their cost are more expensive than fossil fuels, therefore more economic sacrifice. A study shows that even though the a great number of Americans favor green energy, most of them are less willing to pay more for it. Another downfall of natural energies is that they’re climate-dependent and need to be backed-up by a more reliable source, such as fossil fuels and nuclear, which add expenses to the costs. Some say that “trying to combat climate change exclusively with today’s renewable energy technologies simply won’t work”. So should we change our aim for a green energy and change it to develop nuclear energy ?

But, there is still hope for natural energy ! In just a dozen years, Germany has managed to replace around 30% of its nuclear and fossil fuel produced electricity with natural energy. This phenomenon could be explained by how Germany’s power supply is managed. In comparison to a centralized power plants that aims to meet the demand of energy in most countries, the German system is decentralized and includes more than 2 million small and medium scale renewable producers (businesses, farmers, villages, towns, co-ops, etc.) whose numbers keeps to increase over time. Their output are traded from locality to locality and even internationally via intelligent networks.

This transition was accentuated with Merkel’s decision to shut down a third of Germany’s nuclear reactors, following Fukushima’s disaster in 2011. This decision encouraged renewable energies to progress and fill the gap.

What happens in German shows us that with motivated leaders and the right policies, it is possible to little by little replace non-renewable energy source with renewable source. Much technological progressions are still need to be done because as we saw earlier, green energy is still expensive and unstable. We have to keep in mind that increasing the uses of green energy is possible.

Visit these websites to learn more : theblaze, foreignpolicy, wikipedia

To help spreading the use of green energy, Shanghai Metal Corporation manufacture a wide range of solar panel according to your request. Visit our website to discover more and feel free to send us your inquiry if you need any question. Follow us on social media to be updated on our products.

Credits to theblaze, foreignpolicy, wikipedia
Pictures from Google image.

Ayu P.//SMC editor

Some Facts About Sweets

Most of people love eating sweets, candies, chocolates, chocolate bars at least from time to time. Here are few facts about sweets that you might find interesting.

The Snickers bar was named after horse

The creator of this famous bar loved his horse (apparently called Snickers) so much that he honored him by naming a chocolate bar after him. In UK, this chocolate bar was famous under the name “Marathon” till 1990. Mars, Inc. is still a family-owned business that produces other popular candies as Skittles, Twix and others.

Germans eat more chocolate than Americans

According to data from the International Cocoa Organisation and the European union Association of the Chocolate, the average German eats 114 chocolate bars per year, American eats 51.

Cotton candy was co-invented by dentist

A dentist from Nashville, William James Morrison, became a President of the Tennessee State Dental Association in 1894 and wrote several books for kids. Who would have said that he had invented a cotton candy? Together with a Nashville candy maker named John C. Wharton invented an “electric candy machine” that produced cotton candy. The product became a huge success when it was brought to the public in 1904.

Shanghai Metal Corporation sells food machinery for packing and producing candies such as automatic hard candy depositing machine, hard candy die-forming machine, double twist packing machine, candy packaging machine. For more information visit our website or send us inquiry. English speaking staff will help you find the most suitable products for you. Download a new application by scanning QR code below or follow us on Social Media.

Silvia M.//SMC Editor

Read more articles written by this author here.

Credits : clickreadshare.com, omgfacts.com

The most fascinating elevators in the world

Are you that kind of person who never prefers stairs to elevators? Do you love that feeling in stomach when you are going up? Then you should put these elevators on your list, you will have the most thrilling rides of your life!

The Bailong elevator in Hunan, China

The Bailong Elevator, China - highest outdoor elevator in the world — The Bailong elevator

This glass elevator located in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park rises nearly 1070 foot up a sheer cliff and it serves for a scenic overlooking down the valley below. The ride takes 2 minutes and it is considered to be highest and heaviest outdoor elevator in the world. However the future of this elevator is uncertain as it causes the environmental issues.

The Gateaway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri

The Gateway Arch - the world's tallest arch — Gateaway Arch

If you go to the top of Arch, you will sit in egg-shaped compartment containing five seats and a flat floor. This 630 foot high elevator is clad with stainless steel and it is the world’s tallest arch. A trip to the top takes 4 minutes.

The Falkirk Wheel in Falkirk, Scotland

Boarding an elevator in a boat? Not impossible! This rotating boat lift connects sides of canals, Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. There is a 79 foot difference in height of two canals at the wheel.

The Falkirk Wheel - an elevator ride for boats — The Falkirk Wheel

Aquadom in Berlin, Germany

This Aquadom is 82 foot tall cylindrical acrylic glass aquarium with a transparent elevator inside of it. It resides in the lobby of Berlin’s Radisson Blu Hotel. There is hundred different species in a tank that holds million liter of water and it is the largest cylindrical tank aquarium in the world.

