Design Engineering September 2019 by Annex Business Media

14 Metrology giant looks to

automate engineering design

18 Vention applies AI, online CAD and e-commerce to custom machine building

36 Cosmetic packaging system

leverages linear transport system

Arcsecond TO NONE Keck Observatoryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nanoscale encoder upgrade achieves galactic scale accuracies.

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Motion Control Roundtable 2019 Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s motion control leaders discuss market conditions and trends Pg.38

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Contents | Volume 64, No. 4 5

EDITORIAL BOARD

Dr. Alain Aubertin ice President, V Business Development and International Affairs, Canada Consortium for Aerospace Research and Innovation in Canada (CARIC)

Ajay Bajaj, P.Eng President, Rotator Products Limited; Past President and Board Member, Power Transmission Distributors Association (PTDA)

John Lamb Regional Sales Manager, Wainbee Limited; Chairman, Canadian Fluid Power Association (CFPA)

Dr. Ishwar Puri, P.Eng ean of the Faculty of D Engineering; Professor of Mechanical Engineering, McMaster University

Columns 8 Design News Canada invests $25M in Carbon Engineering and other design news

14 CAD Report Metrology giant looks to automate design through “Smart” feedback loop iteration

18 Canadian Innovator Montreal-based Vention applies AI, online CAD and e-commerce to custom machine building

22 Idea Generator The latest in industrial products including automation, fluid power and sensors

Feature

32 Arcsecond to None Keck Observatory’s nanoscale encoder upgrade achieves galactic scale accuracies

36 More than Cosmetic Dr. Mary Wells, P.Eng Dean of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Guelph; Chair of the Ontario Network for Women in Engineering

SUBSCRIBER SERVICES To subscribe, renew your subscription or to change your address or information contact us at 416-442-5600 ext.3552. Annual Subscription Rate In Canada: $57.50 (1 year), $92.50 (2 year). Outside Canada: USA - $108 USD, Overseas - $116 USD Single Copy In Canada: $10.00 Outside Canada: $22.00

Machine builder uses linear transport system to provide a compact and flexible packaging system with minimized changeover times

38 Motion Control Round Table 2019 Motion control leaders discuss the market conditions and trends of the Canadian automation market

42 Staying on the Grind

Electrohydraulic motion controller gives “feel” to a grinding robot

44 The Three R’s of Position Sensors Full grasp of repeatability, resolution and response critical for consistent analog position sensor-based mechanical measurements

46 Product Showcase The latest in motion control technology including power transmission, motors and drives

Directory Rates In Canada: $28.00 Outside Canada: $46.00 Design Engineering, established in 1955, is published by Annex Business Media, 6 times per year. 111 Gordon Baker Road, Suite 400, Toronto, ON M2H 3R1 Printed in Canada

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6 EditorialViewpoint

A Choice of Weapons

www.design-engineering.com

n August, the Ministry of Defence announced it would procure 360 Light Armoured Vehicles (LAVs) from General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada (GDLS-C), a bit earlier than expected, to replace the Canadian military’s aging fleet. While a feel-good story timed a couple of months before the federal election, the occasion did spark renewed scrutiny of Canada’s controversial arms deal of the same vehicle to Saudi Arabia. Struck by the Harper administration in 2014 and greenlit by the Trudeau government following the 2015 election, Canada’s $15-billion-dollar deal called for a reported 900+ LAVs to be added to the Middle East nation’s ever-growing armoury. Of course, this was back in the “good old days,” stretching back to the end of WWII, when every Western European and North American arms exporting country sold billions worth of its almost-latest weaponry to satisfy the Middle East Kingdom’s oil-money-fueled shop-a-holism. Such sales, the argument went, were not only good for business but secured a steady flow of cheap oil – barring OPEC’s retaliation during the 1970s oil embargo – and supported a stabilizing influence in an otherwise shaky part of the world. That is until 2015, when a Saudi-led military coalition became embroiled in another proxy war with arch-rival Iran within the borders of Saudi Arabia’s southern neighbor, Yemen. Initially a civil war between Houthi rebels and the ousted Hadi regime, the conflict has since devolved into a brutal standoff the U.N. has termed, “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.” Allegations of civilians being targeted and other war crimes has led western countries, including Canada, to reconsider just who they were selling arms to. That trepidation came to a head last October following the assignation of journalist and Saudi dissident, Jamal Khashoggi. Saudi Arabia denies it, but independent investigators agree the murder was sanctioned if not ordered by Saudi high command. In reaction, the Trudeau government said in late October 2018, that it would suspend approvals of new arms export permits for Saudi Arabia pending an indefinite review. That review, however, is still ongoing nearly a year later and the Canadian government has been reluctant to stop delivering on the existing LAV contract. Considering Saudi Arabia had already cut off economic and diplomatic ties with Canada last August over Tweets critical of the Saudi government’s treatment of dissidents, it would seem like an easy political decision to halt all Middle Eastward bound arms shipments. And, with the enactment of Bill C-47, which binds Canada to the international Arms Trade Treaty, the government has already taken steps to reforming how Canada conducts arms sales. So why risk more Canadian-made weaponry showing up on Yemen battlefields? To date, the government has said termination of the deal, the largest in Canadian history, would cost the government more than $700 million. In addition, it seems particularly sensitive to sticking to its word, in the larger sense, to signal to other trading partners that, in Canada, a deal’s a deal. In the end, the seeming foot dragging of the arms review is most likely a desire to protect GDLS-C, a trusted Canadian military supplier, from economic hardship. It may also be a political maneuver, designed to push the decision until after the October election and most of the contract has been fulfilled. If Trudeau wins, he can show his “hard” stance on international “bad actors.” If he loses, then it becomes someone else’s ethical hot potato.

Publisher Alan Macpherson (416) 510-6756 amacpherson@design-engineering.com Editor Michael McLeod (416) 442-5600 ext. 3231 mmcleod@design-engineering.com Account Manager Ron Salmon (416) (905) 713-4362 rsalmon@design-engineering.com Media Designer Svetlana Avrutin Account Coordinator Cheryl Fisher (416) 510-5194 cfisher@annexbusinessmedia.com Circulation Manager Beata Olechnowicz (416) 442-5600 ext. 3543 bolechnowicz@annexbusinessmedia.com Vice President/Executive Publisher Tim Dimopoulos tdimopoulos@annexbusinessmedia.com COO Scott Jamieson sjamieson@annexbusinessmedia.com

Design Engineering, established in 1955, is published by Annex Business Media, 6 times per year except for occasional combined, expanded or premium issues, which count as two subscription issues. Printed in Canada Publications Mail Agreement #40065710 ISSN: 0011-9342 (Print), 1929-6452 (Online) Subscriber Services: Canada: $57.50 for 1 year; $92.50 for 2 years; $10 for single copy. Outside Canada: USA - $108 USD; Overseas - $116 USD $22 for single copy. Directory/buyer’s guide: Canada $28; Outside Canada $46. Add applicable taxes to Canadian rates. Circulation email: blao@annexbusinessmedia.com Tel: 416-442-5600 ext. 3552 Fax: 416-510-6875 or 416-442-2191 Mail: 111 Gordon Baker Rd., Suite 400, Toronto ON M2H 3R1 From time to time we make our subscription list available to select companies and organizations whose product or service may interest you. If you prefer not to receive this information, please contact our circulation department in any of the four ways listed above. Annex Privacy Officer: privacy@annexbusinessmedia.com Tel: 800-668-2374 No part of the editorial content of this publication may be reprinted without the publisher’s written permission. ©2019 Annex Publishing & Printing Inc. All rights reserved. DE receives unsolicited features and materials (including letters to the editor) from time to time. DE, its affiliates and assignees may use, reproduce, publish, re-publish, distribute, store and archive such submissions in whole or in part in any form or medium whatsoever, without compensation of any sort. DE accepts no responsibility or liability for claims made for any product or service reported or advertised in this issue. DE is indexed in the Canadian Business Index by Micromedia Ltd., Toronto, and is available on-line in the Canadian Business & Current Affairs Database.

Mike McLeod

I enjoy hearing from you so please contact me at MMcLeod@design-engineering.com and your letter could be published in an upcoming issue.

September | 2019

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8 DesignNews

Canada invests $25M in Carbon Engineering

arbon Engineering announced that the Government of Canada has invested CAN$25 million in the clean energy

company. The Squamish-based firm’s Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology captures carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere for re-use or storage. The company says its complementary Air-to-Fuels technology produces ultralow carbon intensity fuels from the captured CO2, plus water and clean electricity. These fuels are cleaner burning than fossil fuels and can power existing cars, trucks, ships, and airplanes without modifications. With this funding, the company says it will design, construct and operate the Newport Innovation Centre in Squamish, British Columbia. The centre will include an Advanced Development Facility and a fully integrated DAC and Air-to-Fuels plant, capable of capturing 4.5 tonnes of CO2 and producing at least 320 litres of fuel per day. “With an increasing focus worldwide on the need to transition to a low carbon economy, companies that provide cost-effective and scalable solutions for lowering carbon levels will be leaders in an emerging global economy,” said Steve Oldham, CEO of Carbon Engineering. “CE’s air treatment technologies have the potential to realize significant greenhouse gas reductions, create jobs and investment in Canadian projects, and deliver clean fuels to consumers. We are grateful for this support as we work to commercialize our technology and cement our position as a world leader in this field.” The company says it will also continue with core research and development activities and begin the design and engineering of the company’s full scale commercial plants, each capable of capturing one megatonne of CO2 per year. According to Carbon Engineering, each of its commercial-scale Air-to-Fuels plants will have the capacity to produce more than 100 million litres of clean fuel each year. https://carbonengineering.com

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DesignNews Cockroach-inspired robot withstands 1M times its own weight

(Photo credit: Stephen McNally / UC Berkeley)

mer to bend the PVDF sheet like a bow. Charged by an oscillating electric field, the material quickly straightens and bends, causing its front leg to pull the robot forward at approximately the same speed (20 body lengths per second) as a real cockroach. Although the robot is currently “tethered”, the Berkeley team is working to add a battery and gas sensors while also improving its ability to steer around obstacles. The researchers envision the robot being used to explore rubble in hazardous search and rescue missions. www.berkeley.edu

esearchers at the University of California, Berkeley have developed a postage stamp-sized robot with the fabled speed and durability of the insect that inspired it. Eerily similar to a cockroach, the small robo-bug weighs in at less than one tenth of a gram but still functions after being smashed by approximately 60 kg (132lbs) or about 1 million times its own weight. “Most of the robots at this particular small scale are very fragile. If you step on them, you pretty much destroy the robot,” said Liwei Lin, a professor of mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley and senior author of a study that describes the robot. “We found that if we put weight on our robot, it still more or less functions.” The robot is composed of a thin sheet of piezoelectric polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) coated with an elastic polyArtist rendering of the future Protecteur-class ship replenishing a Canadian vessel at sea. (photo credit: Seaspan ULC)

