Design World April 2016

www.designworldonline.com April 2016

INSIDE:

MOTION CONTROL: Stepper motor or servomotor: Which should it be?

PAGE 60

LINEAR MOTION: As the screw turns PAGE 72

CAD-in-the moves cloud closer to APR15-A&C Snipe_Snipe 3/13/15 2:39 PM Page 1

PNEUMATICS: The heart of your compressed air system PAGE 80

real-time sharing 92

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We’re available 9am - 6pm ET on weekdays.

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Stand-alone PLC units with discrete or discrete/analog I/O Expandable up to 142 I/O points NEW! CLICK Ethernet PLC units with built-in 10/100 Mbps Ethernet port starting at $129 FREE, easy-to-use programming software 2 year warranty

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There you will also find our FREE programming software. Download as much as needed or try before you buy:

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And our newest programmable controller line . . .

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Insights The magic of change You know that change has to be a big thing, if only by the measure of how many clichés there are about it. The reality is that change happens in all aspects of our lives, and there’s no doubt that it will affect engineering and manufacturing in the years to come.

At last month’s National Fluid Power Association annual conference, Scott Klososky gave a talk on how technology is changing the world. If you stop to think about some of the changes we’ve seen over the past few years in society and consumer businesses, it’s pretty incredible. One out of six marriages comes through online dating sites. Many people you know have probably bought from Amazon, but I’ll bet not one of them has actually ever spoken to someone at Amazon. Apple is the #1 music retailer and they have no music stores. Uber is the world’s largest taxi company, and it doesn’t own a single taxi. Facebook could be considered the world’s largest content company, and they generate none of it themselves. Airbnb is the largest hotelier today and it owns no real estate. Klososky thinks that banking and insurance will be the next two industries to see some major upheaval in how they do business.

Can industry be far behind? Automation is constantly changing things in our world, and some are guessing that within the next two decades, 35% of the jobs done by humans will be taken over by either software or robots.

Klososky said that companies need to decide how they should balance humans and technology. A customer-centered business needs to employ more people than one that is selling more of a commodity item. And leaders in each company need to start thinking strategically now, before their competitors use tech to pass them up.

First, ask how you think the world will be different in five years. How will customers be different? Technology? Regulations? Anything else that affects your business? Next, brainstorm with your colleagues what the top three trends will be at a 30,000-ft level, as well as the top three in your industry level, and the top three on a local level. Once you’re looking at this collected information, it becomes easier to decide how you’re going to have to invest in people, product and processes to address these impacts on your business.

If you act now, the coming change doesn’t need to be scary—it can be a positive for both your company and career. DW

Pa ul J. Heney - Edi tor i al D i re ctor pheney@wtwhme di a.com

On Twitter @ DW—Editor

4

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Te s c h l e r o n To p i c

What good is an MBA degree to an engineer?

Many moons ago, I spent about two years of evenings and weekends getting an MBA. I had a conversation about the degree back then with a neighbor. He had retired as the CEO of a family business. He didn’t have a business degree; his degree was in math. He’d married into the ceramic tile industry and worked his way up from entry level. His only other work experience was as an RAF navigator dropping depth charges on U boats from B-25 bombers.

Obviously, his lack of formal business training hadn’t hurt his career. And he was a bit bemused by my MBA curriculum. For example, he couldn’t see why there were multiple courses in marketing. “You can pick up everything you need to know about marketing in a day,” he said.

I recalled this exchange recently when Bloomberg Businessweek published a piece suggesting that high-tech Silicon Valley firms don’t think much of the MBA degree. One reason: Several prominent tech firms are headed by CEOs having science or engineering degrees rather than MBAs, or no degree at all. Examples include IBM, Oracle, Intel, Uber, Amazon, Yahoo!, Facebook, Twitter and Ebay. Businessweek found a number of tech firm mangers, even

a few with MBAs themselves, willing to trashtalk the degree.

Typical of the comments are those of Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, herself a Harvard MBA, who said “I don’t believe they (MBAs) are important for working in the tech industry.” A venture capitalist claimed people with MBAs “tend to get hired after the company is already successful and it becomes a very bureaucratic organization….

They will probably keep you out of trouble, but they won’t create any value.”

One of the few positive comments in the Businessweek piece came from an academic rather than from someone running a tech business. Sri Zaheer, dean of the University of Minnesota’s business school said, “I don’t buy into the argument that entrepreneurs don’t need an MBA. If they were a little more clued up about how to make money in their businesses, we wouldn’t see these tech bubbles and the craziness that happens every few years.”

Well, speaking as someone who holds an MBA, I’d say the process of getting the degree teaches you a number of things, but how to “make money” in a business isn’t necessarily one of them. I suspect most engineers don’t embark on the MBA route specifically to learn that skill.

After all, the basics of making money are pretty simple—sell a product for a lot more than it costs to make. Duh.

The real motivation for the degree is more likely a lack of opportunity for advancement in the ranks of most engineering departments. Perhaps with the notable exception of some high-profile startups, engineering operations often have a low ceiling when it comes to career potential.

It looks as though U.S. engineers aren’t the only ones trying to do something about career limitations. U.S. News & World Report says people from outside the U.S. make up more than 60% of the student body at several well-known MBA schools, including those at Syracuse, Hofstra, U. Calif.-Riverside, and R.I.T. But to the points raised by Businessweek, it’s debatable whether business school classes actually impart the smarts needed to succeed in business. Many would say business success takes vision, a quality in short supply even among experienced managers.

Consider the words of former Facebook engineer turned venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya. When commenting on business acumen to Vanity Fair Magazine, this is what he said: “I think what we’ve had is a handful of investors who have extreme vision who make great investments in things that are amazing businesses: Facebook, Google, Uber. And then everybody else reacts to that success by trying to do the thing that most approximates the thing that’s working. As a result, most of those businesses are fundamentally not good, they’re poorly run, and they never should have been invested in in the first place.”

Not said, but worth betting on, is that many of those specious investments were probably made by individuals with MBA credentials. DW

Le la n d Te sc h le r - Exec u t i ve Edi to r ltesc h ler@wtwh m edi a .co m

On Twitter @ DW—LeeTeschler 6

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April 2016

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D e a n Ka m e n ’s E n g i n e e r i n g

Why we shouldn’t be worrying about Skynet Edited by: Paul J. Heney • Editorial Director

We hear a lot in the news about robots or computers gaining intelligence or having consciousness. The trouble is they’re talking about very precise issues with very imprecise, subjective language.

Nobody has ever defined for me in a measurable, meaningful way what they mean by consciousness. They’ve never described in a specific, demonstrable, quantitative way, the characteristic that they would use to measure that and even to define artificial intelligence.

You don’t have to be that old to remember a day when adding machines were the method that people used to deal with—they’d watch rows and columns of numbers, and nobody assumed that an adding machine was conscious. It was full of levers and springs and wheels. Then we went to chips that are a million times faster

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than that adding machine. It’s been decades since calculating machines could outperform any human in doing the multiplication of tendigit numbers or finding the square or the cube or the cube root of any number. Yet, I don’t think most people worry that somehow, there’s a brilliant mathematician hidden in that calculator you carry in your phone or your pocket. They understand it’s an algorithm that’s been optimized and runs a specific program—and it can multiply by shifting left or shifting right or doing floating point.

The fact that it’s fantastic as a machine to do mathematical calculations does not make people think we should debate whether a calculator is a great mathematician. It’s not.

It never will be. It’s not conscious because it can do multiplication or division or any other mathematical function. We can take similar silicone-based devices and add anthropomorphic input and output, instead of a keyboard, so you can say, “Machine, multiply two times four.”

The fact that a machine can wag a mechanical tail on a relatively inexpensive toy doesn’t make that toy any more conscious than a Raggedy Ann doll that was a sack of cloth with some beads on it for eyes and a nose. The kids of 100 years ago carried that doll around like it was their baby.

Humans are very good at projecting humanity into the things we have. Today, we can make a robot that can synthesize speech or wink its eyes or distort the shape of its mouth from a frown to a smile. But it’s still a

machine doing those things and it’s us interpreting what we’d like there. I don’t think, no matter how realistic that machine is at projecting what we’ve designed it to do, that we should start ascribing to it un-natural, non-engineering characteristics.

Now, having said that, one could easily extrapolate that a human is nothing but an enormous piece of sophisticated, deterministic machine … and you could say that one day, in some ways, that machine will surpass our brain in many of those ways. Again, is a human truly deterministic?

If we were totally deterministic, you could remember what’s going to happen tomorrow as well as you can remember what’s going to happen yesterday—by having the processing power of your brain take a snapshot of the current situation, and as laws predict you can, knowing that the billiard ball is moving forward. It’s about to slam into those other three balls and they’ll all conserve momentum and take a very, very well-defined path. You could easily run that video back, which would show that if those three balls simultaneously hit that one ball, they come to a stop, and the cue ball would go flying back, and none of the laws of physics are violated.

Most people don’t get into the philosophical debate about whether the entire future is as well-defined as the entire past because we believe in Newtonian mechanics and causality and determinism.

If you want to think of those solutions as somehow being more humanoid, you’ll imbue them with your sense of their conscious. If you have an emotional attachment to that Raggedy Ann doll or to that little robot that smiles when it hears your voice, because somebody did a quick analysis of the spectrum coming out of your vocal cords, you can decide that that robot, because it responded to your voice and smiled, was conscious. All you’re doing is sliding along some arbitrary scale—your definition of conscious. But I don’t know that it has a basis in engineering. DW

April 2016

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l Contributors Spotlight

60 HURLEY GILL Senior Systems and Applications Engineer Kollmorgen

Stepper motor or servomotor: Which should it be?

TRAVIS SCHNEIDER Product Manager Parker Automation Group

72

As the screw turns Travis focuses on precision linear mechanics for Parker. He has an extensive background in motion control and has worked closely with many designers implementing electromechanical systems. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering.

Hurley is a 1978 Engineering Graduate of Virginia Tech who’s been in the

motion control industry since 1980. He often handles the toughest of applications for Kollmorgen, including those related to integrating mechatronics, servodrives, motors and controls; PID control, motors and generators, feedback transducers, PLCs, and more for processes and machine solutions.

1. What first attracted you to engineering/technology as a child?

No idea, I was raised on a farm where machinery and fixing things was a monthly if not weekly/daily necessity, and at 15 I started an informal apprenticeship working at a marine service station. I attended community college before transferring to Virginia Tech. When asked by the community college representative what I wanted to take, I asked what was their hardest program they had, and upon his reply, I said: Sign me up.

That is how I started my engineering career!

2. If you had not followed your current career path, what else would you have done?

We are all presented different opportunities as we grow, and from a young age the paths we take at any given time are so often based on where/when we received encouragement or didn’t, how or even if we were taught to read and write (at a young age), whether money was lacking or not, whether there was an attraction or rejection by another; with this knowledge, I can honestly say I have no idea.

I can say that if I could go back, I would change just about everything; but at this time, I do not see my engineering degree to be one of them.

3. What advice would you give a freshman engineering student?

I guess this is more encouragement: There are few degrees that can help you in life as much [as an engineering degree], regardless of what you decide to do, for it presents a great knowledge base and logical thinking ability that’s beneficial to have when expanding into (possibly now unknown) more specific fields of interest, be it engineering, science, medical, agriculture, law, business, linguistics, government or just everyday life.

4. What is your favorite fictional novel?

Captains and Kings by Taylor Caldwell. This novel based around historical events will forever be remembered as the work that opened my eyes.

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Te c h n o lo gy Fo r wa rd

Photo courtesy of Concept Laser

Additive manufacturing takes center stage

When Avi Reichental departed 3D Systems, you could argue that this move shifted the focus of the 3D printing market.

Investors and vendors appear to have turned away from consumer oriented, desktop 3D printers and are looking instead to additive manufacturing systems. The emphasis now is on how can these systems be used in a manufacturing production context.

While additive manufacturing systems have always been a strong part of this industry, it’s the metal additive systems that are receiving the lion’s share of attention today from vendors and investors. Aerospace, medical, offshore and industrial markets continue to report on the benefits of using additive for many projects.

In addition, vendors continue to explore ways to improve metal additive technology, and a lot is being accomplished.

Efforts are underway to improve build speed, develop new materials, and ensure repeatable quality in the parts. Plus, manufacturing customers are particularly interested in additive manufacturing and how it can be used with injection molding in a production capacity.

It’s refreshing to see more serious attention paid to additive for manufacturing. Even so, there are questions. Just what would it look like to have additive manufacturing systems alongside CNC machining centers, injection molding systems and other equipment? Given that in the U.S., manufacturing makes up about 12% of the economy, what impact could additive machines have? Could or will additive increase the percentage of

manufacturing’s role in the U.S. economy? Many believe so and are working toward that goal.

How will additive affect the distribution network? When you can more easily produce goods locally, what effect will additive have?

There are no immediate answers to these questions, but there is plenty of opportunity to explore them with experts in the industry. A number of 3D printing/additive conferences exist, but two key conferences are coming up in April and May. The Additive Manufacturing Users Group conference will be in St. Louis April 3–7. Many of the attendees at this show have years of experience working with additive systems, so there is a wealth of knowledge available here for you. This is more of an educational conference than a booth conference showcasing the latest equipment.

To see additive systems on display, check out SME’s RAPID Show and Conference, which will take place in Orlando from May 16–19. Vendors will be there to answer specific questions about their systems.

Both events offer plenty of opportunity to explore additive technology and discuss how it could fit with your production needs. DW

Le sli e La n gn a u - M a n ag i n g Edi to r lla n g n a u r@wtwh m edi a .co m

On Twitter @ DW—3Dprinting

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April 2016

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Co ntent s |

April 2016 • vol 11 no 4

|

designworldonline.com

F E AT U R E S CONTROL 60 MOTION Stepper motor or servomotor:

92

Which should it be?

CAD-in-the cloud moves closer to real-time sharing Though computer-aided design software is increasingly moving to a cloud-based, subscription-service model, founders of three-year-old CAD company Onshape Inc. say they offer the first fully cloud-based three-dimensional design software.

Servomotor and stepper motor technologies are indispensable in today’s mechatronic machine designs. However, clear understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of both make it easier to identify which is best for a given application.

MOTION 72 LINEAR As the screw turns

3D CAD

www.bearingtips.com

A Supplement to Design World - April 2016

Bearing Tips Supplement

Understanding the pros and cons of different linear screw drive actuators helps you make the best choice for your application.

Design equipment faster, smarter, and under budget with TiPS from leading suppliers.

80 PNEUMATICS The heart of your

98-106

• •

Lubrication: Oil or Grease? ........100

What is the difference between bearing shields and bearing seals? ........102

compressed air system If you learn the basics of air compressors, you can operate your pneumatic equipment more efficiently.

86 MECHANICAL How do minimum loads affect bearings?

We know that bearings have a minimum load built into the design. But why? Why do these relatively minimal forces have such a large impact on bearing performance?

ON THE COVER Developments in cloud-based CAD systems allow multiple users to work with the same files simultaneously. Courtesy of Onshape.

2015

DESIGN WORLD

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2015 O N LIN E

revenue over $3 million

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Con te n ts

Hybrid AC Motor Drives

*

•Easy to Install •No Programming •Simple to Operate KB’s Hybrid Drives™ provide variable speed for 3-Phase AC Induction motors from 1/8 thru 5 HP. These drives are available in 115, 208/230 and 400/460 VAC – 50/60 Hz with 1-Phase and 3-Phase Input.

4 .2 01 6 D E PA R T M E N T S

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04 Insights 06 Teschler on Topic 08 Dean Kamen 11 Contributors 12 Technology Forward

19 Engineering Exchange

20

20 Green Engineering

Chassis IP20

NEMA 1 IP20

NEMA 1 IP50

NEMA 4X IP65

26

22 R&D 26 Design For Industry

The NEMA 4X / IP65 drives are housed in a rugged die-cast aluminum enclosure with a hinged cover. *Microprocessor digital technology is merged with an easy to use analog interface. The Hybrid Drive™ set up and operation is simple and contains trimpot adjustments and jumpers instead of complicated programming.

Applications:

36 Design Notes 48 CAE Solutions 52 Robotic Trends 56 Internet of Things

Pumps • Ovens • Food Processing and Packaging Equipment • Conveyors • Fans • Actuators • Blowers • Door and Gate Openers • Elevators • Hoists • HVAC • Portable Equipment used with GFCIs

107 Products 112 Ad Index

Available Worldwide thru Authorized KB Electronics, Inc. Distributors

48

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Designed and Assembled in USA

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INSIDE:

MOTION CONTROL: Stepper motor or servomotor: Which should it be?

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Ever wonder how a hydraulic hose assembly is made?

