Machine Building

Premium chocolate maker benefits from thermal inkjet coder

Artisanal chocolate maker Pump Street Chocolate has automated its date coding process by installing a Rotech RF Lite feeding system with iJet thermal inkjet coder, which has freed-up skilled labour for performing core tasks.

9th October 2018

Conveyor belts repaired in less than two hours

Optimum conveyor belt life is achieved when the belt cover and carcass wear out at the same time, but in the real world how often does that happen? Commonly the belt cover will wear through leaving the carcass intact, an outcome that limits the life expectancy of the system. If running repairs aren't incorporated into the maintenance strategy, the conveyor will inevitably need to be removed from service well before its time. And worse still, the damage may lead to abrupt failure resulting in loss of production, unscheduled maintenance downtime and even injury.

5th October 2018

Patties still a firm favourite thanks to 10-year-lasting valves

Incorporated 30 years ago in June this year, Cleone Foods produces Jamaican patties and distributes them under its Island Delight brand name. The company relies on its process equipment to ensure an uninterrupted supply of its tasty products, and Burkert has proven itself up to the task with process valves that have been in operation for 10 years before requiring a service.

3rd October 2018

Renishaw helps hand-powered cyclists break records

At the World Human Powered Speed Challenge at Battle Mountain, Nevada, USA, Paralympian Karen Darke, MBE and Ken Talbot broke world records for both male and female arm-powered speed. By reaching 46.05 mph and 51.86 mph respectively, Darke and Talbot are now the first and second fastest hand cyclists in history, with Darke exceeding the previous men's record. The records were achieved using a bike created through the ARION4 project run by the University of Liverpool Velocipede Team (ULV Team), with the support and expertise of engineering companies such as Renishaw.

26th September 2018

Designline IPCs prevent downtime in food and beverage production

Phoenix Contact has supplied its sealed Designline IPCs to Melitta for use in food and beverage production areas, which has eliminated failures and associated downtime, thereby saving the company around £3000 per quarter.

21st September 2018

Child safety device uses igus bearing

As part of its Young Engineers Support (YES) programme, igus supports innovative student projects such as "˜EMKindersicherung'. In Germany, the 94,000 calls made to the Poison Information Centre for burns and intoxications of children every year show that household cleaners constitute a real threat. To prevent these accidents, a team of seven students of TU Darmstadt at the Faculty of Electrical and Information Technology have developed a special child safety lock.

20th September 2018

Motion control for 3D laser mapping application

3D Laser Mapping Ltd is a high technology design, manufacturing and consulting company, based in Nottingham, UK. Its LiDAR scanning hardware and data analysis systems are used for mapping large structures - capturing, processing and providing three dimensional information for surveying tasks such as buildings, road networks and railways as well as creating digital terrain and elevation models of specific landscapes.

18th September 2018

Spring manufacture creates bespoke closure for gin bottles

Spring manufacture is rarely glamorous. However, all that changed when European Springs and Pressings were invited to design a bottle top for probably the most beautiful gin in the world.

17th September 2018

Elesa interlocked hinge specified for TRAKRAP wrapping systems

The team at TRAKRAP produce low-waste transit wrapping systems for food and related products. As long-term customers of Elesa for a wide variety of equipment components, they use standard hinges and handles in their machine protection enclosures. So it was fortuitous that visiting an Elesa exhibition stand, one of the TRAKRAP engineers came across their ingenious CFSW combined hinge and electrical cut-off switch for just this situation.

13th September 2018

IDS 3D vision system helps robots assemble flat-pack furniture

As part of a research project, scientists at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed a robot that can independently assemble the individual components of an IKEA chair without interruption in less than 10 minutes. The robot consists of an Ensenso N35 3D camera from IDS and two robot arms equipped with grippers to pick up objects.

12th September 2018