Author Archives: Bernard and Company

TRD Uses Modular Tombstone Fixtures to Improve Production of Cylinder Components By Over 40%

Continue reading

Manufacturing Solutions from the EMAG Group – A Partner In Emerging Markets

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that the world economy will grow by 3.5 percent this year, with the impetus coming less from Europe and more from dynamic, newly industrialized countries. One example is the automotive industry. According to the association for the German automotive industry (VDA), China’s share of the market in passenger cars increased by 59% and that of Brazil by 18% during the first few months of 2013. The same market is also growing in India and Russia. For a long time, new production facilities have been planned and are under construction, providing great opportunities for the machine tool industry – as the example of EMAG proves. Specialists are developing turnkey manufacturing systems that are tailor-made to suit specific market conditions, with the new production facilities in particular gaining substantially from this increased market activity.

Whether in the automotive or energy supply industry, the development of industrial key sectors within the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) has a direct influence on the machine tool industry, as it is this branch that, in the end, must supply most of the necessary manufacturing solutions. There are numerous indicators for this fact. For instance, according to Germany Trade and Invest (GTAI), the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad will – over the next 3 years – will see an investment of 3 billion Euro in six assembly facilities and fifteen sub-supply companies for the national automotive industry, with more international sub-suppliers also establishing outlets in the market.  Similar activities are reported from Brazil. According to Anfavea, the country’s automobile association, approximately 22 billion USD are to be invested in production between now and 2015. In India, economic growth is generally attracting “an abundance of investment projects in the country’s infrastructure, as well as in new industrial complexes,” states GTAI.

The German machine tool industry is prepared for such a dynamic development and the opportunities it provides can be seen in the textbook case of EMAG. Their specialists see themselves as “partners in solutions” for the metalworking industry. Such an approach is of great importance, especially in the emerging markets. “As it happens, we don’t just deliver a machine tool. We deliver closely pinpointed manufacturing solutions that are, in every respect, tailor-made to customer requirements”, explains Dieter Kollmar, Managing Director of EMAG Holding GmbH. “This applies, of course, to typical factors such as batch sizes, component variants or, more generally, the flexibility of the processes applied. At the same time, we determine locally the technologies, automation equipment, interfaces and control systems required.“ The advantages for the customer are obvious, especially where an existing production line is extended or where a greenfield manufacturing facility must be created in a new market place. Our manufacturing systems are always “from a single source.”  Even complex processes with peripheral machines and equipment are presented as turnkey projects by EMAG, thus considerably reducing the efforts of local production planners.

VL 2: Highly effective, truly outstanding space saver

The VL 2 is a pick-up turning machine with which the EMAG engineers are fulfilling a combination of two extreme demands: highest possible output rates on the smallest possible footprint. “This is a truly all-important aspect,” confirms Dieter Kollmar. “Although the floor space requirement for this vertical turning machine is just about 5 square meters, it is a machine of substantial capability, including a fully comprehensive automation concept with conveyor belt, workpiece storage and pick-up spindle. In combination with vertical turning, this results in very fast machining processes.  “In other words, short loading travel guarantees the lowest possible component cost. Compared to horizontal turning machines, productivity rates increase quite noticeably. And maintaining the VL 2 is simple. All service units are freely and quickly accessible. The user can set up the machine in one step. “That too is important, when productivity levels enter the equation. Operators without prior experience, working at a new and unfamiliar location, will be able to quickly familiarize themselves with the machine. All in all, this is an optimal solution for those who want to extend production with as little investment as possible,” notes Kollmar.

VT 2-4: For demanding shaft production

A similar approach is shown with the VT 2-4 Vertical Turning Machine, with which the EMAG specialists have created an equally fast manufacturing system for shaft production. Even demanding machining processes can be realized on it. When machining shafts up to 400 mm length and 63 mm diameter, component costs reduce considerably, with extremely short chip-to-chip times (as with the VL 2) being the reason. Workpiece grippers transport the workpieces into the machine and remove them again, once they have been machined. Depending on the workpiece, the changeover can be accomplished in just 6 seconds. And the actual turning process is fast, too. 4-axis machining allows the component to be machined from two sides simultaneously. Vertical alignment of the workpieces provides consistent process integrity, as the unrestricted chip flow prevents the formation of clusters in the machining area.

