MOTION CONTROL: The most critical part of any metal-cutting machine is the spindle that drives the cutting tool. With its broad product line, featuring motorized or separately driven spindles, spindle motors and built-in high torque or high-speed applications, Siemens Energy & Automation offers standard or custom solutions to machine tool OEMs and end users. Today’s machine tools are equipped with single or multiple spindles in two basic designs. The first are motorized, direct drive spindles, where the motor is integral with the spindle and the entire assembly, including bearings, motor, drawbar and tool retention, are all in one cartridge. The second are separately driven spindles where the spindle itself is driven by a separate motor. The drive mechanism can be belt, gear box or coupling for direct drive. The spindle houses the drawbar, tool retention system and, sometimes, tool coolant. In the case of directly coupled spindles, the motors can have hollow shafts with the coolant rotary union mounted to the back of the motor. Motorized spindles are becoming the norm in advanced machine tool design, as their compact configuration, high-speed machining performance, superior accuracy and long service life are outstripping the conventional belt driven spindles. Because all functions are built into one compact cartridge or block, these spindles offer the machine designer more flexibility, less space and a higher degree of performance. Using synchronous motor technology, these spindles are more efficient, cover a broader speed, power and torque range and can be used for more precise applications. Weiss spindles can be built to speeds as high as 80,000 rpm
Almost every automaker has had to 'pick a side' when it comes to alternative fuel options and ways to divest from a reliance on gasoline. Fiat is looking to back compressed natural gas or liquid propane as an interim solution.
Plastic may not be the most beloved of materials to the more environmentally minded, but Plasti 2012 aimed to mold a different opinion of the material in people's minds.
The rare earth element market has become steadily more rational, and new sources coming online will continue to reduce costs. Still, it is unlikely that prices will drop to their former lows.
Against a backdrop of mounting product complexity and a need to keep a lid on development costs, companies are recognizing a need to make simulation a more integral part of the design process. In response, vendors in the CAD world are building out CAE functionality as part of their CAD suites while simulation vendors are building tighter integrations to leading CAD tools. Keith Meintjes, Ph.D., Practice Manager, Simulation and Analysis at CIMdata, Inc., joins Design News CAD Editor Beth Stackpole in this radio program to explore the new face of integrated CAD and CAE, how companies are benefitting from this tighter partnership between platforms, and how integrating CAE earlier in the development cycle pays off in optimized product designs.
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