As the World’s number one showcase for the aerospace industry its important to make the most of your time at FIA – JOC makes sure its clients capitalise on every minute of the show from pre show PR, stand design and exhibition passes through to collation of all the ‘red hot’ enquiries they pick up and booking the best space for the next show.

Booked exhibitors, or businesses still thinking about exhibiting, are welcome to contact JOC with any requirements they may have – 01902 757115.

Visit JOC Exhibition Support Services here.

FANUC robots will be machine loading and unloading from a ROBODRILL and also a ROBOSHOT injection moulding machine.  Its M-1ia Delta arm robot will demonstrate high speed picking using a vision system.

FANUC robot loads a FANUC ROBODRILL

A selection of FANUC CNC controllers will be on display and a high speed gantry system, using FANUC motors and drives, will demonstrate the control platform’s versatility.

The new structure follows on from the announcement, last October, that FANUC’s Luxembourg headquarter operations would amalgamate to ‘project a strong corporate image Europe-wide’.  The FANUC UK Team will bring clarity of its extensive automation product range to its customer base and the UK market in general.

Sharing the common controller platform the three FANUC businesses already have many examples where their respective products are working together with inherent benefits of straight-forward communications and renowned FANUC reliability.

l to r: Andrew Myhill- FANUC FA, Paul Wilkie - FANUC RoboMachine, Chris Sumner - FANUC Robotics

At the MACH 2012 exhibition in April this year the three companies will exhibit together, for the first time, showing the complete range and capability of FANUC.  CNC controllers and drives, robot machine tool loading, EDM, plastic injection moulding and drilling machine centres will all feature together with illustrations of the extensive support packages available for FANUC customers.

Valen Fittings manufactures specialist butt weld fittings for the oil and gas sector from a wide range of exotic materials – currently 37 materials are used, none of which are ferrous.  The fittings are generally used in critical applications, usually offshore or in the ‘hot spots’ of oil and gas refining processes.

A wide range of sizes are covered, typically from 8 inch to 48 inch diameter.  Some fittings require a welder to weld continuously for up to 15 minutes.  Len Sandford, Managing Director of Valen, explains, “Valen is renowned for its quality of product and in particular its speed of order turn round which is exceptional for the sector.

“We continuously aim to improve productivity but because of the many fittings, types of material, range of thicknesses and low volume call off, we don’t have the luxury of being able to implement basic welding robot principles.  Our aim is always to adapt our existing manning skills so we can maintain the quality and reduce operator strain.”

Working with welding automation specialist Pentangle Engineering, Valen firstly addressed the issue of accurately plasma cutting part finished pressings.

A Fanuc Robotics M-16 iB, inverted on a jib is used to plasma cut edges and then to cut a weld preparation angle along the same edge.

“We realised that the system would require considerable development to accommodate the variances that would be presented to the robot.  No two pressings are ever the same because of the thickness and shapes we are producing,” continued Len, “Pentangle quickly grasped the requirement and produced a real time measurement solution using lasers and feedback voltage from the plasma cutter to provide realtime adaptive control.”

Pentangle developed  the system to allow the robot to find the start point initially then offset its frame  to compensate.  During initial cutting, the plasma voltage is constantly measured and used to control the torch height and path. This ensures precision cuts typically to within 0.5mm tolerance.  A laser sensor was built in to the plasma head by Pentangle to control the cut of the secondary, but equally critical, weld  preparation angle and maintain a constant 3 mm ‘land’ along the root face.

The robot has allowed the operator to be removed from the immediate work area of the inherently dirty operation and production time has typically been reduced on a thick 24 inch pressing from  around 1½ hours to 10 minutes.

Robot two is used to weld prepared sections, utilising a 6 axes FANUC Robotics ARC Mate 120-iC positioned with a single axis manipulator.  The cell uses a high resolution camera to observe the weld, and a joystick controlled slide system,  which is mounted on the 6^th axis of the robot, to allow weld torch adjustments during the welding process.

Each complete weld can take up to 12 runs to complete.  During each run, the operator is able to view sidewall fusion and weld bead alignment on a monitor. By using the joy stick to jog in 0.5mm increments, he is able to make fine adjustments to the weld torch during welding.

Concluding, Len explains, “The quality of the weld still reflects the individual skill of the operator, but the overall appearance of the
robot-finished weld seams has improved markedly.

