Lantek Expert Optimises Sheet Metal Work

Lantek has developed Lantek Expert II for sheet metal/profile cutting and punching and Lantek Expert III for business process management at Terclima, Lecitrailer and Aceros Morales. With these solutions, the company aims to optimise manufacturing processes and all processes connected with managing day-to-day work.

Lantek Terclima, a company specialising in the air conditioning sector, began a project for modernising its software infrastructure with the dual aim of making full use of its machinery and having overall control of its production processes, alongside a view to meeting the needs of different customers, both domestic and commercial/industrial. Terclima has installed several modules from the Lantek Expert II range, including Lantek CAD 2D, WOS and Lantek Expert Duct, enabling it to quickly design and automatically generate metal-forming figures for the creation of ventilation and aeration ducts.

In addition to these modules, the company has also installed the Manufacturing, Warehouse, Product, Purchasing, Sales and Offers modules from the Lantek Expert III range to obtain overall control of its production processes and to facilitate management of tasks connected with purchases, offers and sales. Lecitrailer, a Spanish automotive sector company, has utilised Lantek products for the manufacture of semi-trailers and a reference brand on the European market.

The company has embarked on an expansion process, including the renewal of its technological infrastructure with the aim of modernising its automated production lines. To do this, it has applied the Lantek Expert Cut CAD/CAM system to its Prima machines to optimise its laser sheet metal cutting processes, while also simplifying machine handling, as the user now only has to follow the steps indicated by the software. The system has also allowed the company to obtain savings in time and materials.

Aceros Morales, an outsourcing sector company catering for the naval sector, public works, agricultural and construction machinery and the steel-related machinery market, has implemented the Lantek Expert II solution and the WOS, Manufacturing, Warehouse, Purchasing, Offers and Sales modules of the Lantek Expert III management software. This solution will enable the company to perform integrated management of all of its key processes. Aceros Morales now offers its services on the basis of real costs calculated by the Lantek Expert III modules. This has improved management processes and Aceros is now able to carry out real-time control of all the production work, while quickly responding to customer needs.

Roemheld Introduces Threaded-Body Work Supports

Roemheld's latest threaded-body work supports are designed to resist the wear and corrosion caused by swarf or aggressive coolant penetration in manufacturing environments. With a metallic wiper edge and interior parts made from stainless steel, the hydraulic work supports are suitable for use on load forces up to 4kN, are well sealed against penetrating fluids and are resistant to corrosion.

The threaded-body design saves space and prevents the vibration or deflection of workpieces. An optional sharp-edged orifice enables the flexible control and limitation of hydraulic fluids to improve operating safety.

The single-acting work support, whose contact force is minimised by a spring or that can be pneumatically adjusted, is designed to be easily combined with other clamping elements. A maximum operating pressure of 500 bar and stroke of up to 15mm makes the threaded-body work support suitable for a wide range of applications in fixture building and power workholding.

Quietdose Monitors In-Ear Noise Exposure At Work

Howard Leight by Sperian has introduced Quietdose, a personal dosimeter that measures and records a worker's actual in-ear exposure to noise over an entire work shift. The Quietdose system consists of a small Exposure Smart Protector (ESP) Dosimeter that's worn by employees in a shirt pocket or on the back of a hardhat; earplugs or an earmuff with integrated microphones that record real-time in-ear noise levels; and a connecting harness.

An infrared reader enables safety managers to retrieve data from the ESP Dosimeter at the end of each shift or work week and analyse the results on a personal computer. Quietdose enables safety managers and employees to: track, document and address the potential of occupational hearing loss and Standard Threshold Shift (STS) in real time; select appropriate hearing protectors for each employee's noise environment; train and monitor employees as to the correct use of earplugs or earmuffs; streamline worker deployment by more accurately matching shift hours with correct protection; identify potential opportunities to eliminate dual protection (the use of earplugs and earmuffs); compare the benefit of monitoring employee noise dose versus making capital investments in engineering controls to reduce specific noise levels.

An additional benefit of the system is that workers can personally monitor and control their noise exposure in real time. Flashing alerts indicate when noise exposure reaches or exceeds prescribed limits. If an earplug has not been inserted properly, Quietdose will alert the worker that they are not receiving adequate protection. If a worker removes their earplug for any length of time, Quietdose will assess that additional exposure and alert them should they exceed their allowable dose.

Brushless DC motors work smoothly and quietly

Servotechnic has released the Lin Engineering NEMA 17 Brushless DC (BLDC) motors. These motors are ideally suited for applications where high speed and high dynamic torque are a must for the user's application. The NEMA 17 BLDC's provide extremely quiet and smooth operation regardless of speed range, although the optimal performance speed range is 300rev/min to 3000rev/min.

These precision motors are also suitable for those who prefer velocity control with an analogue input, do not need holding torque and may be having reliability issues with an existing brushed DC motor.

BLDC's are also a good choice for applications that do not have a lot of power and require a higher efficiency motor.

The motors are available in four stack lengths: 40.894, 60.96, 81.026, and 100.076mm.

Depending upon the stack length, these motors are able to produce up to 0.7485243Nm of peak torque.

Applications for these motors include office equipment, packing machines, laboratory automation, robotics and HVAC.