Modularity making motion engineering a snap
Modular systems are based on standardized individual components that can be combined in different ways to form moving machinery, while reducing the amount...
This Used There: Slippery PBT-coated belts in food and beverage
Across the globe, increased energy costs continue to drive plant management to conservation. On the horizon could soon be pressure to lower water consumption...
Design by Objective: Extreme Environments
Components and systems used in harsh environments require sophisticated designs to withstand the rigors of explosions, violent weather, extreme temperatures,...
Software supports flexible physical modeling
Software developer Maplesoft, Waterloo, Ontario, recently entered into a partnership with B&R Industrial Automation Corp., Roswell, Ga., to make it easy...
Robotics in bending
The bending of pipe and metal plates into useful shapes is increasingly automated by robotics. Recall that just a few years ago, Kuka Robotics Corp.,...
Design by Objective: Withstanding washdown
High pressure. Hot water. Caustic chemicals. Combine these challenges and you'll understand what machinery must resist in harsh environments such as food...
Improving manufacturing performance through intelligent safety system design
Most production line managers value safety for the critical role it plays in helping to protect personnel, reduce injuries, and meet compliance demands....
Motion Scenarios: Gripping & Holding
Identifying the best gripper for the application can be a daunting task given the thousands of different combinations, part numbers, and variation in...
Meeting the new global safety standards
Machine builders who sell internationally (or who are looking to gain a competitive edge) should consider the following: The European Union standards...
Motion Scenarios: Lifting and Hoisting
Vertically elevating loads is a ubiquitous task in engineering, but prevailing over gravity while maintaining safety and accuracy calls for myriad approaches....
Right-size your system
Most machine builders consider safety, performance, flexibility, and enterprise integration top customer drivers guiding new system design. Machines that...
Design by Objective: Safety Solutions
Designing with safety as a top priority ensures the longevity of machines and their human operators, and boosts productivity and profits. Here we review...
Motion Scenarios: Pick-and-place applications
Designing comprehensive automation for high-speed pick-and-place applications is among the most challenging tasks faced by motion engineers. As robotic...
This Used There: Piezos in semiconductor manufacturing
Miniscule chips require immense precision Moore's Law states that computing power on integrated circuits (ICs) grows exponentially doubling every two...
Three ways to reduce design time
Getting a machine to market faster ultimately helps improve the bottom line, so machine builders often try to save valuable time in the design phase....
Motion Scenarios: Tensioning in winding
Most wire manufacturers have applications for which magnetic particle clutches and brakes are suitable. Consider how a plant might control the rewind...
Complementing automation architecture with component infrastructure
Automation controls represent a major machine-design investment. Beyond selecting the right controller and HMI, machine builders must also select components...
Automation Software
Automation development software is a relatively new tool. In short, these suites provide a PC-based environment for writing and customizing controls, and a medium for initial component selection and design work. Then, once the design is finalized, the same software is used (where needed) to load pieces of generated programming (for commissioning and even diagnostic support) onto actual drive controllers to execute motion tasks. ...
Lubricating miniature moving parts
Miniature components that slide, rotate, and reciprocate require lubrication for the same reasons that larger parts do to reduce friction and allow consistent...
Motion Scenarios: Grinding & polishing
For gears to work most effectively and efficiently, their mating surfaces must finely mesh a trait often bestowed with heavy-duty and precise gear-grinding...
This Used There: Feedback in robotics
Customized robot uses haptics Deakin University's Centre for Intelligent Systems Research, Geelong Victoria, Australia, has developed a Universal Motion...
Design by Objective: Extreme environments
When it comes to the hazards of heat, water, dust, humidity, shock, and vibration, designs need solid protection. Check out some of the latest components...
Motion Scenarios: Dispensing
Indexing systems remain the norm in many assembly applications, and those that involve dispensing a liquid into a product container are no exception....
Hexapods: Delivering sub-micron resolution
A hexapod, also known as a Stewart or Gough-Stewart platform, is a six-legged parallel mechanism. In its most common form, it consists of two platforms...
Energy efficiency drives product innovation
As engineers are increasingly tasked with designing efficient equipment, green components are proliferating. Described here are some of the latest energy-conscious...
Motion Scenarios: Drilling
Equipment to drill holes, if strategically constructed, can also be used to execute other functions. Consider the RBV X6 unit from HeB Machinenfabrik...
