Industrial Technology

SCADA for filling and bottling tasks

As speeds increase and filling-line machinery becomes more sophisticated, both operators and management teams require improved visualisation and control information to ensure efficient plant operation. SCADA solutions have all the answers.

24th April 2019

Low cost configurable IoT data capture

Beam has introduced the highly-configurable, 8-channel BMeasure-125i. While this innovative product is aimed at Internet of Things (IoT) developments, its capability and generous range of features also targets broader laboratory, industrial and remote sensing applications. The BMeasure-125i is an IoT data capturing and logging unit for real world data, featuring eight analogue and eight digital channels. Host connection is via USB, Ethernet, WiFi or RS-485 interfaces. Speeds of the 24-bit ADC run to 125ksps, delivering fully differential synchronous sampling. The BMeasure-125i is able to run from a variety of power sources.

24th April 2019

Festo focuses on increased productivity at Industry 4.0 Expo

At this year’s Industry 4.0 Expo, 10-11 April, Festo will be showcasing exciting new developments for increased productivity with smarter automation and digitalisation. The team will be showing the latest Cyber-Physical training factory - demonstrating the principles and technologies to help companies and organisations with their Industry 4.0 skills development.

21st March 2019

New plastic clamp concept from Igus for triflex R energy chains on cobots

Collaborative robots, or cobots, are mainly used as assistants in simple or interactive activities and, in contrast to large and fast industrial robots, work hand in hand with humans. That is why cobot and industrial robot service engineers are already using igus' multi-axis round triflex R e-chains. In addition to conventional metal clamps for industrial robots, Igus has developed new plastic mounting clamps that attach the energy chain to the robotic arm both quickly and easily.

21st March 2019

Industrial Ethernet boosts Danish sawmill performance

When Dansk Træemballage (DTE) looked at how to increase the precision and productivity of its sawmill one of the major challenges was to establish the right automation control network. As the biggest producer of wooden packaging in Denmark the plant includes over one hundred inverter drives, all of which needed to be controlled simultaneously and in real-time. The technology used was CC-Link IE, the only open gigabit Ethernet designed specifically for industrial automation tasks.

21st March 2019

PMBus enabled power supplies from Relec

The Excelsys CoolX and Xsolo families from Relec are now available with full implementation of PMBus (power management bus) protocol. PMBus provides the developer full control of their system with on the fly adjustment of output voltage and current limit. This gives the engineer the ability to optimise the power supply to the features of individual loads.

21st March 2019

Enclosures are enhanced for extreme applications

The new Rittal VX25 large enclosure system delivers significantly enhanced value to electrical engineering companies thanks to its technical features, ease of assembly and high levels of safety. Now, new versions of the VX25 are available in stainless steel and NEMA 4X to enhance corrosion protection and to ensure the equipment within it is shielded from dust, as well as from splashes and jets of water. The VX25 large enclosure system is now available in stainless steel to deliver the highest level of corrosion resistance. The frame structure, doors, panels and the gland plate, as well as all the external parts are all made of stainless steel.

21st March 2019

Enclosures for machine control equipment

Rolec has launched its new profiPANEL command enclosures. These stylish, tough and highly versatile enclosures offer an economic solution for housing machine control equipment. IP65 rated profiPANEL is ideal for a wide range of industrial applications. It can be mounted from the top or bottom on Rolec’s profiPLUS 50 suspension arm system or to a wall or machine housing using the optional 180 degree pivot bracket. Thanks to a wide range of depths, profiPANEL can accommodate all types of displays and electronic control equipment.

21st March 2019

Rittal laser machining centre revolutionises panel production

In a UK first, Hawarden-based electrical engineering firm, LCA Group, has switched its control panel operations from manual production to end-to-end automation, including laser-machining. The move is expected to transform its productivity and efficiency. LCA Group has invested in a Rittal Automation Systems 3D laser machining centre to revolutionise construction of its stainless-steel panels by automating processes previously done by hand. It has also acquired a Secarex cutting centre to cut DIN support rails, C rails and cable ducts, along with an Averex wiring centre to cut wires to the correct length before stripping and crimp-ing them with wire ferrules.

22nd February 2019

Enclosures help maximise efficiency for fast food kitchen fit-outs

Most industries take efficiency seriously, but for fast food companies it must pervade their every move – from serving customers right back to the original fitting out of the kitchens. Here, enclosures can have an important role to play.

22nd February 2019