A simple guide on how to manufacture an hydraulic hose assembly/ repair by Apex Fluid Power. This instructional repair video applies for all hydraulic hose types including multi-spiral, 4 wire, 2 wire, braided, as well as thermoplastic. posted by Michelle DiFrangia, Assistant Editor

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Teardown: Philips Sonicare Elite Series electric toothbrush Design World Executive Editor Lee Teschler and Associate Editor Michelle DiFrangia look at the circuitry inside this widely used electric toothbrush and find interesting details about its wireless charging circuitry and "sonic" drive powering the brush head.

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The 6 funniest robot fails The robots are coming! They’re in our offices, in our homes, and becoming more prevalent every day.

They’re also becoming more slick and amazing … most of the time. Here’s a look at some of the less impressive robotic advancements. Someday, we’ll all be chuckling about this with our robotic overlords, trust me.

TWITTER Compressed air fail: Sheet metal firm learns that size matters

by Ron Marshall, for the Compressed Air Challenge

posted by Paul Heney, Editorial Director

http://dwo.me/21DjaZw

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4/4/16 2:58 PM

» G re e n E n g i n e e ri n g

Motor technology reduces energy maintenance, noise

n Radius produces polyethylene pipes ranging from 16 to 1,200 mm and fittings for use by utility companies for gas and water transfer.

Radius Systems’ plant in Derbyshire, U.K., houses 14 extrusion lines, each of which produces polyethylene pipes from 16 to 1,200 mm, together with an injection molding facility making associated fittings for use by utilities companies for gas and water transfer.

Eight lines are powered by dc motors, many of which are more than 20 years old. However, Line 12 had a high usage rate and yet the 182-kW dc motor was regularly failing, leading to an increase in downtime and rising maintenance costs. The company estimates that the annual static and dynamic checks, brush changes and outsourced labor costs alone are about £2,000 per motor.

Inverter Drive Systems (IDS) was asked to carry out before and after monitoring of the dc motor on Line 12. This determines the energy savings while confirming that an investment in an ac motor and drive would meet Radius Systems’ three-year capital payback policy.

“Monitoring of the application is critical to the success of any installation,” said Phil Nightingale, sales engineer, IDS. “It allows us to accurately determine the real energy saving potential, which means we can size the ac motor and drive correctly. We are often able to reduce the size of the motor and drive package required while exceeding the production targets.”

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When Size and Performance Matters Medical-Industrial Actual Micro-Coax cable bundle diameter compared to a penny.

7.7mm

n Established in 1969, Radius Systems is the only provider to offer solutions

spanning the entire pipe life cycle.

19mm

Through monitoring IDS determined the speed range of the line’s dc motor, which revealed it was oversized for the application— hence consuming more energy than necessary. Also, despite the motor having been regularly maintained, it was 20 years old and nowhere near the efficiency for which it was originally designed.

It was estimated that potential energy savings from an ABB synchronous reluctance motor and drive (SynRM) package for Line 12 would be in the range from 8 to 15%, with a return on investment within two years. In addition, an excess of £2,000 cost avoidance is estimated with the removal of dc motor maintenance.

“To pick an exact production run that can give an accurate energy measurement is very difficult to quantify, hence the range from 8 to 15%,” said Rob Betts, engineering manager at Radius Systems. “The actual energy saving is dependent on several process variables, such as raw material type, different product ranges and profiles, the temperature at the die, and the barrel and the general ambient environmental conditions. For instance, energy consumption is higher on a cold day as more energy is needed to warm up the process.”

The SynRM is a 200-kW, 1,500-rpm, IE4 solution and together with the ABB industrial drive, ACS880, it offers a much higher efficiency than standard ac induction motors and drives. It is also a far quieter package than the existing dc motor.

“SynRM has given us a reduction in noise in the production hall which is a benefit we had not expected,” said Betts. “While we have not measured the noise levels, everyone has noticed a definite reduction across the plant, which in itself is a motivational measure.”

A challenge was presented by the physical footprint of the existing dc motor. “Dc motors tend to be long and thin,” said Betts, “whereas ac motors tend to be shorter but bigger in diameter.”

However, SynRM can be up to two frame sizes smaller than a conventional induction motor which is a benefit in the direct replacements of dc motors.

While SynRM is well tested on quadratic torque applications, like pumps, fans and compressors, there are fewer constant torque references—such as extruders. Despite the shortage of constant torque references Betts was confident in the solution.

“Would we consider a SynRM package again?

Most definitely; IE4 and higher efficiencies are the way forward, so provided the price is competitive, the return on investment can be justified and the technology can be delivered to our time frames, then we would have no qualms about using SynRM,” he said. “We have some 300 motors on-site, of which about 20% are variablespeed. Following the success of this installation and the support that we get from IDS, we have decided to standardize exclusively on ABB drives across the plant.” DW

Green Engineering_4-16_Vs3.LL.MD.indd 21

(42AWG/85 ohms)

Actual catheter cable diameter compared to a penny.

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3/30/16 10:50 AM

R&D R &D

A hot research area: Integrated circuits that work well above the melting temperature of lead Research into high-temperature semiconductors is yielding integrated circuits able to operate at temperatures close to those at which natural gas burns.

Someday, the bulky substation transformers

n Figure 1: Optical photo of the 6H-SiC IC chip

n Mehran Mehregany and Srihari Rajgopal

22

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that spread power from the utility grid to local neighborhoods could become a thing of the past. That’s because semiconductor devices made from silicon carbide (SiC) could remake the grid. The reason: Silicon carbide ICs and electronic components can operate at temperatures far higher than ordinary silicon-based semiconductors and handle electrical current more efficiently.

Besides restructuring the utility grid, SiC power devices could also revolutionize solar and wind energy creation by reducing the amount of energy lost during the uploading of power to the grid. And SiC ICs’ ability to operate at super-high temperatures may be one of the technologies that make hypersonic planes feasible.

To understand why SiC devices can handle high currents and temperatures, consider the behavior of a transistor. It acts as a switch that routes current.

Any transistor leaks a small amount of current, and as the ambient temperature rises, so does the leakage current. At some temperature point, this leakage is large enough to compromise the circuit. This leakage is in big part determined by an intrinsic material property—the bandgap. The wider the semiconductor material’s bandgap, the higher the temperature point to which the leakage is acceptable.

SiC has a bandgap ~2.6x that of Si, making it particularly well suited for high temperature electronics. Other factors also contribute to making SiC a leading candidate for high temperature ICs. The commercial drivers for SiC have been in the fabrication of light emitting diodes and high-power electronics (for power conversion and motor control). These commercial thrusts have resulted in better wafer quality with fewer

Mehran Mehregany is the Veale Professor of Engineering Innovation at Case Western Reserve University, Director of the Case School of Engineering San Diego, and Editor of a recent book titled “Wireless Health: Remaking of Medicine by Pervasive Technologies.”

Srihari Rajgopal is a Research Associate in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science of Case Western Reserve University.

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Thermal Materials • Thermal Substrates • Fans and Blowers

4/4/16 9:40 AM

R&D R &D

n Figure 2a: Optical photo of a single-stage

defects, as well as advances in processing technology, such as doping, etching and electrical contacts.

Circuits based on the junction field-effect transistor (JFET) are the most technologically mature in SiC high temperature electronics. AT CWRU, we have designed, fabricated and tested several JFET-based circuits on what’s called 6H-SiC, a specific crystal form (or polytype) of SiC, to 600° C. (Ordinary silicon ICs are typically capable of operation to ~85° C) Figure 1 is an optical photo of a 6H-SiC chip with basic JFETs and circuits like differential pairs, single-stage amplifiers, two-stage amplifiers, transimpedance amplifiers, and digital logic blocks like NAND, NOR and inverter. Figure 2a is an optical photo of the single-stage amplifier for which the ac response is shown in Fig. 2b. The variation in the differential voltage gain from room temperature up to 450° C is less than 1.4 dB.

amplifier with current source load and a cascoded driver

Our work continues on multiple fronts: a) porting the circuit designs from 6H- to 4H- wafers due to the rapid adoption of the latter by the high power device industry, and the phasing out of the former; b) developing new designs for targeted applications; c) interfacing circuits with sensors; and d) characterizing and improving performance of the constituent insulating films of the IC. DW

Your Servos Are Fast, So Are We

n Figure 2b: Measured differential mode gain of Fig. 2a type amplifier at various temperatures

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military/aerospace

1

0

» Design for Industry

offshore

” Intelligent” fan trays keep electronics cool

Summer temperatures in Abu Dhabi routinely exceed 40° C, so even in air conditioned control rooms, effective thermal management of electronic equipment is critical if operational life is not to be significantly reduced.

Verotec has supplied Yokogawa with several hundred modified intelligent fan trays, destined for the new Umm Lulu offshore development located 30 km offshore, which is expected to produce up to 100,000 barrels of crude oil a day when fully operational in 2017.

Yokogawa selected Verotec’s 1U, 19-in. intelligent fan trays because of their high airflow, low noise, low power consumption and controllability. A significant consideration was that Verotec was able to offer rapid delivery from order placement for units modified to withstand the harsh operating conditions of an oil rig. For the project, the audible over-temperature alarms were not required as each fan tray is individually monitored as part of the overall system 26

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management function, enabling the cost to be reduced. As the salt-laden atmosphere, found even inside the control room, causes rapid corrosion, the fan trays’ PSU and control electronics were protected by a 50-µm polyurethane conformal coating that was third-party verified as meeting the G3 Harsh requirements of ANSI/ISA S71.041985, Environmental Conditions for Process Measurement and Control Systems: Airborne Contaminants. DW

Verotec verotec.co.uk

www.designworldonline.com

3/30/16 2:27 PM

Motion Control Solutions for any Mission, Any Environment

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Elmo 4-16.indd 27

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military/aerospace

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0

Âť Design for Industry

energy

More efficient solar panels Solar panels are touted as energy efficient devices. These photovoltaic modules HIT N330 and N325 achieve up to 36% higher yield per square foot, and help lower the installation and balance of system costs per kilowatt over conventional panels.

The panels use a hetero-junction cell structure made of mono-crystalline and amorphous silicon layers. This design enables them to achieve energy efficiency with the same dimensions as traditional solar panels.

The solar panels employ 96 cells compared to conventional 60-cell panels.

The N330 and N325 have 4.95 and 4.88 kWp capacities respectively on 20 Ă— 20 ft (400 ft2) rooftop with 15 modules, while a conventional 60-cell, 260-W panel with the same setup achieves only 3.9 kWp capacities on the same dimension roof.

The pyramid cell structure enables this efficiency, absorbing more sunlight to generate power and provide higher efficiency than rougher, more reflective conventional crystalline structures. The water drainage frame removes water from the panel surface, even in low angle installations, avoiding accumulation or water stains after drying which can reduce power output and harm efficiency.

The solar panels are made using stateof-the-art techniques to perform at high temperatures with minimal degradation on quality or efficiency. DW

Panasonic Eco Solutions North America panasonic.com/business/pesna/eco-construction-solutions

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food/beverage

3 POWER TRANSMISSION

0

RETAINING DEVICES &

Conveyor increases sanitation and pocket capacity

maintenance & assembly tools BEARLOK

SHOELOK

BEARLOK Shrink Disc

BEARHUG

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Materials of: CARBON, ALLOY and HARDENED ALLOY STEELS Materials of: ALLUMINUM and CORROSION RESISTANT STEEL

It’s a staggered sidewall belt that’s unlike anything you’ve seen before. The staggered sidewall belt for the AquaPruf VBT Conveyor features Vertical Belt Technology, which makes it easier to clean and sanitize, provides greater pocket capacity, and requires less maintenance than a traditional bucket elevator.

This sanitary conveyor is a redesign of the industry standard pleated sidewall belts commonly used for vertical lift conveying applications.

The belt itself is made from an FDA-approved and USDA-certified food safe urethane belt material for elevating bulk products in 90° sanitary applications, such as: vegetables, fruits/grains/nuts, popcorn, pet food and pharmaceuticals. Additionally, the belt offers15% more pocket capacity and improved product release than traditional sidewall belt designs.

Both the pockets and staggered sidewall cleats are RF welded for heavy-duty bond strength. Each sidewall cleat offers 80% less bond area compared to a traditional sidewall belt. This configuration helps reduce failure points and lowers both cleaning time and water usage. And, unlike belts used on traditional sidewall belt conveyors, which must be entirely replaced if damaged, staggered sidewalls can be independently replaced using a simple heat iron in a matter of minutes—at the facility. Belt speed is up to 100 ft/min.

Dorner Manufacturing dornerconveyors.com

April 2016

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DESIGN WORLD

 

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NUTS & WASHERS

HARDENED TONGUE WASHERS

SPLIT COLLAR

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3/30/16 2:45 PM

4

0

» Design for Industry

safety

Safety switches deliver flexible protection When the need for safety focuses on who can have access to equipment, one option is the family of sensorPRO contactless safety switches.

These switches come with a range of RFID-coded sensors that provide flexible protection against unauthorized access or manipulation for machine operators and equipment. The RFID-enabled STS series safety switches are available in three coding options: unique, which exclusively accepts input signals from its factory-paired actuator; fully-coded, which can be programmed to accept input from a specific STS actuator; and coded, which can accept input from any STS actuator.

The safety switches are reliable, contactless devices that can be used as stand-alone safety switches or wired in series in sets of up to 30 sensors, while maintaining PLe/Category 4 safety ratings. They can actuate in five operatordefinable directions of approach with actuating distances of 8 mm, providing machine design engineers with the flexibility to use the switches even when the device that requires monitoring has large mechanical tolerances, or is removable, rotatable or moves sideways. The switches are also rated for

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IP69K protection for use in harsh environmental conditions, including high-pressure and high-temperature washdown applications.

“The various coding options allow machine design engineers to achieve enhanced safety, tamper resistance, and compliance with the ISO 14119 coding level requirements,” said Martin Lalonde, application engineer at Wieland Electric. “They can be monitored with conventional safety controllers or own their own, thanks to their integrated, stand-alone control logic with an integrated reset/EDM input and sizeable 400 mA short-circuit-proof OSSD outputs.”

Available in two flush-mountable housing sizes—STS 01xx (36 × 26 ×

13 mm) and STS 02xx (88 × 25 × 13 mm)— with standard M12 connectors or pre-wired cables, STS series safety switches are rated for 24 Vdc input voltage, and feature two OSSD (output signal switching device) output circuits rated for 400 mA, and a 50 mA diagnostic circuit. Each device also features two safety input circuits, and can be configured for external device monitoring (EDM) input for both manual and automatic start. A three-color LED display provides extensive visual diagnostic capabilities. The switches are rated for operation between −25 and 70° C (60° C for UL), and carry cULus and TÜV approvals. DW

Wieland Electric wielandinc.com

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We’ve Covered All The Angles -Without Contact With more than a thousand different series, models, sizes, and options there is a Novotechnik non-contact rotary position sensor to match your application, and there’s one very good reason to choose Novotechnik: A level of precision that’s unmatched in the industry. Whether you’re looking for non-contacting, or even touchless, single-turn, or multi-turn rotary position sensors, Novotechnik has the sensor you need.

For complete information, visit www.novotechnik.com/ncr

Setting A Higher Standard: • Operating lives to: unlimited movements • Independent linearity to ± 0.3º • Resolution to 0.09º • Repeatability to <0.03% of signal range • Maximum rotating speed to: unlimited rpm

DFI 4-16_Vs4.LL.MD.indd 31

• Sample rates to 10 kHz • Sealed to protection class IP 69 • Absolute measurements to 360º • Housing diameters from 13 mm • Shaft diameters from 1.2 mm • Operating speeds to 78,000 rpm

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Novotechnik U.S., Inc. 155 Northboro Road • Southborough, MA 01772 Telephone: 508-485-2244 Fax: 508-485-2430 Aprilwww.novotechnik.com 2016 DESIGN WORLD 31 Web:

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» Design for Industry

medical

Keep it cool Some materials in medical applications, such as high

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temperature polymers, cannot be cooled due to their moisture absorption properties. For these situations, one solution is the Stainless Steel Conveyor (SSC), which cools highly hydroscopic materials during strand pelletizing. The cooling conveyor is for materials such as bio-based plastics, highly filled metal compounds, and certain polymers used in the medical industry that are water soluble.

The cooling conveyor uses a solid stainless-steel belt instead of the standard perforated plastic belt, which typically allows water and air to pass through it. The conveyor belt employs a thin continuous sheet of solid stainless steel to carry the strands, and cooling water under the belt provides the majority of the cooling by transferring heat through the thin layer of metal.

Fans placed over the conveyor bring the temperature down an additional few degrees.

The cooling conveyors are available as custom-built units to meet unique requirements of laboratory and specialty compounders. DW

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Same for 2 or 120 motors.

That’s all there is. Simple!

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medical

» Design for Industry

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Intrinsically safe temperature and humidity data logger These data loggers suit medical applications that require equipment to be used in harsh environments. The OM-CP-TEMP1000IS-A and OM-CP-RHTEMP1000IS-A intrinsically safe data loggers offer a compact design and portability for placement into hard-to-reach locations.

Features include a 316 stainless steel enclosure, fast response times and faster downloads.