This Used There: Lumber inspection
Even after sawing, planing, and finishing, some wood products still aren't ready to ship. Consider the sheets of wood made for siding homes and cladding...
Motion Scenarios: Grinding and polishing
Consider a toothed bandsaw for cutting lumber. Automating its occasional regrinding (for resharpening) certainly reduces cost, but requires synchronization....
Motion Scenarios: Cutting and contouring
Automation has expanded the average machine tool's functionality: Sensors, HMIs, and most importantly, coordinated axes and controls are making processes...
Space-saving designs
Minimizing size and weight continues to be a top objective for engineers designing today's sleeker and more energy-efficient systems. Here we present...
New approaches improve efficiency
In manufacturing it's accepted that servomotors and servodrives are inherently energy efficient, and therefore are a logical component of sustainable...
Robotics safety
When the first industrial robots moved onto America's automobile assembly lines in the 1960s, most were rather primitive. Today, innovations have ushered in a new age of robotics. Yet despite breakthrough applications, robots carry risk: Without precautions, it's possible for robots to injure people and damage capital equipment....
Brushing Up: Rare-earth elements
Rare-earth elements are those 30 metals found in the periodic table's oft-omitted center two rows. They're used in many modern applications. Most powerful...
EtherNet/IP for safety: Network simplifies integration
The challenges of safety integration are most apparent to motion design engineers, because of all industrial systems, moving machines pose significant...
Save time with reusable code
Time is money, and for industrial automation software development, nothing saves more time than the ability to reuse programming code. Until now, the...
Tough tools handle high torque and force
Applications involving extreme torque and force can take a toll on components and machines alike. Included here are some of the latest components to help...
Line shafting mechanical and electronic
In applications such as printing and paper converting, where separated sides or ends of a moving machine must be synchronized, the most obvious solution...
Washdown-duty devices brave water and more
Many industrial designs need protection from the elements, whether indoors or out. Here are some of the latest weatherproof parts for your next wet application....
Articulating motion
Articulate has two meanings formulated with clarity and effectiveness or a design with segments and sockets. Articulating robots are both jointed arms...
Two-drive micropositioning
Electronics and medical applications that involve focusing, scanning, adjustment, and inspection often use sub-micrometer positioning. Piezo motors are...
Get with the program
What are the critical factors when choosing a motion programming language? Shah Galil: Many programmers struggle with this question. From the 1950s through...
Rugged encoder stands up to shock, vibration
One of the most trusted feedback devices is the tried and true rotary encoder. However, shock loads can easily break these delicate devices: The glass...
Virtual modeling: Measure twice; cut once
Virtual modeling with software verifies components concurrent with other development tasks, while virtual integration can prevent inferior quality or...
Getting a handle on gripping
What is a robot without its arm or means to grip and move objects? Not much. Technically, robots have existed for at least 100 years. Their rougher mechanical...
Robotic safety standards evolving
It looks like robots are here to stay: Significant increases in microprocessing power and recent strides in automation and control technology have made...
Waving goodbye to vibration
From heavy-duty tool presses to light and zippy semiconductor manufacture, all machines are subject to vibration. Minimizing oscillation boosts system...
Improving energy efficiency
Conserving energy on a system-wide basis starts at the component level. Check out some of the latest green offerings and expert tips that will help your...
Software and innovation, simplified
Intense global competition is pressuring machine builders to deliver equipment that increases throughput and features while reducing operating costs....
Dimensional inspection, decades later
The precision gear inspection lab described in the July 1959 issue of Motion System Design no longer exists at Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, headquartered...
Robotic auto reaches for the stars
When French automaker Citron wanted something exciting to lure customers into its flagship showroom along the Champs-es avenue in Paris, the company contacted...
Top 10 tipsMotion programming
Don't underestimate the importance of program architecture. Setting up the best architecture for the application requires a lot of advance planning. Instead...
Operation donut: Dispensing technology pulls out all the stops
When electrical component manufacturer FTZ Industries, Simpsonville, S.C., set out to create a new electrical splice, they had a vision in mind: To create...
