 |
Less is more on high speed scribing machine
Process and Control Today, April 2008
By John Houston, Editor
Robotix in Rugby, UK, has developed a high speed production line for scribing traceability serial numbers onto wheel rims for earthmoving equipment. This uses a single Hoerbiger-Origa rodless pneumatic cylinder in the dual critical roles of positioning the scribing head and holding the rim steady in the workstation.
|
|
Sandvik automates mining operations with AutoMine System
To most of us the word “automation” suggests images of robotics and futuristic technology. In a “real life” operating mine, automation is defined as a computerized tool that is used to improve mine performance which will result in significant benefits to the entire mining process.
|
|
CAM Makes Parts in Famous Garage
American Machinist, September 2008
By Bruce Vernyi
In a private garage in Burbank, Calif., three people repair, restore and maintain a fleet of vehicles for Jay Leno. The garage does nearly everything in house with a waterjet cutting machine, welding equipment, manual mill and lathe, sheet-metal fabrication equipment, and its newer acquisitions, a Fadal 4020 CNC mill with rotary axis and GibbsCAM software.
|
|
Oxygen Measurement in Waste Gas for Effective Explosion Protection
Process and Control Today, September 2008
Real-time monitoring of the oxygen concentration in waste gas plays a key role in explosion prevention. Using amperometric oxygen electrodes there is above all no need for complex and costly sample handling systems.
|
|
Building from Worker to the Queen
Automation World, September 2008
By Rob Spiegel
BP Pipelines of North America, in Forest City, Ill., decided to add leak detection to the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system to monitor pipeline leakage. The challenge was to feed process data from the Sybase database to the leak detection system. Cogent Industrial Technologies used a OPC DataHub to make the connection.
|
|
Explosion-proof controls enable dust-free loading of dry bulk materials
Process and Control Today, September 2008
Hazardous area equipment, including terminal boxes, control stations, emergency stop controls and enclosures manufactured by Cooper Crouse-Hinds are being used on loading systems for handling dry, potentially-explosive bulk materials, including cement, alumina, sugar, petroleum coke, grain and sulphur.
|
|
Oxygen Measurement in Waste Gas for Effective Explosion Protection
Process and Control Today, September 2008
Real-time monitoring of the oxygen concentration in waste gas plays a key role in explosion prevention. Using amperometric oxygen electrodes there is above all no need for complex and costly sample handling systems.
|
|
Baldor motion control system automates woodworking process
- 08/27/08
By using dual sanding belts and a swinging work holder controlled by a combination of linear and rotary servo motor axes, this machine replaces a manually-actuated sanding process at Martin Guitar.
|
|
Controlled Size Reduction
Control Design, August 2008
Modern Process Equipment in Chicago designs and builds roller-style granulizers based on Allen-Bradley PLCs. PLC control allows them to provide 25 different recipes that control all of the important grinding parameters.
|
|
Machine Vision Ensures Quality
Assembly, August 2008
Keiper GmbH (Kaiserslautern, Germany) manufactures metal seating components for the automotive industry. They recently implemented a vision inspection cell employing an In-Sight 5403 vision sensor from Cognex. The system is now used to identify approximately 20 different parts—some of them with very subtle differences in shape and features.
|
|
NUM provides customized CNC platform for integrated aluminum processing line
- 08/04/08
A single Axium CNC platform from NUM controls the entire machining centre, including the 10 motion axes on the robot heads plus various sensors and actuators.
|
|
The Smart Factory
Advanced Manufacturing, July 2008
To maintain their quality commitment to Ford for assembling key automotive components, Automodular needed to make sure that all their people had all the information needed to assemble each part, at the right time. Automodular turned to PinPoint Information Systems to develop a software system to communicate and verify information and track conformance to standards in real time.
|
|
Endless Fun With IEC 61131
Control Design, July 2008
By Jeremy Pollard
Columnist looks into an IEC 61131 application and discovers the main benefit of IEC 61131 is that “it’s a standard,” even though customers don’t know what it is. Vendors can take advantage of the complacency of some users because of the intrinsic value of the word “standard.”
