Matthew Jaster, Senior Editor

               

SPS IPC Drives 2016 took place November 22-24 in Nuremberg, Germany. The show is Europe’s leading exhibition for electric automation. It was the perfect platform for attendees to meet suppliers of electric automation technology from around the world and stay informed about all the products, trends and innovations within the industry. Here’s a recap:

Altra Industrial Motion (Hall 3, Booth 368)

Representatives from Bauer Gear Motor, Huco Dynatork, Matrix International and Warner Electric demonstrated the varied solutions available to end users to support automation systems. Attendees gained insight into how these solutions can benefit their application, direct from the engineers who design them. 

 

Bauer Gear Motor

Bauer’s HiflexDrive range was featured at the show, including the new stainless steel and aseptic models designed for hygienic processing areas. The ease of maintenance, cleanability and high efficiency especially under partial load make it an ideal solution for precise conveying operations.

Bauer also introduced the new EtaK2.0 motor mounted inverter drive, which offers extremely high levels of speed and torque control to increase efficiency. Furthermore, Bauer demonstrated anIP68 ingress rated submersible gear motor in a water tank. 

Huco Dynatork

The entire Huco Couplings range was represented at the show, including the business’ flagship Oldham model. This particular model eliminates backlash by transmitting rotation through a central disk that moves over the hubs when preloaded. Available with discs and hubs in varying materials depending on requirement – the ample radial compensation and the ease of maintenance of the product makes it efficient and versatile.

Other models of particular note include the beam coupling and bellows coupling. Available in steel, aluminum or plastic depending on model, the Beam coupling can be specified in Single Beam, Step Beam, 3-Beam for higher torque capacity or 6-Beam for increased misalignment capability. Bellows couplings are ideal for applications that demand high levels of torsional integrity, with both Flex-K and Flex-B series offering modification via varying the number and spacing of convolutions. 

Matrix International

Matrix International has been designing, testing and manufacturing industrial electromagnetic and hydraulic clutches and brakes since 1939. At SPS 2016, the company presented its 1EB spring applied brake range, a low backlash brake for precision holding applications. As a key service provider of highly reliable electro-magnetic brakes for servomotor and robotic applications, the exhibition’s focus on automation provides the perfect platform for the business.

Matrix boasts design, test and production facilities to allow customers to specify a solution tailored to their application. Prototypes can be rigorously assessed by testing rigs, allowing customized solutions that are proven to perform. In the absence of power, Matrix products are designed to hold the loads required with the utmost reliability. As with all Matrix brakes, products within the 1EB range can be totally customized upon request to create an optimum solution for the demands of varied applications. 

Warner Electric

The XSB series has been specifically introduced to service industrial braking applications where weight and available space are major concerns. Designed to optimize torque levels on the smallest possible footprint, the XSB does not compromise on performance, despite its low weight and reduced size. Offered in six different sizes to meet application requirements, the XSB also features a fully customized adaptor flange, increasing flexibility of installation for end users.

Warner’s extensive selection of linear actuators were also available, including models for light duty, general duty, rugged duty and customized actuators built to client requirement. Warner couples innovative design with stringent testing to ensure a durable product, providing end users with dependable and smooth linear motion. (www.altramotion.com)

Heidenhain (Hall 7, Booth 7-190)

For the SPS IPC Drives 2016 trade show, Heidenhain introduced its new rotary encoder series ECI 4000/EBI 4000. The new encoder variants are modular devices without integral bearings and with a 90 mm hollow shaft. This enables the user to replace the conventional toothed-belt drive for coupling a motor feedback system to torque motors.

With fewer components, these new rotary encoders provide increased performance and guaranteed wear-free operation. Moreover, they set new standards in attainable control dynamics, reliability and functionality. In this way, they open up new applications for inductive rotary encoders, e.g. on highly dynamic motors, drive modules and machine components that require a corresponding hollow shaft in the encoder.

The singleturn version of the ECI 4000 features resolution of 20 bits. As an alternative, with its EBI 4000, Heidenhain offers a multiturn variant that features a revolution counter option with resolution of 16 bits and that is backed up by an external battery buffer. The new inductive rotary encoders consist of a scanning unit and the scale drum. (www.heidenhain.us) 

 

Elmo Motion Control (Hall 4, Booth 379)

Elmo Motion Control displayed a wide range of servo and motion technologies. Here are a few highlights at the booth:

The Gold Duet is Elmo’s family of integrated servomotors, equipped with built-in Gold series Elmo drives. The newest versions added to the family are made possible with high performance 80 & 110 frame servomotors. The Gold series of digital servo drives in the Duets is highly resilient and designed to deliver the highest density of power and intelligence. The new Gold Duet delivers high power in a compact high quality package.

The Gold Solo Twitter is an advanced high power density servo drive, capable of delivering up to 4 kW power from a compact package. The Gold Solo Twitter is designed to be connected to an application using the wires and connector kit available from Elmo. This servo drive is suitable for quick and easy machine development process and reduced TTM.

The Gold Drum 550-Ultra High Current DriveHigh powered yet compact servo drive, capable of delivering high currents up to 550A. It operates from a high power DC source and is ideal for unmanned, mobile, AGV type applications. The Gold Drum 550 connects to 100V Direct to Main DC source.

The Platinum Maestro is an EtherCAT motion controller designed for optimum multi-axis motion performance, fast and easy machine development process, stable throughput, lasting reliability, and utmost safety.

Additionally, the company offered live demonstrations of 7-axis collaborative robots showcasing the comprehensive compact Elmo drives integrated into the robot joints.

(www.elmomc.com) 

 

Sercos International (Hall 2, Booth 440)

How can users use the physical advantages of hydraulics in an Industry 4.0 environment? This is the question the company answered during a hydraulics demo with Bosch Rexroth. The Sercos SoftMaster Demo scores points with an open “upward” and “downward” communication link. This demo is based on a Sercos III SoftMaster core, which was developed in cooperation with Bosch Rexroth and is being made available as open-source software.

Thanks to the Sercos III SoftMaster, a Sercos III FPGA or ASIC master component is not required. Instead, a standard Ethernet controller is used, with the Sercos III hardware functions emulated in host-based driver software. With this implementation approach, adequate real-time behavior is ensured for a large number of applications. If an Ethernet controller with several queues and telegram scheduling (such as the Intel I210) is used, even the synchronicity and the highest availabilities of a hardware-based master can be achieved.

The Sercos SoftMaster is available as an open-source software license for general use in the software pool of Sercos International e.V.

“With the provision of a Sercos III SoftMaster implementation as an open source, it becomes much, much easier for manufacturers to develop a Sercos III master and at the same time to participate in future improvements and expansions of the software,” says Peter Lutz, managing director of Sercos International. “In this way, control systems can be designed more affordably and will be simpler and more compact in the future. This is a very important criterion.”

In addition to the Sercos SoftMaster demo, additional demos as well as a large number of exhibits forming a cross section of the approximately 250 Sercos-capable products were displayed in the Sercos stand. (www.sercos.de)

 

For more information on SPS IPC Drives 2016, visit www.powertransmission.com.