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Message From The Editor
In this issue you can read about VFD panels and short circuit current and read an article from Brian Fast of Rockwell Automation on AC Drives adaptive tuning. Our latest Profile Article looks at the impressive career of Electrozad Component Specialist, David Blake. Make sure to check out some highlights from Hannover Messe 2019 including articles from Schunk, Harting, ABB and Emerson, as well as an interesting new Industry 4.0 alliance.
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Safe VFD Panel Use
Yaskawa: VFD Panels and Short Circuit Current
If you ignore the short circuit current rating (SCCR) of an industrial panel it might just go away anyway. By go away I mean that the panel might just self-destruct. If the available current or energy that reaches the panel in the event of a short circuit in the panel exceeds the levels that the panel can safely interrupt or contain, that energy has to go somewhere. It is the unpredictability of what will happen first that makes an insufficient SCCR so dangerous. Maybe the circuit breaker will explode while trying to open or maybe not open at all because the internals have welded shut? What happens then? Maybe the energy will find a path to ground and a shock hazard is created.
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AC Drives
Stay Resilient Against Resonance with AC Drives Adaptive Tuning
By: Brian Fast, Rockwell Automation
It can be a scary moment on the plant floor: A machine starts shrieking and shaking so violently, you think it might break. This incident can result from mechanical resonances caused by a load attached to a motor. Many design factors attribute to the resonances such as physical size, material selection, and instillation procedures. And while workers can usually make a control adjustment to resume production, resonance issues have lasting consequences on your machines and your business. In the past, the typical adjustment to resolve the resonance degraded performance or resulted in wasted energy.
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Integrated Approach
Parker Hannafin: Cost Reducing Modern Pneumatics
By: Linda Caron
As modern pneumatic components become more complex knowing what to look for in plant becomes more critical. Identifying costs savings and issues that can be remedied before they become major system issues can save thousands of dollars in downtime and rebuild. Effective pneumatic systems need properly sized, installed, and maintained components from compressors to work stations. A few wrong choices, however, can lead to everything from wasted energy to system failures. Consider the following steps when looking to maximize the performance of your company's all-important pneumatic components.
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Peers & Profiles
The Evolution of PLCs and a Constantly Evolving Industry with David Blake, Electrozad Component Specialist
Born in Saint Johns, Newfoundland, David Blake grew up and currently resides in Windsor, Ontario, David is married to his wife Joyce for 44 years and he works as a Components Specialist for Electrozad. At 68-years young, David is a veteran of the industry, spending the majority of his 40-year career with Electrozad dealing with automation related components, dating back to the introduction of PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers). David has three sons. His oldest, Ryan, studied mechanical engineering and is now working in the environmental field in British Columbia. The other two followed him into the industry and have since become two of his customers here in Windsor.
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Changing Scene
- Open Industry 4.0 Alliance: An Open Ecosystem for the Digital Transformation of Industrial Manufacturing Plants
At Hannover Messe 2019, European companies from the mechanical engineering, industrial automation and software industries are driving the foundation of the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance with a cooperation agreement. Founding members include Beckhoff, Endress+Hauser Group, Hilscher, ifm, KUKA, MULTIVAC and SAP SE. The alliance is open to all companies; other members include Balluff Group, Gebhardt Fördertechnik, Pepperl+Fuchs, ARVOS GmbH | SCHMIDTSCHE SCHACK, SAMSON and WIKA Alexander Wiegand.
- Mitsubishi Electrc to build Net Zero Energy Building Test Facility
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation announced some time ago that it plans to build a new test facility for its broad and integrated portfolio of technologies for net Zero Energy Buildings (ZEB) at its Information Technology R&D Center in Kamakura, Japan. The facility will accelerate the company's development, evaluation and demonstration of ZEB technologies to meet the growing demand for buildings that combine comfort and superior energy savings.
- ABB's Myla Petree named 2019 STEP Ahead Honoree
The Manufacturing Institute has announced the 2019 STEP Ahead Award Honorees and Emerging Leaders. These women have accomplished success within their companies and have proven to be leaders in the industry as a whole. This year, the Institute has also chosen to recognize a select few for the Emerging Leaders category - representing young women who are the future of the industry and have demonstrated exceptional accomplishments at just the beginning of their careers.
