The German bearings-maker Schaeffler has manufactured its largest-ever spherical plain bearing – a 600mm-tall, 4.7-tonne component with an outer diameter of 1.9m and a bore of 1.5m. The bearing was produced in three months for use on a cutter section dredger being built by a Dutch company, Royal IHC.
A group of six German companies and institutions, led by Siemens, has completed a three-year project looking at the use of augmented reality (AR) in industry. The aim of the project, called Glass@Service, was to use intelligent data glasses as personalised information systems, combining them with new types of interaction, such as eye and gesture controls, and innovative IT services. The first practical tests in real production and logistics environments have now been completed successfully.
Sulzer’s Finnish-based pump business has worked with Treon, a local specialist in wireless IoT hardware, to develop a wireless condition monitoring device for rotating machinery. The battery-operated Treon industrial node measures tri-axial vibrations and the surface temperatures of equipment such as pumps, motors and agitators. It is designed to operate as part of a wireless mesh network, making it easy and cost-effective to deploy on a large scale, or to retrofit to existing equipment.
A US company has developed and patented a series of EMI (electromagnetic interference) filters that, it claims, resolve many of the issues associated with PWM (pulse width modulation) drives – such as the high-frequency currents that can destroy motors’ bearings. California-based OnFilter says that in comparison with conventional reactors, which reduce these leakage currents by a factor of 2–3, its easy-to-install SF series dV/dt filters can reduce the currents by 50–100 times or more.
Mitsubishi Electric claims to have developed the world's first diagnostic technology that uses machine learning to analyse sensor data, thus detecting machine abnormalities rapidly and accurately, and helping to improve productivity. The development is based on the company's Maisart AI (artificial intelligence) technology.
A consortium of EU businesses and academia partners has embarked on a three-year project to develop a next-generation wireless communications technology that will transmit Internet of Things (IoT) data using light rather than radio waves.
A multi-national group of researchers has developed a system for testing wireless industrial communications. They were aiming to overcome the lack of standardised methods and test systems for measuring the reliability and performance of such systems. The three-year project, called ReICOvAir (Reliable Industrial Communication Over the Air), developed both software- and a hardware-based test beds for evaluating the reliability, latency and throughput of wireless communications systems.
Genesis Robotics, the Canadian company behind the “revolutionary” LiveDrive high-torque, direct-drive motor technology, has signed a joint development agreement (JDA) with the Swiss robotics pioneer, Demaurex, to integrate its motors into Demaurex’s latest delta robots.
A group of German organisations have shown that using beams of light to locate and guide autonomous vehicles, such as AGVs, is a practical, flexible and reliable technique. In a three-year collaborative research project, backed by the German Federal Ministry of Education & Research (BMBF), the researchers demonstrated that ceiling-mounted LED lights can be used to guide driverless transport vehicles reliably through production or storage areas.
Rockwell Automation has upgraded its MagneMover Lite production transport system, allowing it to move heavier products and support larger-scale applications. The system, which uses independent carts to move items along production lines, can now carry loads of up to 10kg – five times more than before – and supports larger applications.
At the 2019 Hannover Fair, the gripper specialist Schunk announced that it is collaborating with the French artificial intelligence (AI) expert, AnotherBrain, to develop the world's first autonomous gripping system. The technology will allow handling operations to be performed without any manual programming.
Ferrari has chosen the UK electric motor manufacturer Yasa to supply the motors for its first series production hybrid sportscar – the 340km/h SF90 Stradale. Each vehicle will contain three motors, with a combined capacity of 162kW, helping to propel the four-wheel-drive vehicle to 100 km/h in 2.5 seconds, and 200 km/h in 6.7s.
The German sensor-maker Sick is using deep learning techniques to create “intelligent” sensors that can perform automated detection, testing and classification of objects and features. At the Hannover Fair, it announced an application that uses deep learning to detect whether a sorting tray in a logistics hub is loaded with an object.
Visitors to Rittal’s stand at the 2019 Hannover Fair could take part in a demonstration in which they used virtual reality (VR) glasses and two VR controllers to control a two-arm industrial robot, connected to an edge-based 5G network. The task was to plug a large replica of a conductor connection terminal onto a rail, insert a cable into the terminal, and disconnect it again. There was immediate optical and acoustic feedback on whether or not they were successful in the task.
At the 2019 Hannover Fair, Weidmüller presented an automated machine learning (ML) tool for machinery and plant engineering that will allow OEMs to create and develop models without having to rely on data scientists or external specialists. This will ensure that their knowledge of processes and machinery stays inside the company.