Hepburn Engineering secures JSS contract

easpan Shipyards announced it has awarded Hepburn Engineering Inc. a contract for work on Canada’s new Joint Support Ships. Under the terms of the contract, Hepburn will provide four Replenishment Stations for the Joint Support Ships, which will allow the vessels to transfer fuel, fresh water, and solid goods to and from other vessels. The Toronto-based firm has been providing solids, liquids and dual solids/liquids RAS systems to navies worldwide for more than 50 years. These Replenishment-at-Sea (RAS) systems will be fully compatible with NATO standards, thereby allowing the JSS to resupply and refuel Canadian and allied task force ships at sea, considerably extending their range of operations. “I am pleased to announce that we will be providing the Replenishment-at-Sea systems for the Royal Canadian Navy’s new Joint Support Ships currently under construction at Seaspan’s Vancouver Shipyards,” said Hepburn Engineering president, John Hepburn. “Hepburn is proud to be a 100% Canadian owned and operated company with a reputation for providing quality replenishment systems to navies around the world.” With its work under the National Shipbuilding Strategy, Seaspan has issued more than $935M in committed contracts to approximately 630 Canadian companies. Seaspan operates three yards with a combined workforce of over 2,300 people across its yards in North Vancouver and Victoria. www.hepeng.com www.seaspan.com September | 2019

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DesignNews

Burloak partners with NRC to commercialize metal AM tech

he National Research Council of Canada (NRC) announced it has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Burloak Technologies to develop and commercialize the research organization’s patented additive manufacturing technology. Called Laser Consolidation (LC), the NRC AM process produces net-shape functional metallic parts with dimensional accuracy of up to +/−0.05mm and a surface finish up to 1μm Ra (depending on the materials used in the manufacturing process). As a result, LC-produced parts don’t require post-machining and exhibit mechanical properties better than cast and comparable to wrought materials. Fatigue properties of the LC parts were also found to be better than cast material. The direct energy deposition process stands out due to its ability to create functional parts or features on top of existing parts with high precision using high performance metals and alloys. Suitable build materials include 316 and 420 stainless steels; Inconel-625 and IN-738 superalloy; CPM-9V and H-13 tool steel; Stellite 6 alloy; and Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy. LC forms parts using an Nd:YAG laser, powder feeder and CNC motion system, September | 2019

combined with proprietary software and a material properties/process parameters database to determine optimum operating parameters. While the LC technology has been around for more than a decade, the agreement with Burloak will allow the company to develop and commercialize the NRC’s system. In addition to working with the NRC, Burloak says it has also entered into several commercialization agreements with major aerospace customers that will utilize this technology to create flight components for serial production. “We are pleased to have reached this agreement with the NRC and to collaborate on further development of the technology as we move towards its commercialization,” said Peter Adams, president and co-founder of Burloak Technologies. “With its DED system, the NRC has developed a truly revolutionary technology that will allow us to deliver additive components with never-before-seen resolution, accuracy, speed and material choice along with superior material properties.” https://burloaktech.com https://nrc.canada.ca

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14 CADReport

ENTER THE HEXAGON

Metrology giant looks to automate engineering design and manufacturing through “Smart” feedback loop iteration. by Ralph Grabowski

exagon is the big company that most CAD software users have probably never heard of. Its low profile may have to do with its headquarters being in Sweden, or its origins being in metrology (i.e. measuring things). Perhaps, it’s because the company’s nine divisions have considerable autonomy, each with its own headquarters and CEO. You may recognize its better-known brands, such as Leica for surveying instruments, MSC Software for finite element analysis and Intergraph (renamed Hexagon PPM) for plant and ship design. Combined, those brands earned over CAD$5 billion in revenues for Hexagon last year and allow the company to offer hundreds of software and hardware products. (See Figure 1). Hexagon’s Measurement Intelligence division, for example, sells an overwhelming list of metrology-related products, including 3D laser scanners, coordinate measuring machines, industrial theodolites, laser stations and tracker systems, machine tool measurement and metrology software, to name only a few. In addition to metrology, Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division also offers sheet metal process design, simuSeptember | 2019

Figure 1: Hexagon reaches many areas of measurement and production

lation and cost estimation software through its Forming Technologies (FTI) brand, as well as simulation software through MSC Software. Most recently, the company acquired AMendate GmbH, a German additive manufacturing software start-up whose generative design application optimizes CAD models to produce organic, light-weight parts. (See Figure 2) A Smart-based Master Plan With so much technology under its purview (230+ products, by my count), Hexagon says it can provide a full loop

of software, hardware and services. By loop, the company means it is able to deploy its CMM hardware to provide feedback from a manufactured part back to earlier stages in the design and construction phases. If that part is manufactured within specifications, then no problem. If it isn’t, however, deviations can be automatically fed back to the CAD, CAE and/or CAM software, where the design and manufacturing processes are modified to produce the part correctly. This design loop is something no other CAD vendor offers. Hexagon uses the brand name “Smart” to describe this www.design-engineering.com

CADReport 15 feedback process as well as distinguish its bundles from competitors. For example, the company’s Smart Buildings and Infrastructure collection is targeted at the Heavy Construction, Building, and PPM (process, power, marine) industries while its Smart Cities and Nations line-up targets the geospatial and survey sectors. Other initiatives include Smart Autonomous Mobility (cars), Smart Factories, Smart Farms and Smart Mines. At the company’s HxGN Live event, held in June this year in Las Vegas, Hexagon executives explained how these smart feedback loops would work. For example, training autonomous cars on actual roads with human minders is relatively inefficient. Hexagon’s Smart Cars initiative, therefore, is concentrating on creating digital roads by scanning actual roads over which autonomous vehicles only simulate the driving. This is the feedback loop, as it takes billions of miles to train AI to recognize hazards that we humans avoid intuitively. More to the point, Hexagon showed us members of the CAD media an example

Figure 2: This lightweight design of a wheel carrier for a Formula racing car was created by AMendate’s generative design software.

of the workflow they are proposing for manufacturing. For this demo, the hinge of a car hood was redesigned using AMendate generative design software. It was tested with MSC Software FEA software and then manufactured with titanium powder using a third-party 3D printer. During that process, one of the company’s AICON fringe scanners checked the car part’s dimensions and found a flaw: Gravity had caused some of the titanium to sag during the 3D printing. (See figure 3.) The data from the flaw

Figure 3: 3D printed part scanned by fringe scanner with three cameras

was returned to Hexagon’s analysis software, which adjusted the 3D printing parameters to account for the influence of gravity.

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16 CADReport If this feedback process works, it’ll be one of the most significant advances in our field, ever. But that’s still a big “if”. At HxGN 2019, we members of the media were allowed to handle the titanium hinge with its gravity-induced bulge, but every other part of the automated process we were shown amounted to a collection of demo videos, static slides and verbal descriptions. The feedback mechanism, so crucial to Hexagon’s Smart future, was not actually shown. We didn’t see scan data entered back into CAE or CAM software; didn’t see the flaw corrected; or view the 3D printer re-manufacturing it, correctly this time.

Figure 4: Apex tying together all simulation software from MSC Software

Multi-Headed Simulation The key to successful manufacturing is analysis, and here Hexagon has the fullmeal deal as it offers many CAE/CAM packages acquired through Intergraph, MSC Software and Vero. One of the key flaws in software analysis is, however, that it tends to check for

only one kind of problem at a time (e.g. how well the part swooshes though water or air, how much weight it can bear, how hot it can get). While there are CAE software packages that analyze any one of those accurately, none factor in all of them at the same time, even though the effects of flow, strain and heat impact each other.

MSC Software’s solution to this is Apex, a new framework that will let all nine simulation packages work together – once it becomes available. (See figure 4.) Like so many new projects we saw at HxGN 2019, it is still under development, and so we really didn’t get a chance to see it work, and even how well it works.

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CADReport 17 The Missing CAD In its promotional material, Hexagon describes its SmartManufacturing initiative as beginning at the design phase. It turns out that what Hexagon calls “design” is what most engineers would consider “pre-design”. After that, there is a big gap in Hexagon’s model, and the gap is called CAD; SmartManufacturing doesn’t have it. That a Hexagon-branded CAD package is lacking from its SmartManufacturing line-up is surprising when we look at the dozen or so CAD packages Hexagon already owns: BricsCAD for general design, Fastform for sheet metal design, IntelliCAD-based MicroSurvey for surveying and Visi for mold design. The problem is that none of these packages reach the level of a Catia or an NX. Once upon a time, Hexagon could have acquired Solid Edge, but Intergraph sold off its mid-range modeler to UGS long before Intergraph was acquired by Hexagon. (UGS is now part of Siemens PLM.) Of those named, BricsCAD may have the best chance of filling the void with its direct modeling and 3D parametric functions. When Hexagon executives spoke with the media, however, it was Catia that they named most often. That Hexagon lacks a high-powered CAD system didn’t seem to trouble them, and executives seemed somewhat puzzled that I raised the issue. As for other parts missing from the various Smart collections, executives said some outside firm would provide them, or else Hexagon would simply buy what was missing. Its most recent acquisitions are generative design software from AMendate and large-scale browser-based visualization from Melown Technologies. The Future of Smart The Smart initiative is new, with some portions already at work (such as Smart Autonomous Mobility), while others are in beta and perhaps shipping as early as this fall, like Smart Factories and Smart Build. Hexagon says its approach to selling the Smart series will be different from other vendors. Rather than impose a totally new system on a manufacturer, and all the problems that entails, Hexagon proposes replacing one part of the manufacturing process at a time; get one part working before replacing the next. This makes sense to me, as disruptions to workflows are less than desirable; but it also suggests they don’t have all parts of their system in place. CEO Ola Rollen is staking his company’s future on a continuous feedback loop improving processes. He is pushing Hexagon’s master plan hard. That plan is using automation along with connectivity so that software makes decisions (for us) and makes adjustments to designs automatically, as data flows from one phase of manufacturing (or mining or agriculture or car driving) to the next. Hexagon is the first with full automation of the entire designbuild-improve sequence. But it is only at the beginning stages, with just a few customers, and there may well be unintended consequences of letting IoT, AI and 5G replace humans. DE www.hexagon.com

www.design-engineering.com September | 2019

18 CanadianInnovator

From Screen to Shop Floor

Montreal-based Vention applies AI, online CAD and e-commerce to the custom machine building industry. By Treena Hein

t’s often said but Vention – a Montreal startup that allows customers to design and order custom industrial machines online – really has experienced a meteoric rise since its founding in 2016. In 2019 alone, the Montreal-based company has nearly doubled it workforce (from 28 to 55 employees), raised $17-million in venture financing and grown by 600 percent compared to 2018. In addition, the young firm already counts the likes of Tesla, Facebook, BMW and Bombardier among its high-profile clientele. So what’s attracting so much attention in such a short amount of time? According to electrical engineer and Vention’s head of automation, Francois Giguere, the company’s novel technology and business model removes much of the complexity and cost from the process of automating a manufacturing process. “Traditionally, people build machines by sourcing parts from various vendors and trying to make it all work together,” explains Giguere, who has been with the company since its beginnings in late 2016. September | 2019

“We focus on machine design holistically and offer a platform where everything is designed to fit together and do what it’s supposed to.” He says that, in most cases, that’s very hard to perform due to cost and technical complexity. In essence, Vention’s platform allows customers to log in through a browser and start building an automated machine using a large online library of virtual ‘building blocks’. Those blocks include everything from standard aluminum extrusion, mounts and fasteners to motors, drives, sensors, conveyors, actuators and other common components from Vention’s industrial suppliers. Instead of a traditional PLC, motion control is managed with Vention’s MachineMotion, a Linux-based plug-nplay motion controller designed to work with all components in Vention’s parts library. Adding it to a design gives access to MachineLogic, an online motion programming environment. Users can run simulations and add the validated code to the MachineMotion before shipping.