- Endress+Hauser Group files 287 patents in 2018
The number of patents submitted by the Endress+Hauser Group continues to rise. As reported during the annual Innovators' Meeting held this year in France, the Group submitted 287 initial patents in 2018, a new record. Endress+Hauser owns nearly 7,800 active intellectual property rights worldwide. Angelika Andres, Corporate Director, Intellectual Property Rights at Endress+Hauser, is pleased with the most recent activities: "This year we once again achieved a record number of innovations, both in the number of patent filings and the number of approved patents."
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- ABB and Ericsson join forces to Accelerate Wireless Automation for Flexible Factories
ABB and Ericsson have strengthened their long-standing relationship with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at Hannover Messe 2019. The collaboration enhances their joint vision for the future of flexible production with advanced automation and wireless communication. Complementary technologies and experiences will accelerate the industrial ecosystem to realize the benefits of Industry 4.0 and 5G, unlocking new business opportunities.
- Balluff Releases New Print and Digital Product Catalogs
A new set of global product catalogs released by Balluff provides easy access to the company's wide range of products designed to measure, detect, identify and connect. The five-volume set is available in print or as digital flipbooks on the company's website. The 5-volume set includes the newest and best-selling Balluff products organized by product type to make it easy to search.
- MICA as a Universal Link Between Machines, Cloud and IoT Platforms
Data from machines and processes are the basis for performance increases and an optimised material flow. Together with partner companies and customers, HARTING was at the HANNOVER MESSE to demonstrate how data from processes, sensors and controllers can be used to get the best out of production. When it comes to the production environments of automotive suppliers, the traceability (track & trace) of individual parts as they make their way through processes is playing an increasingly important role.
- Bosch Launches Big IoT Applications Campaign
Bosch wants to strengthen its position in the field of the Internet of Things (IoT) with product innovations, including video-based fire detection and automated emergency calls. Innovation is imperative, after the company was forced to cut hundreds of jobs following the diesel crisis. The innovations in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) aim to achieve concrete improvements in people's everyday lives, explains Bosch board of management member Dr. Markus Heyn.
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International News
- Yaskawa America Drives & Motion Division Wins the 2018 Gold Interaction Metrics Award
The Drives & Motion Division of Yaskawa America, Inc. is proud to announce that it has been recognized for customer experience excellence with the prestigious Interaction Metrics Gold Award. To achieve the Gold Award, nearly 100 aspects of Yaskawa were analyzed using statistically-valid samples derived from a customer feedback survey sent to End-Users, Distributors, OEMs, and Yaskawa employees.
- Yokogawa Establishes Yokogawa Norge
Yokogawa Electric Corporation announces that it has established a subsidiary in Norway to engage in the sale of control products and provision of related services. The subsidiary, Yokogawa Norge, was established on February 14 and will begin operation in April 2019. Renewable energy, pharmaceuticals, and foods are targeted under Yokogawa's Transformation 2020 mid-term business plan, and each of these industries enjoys good prospects for growth in Norway.
- Beckhoff Automation Boosts Global Revenue by 13% to 916 Million Euros
Beckhoff Automation generated global revenue of 916 million euros during fiscal year 2018, a gain of 13 percent over the previous year. This success resulted in equal measure from innovative technological advances, greater production capacity and expansion of the company's international sales network. "With global sales totaling 916 million euros, we had another strong financial year in 2018," says Managing Director Hans Beckhoff.
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Driving Change
Hannover Messe: Driver of Industrial Transformation
HANNOVER MESSE 2019 showed that it is the world's most important platform for all technologies related to industrial transformation," said Dr. Jochen Köckler, Chairman of the Managing Board at Deutsche Messe. "More than 215,000 visitors used HANNOVER MESSE to invest in new technologies and prepare their businesses for the future. Only Hannover provides the comprehensive look at application scenarios, the potential and the interaction of Industrie 4.0, artificial intelligence, 5G, and energy solutions." Roughly 6,500 exhibitors from around the world presented solutions for the future of manufacturing and energy supply, including more than 500 examples of the deployment of artificial intelligence in industrial manufacturing, 5G applications, and solutions...