Central project management

“We are convinced that these EMAG solutions are optimally designed to cover not only the specific requirements of an emerging market, but also those of Europe and the USA,” as Dieter Kollmar his company’s philosophy. Everything is greatly simplified, starting with production planning, as there is no need for separate workpiece and finished component storage, with the added advantage of a reduced floor space requirement. At the same time, the EMAG Group engineers act as central project developers, having access to machines with optimal interfaces. This guarantees a fast run-in and makes the machines maintenance-friendly. “When it is a question of arriving quickly at a wholly integrated, highly effective manufacturing solution, this approach must – from our point of view – be the first choice,“ Kollmar concludes.

For more information, please contact:

Kristal Kilgore
EMAG LLC
38800 Grand River Avenue
Farmington Hills, MI 48335
Tel: (248) 875-0313
Fax: (248) 477-7784
E-mail: kkilgore@emag.com
Web: www.emag.com

Continue reading

Sharpening the Focus on FDA Supplier Controls for Medical Implant-grade Cobalt Chrome

CAROL STREAM, ILLINOIS — Firth Rixson Metals, a global leader in specialty metals manufacturing and distribution based in the United Kingdom, and Banner Medical, a leading provider of supply chain solutions for medical-grade materials to the device, implant, and instrument industry, announce their exclusivity agreement for sales and marketing for Cobalt Chrome in the United States, effective January 1^st, 2014.

“The medical-grade metal materials that Firth Rixson Metals produces are of the highest standards. By combining this offering with Banner Medical’s expertise in quality assurance, we will meet the stringent demands of the medical industry,” stated Elinor Oldroyd, GM of Firth Rixson Metals.

“Banner Medical specializes in medical-grade materials and offers deep expertise in the quality management that is necessary to fully comply with FDA 21 CFR 820. The depth, breadth and detail of Banner’s approach to quality management and supply chain management is unique and that distinction justifies the patent-pending status of Banner’s Essential Quality Systems,” says Banner Medical Executive Vice President / Chief Operating Officer Dan Stoettner. “Firth Rixson shares our commitment to vigilance and quality in both products and service.”

The Firth Rixson-Banner Medical agreement focuses on the Device industry’s need for precision-ground cobalt chrome materials. Stoettner went on to say, “Given the importance of cobalt chrome to today’s device, implant and instrument industry, we strongly believe that the Firth Rixson-Banner Medical alliance can help our customers realize true supply chain control on Cobalt Chrome materials, making them able to effectively address the unprecedented FDA scrutiny which exists today in the United States.”

—

Firth Rixson’s technological and operational excellence, combined with the firm’s economies of scale, has made the company the metals provider of choice for demanding customers in diverse specialized industries in more than 40 countries.

 

Banner Medical serves the medical device, implant, and instrument industry with medical-grade metal materials; Banner Medical is ISO 13485 and ISO 9001 certified, and FDA CFR part 820 compliant. 

 

For more information:

BILL NORLANDER
Medical Products Specialist

BANNER MEDICAL
494 East Lies Road
Carol Stream, IL 60188-9425
P: 630.868.1230
F: 630.653.7555
E: bnorlander@banner-medical.com

 

MIKE HADLEY
Supply Chain Manager

BANNER MEDICAL
494 East Lies Road
Carol Stream, IL 60188-9425
P: 630.868.1229
F: 630.653.7555
E: mhadley@banner-medical.com

Continue reading

A Red Hot Connection

The composite camshaft is still gaining ground in the marketplace. The main reason for this is the considerable weight reduction it brings, compared to its one-piece rival. The composite version is by now also widely used in the HGV sector. However, the main disadvantage of many current assembly processes is the high joining force applied, which creates unacceptable tolerances in positioning and alignment of the cams. By contrast, the patented heat shrink assembly process from EMAG offers a decisive advantage, as it ensures that “ready-to-fit” camshafts, gear shafts and other precision composite units can be produced without problems.

The advantages of the composite camshaft are well known: less expense, less weight, the possibility to use different materials for the various constituent components, greater flexibility in production and the ability to implement new cam geometries, such as negative radii, with ease. The necessary reduction in fuel consumption – and with it those of CO₂ emissions – are easier to achieve with an increasing use of composite camshafts.

Alternative processes for the joining of cam and shaft have one serious disadvantage: the two components cannot be joined with the necessary accuracy to avoid a subsequent finish grinding process. In many cases, the joining of cam to tube is carried out using a form-fit process like press-fitting, knurling and/or spline/serrated gearing. The joining forces required for these processes can deform the components and result in unacceptable tolerances in cam position and orientation.

The heat shrink assembly process from EMAG means precision joining

Thermal joining, i.e. the heat shrinking of cam onto tube, ensures that the required tolerances are achieved with a reaction force-free process. The know-how to tightly control the process parameters of “temperature” and “time” – and the mechanical design of the joining equipment – are of the utmost importance in this process.