This design work is all performed within the company’s browser-based MachineBuilder 3D CAD environment and stored on its cloud platform. During this process, the application keeps a running tally of costs and bill of materials. After the design is complete, validated and purchased, a kit including all the necessary parts is delivered to the customer’s door anywhere in the world, typically within a matter of days, the company says. “For most of my career, you would need to visit 15 different websites searching for parts and praying that there were 3D models of those parts online, ordering everything and then assembling it in the hope that it all fits and works,” explains Vention co-founder and CEO Etienne Lacroix who spent his career in the constant pressure cooker of designing custom machines.. “It would take anywhere from six weeks to six months to finish a machine. Machine integration is really, really complex and it takes the most talented engineers you can find.” But despite all the advancements out there, Lacroix notes that in terms of integration and machine building, even the best industrial companies still have ‘tech stacks’ from the 1990’s. As for small manufacturers, he says it’s pretty much impossible for them to afford the cost of an integrated automated machine for one of their processes. Unless you’re producing a significant volume, the required investment can’t be paid off. “We can typically do the whole thing ‘by Friday’ and for less than $30,000, and that’s an ROI for many of our clients of a few months,” Lacroix adds. “What I’m most proud of with Vention is that machine designers, who know the basics but are not full-time system integrators, can work with us to actually make what they need. It’s a true democratization of machine design.” Genesis The idea for Vention first occurred to Lacroix in 2014, after reading about the latest advancements for WebGL. At the time, the graphics library was just getting good enough to render engineering-grade 3D graphics in a browser. These developments got him to thinking about a whole new way to do machine integration. Idea in hand, it took him about a year and a half to quit his comfortable job and pursue building a company from www.design-engineering.com

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Linear Motion

20 CanadianInnovator

Designed in Vention’s online CAD app MachineBuilder, this machine is build from components in the company’s 500 part library, including the it’s own plug-n-play MachineMotion controller.

nothing. By July 2016, he had a small team in place, working with a few customers and a basic platform. By February 2017, Vention had 70 component options available for integration. At that point, the software was also limited and the library of customer-contributed designs was also obviously very small. “We had to work on all those things in parallel, for the first users to see benefit,” Lacroix explains. “My co-founder and CTO, Max Windisch, and I worked 19 hours a day for a year and a half and the rest of the team also worked very hard. Now we have over 500 parts and a library of over 700 designs.” Lacroix describes himself as a kid who had more Lego than all the other kids in the neighborhood combined. He likens Vention to an industrial Lego set for all their customers, which range from small manufacturing shops to large

multi-nationals. “We amaze the big players most of all with speed,” says Lacroix, “and the small ones most of all with cost.” Currently, Vention serves about 1000 customers a month, including a significant number of repeat customers. Maintaining Simplicity Building Vention has been a matter of building three companies in one, Lacroix explains. There’s the software (which he describes as 3D CAD platform in a web browser), the Vention library of modular industrial parts and supplier parts and a parallel e-commerce system. “We grew the platform from scratch,” notes Giguere, “and while it guides users towards what’s possible, it’s always been the challenge to keep it simple so that people who aren’t design experts can make a range of applications.”

“Our community is very vocal, and we have dedicated staff members to handle feedback and divert it to the appropriate engineers,” he adds. “But we also work steadily ourselves to figure out how different components could be compatible with others, and new components are coming out all the time. So, the platform software team works with the real-world team and everything evolves.” Lacroix echoes the sentiment. “We will reach 5000 parts, I have no doubt, but keeping the simplicity is critical,” he says. “One way of keeping simplicity is to recommend next-best parts. I call it machine learning meets machine design. There are also many ways that things can be connected, so the platform suggests the best one. This enables a user to usually connect two parts in one mouse click.” Vention also provides tools that self-optimize the cost of a design, and a secure link to the design can be sent to different departments in the same company. Collaboration is assumed, like Google Docs, Lacroix explains. Customer team members can all have access to the design, past orders and more. Like the challenge of keeping simplicity, what Lacroix and Giguere both like best about their work hasn’t changed much over time: The consistently positive response from Vention customers. “When we help them come up with a system and we present it to them, they are surprised and very thrilled,” Giguere says. “To have a service that enables them to go so fast and do what they need to do so easily, they are just amazed.” DE

www.vention.io

Treena Hein is an Ottawa-based freelance writer.

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Automation Industrial Tablet PC Endress+Hauser introduced its model SMT77 for Cl. 1 Div. 1 and SMT70 for Cl. 1 Div. 2 – two universal, device configuration tablet PCs. The Field Xpert tablet PCs allow maintenance staff to manage digitally communicating field instruments. The 1.2 kg SMT70 boasts a 11.6-inch display and a battery runtime of up to 14 hours, while the 2.3 kg SMT70 has a 10.1-inch display and a battery runtime of up to five hours. Both models support multiple communication technologies including HART, Profibus DP/PA, Foundation Fieldbus, Modbus and EtherNET/IP. Device connectivity may be achieved point-to-point, over digital networks, or via marshalling cabinets, remote I/Os and gateways. Both models have installed device configuration software in 20 languages, including NAMUR NE 107 instrument diagnosis. www.ca.endress.com

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Mikrotron launched the EoSens 1.1CXP2 camera, its first to feature the CoaXPress 2.0 (CXP 2.0) interface, capable of a maximum bandwidth of 12.5 Gbit/s. The camera features four CXP-12 connections, delivering a maximum data transfer rate of 50 Gbit/s (4 x 12.5 Gbit/s), or 5 GByte/s. This translates 3,600 frames-per-second (fps) at full 1280 x 864 resolution with no latency, or as high as 150,000 fps at reduced resolution. Triggering and control is handled by the CXP 2.0’s 42 Mbps uplink and transmits data over 75 Ohm coaxial cable at lengths of 35 meters at CXP-12 or up to 100 meters at CXP 10. Within an 80 x 80 x 53mm fanless housing, the camera offers sensitivity of 20 V/lux-s at 550nm along with built-in gamma correction, FPN correction, noise reduction and sequencer. www.mikrotron.de

Managed Switches Antaira Technologies released its LMP-1600G and LMX-1600G series of industrial-grade managed hubs. The LMX-1600G Series provides 16 one-gig ports in a small form factor. The LMP-1600G Series also provides 16 one-gig ports plus PoE power on all 16 ports. It also features a wide temperature rating and rugged enclosure design. Both the LMX-1600G and the LMP-1600G are managed devices. Besides all the normal tools a managed switch provides, like port monitoring, alerts and troubleshooting tools, these switches also provide multicast suppression (IGMP). This feature is of key importance in both automation and surveillance applications, keeping the multicast traffic going only where it is required and not being broadcasted across the entire network. www.antaira.com www.design-engineering.com

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IdeaGenerator Fluid Power Vacuum Generator Festo unveiled its latest compact vacuum generator, the OVEL, suited for applications that involve small-parts handling. With a minimum housing width of 10mm, the OVEL features integrated solenoids – one for the ON/OFF function

that is standard and an optional ejector pulse valve. After the vacuum is switched off, an electric pulse is generated by the solenoid to release the workpiece and purge the vacuum rapidly. The compressed air supply for the ejector pulse can be provided by the unit’s supply port or via a separate built-in connection. Other options avail-

able with the OVEL include a vacuum sensor that provides an electrical signal for monitoring vacuum levels. An optional open silencer dampens noise and reduces contaminant build-up. www.festo.com

Compressed Air Treatment

Rolling Ring Zero backlash. Jam-proof design.

Parker Hannifin’s Pneumatic Division announced a redesign for its Wilkerson 08/18/28 Series of modular air preparation products, including filters, regulators, lubricators and accessories. The Revision B update features a powder-coated finish in modern colors and adds accessory options that are backwards compatible with the original Revision A mounting. Along with the Revision B updates, Parker will discontinue the 1/8-inch ports for the 08 Product Series; however, the 1/4-inch ports can be used for the same series and options. www.parker.com

Swing-piston Pump • For applications in positioning & reciprocating motion • Zero play – even during reversal Uhing® Rolling Ring linear drives run on a smooth, threadless shaft that won't clog or jam. If the system is overloaded, the shaft simply slips instead of churning and grinding. The drive bearings are in constant contact with the shaft, even during reversal, thereby preventing backlash. Example applications: metrology machines, material handling systems, spooling equipment, packaging & converting equipment. Many different sizes meet varying requirements for axial thrust & linear speed.