|
|
Retrofits Relieve Competitive Pressure
Automation World, July 2008
By James R. Koelsch
Davis-Standard, a builder of blow-molding machinery in Somerville, N.J., had to upgrade controls on winders. Rather than ripping out their old winders and spending between $1 million and $3 million for each new one, they brought their 20-year-old machines up to modern specifications for less than $30,000 with controls from Bosch.
|
|
Vishay installs Reel Optimizing System in European paper mill
- 07/09/08
The Reel Optimizing System uses strain gage-based load cells to improve roll density by controlling the nip force throughout the entire reel spool change-over process.
|
|
Mikron builds assembly system for Mega Pumps
- 06/24/08
Mikron helped Mega Pumps develop assembly, checking and testing systems that work within the tolerances and with minimum of scrap and rejection.
|
|
Conveyor Maximizes Space Usage, Efficiency
Assembly, June 2008
Ophthonix Inc. (Vista, CA) manufactures iZon high-resolution eyeglass lenses. Central to the manufacturing system is a modular, pallet-based VarioFlow conveyor system from Bosch Rexroth, which carries the lenses to the workstations comprising the production process.
|
|
Relay Races to Forefront of New Design
Control Design, June 2008
By Barry Stringer, Solvere
MikroPul, in Charlotte, N.C., manufactures dust control and product recovery equipment. For its PulsePro EC baghouse control and monitoring system, MikroPul uses Siemens’ LOGO! programmable relay.
|
|
Integrator Uses Simulation to Close Design Loop
Control Design, June 2008
Maverick Technologies uses software emulation to help identify potential control problems upfront, shorten the machine’s start-up time, and provide a good platform for operator training.
|
|
How to Control a 27-km-long Machine
- 06/23/08
Machine Design, May 2008
By Nipun Mathur, National Instruments
The largest machine in the world, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), covers parts of France and Switzerland and will cost a staggering $3.5 billion U.S. to design and build. The real difficulty is synchronizing collimators that can be 13 km away from each other with jaws that are synchronized to within 100 µsec and move with accuracies of ±10 µm.
|
|
Quinn Glass uses Siemens Automation & Drives technology
Process & Control Today, June 2008
The glass container manufacturing plant at Elton, UK, has 13 production lines, and the filling hall has five lines. In total there are more than 7,500 I/O plus more than 10,000 more from Variable Speed Drives and Medium and Low-Voltage equipment that are integrated into the system via Profibus-DP.
|
|
Better hardware, better bottle
Control Engineering Europe, June 2008
Amcor, an Australian packaging company, installed Wonderware InTouch SCADA and real-time database InSQL on Advantech Touch Screen PCs. The acquisition of data from plastics machinery required fast data access without affecting PLC cycle time. A pilot design was developed and tested prior to deployment across 28 machines.
|
|
Siemens retrofit boosts efficiency at Corus
Control Engineering Europe, June 2008
Nine Siemens drives, including five on heat treatment furnace roller tables, and four on a roller table and tempering furnace, were installed at Corus’ Clydebridge works in Scotland with a 30 per cent increase in throughput.
|
|
Giving Chocolate its Crunch
Control Engineering, June 2008
By Mike Jamieson, Rockwell Automation
Mars Austria uses an integrated control environment to monitor the exact status of all system components — such as servo drives, I/O, and HMIs—in its new control system in a chocolate plant.
|
|
PCs Cover Coating System Control
Control Engineering, June 2008
By Norm Hardy, Semicore
To automate its vacuum coating and etching systems, Semicore installed an HMI and control package based on Beckhoff's C6330 industrial PCs, CP7802 control panels, TwinCAT automation software, distributed I/O networked over Ethernet TCP/IP via bus couplers, Ethernet switches, motors, and servo drives.
|
|
Off-the-Shelf PLC Optimizes Motion Control Functionality
Control Engineering, June 2008
By Matthias Erhardt, Siemens SEA
A PLC handles control functionality with built-in integration of parison control, synchronized camming of blow pins with carriages, linear positioning of shuttles, and 30 zones of heat control.
