Machine Building

CC-Link partner Festo is using nature to inspire automation

In a recent video made in partnership with the CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA), Festo explains how they take inspiration from nature to offer innovations in automation. A specific example of a robot dragonfly that soars and hovers just like the real thing has been inspiring engineers visiting exhibitions around Europe.

17th July 2014

Warner Electric brakes help save paraplegic surgeon's career

Engineering students often use their studies as an opportunity to design something unique and challenging, that tests the limits of their abilities. However, not so many are able to find a project that may save a man's career and, indirectly, hundreds of lives. When five engineering students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison heard about an Orthopaedic surgeon who had been paralysed in an accident they decided to build a transportation device that would allow him back in the operating theatre. Warner Electric was able to donate four of its ERS brakes to help make the dream a reality.

16th July 2014

SATO provides printers for GS1 Germany's new knowledge centre

SATO is providing its innovative CL4NX and CT4i printer series to GS1 Germany's new knowledge centre in Cologne. The centre, which opened on 1 July 2014, features live demonstrations of equipment, enabling visitors to learn about practical uses for the printers, particularly in the industrial and health care sectors.

15th July 2014

Mitsubishi Electric PLC controls flagship water treatment works

The Dee Valley Water (DVW) project to build a new water treatment works at its flagship site, Llwyn Onn in North Wales, has now been completed. The £17M project was officially opened in March 2014 by the Minister for Natural Resources and Food, Alun Davies and is controlled by a Mitsubishi Electric system redundant, Q series modular PLC. The new works has been operational since August 2013.

11th July 2014

Lean connectivity with SmartWire-DT benefits agricultural plant

Schaltanlagenbau Gormanns GmbH is the company responsible for the electrical power supply and drive and automation concept in a fully automated potato sorting plant that was part of an extensive new building project. For this project, the innovative company, based in Mönchengladbach in Germany, used Eaton's SmartWire-DT technology with great success.

11th July 2014

Rapid-Box: bespoke fire-resistant junction box

Spelsberg's new WKE Rapid-Box is an example of the enclosure manufacturer's ability to design bespoke products which directly target the requirements of end-users for niche applications. The Rapid-Box is a fire-resistant junction box which is designed to safely provide power outlets in train tunnels for use by maintenance and repair teams. Thanks to Spelsberg's design and manufacturing capabilities it is able to work with end users to develop bespoke products for specialist applications.

11th July 2014

Ormiston Wire produces bespoke mini heat exchange

Ormiston Wire have unrivalled expertise in the complex field of heat exchange, producing wire turbulators that have maximised the effectiveness of heat transfer for all kinds of customers.

10th July 2014

Ormiston supplies wire for new Supermarionation documentary film

Ormiston Wire has revealed how it provided wire for a new documentary film about Gerry and Sylvia Anderson 50 years after providing innovative wire for the iconic children's television show "˜Thunderbirds'. The company supplied the makers of the documentary, titled "˜Filmed in Supermarionation', with wire for the filming of new "˜Thunderbirds' sequences.

10th July 2014

igus bearings drive on to championship victory

A redesigned pedal box that utilised igus iglidur plain bearings was a crucial factor in Andy Napier winning the production class championship in the Lotus Cup UK series in his Lotus Elise last year. Napier clinched the title at the last round at the super-quick Snetterton circuit in Norfolk.

9th July 2014

Custom electrical enclosure made with additive manufacturing

CRP USA together with DC Electronics have developed an electrical enclosure using the technology of 3D Printing and Windform Laser Sintering (LS) materials. DC Electronics is a company based in the UK and in Mooresville North Carolina. It is a manufacturer of custom-built electrical systems for the motorsport industry. CRP USA, with the service of additive manufacturing with Windform materials, supported DC Electronics in the construction of a custom electrical enclosure for the Nascar racecars.

9th July 2014