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Simplified Drives Highlighted at Hannover

Simplicity and modularity help ease design integration

Roy OConnor -- Design News, July 7, 2003

Hannover, Germany — Despite the subdued current economic atmosphere, most exhibitors at this year's Hannover Fair had feared the worst, but were pleasantly surprised at an attendance level much higher than they expected. Here are just a few choice pickings of what was on show.

Less design effort and a simplified start-up—Bosch Rexroth (www.boschrexroth-us.com) cites these as the main benefits for their pre-assembled linear axes. Users can now choose between single-, two-, and three-axis solutions as standard products. The axes consist of Compact Modules including servomotor, controller, and fieldbus interface. The axis systems have been designed for loads up to 25 kg and speeds upwards of 1.0 m/sec, and are intended for applications in the automotive, electronics, food and packaging industries.

Festo Corp. (www.festo.com) was also showing modular guided drives—in this case the pneumatically powered DFM-B piston-rod drive and the DGC, which is a new compact rodless drive. The devices can be used to form simple handling units. The DFM-B has new modular functions including shock absorbers and adjustable end-position cushioning, which aid in achieving higher speeds and reduced cycle times. The compact DGC drive obtains its precision from a stainless steel slide and ball bearing guide. Dovetail connectors aid simple installation.

In the field of elevating platforms, ContiTech (www.contitech.de) has developed a flat-belt drive as an alternative to the hydraulic or spindle drives usually found in this application. The POLYFLAT PU flat belts consist of abrasion-resistant polyurethane material with galvanized steel cords increasing the tensile strength. The belt width varies from 30 to 100 mm and up to four belts in parallel for heavy loads (see figure) can be installed.

Silent running

New materials are also a feature of INA's (www.ina.com) NK and NKI needle roller bearings—shown in Hannover with a new plastic cage to ensure quiet running. According to the company, this design reduces structure-borne noise in the bearings by 70% below the figures obtained for comparable bearings with a steel cage. INA uses a heat-stabilized, glass-fiber reinforced polyamide material to give good strength and elasticity characteristics.

Moving to the field of shaft seals, Freudenberg Simrit (www.simrit.com) now has a Simmering shaft seal with an integral leakage sensor. Operating on the principle of a reflecting light barrier, the sensor detects changes in the color and moisture of the reflecting material (fleece ring). The sensor provides a method of remote monitoring and diagnosis to simplify servicing and to obtain information from areas where access is difficult or restricted.

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