Machine Building

Fastenings suit harsh outdoor use in renewable energy sector

In the UK and worldwide, solar energy remains one of the most popular renewable energy options. It is stated that by the close of 2018, there were almost 957,000 recognised photovoltaic installations across the UK alone, a rise of 1.6 per cent on the previous year, despite changes to the subsidies programme that had been in place to boost domestic installations.

20th May 2019

Molded-Oil bearings extend conveyor service life in food plant

A vegetable processing plant in Germany is enjoying significant benefits following the adoption of Molded-Oil bearings from NSK. Principally, the move has helped the company extend the service life of bearings on a critical conveyor from two weeks, to 40, saving considerable maintenance costs and downtime in the process.

15th May 2019

Process-controlled access guarding without using muting sensors

Innovative strength, a down-to-earth culture and strong commitment are the values that have made WITRON - based in the Upper Palatinate region of Germany - the company that it is today: worldwide one of the market leaders in the planning and realisation of highly dynamic warehouse and order picking systems in the field of intralogistics. WITRON is constantly working on developing even better, even more cost-efficient logistics systems for its customers, to make them even more successful.

14th May 2019

Mitsubishi robots accelerate discoveries for microbiologists

Mitsubishi Electric has supported Peak Analysis & Automation (PAA) in the delivery of an innovative, fully automated laboratory workcell for bacteriological studies to the US Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The application is built around a Mitsubishi Electric MELFA articulated arm robot with its own proximity-based safety system. Scientists at NIST can now benefit from a flexible and reliable system to perform several bacterial growth tests in parallel, significantly shortening discovery times and reducing the risk of contamination.

14th May 2019

Custom springs for safety-critical diver rebreathing system

When JFD Ltd, a specialist manufacturer of marine diving equipment, was developing its COBRA saturation diving system to provide a major step change improvement in safety and performance, the engineers needed a valve spring supplier with a matching ethos and dedication. The COBRA system pushes bailout duration from 30 mins at 100m to a dramatically improved 45 mins - 15 more minutes of emergency cover for a diver to regain the safety of the base station diving bell. Fortunately, they found the Lee Spring team who are used to co-operative development of springs for the most exacting requirements - they worked together on the specification of four different custom valve springs. Lee Spring offered their technical expertise, product prototypes and developed production springs to operate the delicate valving of JFD's COBRA diving system, together with a dependable supply chain process to ensure that no diver need wait for these safety-critical items.

8th May 2019

Bespoke ball screws used for moving large injection mould tools

Automationware, an Italian specialist in motion and control technologies, has taken delivery of two large ball screws from NSK that will facilitate the automatic translation of large moulds used in injection moulding machines. NSK developed the special ball screws based on its HTF technology, a popular option for injection moulding applications around the world.

7th May 2019

Danisense current transducers used in CERN particle accelerator

Danisense has announced that its current transducers have been used by teams at CERN as part of a significant upgrade program. The Danisense zero-flux DC current transducers (DCCT) are used in the design of QTRIM power supplies for the PS booster accelerator which are part of a chain of accelerators that inject the beam into the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics.

7th May 2019

Gold Twitter servo drive modified for deep-sea application

Elmo Motion Control, represented in the UK by Heason Technology, is a highly regarded manufacturer of advanced motion systems. Elmo produce servo drives and control technologies that feature industry-leading power densities and intelligence in a wide range of product variants that lead the field for compactness, weight and durability. Exemplifying its capability for specialised and challenging applications, Elmo has recently tested a version of its miniature Gold Twitter servo drive at a simulated undersea depth of 7000m.

18th April 2019

Mclennan's custom motion system for lighthouse lantern

Mclennan's systems integration team has designed and supplied a novel motion control system for driving a 5-tonne lantern optical system at a constant speed from a 24V battery source for use in an unmanned lighthouse off the Irish coast.

18th April 2019

500-ton crane benefits from igus energy chains

Kranbau Köthen GmbH has built a crane with a lifting capacity of 500 tons and a special design whereby the weight distribution in two axes can be finely balanced using a special shaft end support. Here, signal and energy transmission take place via energy chains and cables from igus.

17th April 2019