AquaDom, Berlin - take an elevator ride from within an aquarium — Aquadom

Hammetschwand Lift near Lake Lucerne, Switzerland

It is 499 foot tall and it is considered to be the tallest exterior elevators in Europe. It can carry 8 passengers and whisk them up in less than one minute. And that vies is just wonderful!

The Hammetschwand Lift, Switzerland - The highest exterior elevator in Europe — Hammetschwand Lift

Shanghai Metal Corporation offers wide range of stainless steel, steel which elevators are clad with as well. If you want to find more visit our website or send us inquiry. English speaking staff will guide you further. Download a new application by scanning QR code below or follow us on Social Media.

Silvia M.//SMC Editor

Read more articles written by this author here.

Credits : 10mosttoday.com, oddee.com, cnn.com, popularmechanics.com, googleimages.com

Your industrial-style office

Do you like metals, metallic colors and kind of industrial style and you are thinking about how to decorate and design your office? Then you will like this style of office designed by Alexander Fehre for a German conveyor-belt manufacturer Movet. This office is located in an old industrial building in the town of Schorndorf, outside Stuttgart.

The German designer wanted to keep the old industrial look of the building. Panels of aluminium mesh enclose the meeting space, so it creates a corridor between the platform and row of employees’ desks. It has a filter-effect for the open-space office.

Movet Office Loft by SAF - Studio Alexander Fehre — The platform in the center of the office

Many Movet’s clients have a metal-work background, so he created a space which it will be familiar to them and they will feel comfortable. The platform in the center of the office serves as kitchen for employees, an open-plan meeting room and a showing room for clients at the same time. Clients don’t visit offices so often as a company sells mostly online. Tables in the office have copper fixtures to keep place in even more industrial style. (via dezeen.com)

Shanghai Metal Corporation sells high-quality aluminium, metal, copper and steel that are used in many industries. For more information visit our website or send us inquiry. English speaking staff will help you to find the best product for you. Download a new application by scanning QR code below or follow us on Social media.

Silvia M.//SMC Editor

Read more articles written by this author here.

Credits : dezeen.com, googleimages.com

Get Bent: Apple

All the buzz around Apple’s newest iPhone6 may not be that of a success. Not even its 10 million iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models sold in three days after the phones went on sale. Rather, it seems like the new ‘bendable’ iPhone6 is even a hotter hit, going viral on social media as hashtag #BendGate.

Not only a rumor but proved by a number of pictures published on the world web, the new iPhone6 and iPhone6 Plus easily bend when carried in owners’ pockets for long periods of time. Others claimed the flexibility of the new phone while having more active lifestyle and dancing.

The question whether this affects all the devices or if it is limited to a small number of phones is still unclear, and Apple has not yet pronounced. Last year there were similar cases involving iPhone 5, the Samsung Galaxy S4, the HTC EVO, and many others, but this is actually the first time the bending issue has become an “epidemic”.

Ironically, the reports claiming the issue came out the same day that smartphone warranty provider SquareTrade called the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus the “most durable smartphones ever”. Significantly larger and thinner than the traditional iPhone, the iPhone6 and iPhone6 Plus are encased by aluminum enclosure, which is a naturally flexible material.

CNNMoney received a test model and several staffers tried and failed to change its shape using brute force. What this will mean for the future of iPhones? Well, earlier this year the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently published Apple’s patent application which describes a new technology to be integrated with bendable displays. It talks about a new method on how to use tiny metal components in a way that prevents them from breaking when the display is bent. It might be it?

For now, what remains for iPhone6 owners is to remove their iPhones from their pockets before sitting, placing them in a less tight pocket, or choose for a more resistant case that could protect the device from bending and flexing. And if you still think of acquiring an iPhone6 or iPhone6 Plus, it is available in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, and the UK and it will go on sale in 20 more countries on September 26^th and others by the end of the year.

Shanghai Metal Corporation is a world leader in producing and supplying the best quality in aluminum that could prevent devices such as the iPhone6 and iPhone6 to easily bend. To find out more, please visit our Website or send your inquiry here. Our English speaking personnel will be more than pleased to help you. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Or you could try our new mobile app by scanning our QR code.

Story credit: Dominick F.//SMC Sales Specialist

Source and photo credit: foxnews.com, money.cnn.com, macrumors.com, newser.com, gadgetlove.com

Camilla G.//SMC Editor

Miss Liberty Chopped Up and Found All Over NYC

It may sound absurd but it’s true. Pieces of the Miss Liberty’s body can be found scattered across two boroughs in NYC. But don’t worry! This is only a replica of the Statue of Liberty as the original one still stands untouched on its very Liberty Island since given as a gift by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi in 1886.