An optimal combination of robot and special-concept gripping technology allows for fusion gaps of < 15 µm to be achieved safely. The concept’s great flexibility allows camshaft designers more freedom in their designs and ensures that the process can also be used for medium batch sizes, where frequent component type changes are the order of the day. The high degree of precision of the composite camshaft drastically reduces the need to subsequently grind the cams or – where precision cams are used – does away with the requirement completely. A further advantage of this process lies in the possibility of using different materials for the composite shaft. This includes forged cams, for instance in 100Cr6, or finish-ground cams, even dimensionally accurate sintered cams that do not require a downstream finish-grinding operation. Secondary components, such as bungs and endpieces, can – just like the actual shaft itself – be made of more advantageous materials.

All this allows the camshaft to be made to suit the requirements of the engine and to optimize it in terms of load bearing capacity and manufacturing costs.

And now one step further:

Where the camshaft needs to be ground after heat shrink assembly, the joining machine can be linked up to a grinder. This is particularly easy when using an EMAG grinding center of the VTC DS Series. With this setup, the joining machine robot transfers the assembled camshaft directly to the loading position on the grinding center. The advantages of this process from EMAG also apply to the machining of other components. When machining gear shafts, ground gears can be joined tightly on the shaft, without needing to account for the grinding wheel overrun at the design stage. It also minimizes the length of the shaft and makes the whole unit more compact.

Maximum flexibility

The EMAG process is characterized by only a very few machining components being in direct contact with the workpiece. It allows for the machines to be reset in the shortest possible time (typically less than 15 minutes).

Joining in seconds and achieving the highest possible quality

The heat shrink assembly process offered by EMAG combines flexibility with productivity, while freedom of design and choice of production technologies ensure a short cycle time. While one cam is heat shrinking, the next one is already being preheated. Equipping the heat shrinking machine with a number of preheating units allows for the optimal application of this technology to the task at hand. It is these advantages that may well be the reason why so many firmly established manufacturers of camshafts and other precision assemblies are showing such a great interest in the new process, are asking for machining tests, or are already applying the process under actual production conditions. In the ideal case, the customer will take advantage of the synergy provided by the EMAG Group and ask for a complete concept to be prepared that covers everything from pre-machining to heat shrinking and end machining.

The advantages of the heat shrink process:

• Great accuracy, requires no downstream processing after heat shrinking
• Saves on material and offers weight reduction
• No deformation after heat shrinking
• Allows the combination of different materials
• Freely selectable component sequence
• Freely selectable angular and axial position
• Faster resetting for product changes

The advantages of the composite camshaft:

• Less expensive
• Less weight
• Cams can be made of different materials
• Greater flexibility in production
• New cam geometries – such as negative radii – can be implemented easily

For more information, please contact:

Kristal Kilgore
EMAG LLC
38800 Grand River Avenue
Farmington Hills, MI 48335
Tel: (248) 875-0313
Fax: (248) 477-7784
E-mail: kkilgore@emag.com
Web: www.emag.comEMAG LLC
38800 Grand River Avenue
Farmington Hills, MI 48335
Tel: (248) 875-0313
Fax: (248) 477-7784
E-mail: info@usa.emag.com
Web: www.emag.com

Attention: Peter Loetzner

Continue reading

A Lesson in Machine Tool Economics

When Task Force Tips, Inc. (TFT) decided to study the true costs of ultra-priced, high-speed machining, the company expected nominal gains on its machine-control investment; but when TFT began cutting the same precision parts in one-third of the time, it was, in the words of the company owner and president, Stewart McMillan, “a wake-up call.”

See the video on this story HERE.

 

Breaking the price/cost perception barrier

Task Force Tips (TFT) is a manufacturer of highly engineered fire suppression tips, nozzles and other agent delivery equipment used by fire departments globally. For more than four decades, the company has always invested in premium machine tool brands associated with quality, performance and logically, higher price tags. Even so, it was the latter variable – the perceived barrier of price and cost – that prevented company owner and president, Stewart McMillan from ever considering more ultra-priced, high-speed machining options on the market.

“I hadn’t really looked at the economics when it came to an INDEX machine,” recalls McMillan. “And why? Because it always seemed like the INDEX brand was so prohibitively expensive. I never even thought its machines were within our league.”

That was prior to IMTS 2008, before TFT brought the company’s first INDEX machine into its 168,000 square foot facility in Valparaiso, Indiana, where TFT manufactures over 5,000 products across three shifts, seven days a week, all year around.

