Bosch’s Rexroth Pneumatics division sometimes seemed to stick out like a sore thumb to me … although the company tried to integrate the Lexington, Ky.-based division into the master plan, there were times where it seemed lost amidst the company’s myriad industrial and mobile hydraulic solutions. So it wasn’t altogether surprising when the company sold […]
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Virtual products increase understanding of fluid power design
Festo’s virtual reality system, in use for more than 10 years now, remains in demand for special developments, customer-specific system solutions, and complex design projects. “With virtual reality we can visualize complex processes and shapes in three-dimensional space, in order to make processes realistic and understandable,” said Bernd Kirchberger, Head of Computer Aided Engineering Services. […]
Hannover Fair’s about to get jumping
Hannover Fair on the horizon—the enormous German manufacturing exposition runs from April 7-11 this year. Focus areas for the event include: Industrial Automation, Energy, MobiliTec, Digital Factory, Industrial Supply, IndustrialGreenTec, and Research & Technology. Festo Corp. held an online pre-Hannover press conference yesterday, and there are some interesting things on the horizon, according to the […]
The intelligence of the Metric System
Guest blog by Randy Bancroft, P.E. Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge. — Charles Darwin I began working as a consulting engineer in 2007. From the outset, I wanted to work exclusively in metric. It’s been quite an education, and the first lesson has been that U.S. engineers have no idea how to […]
Festo Support Community is a forum for technical questions
Festo has opened a new forum on its website, called the Festo Support Community, to give Festo customers easy access to technical support and help each other solve problems and troubleshoot system designs. A product of the Technical Hotline team at Festo, the Support Community allows users to post technical questions online and respond to […]
Compressed air fail: Incorrect equipment for the load
A tire shop was having problems with its small 15-hp air compressor. It had served the shop well over many years, but it was failing due to its age—and it needed to be replaced. Because it was a single stage reciprocating compressor, the plant employees were not sad to see it go. It had always […]
Thoughts from Day 1 of MD&M West 2014
It was a good first day for MD&M West at the Anaheim Convention Center. Attendance seemed a bit sparse compared to last year’s show, but I’m hoping for a busier day tomorrow. There were some pretty interesting projects to see and a lot of new products that are about to be announced–which I can’t talk […]
NFPA’s 2014 Conference gives attendees a lot to mull over
The 2014 NFPA Conference at the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, held on the sunny southeast coast of Florida this week, has been an excellent educational event, in addition to the always-excellent networking opportunities. I found one of the most interesting talks to be from Peter Zeihan of Zeihan on Geopolitics. His talk, “Powers […]
The benefits of pneumatics
By Josh Cosford Most people don’t consider that air is also a fluid and rests within the boundaries of fluid power motion control. Hydraulics and pneumatics are similar in principle—merely different in execution. Hydraulic actuators have high power density; that is, they produce a lot of force from a small package. However, hydraulic fluid is […]
Can Pneumatics Support Extreme Engineering?
By Gary Baumgardner, Chief Engineer, Pneumatic Div. North America, Parker Hannifin Corp. Components operate at wide temperature ranges for trains, construction vehicles, agricultural equipment and implements, and semi-trucks. Pneumatic valves work in a variety of applications to control the operation of actuators, including cylinders, clutches, rotary actuators, and air bags. However, using valves for applications […]