Industrial Factory Automation

An article jointly authored by specialists from Malvern Instruments and a major pharmaceutical company has been released. The article describes the implementation of a Malvern Insitec online particle-size analyser on an active pharmaceutical-ingredient milling operation at a commercial site. The Insitec was used to transform a standalone manual mill into an automated process unit that will integrate into the manufacturing facility. Automation benefits include improved product quality, increased throughput and less waste, and the authors state that the solution also opens the route to semi-continuous operation and real-time release. The Insitec laser diffraction particle-size analyser was designed for use in the process environment. The article describes the change from batch milling with particle size measured offline, to the use of real-time, online measurement and control, and the efficiencies and benefits that this has delivered. The change began with a pilot-plant trial of the Ins...

Electronica has introduced the MT100 digital readout (DRO), which simplifies the task of indexing a turret mill head to perform operations that are not perpendicular to the workpiece. Angular machining using turret-type milling machines is performed by rotating the head manually. In these circumstances, operators must loosen the securing bolts and rotate the head using a steel tape to determine the required angle. Alignment is by eye only and an operator will frequently retighten the bolts and perform a trial cut only to find that further adjustment is necessary, so the whole process has to be repeated. Such a time-consuming setup can have a negative impact, particularly in a tough manufacturing environment where every second counts. Returning the head to vertical once angular machining is complete presents the same problem. The new MT100 from Electronica overcomes this difficulty by replacing the steel rule with magnetic tape technology to give precise angular positioning from -180 d...

LMT has installed five-axis simultaneous-machining centres and a turn-mill centre worth over GBP3.5m at LMT Fette's Schwarzebek manufacturing facility in Germany. LMT's Nanosphere coating acts as a heat shield but reacts elastically to protect the cutting tool from high thermal and mechanical stress. As a result, LMT Fette gear hobbing cutters can be run without coolant and should achieve a realistic increase in production life of at least a third over normal coated hobs. The Twist-Free combination hobbing and deburring system enables the functions of a roughing hob, the in-cycle deburring of top and bottom flanks of each tooth and the finishing of the gear to be achieved in a single high-productivity cycle. The single-arbour tool assembly can be applied to the hobbing of spur and helical gears and eliminates tooth-flank 'twisting' or convexity error that normally requires correction through separate finishing operations such as shaving, or grinding or honing in the ha...

Electronica Mechatronic Systems has introduced a high-specification digital readout (DRO) for OEM and retrofit applications. The EL400 is suitable for mill, lathe and EDM applications in two, three- and four-axis versions. Designed for turret-mill-type applications, the four-axis milling machine variant facilitates the internal summing of knee and quill axes without the need for additional external electronics. Users can choose to view the knee or quill axis, or the sum of both, making it suitable for twin-head boring machines. The DRO's rugged die-cast housing is complemented by a modern, bright LED display with wide viewing angle that can be seen clearly in all light conditions. The EL400 also features a tactile keypad, rather than a membrane design. Electronica's discrete, tactile buttons, which are rated up to 15 million operations, provide positive actuation and are sealed at the rear to prevent the access of moisture. The keypad also provides dedicated, one-touch axis ze...

Switchboard supplier EMS has selected switchboards in Eaton 's Moeller Modan range to assist in the completion of an upgrade to a Heygates flour mill in Tring, Hertfordshire. The task of upgrading the electrical equipment in the mill posed two key challenges. The first was that the space available to accommodate the new switchboards was extremely limited. The second was that, as the mill operates continuously and downtime is costly, it was necessary for Heygates to be able to carry out maintenance and fault-finding work on, for example, individual motor starters, without shutting down the whole plant. EMS knew from its work on previous projects that switchboards from Eaton's Moeller Modan range would provide a complete and cost-effective solution to both problems. While the Modan switchboards are available in a variety of configurations, for this application the engineers chose the Modan W. Because Modan W uses withdrawable and removable plug-in units, function modules can be e...