A docking station is available for full communications, no more removal of end-caps to download data. By using the latest software, data can be downloaded or exported for easy analysis. Both data loggers are certified for Class I, Div. 1, Groups A, B, C and D and non-incendive for Class I, Div. 2 Groups A, B, C and D environments. This certification makes these devices suitable for EtO sterilization, environmental studies, medical and pharmaceutical and numerous other hostile environment applications. Applications include monitoring temperature and humidity in sterilization processes, environmental studies, chemical/petrochemical testing or R&D labs. DW

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» Design for Industry

off-highway

Maintenance free hazardous duty brakes The MagnaShear hazardous duty brakes use oil shear technology to provide longer service life with virtually no maintenance or adjustment. These brakes now meet Class I and Class II Div. 2 specifications (Div. 1 in process with approval forthcoming).

With spring set torque ratings from 3 to 900 ft-lb available, these motor brakes can be sized to the correct torque independent of the motor frame size or horsepower. They also feature “quick mount” features for quick and easy mounting to drive motors in NEMA frame sizes 56 to 405.

These motor brakes are totally enclosed from outside contaminants, with seal integrity for harsh and washdown environments. A modular design/assembly allows for ease of servicing and maintenance. They suit applications where the motor is reversed each cycle, such as cranes, winches and hoists, as well as ship and railcar loader/unloader conveyors, tippers, sweep samplers and more.

Proven oil shear technology transmits torque between lubricated surfaces—thereby eliminating wear on friction surfaces, providing longer service life with no maintenance or adjustment. A patented fluid recirculation system dissipates heat—eliminating heat build-up, which is the most common problem in dry braking systems.

The oil shear technology also provides a smooth “cushioned” stop, which reduces shock to the drive system, further extending service life of downstream components.

The totally enclosed MagnaShear brakes are impervious to moisture, dirt and dust that are common in coal prep plants as well as the bulk handling of coal, aggregates and more.

Unlike dry brakes, oil shear technology includes a layer of automatic transmission fluid between the brake disc and the drive plate. As the fluid is compressed, the fluid molecules shear—thus imparting torque to the other side. This torque transmission causes the stationary surface to turn, bringing it up to the same relative speed as the moving surface.

Since most of the work is done by the fluid particles in shear, wear is virtually eliminated.

Elimination of wear also eliminates the need for adjustments common for dry braking systems.

In addition to transmitting torque, a patented fluid recirculation system helps to dissipate heat.

Along with heat removal and torque transmission, the fluid serves to continually lubricate all components of the oil shear brake, elongating their service life.

MagnaShear motor brakes can be furnished to fit a NEMA or IEC frame motor, as a complete motor and brake assembly, or to mount on a machine frame or other special mounting configuration. DW

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M I C R O H Y D R AU L I C S.

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For more than 65 years, we’ve been engineering stateof-the-art microhydraulic components with diameters as small as 0.10 in. and weighing as little as 0.1g, but able to withstand pressures up to 8,000 psi.

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» D e s i g n N o te s

Edited by: Mike Santora • Associate Editor

Gearboxes power high performance electric vehicles From a power transmission standpoint, Electric Adventure Vehicles (EAVs) pose an interesting design problem.

On one hand, they require transmission components that are not too heavy or bulky. On the other, they need lots of torque or they won’t be much fun to drive. When Outrider USA, which manufactures a line of EAVs, looked to solve this torque density problem, it chose a Neugart planetary gearbox.

Outrider makes two basic models of EAVs: the Alpha, built for everyday use on gravel and streets, and the Horizon, for off-road cycling. Both models have four variants, each with a variety of design features for able-bodied and disabled riders alike. These configurations include: off-road handcycles, foot pedals, rising seats and adaptive tri-pin hand controls. Each model can be outfitted with 1 to 4 kWh. For high-speed road applications, Outrider chose the single-stage version of the Neugart PLQE 60-mm gearbox, which has a 5:1 gear ratio.

In applications where lower speeds are needed, the design team used a two-stage version with a 15:1 gear ratio.

Both gearboxes have identical mounting configurations, the difference being that the two-stage is slightly longer.

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Electric Advent ure Vehicles (EAV’s) pose an int eresting design problem. On the one hand, they re quire transmission components that are not too heavy or bulky. On the other, they need lots of torque or th ey won’t be much fu n to drive.

“It’s a nice, simple system that directly couples with the planetary transmission and transmission drive,” said Outrider Co-founder, Lead Designer and CTO Tommy Ausherman.

One of the biggest challenges Outrider engineers faced was finding a gearbox with enough torque density to handle Designing for torque density up to 13,000 rpm. Since EAVs use a Outrider engineers initially struggled to find high-performance motor, the gearbox transmission components that met their they selected had to meet both rpm performance standards, packaging requirements, requirements and desired output torque. weight and cost targets. They considered several Most smaller gearboxes can handle the options, including a two-stage belt drive. However, rpm requirements, but offer less torque this option didn’t provide the necessary reduction than needed in this application. With up for all of Outrider’s different models. Had they to six planets, the PLQE 60 has a higher gone down this route, they would have needed a torque density in its given frame size than three-stage belt drive that would have taken up almost three times the space of the PLQE gearboxes with fewer planets.

Outrider engineers also took advantage planetary gearbox. of the ability to overload the gearbox, cranking up the speeds and Outrider makes torque. The gearboxes in this two basic mod els of EAVs: the Alph size have a regular torque rating a (shown here), built for everyd of 40 Nm. Even when overloaded, ay use on gravel and streets, and the the gearbox can maintain its Horizon, for off-road cycling. performance.

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For high-sp eed road a pplication there’s the si s, ngle-stage ve rs ion of the PLQ 60-mm gear E box, which ha s a 5:1 gear ratio. In applic ations where lower speeds are needed, th ey use a twost age version with a 15:1 ge ar ratio. Both ge arboxes have identical mou nting configur ations.

» D e si g n N o tes

Since the PLQE 60-mm gearbox weighs only about 2 lb, it helps keep the drive system weight low at roughly 7 lb. Outrider’s powerdense drive system puts out about 5.5 hp out of a 7 lb package—almost a pound per horsepower.

For most gearboxes, you need an adaptor for connecting the motor and gearbox. This adds extra costs, weight and dimensions to the system. However, the PLQE 60 comes with a direct motor attachment (DMA) for easy, direct mating to the EAV’s motor. This integrated, space-saving design reduces weight and costs, and cuts down on size. The PLQE 60 also comes with an attached flange for easier mounting and rigidity, creating a stiff

connection for the drive system.

The PLQE 60-mm gearboxes have other features that were useful in this EAV application as well. Outrider needed a low-noise model that didn’t sacrifice other important attributes— they didn’t want a gearbox where the wind up overpowered the electric motor’s hum.

Efficiency was also crucial.

In a single stage, these gearboxes have a 97% efficiency rating. On the other hand, their double-stage gearboxes are 94% efficient.

Outrider knew that using an efficient gearbox would increase both the power density and lifespan of their system. DW Neugart neugartusa.com

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» D e s ign N o te s

Edited by: Mike Santora • Associate Editor

Diaphragm coupling helps polymer resin pumps When a global petrochemical company

had a coupling failure on a polymer pump in one of its larger resin processing facilities, the problem caused expensive, time-consuming production line shutdowns.

Ameridrives was contacted to fix the problem and ensure that it didn’t happen again. Gear couplings were initially installed on all the polymer pumps between the pumps and gearboxes in this high-torque, low-speed (50 rpm) application.

However, keeping all the expensive gear couplings properly lubricated throughout their plants around the world proved to be a tough challenge.

After reviewing the situation, engineers recommended replacing the gear couplings with diaphragm couplings, which can run continuously and require no lubrication or maintenance (unlike gear couplings, which require maintenance at six-month intervals).

The couplings are typically used in high-performance, high-speed applications.

In this instance, the Ameridrives team collaborated with industry experts to

provide custom-designed diaphragm couplings to meet the resin pump requirements. Many custom couplings were delivered in a variety of sizes and configurations with torque ranges up to 1,100,000 Nm (10,000,000 in.-lb). One example is a 10-ft-long, 23-in.-diameter coupling that features specific split retaining rings on both the pump and gearbox end hubs, multiple convoluted diaphragm pack flex elements at each end, and a special spacer configuration for added stiffness in this dual output application. An integral indexing/timing device aligns the coupling with the mixing blades of the polymer pump. DW Altra Industrial Motion altramotion.com

After ca reful re view of situatio the n, engin eers reco replacin mmend g the ge ed ar coupli diaphrag n g s with m coupli n g s, which run cont inuo can lubricatio usly and require no n or main tenance .

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» D es i g n N o te s

Edited by: Mike Santora • Associate Editor

What you need for fast and easy bottling machine implementation

Creating a fast bottle labeling (o r cupping) machine req uires the de sign and executi on of comple x and dynam ic ECAM movements .

Creating a fast bottle labeling

(or cupping) machine requires the design and execution of complex and dynamic ECAM movements. There are many challenges involved in operating more than 60 integrated motor/drives on a fast rotating platform and transferring high-power and high-speed EtherCAT communications through slip rings.

This type of design would require manipulators using the rapid and complex control of rotating mechanics that operate in a vibrating, humid and extreme temperature environment. In addition, there is the requirement of transmitting deterministic and “signal integrity” sensitive communication through the slip ring media. This could involve substantial time and many weeks of intensive work, requiring high-level expertise with considerable experience.

Advanced motion control by Elmo simplifies and eases the implementation process to the level of ordinary engineering, and shortens the motion control design and operation to less than three days.

The Smart Software toolbox simplifies the process of motion development. It contains two groups of tools, the first group is an integral part of the EASII advanced 40

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April 2016

tools used in the configuration stage of the development. The second group is a set of “motion blocks” (EMBL, Elmo Advanced Motion Blocks), Libraries and Machine Templates that simplify programming requirements. These are usually used in the process development stage of the machine. The two groups complement each other for simple implementation in the fastest timing.

“Intelligence by simplicity” not only eliminates the need for multi-disciplinary engineers, but also improves the motion control performance and significantly shortens the time to market while saving engineering resources.

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» D e s i g n N o tes

Gold whistl e servodriv es are integrated in side the mo to rs. This simplifies th e rotating ca rousel, saves space and weight, and restricts the cabling to o n ly dc bus plus EtherCA T communic a tion cables.

Integrated motors Small gold whistle servodrives are integrated inside the motors. This simplifies the rotating carousel, saves appreciable space and weight, restricts the cabling to only dc bus plus EtherCAT communication cables, and “shrinks” the electrical cabinet. This “no-cabling” reduces the induced EMI and improves the noise immunity.

Gold Servodrives The G-WHI servodrive is tuned for wide bandwidth and fast response by overcoming the non-linearity of the mechanical load. This allows stable operation, high throughput and error-free operation.

The Maestro The whole orchestra of 60 servodrives is conducted by the Maestro, controlling and supervising the entire bottling process. This multi axis controller handles the complex motion scenario by operating in conjunction with the GOLD Servodrives.

A rotating platform is used for high-speed bottle labeling and cupping. Bottles are automatically fed into the machine and transferred to the rotating platform. The rotating platform consists of 60 small footprint DUETs, an integrated Drive/Motor. The DUETs are essential components in this machine due to the limited

size of the rotating platform. The DUETs are positioned on the rotating platform, and use direct coupling to ensure the precision of rotation during camera image capturing.

Engineers designed the compact motor/high power drive for limited machine space. It uses high resolution absolute feedback for precision and servo control performance. The DUETs must be rugged enough to withstand the mechanical vibrations of the rotating platform. The minimum cabling used here results in minimal external noise and low EMI and RFI.

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Design Notes 4-16_Vs5.MS.LL.MD.indd 42

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The DUETs mus t be rugged enough to with stand the mecha nical vibrations of th e rotating platfo rm.

The minimum ca bling used here results in minim al external noise and low EMI an d RFI.

Complete Solutions Increased Productivity Starts Here

ECAM builder tool Four high-speed cameras are located at the stationary section of the machine. When bottles pass through a camera, a snapshot is taken and transferred to a host computer. The host computer processes the picture data and calculates the exact label position using an image processing algorithm. The bottle rotation is controlled by the Maestro, which sets the initial target labeling position and waits for the ECAM execute operation to start. The ECAM function running on the Maestro is one of the key functionalities used to operation this machine. All slaves operate in DS-402 standardized cyclic synchronized position mode of operation. The Maestro and EASII allow high interpolation levels for smooth motion trajectories with a minimum number of ECAM points. It enables fast dynamic table calculations, execution, table switching, multi-hierarchy topology building and virtual axis synchronization.

The advanced EASII, Elmo Application Studio ECAM tool combined with Elmo’s EMBL (Elmo’s Motion Block Libraries), allow fast design and testing of the ECAM trajectories to raise the machine level to operational within a matter of days. DW Elmo Motion Control elmomc.com

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PHD offers an extensive line of pneumatic actuators that are known for long life and high quality. Over our 59 years of innovation, we have extended our product offerings to include built-to-need components, drop-in components, electric actuators, specialty workholding clamps, and motion control robots. From single actuator solutions, to multi-unit systems, PHD and Yamaha Robotics can provide complete solutions for practically any application requirement.

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Designing and Manufacturing Custom Products for

AGRICULTURE & CONSTRUCTION

SPRINGS, RETAINING RINGS, STAMPINGS, & MACHINED PARTS

» De sign Note s

Edited by: Mike Santora • Associate Editor

Open and shut case: Linear-rotary motors smooth out closure processes Engineers from Tölke, a packaging machinery specialist, were looking to design

Springs & Parts for Engines, Transmissions, Clutches, Brakes, Chassis, Suspensions, Hydraulics, Tillage/ Sprayers, & Vibratory/ Material-Handling Equipment for Agriculture & Construction Equipment, Advanced In-House Engineering, Development Processes, & Metallurgy Expertise Customer Collaboration & Support for Design, Prototyping, & Pilot Production ISO 9001 • Made in the USA

closure processes with more flexibility using linear-rotary motors instead of conventional cam disc technology. This need led the Tölke design team to outfit its new filling and closing line with linear-rotary motors from LinMot. The company had already taken several measures to add flexibility to its filling and closing machines that used conventional cam-stroke technology. By using transport cups with identical outer shapes and individualized inner contours, often only the cups had to be swapped out for a product changeover. If it was necessary to swap out all of the part-specific components of a machine, then Tölke made sure that this could be done quickly by hand, with no tools required.

However, if the closing process itself needed to be modified for a product changeover, it was necessary to change out the mechanical cams involved in the screwing process. This is a time-consuming and costly process. As a result, Tölke built a carousel machine with 16 closing stations for an application with frequent product changeovers. The entire screwing process now uses a model PR01-84 linear-rotary motor at each station.

e otors, part of th The electric m ecially sp e er w LinMot, PR01 series from wing re sc d e closing an developed for th r ea mbine both a lin process. They co a ry direct drive in motor and a rota t) Mo Lin g. (Photo: compact housin

Learn more at: www.mw-ind.com (847) 349-5780

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Design Notes 4-16_Vs5.MS.LL.MD.indd 44

MADE IN THE USA

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Experienced Manufacturer of Critical to Safety Components for

TRANSIT MARKET SPRINGS, FASTENERS, MACHINED PARTS, WIRE FORMS, STAMPINGS, SHIMS, & ASSEMBLIES

and closing Flexible filling Tölke for output machine from 300 bottles/min capacity of up to mes of up to and a filling volu lke) 250 ml. (Photo: Tö

This electric motor, part of the PR01 series, was specially developed for the closing and screwing process. It combines both a linear motor and a rotary direct drive in a compact housing, each of which is controlled separately; any combination of linear and rotary motions can be implemented.

“For the rotary part of the screwing process, we have been using a rotary servomotor instead of a pneumatic motor wherever the screwing application requires a defined turn angle and a defined torque, as well as when we require a product changeover at the push of a button,” said Franz-Josef Patzelt, one of the managing directors of Tölke.

New, however, is the use of an electronic linear axis in the closer. “The cap needs to be picked up, placed on the bottle, and then guided so as to provide optimal support for the rotary motion,” said Markus Kröger, the Tölke project manager responsible for this job. “If this linear motion were controlled by a cam disc, then www.designworldonline.com

Design Notes 4-16_Vs6.MS.LL.MD.indd 45

the heights at which the cap is picked up and placed down would be fixed, and the entire motion sequence would be defined.”

If modifications to the motion sequence were required for a product changeover, then the mechanical solution would require different closure heads or even different cam discs to be installed; the machine builder would have to integrate adjustable cam discs. In some cases, a spring would also need to be installed to compensate for the weight of the head.

“With a direct drive and an electronic stroke curve, none of this is needed anymore,” said Kröger. With the right parameter sets for the programmed motion sequence, or by invoking a predefined recipe, the motion of the linear motor can be designed as needed.”