For more information call 1-800-252-2645 Email: amacoil@amacoil.com www.amacoil.com

September | 2019

Some models feature mechanical control over speed and travel direction. No programming or electronic controls are needed. Distributed by Amacoil, Inc. PO Box 2228 2100 Bridgewater Rd. Aston, PA 19014 Phone: 610-485-8300

KNF introduced its NPK 012 oil-free swing-piston pump that measures 103mm long and weighs 600g. The vacuum version of the pump reaches 25.8in.Hg (140 mbar abs), has a maximum flow rate of 13.5L/ min and can deliver 15 psig continuously. The pressure version delivers up to 36 psig (2.5 bar) of continuous positive pressure, and up to 72 psig (5 bar) during intermittent operation. Both versions can start up against the full vacuum and pressure range. www.knfusa.com www.design-engineering.com

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Solenoid Valves

AutomationDirect released its NS-Series of NSF certified valves that feature stainless steel or thermoplastic bodies and synthetic seating and sealing materials. Valve operation is normally closed (N.C.) and open when electrically energized. A springloaded plunger assures positive shutoff. Three types of 2-port (2-way), 2-position NS series valves are available. NS201 and NS211 series are piloted diaphragm valves; have 316L stainless steel or Nylon 6 bodies; and are ported for 3/8, 1/2, 3/4, 1, 1-1/4, 1-1/2 or 2-inch NPT. These valves are available with 120VAC, 24VAC or 24VDC solenoids. NS301 series valves are direct acting; have 303 stainless steel bodies and 1/4 inch NPT ports. They are available with three orifice sizes and solenoid voltages of 120VAC, 24VAC or 24VDC. www.automationdirect.com

Pneumatic Clamps

JW Winco unveiled its series GN 860 and GN 862 of pneumatic toggle clamps that maintain clamping force even after loss of pressure at the cylinder. The clamps can be fitted with magnetic sensors to detect clamp position and employ a hand lever to combine manual closing with pneumatic opening. The GN 864 series and higher feature fast setting action but slow clamping, making pneumatic end stop dampening unnecessary. They are available in four sizes with retaining forces of up to 13,300 newtons. The swivel clamps are available in block design with T-groove mounts for end stop sensors. www.jwwinco.com www.design-engineering.com September | 2019

26 IdeaGenerator Components

communications. Rated to IP20 in its stock form, the line can be improved to an IP65 rating with the addition of housing elements and/or single-wire sealing mats. www.harting.ca

Industrial Connector HARTING Canada announced it will release its Han 1A connector line for screw and crimp contacts in Canada. Requiring little space, the interface integrates contacts for data, power and signal transmission. Additionally, it uses black plastic housings and can be equipped with color coding. Typical

Safety Interlock Switch uses of the Han 1A include applications in which drives, sensors or other devices must be supplied with power and integrated into

Next level hydraulic control Delta RMC75 1 or 2-Axis

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IDEC Corporation released its HS1T interlock switch with solenoid that delivers up to 5,000N of locking force due to a metal head that integrates the locking and mounting functions. The switch also includes three independent rotary cams. Two cams control the locking mechanism and one drives the door monitor contact. The HS1T meets the requirements of ISO 14119:203 for lock monitoring. The unit also features multiple cable entry ports. Designers can choose from spring lock or solenoid lock styles, with several options for contact configurations. These options are complemented by an IP67 and Type 4X indoor use only rating. An integrated solenoid consumes 200mA while actuated. http://us.idec.com

Hygienic Machine Components

Fast, precise, simple and elegant. Use Delta RMC motion controllers and graphical RMCTools software to simplify and improve complex motion. Visit Deltaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website for videos, case studies, and specifications. Find a case study of your industry and application. 1-32 axes of synchronized position, velocity and pressure/force control. Discover simple, fast, precise electro-hydraulic motion at

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Elesa released its Hygienic Design line, designed for sanitation, maximum cleanability and high-quality materials. The line includes knobs, lobe knobs, bridge handles and leveling feet designed and manufactured according to the EHEDG (European Hygienic Engineering & Design Group) and 3-A Sanitary Standards guidelines to meet the requirements of specific applications in markets such as food, pharmaceutical and chemical. The quality of the surface finishes, combined with shapes free of recesses and roughness lower than 0.8Âľm, makes these www.design-engineering.com

IdeaGenerator components resistant to dirt and other substances. The new Hygienic Design line is also characterized by corrosion resistance and resistance to temperatures and chemical substances. Stainless steel and blue sealing rings in polyurethane elastomer, in compliance with FDA (Food and Drug Administration) requirements, prevent dirt and contaminants from entering at the junction points between the components. http://elesa.com

Sensors Pressure Sensor Emerson released its AVENTICS PE5 pressure sensor that measures system losses and will alert when leakage rate exceeds a pre-determined value. The sensor has two digital or one digital and one analog outputs. An IO-Link connection allows it to connect to an IIoT network. When the machine is switched off, the sensor measures pressure loss over time. If the pressure drops faster than desired, a local alert is set, and a signal can be sent via the analog or digital outputs. The PE5 is rated for IP67 protection and features switching between current and voltage, and between PNP, NPN and pushpull. Pneumatic connections include G1/4 or 4mm push-in. www.aventics.com

Digital Torque Transducer HBM has launched its T40B torque sensor that delivers up to 23,000 rpm for measuring ranges of 1, 2, and 3kNm. The sensor has an integrated, magnetic rotational speed measuring system, enabling automotive engineers to test the efficiency of the drive train with a range of motor vehicles. It also operates with analog or digital interfaces, making it compatible with different types of test bench systems. www.hbm.com

Angle Sensors

Novotechnik U.S. introduced its RSB 3600 Series of absolute single-turn angle sensors that feature a galvanized steel housing and stainless steel shaft with up to 100N working shaft load for the HD version. They operate at speeds up to 12,000 RPM and are sealed up to IP 69K, depending on version. The EGMR (enhanced giant magnetic resistance) devices can retain angular position without power. The series feature a 36.5mm profile, count to 16 turns, angular position 0 to 360°, 12-bit resolution, repeatability of <0.1° and typical independent linearity of < ±0.8% F.S. Output options are 0.25 to 4.75V; 0.5 to 4.5V; 0.1 to 10V; 4 to 20mA; and 10 to 90% of power supply. The series is available in connector or cable versions and have a MTTF of more than 105 years. All models have operating temperature range of -30 to +85°C and 0 to 98% RH, non-condensing and withstand shock to 50g and vibration to 20g. www.novotechnik.com

Measurement System The Measuring Division of Kaman Precision Products, Inc. unveiled its KD-5100 differential measurement system, which provides resolution to a nanometer of positional change. Featuring a package size of 2 x 2.12 x 0.75 inches, the system is manufactured to MIL-H-38534, with MIL-SPEC components used throughout wherever possible. Mean time between failures is better than 238,000 hours in a space flight environment and 55,000 hours in a tactical environment. Kaman also offers the DIT-5200, a commercial version of the KD-5100 for applications where mil-spec requirements, size, weight and power consumption are not critical. www.kamansensors.com

Hygienic machine elements For safer, more sanitary systems n

Food and pharmaceutical safety Designed and manufactured to meet 3-A Sanitary Standards and European EHEDG guidelines. Maximum cleanability Surface finish quality and shapes free of recesses resist dirt and other substances. Corrosion resistance and resistance to temperatures and chemical substances FDA compliant materials prevent dirt and contaminants from entering at junction points between components. Request Catalog 077AM

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www.design-engineering.com September | 2019

2:58:34 PM 8 10:37 AM

Motion Control Contents 30 Motion Control News UofW, NRC announce AI, IoT, Cybersecurity research hub and other news

32 Arcsecond to None Keck Observatory’s nanoscale encoder upgrade achieves galactic scale accuracies

36 More than Cosmetic Machine builder uses linear transport system to provide a compact and flexible packaging system with minimized changeover times

38 Motion Control Round Table 2019 Motion control leaders discuss the market conditions and trends of the Canadian automation market

42 Staying on the Grind Electrohydraulic motion controller gives “feel” to a grinding robot

44 The Three R’s of Position Sensors Full grasp of repeatability, resolution and response critical for consistent analog position sensor-based mechanical measurements

46 Product Showcase The latest in motion control technology including power transmission, motors and drives

DES_SEPT2019_SVA.indd 29

2019-08-27 12:02 PM

30 MotionControl: News UofW, NRC announce AI, IoT, Cybersecurity research hub

he National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the University of Waterloo announced the launch of the NRC Waterloo Collaboration on Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things and Cybersecurity as an innovation hub for AI research. Housed on the University of Waterloo campus, the hub hosts 20 researchers and students from the NRC and the University of Waterloo. The two institutions have been collaborating on computer science research and development for more than 10 years. “Fundamental research is made stronger through collaboration,” says UofW President Feridun Hamdullahpur. “This new hub offers the National Research Council and the University of Waterloo an opportunity to make significant strides that will develop Canada’s strength in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and the Internet of Things, and expand on our legacy of global impact.”

Current areas of research include battery-free touch sensors for internet of things (IoT); neuromorphics for vision-based movement planning and control; reliable gesture recognition in virtual reality environments; secure, scalable quantum-safe blockchain for critical infrastructure; and automated material discovery using deep reinforcement learning. www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca • https://uwaterloo.ca

Endress+Hauser Canada to build $28M Customer Experience Centre

ndress+Hauser Canada announced it will build a $28 million Customer Experience Centre in Burlington, Ontario. The company says it intends for the two-story, 47,000-sq.-ft. building to attain the LEED Gold certification standard and to function on a net zero carbon and net zero energy basis. The company says the new facility, planned for occupancy in the fall of 2020, will be a full-fledged Customer Experience Centre featuring the company’s second Process Training Unit (PTU) in Canada as well as a calibration laboratory, an expanded workshop and a large training centre. The PTU concept, featured in Endress+Hauser facilities globally and most recently in Edmonton, is essentially a pilot plant with a range of Endress+Hauser instrumentation installed. “All of our customers and partners will be able to come in and simulate process conditions that they would find in their own plants,” says Varga. “They can try out various products in real world conditions to gain confidence in performance once installed at their own sites. That, in turn, will help them make proper instrumentation choices.” Endress+Hauser says the facility will also be effectively off the hydro grid with plans that include a reflective roof with double sided solar panels to generate electricity during the day. In addition, the building environment will be maintained by heat pumps supplemented by a geothermal system. At night, most electrically powered systems will be turned off. www.ca.endress.com

Phoenix Contact hires new GM for Canada

hoenix Contact Canada announced that Roger Hallett has become general manager for the company’s Canadian operations. According to the company, Hallett has significant expertise in business development and marketing in North America and international markets. September | 2019 DES_Sept_Lapp.indd 1

Roger Hallett

www.design-engineering.com 2019-08-07 2:51 PM

MotionControl: News Prior to joining Phoenix Contact, Hallett held a series of senior management roles with Festo, Siemens and ABB. Originally from the UK, Hallett’s international career has involved living and working in Germany, South East Asia, and Japan. After a 5-year posting in Japan, he relocated to Canada in 2002 and became a Canadian citizen in 2007. Hallett studied electrical engineering at Worcester Technical College in the UK. He completed a 4-year engineering apprenticeship program with a UK electrical engineering company as the basis for a career in automation and controls. www.phoenixcontact.com

Hexagon division selects GTA for Canadian HQ

exagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division announced it has selected Oakville, Ontario for the site of its Canadian headquarters. Currently under construction, the 15,000-sq.-ft. GTA facility will house up to 100 employees after the project’s completion, scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2019. The workplace configuration accommodates a training center, multiple meeting rooms and offices for Hexagon teams in product development, quality assurance, sales, engineering, customer support and administration. The facility will also include a product showroom for Hexagon’s metrology and manufacturing technologies.

