Apr 25 2008 8:26AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

Reducing energy consumption is a bit like exercise. People tend to agree it’s a good idea and should do it regularly –– but often times they don’t quite make it to the gym. Yet if energy costs keep rising, engineers won’t be able to sit on the sidelines for much longer and will have to work out new ways to trim the energy consumption of the machines they build.

This growing energy awareness was on display throughout this week’s Hannover Fair, where major suppliers and users of motion control and automation equipment showcased their energy-reduction strategies and technologies. The fair also itself featured brand new energy-efficiency displays, including an “Energy Tunnel” exhibit that highlighted ways to make common industrial processes — like pumping — more efficient.

...Read More

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Apr 22 2008 5:36AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (1) |

The biggest draws at Festo’s recent Hannover Fair exhibits have been biologically-inspired robotic creatures that show off cutting-edge automation technologies. Turning once again to nature for inspiration, the company’s engineers this year came up with robotic jellyfish that either swim or fly.

They may look whimsical, but the waterborne AquaJelly and airborne AirJelly make use of mechatronic design practices, control strategies and actuation methods that could have serious engineering implications. Read about them in my article, Robotic Jellyfish Swim and Fly at Hannover Fair.

Apr 21 2008 8:09AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

 Hannover Fair, the massive industrial technology trade show, opened its doors in Germany today. Actually a collection of ten different shows that run concurrently though the end of the week, this year's fair features more than 5,000 exhibitors and nearly 170,000 square meters of exhibit space. Factory automation technologies usually take center stage at the fair, and this year is no exception. Yet there are a few new twists. Among them is a brand new exhibit dedicated to Mobile Robots & Autonomous Systems. It's just a tiny slice of the robotic technologies scattered around the fair, but the new exhibit does reflect an expected upswing in transport and service robots. This year's fair also spotlights energy efficiency and global climate change. Hundreds if not thousands of displays throughout the fair focus on ways to make the...Read More

Apr 16 2008 1:40PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

Engineers who want some face time with the latest Siemens automation technology won't have to travel to distant trade shows or user conferences this year. Starting in July, the company will bring a huge technology road show to cities across North America. Called "exiderdome: World of Automation," this exhibition has little in common with the automation events that take place in unmemorable hotels and convention centers across the country.

Judging from a tour of the exiderdome yesterday in Monterrey, Mexico, this particular exhibition will be pretty hard to forget. It takes place in its own portable building composed of more than 50 shipping containers stacked three stories high. It has a footprint that's nearly half the size of a football field. In its 10,...Read More

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Feb 21 2008 9:26AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (1) |

Pity the poor toy engineer. Toys, especially the electronic ones, grow more sophisticated by the year. Yet toy makers have to hit what have to be some of industry’s toughest cost targets. These guys think in pennies not dollars.

One way to achieve technical sophistication on a budget is to make good use of off-the-shelf technologies developed for other uses. And judging from some of the robotic toys on display at yesterday’s Toy Fair in New York, it’s an approach that ...Read More

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Jan 22 2008 1:37AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

Thanks to its SQUIGGLE line of miniature linear motors, New Scale Technologies already puts together some of the world’s smallest motion systems. Now a technology development partnership with austriamicrosystems, a supplier of analog ICs, promises to make New Scale’s micro motion systems even smaller while improving their resolution and power efficiency.

The two companies plan to integrate New Scale’s ultrasonic motors with custom control and position-sensing ICs from austriamicrosystems. According to David Henderson, New Scale’s chief executive and technology officer, austriamicrosystems has the expertise needed to shrink the electronics that complement the motor in a complete closed-loop mot...Read More

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Jan 11 2008 12:24PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

If you're an engineer working to improve the environment through better machine building, there's a new grant program you should check out. Opto 22 has launched a grant to support automation projects related to renewable energy, energy-consumption optimization, sustainability, recycling and environmental remediation. “Anything that improves the environment is fair game,” says Arun Sinha, one of coordinators for Opto's corporate sustainability program. These OptoGreen grants include free automation hardware, software, engineering consultations and lifetime support.

The first OptoGreen grant recently went to Makila Hydro, which will use its donated Opto SNAP PAC systems in the restoration and operation of a cl...Read More

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Jan 4 2008 7:16AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

With the idea of using a shared real-time Ethernet network for machine control and safety quickly gaining acceptance, suppliers and technology organizations are scrambling to make this integrated safety strategy easier to implement. The latest development on that score comes from SERCOS International and Germany’s IXXAT Automation GmbH.

