There has been much talk about Industry 4.0, or Industrial IoT, and what it holds for the future of manufacturing. We have been covering this for a while and the question arises: “How does all this apply to fluid power?” In this mature and time-tested industry new developments in power transmission tend to be in small increments. Nevertheless a look through these advances shows that there has been a steady stream of progress.
The integration of IT with fluid power components and the evolution of electro-hydraulic and electro-pneumatic technologies for automated control has been going on for quite a while. New component designs have improved the capabilities of hydraulic and pneumatic systems. Machine performance has been upgraded through smart pumps, smart valves, smart actuators, and even smart hose; and filtration technology is far ahead of where it was 30 years ago.
Fluid power for Industry 4.0
I recently came across an interesting article by a member of the executive board of Bosch Rexroth, Dr Steffen Haack, who says that the performance and intelligence of modern hydraulics technology is highly precise, energy-efficient and ready for Industry 4.0 applications. He gives six capabilities of this technology, saying that no other can pack the same punch when it comes to power density. Here is a selection.
Firstly, hydraulics can deliver micrometre precision. Electro-hydraulic axis controllers can close the control loop from a distance within milliseconds; and in tool and plastic machines, hydraulic drives can position axes reliably to a few microns. Compactness without excessive heat are two other advantages. Since power generation is localised in the power unit and is connected to the actuator via lines, hydraulic drives can generate high forces in minimal space. The relatively low level of heat created in the operating area dissipates through the hydraulic fluid.
Energy efficiency is another one. The energy consumption of hydraulic power units can be reduced by up to 80% by adjusting the rotational speed of a pump drive on demand. Also, communications are open and outgoing. With software based on open standards, modern motion controls for hydraulic drives support all common protocols. They can therefore integrate easily with the multi-technology applications found in modern production environments – ready for Industry 4.0.
Finally, they can do plug and run. Servo-hydraulic axes are easily exchangeable with their electromechanical equivalents as they are driven by the same servo drives, and engineers need only connect power and communication cables for assembly and start-up. The full article is at http://motioncontrol.co.za/+modernhydraulics.
New technology
In line with this, our New Technology section features Beckhoff’s contribution, ‘From motion tasks to intelligent Industry 4.0’, which describes the rather remarkable XTS intelligent transport system that uses software to solve difficult motion tasks. Also in this feature we have a look into the future with a tiny but powerful piezohydraulic actuator developed by Siemens that can be used in applications like robotics, aircraft ailerons and medical and clean room technology. Siemens says that the novel, compact design mimics the functionality of a human muscle.
Smart maintenance and materials handling
We have more materials handling stories with Festo’s award winning Motion Cube, an innovative palletising system, and the contribution of Bonfiglioli motors to the world’s fastest arm pallet wrapper.
Even maintenance is getting smarter, and two features in our Smart Maintenance section are SKF’s revolutionary bearing health management technology and Parker’s mobile tracking app which can plan maintenance proactively and so keep downtime to a minimum.
We also have some news: our cover story from Hydromobile announces a new player in the electric motor field, Askari Electric, which fills an important gap in the market between large multinationals and small, entry-level players.
Hope for the future
Being an editor is fun. The 2015 Pneudrive Challenge mechatronics competition is nearing its finale and we thought we would find out what this competition is like from a student’s point of view. I recently spent a happy afternoon together with Steven Meyer, editor of SA Instrumentation & Control magazine, chatting to the top third-year students at Wits Mechanical Engineering department. Although they were all struggling to juggle this challenge with their study load, they were having a lot of fun. Their enthusiasm was contagious and their level of maturity impressive. It was fascinating to see their varying approaches to the same problem and the different ways they worked in their teams – with some very effective utilisation of social media. Now with a new co-sponsor, SMC Pneumatics, SEW-Eurodrive’s innovative Pneudrive Challenge has made a significant contribution to preparing students for the real world. To find out more, have a look at our article ‘Hope for the future’.
Kim Roberts
Editor
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