Hexagon says it will consolidate its Manufacturing Intelligence businesses in eastern Canada to this central location, which includes headquarters for Forming Technologies’ development, sales and engineering, MSC Software and teams from Hexagon’s production software and metrology products. In 2018, the company also opened a regional office called the Hexagon Calgary Campus in Alberta, which serves as the head office for multiple Hexagon divisions in western Canada. www.hexagonmi.com

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32 MotionControl: CoverStory

Arcsecond to None Keck Observatory’s nanoscale encoder upgrade achieves galactic scale accuracies.

n the middle of the Pacific Ocean, thousands of miles of thermally stable seas surround the Island of Hawaii. The 13,796-foot Maunakea mountain summit has no nearby ranges to roil the upper atmosphere. For most of the year, this atmosphere is clear, calm and dry, enabling the W. M. Keck Observatory, with its twin 10-meter-mirror telescopes, to observe the Milky Way galaxy and beyond at unparalleled levels. Now, after the completion of a significant nine-year motion control upgrade project, the Keck Observatory telescopes, standing 30 meters tall each, are offering data and observations with an impressive nanometer precision. “We are now able to blindly point the telescopes to any star in the sky within Keck’s observable area with an accuracy of 1.0 arcsec,” explained Tomas Krasuski, the Lead Electronics Engineer at Keck Observatory who played an important role in the design and implementation of

September | 2019

DES_Lovator_Sept19_CSA.indd 1

the telescopes upgrade project, begun in 2009. “That is an accuracy level of one thirty-six hundredth of a one degree.” Since the Beginning The twin Keck Observatory telescopes are the most scientifically productive optical and infrared telescopes in the world. Each weighs more than 300 tons and hosts a 10-meter-diameter primary mirror, the largest light-collecting mirrors on the planet. “We are an extremely important resource for researchers interested in many areas of astronomy and astrophysics – including the discovery of exoplanets; the study of how planets, stars and galaxies form; the nature of black holes; and the chemical composition and evolution of the universe,” Krasuski explained. When Keck Observatory began science operations in the early ‘90s, it was the first generation of very large groundbased optical/infrared telescopes with

segmented primary mirrors. The telescopes worked very well utilizing technology available at that time. After 20 years, however, some replacement components became hard to find, putting the telescopes at risk of a major failure. Also, the established measurement system included rotary encoders for measurement that were subject to periodic errors. So, following an obsolescence study, the need for renovations became clear. Launched in 2009, the Keck Observatory’s Telescope Control System Upgrade (TCSU) project set out to not only update the systems but also improve the telescope pointing, tracking and offsetting performance. Over the next nine years, both the Keck I (K1) and Keck II (K2) telescopes had upgrades done on all major elements including telescope controls, safety systems and rotator and secondary mirror controls. Due to a switching solution between the old and new control systems, the TCSU team was

www.design-engineering.com

2019-08-16 8:36 AM

MotionControl: CoverStory

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ENCODERS

TEN FUNDAMENTAL REASONS Located on a dedicated ring near the center of the telescope axis, Keck’s upgraded azimuth tape encoder allows the observatory to point to any star with an accuracy of 1.0 arcsec or one thirty-six hundredth of a one degree.

able to complete the specialized upgrade during the day and re-establish operational systems by nighttime. “TCSU was a complex and challenging project that involved multiple subsystems,” Krasuski explained. “Our team decided to upgrade all at the same time instead of consecutively to reduce the need for regression and repeated cross-compatibility testing.” At the beginning of the TCSU project, Keck Observatory engineers explained that a significant part of the project was the installation of new telescope azimuth and elevation position encoders based on HEIDENHAIN’s 40-micron grating tape scales. Interpolated to a 10-nanometer resolution with a HEIDENHAIN EIB 749 box, these new ERA 84XX tape encoders promised to provide Keck Observatory with a true 4mas (milliarcseconds) resolution in azimuth and a 1mas resolution in elevation. “In the end, these new HEIDENHAIN tape encoders performed brilliantly,” Krasuski explained. “Their installation required significant changes to our mechanical infrastructure in order to house them so new designs were developed over time to get it just right.” Design Strategy Many telescopes utilize optical encoder tapes by placing the azimuth encoder tape on a dedicated stationary ring which is at or near the diameter of the azimuth bearing. Instead of doing this, the TCSU design team decided to pursue a shorter encoder tape on a dedicated ring located near the center of the telescope axis.

This ring has an O.D. of 1.15 meters that could accommodate an off-the-shelf full circle HEIDENHAIN ERA 8400C encoder tape 3.6 meters long. This was a viable solution on K1 and K2 because of the existing accessory mirror mounting structure below the moving telescope tube. A connection to the telescope could be made here that would rotate an encoder in azimuth. This ring and tape were fixed to a top flange of a steel support column. The connection from the encoder read head ring to the telescope structure was accomplished with a thin-wall stainless steel bellows tube that transfers rotational motion of the telescope to the read head rings, without lag, wind-up, hysteresis or vibration. There are four azimuth encoder readheads that now move with the telescope. The read heads are spaced evenly on a flat ring that floats on the larger (fixed) tape ring by means of frictionless air bearings by New Way. The azimuth bearings, tape and read heads are surrounded by a clear sealed air shroud, except for a 0.5mm gap where shield meets top flange. Additionally, two tilt meters were installed. “The encoders and the tilt meters are the primary reason for achieving the greatly improved pointing and tracking performance,” Krasuski explained. A HEIDENHAIN optical tape encoder for the elevation axis was also installed on a bar-code surface on the right-side elevation drive sector of each telescope. Here, two optical read heads were installed on the inside of each main yoke structure near the elevation-drive assembly.

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MotionControl: CoverStory The elevation angular motion is measured by these pair of read heads which are carried on an articulating mechanism. A pair of rollers bear against the surface with 1.5N of spring force, and a linear stage provides controlled radial motion. This system allows extremely precise raising and lowering of the telescopes. In conjunction with the azimuth encoder, the elevation axis tape encoder, installed the telescopes’ elevation drive sector, allows the telescopes to track up to an elevation of 89 degrees while meeting an accuracy of 0.050 arcsec

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Absolute Positioning The encoder tapes used in the TCSU systems are incremental encoders with center strip markings evenly spaced at 40 microns. They do not code absolute position until initialized using HEIDENAHIN-provided distance-coded reference marks just below the incremental marks. To initialize position, the encoding software must read three reference marks: Two evenly spaced marks and one mark that is a distinct number of counts from the other two. The distinct count is used to determine the absolute position to a 40-micron accuracy. Once the absolute position is known, then the incremental tape is used as an absolute encoder. In the end, the TCSU project was able to achieve better performance for telescope pointing, open- and closed-loop tracking and repositioning. “This means we can move these giant telescopes anywhere in the sky with an accuracy of 1.0 arsec,” Krasuski said. “Some field of views have many stars in them, so it is very important for our astronomers, to have our telescopes zero in on their target quickly and accurately.” Krasuski added that Keck Observatory is now able to track up to an elevation of 89 degrees while meeting their tracking accuracy of 0.050 arcsec RMS (root-meansquare). They can track at this accuracy for an extended period of time, sometimes for six hours or more. Currently, the TCSU upgrade outperforms the old system by a factor of 2, offering an even more exceptional view of the universe than ever before. “These installed encoders work brilliantly well and meet the high standards we had heard and expected from HEIDENHAIN,” Krasuski said. “To move these gigantic telescopes to the accuracy of 10 nanometers is absolutely amazing. This is truly where the world of large and small meet.” DE www.keckobservatory.org www.heidenhain.ca

Article contributed by HEIDENHAIN. September | 2019

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MotionControl: Packaging This compact packaging system, designed by French machine builder, Unista, for cosmetics maker Shiseido, incorporates a Beckhoff XTS linear transport system and two peripheral 6-axis robots.

More than Cosmetic Machine builder Unista leverages linear transport system to provide a compact and flexible packaging system with minimized changeover times.

nd customers in the cosmetics industry require their suppliers to provide packaging systems that feature maximum adaptability and flexibility. After all, the market demands ever-faster changes in product presentation and packaging. Founded in Tokyo in 1872, high-end cosmetics maker, Shiseido, is one of the industry’s oldest. Its European headquarters and two manufacturing plants have been based in France for thirty years. Since Shiseido uses containers in many sizes and shapes for its diverse portfolio of products, its equipment has to deliver a maximum of flexibility. To meet Shiseido’s needs, machine builder Unista, located in the Nantes region near the western coast of France, was selected to develop and build two packaging machines that support many different container types and lot sizes while keeping changeover times to a minimum. The equipment manufacturer, which specializes in robot-supported equipment, developed an innovative solution based on the eXtended Transport System (XTS) and other automation components and software from Beckhoff Automation. Flexibility Unista’s goal was to meet the central demand for flexibility without compromising the engineering, motion controls and producSeptember | 2019

tion process, according to Anthony Forget, managing director of Unista France. “To accommodate the broad product portfolio of Shiseido, we needed an extremely flexible machine,” he says. Unista employed an XTS with a track length of 4 meters, which enabled them to maintain a compact machine footprint and put the available floor space to its best use. “Unista’s needs were very much in line with the properties of our XTS transport system,” says David Ranchy, sales engineer at the Beckhoff office in Nantes. “XTS now functions as the machine’s central component and makes the production much more flexible.” The mechatronic linear transport solution is supplemented by two 6-axis robots for product handling. The first robot takes care of the loading and unloading. It places the filled cosmetics jars on the XTS, which uses 11 movers to transport them to the respective processing stations. The second robot places lids on the containers and lightly screws them in before they are fully closed with a specific torque and rotation angle at the following handling station. At the final quality control station, the containers are sorted into good and reject units. One of the key requirements involved was protecting the high-value cosmetics containers against any kind of damage to ensure that the packaged products are in line with the high-quality standards of the Shiseido brand. www.design-engineering.com

MotionControl: Packaging Operational agility One key advantage of the XTS in that context is the individual product transport, which is not subject to rigid synchronization between the processing stations. As a result of the individual and highly precise positioning with the movers, the machine delivers maximum throughput paired with gentle product handling. In addition, the software-based control functions make it easy to adapt the system to changing formats, such as container diameters, on the fly. All it takes is a change in the software parameters instead of a complex and expensive machine reconfiguration. Besides the XTS, Unista also employs Beckhoff servomotor terminals and servomotors for the handling unit that screws on the lids. Other components include EtherCAT Terminals for the communication between the control components as well as TwinSAFE products for machine safety. The entire machine is controlled by a cabinet-mounted CX5140 Embedded PC that runs TwinCAT 3 automation software. The drive technology of the handling unit features an especially compact design. EL7211 servomotor terminals control the dynamic AM8100 servomotors, which are connected via One Cable Technology (OCT). This reduces the cabling costs by 50 percent and gives the machine a very tidy appearance. A CP3918 Control Panel displays Unistaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own user interface.

www.design-engineering.com DES_Sept_KHKUSA.indd 1

The XTS transports the cosmetics containers with 11 movers over a 4-meter track to various processing stations.