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Schunk at Hannover Messe
Digitalization, AI, and collaboration revolutionize handling and assembly
Humans playfully interact with robots, let lightweight robots grip objects with any geometry as granted, and rely on the fact that their own hand won't be harmed by the robot's powerful grip. Things that were unthinkable only a few years ago are now true, as seen at SCHUNK booth, the specialist for gripping systems and clamping technology at Hannover Messe. "Digitalization, AI, and collaboration will revolutionize industrial handling and assembly in the years to come. At Hannover Messe you can recognize the outstanding significance of digitalization, automation, and AI in a global context and its high development pace," emphasized Chief Executive Officer, Henrik A. Schunk at the end of the world's leading industrial show.
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Skill Gap
Bridging the Skills Gap with MAZATROL
The world's population is aging. In 1994, adults at or above 55 years of age were just 12 percent of the U.S. workforce; by 2024, that's expected to more than double. By the 2030s, retirees will outnumber children and teens below 18 for the first time in America, a fact that holds true across much of the developed world. And when those workers retire, they take their decades of experience with them. And according to a 2018 study by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute, by 2028, those retiring workers will have left behind 2.4 million unfilled manufacturing jobs at a cost to the US economy of $2.5 trillion.
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Control System Upgrades
Festo and Siemens integrate Multi-Carrier-System into Bosch Rexroth transfer system
Siemens and Festo are presenting an innovative linear motor drive and control concept, designed to offer flexible and efficient high-performance solutions for short-cycle applications. The Multi-Carrier-System (MCS®) from Siemens and Festo has been integrated into the Rexroth TS 2plus transfer system, thus adding the modular MCS to Bosch Rexroth's versatile building-block system based on standardized units. The advantages of the existing systems have been merged, and users are free to combine them in almost any way they wish to achieve maximum flexibility in their processes. This opens up new possibilities in assembly technology or in battery production, for example.
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Product Focus
Pepperl+Fuchs Introduces the ENI58PL Configurable Incremental Rotary Encoder: One Encoder, Many Applications
The newly released ENI58PL series incremental rotary encoder from Pepperl+Fuchs offers incredible efficiency for a wide range of applications. IO-Link enables custom configuration, making it possible to commission machinery and equipment even faster. ENI58PL boasts flexible configuration options and a wide range of use cases-from classic industrial applications, such as precise positioning in the automotive industry and applications in wind power plants, to special engineering.
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Easy-to-Deploy Solution from Banner Engineering Enables Remote Monitoring of Air, Gas, or Fluid Pressure
Banner's Performance Series all-in-one wireless pressure sensor is a compact, one-piece device that measures pressure relative to the local ambient pressure and sends that information to a wireless gateway or DXM wireless controller. Users can easily monitor critical pressure levels on equipment in remote and hard-to-access locations without the hassle and expense of installing, altering, or expanding wired infrastructure to connect devices.
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Schunk: VERO-S NSE-A3 138
SCHUNK has developed the VERO-S NSE-A3 138 automation module specifically for automated machine tool loading as well as for applications in handling, assembly and automation technology. The clamping module is part of the extensive SCHUNK VERO-S modular system, which enables more than 1,000 possible combinations for efficient workpiece clamping.
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Emerson Adds Greenlee Phase Sequence and Motor Rotation Indicator to its Test & Measurement Lineup
Emerson introduces the new Greenlee Phase Sequence and Motor Rotation Indicator (5124). Backed by a manufacturer's lifetime limited warranty, electrical contractors, HVAC/IR and industrial maintenance technicians can use one device to identify motor rotation direction and clockwise or counterclockwise wiring configuration in a three-phase power source—safeguarding to ensure proper installation. The Phase Sequence and Motor Rotation Indicator is now available.
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New HPS TruWave Active Harmonic Filter
The new HPS TruWave combines advanced control and proven reliability to provide a comprehensive and flexible solution for harmonic mitigation. HPS TruWave is designed to achieve total harmonic distortion, or THD, ≤ 5%, while requiring minimal impedance on the line side of a variable frequency drive (VFD). It provides compliance to ANSI/IEEE Standard 519-2014 requirements as well as other stringent power quality standards.
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Cost-Effective Relays for Safety Devices with External Device Monitoring
Implement cost-effective safety solutions that protect at the highest levels of safety. SR-IM Series interface modules are specifically designed to be used with safety light curtains and other primary safety devices with External Device Monitoring (EDM). These compact relays provide an interface between the devices and the machines they safeguard. Used properly, they will achieve Category 4 PLe safety.
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This email was sent to blakemarchand@kerrwil.com. |
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