|
|
Assembly System Pumps Up Production
IEN, May 2008
When Mega Pumps began manufacturing airless metered pump dispensers in 2000, the assembly system it used was not user-friendly and required more employees than the company had expected. Mikron helped Mega Pumps develop assembly, checking and testing systems that work within the tolerances and with minimum of scrap and rejection.
|
|
Upgrade delivers spare parts
Control Engineering, May 2008
By Marvin Coker, Bachelor Controls
Golden Triangle Energy Cooperative in Craig, MO, had control system hardware that had been deemed obsolete by the manufacturer, and replacement parts were becoming difficult to find. Bachelor Controls upgraded the system to Rockwell Automation’s Process Automation System, ControlLogix PAC and I/O, and RSView.
|
|
Moeller Electric punches lollipop sticks
Process & Control Today, May 2008
ks for the best ice lollipops are still made from wood. Karl Otto Knauf, chose PLCs, motor drives and the SmartWire panel wiring system from Moeller Electric to control its latest stick-punching machine.
|
|
Aylesbury Automation delivers a flexible solution
Process & Control Today, May 2008
A flexible robotic production cell solution has been delivered to Deutsch UK by robotics and automation specialist Aylesbury Automation. The robot-based machine has been introduced as a result of increasing product demand. It assembles a range of similar two pin electrical plugs and sockets and produces one complete part every six seconds.
|
|
Rapid Riggs is the business for B&DFL
Process & Control Today, May 2008
B&DFL, a manufacturer of chutneys, relishes and sauces, chose Riggs Autopack Ltd, to provide a complete turnkey bottling system to meet increased demand. Riggs assembled and installed the entire production line within eight weeks, including a single head filling machine, capping machine, in line metal detection, induction sealing and a mobile transfer pump.
|
|
New Job for Robots: Tube Bending
Machine Design, April 2008
An automatic cell for manufacturing tubular automotive parts exploits an articulated robotic arm to manage intervening movements and transfers. The arm eliminates the need for the conventional carriage of a tube-bending machine. It also promotes manufacturing precision by retaining the part for the entire process.
|
|
Kiln of the Castle
Control Engineering Europe, May 2008
Castle Cement in the UK brought ‘Kiln 4’ at its Padeswood works in North Wales, into operation with speed control from ABB industrial drives. ABB installed two 300 kW drives in master-follower arrangement.
|
|
Process oxygen analyzer helps achieve SIL 2 at catalyst plant
Process & Control Today, April 2008
Servomex 2200 analyzers helped Süd-Chemie, a manufacturer of catalysts, have their SIS certified by the German TÜV to a safety integrity level of 2 (SIL 2) in accordance with EN 61511. The SIS is installed on the catalyst production process loop, with the oxygen analyser used as part of the process control and safety-related inerting system.
|
|
OPC Drives Overall Equipment Efficiency from 65% to 75%
By Thomas R. Cutler
"Supporting OPC creates great new opportunities for collecting data from production equipment in real time, performing statistical analysis on the data and then feeding information back to operators, engineers or to the equipment itself," says Byron Shetler, Chief Technology Officer for Hertzler.
|
|
Die Is Cast for FPGA Control
Control Design, April 2008
By Paolo Catterina, EUROelectronics
EUROelectronics was asked to design a closed-loop hydraulic cylinder control system for a die-casting press machine. We previously used a Moog programmable controller with a Moog servo valve. We needed more complete control of the hydraulics by extending PID to control pressure. We used the NI CompactRIO with an FPGA architecture.
|
|
Keeping Robots In-Line – Someone Has To Do It
By Advantech
Robots only do what they are told to do. What happens when they forget or get out of line? Here, a PC monitors ABB robots to ensure integrity and accuracy of the procedures input into robot diagnostics.