Engineering students power Kenyan clinic
An engineering student design team at Virginia Tech is creating a photovoltaic system to provide a medical clinic in Kenya with a desperately needed source of power. Donations from IBM, Renesola, and Grundfos Pumps, working together with the Virginia Tech Foundation, have provided the students on the Renewable Energy Senior Design Team with about half of the materials necessary to build the system....
Programmability debugged
Specifying components is easy. Putting them together in a complex motion system is anything but. If your next project requires programming expertise to...
Time saving technology: Programming software
Save time with programming software New software development tools accelerate motion programming, test, and simulation. Application Development Kit (ADK)...
Motion platforms unlock programmable automation
One of the major hurdles designers face when attempting to build programmable automation systems is the complexity associated with software development....
Simulation
TO WHAT EXTENT IS IT NOW POSSIBLE TO MODEL AND SIMULATE THE OPERATING DYNAMICS OF INDUSTRIAL MOTION SYSTEMS CONSISTING OF MULTIPLE MECHANICAL AND ELECTROMAGNETIC...
Sensing gives packaging a boost
Now that sensors and vision systems have caught up with motion hardware, the emphasis has shifted from simply detecting the product to precisely positioning it for each operation...
Simulation software speeds motion system analysis and design
Which would you choose to test the design of a new printed-circuit board machine — traditional lab testing or text-based simulation software? Engineers at Universal Instruments chose neither. Instead they used a new type of simulation software that more closely emulates the way an engineer looks at the world...
Motion programming gets easier
The software that runs motion systems must execute processes ever faster and more reliably, be flexible enough to change as processes change, and be easy enough to use that operators and trouble-shooters need minimal training. One of the newest solutions for these requirements is flow chart programming...
Supercharge your PC
Setting up your PC to control specific tasks is easy with such development tools as ActiveX, Visual Basic and OPC Server...
Design software for better drivetrains
A manufacturer of drivetrain components for heavy equipment uses design optimization software to develop products more quickly without the need for repetitive and costly prototype testing...
CAD software streamlines design data handling
Looking for a way to get spare parts faster, the Navy developed a system that accelerates the design and manufacturing process, and reduces the dependence on paper as well...
How to prevent unexpected machine failures through condition monitoring
Especially important for complex machines and integrated manufacturing systems, new technologies let you predict when a component will fail...
Putting DeviceNet in motion
Sooner or later, you'll probably install a drive to a network...
PLCs get smaller, do more
PLCs have grown in power and functional capabilities. But, small, simple PLCs are still best for replacing relays and performing other machine control functions in a minimal space...
Field multiplexers reduces wiring
Achieving tight control of manufacturing operations often means collecting data from widely dispersed points throughout the plant. Rather than running wires from all these points, consider combining signals onto two wires via field multiplexers...
Mistakes to avoid in programmable controller startup
Whether you are integrating one programmable controller, or dozens, into a system, success depends as much on proper planning and installation as on controller selection...
Robotic joint for smooth manipulation
By linking a smooth-operating robotic joint with an advanced control system, researchers may have the answer for applications in space as well as on the ground...
Open networks link factory floor devices
Open communication systems that accommodate control system devices from multiple vendors have become a reality with the introduction of new networks from two industry leaders...
PLCs bus into the future
IPC 1995 displayed a few new products in PLC hardware and software. But the real news was the proliferation of sensor-actuator (or device-level) buses. Now you have nine from which to choose...
Predicting machine failure
Electrical signatures combined with ingenuity help engineers create new analysis tools for motor-operated devices. These tools can predict component failures and which parts of the the components are about to go...
Motion-control simulation: Better and faster
Simulation software programs not only help designers develop more cost-effective control systems that perform better, but they do it faster, thus speeding their time to market...
How to meet Canadian standards
Your machines may need to meet Canadian standards. With increasing trade north of the border, Canadian safety standards are becoming a bigger factor for U.S. designers and manufacturers of equipment containing electrical products...
Cam design equations replace graphics
Though electronic motion controllers have replaced cams in my applications, cams may still be best in situations that require complex motions. But, the graphical design process is such a drudge! Here a calculation method gets around the graphics....
Ensure compatibility with CAD software
When it comes to designing machinery and controlelements for automationsystgems, machine builders rely on CAD to optimize designs and achieve compatibility with requirements...
Start condition monitoring to stop machine failures
We offer some guidelines on how to set up a condition monitoring program and evaluate its results...