“It was an INDEX C100 automatic production lathe, ultimately fitted with a Siemens 840D control package,” McMillan says. “We started making parts on it and our production times became typically 30%. I don’t mean a 30% reduction. I mean our run time for a part dropped to 30% of what it was before.”

As to why the company’s new machine made such an unprecedented productivity impact, McMillan points to both the high speed design of the machine and to the equally capable Siemens control package, which represented yet another paradigm shift for TFT.

Previous to the INDEX C100 purchase, TFT had scant experience with Siemens control packages. Much like the INDEX brand, Siemens five-axis controls were perceived as prohibitively sophisticated and just plain different.  This lack of familiarity had been reason enough for TFT not to consider Siemens.

These were the company’s perceptions in 2008, before the INDEX C100 machine came into the plant, powered not by a Siemens control package, but by a more commonly accepted brand of CNC.

“We had all kinds of bugs in the control that came with the machine the first time,” McMillan recalls. “INDEX had a particular customer that had insisted on another more familiar brand of control, and so they were making the machine with that control. I don’t think that the other customer realized just how significant the Siemens control was to the machine. We didn’t recognize it either. A service representative commented to one of my employees that we really should have the Siemens control for what we were doing, that we were pushing the machine far beyond the capabilities of the original control.”

Upon learning that its new machine was underperforming for TFT, McMillan says INDEX swapped out the machine with an identical model, with one difference. This time, the INDEX C100 was powered by a Siemens motion control package, and TFT was able to set out in earnest to explore what price/cost lessons could be learned from its machine tool investment.

Zero to 5,000 RPM in one second

McMillan recalls that an immediate revelation was seeing the difference a few thousand RPMs can make. The company began to run jobs at 5,000 to 6,000 RPM, ramping up from zero to 5,000 RPM in less than one second and ramping down just as fast. Several economic lessons soon emerged from this capability, as the sustained speed of the machine maximized motion in new time/cost saving ways.

“We never realized before just how much time we were losing waiting on the spindle to stabilize at a new commanded speed,” McMillan reports. “The turret indexing was also extremely fast, with the multiple tools overlapping to cut at the same time with incredibly fast accelerations.”

The INDEX C100 also leverages speed in new ways, as TFT discovered. The company can run more than 1,000 parts without having to change an offset. In addition, an automated remnant removal feature enables the machine to run continuously, by rapidly reloading bar stock without operator interaction.

“On the rest of our machines, we need to pick the remnant out and load a new bar into it,” McMillan explains. “That step should take just a few minutes. But the way things work, a machine can sit idle for six minutes before somebody realizes it, and then it takes five minutes to reload, and all that lost time adds up.”

Another speed-related discovery was the integration of rapid traverse rates, which have always been less than rapid in the company’s experience “A lot of machines advertise rapid traverse rates at maximum speed, but the fact is, unless you’re traveling 10 or 12 inches, traverse speeds have never reached maximum for us.”

Taking motion accuracy literally

As to how the machine eliminates slower traversing and other cost related functions, McMillan says the design of the INDEX C100 is unlike the design of conventional and yes, lower-priced machine bed coordinate systems.

“The INDEX doesn’t use the same coordinate system as other machines. It uses a set of parallelogram bars, a very unique system for rigidity,” McMillan explains. “The machine has a picture frame mount for its turret. The turret is not leveraged off a set of ways like most turrets.  It’s close to where it’s sliding, so there’s not a big length over diameter ratio in terms of the tools of the turret hanging out from its support structure. This gives the machine a lot of rigidity for turning, and you can accelerate the axes so fast that you really do achieve faster traverse rates. The window on this machine is just a blur of motion.”

TFT’s lead programmer, Nate Price, sees additional efficiency advantages made possible by the INDEX machine’s unique coordinate system, whereby measurements and motion can be programmed based on actual numerical reference points and not on arbitrary points in space.

“On the INDEX, every machine space coordinate, every offset, every measurement that’s used to define how the machine operates has a legitimate explanation of why it is what it is and to where it relates,” Price explains. “This makes it much easier to automate these measurements; whereas, in the past we would measure manually, because these were arbitrary points. On the INDEX, they are defined, literal points. We know exactly what they relate to, so we can define them automatically before the program ever gets to the machine, before the set-up ever starts.”

(Click here to see: Normal Lathe Coordinates and Index C100 Coordinates)

Advanced cost control

With the Siemens 840D control package driving the INDEX C100, TFT would document yet more lessons in machine tool economics, including reduced setup times. The faster indexing speed of the turrets contributed to an 80% reduction in setup times compared to the setup times of TFT’s other premium machines.