|
|
Few Achieve Shop Floor to Top Floor Integration (A Rare Breed)
Managing Automation, March 2008
By Jeff Moad
Manufacturers place a high strategic priority on shop floor-to-top floor integration, and most say they have at least started down that integration path. Despite the difficulties of integrating plant floor systems with enterprise business systems, Celestica, Dairy Crest, and Portucel Viana are making significant headway. (Registration required)
|
|
Automated Production Line Presses On Regardless
Process and Control Today, March 2008
The Barr & Paatz automated workcell designed and built for W T Henley in the UK has been running round-the-clock, five days a week since 1993, with the utmost reliability. The entire installation was recently lifted, lock, stock and robots, by one of the country’s biggest mobile cranes, and transported by low-loader to its new home in Belvedere, Kent, where it carries on producing electrical cut-outs, exactly as before.
|
|
Robotics speeds up machining process
Process and Control Today, March 2008
A Denso 4-axis machine-tending robot loads and unloads components from pallets and holds them while sensors, which measure height and diameter, check their quality. MSP Ltd, a precision turned parts manufacturer, increased its production by 15% on a single shift.
|
|
GFC installation simplified with SmartWire
Control Engineering Europe
March 2008
The Good Food Company bypassed the need for a PLC, instead using a panel wiring system from Moeller Electric in its new refrigeration system. It was able to use one control panel, instead of the three originally planned, for the installation at the Wellingborough, UK food manufacturer’s site.
|
|
Drives protect potatoes
Control Engineering Europe
March 2008
Industrial variable speed drives from Mitsubishi Electric are helping to ensure that consumers have fresh potatoes throughout the year.
|
|
Drives up productivity for tobacco industry
Control Engineering Europe
February 2008
A new cigarette making machine, capable of producing 8,000 cigarettes per minute, has been developed by Molins. The machine is driven by servo technology from Lenze with L-force servo drives and synchronous servo motors.
|
|
Skinetta packaging system boosts cosmetic operations
Control Engineering Europe
February 2008
Cederroth International has upped flexibility on its cosmetic bottle line with an automated end of line packaging system and ABB robots.
|
|
Designing for robotic assembly
Control Engineering Europe
February 2008
Mitsubishi’s Himeji Works assembles a wide range of automotive alternators and other products via a production line that is so automated, it requires a team of of only eleven employees to assemble thousands of alternators every day.
|
|
Video for Process Control
Control Engineering, March 2008
By Latimer Schneider, Panasonic
The video control system at Nitta Gelatin USA, which resides on dedicated workstations, allows remote monitoring of manufacturing processes and viewing of alarm-activated live video.
|
|
Safety: Tale of Two Applications
Control Engineering, March 2008
By Hank Hogan
Two applications show how control system safety can be implemented using PLCs for less overall cost.
|
|
Crush control optimizes wine production
Control Engineering, March 2008
the Clos du Bois winery in California replaced analog machine controls on its grape press system with a centralized PAC control architecture that governs the entire system, from the conveyors to the pumps.
|
|
Collision Sensors
Machine Design, February 2008
By Charles Bates
Collision sensors detect when robot arms encounter obstructions. One shop incorporated a RAD Ultimatic Collision sensor as a compliance device with a signal to determine how much the robot needed to adjust its positioning in response to Grinding wheel wear.
|
|
Actuators Ensure Precision
Assembly, February 2008
MacGregor Welding Systems manufactures micro-resistance and pulsed micro-arc equipment. Recently, the company designed and built a fully automated machine to produce miniature sensor modules using a network of pneumatic and electrical actuators supplied by Festo.
|
|
A Machine Renaissance
Control Design, March 2008
By Joe Morrissey, Conflex
Conflex, a builder of shrink-wrapping machines, substantially redesigned each machine in its product line and converted to Beckhoff’s DIN-rail-mounted embedded PC and IEC 61131-3-compliant automation and motion control software.
|
|
Vision Sensors Check Laser Weld Quality
Assembly, February 2008
The Renault LHA factory employs a machine-vision system from Cognex to detect any tiny holes that may exist in the laser welds used to assemble bodywork components.
|
|
Obsolescence Happens
Control Design, February 2008
Weiler Engineering, a builder of aseptic, blow/fill/seal machines for pharmaceutical and healthcare applications, confronted serious PLC compatibility issues when its original controls supplier changed its product line. It now uses a Siemens 300 series modular PLC platform.
|
|
NI software and hardware controls particle accelerator
Using LabVIEW software with R Series reconfigurable PXI I/O hardware, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) developed a motion control system capable of intercepting misguided or unstable particle beams.