“Our overall productivity has improved since the installation of the robots. They provide more consistency and the quality they deliver is faultless.  From a project point of view we knew what we wanted to achieve – we didn’t want a large team looking after  each cell -  we wanted a simple one man operation that allowed our existing skilled  operators to have a simpler, safer, cleaner, and less stressful way to work – and we believe we’ve achieved that.”

It is ideally suited for motors controlled by variable frequency drives (VFDs) running pumps, fans, high-speed spindles, and other equipment in severe-duty applications such as mining and the processing of pulp/paper, food, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and water/wastewater.  Commonly used to save energy, VFD’s induce motor-shaft currents that can damage bearings, completely wiping out any energy cost savings.

Standard bearing seals only keep out contamination and prevent leaks, but the Garlock SGi diverts harmful currents safely to ground, bypassing the bearings entirely and extending motor life. The patented AEGIS FiberLock Channel built into the Garlock SGi permanently secures circumferential rows of conductive micro fibres, preventing their dislocation and the resulting accidental contamination of the bearing.

The micro fibres themselves, proven in hundreds of thousands of installations to protect bearings from harmful currents, are engineered for flexibility to prevent breakage and ensure that the SGi will last for the service life of the motor.

Designed for long-term total bearing protection, the SGi also provides an IP56 non-contact isolation seal that withstands dust and powerful jetting liquids. It replaces contact lip seals and traditional bearing isolators commonly used in industrial applications and withstands operating temperatures from -30°C to 149°C (–22°F  to 300°F). The unit is available for motor-shaft sizes ranging from 22.2mm to 152.4 (0.875 ins to 6 ins) in flanged, flangeless, and custom configurations.

Well written press releases are sadly often let down by poor photography – or even worse no photography at all.  JOC uses its extensive engineering expertise to work with clients to understand what needs to be ‘brought out’ in the photography.  The new facility, comprising an infinity background of translucent opal, allows ‘clean’ images to be processed quickly minimising any requirement for expensive post processing.

Images below produced during a recent 120 product image photoshoot – no post processing to images and raw files issued to client for further work as required.

Working with their education partner, South Staffordshire College, Norgren began the selection process back in May this year and, so popular is the Apprentice Scheme, over 150 applications were received.   From a shortlist of 12 strong candidates there followed a detailed selection process finishing in the appointment of the four apprentices.    

“The apprentices join an elite group of individuals that have excelled and in some cases progressed through the business to senior management team positions,” explained Alan Topping, Norgren’s Engineering Manager.  “After a busy first week going over fundamentals of factory life, together with Health and Safety, they are now progressing through an intensive first year.  This involves spending time with all departments and achieving a basic level of understanding in each –  for three years their time will be spent with 2 days a week at college and 2 ½ days at Norgren.

“Apart from developing these apprentices around our own manufacturing processes we are also addressing an ever widening skills shortage in the UK’s engineering sector.  These skills are a vital element to keeping manufacturing and jobs in the UK.”

Norgren is a global leader in pneumatic motion and fluid control technology and manages its own product application advanced training programme called Norgren University.  Linking the apprentice programme to Norgren University will also address shortages of skills in product application and design.

Increasingly aware of mobile integration of services by universities around the UK and the exponential use of smartphone apps by students, Lancaster University set out to see what was available.  Options included developing locally from an open source web-based solution that downgrades to a mobile browser, a proprietary app from a virtual learning environment (VLE) provider and campusM™.

Complete management buy-in for the need to implement, as quickly as possible, assisted the process to select the most suitable option without delay.  campusM™ was selected as a fully featured product that allowed flexibility of integration and a fast deployment time of within 12 weeks.

Chris Dixon, Head of Service Delivery and Operations, Lancaster University, explains, “campusM™ stood out for us as it needed very little local development resource and it could meet our tight deadline for Fresher Week availability.  The product has clearly been developed around experience and understanding of university needs and has a range of ‘out of the box’ apps like campus map locations, pocket guide, library integration and timetable.  The campusM™ developers confirmed that as long as they were provided with data, or if Lancaster required them to help writing data, it would be complete within the 12 weeks – and it was”.