According to Price, the Siemens 840D control interface brought a refined and intuitive approach to machine programming, setups and operation — an approach that was especially empowering to him as a programmer.

“I don’t know if anybody just doing set-ups would understand how much of a difference the Siemens control has made in the programming,” Price explains. “It has enabled me to more quickly and easily write the programs, write the post-processes, thus making the setup of special routines go much faster.”

In addition to easier programming and faster setups, Price says the machinists have found that the Siemens 840D enables them to more efficiently control and capitalize on the production potential of the INDEX machine.

“The control gives you ample shortcuts,” says Price. “There is a method of presenting messages to the operator that was not present in the other control. There is so much happening on the machine, it is really difficult to capture all that information on a single screen, but the control helps you keep track of what everything is doing. It’s really easy to get into more detail, without having to go through a lot of pages.”

As another example of CNC operational efficiency, Price points to the way the control manages error messages.

“The machine wants to see several conditions exist before it will start a cycle,” Price explains. ”On the previous control, it was not real good at telling you that it was not in a condition to start a cycle. It wants the chucks closed. It wants the gantry in safe position. It wants the sub-spindle in a safe position. It wants to know where everything’s at and it presents a giant list for the operator to reference in order to start a cycle on the machine. But, when you press Cycle Start on the Siemens control, if those conditions aren’t met, the control will guide you through what needs to change to meet those conditions, so you can start your cycle.”

Another advantage brought about by the Siemens control was faster tool loading, made possible by faster and easier CNC programming.

“Tool loading was a big area of improvement,” Price says. “You essentially give the control a mini-program that tells it what tools you’re going to be putting in for this job that you’re setting up. The control will then present the stations on the turrets for you, tell you what tools to put in and what tools to take out. And it’s entirely guided. This has been a huge departure from what we traditionally had dealt with. It really accelerates set-up time.”

More profit per square foot

McMillan and Price claim that the lessons derived from their machine-tool investment can be measured in broader and perhaps even more dramatic ways.

“I started to look at the numbers from a different perspective,” McMillan relates. “You have all these initial and ongoing costs to build a shop, to put in a floor, to put a roof over it, heat it, cool it, and all these costs can equate to so much per hour. Now you buy a machine that’s $600,000 versus a machine that’s $300,000 over 10 years. We run almost 24 hours a day, seven days a week, which helps our analysis.  For us, it comes out to about an eight dollar per hour difference to buy the $600,000 machine. And for eight bucks more an hour, we’re getting triple the production out of that same square footage.”

Another way the company has measured its return on its investment in advanced machine-control manufacturing has been to witness the change in the people uplifted by the technology. Now, owner, programmer, machinists and others at TFT are enthusiastic about the possibilities of their more advanced, CNC-based manufacturing.

McMillan says that it will be such investments in machines and in people that will keep his company from selling itself short, having proven that with the right machine and the right motion control technology, anything is possible.

“We had a job that ran a couple of weeks ago,” McMillan recalls. “I received several e-mails before I even came to work that day. Different people were sending me e-mails that said in effect: Wait until you see what we’re doing with the INDEX today!”
See the video HERE!

For more information, contact:

Siemens Industry, Inc.
Motion Control Business — Machine Tools
390 Kent Avenue
Elk Grove Village, IL  60007
Tel: (847) 640-1595
Fax: (847) 437-0784
Web:  www.usa.siemens.com/cnc
E-mail:  SiemensMTBUMarCom.industry@siemens.com
Attention:  John Meyer, Manger, Marketing Communications
Twitter:  www.twitter.com/siemens_cnc_us
Facebook:  www.facebook.com/SiemensCNC

Continue reading

Siemens Enhances Sinamics G120 Drive Platform with Industrial Ethernet Connectivity

Siemens announced that its versatile Sinamics G120 drive system has been enhanced to include EtherNet/IP connectivity, thus providing maximum flexibility for industrial Ethernet communication while offering innovative concepts for those wanting a single network for the entire plant.

“In many instances, plant managers have the requirement for a single-plant network, particularly with large automotive, packaging, plastics, metals, food and beverage as well as material handling companies,” says Robert Soré, Siemens product manager, Sinamics G drives.  “Our Sinamics G120 drive provides communications without limits to a specific network type.”

The Sinamics G120 drive platform supports, as standard, Profibus DP and Profinet to ensure seamless communications between every component involved in a typical automation solution, including HMI (operator control and visualization) and I/O.  Additional higher-level functions, including Safety Integrated telegrams and synchronized mechanisms for even the highest-level control applications, are
also included.

