Machine Building Features

A platform for the future of air travel

A platform for the future of air travel

The Airbus A350 XWB twin engine jetliner is one of the most eagerly anticipated new aircraft currently being built. Hailed as the future of air travel, the A350 XWB (XWB = extra wide body) has already taken 548 orders without even leaving the factory, let alone the runway. The wings for the new aircraft are manufactured at Broughton near Chester and Electroimpact, a leading designer of tooling and automation for the aerospace sector, was appointed to design and construct the manufacturing system

Verifying and validating the safety system design

Verifying and validating the safety system design

Designing safety control systems in accordance with global standards helps machine builders and manufacturers to drive up productivity; more importantly, standards compliance makes a huge contribution to the safety and wellbeing of workers as well as the protection of capital assets. Wayne Solberg reports.

A unified, sub-systematic approach to safe machine control

A unified, sub-systematic approach to safe machine control

At some point in the future the functional safety standards EN ISO 13849 (with its Performance Levels, PL) and EN 62061 (with its Safety Integrity Levels, SIL) will merge; a joint technical committee ISO/TC 199 - IEC/TC 44 is currently working on this merger. 

Electromagnetic compatibility: the safety issues

Electromagnetic compatibility: the safety issues

While electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) is a machinery safety issue that many machine builders find complex, there can be no doubt about the need for it. For example, if the control system of a machine experiences electromagnetic interference it may malfunction and create a dangerous situation. Conversely, if the electrical and electronic systems fitted to a machine generate a high level of interference, they may also cause other equipment nearby to malfunction.

Test system gets straight to the point

Test system gets straight to the point

Actuators that switch railway points are clearly mechanisms that are highly safety-critical. Proof that these actuators meet the requirements of exacting railway standards is one of the main functions of a new test system designed by QM Systems with some motion technology help from Lenze.

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