The simple engineering and straightforward commissioning with XTS and PC based control enabled the experts from Unista to complete a ready-to-operate machine in less than 10 weeks. With its short time to market and high degree of operational flexibility, the XTS application for Shiseido represents a prime example of mechanical engineering in the age of Industrie 4.0 that is at the forefront of cosmetics packaging. DE www.beckhoff.com

This article was contributed by Beckhoff Automation.

September | 2019

2019-08-13 2:24 PM

MotionControl: RoundTable

MOTION 2019 CONTROL Roundtable Motion control leaders discuss the market conditions and trends of the Canadian automation market.

DE : From your point of view, how has the Canadian motion control market performed in the past year?

Warren Osak, Founder and President, Electromate: I would say steady and consistent. For the last several years, we’ve experienced modest year-over-year growth, but this past year’s growth was a little down. Even so, we haven’t seen the peaks and troughs that are typically associated with a volatile market. The U.S.’s repeal of NAFTA was somewhat unsettling for many Canadian industries but the new USMCA seems to have brought considerable calmness to the manufacturing sector, which has helped boost confidence in the economy and drive CAPEX spending. We’ve also had five interest rates hikes since mid-2017, which helped keep the economy from overheating, but it has also moderated economic activity in the motion control market, last year and this year. Anthony Morielli, Business Manager Factory Automation, Bosch Rexroth Canada: 2018 was another solid year for the Canadian motion control market. We saw growth in traditional areas like handling and assembly but also emerging sectors like battery assembly for electric vehicles and additive manufacturing. The motion control market in Canada is in a mature state, in that the technology is readily accepted by machine builders and manufacturers. We’ve also seen a trend in the last few years where the number of servo axes per machine has been on the rise as well, based on the need for higher production rates, flexibility and reduced change over times. So far, this year is turning out to be another good year for motion control. You hear about slowdowns in Europe, Asia and even the U.S. but we haven’t seen that in Canada. Calvin Wallace, Managing Director, Beckhoff Canada: Very well. We see the market as strong and growing. The percentage of machines that utilize some form of servo control system is increasing. We’re also seeing an increase in the axes count per machine, ranging from 25 to more than 100 axes per automation controller. The industry knows a lot more about servo motion control than 20 years ago. The technology is easier to September | 2019

integrate and the price point has come down to where it’s easier to adopt. So there is very little reluctance to use more servo motion control in the machinery being built. This year, the first quarter has been strong with a bit of a slowdown in the second. Last month was a good recovery though, and we’re pretty bold for the rest of the year. Doug Newton, VP of Marketing, Advanced Motion & Controls: We’ve seen moderate growth in the past year with projected growth that’s stable but optimistic for 2020. As an organization, we are still seeing some of the macro effects of the global trade issues. We do feel that tariffs have taken a bit of a toll as costs, in general did Increase.

DE : Which products or product categories are most popular currently?

Osak-Electromate: The one product trend that is really hot right now is the adoption of planetary roller screws in linear actuator applications. Primarily, that’s because they allow engineers to specify electric actuators in applications that were previously the sole domain of hydraulic cylinders. They are “Open source communication and standardized distributed fieldbus protocols have homogenized a once fragmented industry. The interoperability these provide is a huge benefit to customers in all industries. It’s also the primary driver of the fourth industrial revolution. After all, without industry standardization, Industry 4.0 doesn’t exist.”

– Warren Osak, Founder and President, Electromate

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MotionControl: RoundTable designed with a fine screw pitch that provides more points of contact and a larger contact radius resulting in less stress per point of contact. As a result, they offer very high force transmission capability, operate at high speeds, are long-lasting and require little maintenance. The adoption rate has been a little slow, but as we saw with electric rod-style actuators replacing pneumatic solutions, it will take some time. The unit cost is currently higher compared to hydraulics but looking at their lower total cost of ownership, eventually planetary roller screw linear actuators will become the preferred solution. Morielli-Bosch Rexroth: Any technologies that reduce costs, increase productivity and/or reduce energy consumption are in high demand. For example, some automation systems are still running after 20 years but Canadian manufacturers are operating at full capacity and can’t afford any unexpected breakdowns. As systems age, they become more expensive to repair. So we offer a range of scalable solutions to extend machine life while reducing risks during the changeover. In many cases, we offer the ability to replace the controls, for example, but leave the drives and motors intact, which can be replaced later. For machine builders, one of our hot products is our cabinet-free integrated servo drives that eliminate the need for a power supply in the cabinet. The power supply has its own enclosure mounted directly on the machine and the

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“So far, this year is turning out to be another good year for motion control. You hear about slowdowns in Europe, Asia and even the U.S. but we haven’t seen that in Canada.” –Anthony Morielli, Business Manager Factory Automation, Bosch Rexroth Canada

integrated drive/motors require only a single cable to daisy chain between them. Wallace – Beckhoff: The AX8000 modular servo drive system has been a good success for us, but the EL7200 series compact servo drive business continues to grow well. The drives are only 12 to 24mm wide, integrated directly into the DIN rail mounted I/O system, are less expensive and the power distribution is simpler. Basically, servo drive performance at stepper drive prices. In the past, servos were too expensive to use to have a packaging machine automatically reconfigure for a product changeover so they had manual ways of setting the machine

September | 2019

40 MotionControl: RoundTable

“A big trend is the ability to combine the functionality of two or three different cells into one. End users want to be able to integrate all their independent machines into a complete system, which allows them to build smaller, faster and more flexible machines.” – Calvin Wallace, Managing Director, Beckhoff Canada

up. These servo drives and motors allow for more flexible machine designs overall. The other area that is probably the most exciting is in our mechatronics product category. This includes our eXtended Transport System (XTS) and the new magnetic levitation XPlanar system. They are a fully programmable and flexible transport systems that move products around a machine or plant and users are always looking for better ways to do that. Newton – Advanced Motion: For us, robotics is highly in demand right now as is automation in general; basically, any technology that increases throughput has been very popular. That seems to be driven primarily by labor shortages and the general competitiveness of the marketplace. Also, to a certain extent, the government’s tax incentives, put forth nearly a year ago, helped stimulate some capital expenditures within our marketplace.

DE: What business trends do you see taking root in the industry? Osak-Electromate: New universally accepted safety standards are coming online in Europe and that technology is now migrating to North American control manufacturers. So we are going to see those standards integrated into servo drives and motion controllers soon. In addition, open source communication and standardized distributed fieldbus protocols have homogenized a once fragmented industry. The interoperability these provide is a huge benefit to customers in all industries. It’s also the primary driver of the fourth industrial revolution. After all, without industry standardization, Industry 4.0 doesn’t exist. Morielli-Bosch Rexroth: We’re seeing requirements for outof-the-box electro-mechanical systems. So we offer Cartesian systems with two or three axes for pick-n-place. Now, however, they’re fully assembled based on customer requirements and are factory tested with performance metrics, like position tolerance and cycle times, certified by the factory with pre-programmed controls. Another example is the smart press fit system – an electromechanical cylinder with a servo motor, drive and a sensor for pressing applications. Again, it’s a pre-programmed, out-of-the-box system, aimed at replacing pneumatic and hydraulic-based systems. Customers are also asking for completely assembled conveyors along with conSeptember | 2019

trols, PLC and HMI specifically for that conveyor. Machine builders are looking to off-load anything that can be provided by suppliers. Wallace – Beckhoff: A big trend is the ability to combine the functionality of two or three different cells into one. End users want to be able to integrate all their independent machines into a complete system, which allows them to build smaller, faster and more flexible machines. It also enables complete traceability within that process, eliminating the need to repeatedly reposition and identify the product as it goes from one station to the next. With intelligent transport systems like the XTS, because they’re very precise and 100 percent programmable, they allow end users to run many different variants of a product through a single machine. Of course, floor space is always important at the end user level, as well, especially for clean room and medical assembly applications. With intelligent transport systems, you can handle so many more processes around this track, which can significantly reduce floor space. Newton – Advanced Motion: One of the biggest trends we’re seeing is that IIoT is becoming mainstream; customers are asking for it. Manufactures are launching more products and we are certainly selling more product with those capabilities built in. For us, that’s opened up new opportunities and applications.

DE : As the need for engineering talent increases, how does your company attract/develop/retain employees?

Osak-Electromate: Often times, companies in our space look at whether we have the best technology, price or delivery as our competitive advantage. However, only one company can be the best in any one category. In the past, one area that we overlooked was the tapping of our human capital as a competitive advantage. So, in 2014, I became engrossed in researching how to improve that, specifically how company culture improves growth, productivity and so on. In 2015, we launched a major culture initiative at Electromate to drive employee recruitment, satisfaction, retention and engagement. Three short years later, the results were pronounced. In April 2018, we were recognized as the 26th best place to work in Canada for companies less than 100 employees and this past April we were ranked the 35th best Canadian workplaces. Electromate also budgets 1 percent of our annual gross sales on training, which is far more than any other company in our space. Altogether, it’s really helped attract new engineering talent which has fueled our ongoing growth. Morielli-Bosch Rexroth: One of the areas we’ve been focusing on in the last few years is recruiting graduates from colleges and universities with our junior development associate program. They participate in an 18-24 month program rotating between technical sales, engineering and operational departments. We expose them to what the industry looks like, give them a big picture view of the company and provide a www.design-engineering.com

MotionControl: RoundTable

chance to form networking connections. We also get involved early on with capstone projects at the university level, providing technology and technical support. For existing associates, we take a multi-faceted approach to development. We have self-learning online tools, internal training programs for technical and soft skills as well as factory experts giving product updates and training. We also support associates who want to continue their education at a college or university if it’s relevant to their work. Associates also have the opportunity to work anywhere in the overall Bosch organization. Wallace – Beckhoff: What we see is that, as experienced engineers learn about Beckhoff and the new automation technology we have and bring out consistently, they come to us looking to part of an innovative company. The last applications engineer I hired was exactly that. He had experience with our product and just wanted to be part of that. I think we’re at a point where we have some critical mass in that area. We also continue to work closely with technical colleges, especially in Ontario, Quebec and B.C. They are starting to do research, like the universities have for many years, and we’ve always been very strong with university research. That’s due, in part, to our powerful software package, TwinCAT 3. It lets machine builders program in familiar languages but also supports the more advanced programming

www.design-engineering.com DES_Sept_PivotPoint.indd 1

“For us, robotics is highly in demand right now as is automation in general; basically, any technology that increases throughput has been very popular. That seems to be driven primarily by labor shortages and the general competitiveness of the marketplace.” – Doug Newton, VP of Marketing, Advanced Motion & Controls

languages that researchers need to solve unique and complex problems that a traditional PLC couldn’t handle. Newton – Advanced Motion: One of the pillars of our organization is people, so we invest heavily in training, to ensure we give the person the career they desire. That includes internal, supplier training but also career-based training. So, it’s general technology training rather than about specific product. As a result, we want our people to invest in Advanced Motion & Controls Ltd for the long term, ensuring career self satisfaction. DE

