E-commerce sites have to be appealing and easy to use. Visitors need to be enticed to stop and purchase with a smooth sales process.

Mistake 1: No contact data! Visitors need to be given a choice, either telephonically, by fax or by email. You must also publish your address. Otherwise, visitors do not trust you.

Mistake 2: Doing too much with your fonts and colours. Two or three different fonts running through the site is more than sufficient. Too many colours are distracting.

Mistake 3: Using outdated information (including stock out or not), to attract and keep visitors returning content must be fresh and up to date, and make sure no broken links in your site.

Mistakes 4: Disabling the ‘back’ button, this annoys visitors.

Mistake 5: Having slow loading pages is caused by having too many large images or as a result of low quality web hosting service. In addition, meaningless flash homepage or header can also annoy visitors. Why do I need to wait for the flash if it does not provide me additional useful information?

Mistake 6: Your site is not compatible with common browsers such as firefox, IE and Chrome, etc. Visitors may simply vist another site.

Mistake 7: Your site is not search engine friendly, and the content management system or e-commerce software do not allow you to do SEO. It can make your site not searchable in search engines.

Mistake 8: Photos that cannot be enlarged for close viewing are not a good thing to have on an e-commerce site. Shoppers need to be able to see every little detail.

Mistake 9: A site is full of graphics could be looked very appealing but your site cannot rank high in search engines without text content. If your site is a decoration or your traffic level is independent with search engines, feel free to build a full graphical website.

Mistake 10: The checkout page is too complex. Visitors will give up if they can’t check out within 3 steps: 1. Enters their demographics information such as billing and postal address, name, etc. 2. Enters Credit Card information, 3. Confirm all entry. Some companies want to perform cross-selling when the visitors are going through the checkout process, it is quite annoying.

Provided by Agog Digital Marketing Strategy Ltd, http://www.agogdigital.com, a professional search engine optimization company located in Hong Kong.

Father day is coming. If you do not have any idea to buy a gift for your daddy, you may consider personalized watches offered by ewatchfactory especially if you daddy is NFL and super bowl fans or he always want something different to others.

visit http://www.ewatchfactory.net to learn more about their personalized watches.

For students who want to study Bachelor of Business Administration, you may consider the 4 year course offered by Chinese University of Hong Kong. It has good reputation and can help you establish a strong personnel network in the business world.

Torque Testing

Torque Testing Overview

There are different torque testing systems and equipments in the market for the broad range of functional torque testing and measuring applications. Applications include automotive steering, drivetrain component testing and assembly, seat testing, bearing preload testing and torque-to-turn testing. The following is the typical torque testing for certain applications

Torque Testing: Bearing

The first test is to measure the breakaway torque as the outer race is held and the inner race is turned. When the bearing is rotating, the average torque is measured over several rotations.

Torque Testing: Seat Latch

The first task in the process is to perform a break-in function by exercising the part through its full motion a predetermined number of times. After the break-in the part is rotated through its full motion (one time) to measure the maximum and minimum torque values. The seat latch is then moved to the ship position.

Torque Testing: Gear Train

The resistance torque of the gear train is measured by driving and measuring the torque on the input shaft. Then the backlash throughout the gear travel is measured on the fly.

Torque Testing: Door hinge

The door hinge is first exercised in both directions and the peak torque is captured and stored. Then based on the peak torque measured, the spring tension is adjusted to increase or decrease the amount of torque needed to rotate the hinge over the detent.

Before torque testing: What is Torque?

A torque (τ) in physics, also called a moment (of force), is a pseudo-vector that measures the tendency of a force to rotate an object about some axis (center). The magnitude of a torque is defined as the product of a force and the length of the lever arm (radius). Just as a force is a push or a pull, a torque can be thought of as a twist.

The SI unit for torque is the newton meter (N m). In U.S. customary units, it is measured in foot pounds (ft•lbf) (also known as ‘pound feet’). The symbol for torque is τ, the Greek letter tau.

Before torque testing: Torque Explanation

The force applied to a lever multiplied by its distance from the lever’s fulcrum, the length of the lever arm, is its torque. A force of three newtons applied two meters from the fulcrum, for example, exerts the same torque as one newton applied six meters from the fulcrum. This assumes the force is in a direction at right angles to the straight lever. The direction of the torque can be determined by using the right hand grip rule: curl the fingers of your right hand the direction of rotation and stick your thumb out so it is aligned with the axis of rotation. Your thumb points in the direction of the torque vector.

Mathematically, the torque on a particle (which has the position r in some reference frame) can be defined as the cross product:

where
r is the particle’s position vector relative to the fulcrum
F is the force acting on the particle.

The torque on a body determines the rate of change of its angular momentum,

where
L is the angular momentum vector
t stands for time.

As can be seen from either of these relationships, torque is a vector, which points along the axis of the rotation it would tend to cause.