Profinet can transmit operating and diagnostics data simultaneously to enterprise-level systems using standard IT mechanisms (TCP/IP) for an integrated factory environment.  The new addition of an EtherNet/IP stack offers another option for Sinamics G120 users.  Having the flexibility to communicate with the most common automation systems via Profinet or EtherNet/IP makes the Sinamics G120 drive system easily adaptable to the current Industrial Ethernet boom.

With a wide power range (0.50 – 350 hp), highly scalable solutions, including safety integrated functionality and convenient start-up with Siemens Starter software, the Sinamics G120 drive is a powerful solution for a variety of applications, including packaging, plastics molding and extrusion, textile, printing and paper machines, handling and assembly systems, rolling mills and test stands.

See the SINAMICS Drives video on YouTube here.

For more information about the Sinamics G120 drive platform, visit www.usa.siemens.com/sinamics-g120.

For specific product information and inquiries, call (800) 879-8079 ext. Marketing Communications or send an e-mail to: SiemensMTBUMarCom.industry@siemens.com.

 

Continue reading

Enclosures Protect Cummins Standby Power Generating Stations

Hennig custom enclosures and fuel tanks provided for three Cummins 2MW generators at Broken Arrow, Oklahoma project for Cummins Southern Plains LLC

Machesney Park, Illinois – The City of Broken Arrow’s only existing water treatment plant, erected in 1966, could no longer satisfy the needs of the 35,000 homes and businesses, requiring the City to purchase water from other facilities and nearby Tulsa.  In cooperation with the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality and the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, a new municipal water treatment plant on the shore of the Verdigris River will provide up to 20 MGD (plant rating at 20 degrees C) of water daily to the City of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

The project began in early 2012 with the bid for the standby power system awarded to Cummins Southern Plains LLC, Tulsa, for the parent company based in Arlington, Texas. The project will utilize three 2 MW generators powered by Tier II emission certified Cummins 16 cylinder QSK 60 series diesel engines.

Due to the environmental and acoustic specifications of the water treatment facility, special enclosures and fuel tanks for the generator sets were required. Cummins Southern Plains LLC sales representative Mike Teague asked Hennig Enclosure Systems (Machesney Park, Illinois) to provide a possible solution. As Mike explained, “Al Grabowski from Hennig had been in contact with Cummins Southern Plains. We gave him the opportunity to quote the project and were quite pleased with the results.”

Cummins Southern Plains LLC provided the performance characteristics of the generator sets to Hennig Enclosures Systems, who then provided submittal drawings of the enclosure packages in Solid Works CAD format for the customer to review. Each enclosure measured 40’ long x 10’ wide and nearly 14’ high to allow ample airflow and provide a 25 dba sound reduction.  After the customer and contractor approved the drawings, Hennig Enclosure Systems began cutting and bending steel.  “Hennig is a one-stop shop. We manufacture the entire enclosure and fuel tank in addition to mounting the genset and landing all the electrical connections for the customer,” Grabowski added.

The Hennig solution involved a topcoat finish of TGIC polyester powder coat paint for weather resistance and UV protection.  Grabowski notes, “Hennig utilizes a durable powder coat finish along with stainless steel hardware on every enclosure we build to meet the broad range of environmental conditions across the United States. We want our enclosures to look as good in 20 years as they do the day they were installed.”

A few weeks after the generator sets arrived at Hennig, the enclosure and fuel tank packages were ready to ship. There were some logistics challenges on this project, as the facility site was in the midst of construction.  Delivery was made down a temporary dirt road and the three 2 MW Cummins emergency power generators were set in place without a hitch at the new Broken Arrow Water Treatment facility site.

The Broken Arrow municipal water treatment facility is primarily funded by loans totaling $64.8 million, administered by the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality and the Oklahoma Water Resources Board. The facility is being constructed by Crossland Heavy Contractors of Columbus, Kansas.  The first phase of the project is scheduled to be operational in July, 2013.

-0-

Hennig Enclosure Systems, a division of Hennig Inc., manufactures innovative enclosures and fuel tanks for standby/emergency/prime power/peak shaving generators and switchgear. Hennig enclosures are designed and built to provide environmental protection and meet today’s demanding acoustical requirements of power generation equipment. The company operates facilities in Machesney Park, IL.   To learn more, visit www.hennig-enclosure-systems.com.

