Hydraulics & Pneumatics articles from July 2007

Hydraulics & Pneumatics archives from July 2007

A Western engineering decline?(Reader's Forum)
July 1, 2007... Recently, I was flying home from a business trip and happened to be seated next to the Australian national sales manager for Eaton/Vickers Hydraulics. During the course of our conversation, I learned that Eaton now has more than 300 engineers...

Hagglunds appoints North American president.(Industry News)
July 1, 2007... Hagglunds, a global maker of hydraulic drive systems, appointed a new president to head its North American division, Hagglunds Drives Inc., Columbus. In this capacity, Ted Bojanowski will be responsible for North American operations, which...

Trelleborg acquires precision seals company.(Industry News)
July 1, 2007... Trelleborg, through the Trelleborg Sealing Solutions business area, has acquired the operations of precision bearing and sealing devices company Hydro-Components Research & Development Corp. (HCRD), Streamwood, Ill. HCRD focuses specifically on...

Clyde G. Nixon, chairman of Sun Hydraulics.(Industry News)
July 1, 2007... Clyde G Nixon, chairman of the board of Sun Hydraulics Corp., Sarasota, Fla., passed away on April 29. He was 72. Nixon joined Sun in 1988, and served as its president and CEO from November 1988 until May 2000, at which time he was named...

Bosch Rexroth consolidates divisions.(Industry News)
July 1, 2007... Bosch Rexroth Corp., Hoffman Estates, Ill., is consolidating its branch offices in the Detroit area, moving 120 local employees into a 57,000-[ft.sup.2] facility in Rochester Hills, Mich., so they will be nearer to automotive and industrial...

H&P publishes second E-book.(Industry News)
July 1, 2007... Following its popular first edition, Hydraulics & Pneumatics has just released the second edition of its E-book series, Fluid Power Circuits Explained, written by fluid power specialist Bud Trinkel and edited by Dick Schneider and Mary Gannon....

Magnetic oil filtration gets a boost.(Industry News)
July 1, 2007... Trapping contamination in hydraulic oil is the goal of a partnership between Des-Case Corp., White House, Tenn., a manufacturer of contamination control products, and Magnetic Filtration Devices Inc., Madbury, N.H. Magnetic Filtration...

Spain's Industry & Technology Summit slated for September.(Industry News)
July 1, 2007... The leading sectors in machinery and manufacturing technology will be on view at Cumbre Industrial y Tecnologica, which is to take place September 25 to 28 at the Bilbao Exhibition Centre, Bilbao, Spain. More than 550 exhibitors, including...

Seminar targets force, pressure, and acceleration.(Industry News)
July 1, 2007... PCB Piezotronics Inc., Depew, N.Y., a designer and manufacturer of piezoelectric, piezoresistive, capacitive, and strain gauge sensors for test and measurement, has partnered with Dalimar Instruments for a one-day seminar series, "The...

Everything's coming up hydraulics.(Ideas & Applications)
July 1, 2007... It is mid-summer, so most of us aren't thinking about next New Year's Day. But engineers, designers, and technicians at Phoenix Decorating, Pasadena, Calif., are hard at work procuring everything they need for the floats they will enter into...

A simple solution for a high-tech application.(Ideas & Applications)
July 1, 2007... Experts at Oak Ridge National Laboratory call on hydraulics for an important function of controlling the flow of neutrons in the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS). The SNS is currently used for advanced R&D and materials development in such...

Go wireless with pressure and temperature.(Ideas & Applications)
July 1, 2007... The two biggest enemies of hydraulic fluid are water and high temperature. Water not only prevents hydraulic fluid from lubricating components, but it can alter chemical additive mixtures in a fluid, rendering them less effective and...

Sensor measures water content of hydraulic fluid.(Ideas & Applications)
July 1, 2007... Wireless signal transmission for sensors originally was used only for specialized applications where unusual requirements justified the substantial cost to go wireless. Digital systems, especially field busses, dramatically reduced the cost of...

Exploring the basics of electronic control.(Motion Control)
July 1, 2007... There is a reason why, when you drive under a high voltage power transmission line, your AM radio makes a buzzing noise that your FM radio does not. The reasons are related to why an AC solenoid can burn out if it doesn't shift enough, but a DC...

Robots working down on the farm: the new frontier of agricultural equipment is where hydraulics, electronic control, and GPS systems intersect.(MOBILE HYDRAULICS)(Cover story)
July 1, 2007... "You're going to see, in the next five years, tractors and machinery operating on the farm that have no drivers. Agriculture will be the first robotically controlled industry in the world. We're doing some of that today in the mining industry,...

What is bulk modulus, and when is it important? You should consider bulk modulus of a hydraulic fluid if position, response time, and stability are critical.(SYSTEM DESIGN)
July 1, 2007... Despite the frequent assumption that hydraulic fluid is incompressible, the fact remains: All fluids have some degree of compressibility. Granted, fluid compressibility may be neglected in systems that do not require tight control of response...