|
|
Six Sigma Alarm Management
Control, February 2008
By Brent J. Thomas
Six Sigma methods bring order to alarm chaos at Monsanto’s Soda Springs, Idaho, phosphorus plant.
|
|
Ahold Coffee selects Ampla to improve OEE on its production lines
SA Instrumentation & Control, February 2008
The Ahold Coffee Company selected Ampla, Citect's MES solution, which consisted of the Planner, Downtime, Production, and Metrics modules. Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) is a key indicator, and the company has already seen significant improvements in this KPI on selected lines since Ampla was installed.
|
|
FlavourCraft standardises on Beckhoff Automation
SA Instrumentation & Control, February 2008
By Andrew Ashton
The Beckhoff choice allowed FlavourCraft the flexibility to build both small and large systems with the same components and programming languages. They use Beckhoff I/O, Profibus, OPC, PACs and PLCs.
|
|
Moving Coil Actuators test Diesel Injectors
- 02/07/08
SMAC Moving Coil Actuators help SPE, a manufacturer of diesel injectors, to reduce emissions by using an actuator to determine the spring characteristics in their injectors.
|
|
Connecting SmartMotors to Ethernet networks
Industrial Embedded Systems, January 2008
By Rahul Shah, Lantronix
Connecting an embedded device server to an Animatics SmartMotor provided all the networking hardware and software required to connect the motor to an Ethernet network or the Internet.
|
|
Baldor PowerLink system controls tube-bending production cell
- 01/24/08
The Ethernet-compatible Powerlink system controls four axes of motion, plus the I/O needed for the continuous operation of the process.
|
|
Robots Taking Over The Job On Offshore Oil Drilling Platforms
Science Daily, January 1, 2008
An automated platform doesn't need personnel, and therefore neither does it need fire systems, sound insulation, catering or a whole range of other installations. The SINTEF test laboratory represents the next step, in which the scientists will find out how robots can be used to remotely monitor and control platform processes.
|
|
WEG Supplies Automation For World’s Second Largest Crane
Process & Control Today, January 2008
WEG supplied transformers, MV motors, and MV frequency inverters to automate the second largest overhead crane in the world, at the Usiminas steel plant in Brazil. The crane provides a 260-ton lifting capacity while transporting molten steel at speeds of up to 8 metres per minute.
|
|
Fabricator of Large Parts Moves to Wenzel CMM
American Machinist, December 2007
Webco Manufacturing replaced a remanufactured CM it had recently acquired with a new Wenzel 12.30.10. The CMM has a measuring range of 1200 mm (X axis) (47.24 in.) by 3000 mm (Y axis) (118.11 in.) by 1000 mm (Z axis) (39.37 in.) with a standard accuracy, using a Renishaw TP200 Probe, of U3 2.6+L300.
|
|
Robots Pay for Themselves in Seven Months
Assembly, January 2008
Keihin IPT Mfg manufactures automotive air and fuel-line components. It upgraded the line it uses to add heat inserts and collars to plastic intake manifolds by installing a series of five HP20, six-axis robots from Motoman. The five robots were able to pay for themselves in just seven months.
|
|
Sensor Technology's TorqSense sensor checks gearboxes
- 12/17/07
Centa Transmissions uses TorqSense to guarantee that the precision gearboxes it supplies to the nuclear industry will never fail prematurely.
|
|
PLC functionality provides application flexibility
Plant Engineering, October 2007
By Jack Smith, Managing Editor
International Harvester uses PLCs to control the automated machines that place aluminum rivets on sheeting to be attached to the semi cab frames. The truck manufacturer required speed, product quality, part consistency and a system that was easy to use.
|
|
Controls Ease Startup
Control Engineering, September 2007
Systems integrator Drivex Inc., Livermore, CA, used Siemens Simatic WinCC to replace an automation and control system. Drivex builds web tension controls for the pharmaceutical, converting, and vacuum coating industries.
