Industrial Technology

Design Engineering

Safe position monitoring: concepts for machine safety

Safe position monitoring: concepts for machine safety

Safety sensors and monitoring units should provide effective protection for personnel in accordance with international standards, but without hindering the production process. And they should also be easy to integrate into machine designs, as Rolf Brunner of Leuze explains.

21st November 2017
Vibration analysis helps crisp producer reduce downtime

Vibration analysis helps crisp producer reduce downtime

Crisp production is a round the clock effort, with incoming raw potatoes washed, peeled, sliced and fried. Flavour is added and the crisps are then bagged and packaged ready for delivery to customers. For one UK producer, the reliability and availability of assets has been boosted thanks to regular visit from a field service engineer to collect vibration data, which he then analyses and then compiles a report for the customer.

21st November 2017
Monitoring the status of energy chains and cables with one module

Monitoring the status of energy chains and cables with one module

Predictive maintenance plays a key role in Industry 4.0 and the factory of tomorrow. Supporting this future, Igus has added more sensors and monitoring modules to its smart plastics family for more intelligence – warning of potential failure in good time before unplanned and costly downtimes occur. The new isense EC.RC (e-chain Run Control) monitors the operating status of the energy chains, especially in guide troughs used on long travel applications. Sensors measure and check the position of the energy chain. In this way, the machine is prevented from continuing to operate when mechanical faults occur; meaning that total loss of the chain or an electrical shutdown are a thing of the past.

21st November 2017
Developing advanced electric and hybrid powertrains

Developing advanced electric and hybrid powertrains

Wireless rotary torque transducers are at the heart of a test rig to develop next generation technologies for electric and hybrid vehicle powertrains. With unique expertise in the electric motors and electronics used across the key powertrain technologies, AVID Technology relies on the innovative torque transducers as part of an automated approach to motor characterisation.

21st November 2017
Understanding resolution for your vision application

Understanding resolution for your vision application

Many who are new to machine vision and image processing, struggle with how to select a camera with the correct resolution for their application. A calculation can give you a good head start to determining your camera needs, but as Paul Scardino of Baumer explains, ultimately a practical evaluation is critical for success.

21st November 2017
Wireless monitoring: Kanban without cards

Wireless monitoring: Kanban without cards

Few Kanban systems are completely free from errors and weak spots: the processing of Kanban cards can be delayed; cards can sometimes be mislaid leading to very little transparency in the operation. The introduction of scanners provides only partial relief to some of these issues, not least of all because often staff will forget to scan leading to incorrect bookings being made and shelves being incorrectly replenished.

21st November 2017
Top tips for implementing Industry 4.0

Top tips for implementing Industry 4.0

Steve Askins of Eriks UK offers some practical guidance to help you cut through the hype and get the most from the fourth industrial revolution.

21st November 2017
Making the Industry 4.0 connection

Making the Industry 4.0 connection

What does Industry 4.0 mean to you? Ask 100 people and you’ll probably get 101 different answers, says Ivor Hunt, product marketing specialist, Device Connectivity, of Weidmüller. But one thing that they’re all likely to agree on is that it’s going to need more connections – often a lot more connections.

21st November 2017
Industry 4.0: dispelling the myths and misconceptions

Industry 4.0: dispelling the myths and misconceptions

Traditionally, machines in industrial environments could only provide actuation, but not anymore. As we enter the era of Industry 4.0, Nigel Smith of TM Robotics dispels some of the common misconceptions about implementing smart manufacturing.

21st November 2017
Modular profile ideal for turnkey projects

Modular profile ideal for turnkey projects

Addressing the trend towards pre-assembled systems, Minitec offers customers a full engineering and design service to ensure that application requirements are met and optimised.

21st November 2017
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