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The sensor is suitable for industrial automation, robotics and machine building applications, where space is often restricted.The compact design, integrated controller and setup application enable users to quickly mount the sensor onto robot arms, inspection equipment or production lines.
The latest addition to Micro-Epsilon’s Scancontrol range of 2D/3D laser profile sensors is the Scancontrol 2710, which is compact and offers new setup and configuration program.
three times the Scancontrol 2710 has been configured using the setup application supplied, the technique operates in standalone mode.
The sensor can be used to measure the profile of adhesive beading, weld seams, channels, grooves, gaps, angles and steps, as well as for parts recognition, traceability and robot guidance/positioning.
Using the integrated controller, the sensor can acquire data, calculate profiles and generate measured values for the complete field of measurement at high speed (64,000 points/100 profiles per second) and full resolution.
The user requires no other components to evaluate the measurement data (no computer nor special programming application are required) and the unit can be re-configured and adapted for different applications.
The sensor uses a CMOS array with a real-time, high-speed electronic shutter (rather than conventional rolling shutters), which captures the entire profile and processes the information instantaneously.
The technique works in one ways: either in a stationary mode, with the sensor fixed and looking at moving targets, or in a scanning mode, where the sensor works in combination with a motion control tool or robot.
A small output module for DIN rail mounting is also accessible to convert the sensor output data into common Fieldbus systems, including Canbus, Profibus DP, Ethercat and IEEE.
The technique is accessible with measuring ranges from 25mm to 300mm in the Z (vertical) axis and 22mm to 148mm in the X (horizontal) axis.
Measurement results can be output using digital or analogue modules for further processing and evaluation.
The sensor also provides the synchronous triggering of multiple Scancontrol sensors.
Chris Jones, managing director at Micro-Epsilon UK, said: ‘The Scancontrol 2710 offers all the technical features of its predecessor, the 2810, but goes even further in terms of compactness and ease of setup and configuration.
‘Additionally, the 2710 provides a greater choice of measurement ranges, which enables the sensor to solve a wider range of applications.’ The Scancontrol 2710 uses the laser line triangulation measurement principle.
This means that excellent accuracy, resolution (4um) and reliability are achieved, even at high measurement speeds, according to the company.
The sensor has an integrated, highly sensitive CMOS array, which enables measurements of any difficult surface such as shiny or reflective surfaces, independent of the reflection from the target.
The back-scattered light from the laser line is registered on a CMOS matrix by a high-quality optical process.
A line optical technique projects a laser line onto the surface of the object being measured.
Along with distance information (Z axis), the controller calculates the true position along the laser line (X axis) from the camera picture and outputs both values in the sensor’s 2D coordinate process.
A moving target or traversing sensor generates a 3D representation of the object being measured.
Emerson has revealed how a self-organising network of Rosemount wireless temperature transmitters and a Smart Wireless gateway is delivering maintenance savings at a heavy plate mill in Brazil.
The wireless temperature transmitters and Smart Wireless gateway are also protecting plant assets and helping the Usiminas heavy plate mill avoid unscheduled stoppages.
Eight Rosemount wireless temperature transmitters, installed on the ‘backup’ rolls that are part of the facility’s process to produce steel plates, measure the temperature of the roll bearing oil.
A Smart Wireless gateway collects this critical information and transmits it to the company’s distributed control system (DCS).
Operators use this wireless data, along with the rolls’ return oil temperatures collected by a hard-wired network, to automatically monitor the state of bearing health and to keep the steel plate-making process running smoothly.
The self-organising wireless network consistently provides Usiminas with data even though the temperature transmitters are subjected to extreme heat, water, oil and grease.
The hot, dirty conditions are also rough on the hard wired temperature sensors and their cables, and the sensors are very difficult and dangerous to access during regular maintenance.
Usiminas plans to replace these wired monitors with wireless temperature transmitters.
The project includes the roll out of AIS supply chain management plus manufacturing execution systems solutions, as well as selected advanced planning plus scheduling.
The Steelplanner solution of AIS has been selected by Colakoglu Metalurji AS (Turkey) to optimise its production planning, scheduling plus control at the steel plant plus hot rolling mill in Istanbul.
Included in the Steelplanner solution for Colakoglu are advanced scheduling optimisation modules such as Alphaplanner for the steel plant plus Betaplanner for the hot rolling mill.
On the planning side, the process covers production plus quality planning as well as production scheduling.
With the material plus transport management process of intermediate plus finished products including crane positioning systems, Colakoglu will have an integrated supply chain solution to provide fast plus reliable information of order status, available capacities, production situation, plus transportation of intermediate plus finished products.
The project started in January 2009 plus is due to finish in June 2010.
Last year, the company talked of developing solar plants in the Southwest in coming years on top of operating North America’s only solar thermal component assembly plant right here in Las Vegas.
California-based solar energy company Ausra appears to be banking on its Southern Nevada manufacturing plant.
Manufacturing & equipment supply is a safer route for the company. It frees Ausra from the financial uncertainties of developing its own solar plants during a time when financing is nonexistent. Solar companies also expect continued delays in obtaining solar sites on Bureau of Land Management acreage & an increasing number of lawsuits from environmentalists.
