Machine Building

How robots can reduce costs and enhance production flexibility

Barry Weller of Mitsubishi Electric explains how robots can reduce production costs and provide flexibility for future changes in requirements.

25th February 2011

Safety expert urges machine builders to adopt latest standard

Kevin Ives, a Machinery Safety Consultant with Pilz Automation Technology, is urging machine builders to adopt EN ISO 13849-1 sooner rather than later, in order to comply with the new Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC.

15th February 2011

Miniature non-contact displacement sensors

Chris Jones, Managing Director at Micro-Epsilon, discusses the continuing trend towards miniaturisation of displacement transducers and the incorporation of electronics to create 'smart' sensors.

7th February 2011

Ergonomics and the new Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC

This article outlines the ergonomic requirements in the new Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC, lists the relevant Harmonised Standards and provides a link to the ErgoMach website from where useful Information Sheets can be downloaded.

30th January 2011

New legislation mandates minimum efficiencies for motors

This article from Baldor explains the need to prepare for new legislation that mandates minimum efficiency levels for electric motors across the EU from June 2011.

29th January 2011

Overcoming problems with silicon oil-filled pressure sensors

Sam Drury, Sales & Marketing Director at Impress Sensors & Systems, explains how the latest generation of pressure sensors overcomes the problems traditionally encountered with silicon oil-filled pressure sensors.

5th January 2011

Advantages of mechanical torque limiters over electronic types

Techdrives offers advice on how to select the right mechanical or pneumatic torque limiter for a given applications, and explains the advantages over limiting torque using electronic devices.

17th December 2010

Causes of bearing failure in agricultural equipment

In this article, Schaeffler discusses the various modes of premature bearing failure on agricultural machinery and recommends way to avoid them.

21st November 2010

Regenerative inverter drives - applications and how they work

Jeff Whiting of Mitsubishi Electric explains how regenerative inverter drives can be applied in industrial environments to save energy and deliver additional operational benefits.

2nd October 2010

How to save energy in hazardous area control systems

This article from Burkert Fluid Control Systems explains how energy can be saved in hazardous ex environments by using smarter and more integrated systems comprising valves, actuators and positioners.

19th September 2010