As such, different types of closures, including screw-on and press-on caps, can be processed on the same machine. Even different press forces or thread pitches, such as those found on containers with and without safety caps, can be handled by a linear drive without any mechanical reconfiguration.

In addition, a linear-rotary motor like the PR01, with its two independently controlled axes, can start the rotary motion during the linear stroke, decoupled from the position of the turntable.

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Manufacturer of Belleville Washers/ Disc Springs, Machined Valve Bodies/ Large Fasteners, Electrical Contacts, Locking Pins, Shims, Springs, Stampings, & Sub-Assemblies to Transit Industry Products for Rail Cars, Braking Systems, & Slack Adjusters Supplier to Manufacturers of RailYard Retarders & Switching Systems All Components Manufactured to Strictest Quality Standards in the USA ISO 9001 • Made in the USA

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3/31/16 2:15 PM

» D e s i g n N o tes

motor ar-rotary e n le li e h t to decoup By using e was able lk ö f T o t, n o o M ti o from Lin from the m g process sing lo c a s the closin w o . This all le b ta ch faster rn u the tu ed out m p p a sw e b ing station to us minimiz damage, th f o se ca in smann) . (Photo: Ros downtime

Simple changeover of the screwing station To promote the modularization of the machine, Tölke engineers used the mechanical decoupling of the closing process from the carousel or turntable. If a screwing station was damaged, it could now be replaced in a short time, so the machine could get back to work much faster after a crash. In addition, because of the decoupling, the closing process can now be completed for all containers in the line prior to a planned machine stop.

To further reduce downtime and monitor the screwing process, the information produced by the linear-rotary drive for each individual screwing process (torque, speed, angle, vertical position, linear speed and force) can be analyzed.

“We can use the data provided by the drive to determine the number of revolutions actually performed, so that a separate check of the height of the closed container to monitor the screwing process can also be eliminated,” added Patzelt, citing a practical example. The drive data for snap-on caps can also be usefully applied for monitoring purposes. An error message can be generated if a prescribed value for the snap-on force is exceeded due to an interfering injection point.

Due to these many advantages, Tölke had already developed a solution prior to the use of the PR01 linearrotary motor, wherein the linear motion was generated by a servomotor in conjunction with a ballscrew spindle. The ballscrew, however, had to be protected against dust, which requires additional design effort that is not necessary for the fully assembled linear-rotary motor. “The linear-rotary motor is much simpler to use, as an integrated unit, and takes up less space,” said Kröger. DW LinMot linmot-usa.com 46

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»»

» CA E Solu t i o n s

Additive manufacturing accelerated with introduction of PolyNURBS interoperability solidThinking Inspire 2016 introduces PolyNURBS functions, which allow users to quickly and easily flow optimized designs into manufacturable products by wrapping topology results with NURBS geometry.

The PolyNURBS toolset helps users create geometry from optimized results faster than traditional CAD modeling.

Other key updates for Inspire 2016 include:

• Results Comparisons—Easily compare results across multiple runs and loading scenarios in one table.

• New Load Types—Consider temperature loads, velocity, acceleration, G-loads, and enforced displacement to simulate precise loading conditions. DW Altair altair.com

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Autodesk and Siemens agree to increase software interoperability It looks like software vendors are getting the message about ease of use, especially as it pertains to interoperability. For example, Autodesk and Siemens announced an interoperability agreement aimed at helping manufacturers decrease the costs associated with incompatibility among product development software applications and avoid potential data integrity problems.

Through this agreement, Autodesk and Siemens’ product lifecycle management (PLM) software business will take steps to significantly improve the interoperability between their companies’ respective software offerings. The goal is to streamline data sharing and reduce costs to organizations with multi-CAD environments.

Interoperability among CAD software has emerged as a critical issue for users of design and engineering software, and achieving it is a major challenge for manufacturers.

The interoperability agreement aims to decrease the overall effort and costs commonly associated with supporting these environments. In particular, interoperability between the offerings from Siemens and Autodesk will significantly improve the many situations where a combination of their software currently exists. Under the terms of the agreement, both companies will share toolkit technology and exchange end-user software applications to build and market interoperable products. DW

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» CA E S o lut i o n s

Better problem solving for math, science, engineering Maple 2016 mathematical software makes it easy to analyze, explore, visualize and solve math problems. This release offers new abilities to educators, researchers, scientists and engineers to solve more problems, more easily. It solves more mathematical problems from differential equations, statistics, graph theory and other mathematical domains. It also provides a Clickable Math option for performing operations at the click of a button, as well as other usability enhancements throughout the product.

Features include: • organizing projects and Maple applications using the Maple Workbook, so all related documents and data files are kept together and dependencies are automatically maintained when sharing • taking advantage of flexible and intuitive data frames to organize and analyze real-world data • performing calculations with thermophysical properties of pure fluids, humid air and mixtures, generating custom psychrometric charts • using Clickable Math to perform new operations, from writing fractions as repeating decimals, to computing cross products and dot products, or even converting Maple code to the Julia programming language • searching through more than 900 exact solutions to Einstein’s field equations for metrics with particular properties, and using these metrics and automatically derived related information in computations • helping students explore concepts such as the Sieve of Eratosthenes, tessellations, and the area of a circle, using new interactive Math Apps 50

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In addition, Maple 2016 has enhancements in application development, including expanded functionality in the one-step application building tool, Explore, and new program analysis tools that analyze code to detect barriers to safe parallelization and help resolve them. DW Maplesoft maplesoft.com

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3/30/16 3:06 PM

» CAE S olut i ons

Optimizing manufacturing processes with lightweight data formats The ability to access and share 3D CAD data is an integral part of design and manufacturing processes. When data must be shared between engineering and manufacturing departments within the same organization, or with the supply chain, translation between different CAD systems may be required.

However, translating large amounts of engineering data can cause problems as some data can be replicated improperly due to differences in CAD systems. Many who could benefit from interactively viewing and working with product design data do not currently receive it digitally because of such issues.

Lightweight data formats were created for optimal graphics performance and that generally meant a lighter file size than that generated from a CAD system. These format types are better suited for use over the Internet. Organizations that can make the best use of

lightweight data formats are those that need to share data with their extended enterprise, which could include large manufacturing firms and supply chains.

What makes these formats lightweight is that typically the format only includes the required design data, with content such as features, history and constraints removed. This format also protects the IP of the original designs.

The formats are rich in 3D content and can support a rich enough data set that suppliers have the information they need. The formats maintain the CAD file as the master version but provide a synchronized representation for users.

There are a number of lightweight data formats available on the market including Siemens’ JT, Dassault’s 3DXML, PTC’s Creo View and 3D PDF. DW Theorem theorem.com

1.800.933.4915 www.designworldonline.com

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»» Top trends, new markets for industrial robots Edited by: Paul J. Heney • Editorial Director

We spoke with several robot manufacturers to get their thoughts on where the industry is headed and what new things to watch for.

Where we’ve been Over the past several years, there’s been a trend of more small- and mid-sized companies adopting robot technology— not to mention a reshoring angle to the industry, said John Bubnikovich, VP, sales and marketing, Robots and Applications, ABB. “With easier programming, small- and mid-sized companies are finding that increased productivity and efficiency are easier to attain without needing to hire an army of robot engineers to operate the robots,” he said. “With the cost of labor in low-labor-

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cost countries increasing, robot automation is achieving production costs that are on par [with them]. Coupled with the cost of poor quality and long lead times that often come with long-distance, low-labor-cost production, robotic automation is helping bring production of many product categories back to the United States.”

Scott Mabie, general manager, Americas Div., Universal Robots, noted that the market for industrial robots has expanded tremendously with collaborative robots paving the way.

“With their ease-of-use, fast payback and redeployability, robots lower the automation barrier significantly by placing robotics within reach of even small operations that up until now viewed robotics as too costly and complex.”

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R o b o t i c

Bubnikovich said that robotics in general industrial applications— basically everything outside of automotive—is growing strongly at a 10% compound annual growth rate. Small parts assembly applications, such as electronics, are one high growth area and food application uses still have a good deal of upside potential, too.

Coming next

T r e n d s

Collaborative robots like YuMi work in close proximity with people in applications such as small parts assembly. Photo courtesy ABB

Human-robot collaboration will be the hot trend over the next few years. The emergence of robots working in close collaboration with humans in areas like electronic products assembly and other small parts assembly applications will be key.

“ABB’s YuMi collaborative robot can operate in close collaboration with humans, thanks to its inherently safe design,” said Bubnikovich.

“It has a lightweight—yet rigid—magnesium skeleton covered with a

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T r e n d s

floating plastic casing wrapped in soft padding to absorb impacts. YuMi is also compact, with human dimensions and human movements, and has advance sensor technology that stops the robot immediately if it comes in contact with anything.”

Mabie noted that robots are moving out of their cages and are increasingly being integrated in applications where employees work side-by-side with the robots—or cobots as they’re now being dubbed.

Even when we’re not collaborating with them, they’ll be closer. Dan Dibbern, product marketing manager, Robotics and Linear Motors, Omron, said that mobile robotics will become more popular in the future.

“Moving away from automated guided vehicles (AGVs) that are required to follow a specific path, instead Autonomous intelligent vehicles (AIVs) will be able to travel throughout a plant floor freely,” he said.

Plus, robots are becoming far easier to program—removing a barrier that smaller- and medium-sizes companies faced previously.

“Offline robotic programming software like ABB’s RobotStudio allows users to program robot systems with a simulation function that reduces programming complexity and creates an intuitive human machine interface for production operation,” Bubnikovich said.

Robots are moving out of their cages and are being integrated in applications where employees work side-by-side with them.

»»

R o b o t i c

In the near future, expect to see robotic manufactures working closely with (or acquiring) vision and PLC manufacturers to have a solution that is more closely integrated. Photo courtesy Omron

So what’s most important to robot customers today? While pricing, delivery and safety are highly important, buyers in recent years seem interested in establishing a more intimate relationship with their robotic suppliers.

This, explained Bubnikovich, helps end users better understand how to maximize the benefits of robotic automation for their specific market.

And Mabie said that high mix/low volume production has increasingly become the norm as the market demands a higher degree of product

Photo courtesy Universal Robots

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customization with manufacturers struggling to meet this challenge.

“90% of physical tasks performed in production environments today can’t be practically or economically automated with conventional robots unable to adapt to realworld variability in the workspace or operate effectively in semi-structured environments,” he said. “This is especially prevalent in the SME sector, where small business owners are facing overseas competition, but at the same time finding it hard to justify automation solutions that will take years to pay back.”

Universal Robots’ answer to that, Mabie said, is addressed by their lightweight, user-friendly robot arms that can quickly be redeployed between ever-changing tasks in agile production environments. The average payback period, he said, is only 195 days, whereas with traditional robots, the capital costs for the robots themselves may account for only 25 to 30% of the total system costs, due to programming, setup and dedicated, shielded work cells.

Meanwhile, ABB is trying to stay closer to its customers. The company announced last year that it was opening a new robotics plant at its facility in Auburn Hills, Mich. Bubnikovich said this makes it the first global industrial robotics company to fully commit and invest in a North American robotics manufacturing footprint.

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R o b o t i c Growth and future Bubnikovich thinks that small parts assembly, especially in the electronics industry, will be a big growth market, especially with the emergence of collaborative robots—but automotive manufacturing will still be king for now.

“The automotive industry typically represents slightly more than half of all robot activity in North America in a given year, so it will continue to be a major driver of growth in industrial robots,” he said.

Mabie feels that in terms of vertical markets, there is a lot of opportunity, including in the machining sector, which continues to be a big demand driver.

“Now we’re seeing new markets open up and unexpected applications appear,” he said. “Our robots are in applications that receive a 3D laser scan of people’s feet and cut out customized flip flops. The robots are being tested in agriculture spraying

iodine on cow utters before milking, they assemble thermal cups and work as camera men, increasingly handle injection molding machines, and feed CNC machines milling dental crowns and medical devices.

We’re also seeing a lot of interest from the electronics manufacturing sector where our cobots perform tasks such as life cycle testing and epoxy filling in circuit boards.”

A BCG Research study from last year predicts that by 2025, adoption of advanced robots will boost productivity by up to 30% in many industries, as well as lower total labor costs by 18% or more in the U.S., South Korea, China, Japan and Germany. Bubnikovich believes that the robotics industry is in the beginning stages of leading a fundamental, yet revolutionary change in the industrial and commercial landscape.

“It will spur growth through increased productivity and efficiency, while creating

Job well done!

more rewarding and safer job opportunities for an expanding number of global workers,” he said. DW ABB abb.us Omron omron.com Universal Robots universal-robots.com

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I nter net of Things

.......................................... ................................ ........................ ................... .............. ...........

The advantages of open source in ........ ...... .... .. Internet of Things design Olivier Pauzet • Vice President • Sierra Wireless

The Internet of Things is booming and with millions of devices to be connected over the coming years, many developers are focusing on the IoT opportunity. A recent report from Vision Mobile notes there were 4.5 million IoT developers in 2015, and the number is expected to double over the next five years. However, as IoT development continues to increase globally, the use of closed proprietary systems can hinder future growth.

There are many commonalities between IoT solutions across different applications—the need for wireless connections, communication between devices and back-end systems, and data collection/interpretation are a few examples. But the proliferation of proprietary systems that are often in silos makes developing and building these solutions more complex and time consuming than needed. In a fastmoving, fragmented industry, open source technologies will play an increasingly fundamental role in mitigating these challenges and enabling seamless systems to further fuel innovation.

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One way to circumvent the interoperability challenge is by establishing and using standards.

Thoughtful and collaborative standardization improves choice and flexibility. As a result, developers can use devices from multiple vendors to build a solution that is innovative and meets their specific needs. We’ve outlined a few key channels that are essential to unlocking the potential of open source in IoT development.

Open collaboration Standards are necessary across the whole ecosystem and are being addressed by the industry in multiple ways. For example, industry standards organizations, like oneM2M (a consortium of industry stakeholders), has developed technical specifications to address the

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Direct drive electronic position indicators with battery need for a common M2M Service Layer that can be embedded within various hardware and software and relied on to connect a wide range of devices to M2M application servers.

Lowering the barriers to entry Another complementary approach to standards development is the release of designs and specifications into the open source community as open hardware and interface standards for others to adopt.

Examples include Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and Beaglebone, which enable quick prototyping, as well as the mangOH open hardware reference design, an open source design that is more easily scalable in commercial settings and is built specifically for IoT cellular connectivity.

Open source platforms like these enable developers that may have limited hardware, wireless or low-level software expertise to start developing IoT applications in days—rather than months. If executed properly, these can significantly reduce the time and effort to get prototypes from paper to production by ensuring that various connectors and sensors work together automatically with no additional coding required. With industrial-grade specifications, these next-generation platforms not only allow quick prototyping, but also rapid industrialization of IoT applications.

Unlocking innovation with greater ecosystem support On the software side, using widely supported open source software application frameworks and development environments, such as Linux—itself an open source solution—can be extremely helpful by providing developers

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the head start that is required to get a product to market faster. When it comes to proprietary solutions, support for its development framework tends to rest on the original vendor, whose agenda may not align with the needs of the community. Open source solutions ensure a future-proof investment and longevity, so that resources and tools are available and continually enhanced for years to come. Not only does it protect the time and investment made in the development stage of a solution, it also provides simplicity that helps accelerate innovation and time to market. Another advantage to working with open source software is that the broader base of developers working with the code can lead to greater scrutiny. This can often result in a more secure solution.

To further advance the industry, we must commit to a standards-based and opensource strategy. Not only will it continue to be critical to the health of IoT innovation, but it will lay the groundwork for real innovation.

Just as it supported many other areas of technology development—including nothing less than the Internet itself—open standards are the key to realizing the unforeseen benefits of a more connected world. DW

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I nter net of Things

NICs integrate buses, master and slave operations The SST DN4 DeviceNet PCle Network Interface Cards scan DeviceNet signals in 3 to 5 msec, enabling real-time control. By combining master and slave functions, those operations can be executed simultaneously, enabling control schemes that require multiple functions. The combination also reduces customer NIC inventory requirements.

SST DN4 DeviceNet PCIe NICs provide backward compatibility with DN3 cards for legacy system connections. Also, the PCIe NICs are tested to ODVA Vol. 3, v.1.8 standards and support several operating systems and drivers, including Windows XP, Vista, 7 (32 and 64 bit) and 8 (32 and 64 bit). Value-added features include OPC server configuration and diagnostic tools. DW Molex molex.com

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.

Secure plug-and-play for IoT The Valor IoT Manufacturing system is a hardware device with embedded software for data collection from all shop-floor machines and processes. It leverages the new Open Manufacturing Language (OML) communication standard. This product enables seamless implementation of Industry 4.0 and Smart Factory with plugand-play deployment and minimal change to the manufacturing environment and work processes.

It uses built-in interfaces to acquire and normalize data from the entire manufacturing flow, including surface mount technology (SMT), screen printers, reflow ovens, inspection and test machines, as well as manual operations such as system assembly, test and repair. This product also provides a simple, standard way of controlling machines and manufacturing flows through the use of the OML. Manufacturers can connect the Valor IoT Manufacturing product with any MES, ERP, supply chain, PLM and other enterprise applications.

