Fluke Process Instruments has announced its first acoustic imager – a device that can detect, locate and visualise air and gas leaks, or spot changes in sound signatures in processes and equipment in real-time, before they become costly problems. Using an array of sensors, the SV600 imager translates sounds into a visual representation, allowing users to locate and quantify problem areas quickly.

Turck Banner is offering a starter kit that will help factory managers to improve OEE (overall equipment effectiveness) levels at a price and simplicity that, it says, will allow anyone to reap the benefits. The Production Performance Monitoring (PPM) kit consists of a battery-powered wireless sensor, a controller and a three-month cloud connection. It is aimed at first-time users and includes everything needed to monitor a machine and receive warnings if its throughput falls.

Schneider Electric has announced a multi-carrier system for transporting, grouping and positioning products in industrial operations. It claims that the Lexium MC12 system will boost the performance and flexibility of automated machinery by up to 50%, cut installation and commissioning times by up to half, and reduce design times and time-to-market by up to 30%.

The Italian automation developer Sfera Labs has announced the first industrial product based on the Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller chip, which was released earlier this year. The Iono RP is a compact programmable I/O module said to combine the ease of use of the Raspberry Pi, with a choice of digital and analogue input and output interfaces. The result is a rugged, safe, reliable and easy-to-connect module in a compact DIN-rail case that can be installed in cabinets or integrated into automation systems.

Igus has developed a maintenance-free plastic material for food industry plain bearing applications, that is designed to withstand friction and high temperatures, and to dissipate electrostatic charges, thus reducing the risk of explosions and shocks to operators. In laboratory tests, bearings made from the new iglidur AX500 tribopolymer material, rotating on stainless-steel shafts, exhibited up to three times less wear and tear than bearings based on the earlier A500 material.

KTR has launched a shaft coupling which, in addition to transmitting power, compensates for misalignments and dampens torsional vibrations. The torsionally flexible Rolflex coupling is available in two designs (N and SH Split) and seven sizes with torque ratings from 65–790Nm. Another five sizes will be added by the middle of 2022, extending the range up to 5kNm.

Belden has developed an optical fibre cable that avoids the need for metal armouring, and is up to 90% lighter and 70% smaller in diameter than metal armoured cable, and up to 50% smaller in diameter than non-armoured cable. The OptiTuff Mini Fiber cable is also said to be more flexible and easier to install than metal armoured cable and can survive a four-tonne forklift being driven over it.

A Danish start-up claims to have solved a “previously unsolvable” challenge by developing the world’s first completely automated door-opening system for CNC machine tools, thus removing the last barrier to the automated feeding of components into machines. The company, Made4CNC, says that its system can be fitted to any CNC machine tool in less than an hour.