Welcome to our bumper edition of Motion Control.
In this issue we cover the important areas of workplace safety, noise pollution and energy efficiency, and our cover story by Schneider Electric highlights all three. The Altivar 61 and 71 Plus drives, among their many features, incorporate all of these elements: low motor noise, high efficiency and safety. All Schneider drives are designed with energy efficiency as a key focus.
Hydraulic safety
I was lucky enough to attend SAFPA’s most recent course on Working Safely With Hydraulic Hose And Connectors presented by Russell Gill, and found it most informative and easy to absorb. Russell certainly had the delegates’ undivided attention when he showed a DVD on oil injection injuries. It appears that hydraulics is not a recognised safety hazard and hydraulic accidents are generally not reported so there is little data available. However, I did discover in one insurer’s report that of 2149 equipment related injuries occurring underground on Australian coal mines in New South Wales alone, 31 (1%) were related to hydraulic fluid. The report added that a cause for concern was the number of potentially dangerous events involving being struck by hydraulic fluid under high pressure and recommended that no person should be permitted to work on or around hydraulic systems without proper training.
Training is also the focus in Hytech’s eLearning programme which allows people working out in the field to keep up with new developments and technologies through a variety of electronic and digital media.
Noise
Another workplace issue is noise and we have a number of stories about products which reduce noise. Not only does excessive noise in the workplace contribute to permanent hearing loss, a devastating disability in itself, but it can also be highly distracting, limit communication, create stress and increase workplace accident rates, as well as reduce work performance and productivity.
HYDAC has a range of low noise, energy saving heat exchangers and coolers, while Bosch Rexroth’s award winning Silence Plus external gear pump supplied by Hytec reduces noise emissions by an average of 15 dB(A) and has also moved the reduced noise into a lower, more tolerable frequency range. Another application covers the exceptional noise reduction achieved by a German steel processing company which manufactures large diameter steel tubes. This was achieved with a rail-mounted, automated transportation system that uses contactless energy transfer, driven by SEW-Eurodrive’s Movitrans system; and Bonfiglioli was able to reduce noise for a German manufacturer of baling presses, as well as reducing energy consumption by a massive 40%.
Energy efficient and environmentally friendly
Statistics on world energy consumption are difficult to visualise: 550 exajoules a year, according to figures put out by BP. Per capita energy consumption is 80 gigajoules a year (I have just discovered that an exajoule is 1018 joules).
A report by Frost & Sullivan published in May 2012 says that energy and resource efficiency will be a key ingredient for the success of the global manufacturing industry and will dominate business. According to ARC Advisory Group, the engineering community, in addition to developing more energy-efficient drives and motors, is moving toward mechatronic solutions. Engineers are reducing component count and improving mechanical efficiencies as well as overall electromechanical efficiency. The goal is to improve energy efficiency not only by reducing weight and sources of friction, but also by sizing motors and drives differently.
This is evident in the motion control industry and we cover quite a variety of energy efficient offerings. SKF’s BeyondZero energy saving portfolio has a whole range of solutions for saving energy and reducing environmental impact, including an electric cylinder which can reduce CO2 emissions by a large margin. Also featured are Voith’s water-operated turbo couplings, as well as Tectra’s environmentally friendly roller screw actuator systems.
Cars, brakes and clutches
We also have a brakes and clutches section covering Coremo brakes and clutches which will be exhibited by Coremo together with PECS at Electra Mining 2012, as well as the safety Tsubaki cam clutches from BMG, which meet the requirements of the Mine Health and Safety Act by preventing run-back or run-on on conveyor belts.
Since we are featuring motion control in the automotive industry, I have to mention Festo’s rather classy contribution to safety on the Aston Martin V8 production line at the Aston Martin Engine Plant in Germany; another one is SKF’s sponsorship of Toyota Motorsport and the contribution made by SKF bearings at Dakar, “the longest, toughest and most gruelling motor race in the world”.
Kim Roberts, editor
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