IXXAT will this year develop a new software stack for the “CIP Safety on SERCOS” protocol. Consisting of a CIP Safety layer and a CIP Safety on SERCOS adaptation layer, the new software stack will be designed for both SERCOS master and slave implementations.

CIP Safety On Sercos isn’t a brand new concept, but IXXAT’s involvement will help standardize it. According t...Read More

Nov 16 2007 1:26PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (1) |

If you want to supply machines to the big boys of consumer product manufacturing, you better smarten up. Smarten up your machines, that is.

That message came out loud and clear at Rockwell’s Automation Fair, which this year hosted a forum for OEM machine builders. Speaking before a crowd of a couple hundred machine builders, engineers from Procter & Gamble and 3M talked about their growing need for “information enabled” production and packaging machines.

Whether they’re turning out beauty products or tape or putting product into packages, machines used by the consumer products companies still have to meet stringent functional requirements. “The machine has to work properly. That’s always a given,” said ...Read More

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Nov 15 2007 1:23PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

Direct-drive motors have been around for years, but this still-underutilized motion technology will likely get a big boost next year. Rockwell Automation plans to introduce a brand new line of rotary direct-drive motors in the second quarter of 2008, according to David Hansen, a Rockwell product manager for motion control. Initially available in both bearing-less and fully-housed designs with custom frameless designs to come later on, the motors will be part of Rockwell's ...Read More

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Nov 13 2007 8:14AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

Electric motor technology may not progress in leaps and bounds, but there have been plenty of evolutionary changes over the past few years. In an ideal world, that evolution would trigger changes in the standards governing motor design and performance. "When technology moves on, standards should be updated," says Dan Jones, a consultant to the motor industry, president of Incremotion Associates and a board member of the Motion Control Association.

In reality, though, standards don't necessarily move in lockstep with motor technology. And that divergence between standards and actual motors can provide some insight about the practical problems confronting engineers in the field. How so? Well, consider the most recent standards revisions from the National Electrical Manufacturers ...Read More

Oct 26 2007 9:35AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

There was a time not too long ago when any discussion of pneumatic connections involved the air and power supplies. Yet today’s pneumatic systems increasingly have to make another type of connection–to industrial Ethernet. At last week’s Pack Expo show in Las Vegas, pneumatic suppliers showed off valve manifolds and related I/O systems that can bridge the gap between air and electricity. Not all of them are brand new, but these systems continue to evolve with the addition of new connectivity options. Ethernet IP support, in particular, has become important for pneumatics. “Ethernet IP is really hot right now,” says Dave Thomas, a senior applications engineer with Festo. Others suppliers agree. “Ethernet IP is growing quickly in big markets like packaging and automotive,&rdq...Read More

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Oct 16 2007 9:50AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

Yaskawa Electric America today at the Pack Expo show unveiled a souped-up servo system that offers  improvements in positioning accuracy and speed, a reduction in size, and the addition of new auto-tuning and vibration-suppression capabilities. Called Σ-V, the system is based on new servo motors and amplifiers that cover a range from 0.1 to 15 kW.

Yaskawa technical documents cite a standard positioning accuracy as good as 10 nm and settling times in the 0 to 4 ms range once the system has been auto tuned. Σ-V amps have a frequency response of 1.6  kHz. 

Much of the systems' performance boost comes down to Yaskawa's latest auto-tuning and vibration-suppression al...Read More

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Oct 15 2007 3:58PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

Pack Expo kicked off its three day run in Las Vegas today, and automation suppliers wasted no time in rolling out new new components and systems aimed at packaging machine applications. Among the introductions were a couple of interesting systems that first appeared in Europe earlier this year but had not crossed over to North America until now.

One such system comes from Beckhoff Automation, which showed off its new eXtreme Fast Control (XFC) system. Based on industrial PCs, super-fast I/O terminals, and communication over the EtherCAT industrial Ethernet protocol, the system offers typical I/O response times down to 85 μs and overall cycle times of no more than 100 μs. Applications for XFC include tight closed-...Read More

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Oct 4 2007 11:17AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

Motion control salesman really have been hustling this year. According to a study released yesterday by the Motion Control Association (MCA), reported sales of motion products in the second quarter of this year jumped 3.7 percent over those of the first quarter.

“Shipment growth paints an even rosier picture than sales orders,” says Paul Kellett, the MCA's director of market analysis. Reported shipments for the second quarter totaled $503 million, which represents a 5.9 percent growth over the first quarter. 

The MCA breaks the motion market down into ten categories that cover the various types of motors, drives, controllers, actuators, sensors and other motion components. The largest is the motor category–which consists of DC brushed motors, AC and DC brushless motors, servomotors w...Read More

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