Hennig, Inc. designs and produces custom machine protection and chip/coolant management products for state-of-the-art machine tools. Hennig products are designed to protect against corrosion, debris and common workplace contaminants.  Manufacturing facilities located in the USA, Germany, France, Brazil, India, Japan, Czech Republic, England and South Korea. Repair centers are located in Machesney Park, IL; Chandler, OK; Livonia, MI; Blue Ash, OH; Mexico City, Mexico; and Saltillo, Mexico. To learn more, visit www.hennigworldwide.com.

To learn more about Hennig products & services, visit www.hennigworldwide.com or call 1-888-HENNIG6 (436-6446).

Tim Waterman
Hennig Inc.
9900 N. Alpine Rd.
Machesney Park, IL 61115
(815) 316-5277
info@hennig.ame.com
www.hennigworldwide.com

Connect with Hennig online:       

For more information on Cummins Southern Plains in this story, please contact:

Cummins Southern Plains LLC.
525 E. Skelly Drive
Tulsa, OK 74116
Phone:  918-234-3240

Continue reading

550°F Cabinet Oven from Grieve

No. 1027 is a 550ºF electric cabinet oven from Grieve, currently used for drying pellets in pans at the customer’s facility.  Workspace dimensions on this oven measure 47” W x 30” D x 63” H.   30 KW are installed in Incoloy-sheathed tubular elements to heat the oven chamber, while a 2000 CFM, 2-HP recirculating blower provides horizontal airflow across the workload.

This Grieve cabinet oven features 6” insulated walls, aluminized steel exterior, Type 304, 2B finish stainless steel interior, four independent doors for access to the workspace and eight 20” wide x 30” long x 1” high loading pans on channel supports in each oven opening.

Controls onboard No. 1027 include a digital indicating temperature controller, manual reset excess temperature controller with separate contactors and recirculating blower airflow safety switch.

For more information, please contact:

THE GRIEVE CORPORATION
500 Hart Road
Round Lake, IL  60073-2898
Phone:  (847) 546-8225
Fax:  (847) 546-9210
Web:  www.grievecorp.com
Email:  sales@grievecorp.com
Attention:  Frank Calabrese, VP

Continue reading

The Case for Regenerative AC Drives

A practical alternative to mechanical braking and non-regen drives systems in the converting, packaging, wireforming and printing industries

by William Gilbert, Industry Business Development Manager,
Converting and Cranes, Motion Control Solutions

During the operation of any converting machine, whether for film, foil, wire, paper or board, plus most large printing presses, rolls of materials are handled by unwinds, often still driven by pneumatically operated braking systems.  The traditional tension control system for an unwind stand is a simple mechanical brake.  In principal, the unwind brake mechanically operates much like the braking system on your car, with a disk, caliper and pads, but is controlled by a tension sensor linked to a setpoint controller.  As the roll unwinds, the tension is maintained by the brake for smooth passage of the material through the dies or rollers, resulting in better package alignment, less wrinkling, better print registration, even more consistent wire dimensioning and other production positives.  These mechanical brake unwinds are effective in controlling the tension, but have inherent problems of heat and power loss, plus mechanical wear and constant maintenance needs, substantially impacting machine uptime.

The typical mechanical brake is pneumatically controlled and may utilize several sets of friction pads to control the web tension as the roll dimension decreases.  Plus, a reasonable pressure range in many applications might be from 15-90psi or a 6:1 drop, a range significantly less than the core to full roll ratio for most jobs, an obvious inefficiency in operation.

To affect good tension control on the brake, these friction pad sets need to be manually changed in an out of the brake assembly, depending on the desired operating tension and the roll diameter changes involved.  Often, the adjustments are several per roll during this manual changeover.  Because the mechanical brake creates the unwind tension through friction, it generates substantial heat and often requires a separately powered fan for cooling to operate effectively.  This friction also means the pads are subject to rapid wear, requiring frequent and time-consuming changes or maintenance checks.

For almost a decade now, this old technology has been gradually replaced, though usually in the lower power ranges, by newer precision technology, involving AC motors, drives and electronic loadcells.  On converting lines today, a further leap forward is being made with the onset of active front end technology.

With such technology, the operating principle is as follows.

Since the unwind application is regenerative (regen) in nature, a driven unwind needs to return the energy that the mechanical the brake produced as heat back to the AC line.  In the past, regen DC drives have been successfully applied as driven unwinds, but DC drive systems are no longer common and even during their prime were very costly.  Early in the AC drive technology for these applications, the drives did not have the capability to regenerate the power back to the AC line and, when applied as unwind brakes, required regen resistors to dissipate the tension energy.  This was wasteful and costly.

