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

Ebm-Papst wants to sell industrial drive technology to Siemens
The Ebm-Papst Group has announced that it will sell its Industrial Drive Technology (IDT) division to Siemens AG. Both sides have signed a corresponding agreement.
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.
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.

To the post

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.

To the post

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.

To the post

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.

When installing a new baggage conveyor system at Victoria Airport in British Columbia, Canada, a number of features of the Drives from NORD for the plant engineer glidepath of great importance: directly connected encoder, efficient connection and remote monitoring of the devices, rapid correct installation and commissioning as well as a reduction in the number of variants.

Gearbox construction NORD Victoria Airport conveyor modules

Despite moderate passenger numbers, Victoria Airport poses major challenges for the outfitters, including the builders of the new ones Baggage conveyor system. Even if the luggage volume cannot be compared with major international airports, all typical modules from check-in to security control to sorting must be integrated. This was no easy task in a relatively small space.

With Glidepath, the operator commissioned a system manufacturer who specializes in baggage handling, parcel sorting and freight logistics. The international group of companies Glidepath has its headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand. One of its subsidiaries is based in Canada. This planned and installed the new baggage handling system at Victoria International Airport, which is used by over 2500 passengers daily and almost 2 million passengers per year for flights domestically and throughout the rest of North America. The new facility has a capacity of 750 pieces of luggage per hour.

Concentrated technology in a small space

“The baggage conveyor system consists of 85 new conveyor modules with a total length of around 250 m,” summarizes Jason Williams, project engineer at Glidepath. “It also includes two CT scanners for integrated baggage screening. There are two feeding lines and two sorting points. Installing this system in such a small space was quite a challenging task from the start. We installed the maximum number of different components, four-way sorters, spiral conveyors and baggage alignment systems, as well as an inclined conveyor and Glidepath's own switches and curved conveyors."

All drive tasks are carried out by IE4 drive systems carried out by North. Each drive unit consists of an IE4 permanent magnet synchronous motor, a decentrally integrated one frequency converter of the series “Nordac Flexand a two-stage bevel gear. The hollow shaft gears have a “Gripmaxx” bushing on the drive axle assembled.

This fixation ensures a secure, maintenance-friendly connection without feather keys. The drive systems also achieve efficiency in the partial load range and at low speeds excellent efficiencies. As a result, they pay for themselves within a few years, sometimes even after months, and significantly reduce the overall costs over the product's lifespan. The frequency converters are configured exactly according to Glidepath's specifications - with connectors for power, communication, encoders and sensors. They have an internal Ethernet/IP interface and are designed for simple, loop-through installation.

Simply intelligently networked

Gearbox construction NORD Victoria Airport connectorGlidepath saved through the Connectors a lot of time during installation and commissioning. The coded connections allow for quick, error-free connection. Williams greatly appreciates the versatile interfaces: “We were able to connect most of our field devices directly to the frequency converters.” Using the Industrial Ethernet communication connection, the operator can not only remotely monitor and control all drive axes, but also the status at any time of sensors and actuators.

For Williams, this was a crucial selection criterion: “A very important advantage of the drive systems is that they support high-speed Ethernet. This enables reliable, consistent tracking of all pieces of luggage throughout the entire system. Our control system can centrally read out the encoders wired to the frequency converters. Typically these are high-frequency I/O signals. "

Positioning as a welcome bonus

The drive systems perform a wide variety of tasks on the baggage conveyor modules. You move the luggage with you different speeds from one volume to the next. They also carry out precise height adjustment on the inclined conveyor. In addition, the drives have an intelligent positioning control, which is used, among other things, on the sorters. The inverters regulate all drives with gentle acceleration and braking ramps so that luggage is always moved gently.

The Positioning control is an integrated feature of the Nordac Flex inverter series that Glidepath only became fully aware of after purchasing the drives. As part of their comprehensive after-sales service, Nord engineers recorded the parameters of the individual applications and were immediately clear that this function was the optimal solution for sorters.

“We have looked at the positioning function of the drives in ours Four-way sorters “We took advantage of it and are extremely happy with the result,” says Williams. “A combination of an IE4 motor, a rotary encoder and a motor-based inverter allows us to use the drive as an extremely precise positioning system for the three different positions of the four-way sorters.”

Service for a smooth process

Gear construction NORD Victoria Airport presence detectorGlidepath project engineer Williams is more than satisfied with the technical support. The North industry manager provided significant support to Glidepath through efficient standardization. “He helped us choose the Transmissiongear ratios and engine sizes to reduce the number of different variants,” explains Williams. “For this project we now only have five different gear ratios and three motor sizes for a total number of over 90 drives. This is a huge advantage. As a result, we only need one replacement drive per gearbox type and motor size.”

The good service continued throughout the course of the project. Williams said: “We had no problems putting the Nord products into operation. Of all the components, they were the easiest to put into operation. We carried out the pre-commissioning alone and then had a northern engineer on site during the four-day commissioning at Victoria Airport. He was simply great, very technically competent and helped us with the programming and parameterization Software “Nord Con” and explained in detail with handheld control devices.

In particular, he helped us set up positioning, which we had no previous experience with. The close support was very valuable and the service didn't stop with the installation and commissioning. I can reach Nord by phone at any time. They can also send someone to the airport very quickly from Seattle if we ask.”

Several months after commissioning, Williams complements his impression with a review of the longer regular operation: "We are very satisfied with the drive technology. I can not name any negative points. Everything works. We had no problems at all and did not have to exchange anything. The project went very well and testifies to the great cooperation. "

 

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