Before torque testing: Machine torque

Torque is part of the basic specification of an engine: the power output of an engine is expressed as its torque multiplied by its rotational speed of the axis. Internal-combustion engines produce useful torque only over a limited range of rotational speeds (typically from around 1,000–6,000 rpm for a small car). The varying torque output over that range can be measured with a dynamometer, and shown as a torque curve. The peak of that torque curve usually occurs somewhat below the overall power peak. The torque peak cannot, by definition, appear at higher rpm than the power peak.

Understanding the relationship between torque, power and engine speed is vital in automotive engineering, concerned as it is with transmitting power from the engine through the drive train to the wheels. Power is typically a function of torque and engine speed. The gearing of the drive train must be chosen appropriately to make the most of the motor’s torque characteristics.

Steam engines and electric motors tend to produce maximum torque close to zero rpm, with the torque diminishing as rotational speed rises (due to increasing friction and other constraints). Therefore, these types of engines usually have quite different types of drivetrains from internal combustion engines.

Torque is also the easiest way to explain mechanical advantage in just about every simple machine.

Relationship between torque, power and energy

If a force is allowed to act through a distance, it is doing mechanical work. Similarly, if torque is allowed to act through a rotational distance, it is doing work. Power is the work per unit time. However, time and rotational distance are related by the angular speed where each revolution results in the circumference of the circle being travelled by the force that is generating the torque. The power injected by the applied torque may be calculated as:

On the right hand side, this is a scalar product of two vectors, giving a scalar on the left hand side of the equation. Mathematically, the equation may be rearranged to compute torque for a given power output. Note that the power injected by the torque depends only on the instantaneous angular speed - not on whether the angular speed increases, decreases, or remains constant while the torque is being applied (this is equivalent to the linear case where the power injected by a force depends only on the instantaneous speed - not on the resulting acceleration, if any).

In practice, this relationship can be observed in power stations which are connected to a large electrical power grid. In such an arrangement, the generator’s angular speed is fixed by the grid’s frequency, and the power output of the plant is determined by the torque applied to the generator’s axis of rotation.

Consistent units must be used. For metric SI units power is watts, torque is newton meters and angular speed is radians per second (not rpm and not revolutions per second).

Also, the unit newton meter is dimensionally equivalent to the joule, which is the unit of energy. However, in the case of torque, the unit is assigned to a vector, whereas for energy, it is assigned to a scalar.

Conversion to other units

For different units of power, torque, or angular speed, a conversion factor must be inserted into the equation. Also, if rotational speed (revolutions per time) is used in place of angular speed (radians per time), a conversion factor of 2π must be added because there are 2π radians in a revolution:

where rotational speed is in revolutions per unit time.

Useful formula in SI units:

where 60,000 comes from 60 seconds per minute times 1000 watts per kilowatt.

Some people (e.g. American automotive engineers) use horsepower (imperial mechanical) for power, foot-pounds (lbf•ft) for torque and rpm (revolutions per minute) for angular speed. This results in the formula changing to:

The constant below in, ft•lbf./min, changes with the definition of the horsepower; for example, using metric horsepower, it becomes ~32,550.

Use of other units (e.g. BTU/h for power) would require a different custom conversion factor.

Information is provided by Xiang Yi Testing Instrument Ltd, a torque testing expert offers various torque measurement device.

for those who are interested in industrial application/technology:

AC Dynamometer Introduction

AC dynamometer system consists with a high speed/ high torque AC motor, HBM torque flange and Siemens/ABB 4-quadrant AC inverter. Besides, another main cores are the FC2000D Engine Automatic Test and Control System with the complete Intellectual Property Right, self-developed gauges, displays and software.

Real-time control system

Real-time control system is the control panel for controlling individual test accessories and acts as the system major core. The system consists of a FC2000D control unit, 4-quadrant AC inverter, electric motor, torque flange, AC dynamometer, throttle executor and other related measurement control accessories. The whole system can measure and control the engine tasks individually.

Inverter system

CAC series AC dynamometer adopts Siemens Simovert Masterdrives series or ABB ACS800-17 series industrial drives. Siemens or ABB has an unrivalled reputation in providing AC drives for all types of test rig applications. Siemens or ABB drives are used to control the speed and load torque of AC electric motors used in the testing of rotating machines such as gears, engines, transmissions and complete vehicles. The Siemens or ABB drive brings incredibly high accuracy and dynamic torque control.

Industrial inverter applicable on Engine test stands

Engine test stands have many uses including engine development, exhaust emission studies, engine durability testing and ensuring production quality. A good engine dynamometer must be able to react rapidly to changes in load torque and speed if it is to give a true representation of the real-life conditions to which an engine will be subjected.

The ABB or Siemens industrial drive provide the most dynamic solution on the market. The load torque can be varied from zero to full torque within milliseconds, ensuring highly responsive changes to load torque and speed. The benefit is a more accurate picture of precisely how your engine will perform.