September | 2019

2018-07-06 1:31 PM

MotionControl: FluidPower

Staying on

THE GRIND Electrohydraulic motion controller gives “feel” to a grinding robot. By Tim Gessner

or more than 25 years, Clansman Dynamics of East Kilbride, Scotland has been involved in material handling and processing technologies to support the metals foundry industry. Chief among those technologies is the design and construction of state-of-the-art robotic systems. Clansman robots lift and move castings as well as manipulate grinding heads to smooth off imperfections that result from the casting process. The robots are hydraulically powered to carry or exert heavy loads, and survive in harsh environments that involve a lot of external forces and vibrations. Before the advent of robotic solutions, operators could manually operate the grinding wheels for only so many hours per day, limiting productivity and factory output. A difficult and demanding task, Clansman saw an opportunity to automate the PRECISION, QUALITY AND VERSATILITY FOR THE

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Clansman Dynamics of East Kilbride, Scotland builds complex robots systems designed to lift and move castings as well as manipulate grinding heads to smooth off imperfections from the casting process.

process with a robotic grinding solution, but they needed a way to supply their robots with force feedback, the “feel” that guided the work of human grinding operators. Without reference to this feedback, an operator attempting to push the grinding head only a millimeter or two too far into the casting could result in damage to the part under the full force of the machine. The need for flexibility Most of the company’s standard robots use Clansman-designed analog electronics for motion control, as the advanced functionality of a programmable electrohydraulic motion controller is not required. The downside of this is that analog controllers lack flexibility. To add the flexibility of programmable control, Clansman has used Siemens and Rockwell PLCs with hydraulics interface cards, but they still needed their own custom circuits to provide the necessary pressure feedback. More recently, the company has started using a programmable multi-axis electrohydraulic motion controller from Delta Computer Systems in some of its more complex applications. Complex motion challenges What makes some of Clansman’s applications complex is that many of the axes have to seamlessly transition from tracking the motion of a control arm to following a computed trajectory. It then has to transition to maintaining force control. Finally, the control arm itself is controlled by the RMC and transitions from closed-loop to open-loop control, all the while feeling smooth and intuitive to the operator. “The complexity is increased by the fact that our machines feature long booms with heavy loads at the end of them and relatively small cylinders, which results in axes with very low natural frequencies,” Watson explained. Clansman’s grinding robot has three hydraulically actuated manipulator axes and three force feedback axes on the control arm actuated by brushless DC motors. The cylinders are instrumented with an SSI (synchronous serial interface) encoder and two pressure transducers each.

September | 2019 DES_Jan_Brecoflex.indd 1

www.design-engineering.com 2018-12-17 9:29 AM

MotionControl: FluidPower “The important things we needed from the motion controller were the ability to make very fine adjustments to position while keeping the force applied by the grinder at a reasonably low value,” said Richard Watson, a Clansman controls engineer. “Doing this manually, without a significant amount of practice, is very difficult, especially when working on rough surfaces.” Selecting a motion controller Following online research into motion controllers, Watson selected Delta Computer Systems’ RMC150. “It has built-in functions for active damping,” he said. “I also liked the fact that control loop gains can easily be changed on the fly. That’s important because the booms of the machine move around pivot points and the required gains of each axis motion equation vary a lot depending on the current position of that axis.” “The instruction set of the RMC is also much larger than the PLCs for controlling motion,” Watson added. “In particular, the Track Position command supported by Delta’s RMC controllers, which allows the following of a joystick master with velocity and position limits, works well with our manual controls. This enables us to use our standard control arm, which is much more intuitive to use for machine operators.” “I also like the fact that Delta’s RMCTools support software is fast and freely available,” said Watson. “I really like how fast the development process can be – you can move the axes with direct commands immediately to validate the hydraulic circuits.”

To control the hydraulically actuated force feedback axes on the control arm of its robotic systems, Clansman Dynamics’s turned Delta Computer Systems’ RMC150 controller.

Watson uses Delta’s Tuning Wizard software to get the control loop parameter gains close to optimal, and then manually fine tunes the system to get the active damping running properly. “I have been very impressed with the capabilities of the RMC,” concludes Watson. “The development time is short compared to other solutions we have tried and the flexibility allows us to quickly add new features to meet our customers’ individual requirements.” DE https://deltamotion.com

Tim Gessner is Director of Business Development, Europe at Delta Computer Systems Inc.

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44 MotionControl: Sensors

THE THREE R’S OF POSITION SENSORS

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hose old enough to remember the “good old days” recall that grade school focused on learning the 3 R’s: Reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithametic. In the world of sensors, there are also 3 R’s: Repeatability, Resolution and Response. As important as these sensor parameters are, there is often confusion about exactly what they mean and in what ways they tend to interact with each other. Repeatability Repeatability is a measure of the variation between outputs of a sensor-based measuring system in repeated trials of an identical mechanical input in a constant environment. Common practice is to use at least three repeated inputs, but five or more are considered an even better sample. Repeatability is usually evaluated by applying an averaging process to the output values. It is typically specified as a percentage of Full Scale Output or Full Span Output (FSO). Sometimes it is specified in absolute terms, such as parts per million or fractions of the mechanical units applicable to the actual sensor-based measurement. A constraint on repeatability measurement is that the trial inputs have to be applied in the same way, usually from a lower value to higher value, to eliminate any effects from hysteresis. Hysteresis error is a measure of the difference in system output when the mechanical input is rising up to the desired input value from a lower value compared to an identical input coming down from a higher input value to the desired value. For most contactless position sensors, hysteresis error is smaller than repeatability error. Resolution Resolution is a measure of the smallest change in the input to a sensor-based measuring system that will produce a measurable change in the electrical output from that system. While this may seem like a fairly simple concept, it is impacted by factors external to the sensor itself. The most significant of these is the signal-to-noise ratio of the system’s analog output. Electrical noise present on the system’s output can reduce the effective resolution of the system by masking any small changes in the sensor’s output. For example, if the sensor’s resolution specification is 0.25mV, but the system output noise and ripple is 2mVp-p, clearly sensor output changes smaller than 2mV will not be discernible within that noise. Thus, the actual system resolution is only about 12% of what the sensor resolution specification offers. Like repeatability, resolution is often specified as a percentage of FSO, but may also be specified in absolute terms, like fractions of the units of the actual sensor measurement or in bits for digitally-augmented measurements. Response Response denotes a sensor-based measuring system’s performance under dynamic input conditions; that is, when the system’s mechanical input is changing rapidly. It is particularly important to recognize that response is a measuring system parameter, not merely a sensor parameter or specification. www.design-engineering.com

MotionControl: Sensors In practice, there are several ways to characterize response, typically based on whether the system is a first order or second order system. Traditional analog systems have used Bode plots to show frequency response and phase lag for repetitive inputs. For step function response, three times the system time constant is a typical measure of dynamic performance. In digital sampling systems, the update rate for a specified number of bits is one of the preferred measures of response. Regardless of the choice of how to specify response, the ultimate purpose is to understand how well the measuring system can respond to a changing input before the system’s output becomes inaccurate, unusable or unstable. Interactions From the foregoing definitions, it is easy to see that a system’s repeatability could easily be affected by its resolution. In practice, sensor repeatability may be excellent, but measuring system repeatability cannot be any better than that permitted by the system’s resolution. While the interaction of repeatability with resolution in a measuring system is pretty easily understood, the interactions of resolution and response are not so straightforward. When the system’s mechanical input is changing rapidly, the effects of resolution on system output are usually masked by the larger effects of decreased system output due to limitations imposed by the system’s dynamic response. But if the mechanical input

to a position measuring system changes slowly or intermittently, especially in a jerky way, then the effects of stiction (static friction) come into play. Typically, the effects of stiction in position measuring systems can be non-linear and are often not very repeatable, so determining or characterizing system resolution can be much more complicated, if even possible. And because resolution interacts with repeatability, as noted above, measurement errors can increase substantially, particularly if the system is providing position feedback for closed-loop control. Of course, any effects caused by stiction will also appear as non-linearity in the sensor’s output. But because stiction effects are not very repeatable, digital linearization techniques to offset the non-linear effects will not be practical. For this reason, efforts to reduce stiction are usually necessary to minimize any measurement errors caused by stiction in very slow-moving or intermittent-motion positioning systems. These efforts can involve applying techniques such as “dither” – a low amplitude signal of high frequency that is input into the system to supplant stiction with much reduced dynamic friction – or by decreasing friction on the moving surfaces of the sensor by improving their surface finishes and by coating them with a lubricant. DE http://alliancesensors.com

This article was supplied by Alliance Sensors Group.

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MotionControl: ProductShowcase Automation HMIs

porates built-in FTP and Web servers as well as USB, Ethernet and SD memory card ports. http://hmi.idec.com

Machine Vision

IDEC Corporation released upgraded versions of its HG2G-V5 5.7-inch, HG3G-V8 8.4-inch, HG3G-VA 10.4-inch and HG4G-VC 12.1-inch HMI touchscreen models. All models use TFTLCD screens. The three larger-sized HMIs feature resolutions of 1024x768 pixels, while the 5.7-inch model remains at 640x480 pixels, plus brightness ranging from 600 to 800 cd/ m2. They operate at -20C to +60C, combined with IP66F, IP67F, Type 4X, 12, 13, Class I Division 2 hazardous location and UL 61010 approval ratings. In addition to Modbus TCP and Modbus RTU, the HMIs support BACnet/ IP, as well as 100 other serial and networking industrial protocols. Up to four protocols can be used simultaneously. The series also incor-

Basler launched ace 2, the next generation of its ace camera series. The four models in the ace 2 Basic and ace 2 Pro product lines feature Sony’s IMX392 sensor, offer 2.3 megapixels resolution at a frame rate of 51 fps in the GigE version and up to 160 fps with USB 3.0 interface. The ace 2 Basic models are equipped with Sony’s IMX392 sensor, offering 2.3 megapixel resolution. The four models of the ace 2 Pro line offer in-camera features including Compression Beyond which compresses image data directly in the camera’s FPGA, in real time and without sacrificing image quality. Pixel

Beyond uses an interpolation method to change the pixel size, allowing resolution to scale according to their requirements. http://baslerweb.com

Data Logger

Automation Direct announced the STRIDE Pocket Portal, a low-cost industrial wireless IoT end-to-end cloud data logger that connects industrial equipment and sensors to the cloud. The unit has an RS-485/power port, input/output port, browser interface. It also provides limited control with Modbus RTU write capability (up to 115.2k baud) and 3VDC discrete output logic. Unmonitored devices can be IoT connected and monitored with Modbus RTU, via 4 digital and 2 analog inputs. A Modbus device and