The Valor IoT Manufacturing distributed architecture offers scalability and allows for parallel real-time flow of huge data volumes. DW Mentor Graphics mentor.com

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Stepper motor or servomotor:

Which should it be?

Servomotor and stepper motor technologies are indispensable in today’s mechatronic machine designs. However, clear understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of both make it easier to identify which is best for a given application.

Hurley Gill | Senior Systems and Application Engineer | Kollmorgen

If a given motion task can be done with either a stepper or servomotor-based design, the application’s exact needs (present and future) for repeatability, accuracy and flexibility dictate which is most suitable. Other factors that can help engineers pick between the two include environment, life expectancy, operating noise and energy use. However, when a machine axis allows use of either technology, engineers must use specific knowledge of the machine function and foresight to pick.

The ultimate motion-design goal is to get target performance from a given machine while balancing capabilities and cost. Picking a servomotor or stepper motor for a given application affects the odds of a successful motion design, so machine builders must consider the technical advantages and disadvantages of both.

Machine designers shouldn’t limit use of steppers or servos based on personal preference or comfort level, but learn where each technology works best for actuating

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specific mechanisms. Today’s digital steppermotor drives enhance flexibility, drive features and communication protocols with integrated circuits and simplified programming. The same is true of servomotor systems. Here, higher torque density as well as improved electronics, algorithms, and higher feedback resolution have also boosted system bandwidth capabilities, with lower initial and overall operating costs for many applications.

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The PMX series step motors offer performance and design flexibility in a high torque-to-dollar package.

AKM series servomotors give designers flexibility to quickly co-engineer modifications to perfectly fit applications.

It is available in eight frame sizes and more than 500,000 standard configurations.

Where stepper motors do and don’t outperform servomotors Stepper motors have several major advantages over servo systems. They are typically lower cost, have common NEMA mountings, offer lower torque options and require less costly cabling. In addition, their open-loop motion control component simplifies integration and use for machine builders and end users.

•

Consider torque and speed. Steppers are

typically sized for twice their continuous requirements to handle acceleration/ deceleration torque—or for peak-torque requirements. In contrast, designers typically size servomotors to specific application velocities and torques for maximum intermittent acceleration or deceleration, holding torque (if applicable), and continuous RMS requirements over the complete motion profile.

In general, if an application requires high throughput, speed and bandwidth for disturbance correction, or high rpm with or without tight coordination between axes, servomotors are the best option.

If point-to-point position performance or rpm requirements are modest (as a function of the process loads or expected disturbances), steppers may be a better choice. Additionally, when loads are within reason, a stepper’s ability to hold position (with holding torque under power and detent torque under no power) can be an advantage.

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Speed-torque curves highlight the difference between stepper and ac permanentmagnet (PM) servomotors of equal volume.

Steppers typically generate higher continuous torque at lower speeds than servomotors.

However, servomotors produce intermittent peak torques in this same low-speed range and produce peak and continuous torques over a much wider (and higher) speed range.

•

Consider some specific examples. Video inspection axes and automated machine axes for adjustment and setup often use steppers.

That’s because these axes are easier to design into control systems and less expensive to setup. Plus, when such axes lock into a position, steppers can turn off (with an on/ off function) to boost efficiency. Properly installed steppers are less prone to failure than servos because of their simplistic openloop control, which only needs windingto-drive matchup (This is in contrast to the motor-drive-to-mechanism tuning with feedback circuits required by closed-loop systems).

•

Today’s stepper drives offer distinct advantages. Newer design techniques have

improved stepper-motor performance with built-in feedback; end-of-move damping (for reduced settling times while maximizing

accuracy); soft starting (so there’s no quick motion or jerk on power-up); and antiresonance modes—for optimizing torque, stability and noise reduction (audible or otherwise).

Other stepper drive capabilities include idle current reduction (or IRC for reduced motor heating during standstill) and easily controlled operation modes between full stepping, half stepping and microstepping.

Although most properly sized steppers are extremely accurate running open loop in the selected step mode, built-in feedback provides additional precision without the cost of an external feedback device.

Microstepping techniques also smooth torque and motion at low speeds and boost resolution at high speeds (with smaller step sizes than full-step or half-step setups).

• Modern stepper motors also offer more

capabilities than in the past. They now come in higher power ratings than earliergeneration steppers. Advances in design have led to smaller airgaps, larger and stronger magnets, and rotor oversizing. Increasing the

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rotor’s diameter generates more torque per unit volume. Here, physical frame size and stepper motor winding stays the same while the rotor’s diameter and inertia are bigger.

Of course, the larger rotor inertia can affect acceleration and deceleration times for a given application. Even so, such motors let more applications use a given stepper frame size thanks to a lower inertia ratio of load (J_ load) to rotor (Jm). Generally, stepper motor systems are sized with a J_load:Jm of less than 30:1, but with slower accelerations and decelerations and advanced microstepping techniques, inertia ratios of 200:1 are possible.

Machine designers shouldn’t limit use of steppers or servos based on personal preference or comfort level, but learn where each technology works best for actuating specific mechanisms.

•

One last item to mention here. Today’s modern stepper drives handle stall detection electronically, so optional feedback devices, when used, help with position correction due to component misalignment, noise and lost pulse (position) information. A stepper motor with feedback, depending on the stepper drive, has less velocity ripple and uses less power than open-loop equivalents ... and higher residual torque at low speeds than an equivalent three-phase servomotor.

So designers must be discerning in regard to the work an axis does, because stepper

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Haydon Kerk® Linear Actuators...

SOLUTIONS IN MOTION High performance, precision linear motion technology Size 17 43 mm2 (1.7-in)2 Double Stack external, non-captive, captive hybrid linear actuator stepper motors

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Size 17 - 43 mm2 (1.7-in)2 non-captive hybrid linear actuator with programmable IDEA™ stepper motor drive Size 8 21 mm2 (0.8-in)2 captive hybrid linear actuator stepper motor.

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HYBRID actuators are available in six sizes from Size 8: 21 mm2 (0.8 -in.) to Size 34: 87 mm2 (3.4-in.) – capable of delivering up to 500 pounds (2224 N) of force. Travels per step range from .001524 mm (.00006-in) to .127 mm (.005-in), with micro stepping capability for even finer resolution.

An integrated, programmable IDEA™ Drive is also available for Size 17 hybrids.

The G4 Series represents the industry’s most robust and most powerful CAN-STACK linear actuators. The G4 Series offers diameters of 20 mm (.79-in), 26 mm (1-in), and 36 mm (1.4-in). The can-stack product line also includes motors with diameters of 15 mm (0.59-in), 20 mm (.79-in) , 26 mm (1-in), 36 mm (1.4-in) and Ø 46 mm (1.8-in), available with captive, non-captive or external linear lead-screws.

Haydon Kerk Motion Solutions continues to be an innovative motion control technology company with a global network of people, facilities and services dedicated to engineering and manufacturing the world’s most advanced linear motion solutions.

For more information: www.HaydonKerk.com > Linear Actuators

Call 1 8OO 243 2715

www.HaydonKerk.com 1500 Meriden Road Waterbury, CT 06705 U.S.A. Telephone: 203 756 7441

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motor applications requiring feedback can approach the cost of a servo system, and what may be an operational advantage in one application may be a disadvantage in another.

Closed-loop stepper systems don’t typically outperform lower-priced servomotor systems, so designers should carefully consider their benefits and drawbacks for the application at hand.

Where servomotors do and don’t outperform stepper motors Servomotors have several advantages over steppers. They can develop a high torque output over a wide speed range on demand, and are available in wider torque ranges and higher voltages (up to 480 Vac). They respond to disturbances with torque far exceeding their continuous capability and use only the power needed to move an axis to the commanded motion. In addition, servomotors are compact.

• Servodrives offer advantages as well.

Motor-drive compensation, or tuning, once considered the bane of servo use is now mostly history. Today, the newest digital servodrives have software and hardware capabilities for better user experience and remarkable compensation flexibility. In fact, some servo systems autotune themselves after automatically configuring the motor, drive and feedback. Servodrives that autotune adapt to the given motor-drive-mechanism setup while maintaining performance without the need of any manual control-loop fine tuning.

•

Reconsider torque and speed. Although servomotors run at high speeds, they can accurately run at extremely low speeds under precise control, even down to 1 rpm and below with proper preparation. Steppers are accurate and usually more economical for low-speed applications that run at less than 1,000 rpm. However, above 1,000 rpm,

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stepper-motor torque begins to fall off due to core losses and magnetic circuit time constants.

In contrast, servomotors with comparable torque don’t start falling off until around 2,000 to 4,000 rpm or more.

Direct-drive servo applications powering high-inertia loads typically run at less than 1,000 rpm, while typical servo applications with a mechanically advantaged drivetrain run at any number of speeds within the working capability envelope.

If a given application needs a speed range between 1,000 to 3,000 rpm, the most suitable motor technology depends on requirements such as peak torque at speed, continuous (RMS) torque and speed, and repeatability.

At stall (low speeds less than 50 steps/ sec or 15 rpm) or when holding a load with no movement, stepper motors—especially with oversized rotors—can produce more torque than servos for a given frame size (though newer servomotor designs are encroaching on this capability). All that torque lets steppers produce extremely accurate and stiff low-speed motion without a gearbox or other mechanical advantage.

In contrast, direct-drive servomotors with higher pole count and high-resolution feedback often drive industrial process applications requiring typical velocities of less than 1,000 rpm without a mechanical advantage such as a gearhead.

When a stepper motor is at rest, it uses continuous energy and there’s absolutely no movement (unless overloaded). When unpowered, for some applications a stepper motor’s detent torque can hold position.

In contrast, a servomotor is never at rest when on, due to constant closed-loop error correction. At which time it only uses the energy required to maintain its commanded position. Constantly varying position-loop error causes the servo’s output shaft to move back-and-forth (though on a scale that may be unnoticeable) while it continuously looks for minimum error. This continuous back-andforth actuator motion is called hunting.

A similar movement is dither—a purposely induced actuator movement, as in a valve to continuously overcome the issues of stiction. Hunting is unnoticeable in most applications involving only a few feedback counts (relative to the percent of total resolution), but can be unacceptable in others (though higher-resolution feedback devices reduce the typical hunting delta).

Where repeatability and resolution are issues, servomotors are the traditional choice. However, steppers are making inroads in these applications wherever the load is predictable or subject to only small external forces and disturbances, and where tight coordination between axes is unnecessary.

Here, steppers running open loop can save 20 to 30% on initial machine expense over comparable servo solutions.

Servomotor construction

Servomotors have several advantages over steppers. They can generate high torque over a wide speed range on demand and come in versions for a wider torque range and higher voltages (up to 480 Vac).

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Stepper motor construction Stepper motors have several major advantages over servo systems. PMX series step motors offer performance and design flexibility in a high torque-to-dollar package.

• Regarding torque, designers should

select the motor that provides higher values at the application’s speeds. Engineers can

determine which motor excels by comparing speed-torque curves. For a given price, most designers prefer servomotors. For constant

or variable loads, servo systems recover from overload conditions where stepper systems cannot. Steppers output a lot of torque from a small package for speeds less than 1,000 rpm. In contrast, servos can handle torque requirements below and well above 1,000 rpm.

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• Determining a system’s load inertia and inertia matching can help engineers pick between motor types. As a rule of thumb,

steppers usually don’t exceed a 30:1 ratio of load inertia to motor inertia (J_load:Jm). In contrast, direct-drive servo systems with no

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compliance (except the driven steel) and high-resolution feedback can run 200 to 300:1 (J_load:Jm ratio) and higher—with quick response times relative to legacy feedback technologies.

In the past, traditional servomotor setups (with mechanical advantage through power-transmission components) needed a J_load:Jm ratio in the range of 1:1 to 5:1 (which later became 1:1 to 8-10:1) to get quick response times and high acceleration or deceleration.

Today, a system that has the highest available feedback resolution and minimal compliance and/or backlash is capable of 1 to 15:1 and higher inertia ratios for many applications. These deliver the best operational efficiency with little additional risk. Higher inertia ratios are application dependent, not only relative to the target machine specification, but also in relation to the mechanism’s compliance and backlash.

For direct-drive systems, required stiffness often demands larger shafts and bearings, and even the compliance of the machine fixture and motor stand comes into play.

Other parameters to help engineers decide The next application factor to help engineers pick between servomotors and stepper motors is the need for coordination of axes.

Applications that need axis coordination should use servo-controlled systems to leverage their tight synchronization capability (high bandwidth and high resolution allow for fast correction of signal disturbances and command changes).

Properly sized open-loop stepper motor systems stay in sync without confirmation feedback, but are limited to point-to-point moves with only sequential or pseudocoordination between axes possible.

• Next consider cabling and motor-

drive adjustments. One recent change

improving servo reliability (and minimizing maintenance) is the reduction in the number of power and feedback wires the average servomotor needs.

Manufacturers have also taken guesswork out of closed-loop system servo tuning (motor-drive-mechanism 68

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AKM series servomotors give designers flexibility to quickly coengineer modifications to perfectly fit applications. They’re available in eight frame sizes and more than 500,000 standard configurations.

Lower-torque comparison: Servo versus stepper motor 2.40

Torque (Nm)

M

2.00

Stepmotor Tc

1.60

Servomotor Tpk

1.20 0.80

Servomotor Tc

0.40 0.00

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Speed (1,000 x rpm)

This performance-curve chart compares motors with approximately same volume.

compensation) and determining when a system needs maintenance. Automated or calculated tuning techniques and built-in diagnostic programs help simplify these tasks for the user. In addition, most servodrives can use traditional Step and Direction inputs that have been used to interface to steppers for years. Servos using this capability are typically in a position mode that eliminates the potential loss or addition of commanded motor steps.

In fact, this is a good segue to discuss one of the most common issues with stepper motor systems when run on the edge of their capability—the loss or addition of motion steps relative to the number of commanded steps. The problem is most apparent during acceleration or deceleration.

Step losses typically result from overly large inertia (affecting acceleration) or higher-than-desirable friction. In contrast, the addition of steps typically results

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from noise or too large inertia (affecting deceleration). Due to the accumulation of extraneous (+) and lost (-) motion steps, it can take hours before some manufacturing tolerance is exceeded. Nonetheless, stepper motors are still simpler because they have fewer wires to connect with minimal amounts of motor-drive adjustment to get a system up and running.

• Accuracy and resolution are other

parameters to help pick an axis design’s motor type. Note that theoretical and

actual resolution differ for stepper systems.

For example, a two-phase, full stepping, 1.8° step-angle motor may have 200 possible positions in one revolution (from 360°/1.8°), but whether the motor achieves that depends on how the motor was sized for the application. The same is true of half-stepping and microstepping motordrive modes. A 1.8° microstepper specified as having 10 microsteps per each full step won’t necessarily find any position within 0.18°.

Additionally, several commanded microsteps can transpire before there’s enough torque buildup to overcome friction and load inertia to get moving. In a realworld situation, the motor could easily jump one or more microsteps beyond the number commanded and stabilize there.

When positioning-resolution requirements must exceed 200 steps/rev, steppers can use a feedback encoder to get 1,000 steps/ rev or better. Five-phase motors and (in some cases) microstepping motors can also improve the steps per revolution.

Servomotor resolution is theoretically infinite, but in closed-loop operation, system positioning depends primarily on the resolution of the feedback device, be it a sine encoder, resolver or a digital (TTL) type encoder. Today’s high resolution feedback devices can approach between 221 (2,097,152) to 228 (268,435,456) counts per motor revolution, plus optional multiturn capability to 4,096 turns. Multi-turn feedback capable devices are available for an axis’ absolute position on machine powerup, eliminating the initial axis power-up homing cycle.

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Speed-torque curve comparison: Servo versus stepper motor 12

Torque (Nm)

M

10

Servomotor Tpk

Stepmotor Tc

8 6

Servomotor Tc

4 2 0

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

Speed (rpm)

This speed-torque chart compares motors with approximately same volume and speeds to highlight the difference between stepper and ac permanent-magnet (PM) servomotors.

Steppers typically generate higher continuous torque at lower speeds than servos. However, servomotors produce intermittent peak torques into this same low-speed range and produce peak and continuous torques over a much wider (and higher) speed range.

• Repeatability is yet another parameter

that differentiates servomotors and stepper motors. Servomotors are extremely

repeatable because they run closed loop. But steppers can be just as repeatable in many applications, especially when running in one direction. That said, when an ICR mode is used or the load increases (like during a direction reversal) and exceeds the stepper’s capabilities, the situation changes. Similar to how a gearbox must take up backlash, the stepper must catch up to system command.

During the first move in a new direction, motor accuracy is affected because the stepper is overcoming inertia and friction (effects of the load). Once that happens, the system regains its specified repeatability, but it may have lost or gained actual position steps over those commanded.