8 quick ways to incorporate couplings: quick-acting couplings provide a fast, convenient way to repeatedly connect and disconnect fluid lines.(COMPONENT BASICS)
July 1, 2007... There are more than a dozen common designs of quick-acting couplings. Here is a brief look at eight of the most popular locking mechanisms used in fluid power applications. Regardless of the manufacturer, all quick-acting couplings have...

Pneumatics makes it a big finish: air cannons deliver spectacular finale to Rolling Stones' concerts.(FLUID POWER ON VACATION)(Concert review)
July 1, 2007... The Rolling Stones' latest world tour, A Bigger Bang, has broken multiple records for duration and audience numbers, and features spectacular stage effects that rely on the innovative use of pneumatics technology. A Bigger Bang started in...

Have you considered split spool valves? Split spool valves offer independent control over both spool valve outlet ports, providing cost savings in a more compact and efficient package.(AUTOMATE WITH AIR)
July 1, 2007... Traditional pneumatic directional valves use either a poppet, spool, or sliding plate operating principle. The most common design is the spool principle as it offers a good balance of reliability and durability vs. cost for many industrial...

Multi-axis motion controller.(Useful Products)
July 1, 2007... RMC150E CPU works with RMC100 series I/O modules. It handles a maximum of eight synchronized axes as well as eight dual-loop position-pressure/force axes and reference axes. Motion interface modules can be mixed and matched in 2-, 4-, 6-, or...

Joystick pattern changer.(Useful Products)
July 1, 2007... Pattern changer valve provides 8-way, 2-position control of pilot signals. It is designed to be used where switching pilot pressure patterns may be desirable and eliminates equipment downtime, labor, and environmental hazards involved in...

Motorized flow controls.(Useful Products)
July 1, 2007... Generation II flow and pressure controls feature a planetary reducer and heavy-duty motor to deliver more torque with less backlash. Nine operating speeds from 1 to 48 sec allow travel from full-open to full-shut and vice versa. Command to the...

Air control valve.(Useful Products)
July 1, 2007... Viking Xtreme heavy-duty in-line valve incorporates aluminum spool technology for use where pneumatic systems have to operate at extreme temperatures--from -40[degrees] to 70[degrees] C, with a maximum pressure of 16 bar. Spool features...

High-pressure hydraulic hose.(Useful Products)
July 1, 2007... Six-spiral Aeroquip GH466-32 hose has a constant working pressure of 420 bar for high-pressure spikes. It operates in temperatures to 120[degrees] C and meets EN856/100R15 with Class 0 cool-down leakage in accordance with SAE J1176. It also...

Magnetic angle sensor.(Useful Products)
July 1, 2007... PRAS2 magnetic angle sensor comes in a 20-mm flat, 36-mm diameter servo flange housing. It is a contact and wear-free sensor that uses an external permanent magnet to measure complete angular position from 0[degrees] to 360[degrees] with a...

Proportional valve driver.(Useful Products)
July 1, 2007... PVD3DIN electronic amplifier drives any open-loop single solenoid proportional valve rated from 0.5 to 3 A. Three-digit display shows the input signal or the output current and serves as a tune-up interface. The input signal can be selected...

In-line hydraulic filter.(Useful Products)
July 1, 2007... HRK10 low-pressure, high-flow filter features all-steel construction, Synteq filter media, and multi-valve bypass design. Twist and lift cover eliminates need to remove bolts, reducing time and cost of service. Filter attaches to bypass...

Differential pressure sensors.(Useful Products)
July 1, 2007... Model DP86 wet-wet differential pressure sensors reduce measurement error in fluid flow, for low pressure gas. They are double-sided, stainless steel, isolated, piezoresistive silicon pressure sensors that are designed for O-ring mounting....

Hose and couplings.(Useful Products)
July 1, 2007... Teflon hose features reinforced stainless steel braid with white extruded inner tube. It withstands temperatures from -65[degrees] to 450[degrees]F, and resists corrosive fluids and vibration. It is available in diameters from 3/16- to 1-in. ID...

Hydraulic motors.(Useful Products)
July 1, 2007... WG low-speed/high-torque hydraulic motors feature flow rates to 57 lpm continuous, torque to 548 Nm continuous, and pressures to 138 bar continuous. Precision rollers eliminate sliding friction and improve motor efficiency; heavy-duty drive...

Pneumatic fittings.(Useful Products)
July 1, 2007... Line of quick-connect fittings are available in standard or custom designs for all pneumatic applications. Push-lock fittings are available in inch sizes from 10-32 to 1/2 in. and metric from 3 to 12 mm. Options include a compact series, an all...

Supply agreements: turning the spigot back on.(Letter of the Law)
July 1, 2007... The mandate of "just in time" inventory, especially in the automotive sector, has triggered a surge of supplier/vendor disputes. A customer may typically need a vendor's parts or material to continue its own production of parts. Those parts, in...

Why does standardization have to be so difficult?(Editor's Page)
July 1, 2007... As we become increasingly global in our everyday dealings, differences in units of measure become more obvious. The push for U. S. adoption of the metric system has been going on for generations. It will probably never happen--at least...