Today’s AC drive systems now have the technology to regenerate the energy back to the AC line just as the DC drive did, but with added benefits to the user and machine designer alike.  Sending the tension energy back to the line means power that once was wasted can now be retained, instead of the system producing heat and worn parts.  When the drive is equipped with active front end technology, it will return the previously wasted energy with near unity power factors, something not possible for any DC drive system.

Even an open loop AC drive motor combination offers a tension control range far beyond the limits of a pneumatic braking system.  Synchronous AC motors can offer precision open loop torque control without a tension sensor, thereby saving further cost and inventory.  Today’s highly accurate tension control systems can be designed with high resolution (sin/cos) feedback encoders on both the unwind motor and dancer position feedback.  Additionally, in more advanced active front end designs, the regen capability of the drive can actually assist in the increase of stopping times and tension control regulation, owing to the four quadrant control, i.e., the motor can sink or supply current to the motor in both directions.

AC regen drive systems can also offer today’s machine designer software configurations with a wider range of control flexibility.  They can be configured to operate in the most basic mode with no motor encoder or with tension feedback to system configurations, utilizing either dancer position sensors or loadcells.  Alternatively, they can function as a programmable logic controller (PLC), controlling the machine functions on the unwind, while also connecting directly to a human-machine interface (HMI) panel.  In most converting, packaging and printing applications, the dancer position sensor can be used to calculate the starting diameter of a roll, eliminating additional diameter sensors and the possibility of operator error in the roll diameter input.  Further enhancements for unwind spindle motion such as jog for threading have also emerged for operator convenience through active front end technology.

Beyond the obvious cost savings of pad replacements on mechanical braking systems, AC motors are virtually maintenance free by comparison to DC motors, as AC motors have no brushes, do not require controller contactors to reverse direction of motor rotation or have commutators.  Fewer moving parts invariably means less motor maintenance, for additional cost and time savings.

In the most advanced systems, common DC bus regulation, energy-monitoring devices for near unity power and, through the use of mechatronic services often provided by the manufacturers, “turn off” parameters in vector drives are possible.  Mechatronic services can also be utilized for the proper tuning of these drives onsite or during machine build.  For designers, such services further assist in the proper sizing of motors, based on the mechanical and electrical forces generated by machine operation or computerized simulation of it.

This combination of improved operation, reduced maintenance, motor power savings and conservation of nearly all energy within the system make AC regen drives with active front end technology a decided advantage for machine designers and end users of converting, packaging, printing, wireforming and other roll-fed machinery, where driven unwinds can be implemented. 

For more information on regenerative drive motors and systems, please contact:

For product information and inquiries, call +1 800 879 8079 ext. Marketing Communications or e-mail SiemensMTBUMarCom.industry@siemens.com.

Continue reading

Siemens Introduces Matched Motor/Drive Combination Package

Integrated drive system provides OEMs and end-users cost-effective Simotics motor and Sinamics drive packages from single source; backed by three-year warranty

Siemens Industry, Inc. announces the release of combination motor/drive packages, allowing an OEM or end-user the option to select the optimum solution for a variety of heavy-duty industrial motion control applications from a single source, backed by a full three-year warranty.  Choosing from a predetermined list of motor/drive combinations, the customer simply makes the selection best suited to the application.  The motor and drive are packaged on a single pallet, shipped and invoiced together.

The motor and drive combinations are power-matched for 480V high-overload operation through a 20 hp range, with I²T  protection from thermal damage provided as a standard in both the motor and the drive components.  The Siemens Intelligent Operator Panel (IOP) is included with these packages, allowing easy step-by-step drive start-up.

Application macros are provided in the Sinamics G120C drive for easy installation and wiring; the terminals are pre-assigned at the factory and the parameters are automatically set.  The SIMOTICS SD100 motors are rugged cast-iron with inverter duty ratings in a 4:1 speed range for constant torque and 20:1 speed range for variable torque.  Simotics SD100 units are severe-duty TEFC motors that meet NEMA Premium^® efficiency.

Communications selections on these matched motor/drive combinations include RS485 with USS and Modbus protocols.  A Profibus variant is also offered for a Totally Integrated Automation (TIA) solution.  TIA is the proprietary Siemens solution for achieving optimum performance, energy efficiency and sustainability within a machine or manufacturing environment.

Standard pricing has been established for a wide variety of motor/drive combinations from 1–20 hp and is included in the available literature on this new Siemens service.

For more information about these combination motor/drive packages, visit www.usa.siemens.com/drives.

For product information and inquiries, call +1 800 879 8079 ext. Marketing Communications or e-mail SiemensMTBUMarCom.industry@siemens.com.

Continue reading