• Consider input power as well. A stepper

motor is equivalent to an inductor in series with a resistance. So, the current that produces torque needs time to rise. This time limits the speed at any given voltage, so increasing motor speed in a given

application may require higher voltages.

Servo system requirements are similar, but (within its capability envelope) the drive’s control loops supply required voltage and current to the servomotor to meet the load’s demand relative to the move command and feedback error. When a servomotor system is forced to work (for whatever reason) outside its operational envelope, even for a millisecond, it’s no longer under control and doesn’t operate as a servo. DW

Kollmorgen kollmorgen.com

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Connect and discuss this and other design engineering issues with thousands of professionals online

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As the

screw turns Travis Schneider

Product Manager • Automation Group • Parker Hannifin

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Understanding the pros and cons of different linear screw drive actuators helps you make the best choice for your application.

Screw drivetrains are among the most common types of electric linear actuation used in industry today.

However, given the range of options available, finding the best solution for a specific application can be complicated. The first step in simplifying the selection process is to understand the various technologies available. Each of the three major screw drivetrains have their own advantages and disadvantages. Each screw acts as a linear force generation device, taking rotary torque input from a motor and converting it to linear thrust.

Ballscrews Many linear motion applications use ballscrews to convert motor torque into linear thrust; this is primarily due to their commercial availability, ease of manufacture, high efficiency and load-life characteristics. Mechanically, the ballscrew is composed of a metal screw and nut, which uses metal ball bearings as the mating interface between threads. Several manufacturing techniques are used to manufacture a ballscrew; the most common ones are rolling, grinding and whirling. If properly designed, ballscrews are ideal for industrial applications with high duty cycles that also require high thrust—much like applications for which one would typically use an air cylinder or even a hydraulic cylinder.

Leadscrews Lead screws are often the mechanical drivetrain of choice for applications that require relatively low precision and a low-duty cycle for a low cost. Leadscrews are composed of a metal screw that interfaces with a softer nut (often plastic or bronze). Primary manufacturing techniques are either rolling or grinding. Given their wear characteristics, leadscrews are

Parker’s ETH Series electric cylinder uses an optimized ballscrew as its drivetrain. This optimized ballscrew design provides thrust densities that rival fluid power actuators of similar size.

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M ot i o n Most design engineers can determine whether or not leadscrews are appropriate for a specific application quickly and easily.

So the focus here will be on the differences between ballscrews and rollerscrews. However, in application, there’s more to take into account than just the type of screw used in the actuator.

Typical application example To illustrate the actuator selection process, let’s consider an application that requires 1,000 lbƒ of continuous thrust over a 10-in. stroke, moving at 12 in./sec at 100% duty cycle. In this application, the objective is to maximize the life of a particular actuator.

Given this application’s high duty cycle, this analysis will focus on ballscrew and rollerscrew options with similar pitches and packaging. Figure 1 compares results from two different actuator solutions: Figure 1: This plot compares the load life of a Parker ETH 80 (M10 Screw) series ballscrew actuator with that of a rollerscrew actuator.

not always ideal for industrial applications, but they are well suited for applications that require low duty cycle adjustments to positions or a self-locking drivetrain.

“Relevant performance metrics can help in the selection process, a decision that is too often made based on product labeling and initial perception of screw technology.”

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Rollerscrews A rollerscrew is composed of a screw and an interfacing nut, just like in a ballscrew; however, instead of using ball bearings as the interface between nut and screw, small rollers rotate to provide contact between them. This nut technology allows for line contact between rollers, nut, and screw, which makes this technology superior to ballscrews in terms of shock load and overall stiffness. The tight machining tolerances and limited number of manufacturing techniques involved in producing rollerscrews makes manufacturing them quite costly; as a result, manufacturing lead times are much longer than those for ball- or leadscrews.

Rollerscrews are often reserved for applications that demand the ability to handle high loads and require extremely long life.

• ballscrew with a 95-mm square frame • rollerscrew with a 102-mm square frame The load versus life comparison in Figure 1 demonstrates that the ballscrew, though slightly smaller in frame, actually has a longer expected life than a similar rollerscrew actuator. This is largely due to the optimized packaging of the ballscrew within the actuator body. The ballscrew design’s advantages are even more pronounced when cost is factored in.

An engineering approach The results shown in Figure 1 make choosing between a ballscrew and a rollerscrew solution fairly straightforward. Relevant performance metrics can also help in the selection process, a decision that is too often made based on product labeling and initial perception of screw technology. In actual application, it’s essential to take into account what is most important to achieving the desired motion, life, delivery or price point.

As an example, here is a straightforward three-step process that compares a ballscrew with a rollerscrew actuator.

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Table 1

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Screw Technology

Leadscrew

Ballscrew

Rollerscrew

Efficiency

<50%

90%

90%

Load Capacity

Low to Moderate

Moderate to High

High

Speed

Slow

Moderate

Moderate

Precision

Low

Moderate to High

Moderate to High

Cost

$

$$

$$$+

Manufacturing Techniques

Many

Many

Few

Time to Manufacture

Short

Short

Long

M ot i o n

Typical metrics associated with different screw

Audible Noise

Quiet

Noisy

Very noisy

Back Driving Capacity

Self-locking due to inefficiency

Easily back driven

Easily back driven

Duty Cycle

Low (<60%)

High (100%)

High (100%)

Life

Low

Moderate to High

High

Stiffness

Low to Moderate

Moderate

High

Shock Resistance

Moderate to High

Moderate

High

other two types.

Step 1: Identify relevant performance metrics

Step 3: Score it

Performance metrics are quantifiable outputs that measure the appropriateness of one technology (or in this case, actuator) over another for an intended application. Metrics that benefit the application, such as actuator life, should be maximized; metrics that hinder the application, such as cost, should be minimized.

In our typical application example, we examined three metrics: actuator life, actuator frame size and cost. Table 2 lists the relative performance of two electric cylinders to be evaluated.

Actuator performance calculation:

Step 2: Apply the actuator performance equation for each solution

The relatively simple performance calculation can be used to quantify the relative performance of each actuator solution. Using the calculation form shown in Step 3, characteristics that are ideally maximized, such as actuator life, are input in the numerator, with the maximum across all actuator options input as the denominator. In contrast, characteristics that are ideally minimized, such as cost, are input in the denominator, with the minimum across all actuator solutions input as the numerator.

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Metric Actuator Performance = A Metric Maximum (Desired)

{ }× ¹ Metric B{ } ×…

Metric Maximum (Desired) 2

{ {

C Metric Minimum (Undesired) Metric D Metric Minimum (Undesired) Metric

}× } ×…

1

2

This calculation takes into account each critical aspect of actuator performance and quantifies it. Weights can be applied to each of the metrics by assigning the coefficients (A, B, C and D) a relative value.

If using this equation with no weights, the best solution should yield the score closest to 1.

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The best temperature control valve you’ve never heard of

L i n e a r

M ot i o n

Table 2 Actuator

Ballscrew

Rollerscrew

Life at 1,000 lb of Thrust (Millions of inches of travel)

550

260

Actuator square frame (mm)

95

102

Cost ($USD List)

$3,190.001

$5,105.002

1

List pricing for Parker ETH080M10A1KABFMN0300A

2

List pricing for rollerscrew with similar features

Ballscrew and rollerscrew performance comparison

Every valve in our highly versatile product suite uses an innovative phase change paraffin wax that accurately expands and contracts to control temperature and flow.

Self-actuating fluid temperature control technology has its benefits • Uniform fluid temperature in industrial or commercial applications • Protects personnel and valuable equipment from exposure to thermal extremes • Replaces externally powered valves and actuators • Simplifies and reduces system components • Reduces maintenance and operating costs It’s simple. As the world leader in self-actuated temperature control solutions, we pride ourselves on the high-quality manufacturing process, problem-solving approach and innovative engineering techniques used to produce self-actuated valves and custom products where no effective solution currently exists.

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This calculation can also be used to weigh one metric higher than another. Given this model, the higher the performance score is, the more ideal the actuator will be in application. Using this example, as well as the metrics of life, frame width, and cost with even weight, results in the following calculations: Example ballscrew performance = 550 million in. × 3.74 in.

3.74 in.

550 million in. Life

{

}

{ $3,190.00 $3,190.00 }

Cost

{

}

}

{$3,190.00 } $5,105.00

Cost

×

= 1.0

Example rollerscrew performance = 260 million in. × 3.74 in.

4.00 in.

550 million in. Life

{

Frame Width

{

}

Frame Width

×

= 0.276

Although these two electric cylinders might initially appear to offer comparable performance, once their relative merits are weighed using the actuator performance calculator, the differences become quite evident.

In addition to performance and cost considerations, it’s important to take into account how easy it is to source a given technology. Ball- and leadscrews are widely available from numerous suppliers around the world. In contrast, few screw manufacturers produce rollerscrews.

When designing a motion application in a global market, the availability of a given technology should be a deciding factor. DW Parker Hannifin Automation Group parker.com

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The heart

of your compressed air system If you learn the basics of air compressors, you can operate your pneumatic equipment much more efficiently

Edited by: Paul

J. Heney • Editorial Director

Few components in the realm of fluid power have the ability to affect your company’s bottom line as an air compressor does. The cost to purchase an air compressor is a mere 12% of the 10 year cost of ownership. About 76% of the total ownership cost goes toward supplying the electricity to keep it running.

What that means in real terms is that a typical continuously run, fully loaded, 100-hp compressor will cost about $74,000 per year in electricity costs at $0.10/kWh. Now that we have your attention, let’s look at some of the basics of air compressors, explain the terminology and examine the types available, and how to maximize their use.

Air compressors supply the compressed air flow for all pneumatic equipment in a system. The compressor(s) adds energy to the air, which is cleaned and conditioned by filters and dryers, then transmitted in piping for use by tools, equipment and

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Reciprocating air compressors are available as single- or twostage designs and use a piston inside a cylinder as the compressing and displacing element.

Image courtesy of Quincy Compressor

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Fl uid Power

Reducing energy costs with better control Air compressors run most efficiently at full output, but there is seldom a demand for full output on a continuous basis. For that reason, the output flow and pressure must be regulated, usually by one of several methods: • on/off operation—motor on smaller compressors is started and stopped to maintain pressure • load/unload—inlet air valve is opened or closed to maintain pressure • modulation—inlet air valve is controlled proportionally by choking off the inlet flow to maintain output pressure • variable displacement control—displacement of the compression chamber is reduced to produce a lower flow and constant pressure • variable speed control—the speed of the compression element is varied to adjust the output flow and to maintain constant discharge pressure.

Typical packaged VFD used on compressors from 150 to 500 hp.

processes. Compressed air is an energy-intensive source of process power; about 7 to 8 units of energy are consumed at the compressor for each unit of mechanical energy produced by a typical compressed air powered device—and of this, typically 50% of the compressed air is wasted due to leakage and inappropriate use. Most of the energy released by an air compressor is in the form of heat of compression.

Shortfalls of the start/stop and load/unload methods include higher mechanical wear and tear on motors and bearings. With load/unload, even during unloaded operation, the motor draws substantial power while performing no useful function. Modulation control is the least efficient way to control a compressor, with the power input dropping off only 3% for every 10% decrease in flow. Variable displacement control provides a better alternative for the upper 50% of capacity, but during low demand, power consumption can still be significant.

Often, an efficient alternative is to use variable speed control, where the power drops in almost direct proportion to the flow reduction.

This control is usually accomplished using a variable frequency (speed) drive (VFD or VSD). Energy savings of 20 to 30% and higher compared to other methods of control are common when this control is used on systems with varying load. Other benefits include less wear and tear on compressor components, due to softer starts and elimination of cycling, lower peak demand for electric power, quieter operation, and improved power factor. VFD controls require good environmental conditions and good maintenance to ensure they are trouble free.

When using variable speed control in a system with multiple compressors, the control of the system must be carefully coordinated to ensure the VSD compressor always runs at the trim compressor (unit taking partial load), rather than at full load where a VFD controlled compressor often consumes more power than fixed speed compressors.

A properly coordinated system should run all the standard fixed speed compressors fully loaded or turn them off. Compressors outfitted with automatic controls can turn themselves off, saving power, when not required and remain armed for start when they are needed.

Retrofit of a standard fixed speed compressor to VSD should be done with the utmost care and is not generally recommended because different motors and compressor screw elements are needed for efficient and trouble free variable speed duty. It is best to purchase a pre-designed unit that is actually optimized for VSD operation. These are available from most compressor manufacturers.

When discussing compressed air flows, there are various definitions that relate to compressor capacity: ACFM—actual cubic feet per minute (also called free air delivered,

FAD, or inlet cubic feet per minute, ICFM). This is the flow of air taken in by the compressor and will be at site conditions (local atmospheric pressure, temperature and humidity). In general, higher altitudes, temperatures and levels of humidity reduce the capacity of the compressor to produce a given mass of compressed air; therefore, if these conditions exist, a larger compressor must be purchased.

CFM—cubic feet per minute. This is the flow of air at a certain point

at a certain condition that must be specified. With regard to sizing air compressors, it is important to understand the wide range of conditions at which the CFM can be stated.

SCFM—standard cubic feet per minute. The flow of free air measured and converted to a set of standard conditions. The definition of SCFM for air compressor rating purposes (Compressed Air and Gas Institute based on ISO Standard 1217) is the flow of air at 14.5 psig atmospheric pressure, at 68° F and 0% relative humidity.

It is important to note that ACFM and SCFM are both measured at atmospheric pressure, not at the pressure the air compressor produces.

There are two types of compressors: positive displacement and dynamic (also called centrifugal or axial).

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F l uid Power

Positive displacement air compressors Positive displacement compressors take in air and mechanically reduce the space occupied by the air to increase pressure. Dynamic compressors use the mechanical action of rotating impellers to transfer pressure to the air.

Positive displacement compressors can further be divided into rotary and reciprocating types. Rotary compressors are available in sizes from 5 to 600 hp. In rotary screw compressors, filtered air enters the inlet of the air end where male and female rotors unmesh.

The air is trapped between the rotors and the air end housing. This space is reduced as the rotors remesh on the opposite side of the air end. Thus, the air is compressed and moved to the discharge port. For lubricated compressors, cooling fluid is injected into

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Reciprocating air compressors are available either as air-cooled or water-cooled in lubricated and non-lubricated configurations and provide a wide range of pressure and capacity selections.â&#x20AC;? the housing, which mixes with the air to seal, lubricate and remove the heat generated by compression. This fluid forms a thin film between the rotors that virtually eliminates metal-to-metal contact and wear. The fluid is separated from the compressed air, cooled, filtered and returned to the injection point. The compressed air passes through an after-cooler and water separator to reduce its temperature and water content so it is ready for the air treatment equipment.

Because the cooling takes place right inside the compressor package, the working parts never experience extreme operating temperatures. The rotary compressor, therefore, is a continuous-duty, air-cooled or water-cooled compressor package.

Advantages of the rotary screw compressor include smooth, pulse-free air output in a compact size with high output volume over a long life.

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As seen here in this cutaway illustration from Atlas Copco, internal water-cooling channels (in green) eliminate the risk for extreme operating temperatures.

Rotary screw air compressors are easy to maintain and operate. Capacity control for these compressors is accomplished using several methods with varying levels of efficiency; therefore, it is important to consider what type of control is to be used in a system (see sidebar). In general, variable speed and variable displacement controls are the most efficient ways to run rotary screw compressors at partial loads.

Oil-free rotary screw air compressors use specially designed air ends to compress air without oil in the compression chamber, yielding true oil-free air. Oil-free compressors are typically two-stage units and are more costly than lubricated types.

Oil-free rotary screw air compressors are available as air-cooled and water-cooled, with both load/unload and variable speed control options, and provide the same flexibility as oil flooded rotaries when oil-free air is required.

Reciprocating air compressors use a piston within a cylinder as the compressing and displacing element. Single-stage and two-stage reciprocating compressors are commercially available. Single-stage compressors are generally used for pressures in the range of 70 to 100 psig, and twostage compressors are generally used for 84

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higher pressures in the range of 100 to 250 psig. These types of units are most often used for smaller systems. Typically, these compressors are not rated for continuous duty due to limited cooling methods and should be operated at duty cycles of 60% of full capacity or lower, or equipment damage may result.

The reciprocating air compressor is single-acting when the compressing is accomplished using only one side of the piston. A compressor using both sides of the piston is considered double-acting.

Reciprocating air compressors are available either as air-cooled or watercooled in lubricated and non-lubricated configurations and provide a wide range of pressure and capacity selections. Generally, special consideration needs to be given in sizing air dryers for these compressors due to possible high discharge temperatures.

Control of reciprocating compressors is normally through efficient start/stop control for smaller units of about 50 hp and below or load/unload control for larger units.

For larger multi-stage compressors, each stage can usually be unloaded separately for efficient stepped control. Large multi-

Rotary screw compressors, like this oil-free twin-screw design from Atlas Copco Compressors, feature rotors that do not contact each other or the housing, eliminating the need for lubrication inside the compression chamber.