But in a Jan. 30 statement, the company announced it will instead focus on the manufacturing side of its business. Ausra “is strategically positioning itself to achieve its goals & serve its customers by focusing on being a technology & equipment supplier than an independent power developer & owner,” as the announcement put it.
The plant can employ up to 50 people, & if the modify in strategy is effective, it stands to reason that would mean increased activity at the plant.
Giving up its development side has meant personnel realignments, including reports of positions eliminated in new york, but the company said the modify would have little effect on its Las Vegas plant, which as of earlier this month employed 35 to 40 people, according to the company.
some of that increased activity is in the works. As part of its realignment, Ausra is expanding its product offerings to include medium-sized (50-megawatt equivalent) solar steam generating systems for use in food processors & enhanced oil recovery firms, as well as for power booster systems that deliver steam into existing fossil-fueled power plants.
Those are to be built at the Las Vegas plant.
No Ausra representative was willing to talk on the record about the modify in direction — to the point of even contending this isn’t a modify but “an evolution.”
“Ausra can quickly ramp up & install these low-cost projects as early as 2009 or 2010, while large power projects can take one to one years,” the company’s statement said. “For Ausra, this will permit the company to deploy its technology & generate revenue immediately, while the larger projects are obtaining permits & getting transmission access.”
The company’s stated aim back then was to install a gigawatt of power each year over 10 to 20 years.
But when Ausra launched its flagship Las Vegas manufacturing facility last spring, company executives said they were scouring the Southwest for solar development sites. The company said it was lining up solar projects across Southern new york, Nevada & indiana that were expected to piggyback on one another.
The company has a demonstration plant on line in Bakersfield, Calif., & a contract with a indiana utility to build a 177-megawatt solar power site near San Luis Obispo, Calif.
Implications: It is reported by Shobhana Subramanian & Varun Sharma in the Business Standard of 13th Feb that in these hard times,orders though small are like diamonds to companies.This is exemplified by the news that Siemens has won an order worth Rs 212 Cr(the size is minuscule by Siemens standard) from Steel Authority of India to provide a power distribution package to the latter’s Rourkela Steel plant, cheered by investors pushing up the stock by 2 percentage points in the stock markets.The news report mentions that the slow down has affected the revenues which Siemens derives from the distribution sector dropping to 36 per cent from the healthy 47 per cent in December 2007. Fortunately, however, it did not affect operating margins sustained over 9 percent through prudent management of the cost of raw materials. However BHEL in the public sector apparently has done much better, with OPM of 17 percent. Other private sector competitors, like CGL, Thermax, Areva and Voltas having floundered.
Analysis: Post reforms in 2003, the power distribution sector in India experienced unprecedented growth, when power equipment manufacturing companies and EPC contractors saw huge top line momentum and over 25 percentage point net post tax margins.
This motivated large scale expansion plans by almost all manufacturers of electric equipment catering to this sector. Government of India chipped in with huge funds through capital expenditure schemes such as
1.APDRP (Accelerated Power Developed Program for upgrade of Distribution network for improving reliability and loss reduction with sanction of Rs 100000 Cr).
2.RGGVY(Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana for mass scale Rural Electrification Works with CAPEX sanction of Rs 25375 Cr)
Now apparently, there is a slowdown,as seen by most manufacturers in their fourth quarter sales, in capital expenditure with customers compelled to delay plans in the absence of a clear picture on the demand front. So orders could remain unexecuted.
Some of the reasons for the slowdown are
1. Not enough skilled manpower and contractors available
2. Concrete Pole supply not sufficient
3. Work quality not standard so commissioning of these networks is in jeopardy.
GLENVIEW, Ill., Feb. 17 /PRNewswire/ — TechniKrom, Inc. and Asahi Kasei Medical Co., Ltd., who have a longstanding partnership in the commercialization of equipment for use with Planova(TM) virus removal filters, have reached agreement for the transfer of TechniKrom’s biopharmaceutical business to Asahi Kasei Medical’s full ownership. The integration of operations will be marked by the formation of Asahi Kasei TechniKrom, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Asahi Kasei Medical, on March 1, 2009. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The combination unites two market leaders in innovation: TechniKrom in the design, manufacture, and validation of custom biopharmaceutical processing equipment, and Asahi Kasei Medical in hollow-fiber and membrane adsorption technology. The unified product portfolio will further allow TechniKrom to advance its goal of contributing to human well-being by providing the biopharmaceutical industry with an expanded, integrated toolset to both lower the cost of drug manufacturing and achieve the highest innate drug product quality. “In addition to our existing products and services that we will continue to offer, we are extremely excited about the lineup of novel bioprocess separations products that Asahi Kasei TechniKrom will introduce over the coming months,” said TechniKrom President and founder, Lou Bellafiore.
Asahi Kasei Medical’s current business in the bioprocess field is centered on Planova(TM) filters and filtration systems for virus removal in the production of biopharmaceuticals. “The product line synergies with TechniKrom are a natural fit. This integration allows us to more seamlessly advance the worldwide expansion of our bioprocess operations with a base for the development, production, and sale of equipment and systems in the US, the world’s leading biopharmaceuticals market,” said Yasuyuki Yoshida, President of Asahi Kasei Medical.
Asahi Kasei TechniKrom will be headed by the current TechniKrom management team and will continue to operate from TechniKrom’s Glenview, IL facility.