|
|
Automated Coil Centering Relies On Double-Act
Process and Control Today, September 2007
By John Houston
The HepcoMotion profile driven unit (PDU2) belt driven linear transmission is used on Conwy Dolgarrog Aluminium’s four-high cold mill process line, a finishing rolling mill consisting of four rollers. The coil centering system comprises the DAPDU2 actuator that spans the width of the in-going side of the mill, two reflecting lasers mounted on each carriage, and two pull wire encoders.
|
|
Machine controls optimize cell performance
American Machinist, September 2007
Smith’s Machine, Cottondale, Ala., supplies machined parts to the Mercedes Benz U.S. International facility in Tuscaloosa County, Ala. It has specialized work cells that contain DMG Twin mill-turn centers fed by robotic parts handlers. All machine motions are handled by Siemens Sinumerik 840D CNCs.
|
|
All My Best Ideas are Stolen
Control Engineering, September 2007
By C.G. Masi, Control Engineering
The best way to improve your control engineering efforts is to copy tips and techniques from others. Here are four motion control examples to get you started.
|
|
Grinder cuts cycle times to the bone
American Machinist, September 2007
Corin Group used milling operations to produce rasps that took four hours per part. Then, the company installed an Anca TX7+ precision CNC grinder with UGS NXCAM for post processing output and Cimulator3D for verification. The company saw its production time drop to under one hour.
|
|
Just the facts, ma'am (About Belts)
Motion System Design, September 2007
By Eric W. Steele, Optibelt Corp.
Belt drive performance can be compromised in several ways. Most often, trouble arises when misguided assumptions are made about belts, their structure, or their application. But knowing the facts can help you extend belt life and boost their power potential.
|
|
Leisurely linear actuation
Motion System Design, September 2007
Controlling motion at extremely slow speeds is a new technology, primarily in the nanotech world. But with these tips and tactics, achieving slow motion is a walk in the park.
|
|
Mechatronics Meets Kinetic Architecture for Arizona Cardinals Stadium
Design News, August 2007
At Cardinals Stadium Uni-Systems engineers devised a patented cable-driven system for safely transporting the roof panels along a sloped path. Key elements in the system include: ABB ACS800 drives, ProfiBus, GE Fanuc VersaMax I/O and Series 9030 PLCs, and Turck proximity switches and encoders.
|
|
Custom Submersible Motor Assembly Makes Waves
Control Engineering, August 2007
By Rick Halstead, Empire Magnetics
One of Empire’s custom motor gearbox assemblies made its way into show business as an unnoticed yet essential co-star in “O” by Cirque du Soleil at Bellagio in Las Vegas, NV.
|
|
Motion Control Meets Medical Imaging
Control Engineering, August 2007
By Kevin Steele, Bosch Rexroth
Medical imaging OEMs are turning to motion control platforms that help control costs, streamline production, and deliver high-quality clinical images.
|
|
Paper mill combines ac and dc drives to reach upgrade goals
Control Engineering, August 2007
By Jeremy Nighan, ABB, Low Voltage Drives
A paper mill decided to rebuild its slitter-rewinder, and incorporate the latest technology. The goal was to improve roll quality, increase machine speed, and eliminate costly shutdowns.
|
|
Should We Switch to Servos?
Control Design, August 2007
In this installment of The Answer column, a reader learns that to achieve accurate positioning using steppers in machine centers they now need to operate more slowly, but are there advantages in changing to AC servos?
|
|
Keeping Metal on the Move
Process and Control Today, July 2007
By John Houston, Editor
A transport system needed to be robust enough not only to carry the products, weighing eight tonnes each, but also the two tonne carriages that support the products as they are moved between stations. Engineers at SCM Materials Handling used equipment from Bosch Rexroth.
|
|
Metal Detector’s Sensitivity and Reliability Convinces Grange Packaging
Process and Control Today, July 2007
By John Houston, Editor
Contract packer Grange Packaging and Distribution Ltd replaced its existing metal detectors with METTLER TOLEDO’s Safeline R Series Signature detectors. Positioned over the conveyor, they search for metal particles in packaged chocolate powder prior to shipping.
|
|
Equipped for the Future
Control Engineering, June 2007
When a housewares manufacturer modernized its manufacturing process, it gained an automated grinding and polishing system based on four robotic cells.