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stage reciprocating compressors are now considered obsolete except for specialty purposes such as high pressure or PET bottle blowing applications.

Dynamic air compressors The centrifugal air compressor is a dynamic compressor, which depends on transfer of energy from a rotating impeller to the air. Centrifugal compressors produce compressed air by converting angular momentum imparted by the rotating impeller (dynamic displacement). To do this efficiently, centrifugal compressors rotate at higher speeds than the other types of compressors.

Adjusting the flow by straight modulation or with the use of inlet guide vanes is the most common method to control capacity of a centrifugal compressor. By closing the guide vanes,

volumetric flows and capacity are reduced with good turn-down efficiency. This adjustment is limited to the upper range of flow, however, with the use of inefficient blow-off required to ensure the compressor does not go into a damaging condition called surge. Centrifugals can also operate using load/unload style control and have minimal unloaded power consumption.

This can be a good energy efficiency measure. Efficient control of systems using multiple centrifugals requires coordination of the modulation controls and load/ unload to ensure the compressors are kept from blowing off and that the compressors operate at their most efficient discharge pressure.

The centrifugal air compressor is an oil-free compressor by design. The oil-lubricated running gear is separated from the air by shaft seals and atmospheric vents.

Dynamic compressors are most often used on sizeable compressed air systems.

These units are most efficient where large continuous flows of compressed air are required. They are primarily used for continuous, stationary service in industries such as oil refineries, chemical and petrochemical plants, and natural gas processing plants. DW

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M e c h a n i c a l

We know that bearings have a minimum load built into the design.

But why? Why do these relatively minimal forces have such a large impact on bearing performance?

How do

minimum loads

affect bearings?

Joyce Laird â&#x20AC;˘ Contributing Editor

A bearingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s primary job is to reduce friction. Within the bearing itself, however, some

Skidding, which is sliding between the rolling elements and the raceways, can disrupt the lubricant film and lead to smearing damage. Smearing not only damages the rolling surfaces, but it also causes a temperature increase.

friction needs to be designed into the component for it to work efficiently. Rolling element bearings are used to reduce friction in rotating machinery by removing as much sliding friction as possible from a system. The bearings do so by using rolling friction, which has a lower coefficient of friction.

However, even though rolling element bearings are attempting to reduce the total friction in a system, the individual rolling elements within the bearing still require a certain amount of friction to roll rather than slide. This internal friction is created by applying load to the bearing. This wload can either be generated internally with a preload, or it can be generated by an externally applied load.

Eric Phaneuf, applications engineer, Industrial Market for SKF explained that for many radial bearings, it is common to provide a certain amount of space between the rolling elements and the raceways to allow for thermal expansion and prevent bearing seizure. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This internal clearance

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When minimum loads are not met, that is, the traction forces are not present, the cage has to drive the rolling elements rather than the traction forces of the raceways doing it. This generates unaccounted for loads that are applied to the cage and can lead to premature cage failure.

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creates what is referred to as a loaded zone and an unloaded zone within the bearing. As the shaft rotates, the rolling elements pass into and out of the outer ring load zone. When the rolling elements pass in and out of the loaded zone, a change in the speed of the rolling element can take place. Without a minimum load on the rolling elements, the accelerations in and out of the load zone can be detrimental.

Minimum load is the force required to generate the traction in the raceway contacts to drive the rolling elements and ensure proper bearing performance,” he said.

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Why are they important for bearings?

Phaneuf goes on to say that if minimum loads are not met for a rolling element bearing, then several conditions could result that could drastically reduce the service life of the bearing.

Skidding, which is sliding between the rolling elements and the raceways, can disrupt the lubricant film and lead to smearing damage.

Smearing not only damages the rolling surfaces, but it also causes a temperature increase.

“Loads are placed on the cage(s) within 88

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the bearing. Typically a cage is intended to keep the rolling elements from touching each other. However, when the minimum loads are not met (meaning the traction forces are not present) the cage now has to drive the rolling elements rather than the traction forces of the raceways doing it. This generates unaccounted for loads that are applied to the cage and can lead to premature cage failure,” he added.

How does temperature affect load?

“Temperature does not affect the applied load to a bearing; it does, however, affect how the bearing handles the applied load internally.

There are a couple of areas that can be impacted depending on the magnitude of the temperature. If the temperatures are relatively high, the material properties of the bearing components can be altered such as polymer cages, heat stabilization temperature of the steel, seals, and so on. Those are fairly simple to evaluate.

“However, the internal clearance of the bearing and how it changes with temperature can have a significant impact on the size of the

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M e c h a n i c a l load zone in a bearing. When there is a large temperature differential across the bearing (for exampke, hot shaft and cold housing), the internal clearance in the bearing will be reduced. This reduction of internal clearance changes the load zone from perhaps 150° to anywhere approaching 360°. The smaller the load zone, the cooler the bearing will typically operate. However, the larger the load zone, the better the load distribution but also the higher the operating temperature. If the internal bearing clearance is completely removed and a 360° load zone is created, the internal bearing loads can increase dramatically. This

Minimum load is the force required to generate the traction in the raceway contacts to drive the rolling elements and ensure proper bearing performance. will create higher loads within the bearing and higher rolling friction. If a thermal runaway condition develops, bearing seizure is imminent,” Phaneuf explained. ®

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What are the key issues to watch for to ensure good bearing life?

The most common cause for premature bearing failure is poor lubrication. This can mean many things ranging from incorrect type or quantity of lubricant and poor lubrication practices, to unforeseen application conditions, which cause lubrication break down. Another prevalent cause of premature 90

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M e c h a n i c a l bearing failure is improper storage and handling as well as poor installation practices.

Phaneuf notes that bearings are precision components and can be easily damaged by poor handling and storage practices. “During installation, a bearing can be damaged if improper techniques are used, as well as issues of the bearing becoming contaminated before it is even put into service. These conditions can greatly reduce the service life of the bearing.”

How do you select the best bearings for the application?

Selecting the best bearing for an application requires intimate knowledge of the application. A few of the most important factors to consider when selecting a bearing are: • loads (direction, axial or radial, and magnitude) • speed • temperature • type and method of lubrication • environmental considerations such as any process materials or other contaminants that may come in contact with the bearings during service • required design life for the bearings

In conclusion, Phaneuf reminds that bearings are precision components, not commodities. They see the most demanding parts of an application (loads and speeds).

To ensure good service life of bearings, they need to be properly selected based on the application conditions, but then they also need to be properly maintained.

“This includes proper storage and handling techniques, as well as the periodic maintenance requirements during operation.

Only in this way can the bearings and the equipment they are mounted in come close to realizing their design life,” he said. DW

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3D CAD

CAD-in-the-cloud moves closer to

real-time sharing

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Jean Thilmany â&#x20AC;˘ Contributing Editor

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3/31/16 4:20 PM

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Though computer-aided design software is increasingly moving to a cloud-based, subscription-service model, founders of three-year-old CAD company Onshape Inc. say they offer the first fully-cloud-based, three-dimensional design software.

“The roughly $9 billion CAD market remains very fragmented and stuck in the old desktop paradigm,” said Jon Hirschtick, Onshape founder and chairman of the board. (Hirschtick and fellow Onshape founder John McEleney started CAD company SolidWorks in the early 1990s.)

Other companies, notably Autodesk, Dassault Systemes, and PTC, include CAD-in-the-cloud offerings and also make desktop software. Onshape differs from these in that its software exists fully in the cloud and can be used by multiple users in real time.

“With our cloud approach, engineers don’t pull CAD files from a cloud-based server as exists in other methods,” said Hirschtick. “The other cloud CAD services are copybased, meaning that the software and files are on the cloud and the engineer copies them from the cloud to the desktop.

“When you copy and install the software off the cloud server, hopefully it’s the same software. But what if it was upgraded?” continued Hirschtick. “With most CAD-inthe-cloud systems, multiple people can take a copy out of the cloud vault and move it to their local computer and work on it. But if I work on a copy of the same model at the same time as you, and I make a change and put it back, my changes can overwrite your changes, and your

Onshape offers software that exists fully in the cloud and can be used by multiple users in real time. In addition, this software can be used by authorized engineers working on any device with Internet access.

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changes are gone. I can lock it in, but then I need to indicate to you to stop working on it while I work on it.”

Version control is an issue with many CAD software programs. It is too easy for various versions of a file to exist on multiple engineers’ desktops. A drawback is that this often slows design efforts as engineers must constantly check and recheck files. “That method of operating is at odds with the need to move faster in the global market,” added Hirschtick. Onshape, though, offers an alternative.

Real-time sharing The Onshape programs are structured like business database applications such as accounting systems. CAD application functions don’t automatically override engineer changes.

“Versioning” is built in. File changes are tracked in a central database. Because any engineer with permission can access the software from any device with Internet connection, engineers in different places can work together on a design, such as a power supply for example. There’s only one power supply file; Onshape doesn’t copy it.

“If multiple engineers happen to be working on that file at the same time, there’s no problem. If one engineer rounded a corner and another one drilled a hole, both changes get captured,” said Hirschtick. “If we’re both rounding a corner at the same time, you would see my hand there in real time—at the same table—and a box around the corner would indicate that another engineer is editing that right now.”

Hosted or on-premises?

The many CAD-cloud systems operate differently as far as subscription services.

“Onshape’s pricing model is a disruptive component of its strategy to make CAD more accessible,” noted Bruce Jenkins, founder of Ora Research, which provides business research on new technologies.

The professional version of Onshape’s CAD software costs $100 per month and runs on any web browser with Internet access.

There’s also a free version. Both plans allow 94

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access to all Onshape’s functions, but the free plan has data storage limits and restricts the number of private documents a user can access at any time. The professional subscription requires no commitment beyond the one-month term.

Though pricing is accessible, companies looking to bring in cloud-based CAD software will still need to investigate pricing pros and cons, say experts versed in cloudbased software, which is also known as “software as a service” or “hosted software.”

According to market research firm IDC,

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Though the popularity of delivering applications with the cloud is growing, … “the decision to move pertinent applications to the cloud isn’t a no-brainer,” said R. Andrew Sroka, CEO at Fischer International Systems, which helps companies manage identities for on-premise and cloud-based applications.

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comparison, which makes it difficult to arrive at a bottom-line savings.

To determine whether cloud-based or on-premise software is the better choice, users need to evaluate what is most valuable to the enterprise—whether its flexibility or risk-management or the possible benefits of housing a solution on-site—and determine which method will meet engineering needs.

With cloud-based systems, issues of total cost of ownership and return on investment are generally murky because companies want to see how cloud applications compare to traditional on-site infrastructure.

Comparing hosted and on-premise applications is not an apples-to-apples comparison, which makes it difficult to arrive at a bottom-line savings.

“But there are so many intangibles wrapped up in the cloud that it makes it hard to put calculations on it,” added Sroka.

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Pros and cons The simplest measure is to compare up-front costs, including costs to buy versus recurring subscription fees. Cloud subscription options are considered easily scalable. Adding or subtracting subscriptions can generally be handled with a phone call to the cloud provider. So, which is better for your needs—a monthly fee or paying for the whole software usage up front?

Most cloud service providers automatically update their programs. Thus, IT staff can focus on other tasks and engineers know they are working with the latest version of the applications.

“But with capital expenses, licensing and physical hardware, costs are not the whole story,” said Sroka. “It’s important to factor in expenses like utility costs and power requirements.”

Also be sure to consider intangible costs and concerns, such as the pitfalls and benefits of on-site administration. “A cloud model removes many administration tasks that employees needed to handle,” continued Sroka, “so a lot of vendors will say that a cloud option lets you take X number of fulltime employees out of the picture. Or you can look at it as now you have more people to devote to other tasks needed by your company. You have to look at the value of what else they can do for your business after they are removed from the infrastructure administration tasks.”

Don’t forget to consider the costs of periodic infrastructure upgrades by some offerings, these will add to the total costs.

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4/5/16 2:13 PM

Image: Escher

Forecasters predict sales of cloud-based software to surpass $100 billion by 2018. The subscription-based software-as-a-service delivery model will significantly outpace traditional software product delivery, growing nearly five times faster than the entire software market and accounting for $1 of every $5 spent on software by 2018.

Security One aspect of comparison worth considering is how the cloud service handles the security of your information, whether in the cloud or on engineers’ desktops. Experts don’t offer clear advice here, coming down on both sides of the which-is-more-secure debate.

“Cloud-based tools, if not secured, can be hacked,” said Donald Hasson, product engineer at Bomgar, which makes remote support software.

But Gil Zimmermann, CEO at CloudLock, a cloud data-security provider, counters that—at many enterprises—user access is the biggest threat to enterprise security. “With the best intentions, users might take home information on a USB drive or email it to someone outside the company,” he said. “Cloud applications are quite well protected because their vendors stake their businesses on security.”

Whichever choice you make, as Jenkins noted, engineers will be designing in the cloud in the coming years. DW

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• Floating load plate adjusts clearance.

• Load plate ends are thinner making center a fulcrum for self-alignment.

• Unibody construction for • Greater ball contact in ground quieter operation. circular arch triples load capacity.

• Our raceways are ground - not stamped affording precision tolerances.

Comes in both inch and Euro metric standard series sizes..

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A Supplement to Design World - April 2016

Design equipment faster, smarter, and under budget with TiPS from leading suppliers.

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Lubrication

Joyce Laird • Contributing Editor

Lubrication: Oil or Grease?

Bearing lubrication methods are typically provided by either an oil or grease. Each lubrication method has specific cases where its use is preferred. Sean P. Kelly, field applications engineer for NMB Technologies said that grease is preferred when longer life is desired.

“This is due to the grease thickener slowly releasing a base oil providing a lubrication layer between the raceways and rolling elements.”

“Grease may also extend bearing life in circumstances of higher forces through the use of extreme pressure additives. However, in this discussion, the focus is on the use of oil lubrication in ball bearings, since it is the more prevalent lubricant,” he added.

Oils are the preferred lubricant in open bearing designs or when low torque or high speeds are the priority during bearing operation. “This is due to the relatively lower viscosities as compared to greases. Oil lubrication allows for more efficient movement of the ball through the lubricant, as compared to greases.”

The difference between dry and lubricated bearings Kelly explained that most bearings will require lubrication to some

degree; but, occasionally a dry bearing may be specified.

“Dry bearings may be specified when the operating environment and conditions require an absence of lubricant and can support the reduced life expectations that result from no lubricant condition. This can be the case for medical applications that do not allow lubricant in the environment (patient bloodstream, as one example).”

However, Kelly added that as there is no lubrication layer between the ball and raceway, caution must be exercised, as a significant reduction in bearing life can be expected. Oil lubrication lowers the operating torque of the bearing and enables high-speed operation.

Ensuring proper viscosity The proper viscosity of oil must be selected to match the operating temperature of the bearing to ensure the oil film layer functions as designed.

“If the oil viscosity is too high, the oil will thicken as temperature decreases, increasing torque and lowering operating speed. If the oil viscosity is too low, an adequate lube film layer will not form and metal to metal contact can result leading to shortened bearing life,” Kelley said.

How to choose the best lubrication for your application “Choosing the best oil formulation for your application is based on several factors including speed, lubrication dispersal method, operating temperature and potential environmental contaminants,” said Kelly. Contacting a local field application engineer can help determine the most effective lubricant formulation for a specific bearing application.

Important closing considerations In conclusion, Kelly noted that in a properly designed closed system operating at moderate temperatures, the bearing oil should be replaced once per year. If operating temperatures exceed 80° C, the oil may need to be replaced every three months. The best practice is to consult a bearing application engineer for assistance with determining an oil change interval on an application specific basis. DW NMB nmbtc.com

The proper viscosity of oil must be selected to match the operating temperature of the bearing to insure the oil film layer functions as designed.

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Choosing the best oil formulation for your application is based on several factors including speed, lubrication dispersal method, operating temperature and potential environmental contaminants.

April 2016

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B all bea r i n gs

What is the difference between

bearing shields and bearing seals?

Joyce Laird • Contributing Editor

Ball bearings are available with and without enclosures.

Richard Picard, field applications engineer at NMB Technologies explained that compared to open bearings, shielded and sealed bearings provide better protection from contamination and also add protection against lubrication migration.

“The selection of a shield or seal is dependent on the bearing application and environment,” he said. “Shields are metallic and there is no contact between the shield bore and the bearing inner ring. Metallic shields are the most common and affordable type of bearing enclosure.”

Seals are constructed from various elastomeric materials.

The type of seal material selected can depend on factors such as application temperature and compatibility with other adjacent substances.

“Seals can be either non-contact or contact by design. With a non-contact seal, similar to a shield, there is no contact to the bearing inner ring. A contact seal is designed to contact the bearing inner ring with the lip of the seal,” he said.

