Motion Control and Automation

Most engineers are comfortable with the qualities of square rail bearing linear actuators and they use them regularly for motion support. Let's take a quick moment to discuss the pros and cons of roller wheel bearing linear actuators.

ASCO's C Series is a robust compact cylinder line that is designed to fit tight space requirements. The low-profile design and variety of mounting options make this cylinder line extremely popular.

ASCO's SH Series Guided Linear Motion device is capable of heavy loads and moderately long strokes and is available with a wide range of options.

Precise temperature control is critical to ensure the safer, more manageable extended fermentation that produces high-quality products with optimal taste.

ASCO fluid control and Numatics fluid power products have been favorites in beverage plants since the 1950s. Today, ASCO provides superior fluid automation solutions for engineers and purchasers at both original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and at leading bottlers and packagers worldwide.

ASCO has introduced the capability to integrate multiple safety zones within a single Numatics 503 Series valve manifold. This new zoned safety approach helps the design engineer satisfy the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC and comply with ISO 13849-1 while eliminating the components and complexity found in discrete safety circuits.

For more flexibility in automated production environments, Schmalz has developed the Suction Cup Balance SSCB: A gripping and clamping system with automated conversion capability for 3D mold surfaces. Workpieces of different contours can be gripped and clamped. Learn more.

For years, Schmalz has promoted communication from gripping system components to the control and even to the management level. Users can now read out data straight from the device and on mobile devices via NFC.

IAI's RCS3 Servo Press compact and low-thrust rod-type actuator can even be used for simple pressing. The high-precision position control enables easy adjustment of the push force and the position control, which is typically difficult for oil-hydraulic equipment.

A wide variety of product types are in the new RCP6 series, which also include wide slider types and wide radial cylinder types. Allowable dynamic moment for the wide slider type is 14 times higher than the standard slider. Learn more.

Parker's Electromechanical and Drives Division announced the release of the IX InteractX PowerStation and the PCA Industrial PC PowerStation. The IX runs on the same base hardware and software as the PCA PowerStation but with one key difference. Learn more.

GasShield® PENTA® filters offer the high flow and low ΔP of Teflon®, but with a 100% nickel filter element. This design reduces filter element surface area, resulting in lower levels of moisture retention and faster purge time.

These new models connect directly to the database and accelerate leveraging real-time data for productivity improvement, predictive maintenance, and quality traceability at production sites.

Unplanned downtime is very expensive for any company— and emergency downtime can be disastrous for profits and continued viability. Emergency downtime (when something has gone seriously, catastrophically wrong) can cost five times as much as downtime for planned maintenance.

Designing an effective and long-lasting system—one that will not only meet current requirements but will also provide exceptional performance and quality in the future—is a challenge that many manufacturers struggle to meet. This article looks at how to design an optimal system. Learn more

Precision Sensors XHP Series "High Purity" Transducer is designed for accurate, reliable, long-term sensing of process gases used in the manufacturing of semiconductor products. LED status light verifies that the transducer is operating correctly. Color band labels are provided with the unit to allow the installer to mark and identify the measured gas. 

The innovative battery-less absolute encoder operates through the combination of gears recognizing the rotational position data, which eliminates the need for a battery (and battery replacement) that is normally required for a conventional absolute encoder.

A wide variety of product types are in the new RCP6 series, which also include wide slider types and wide radial cylinder types, and no battery maintenance is required because there is no battery. Since home return is not required at equipment startup or after an emergency stop, this feature reduces operation time and production costs.

Securing the go ahead for a system upgrade can be difficult in a competitive work environment, where every cost must be accounted for and validated. Getting your project noticed and approved when it's lost among a sea of competing projects—each one making a claim on finite resources—can seem an impossible task.

Automation has been around since the 50s, but the modern era of automation really started in the 1980s. Many of these machines haven't been updated since that time - more than 30 years. Over time, these machines tend to have little problems arise here and there, and frankly, the hardware can be very difficult to support and often impossible to repair due to older technologies going obsolete.

A growing trend in industrial plant design is wireless connectivity. Recent technological advances have made wireless protocols significantly more robust and reliable than previous versions, enough so to rival traditional hard-wired connections.

Factory automation mobility is not just about iPads. Companies of all sizes need to think about the software needed to push context-sensitive information to operators and managers.

Intelligent Actuator Inc (IAI) is a world leader in the design and manufacture of off-the-shelf single and multi-axis servo positioning systems and SCARA robots.

IAI answers some of their most asked questions