After reading Senior Editor Matt Jaster’s article this issue (“Advancing Technology for MRO,” p. 18), I have visions of the maintenance engineer of tomorrow. He’s not wearing a hard hat and steel-toe boots. No, he’s wearing ripped jeans and a ball cap (backwards), and he’s holding a game controller, because he’s operating the drone system your company is using to do visual and thermal inspection of your equipment, saving you enormous time and effort in your predictive maintenance routine.

The prediction and prevention of catastrophic failures and unplanned downtime has vastly improved areas like mining, energy, off-highway, and other industrial segments for MRO departments across manufacturing thanks to cutting-edge condition monitoring technology and predictive maintenance. 

TPS, still organized by the Turbomachinery Laboratory at Texas A&M University, will gather for the 52nd Turbomachinery and 39th Turbo annual event from September 26–28, at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston.

KISSsoft helped AGH Racing students in Poland develop steering column gears in the RTC7.0 race car powered by an internal combustion engine. Then they used the software to develop a gearbox for their new electric AWD drivetrain in the upcoming RTE3.0 car. Most importantly, they could optimize the micro geometry of the gears and analyze the influence of different factors on the durability of the gear tooth. KISSsoft made it easier to apply quick changes in the project, as it adapts other tooth geometry to the ones they were working on.

Gates Design Power and Gates Design Power Mobile combine unique functionality to provide an end-to-end solution that can help from basic troubleshooting and site surveys to full site chain-to-belt replacement and create your most complex power transmission (PT) design applications.

This review of Ref. 1 summarizes the conclusions of test data and numerical simulations showing that Stribeck curves for counterformal contact are different from Stribeck curves for conformal contact.

Technical sales personnel use intelligent features to select suitable motor-gearbox combinations and run calculations based on customer-specific operating data. This provides obvious added value for the customer. Service lives, safeties, and expected loads can all be determined in a short time. Maintenance of the underlying database and the use of simulation tools make it possible to quickly and easily perform technical calculations without having to rely on a central calculation department. In less than a minute, the customer is provided with a data sheet which includes reliable statements about the gearbox based on these technical calculations.

It seems like everyone is jumping into the electric gearbox market. Even Schaeffler is in the electric drive module (EDM) market now with their own 800v system. With all these new entries, some companies are satisfied with following traditional bearing arrangements while some want new and unique solutions or some combination of both. There is heavy debate over which styles are the best. In this article, we will talk about the different types of 2-bearing arrangements for each shaft with the pros and cons of each for a simple three shaft, single speed parallel axis gearbox (ala Tesla style).

Visitors to EASA in June will get a chance to see some of the highest efficiency electric motors available on the market when they stop by the Nidec Motor Corporation Booth (#613). Nidec’s “Super Premium” and above variable frequency drive (VFD) motors and all-in-one, integrated motors and controls are leading the industry with efficiency ratings of IE 4 and IE 5 for remarkable energy savings compared to traditional single speed motors.  

The Timken Company is experiencing strong demand for the broad range of application-proven products and services it offers the food and beverage industry. Timken has built a comprehensive food and beverage portfolio through both organic and inorganic growth, including its 2022 addition of GGB Bearings, and achieved a total sales compound annual growth rate of more than 30 percent in the market-sector over the last five years. The company expects an expanding global footprint, new product line launches and growing demand for food worldwide to drive additional growth in the coming years.

Shorter delivery times because of more efficient production was the explicit aim of the Iwis Czech plant. Iwis has invested massively in the automation of production in Strakonice in recent months to further reduce manual operations. New automatic machines for inner and outer links were taken into operation to produce JWIS-branded accumulation chains, and chain assembly was also further automated.

Ruland beam couplings are ideal for surgical, warehouse, and industrial robotics due to their increased torque and torsional stiffness and ability to accommodate all forms of misalignment. Ruland manufactures four-beam couplings for encoders and six-beam couplings for light-duty power transmission, such as connecting a stepper or servomotor to a lead screw. This allows robotic designers to design a standard beam coupling into most systems.

Kurt Hydraulics has introduced a new lineup of stainless-steel couplings for applications ranging from marine hydraulics to food production and medical processes to fertilizer and chemical handling or other tough applications requiring washdowns. 

ADS Uptime is an extremely useful condition monitoring system for encoders. With local wireless service check-up or system integration with ADS Link, you have maximum flexibility to access data and diagnostics. With ADS Uptime, you can access live data and secure production uptime by making application health monitoring part of your proactive maintenance routine. Knowing things before they happen has never been easier. It was recently featured at the Heidenhain booth during Cleanpower 2023.

Sports fans want to see every little detail, and the TV cameras deliver whether the goalie is clenching his jaw before the spot kick or how many millimeters the serve cleared the net in a tennis match, everything is captured in detail. Images like these are only possible when the camera is up-close and doesn’t interfere with the action. Many major tournaments and Olympic Games use miniature devices, which even fit in a corner flag, from the Wiesbaden-based specialist LMP Lux Media Plan. Drive units from Faulhaber are used to adjust the shutter and focus.

Fenner Precision Polymers, a Michelin Group Company and world leader in reinforced polymer technology, announced the purchase of 41 acres of property zoned for light industrial development in Lancaster County’s Penn Township. Fenner plans to develop the site, previously owned by Kreider Farms, as a 400,000-square-foot world-class, environmentally responsible manufacturing facility. The project plans to consolidate the majority of Fenner’s manufacturing plant sites in Pennsylvania into one location. The property is located at 426 Hostetter Road, Manheim.

For the second time within five years, a key figure at Universal Robots (UR), the Danish manufacturer of collaborative robots (cobots), has been awarded the world’s most prestigious robotics prize, the Joseph F. Engelberger Robotics Award, often described as the Nobel Prize of robotics.

Nord Drivesystems continuously looks for opportunities to gain manufacturing efficiencies and implement practices that have less impact on the environment. In 2012, Fertigungstechnik Nord, a member of the Nord Drivesystems Group located in Gadebusch, Germany, developed a concept for heat recovery from machine tools in their production areas.

JKF Americas Inc, a subsidiary of JK Fenner (India) Ltd., has redesigned their North American website, featuring the outstanding Top Drive line of belts, hoses and accessories for automotive and industrial markets. The website features dynamic design, informative videos, vehicle part lookup, literature downloads, company news and fast load times for efficient browsing. 

Parvalux has recently teamed with Keller Industrial Products, Inc., headquartered in Rochester, NY USA. The experienced team at Keller has specialized in mechatronic applications for OEMS and advanced manufacturing sites since 1937. As business development professionals who focus on motion control automation applications, components, and accessories, the company provides expert representation in the industry.

Schaeffler introduced a Wind Power Standard for wind turbine bearings more than ten years ago, which considers the high demands on the reliability of turbines and associated components. This standard for products and processes ensures that wind turbine bearings are subject to the highest quality standards, as also implemented, for example, in the automotive industry, and in the aviation and aerospace sectors. The start of the year marked the manufacture and delivery of the millionth bearing by Schaeffler in accordance with the Wind Power Standard.

A sneak peek into the factory of the future has a sweet spot—so to speak. Several conveyor belts transport chocolate bars that are part of a demonstrator machine that shows how artificial intelligence can be used for motion control. What remains to be done in a real factory is to automatically pack the chocolate bars. In this Intelligent Infeed Demonstrator machine from Siemens Digital Industries, the chocolate bars must be placed in evenly spaced slots on the outfeed belt.