Both non-contact seals and shields allow reduced rotational torque as there is no contact to the inner ring. However, noncontact enclosures generally provide less protection against contamination, as compared to contact seals.

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“However, while contact seals provide better protection against contamination, there is an increase in rotational torque due to friction between the seal lip and bearing inner ring. Sealing performance is a trade-off between protection and torque,” Picard warned.

The selection of shields is dependent on the application and environment. Depending on the environment, shield and seal designs are offered with varying degrees of contamination resistance and torque (friction) characteristics. The seal lip choice can be further improved by selecting either “standard” contact or “light” seal lip design, which is dependent on torque and contamination conditions.

Picard concluded that it is critical to consult with a bearing application engineer in selecting the appropriate enclosure for your application to ensure the correct choice. DW NMB nmbtc.com

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Seal

Shield

NMB Shield diagram In this image we see a cross section cutaway of a shielded bearing.

In this image we see a cross section cutaway of rubber seal non-contact bearing on the left and a rubber seal contact bearing on the right.

Non-contact

Contact

April 2016

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BEARINGS

Helwig Carbon Prevent Bearing Damage Motors with variable frequency drives (VFD) that are used on AC and DC motors produce induced electrical currents. These induced currents seek a path to ground which is typically through the motor bearings. When the current passes through the bearings it causes electrical arcs that will cause fluting, pitting, and eventually premature bearing failure. This bearing failure is a major cause of downtime and costly repairs.

There is a proven solution to protect a motor from this problem. A Bearing Protection Kit (BPK) from Helwig Carbon Products will divert the current from the motor shaft to ground by providing a low resistance path. Unlike other options, such as shaft grounding rings, the silver graphite brush technology in Helwig BPK’s will provide a superior grounding path. The BPK kits are easy to install without decoupling the motor shaft and one unit will work on a wide variety of motor shaft sizes. The Helwig BPK is available as an option on OEM motors from the leading suppliers or they can be easily field installed. In addition, custom engineered grounding solutions are available for specific applications. The Helwig BPK’s are made in an ISO 9001:2008 Certified manufacturing facility in the USA. www.helwigcarbon.com/products/bearing-protection

BEARINGS

Phone: 1.414.354.2411 Toll Free Phone: 800.962.4851 www.helwigcarbon.com

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NB Corp New Slide Way Ends Slippage For motion control applications with extremely fast acceleration and deceleration (at dimensions ranging from 30-600mm lengths, 2-12 mm rollers, endurance is 150 million cycles), NB’s new NV type STUDROLLER™ with Anti-Creep Cage Technology guarantees zero slippage. The STUDROLLER‘s Raceway depressions track STUDROLLER’s nodules preventing slippage - in any position. (Patent Pending).

In addition load capacities are increased 1.4 to 2.3 times over standard SV type. Roller-to-rail contact area is extended 42 to 58 percent while the number of rollers is increased 20 to 55 percent. STUDROLLER™, lowers component costs and allows more compact designs.

Contact: Larry Hansen NB Corporation of America Fax: (630) 295-8881 1-800-521-2045 www.nbcorporation.com

April 2016

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BEARINGS

igus® 4 considerations for choosing the best shaft for plastic bearings 1.

Roughness: The roughness of a material has an interesting effect when used with selflubricating plastic bearings. While some bearings materials require an expensive polished shaft to run smoothly, a composite plastic bearing blended with solid lubricant actually performs better with some degree of roughness.

2.

Shaft Materials: There a few different factors to consider when choosing a specific shaft material, such as the weight, corrosion resistance, strength capabilities, magnetism, and overall cost.

3.

Hardness: The hardness of a particular shaft should be considered against the application load, and the hardness of the selected bearing.

4.

Shaft Bearing Combination: Each bearing material has its own perfect shaft. There are some materials that will always work best with stainless steel, or aluminum, for example.

To contact igus® call 1-800-521-2747 e-mail sales@igus.com or visit www.igus.com for more information.

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Produ ct Wo rl d Corrosion-free chains iwis iwis.com iwis CF (corrosion free) stainless-steel chains meet the requirements of ISO 606 (DIN 8187). They withstand temperatures from -80 to 150° C. Various special-purpose lubricants allow the chains’ use at high temperatures of up to 400° C as well as low temperatures. In addition, various H1-approved lubricants for use in food processing and specially developed wax lubricant approved for food use is available. The plates of the CF stainless-steel chains have better precision blanking than conventional corrosion-free roller chains, increasing service life and reducing elongation through higher press-out forces.

Servomotor brakes

PC-based control platform

Nexen Group nexengroup.com

Advantech advantech.com

Eclipse Servomotor Brakes mount to the shaft end of servomotors up to 20 hp, including NEMA 23, 34 and 42 frame sizes. The brake’s square-shaped housing allows flexibility to custom make the mounting features match the motor dimensions. The brake’s output end duplicates the motor mounting features; the input end bore accepts the motor shaft and is fixed inside the brake with a split-hub/ shaft collar arrangement. They have a torque range of 2 to 125 Nm, can be used for intermittent dynamic stopping, and are spring engaged for holding and e-stop applications.

The APAX-5580 is a PC-based control platform with comprehensive I/O modules, control software, and a wealth of communication ports, such as GbE, USB 3.0, mPCIe and serial ports. It is particularly designed for integrating Operation Technology (OT) and Information Technology (IT) to take advantage of the Industrial 4.0 trend. The platform includes an Intel Celeron 1.6 GHz/Core i3/Core i7 1.7 GHz processor, 4 GB DDR3 memory, two GbE ports, one RS-232/485/422 port, one mSATA connector, two SD slots, two mini PCIe slots, dual power input, UPS support, and a 10-year lifetime RTC battery.

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Prod uc t World Position sensors OMEGA omega.com The LDI-127 series LVIT position sensors are contactless devices designed for factory automation and a variety of industrial and commercial applications, such as solar cell positioners, wind turbine prop pitch and brakes, chute or gate positions on off-road or agri-vehicles, and packing equipment. The modular design, high end performance and excellent stroke-to length ratio make the LDI-127 sensors suitable for in-plant or mobile equipment OEMs.

Universal code reader Pepperl+Fuchs pepperl-fuchs.us The MAC335 Universal Code Reader is compact and easy-to-mount and configure. The stationary barcode imager reads the most common 1-D and 2-D code symbologies without having to change settings. Its 1.3-megapixel resolution enables it to accurately and reliably read small and large codes at distances ranging from 20 to 300 mm at 3 readings per second. This 24Vdc device offers IP65 protection, and is rated for use in temperatures ranging from 0 to 50째 C (32 to 122째 F).

Flexible, medium track motion platform ABB abb.com The IRBT 2005 is available with up to two carriages as a robot track, with additional carriage plates available to carry any necessary process equipment, and up to three carriages as a transfer track. The modular design is comprised of 1-m lengths that can be connected to form a track between 2 and 21 m, allowing it to easily be adapted and evolve with changing production needs. With a maximum payload of 1,200 kg (2,640 lb), the IRBT 2005 transfer version is suitable for applications such as indexing different fixtures into an automation cell and transferring materials.

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For further information about products on these pages visit the Design World website @ www.designworldonline.com

Touchless variable gap sensor PIHER Sensors and Controls piher.net Two-piece magnetic Hall-effect variable gap sensors maintain stable electrical output and specified linearity on mobile shafts, despite radial and axial movement, such as ±1.5 to ±7 mm (and upward) respectively. The play resistance performance is achieved by means of a circular arc magnet (where 360° rotation angle is unnecessary) that is attached to rotating shafts or assemblies, such as boom loaders, skid steers, buckets and hitch arms, and the electronics module to the chassis (or vice versa).

Piezo nanopositioning stage Aerotech aerotech.com The QFOCUS QF1 is available with threaded adapters to fit most microscopes and objectives. The microscope turret mounting allows for easy and fast positioning of the QF1 at the desired orientation. The QF1 is available with a clear aperture of up to 29 mm. It has the option of closed-loop feedback using a unique capacitive sensor design for subnanometer resolution and high linearity. The capacitive sensors measure the output of the positioning carriage directly, enabling superior accuracy and repeatability. The piezo stage also features 100 μm closed-loop and 120 μm open-loop travels with custom travels available.

Integrated step motors Applied Motion Products applied-motion.com Integrated StepSERVO motors fuse a highresolution incremental encoder and closed-loop servo firmware into one device.

Features: • NEMA frame size 17, 23 and 24; StepSERVO motors use 5,000-line incremental encoders (20,000 counts/rev) • NEMA frame size 11; StepSERVO motors use 1,024-line incremental encoders (4,096 counts/rev) • closed-loop servo control using high-torque step motors • high acceleration for faster machine cycles and greater productivity • IP65 versions for wet and dusty environments • stand-alone operation (stored Q programming) • Ethernet/IP industrial networking option • CANopen fieldbus option • Modbus RTU option for easy PLC/HMI connection

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Prod uc t World Advanced level sensor Balluff balluff.com The Balluff Advanced SMARTLEVEL sensor is housed in 316 stainless steel for the most aggressive environments. The PEEK sensing nose will provide protection against sticky and adhesive materials. This combination of housing materials gives the sensor an IP69 rating and is suitable for use in autoclaves for one hour. When used with the proper mounting accessories, the sensor can be used in hygienic applications.

Integration into control systems is fast and flexible with either discrete outputs or with IO-Link communication.

Self-contained photoelectric sensors Banner Engineering bannerengineering.com Featuring a powerful and bright red emitter beam, the M18-4 sensor allows for easy alignment and setup. For added ease of use, it also offers a highly visible output, and dual-function power and stability indicators. The M18-4 is available in opposed, polarized and non-polarized retroreflective, diffuse and fixed-field sensing modes. For increased flexibility, diffuse models offer a 250째 sensitivity potentiometer. An operating temperature range of -40 to 70째 C ensures optimal performance for diverse applications. Featuring robust IP69Krated 316 stainless steel housing, the heavy-duty 18-mm metal barrel sensor is ideal for harsh industrial environments where abrasive chemicals and ingress fluid are present. Built with Advanced ASIC technology, the dc-operated M18-4 sensors are also resistant to

Proportional controllers Carlo Gavazzi gavazzi-automation.com Single-phase RGx1P Proportional Output Controllers calculate and deliver necessary output power without the need for an additional input device. Apart from three full cycle switching modes for basic heating applications, the RG series also features advanced full cycle control for short wave infrared heaters, phase angle switching mode for resistive heaters, light dimming and speed control of ac fans, and soft starting for heating elements with low cold-state resistance. The controllers feature an output voltage rating of up to 660 Vac; 15 to 63 A switching power for RGC1P contactors; 50 to 90 A switching power for RGS1P solid-state relays; and options for 4 to 20 mA or 0 to 10 Vdc, 0 to 5 Vdc, 1 to 5

fluorescent light and

Vdc or potentiometer inputs.

offer a high level of crosstalk avoidance.

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Produ ct Wo rl d Epoxy for chip coating Master Bond masterbond.com Supreme 3HTND-2CCM has a paste consistency that flows slightly while curing. It cures readily at elevated temperatures.

The minimum curing schedule is 20 to 30 min at 250° F or 5 to 10 min at 300° F. It bonds well to a wide variety of substrates used in electronics including metals, composites, ceramics and many plastics. This high strength system delivers tensile lap shear, tensile and compressive strength of 1,800 to 2,000 psi; 6,000 to 7,500 psi; and 15,000 to 17,000 psi, respectively. This electrically insulative compound features a thermal conductivity of 10-11 BTU•in/ft2•hr•°F [1.44-1.59 W/(m·K)].

Supreme 3HTND-2CCM resists many chemicals, such as water, acids, bases, fuels and some solvents.

Couplings

Integrated control platform

Miki Pulley mikipulley-us.com

Mitsubishi Electric Automation us.mitsubishielectric.com

Bellowflex couplings provide a low weight/low inertia

The iQ-R series incorporates sequence, motion, safety, process and

solution. They are designed with high-strength, zero-

C-language control into one platform. It is designed for applications

backlash aluminum hubs with corrosion resistant socket

requiring integrated motion and safety control, tight synchronization

head cap screws for ease of installation. These couplings

between various processes and high production throughput.

handle shaft speeds from 5,500 to 9,000 rpm. The electrically insulating bellows prevents electrical current

Key features include:

from passing between the system shafts through the

• 0.98 nsec execution speed

coupling. Bellowflex couplings operate well in applications

• multi-discipline control with up to 4 CPUs in a single rack

where temperatures range from 20 to 60° C. Available

• high-speed bus

in three sizes, with a bore range of 3 to 18 mm, these

• GX Works3 programming software with built-in functions and

components are suitable for printing, packaging, inspection,

configuration screens

automation and similar systems.

• CC-Link IE field network with deterministic performance over

industrial Ethernet

• built-in SD memory card database

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SALES

A d In dex

Mike Caruso mcaruso@wtwhmedia.com 469.855.7344

All Motion........................................................ 4 Allied Electronics, Inc. ...........................Cover Allied Electronics, Inc. .............................3,79 AMETEK DFS (Windjammer) ..................... 63 AMETEK PMC ................................................. 9 Anderson Metals Corp. ...............................46 Aurora Bearing Co. ...................................... 85 AutomationDirect ...................... Gatefold, IFC Bergquist ..................................................... 23 Bird Precision ..............................................38 Bishop Wisecarver ..................................... 69 Bison Gear & Engineering Corp. ............... IBC Bodine Electric Company ..........................90 Brogan & Patrick Mfg. ...............................88 Caplugs ........................................................ 59 Cicoil ............................................................ 25 Clippard Instrument Laboratory, Inc. ....... BC Colder Products Company ......................... 33 CS Hyde ....................................................... 18 Del-Tron Precision, Inc. ............................... 64 Deublin ........................................................30 DIEQUA Corporation ....................................42 Digi-Key Electronics ................................... 15 Dunkermotoren, part of Ametek .............. 41 Eaton Hydraulics Group ..................... 2,47,71 Elesa USA Corporation ............................... 57 Elmo Motion Control ................................... 27 Encoder Products Co. .................................58 Fluid Power Tech Conference ....................89 Haydon Kerk ............................................... 65 Helical Products Company .......................... 7 HELUKABEL USA ......................................... 37 Helwig Carbon Products, Inc. .................... 97

n ement to Desig

A Suppl

World - April

Hitachi Cable America ................................ 21 Hydac International ................................... 17 IXYS/Zilog .................................................... 91 John Evansâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Sons ....................................... 67 KB Electronics ............................................ 16 Master Bond ................................................30 Miki Pulley US .............................................49 Moog Animatics .......................................... 32 Moog Components ....................................... 1 MW Industries ....................................... 44,45 Novotechnik ................................................ 31 Ondrives US ................................................. 77 PBC Linear ................................................... 75 PHD Inc. ....................................................... 43 Proto Labs, Inc. ........................................... 13 QA1 ............................................................... 83 Ringfeder Corp. ........................................... 24 Schneider Electric ........................................ 5 Seal Master ................................................. 85 Setco ............................................................94 SME - RAPID 2016 - 3D Technology Event ......106 Smalley Steel Ring Company .................... 10 Sorbothane .................................................96 Stock Drive Products / Sterling Instrument ...............................38 Suco Tech .................................................... 83 Tech-Etch Inc. ............................................. 87 The Lee Company ....................................... 35 Therm Omega Tech ..................................... 78 TRIM-LOK, Inc. ............................................. 51 Universal Robots USA, Inc. ........................ 55 US Tsubaki ...................................................95 Whittet-Higgins Co. ..................................... 29

2016

gtips.com

www.bearin

Beari n g Ti ps Su p p lem ent

Todd Christenson tchristenson@wtwhmedia.com 440.381.9048 @wtwh_todd Jessica East jeast@wtwhmedia.com 330.319.1253 @wtwh_MsMedia

Jim Powers jpowers@wtwhmedia.com 312.925.7793 @jpowers_media Courtney Seel cseel@wtwhmedia.com 440.523.1685 @wtwh_CSeel Michelle Flando mflando@wtwhmedia.com 440.670.4772 @mflando

Michael Ference mference@wtwhmedia.com 408.769.1188 @mrference Mike Francesconi mfrancesconi@wtwhmedia.com 630.488.9029 David Geltman dgeltman@wtwhmedia.com 516.510.6514 @wtwh_david Neel Gleason ngleason@wtwhmedia.com 312.882.9867 @wtwh_ngleason Tom Lazar tlazar@wtwhmedia.com 408.701.7944 @wtwh_Tom

LEADERSHIP TEAM Publisher Mike Emich memich@wtwhmedia.com 508.446.1823 @wtwh_memich Managing Director Scott McCafferty smccafferty@wtwhmedia.com 310.279.3844 @SMMcCafferty EVP Marshall Matheson mmatheson@wtwhmedia.com 805.895.3609 @mmatheson

CONNECT WITH US!

igus ............................................................... 105 NB Corporation ............................................... 98 er, ipment fast Design equ , and under smarter TiPS from budget with rs. plie sup leading

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