Industrial inverter applicable on Transmission test stands

Transmissions undergo some of the most rigorous tests of any automotive component or system. From gearshift tests and synchronization through to calibration of automatic transmissions and clutches, they all demand a rapid change of load torque. In addition, these applications require dynamic simulation of multiple load sources, as presented by the use of several AC motors on the same transmission system.

The ABB or Siemens industrial drive can operate in torque or speed control mode, switching between modes within milliseconds. In fact, the load sharing and mutual communication between drives happens within 2 ms. This enables dynamic testing of differential gears as well as systems such as ABS and EPS.

Torque transducer

The torque and speed measurement of AC dynamometer selects the Germany HBM torque flange. HBM torque flange is a non-contact type torque sensor and consists with rotary and stator. Through the flange, rotary directly contacts with electric motor’s shaft and follows with the rotation of motor’s shaft. Torque pulse signal is outputted through the stator. The maximum torque calibration accuracy is 0.1%FS, 200% overload ability, damage loading ≥ 400%. This torque flange has the new design, compact, high responsible rate which can provide real-time high accurate torque measurement.

AC Dynamometer Models

Types of dynamometer comparison

Items Dynamometer types
AC DC Eddy Current Hydraulic
Water Cooling System No No Required Required
Real-time Torque Control Very Good Very Good Good Normal
Reaction Time milliseconds milliseconds 0.1 second Seconds
Technology Advancement High High Normal Normal
System Stability High High Very High Normal
System Vibration Low Low Normal Normal
Repeatability High High Normal Normal
Maintainability High High Normal Normal
Motoring/ Cold wear test Available Available N/A N/A

According to Wiki, Experiential marketing attempts to connect consumers with brands in personally relevant and memorable ways. The alternative term customer-experience marketing emphasises the idea of communicating the essence of a brand through a personalised experience.

As a marketing methodology, experiential marketing aims to move beyond the traditional “features-and-benefits” marketing, cast to a wide audience that includes not only those who may benefit from a brand or product, but also those who would not benefit at all. (As a result of such traditional marketing, people avoid messages whenever possible and by any means possible i.e. pop-up blockers, the United States National Do Not Call Registry and DVRs (such as TiVo) to avoid exposure to commercials.) In contrast, experiential marketing presents an experience that people choose to attend to and participate in after identifying the relevance of a brand or product to their needs.

To turn the concept into implementation, you can view some examples from Luminous:

http://www.luminous-asia.com/ProjectExamples.html

Some projects are very impressive such as grand opening of The Venetian® Macao-Resort-Hotel in Macau. It attracts many attention. A very good reference about experiential marketing.

Proper public relations and corporate events are more often about making an emotional appeal to your customers rather than addressing product features and benefits.

In many situations, audiences are unable to imagine the advantage of product features and benefits. For example, if your company wants to promote a 2.0 bluetooth headset supports A2DP, salesmen may mention the product features to your customers. However, they may be unable to understand the terminology or visualize the benefits salesmen mentioned. On the contrary, if you organize an art show and use the art show to demonstrate the product features and benefits. Customers can “see” the benefits as well as enjoy an art show. Indeed, memory about your product and the benefits can be more long term.

Whatever you are promoting, you need to explain to your audiences on an emotional level how it benefits them or others they care about. Every good product, every good service is, at its heart, a means by which to help people live, work, or play better.
It is also true for brand building.

Experiential Marketing uses brand relevant experiences to appeal to both the rational and emotional buying triggers of the intended audience. Sometimes, it is also termed as customer experience marketing because the idea is to communicate the essence of the Brand through a personalized experience.

Experiential marketing deals with customer experiences and is quite different from traditional forms of marketing, which focus on functional features and benefits of products. Consumers’ decisions are much more influenced by emotionally generated feelings than by their rationally derived thought.

According to Luminous (http://www.luminous-asia.com), the idea of experiential marketing reflects a right brain bias because it is about fulfilling consumers’ aspirations to experience comfortable and pleasure feelings and helps consumers’ to feel the benefits through interactive experiences, and creates an emotional desire to purchase.

Let me give you an example of experiential marketing:

Cathay Pacific organizes an 60th Anniversary Gala Celebration. Instead of inviting 3000 VIPs to attend a dull celebration ceremony, they invite the VIPs to attend a theatre show with more than 100 performers and 300 crew and staff. The events enable VIPs to further understand their company and let them understand how much they care of their VIPs by inviting them to attend such a grand celebration without the need to hard sell any messages.

If you are not a big company, does it mean that you cannot make use of the concept? No!! You may use your website to host online events, too. For example, online competition games, live online video show, and etc. It really depends on your creativity and whether your event can deliver the proper messages to participants.

Luminous is an experiential marketing company based in Hong Kong. They create many impressive events for promoting corporate images for big companies such as BNP, Airport Authrority of Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific. In case you need to promote corporate images by organizing events such as Art Shows, Expo, and etc. You may contact them.