Industrial Technology

Fastening solutions for offshore wind turbines

When Siemens began to investigate composite materials for nacelles used on its new 6MW offshore wind turbines, one of the key things it looked at was a composite maintenance hatch designed to replace a steel panel, and the traditional bolt fixings were used to lock and unlock it. This required two persons to perform the operation – one inside and one outside the nacelle. Clearly ease of access and its related safely were problems to be solved, in addition to reducing maintenance costs.

16th September 2016

Blind rivet feeder meets the needs of challenging automotive task

A chance enquiry has uncovered the potential of Gesipa’s automatic blind rivet feeding unit for setting sealing plugs, and thus opened up a whole new market for the company’s products.

16th September 2016

Expertise in spring materials

Lee Spring will this year be giving northern based design, production and service engineers the opportunity to deal with spring related issues with highly experienced sales engineers – a conversation which can rapidly assess the suitability of ex-stock standard springs from the Lee Spring 23,000 component catalogue which is available free on the stand – or whether a custom item would be more suitable.

14th September 2016

Considerations in spring design and specification

Spring manufacture is of course a well-established technology, however in recent years manufacturing processes and changes in end use criteria have had significant impacts on the specification of these widely used and essential components. Consequently it is worth considering the key factors that need to be understood when engineers specify springs today.

1st August 2016

Problem solving by design

Spirolox Retaining Rings, in their various different forms, solve problems for design engineers in many applications across numerous industry sectors. Simon Ward of TFC looks at typical design considerations for these products.

1st August 2016

Intertronics opens new Technology Centre to facilitate trials, demonstrations and seminars

With manufacturing relying increasingly on high performance adhesives and protective materials, Intertronics is welcoming visitors to its rebuilt Technology Centre at the company’s Kidlington, Oxfordshire head office.

20th May 2016

Bighead awarded KTP fastener funding

Bighead Bonding Fasteners has been awarded Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) funding with Cranfield University that will strengthen and expand its capabilities for fastening solutions related to the emerging demand in high-volume manufacture of lightweight composite components for the automotive industry.

18th May 2016

Adhesive technology for the automotive industry

Adhesives have become a key technology in the automotive industry, as they continue to replace other fixing methods. In Europe, around 9% of the total adhesive production goes into automobile manufacturing and a car today contains between 12 and 18kg of adhesive. These adhesives are used under the bonnet, on the body and for the interior and exterior trims of the car, where they offer a number of benefits over traditional joining technologies.

18th May 2016

The benefits of using counterbalance technology

Stewart Beck of Southco discusses the performance advantages of counterbalance technology when compared with alternative technologies available on the market.

18th May 2016

Lee Spring highlights its torsion spring range

The extensive range of Lee Spring torsion springs catalogued for ex-stock delivery covers industrial applications from electronic devices such as pop-up covers on CD players and cameras through counter balanced instrumentation covers, to ubiquitous items such as clothes pegs, garage doors or chair controls.

18th May 2016