Wire tracers promise accuracy and safety when locating cables
Fluke has launched a pair of wire tracers designed to simplify the process of tracing and troubleshooting on both energised and de-energised wires. The Fluke 2052 Advanced Wire Tracer and 2062 Advanced Pro Wire Tracer kits have a safety rating of Cat IV 600V – the highest for any wire tracer, with others tending to be Cat III rated, according to the company. The Cat IV rating protects users from the most dangerous overvoltage transients (spikes of up to 8kV) that can occur in industrial and utility environments.
Two drives families promise power without complexity
Parker Hannifin has announced two new series of mid-range AC inverter drives for applications ranging from simple fan/pump and conveyor controls, to multi-drive production lines requiring speed-following and winder calculations.
Machine-builders can customise HMIs to suit their needs
Rockwell Automation has released a line of graphic terminals based on technologies that it acquired when it bought the Italian automation manufacturer Asem in 2020. The Allen‑Bradley OptixPanel terminals cover screen sizes from 4–21.5 inches, in 4:3 or widescreen proportions, with bezel options including stainless-steel, aluminium and glass.
New Renishaw range tackles automation problems
The UK-headquartered engineering company, Renishaw, has developed a series of products to solve industrial automation problems such as such as achieving accuracy and repeatability when setting up, calibrating and maintaining robots.
Family of six-axis cobots can handle payloads up to 18kg
Schneider Electric has launched a family of collaborative robots (cobots) in five sizes, with payloads from 3–18kg, working radii from 626–1,327mm, operating speeds from 1.5–3.5m/s, and positioning repeatabilities from ±0.02mm to ±0.03mm. The Lexium cobots are claimed to have some of the smallest footprints in the industry and to need 30-40% less space than traditional robots.
Scalable servodrives will result in leaner, greener machines
Rockwell Automation has announced a range of distributed servodrives that it says will result in leaner, greener and more powerful machine designs. The scalable ArmorKinetix servodrives, with outputs up to 5.5kW, are available either as distributed drives or as integrated drives and motors.
RS adds details of more than a billion parts to DesignSpark
RS has added a “Product Design Centre” – a product data library with information on more than one billion electronic components – to its DesignSpark online CAD platform and community. It says that the PDC will enhance the platform’s CAD library that already provides more than 40 different types of content, including product data, environmental and lifecycle information, as well as 3D models, footprints and schematics.
Single-phase motors comply with new EU efficiency rules
The Italian motor manufacturer Soga has announced a range of high-efficiency two- and four-pole single-phase motors designed to comply with the EU2019/1781 regulation which came into force on 1 July 2023, and requires asynchronous single-phase motors sold in Europe have to have minimum efficiency ratings of IE2.
AC drives for global market come with 10-year guarantees
Omron has announced a family of AC drives aimed at the global market that, it claims, set a new standard in motor control and drive technology. The M1 drives can power a variety of motor types including induction motors, permanent magnet synchronous motors (including direct-drive types with up to 128 poles), as well as special machines such as drum motors. They can deliver up to 200% torque at 0Hz.
Nema motors offer high efficiency and reliability
ABB has developed a new generation of large Nema induction motors with modular mechanical construction and flexible electrical designs. The AMI 5800 motors use high-strength welded steel frames usually reserved for even larger motors, to reduce stress and vibration and ensure long service lives.
Automated motor tester can spot progressive faults
The British electrical test and measurement specialist Megger has announced a range of automated static motor analysers that can be used: to assess the health of electric motors; to monitor and analyse trends in motor condition; and to locate faults. Depending on the model, the portable Baker ADX analysers can provide high-voltage tests for surge, turn-to-turn partial discharge, insulation resistance, polarisation index, DC Hipot and step voltage tests, as well as low-voltage tests for winding resistance, inductance and capacitance. A single set of plug-in high-voltage Kelvin test leads means there is no need to change leads between tests.
Cobots carry more, reach further and improve repeatability
At the Automatica exhibition in Germany, ABB has launched two new variants of its GoFa collaborative robot (cobot) with heavier payload capacities (10-12kg), “best-in-class” reach and “market-leading” repeatability. The GoFa 10 and 12 cobots can handle an expanded range of tasks in close collaboration with workers, addressing skills and labour shortages, while improving safety and productivity. They are also claimed to lower the barriers to entry for first-time users, SMEs and educators by offering easy programming and rapid integration into production environments.
Codesys PLCs offer a choice of built-in or remote I/O
Delta has introduced a pair of compact, mid-range PLCs that use the Codesys development environment. The AX-300N and AX-324N PLCs are compatible with Delta’s AS Series I/Os and support a variety of industrial communication protocols including PLCopen v1.0 function blocks, Ethernet/IP and OPC UA server.
Cobot is mounted on an autonomous mobile platform
A cobot (collaborative robot) mounted on a mobile platform was one of the innovations that Kuka was showing at the Automatica exhibition in Germany this week. The KMR iisy mobile cobot can move safely through work areas for flexible use at assembly workstations, in logistics and as a robot service system. The cobot can carry payloads of 11 or 15kg, while the mobile platform can carry an additional 200kg.
Energy-saving robots promise ‘class-leading repeatability’
ABB Robotics has added four new energy-saving models and 22 variants to its family of large robots, claiming that they will achieve energy savings of up to 20%. The new IRB 6710, 6720, 6730 and 6740 models are suitable for payloads from 150–310kg and have reaches from 2.5–3.2m. They made their debut at the Automatica exhibition in Munich, Germany, where they were shown performing spot welding, loading and unloading tasks in a fully functional battery production cell on ABB’s stand.