Online magazine for design and development

Here you will find everything that the designer needs for his design and the development engineer for his new development, from the draft to quality assurance in production, such as new products, their applications, new technologies or research results. Company reports as well as topics on technological and megatrends in all industrial sectors complete our range of industry news. Let's start with the news.

Company News

Jumo's new Sensilo plant construction is progressing
Jumo is building a factory in the technology park for the production of temperature and pressure sensors with a production area of ​​around 13 m². At around 000 million euros, the new building is the largest investment in the company's history.
3DExperience Word 2024 in Dallas
At 3DExperience World 2024 in February in Dallas, Texas, Dassault Systèmes celebrated the event's 25th anniversary. The annual user meeting supports the global community in the development of future-proof products and processes.
Michael Koch GmbH moves into a new workshop
There is now more space available in Michael Koch's “Factory” for the assembly of customer- and machine-specific safe braking resistors. The new, modern hall was recently “taken by storm” by the employees.
Elon Musk is suing OpenAI for profit-making
Elon Musk files a lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, accusing them of breach of contract because the company, which was originally designed as a nonprofit, is now operating for profit.
Murat Simsir strengthens strategic corporate management at Montech
Murat Simsir took over the position of CSO at Montech on January 1, 2024. The former head of sales and project management is now strengthening the company's strategic management as part of the management team.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE

Industry news for your design and development from the specialist areas

switch cabinet

switch cabinet

On to the intelligent drive train for predictive maintenance

The Roba-brake-checker module or the torque-measuring shaft coupling from Mayr ensure intelligent safety in smart production.

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plastics

plastics

The first 100 Igus bikes hit the streets

The first 100 Igus Urban Bikes hit the streets and an in-house production facility with a capacity of 10.000 bicycles is set up in Cologne.

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Couplings

Couplings

Torque measuring shaft coupling

The smart steel multi-plate coupling Roba-drive-checker from Mayr can do more than just transmit torque and compensate for shaft misalignment.

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Robotic

Robotic

Programming robots for cable handling

As an exhibitor in the Application Park at the Hannover Messe, Artiminds Robotics is presenting a cable handling application for precise cable harness assembly.

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INDUSTRY SPECIALS

Industry news for your design and development from the branches

food technology

food technology

Lubrication and sealing-optimized linear guide

Schaeffler presents linear guides for food technology with optimized seals, wipers and long-term lubrication units.

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Mobile Machinery

Mobile Machinery

Flexible, customizable gateway for agricultural technology

IFM Electronic is presenting the Isobus Gateway at the Hannover Messe, which is designed for agricultural equipment and can be specifically adapted.

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Energy Technology

Energy Technology

All Electric Society – vision of the future of connectivity

At the Hannover Messe Preview, Harting gives an outlook on the Hannover Messe and draws the future picture of an “All Electric Society”.

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Inverter

Inverter

Certified servo controller with Profisafe interface

At Logimat, Wittenstein is presenting a safety-certified servo controller with a Profisafe interface and integrated safety card for AGVs.

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EXHIBITION SPECIALS

Industry fair news

Hannover Messe promotes energy for sustainable industry
As a networked industrial ecosystem, the exhibitors demonstrate how climate neutrality can be achieved through the use of electrification, digitalization and automation under the guiding theme of Energizing a sustainable Industry.
Control Fair 2024 | The industry is already looking forward to Stuttgart
Control 2024, the important international trade fair for quality assurance, will take place from April 23rd to 26th in Stuttgart. The trade fair places a particular focus on automation and digitalization.
SPS Nuremberg: Now in 16 halls!
The SPS – Smart Production Solutions from November 14th to 16.11th. 2023 will see significant growth in the trade fair compared to the previous year and is on the way to pre-Corona levels.

IEF01141With the "Variostack", IEF-Werner has developed an open and modular palletizing system that can be tailored to any task. The user can operate the palletizer with integrated product handling or connect it to an existing robot or handling system. In addition, the extremely compact palletizer can be loaded as standard with pallet trolleys or conveyor belts - with the belt loader version even from the side. This palletizing system is already in use at a manufacturer of medical technology products, for example.


Palletising system Variostack wagon loader

Palletizing system Variostack belt loader

Raw parts that are to be transported from a production line to an affiliated assembly line, the user can provide oriented with the palletizing system Variostack and feed in a predetermined position for further processing. After assembly, the palletizing system retrieves the finished parts from the processing line.

Depending on the application, the palletizer is equipped with single or multiplegrab fitted. It can be adapted to different tray sizes - in particular to quarter or eighth euro pallets. The system processes loaded pallets with a maximum weight of up to 10 kg. The repeatability of the pallet table is ± 0,05 mm. The pallet change takes less than 4 s.

IEF-Werner GmbH from Furtwangen in the Black Forest has designed the palletizing system in such a way that the user can respond flexibly to different space conditions and conditions in the production hall. For example, the system can be loaded with pallets from the front via a conveyor belt as well as a cart or from the side via a conveyor belt - with the same basic design. In addition, several palletizing systems of this type can be combined with each other.

Space-saving design

IEF03141To make the system as space-saving as possible, the control cabinet was installed in the system. This is made possible by intelligent components - for example, motors with integrated amplifiers or special cabling. In addition, all danger spots are covered. With space requirements of less than 1 m², the palletizer can be easily integrated into any existing production structure.

The system is controlled either with a control provided by the customer or with the PA-Control Touch from IEF-Werner, which combines the positioning and sequence control with the display medium in one device. This means that the palletizing system can be operated effortlessly and in a way that is easy to understand. Commissioning and programming take place via an Ethernet interface with the manufacturer's own software package "Winpac". The PA-Control Touch combines the advantages of an NC control with those of a PLC. In this way, it guarantees a high level of machining accuracy and repeatability.

Insert endoscopes for laser marking

IEF04141This palletizing system is used, for example, by a manufacturer of medical technology products in order to feed pallets filled with endoscopes with dimensions of 600 x 400 mm to a robot for laser marking. To do this, the operator places a stack of loaded pallets on the infeed conveyor, which then automatically feeds them into the system. In order to separate the pallets, a lifting axis moves down to the pallet stack.

Since three different pallet heights are to be processed unsorted in the stack, there is a barcode on the front of each pallet containing information about the pallet height and the exact content. To read this information, a barcode reader was installed on the pallet grabber. This sends the information to the PA-Control Touch control, which in turn transmits it to the robot controller via the bus system.


1 mm² image sensor enables the world's smallest digicam


Subsequently, the isolated pallet are transported upwards and brought into the processing position. There, a robot from the customer takes the products, labels them and then places them back in the pallet. Another lifting axis with pallet gripper picks up the machined pallet and places it on a conveyor belt that drives it out of the system. A crash lock on both pallet grabs prevents a collision when driving down when a stack of trays is not positioned correctly.

So that the pallet grippers do not collide with the tray stack - if this is not positioned correctly - they are equipped with a crash safety device. For the special protection of the operator, the specialists have also secured the danger zone behind the feed chutes of the infeed and outfeed conveyor with a light curtain. An additional, movable protective cover allows a car or stack change without interrupting the parts handling.