|
|
Control platform aids injection, extrusion
Control Design, June 2007
By Jim Montague, Executive Editor
Cincinnati Milacron added a new control platform, including an intuitive data screen, pushbuttons for machine movements, and operation-software wizards, to its machines that make plastic-composite decking.
|
|
Capsule filler has new IPC Control System
Process and Control Today, June 2007
By John Houston, Editor
Lenze IPC and automation software achieved a more effective operator interface on the Bosch GKF701 capsule filling machine. After research to define the optimum operator processes, Bosch chose the Lenze PCMatic automation solution as it provided the functionality required at a good price to performance ratio.
|
|
SCM and EEU collaborate for CNC solution
Process and Control Today, June 2007
By John Houston, Editor
Italian woodworking machine tool manufacturer SCM approached Yaskawa Engineering Europe (EEU) in Milan for a solution to a problem on the X-axis of one of its existing SCM Record 2-111/8695 CNC routers in use at furniture manufacturer Ferrari snc in Verona.
|
|
Servo drives trim fish with accuracy
Process and Control Today, May 2007
By John Houston, Editor
Multi-axis servo drives from Lenze are used to trim salmon fillets at high speed and to a precise profile. The ITM fish trimming machine made by Marel hf of Reykjavik automatically trims salmon fillets into pre-defined shapes using an advanced vision system linked to servo drives
|
|
Phantom of the Opera Chandelier at Venetian Hotel Thrills Audiences
Design News, May 2007
John Dodge, Editor-in-Chief
Anyone who has seen Phantom of the Opera knows that the crashing chandelier scene in the Paris Opera House climaxes the performance. When you get right down to it, the whole rig is like a 32-axis robot hanging from the ceiling.
|
|
Aylesbury Automation aligns correctly for Kenwood
Process and Control Today, April 2007
By John Houston, Editor
The potential for separation and misalignment of components during manufacture of Kenwood water filters, has been overcome by the design and construction of an automatic rotary indexing machine from Aylesbury Automation Limited.
|
|
Revolvo’s SRB bearings operate in abrasive solution on Zambezi Rapid Water ride
Process and Control Today, April 2007
By John Houston, Editor
Revolvo’s SRB split roller bearings are providing a reliable solution to the problem of support for the twin 11-metre long Archimedes ascender screws that deliver water to the massive Zambezi Rapid Water ride in the Gold Reef City theme park, Johannesburg, RSA.
|
|
Redesign keeps painting robot safe - off the floor
Control Design, May 2007
By Jim Montague, Executive Editor
Dürr Paint Systems inverted its robot design, so it could be installed on walls and ceilings for better access, more accurate painting and better coverage.
|
|
Precise cutting kept well in-hand
Control Design, May 2007
By Deron Roberts, Jet Edge Inc.
This global designer and manufacturer of ultra-high-pressure waterjet systems helped develop a full-featured, water-resistant pendant that works with its PC-based motion control system.
|
|
Improve Your Application’s Performance
By John Mazurkiewicz, Baldor Electric
Servomotors can be used in applications requiring numerous starting, stopping, and reversals, and applications requiring precise control over position and speed.
|
|
A Rainforest Grows in Cleveland
Control Engineering, April 2007
C.G. Masi, Control Engineering
Variable-speed drives help maintain temperature, humidity of “The RainForest” at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.
|
|
Extreme Machine: Compact Precision Robotics II
Control Engineering, April 2007
By Mike Babb, Control Engineering International
The European winner of CE’s “Extreme Machine” contest was Stork Townsend B.V. Its QX family of co-extrusion sausage makers is massive: 10 m (33 ft) wide, 6 m high, and up to 30 m in length make it the largest of the machines in the contest. It is powered by 60 variable speed motors and 18 servomotors.
|
|
Extreme Machine: Compact Precision Robotics I
Control Engineering, April 2007
By Steve Scheiber, Control Engineering
Schneider Packaging of Brewerton, NY, won CE’s “Extreme Machine” contest with a robotic packaging machine that's small, nimble, and easy to use. The end-of-line robotic handling system occupies a miserly 300 sq ft.
