MACHINE BUILDING:
- Danfoss says its VLT drives are already helping to save more than 20 million kilowatt hours every year - equivalent to the energy consumption of five million households. The VLT drives platform has been serving industry for many years, but continues to break new ground. At Hannover this year, the company will be launching new safety option modules for the VLT AutomationDrive that can bring your system up to the latest safety standards, and new VLT low harmonic drives use active filter technology to ensure lowest current distortion on the supplies to which they are connected. See it all in Hall 9.
- Mechatronics specialis, Wittenstein will be showing products from its Alpha subsidiary, whose SP+ and TP+ series of low-backlash gearheads recently received a technical and visual facelift to mark the company’s 25th anniversary.
The latest versions of the SP+ and TP+ series are now quieter than ever before. The permissible radial forces of the SP+ gearheads have likewise been improved. This not only makes them more robust, it also gives customers the option of purchasing a smaller, less expensive unit.
What's more, the torque capacities are significantly higher - up to 25%, depending on the version - thus raising the power density of these compact gearheads. Once more, users can profit from this by selecting a smaller unit without compromising the specification of their application.
- Unmanned air vehicles will be a special highlight in the sky above the Hannover Fair showground this year. Matthias Brucke, director of business development at the OFFIS Institute for Computer Science, is putting his organisation's flying robot, ‘Guard’ through its paces, demonstrating potential applications such as the surveillance and protection of national borders and coastal zones, and the monitoring of critical infrastructures.
"Autopilots to keep a plane on course are a longstanding feature of aviation," says Mr Brucke. "I believe that autonomous flying robots will become an established part of civil aviation over the coming years, possibly even taking on additional tasks in the field of logistics and transport."
- Meanwhile, Gotting KG, the Lehrte-based manufacturer of sensors for automatic guided vehicle (AGV) systems, will be appearing at a joint pavilion with ten other AGV manufacturers. "AGVs have played a special role over the past two decades, particularly in Germany where there are more than 20 companies currently specialising in AGV technology.”
Gotting and its co-exhibitors is organising a special event at this year’s show to demonstrate the controllability and manoeuvrability of AGVs. Vehicles from a number of manufacturers will form a ‘ballet troupe’ and their choreographed movements will be co-ordinated by a wireless control system to prevent collisions. Mr Gotting believes this will be the first time such a large number of vehicles from different manufacturers will be guided in unison, showing how far the industry has gone in terms of ‘open’ communications.
ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONICS:
- The Interkama process automation event at this year’s Hannover Fair will host a special display highlighting advances in industrial energy efficiency. Areas of manufacturing that are prime candidates for energy efficiency measures will be identified, and the products and technologies that can help achieve these aims will be demonstrated.
Visit the Interkama lounge in Hall 7 and sample this year’s special programme of speaking events and panel discussions entitled ‘Operational Excellence’. The Interkama organisers believe this will provide valuable insights into complex process automation and plant management issues, with experts focusing on the practical applications of the technologies displayed throughout the exhibition.
- Sensor Technology has chosen the Hannover Messe platform to unveil its latest innovation. New for 2009 is TorqSense RWT 330/34, designed for use in applications where space is limited. Like other units in the TorqSense family, the RWT330/340 provides non-contact measurement of torque, speed, power and position of rotating shafts. Increasingly varied applications for TorqSense are surfacing, as Sensor Technology’s Tony Ingham explains:
"TorqSense can be applied to virtually any size of system where precise yet simple torque monitoring is required. We thus get requests to fit it into very small spaces, so the design team has come up with a system that separates the sensing head from the control electronics to form a two-part unit. The head is very compact, so itcan be fitted into the tiniest of spaces, while the electronics can be sited at a convenient place further from the shaft under test.
"Our larger sensors are used in many applications at the heavy duty end of industry, while our smaller ones are used in applications such as fine chemical dosing and lab-based research. At both ends of this spectrum are applications where splitting the sensing head from the control electronics is desirable. What TorqSense is about is reliably collecting high speed real-time torque data. With that captured and secure, our special TorqView software can display it via on-screen virtual instruments so users can perform a full range of analysis."
MATERIALS & FASTENERS:
- Promat is the world's largest manufacturer of insulating panels made from calcium silicate. At this year’s Fair, the company plans to show its broad range of nanoporous insulating boards based on pyrogenic silica. Among these, are the new thin-walled Promalite-FPA and -FPE products, which insulate at temperatures of up to 1000ºC.
The FPA nanoporous mixture is shrink-wrapped into an aluminium foil to provide flexibility, easy handling and dust-free, water-resistant surfaces. FPE is structured in the same way, but shrink-wrapped within a PA/PE foil instead of aluminium.
Both products can be used in applications requiring very high-performance insulation and where only limited space is available, such as casting ladles and tundishes.
POWER TRANSMISSION:
- Ondrives, the UK based engineering firm specialising in a core product range of mechanical gear reducers and precision gears - all produced in-house at its Chesterfield site - will be flying the flag at this year’s Hannover Fair. The company’s gear reducer range includes worm wheel, crossed axis helical, bevel, spur gear, epicyclic servo and planetary reduction gearboxes as well as rack and pinion actuators and its latest range of precision gears.
Ondrives is capable of manufacturing to DIN3961 quality Grade 7, with quality Grade 5 also available if required. The company is also able to cut 0.25mm module to 3.00mm module spur and helical types, as well as axial module precision worms and wheels, up to 125mm diameter.
Other products on the company’s stand number L01/1 in hall 14 include high quality metal bellows couplings, safety couplings, stainless shoulder screws, shafting, dry precision bushings and miniature rigid and flexible couplings. And following the integration of sister company, Rino Industries at the beginning of this month, the exhibit will also reflect an expanded product range.
- Power transmission firm Renold will be exhibiting its world beating range of chain, gearboxes and couplings in hall 27. On show for the first time will be the company's groundbreaking new Smartlink chain-load monitor for half-inch pitch chain. Smartlink is a wireless, electronic device that is fitted to chain on real applications to monitor dynamic data such as peak and shock loads, which can then help engineers to identify problems within a system or recommend changes to the size of chain being used. Until Renold's recent breakthrough with the miniaturization of the unit's internal components, Smartlink was not available for chain sizes below one-inch pitch.
Representatives from all the group's divisions will be on hand to provide expert advice on its wide range of industrial chain, couplings, clutches, gears and gearboxes. Having made two acquisitions since the last time the group exhibited at Hannover there will be much to see and talk about as the first major engineering showcase of 2009 gets underway.
PNEUMATIC & HYDRAULIC:
- Pfeiffer Vacuum will be showing an extended range of HiPace turbopumps, which includes four new sizes. High pumping speeds and throughputs are guaranteed for both light and heavy gases, while protection class IP54 and SEMI S2 assure the suitability of these pumps for many industrial applications.
HiPace features integrated drive electronics with Profibus and DeviceNet connectivity. Run-up time has been significantly reduced to improve availability, and internal sensors provide remote monitoring of pump parameters such as temperature. This, together with its innovative rotor design means that HiPace is probably the safest pump of its type in the market.
For more information, visit www.hannovermesse.de