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Most of us want to just instinctively squeeze a belt between a pair of pulleys to test the belt tension. What is not as instinctive is just how much force such a procedure can put on the shaft -- often significantly past the manufacturer's rated limits for small motors. This can cause damage to both the shaft and the bearings.
Heavy industry. The phrase conjures images of mines and steel mills, of huge caverns underground, of cavern-like factories, of oldline companies operating heavy-duty machines for hightorque work. That's the image of heavy industry.
Today, though, there's also another image. It's of an operator walking a steel mill's floor, looking at his smartphone or his tablet.
Electromechanical rodless linear actuators can offer better load handling
in smaller spaces than rod-style actuators, but realizing those benefits requires careful attention at the specification level. Whether you are replacing a failed actuator, looking for better performance or building a new application from the ground up, success depends on how precisely you specify application requirements.
The theme of this issue is integration. Mechanical components are being developed with embedded sensors. The components are talking to each other, sending information to the cloud and producing terabytes of big data to help manufacturers better understand their processes, predict problems and control costs.