Creator of ‘We the people’ collection, Vietnamese artist Danh Vo spent the last four years recreating the statue in 250 full-scale individual pieces. “I wanted to do something that everyone had a relationship to, and make it a bit unfamiliar. It’s kind of like creating a Frankenstein that gets its own life”, says Vo.

Using the same fabrication techniques and copper material as the original Lady Liberty, the artwork was “conceived in Germany, fabricated in Shanghai, supported by his French gallery, collections and art institutions worldwide, and dispersed to exhibition venues in more than 15 countries”, explains Vo.

“When Bartholdi created the Statue of Liberty…he created an image and a political agenda,” adds Vo. “What I’m doing with it is a shift of scale and shift of meaning.” He added that his work “is more a project that should evoke discussion in the place that it is exhibited. And we’ll have to wait to see what that will be”.

In collaboration with Public Art Fund 53 colossal fragments of Liberty can be found at Brooklyn Bridge Park and City Hall Park until December 5^th 2014. ‘We the people’ collection presents nearly a fifth of Vo’s project and comprises body parts of the Miss Liberty such as the statue’s right sleeve, the one that covers her right bearing arm, the ear of the statue placed beneath the cornerstone of the historic building, and links of the chain found at the feet.

“When you’re looking at a massive piece of copper that you have a very intimate relationship [with] right in front of you,” says Andira Hickey, the Public Art Fund’s associate curator, “and see it completely transformed into a full figure that you can recognize in the distance, it’s such an evocative metaphor for the multitude of perspectives you can have of an icon like that.”

If you are not a private collector this is a great opportunity to come very close to Miss Liberty and experience the magnificence of the statue. And if you look carefully enough you might be able to recognize the dismantled pieces of the Statue of Liberty as you know.

Shanghai Metal Corporation offers a wide range of metals such as copper, widely used in artistic artifacts. To find out more, please visit our Website or send your inquiry here. Our English speaking professionals will be more than pleased to help you. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Or you could try our new mobile app by scanning our QR code.

Source and photo credit: brooklynbridgepark.org, online.wsj.com, nytimes.com, hqdesktop.net

Camilla G.//SMC Editor

An Antarctic Prefab Shows the True Potential of Shipping Containers

India’s National Center for Antarctic and Ocean Research is situated in northeast Antarctica. The Bharati Indian Polar Station is built on an 27,000 square feet area out of 134 shipping containers. The research center’s residential quarters shows almost everything that can be built out of shipping containers including an hotel of 24 single and double bedrooms, kitchen, dining room, library, fitness room, offices, a lounge and an operational theater.

There are at least two reasons why the research complex was built by using shipping containers. First, according to the Antarctic Treaty System, all the construction in the Antarctica should not leave any trace to the environment. Shipping containers make it possible to dissassemble and remove the building without causing any environmental impact.

Second, due to shipping containers’ physical properties and their durability, they are an excellent building material for extreme weather conditions. Shipping containers are designed to be shipped even in a rough weather in the world’s seas. Therefore they can even handle the wind gusts of 200 mph and the temperatures of -40 C of the Antarctica.

The shipping container complex was prefabricated in Germany and shipped to Antwerp and Cape Town. In Antarctica the research center was able to be assembled quickly. The facade of the center was designed to forestall the buildups of snow drifts.

Thanks to the German company Bof Architekten, the center can accommodate 47 researchers during summers and 24 during winters. The energy of the center is provided by a Combined Heat and Power Unit (CHP) which is powered by stockpiles of kerosene. There are actually a total of three CHP units on site, so as to ensure that an untimely mechanical failure does not leave the residents in dire straits.

Shipping containers and shipping container architecture are one of Shanghai Metal Corporation‘s largest businesses. Our containers are built to last according to international standards. In order to learn more about our products and services, please visit our websites on containers and container projects. Please also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. Try also scanning our QR code with your smart phone, tablet or phablet.

#BuildingValueAcrossTheGlobe

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: Gizmag, Bof Architekten, Inhabitat

Sculptures That You Need To Look At Twice

We have seen the famous ones; the statue of liberty, the thinking man, Christ the Redeemer. But, these artists have though outside the box with their creations – take a look:

The Caring Hand by Eva Oertli and Beat Huber [Glarus, Switzerland]

Diminish and Ascend by David McCracken [Bondi, Australia]

Cartoon Sculpture by Neil Dawson [New Zealand]

Shanghai Metal Corporation manufactures the Corten Carbon Steel used to make statues. As an ISO 14001 (International Quality Management System) Company and recipient of the “Star Enterprise Award,” Shanghai Metal Corporation prides itself on exceeding international standards of quality and reliability. We guarantee the best prices, quality support, and fast delivery. To find out more, please visit our Website or send your inquiry here. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Or you could try our new mobile app by scanning our QR code.

Sources: Bored Panda, Your Amazing Places, Distractify

Siobhan R.// SMC Editor