“In addition we bought the App Extension Kit (AEK) which further increases the flexibility of campusM™.  It allows us to write our own custom apps but using the campusM™ framework.  We’ve already launched our own student finance applet which allows students to analyse their outstanding credit payments and invoices, and we’ve also developed a bus timetable applet which takes data from Traveline providing locations of nearest bus stops, arrival times and routes.”

The AEK allows the University to develop one set of code for custom apps and the campusM™ framework allows it to run on any of the campusM™ mobile platforms including– Apple iOS®, Blackberry® and Android – and the web.  Running as a web based version, as well as mobile, keeps on-line registration straight-forward for students.

“The focus throughout has remained on enhancing the students experience and from the initial commitment to use campusM™ we have involved students in its delivery,” continues Chris Dixon, “User focus groups have been held to understand what is required and what needs to be developed for the system.  We are still implementing new custom applets as a result of these focus groups – a recent development is an applet that integrates the timetable with the sports centre so that squash courts, for instance, can be booked.

“It will be interesting for us to understand with the use of new campusM™ back office analytics what are the most used apps and which are the most popular platforms including the use of web over the mobile platforms.  It’s still early days for Lancaster University with this new facility and we’ve yet to realise more useful apps but campusM™’s flexible frameworks such as ‘Alerts’ provide the opportunity to further improve organisational functions and enhance our students’ experience.”

Comprising a combination of raw materials and using a patent pending fibre core, THERMa-PUR™ is easier to handle than conventional high temperature gasketing which use steel cores.  THERMa-PUR™ is available in a wide range of configurations including sheet, Kammprofile and corrugated metal gaskets.

Laboratory testing has proven THERMa-PUR™ provides efficient sealing when thermally cycled in temperature up to 1,000°C and, because of its non-oxidising formulation and fibre core, provides improved weight loss characteristics compared to other high temperature materials.

THERMa-PUR™ has hydrophobic properties making it safe to hydro test the system to full pressure and temperature. The new material does not stick to flanges making release easy and saving time.

Specialising in contract manufacture for the medical, optics and electronics industries, Carclo Technical Plastics injection moulds the main body of a multi-compartment cuvette and, adding value for its customer, performs an assembly operation before delivery.

Engineered by plastics automation specialists Hi-Tech Automation, a delta configuration robot, the FANUC Robotics M-1ia robot, was selected for the application.  Required to handle a weight of less than 5gm, the 1Kg payload M-1ia presented the most suitable solution.

Currently the assembly cell has been developed as a stand-alone cell with manual loading and unloading, of the cuvette, to an indexing turntable.  As production levels ramp up, the process may be made leaner by integrating the assembly cell with a robotically enabled moulding cell.

The component assembled to the moulding is a flexible filter strip delivered to the robot by a feed roller and cutter.  A camera positioned in front of the moulding measures the position and size of the filter and feeds back corrective dimensions to the feed roller / cutter to correct when required.

Alan Hogan, Manufacturing Engineer at Carclo Technical Plastics, explains, “The FANUC Robotics M-1ia robot does more than just place the filter into the moulding; we use the full flexibility of its six axes to actually manoeuvre the part into place.  Additionally the robot’s controller is controlling the whole cell and in particular a seventh axis which controls the dimension of the part.

“The vision system is integral to the controller and allows the robot to effectively adapt its programme by controlling the seventh axis. “

The M-1ia robot allowed Hi-Tech Automation to design a highly compact cell – weighing in at only 17Kgs and just 421mm wide the robot takes up no more room than a human operator working on a conveyor line.  A removable stand ensures that the M-1iA is easily integrated into the cell or removed for maintenance.

Control of the entire cell is through the FANUC Robotics intelligent R-30iA controller with integrated functions including iRVision, Robot Link and Collision protection.  In the event that the robot is integrated into the moulding cell the camera would be located into a housing provided in the robot body to position a camera above the wrist of the M-1ia.

FANUC robots are currently used in Carclo’s existing moulding facility in Mitcham, Surrey, where a FANUC Robotics M-10ia demoulds a similar component while two LR Mate robots pack the component into trays.

Alan Hogan continues, “We now use six axis robots rather than Cartesian unloaders because they are much more flexible and cost effective.  Hi-Tech Automation, in their role of FANUC Robotics Strategic Partner for plastics applications, has come up with some innovative solutions to our needs including the operator pendant we use which makes resetting the arm a simple task requiring minimal robot knowledge.”