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MotionControl: ProductShowcase up to four discrete outputs can be remotely controlled using the Pocket Portal mobile app. The Pocket Portal IoT solution requires a Wi-Fi internet connection and a monthly data subscription. www.automationdirect.com

2-Finger Gripper SCHUNK introduced its Co-act EGL-C line of electric 2-finger parallel grippers, certified for collaborative operations with an actuation via 24V. The gripper is used for gripping and moving of medium-sized workpieces in case of flexible forces in collaborative operations in areas of assembly, electronics, and machine tool loading. It ensures safe gripping for workpiece weighting up to 2.25kg and is a pre-assembled unit with a robot interface. The integrated status display offers visibility of the application state at the operator’s eye level. https://schunk.com/ca_en

Harmonic Gearboxes Conic Systems released its Lifetime (LT) Series of zero-backlash harmonic gearboxes designed as a direct replacement of high ratio planetary gearheads. The series features a lifetime zero backlash characteristic and ratios of 50:1 to 200:1 in a single stage. According to the company, the series’ proprietary harmonic cup design allows for a high number of teeth to be engaged, giving the LT Series

higher torque and inertial loading capacity and repeatability better than 10 arc-sec. The LT gearheads feature a precision, double angular contact bearing on the output shaft allowing for designs with high radial and axial loads. Mounting is accomplished with a quick connecting motor coupling. The LT Series is available in metric sizes and NEMA 17, 23, 34 and 42 frames. www.conicsystems.com

Deceleration & Vibration Technology:

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Power Transmission Intelligent Plain Bearing

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Germany-based company igus announced that it has developed the world’s first intelligent plain bearing, made from a high-performance plastic that warns of failure. The body of the smart iglide plain bearing consists of two components: The internal, lubrication-free iglide material and an outer hard polymer shell that protects the bearing. To measure the amount of wear, an intelligent sensor is used between the two components. Sensor data can either be integrated by the machine to set off a warning light or sent directly to a control system. After analysis, the system can pass the data on to a customized web interface via the icom communication module. www.igus.com

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Automation Control Safety Products Safety shock absorbers Safety profile dampers

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www.design-engineering.com September | 2019

MotionControl: ProductShowcase Gearless Speed Reducers

Helical Gear Units

an integral NORD motor or with IEC or NEMA C-face motor adapters. www.nord.com

Motors and Drives Servo Drive Stock Drive Products/Sterling Instrument (SDP/ SI) introduced a line of Speed Reducers with traction drive technology. With only 6-moving parts, the reducer’s cooling and lubricating traction fluid regularly changes from liquidto-solid-to-liquid as the driving and driven elements interface in the drive. According to the company, the product features infinite ratios up to a ratio of 5:1, reduction of motor torque ripple, low vibration and noise level, and less maintenance than a conventional gearbox. Traction Drive is available in NEMA size 17 (S9117T-…) and NEMA size 23 (S9123T-…) in ratios 2:1, 3:1, 4:1, and 5:1. www.sdp-si.com

NORD Gear Corporation announced the addition of three NORDBLOC.1 line single-stage gear units: The SK 871.1, SK 971.1 and SK 1071.1. The units have a power range of 30 to 60 HP, a torque range of 3,540 to 8,850lb-in. and a ratio range of 1.41 to 8.09:1. They also feature the company’s UNICASE cast iron housing and optimized bearings. The new single-stage units come with the choice of two standard output shaft sizes: One to match what legacy customers are currently using and one to align with market standards. Mounted by foot, flange or a combination of both – plus featuring solid shafts with metric or imperial extensions – the line can be ordered with

B&R unveiled its ACOPOS P3 servo drive available with safety function Safely Limited Torque (SLT) which monitors torque up to SIL 2 / PL d. The torque is limited to the configured maximum value with the aid of current measurement integrated directly in the drive system. The maximum fault detection time is 8ms. In addition to providing

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ProductShowcase 49 safety to operators, SLT can also be used as a protective measure against overloading drive axes and brakes. According to the company, this allows for the use of less expensive mechanical components since there is no need to account for torque spikes. www.br-automation.com

E N A B L I N G A U TO M AT I O N

Integrated Motors Applied Motion Products announced it will introduce the SWM24IP-3DE Integrated Stepper Motor and TXM24IP-IDG StepSERVO Integrated Motor with dual-port communications for connecting to the industrial Ethernet network in September. The motors are IP65 rated and feature a NEMA 24 (60mm) mounting flange and a built-in encoder. The SWM24IP-3DE can perform stall detection and stall prevention functions. The TXM24IP-1DG utilizes Applied Motion’s StepSERVO Closed-Loop Stepper technology to increase acceleration, efficiency and accuracy while decreasing motor heating and noise. www.applied-motion.com

Integrated Servo Motor Tolomatic released its ACSI EtherCAT integrated servo motor and drive that can automatically configure the motor, actuator, safety limits and other key settings inside the controller. In addition to EtherCAT, options include EtherNet/IP, PROFINET and Modbus-TCP Ethernet. Tolomatic will mount the ACSI to the actuator of choice, configure it, test it and ship it under one part number. Set up and deployment is achieved via the ACSI TwinCAT 3 library. The ACSI is designed to internally close the position loop, removing the requirement for high-speed cycle times and high-performance hardware. www.tolomatic.com

Encoders Linear Encoder NUMERIK JENA introduced the LIKgo, a low-cost linear encoder. The sensor employs a two-field scanning principle that produces signals free of offset errors and phase errors. The measuring standard is a SINGLEFLEX steel scale tape with a width of 8mm and a grating period of 20µm. The interpolation and processing of the signals takes place inside the scanning head, thereby eliminating the need for additional electronics in the connector. Measuring steps down to 78.125nm are possible. Next to the incremental track runs a reference track with a non-reflecting reference mark. Other advantages include a small scanning head that weighs 5g. The scanning technology is resistant to contamination, due to its relatively large scanning windows. www.heidenhain.us

High precision, high load linear guides and Monocarrier™ actuators

Those are the goals for any automated system. Keep production moving for reliable output. Control quality and costs. In that effort, there’s no more committed partner than NSK. We’ve had our people on the ground and in the plant, for decades – delivering linear motion and integrated automation solutions for handling high loads with speed and repeatable precision. To get the results you need: Longer life. Enhanced productivity. Superior quality. And consistently lower operating costs. With NSK, you stay in motion. You stay in control.

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www.design-engineering.com September | 2019

MotionControl: ProductShowcase Absolute Encoders Curtiss-Wright Corporation’s Industrial Division has added Hiperface DSL Stegmann Absolute Encoders as part of the available Rockwell Automation feedback options for its GTX Series. With the release of the DSL encoder technology, customers can integrate Exlar GTX products with Rockwell Automation Kinetix 5500 and 5700 amplifiers. The GTX family is also part of the Rockwell Automation Enabled program, meaning GTX actuators can be selected within the RSLogix5000 programming software, like any Rockwell Automation product. www.curtisswright.com

functionality allows automatic optimization of control parameters. Integrated safety functions include STO (Safe Torque Off) and SS1 (Safe Stop 1). Both can be actuated using Profisafe, STO additionally using a terminal. Simotics 1FK2 motors are connected to the converters using a “One Cable Connection” (OCC), which includes the power conductors, encoder signal and brake —grouped together in a cable measuring just 9 millimeters in diameter. http://usa.siemens.com

Hygienic Servo Motor

Servo Drive System

Siemens released its Sinamics S210 converter line, with integrated safety functions, in an initial offering from 50–750 watts. Connected to higher-level controllers via Profinet, the Sinamics S210 is commissioned using an integrated web server. One-button tuning

Rockwell Automation debuted its Kinetix VPH hygienic servo motor line that includes a 316-grade stainless-steel housing and a smooth surface to meet the EHEDG and 3-A sanitary standards. The motor line is also IP69K rated and NSF certified. The motors integrate with the Allen-Bradley Kinetix 5500 and 5700 servo drive platform, using single-cable technology. The line offers six frame sizes (63, 75, 100, 115, 130, 165mm) with peak torque of 2.76…73.5 Nm (24.43…650.48lb-in.). Power rating ranges from 0.4…3.16 kW (0.54...4.23 HP) with voltage class options of 200V and 400V. www.rockwellautomation.com

Advertisers Index Advertiser Website Page

Advertiser Website Page

ACE Controls Inc.

www.acecontrols.com

igus Inc.

www.igus.com

AEM

www.ifpe.com

Industrial Encoder Corp.

www.globalencoder.ca

Aerotech, Inc

www.aerotech.com

J. W. Winco Canada Inc.

www.jwwinco.com

Allied Electronics

www.alliedelec.com

KHK-USA

www.khkgears.us/ 37

Amacoil Inc.

www.amacoil.com

Lapp USA, Inc.

https://lappusa.lappgroup.com

Aurora Bearing Company

www.aurorabearing.com

Lovato Electric

www.lovato.ca

Automation Direct

www.automationdirect.com

Main Manufacturing Products

www.mainmfg.com

Beckhoff Automation

www.beckhoff.ca

MOCAP

www.mocap.com 12

Bimba Manufacturing Co.

www.bimba.com

Myostat Motion Control Inc.

www.myostat.ca

Bosch Rexroth Canada

www.boschrexroth.com

NSK Canada Inc.

www.nskautomation.com

BRECOflex Co. LLC

www.brecoflex.com

PCO America

www.ca.pco-tech.com

Pivot Point Inc.

www.pivotpins.com

RotoPrecision Inc.

www.rotoprecision.ca

Clippard Instruments Laboratory Inc. www.clippard.com

Daemar Inc.

www.daemarinc.com

DELTA Computer Systems

www.deltamotion.com

Rotor Clip Company Inc.

www.rotorclip.com

Designatronics, Inc.

www.designatronics.com

RYCO Hydraulics Inc.

www.ryco.com

Designfusion

www.designfusion.ca 15

SCHUNK Intec Corp.

www.ca.schunk.com

ebm-papst Canada Inc.

www.ebmpapst.com

SEW-Eurodrive of canada Ltd.

www.sew-eurodrive.ca

ELESA USA Corporation

www.elesa.com

Spirol Industries, Ltd.

www.spirolcanada.com

Encoder Products Company

www.encoder.com

THK America, Inc

www.thk.com

Endress + Hauser Canada Ltd.

www.ca.endress.com

ULINE Shipping Supplies

www.uline.ca

Festo Canada, Inc.

www.festo.ca

Wainbee Ltd.

www.wainbee.com

HEIDENHAIN Corp.

www.heidenhain.com

September | 2019

www.design-engineering.com

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