|
|
Manual handling…in the cold
Process and Control Today, March 2007
By John Houston, Editor
Industrial Automation Ltd has helped First for Foodservice solve a materials handling problem at its two Regional Distribution Centres at Royton and Banbury, UK, by inventing a machine that transfers a pallet-full of trays on to a set of dolleys. The particular challenge for IAL was that the machines are operating in a chilled part of the RDC where temperatures are kept between –2oC and +2oC; this presents problems with condensation and the performance of lubricants for moving parts.
|
|
Eight heads are better than one
Control Design, April 2007
By Jim Montague, Executive Editor
Park Industries in St. Cloud, Minn., recently spent two years developing its Velocity decorative edge shaper/polisher machine for natural stone and stone-like materials. The new machine uses a conveyor to present 3x6 or 3x8 ft slabs of granite to a bank of 13 spindles driving one cutting/shaping head and seven polishing heads, which move in and out at 190º around the edge of the slab. These heads are directed by cam profiles and functions in a motion controller to produce six or more different decorative edges.
|
|
PatMax- The universal solution for robotic applications
Process and Control Today, April 2007
By John Houston, Editor
Evolut, a systems integrator in Italy, has installed more than 1100 robotic systems including 850 with Cognex vision systems enabling them to automatically recognise and identify objects with precision and to measure and inspect them. Article describes how Evolut uses Cognex vision systems in robot applications.
|
|
Latest Mitsubishi Robot Installed In ‘High Tech Garden Shed’
Process and Control Today, April 2007
By John Houston, Editor
Brass Products employs a comprehensive level of automation at its three-man operation near Ashford, UK. Barr & Paatz installed and commissioned one of the latest generation of Mitsubishi six-axis articulated robots for feeding a CNC milling machine, a previously tedious and potentially hazardous manual operation.
|
|
High Speed Tab Inserter Systems From UMG Technologies Operate 24/7
24/7 automated operation has become an industry standard for UMG Technologies high speed tab inserters used in the manufacture of electronic printed circuit devices. These systems are designed for continuous, unattended operation with minimal maintenance due largely to top notch design engineering and the use of the latest and best off-the-shelf component technology. Click here to read full article...
|
|
MACSEA improves Navy Ship reliability with machine monitoring & control
Military Sealift Command (MSC), as part of the U.S. Navy, provides strategic sealift and ocean transportation for U.S. military forces. The Navy places strong emphasis on reducing the total ownership cost of its assets throughout their life cycle. Cost reduction efforts are therefore focused on reducing manning levels and implementing Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM) on future Navy ships.
|
|
Smart drives make cable winder whirl
Machine Design, February 2007
Two Baldor H2 smart drives replaced the original ac drives and PLC control that wound custom cables of different diameters onto large drums at Centrilift Cable, Claremore, Okla. Electronic gearing in the H2 drives lets both motors operate as if connected with mechanical gears to assure the cable winds properly onto the drum. The two smart drives let Centrilift eliminate the PLC and complicated manual programming steps. The new setup also got rid of many signal wires for a cleaner installation with more reliable operation. The change improved productivity more than 25%.
|
|
Rugged Oil and Gas Well Logging Data Acquisition System
By: Corin Chepko, Rocky Mountain Wireline Service
Rocky Mountain Wireline Service is an oil and gas perforating and logging company. The data acquisition system we use is rack-mounted in a wireline truck and must withstand vibration and dust generated as the truck moves to different locations over rough roads. These conditions cause problems with industrial PCs. We needed a system that was reliable and easy to repair or replace in the case of failure.
|
|
Ease of connection improves plant efficiency for Santee Cooper
OPC technology provides ease of access to the wide variety of devices in our enterprise, eliminating costly custom or proprietary interfaces. Providing us with a flexible and scalable solution we can build on for years to come. We are confident and secure in our ability to meet the 98% uptime emissions reporting requirements. Now that these manual processes are automated, we are saving approximately 4 hours of resource allocation in a 24 hour shift rotation.
|
Cart
.png){kind=small}
