WCA November 2018

Industry news

Keeping pace with a Schuler press

LOCATED not far from the German city of Nuremberg, Waasner has been manufacturing electric motor laminations for more than 70 years. While the advent of e-mobility has given rise to an important new sales market, the motors made for electric cars are accompanied by stricter production requirements. To keep pace with these requirements, Waasner has placed an order for a Smartline EV 3.8 press from Schuler. Because lamination geometries are becoming increasingly complex in the quest to make motors more energy efficient, the number of stamping steps – and therefore the size of the progressive dies used – is also rising. At the same time, the outer diameter of the laminations is increasing to provide better motor performance. Today’s sophisticated stacking techniques for thin laminations also require greater die complexity and precision. To make matters even more challenging, there is a growing trend towards stamping laminations in two offset tracks, in order to save material and increase productivity. The result is the same all across the board: The presses require a bigger die installation area for the longer progressive dies (which in some cases are also twice as heavy) and must also satisfy extremely strict requirements for precision. The Smartline EV 3.8 features an upright opening measuring 3.8m and a press bed with a length of 3.7m, Pacific cable launch

❍ With its longer press bed, the Smartline EV 3.8 offers ample space, even for more complex progressive dies. Photograph courtesy of Schuler

processes sheet metal with a minuscule thickness of just 0.2mm. The overall result is higher levels of efficiency, lower eddy-current losses, and less electricity consumed as fuel. Schuler expects to deliver the system in the first half of 2019, and plans are already in the works for the purchase of another identical machine, leaving Waasner prepared for the future of electromobility. Schuler AG – Germany Website : www.schulergroup.com

suitable for clamping exactly these types of dies in place. The machine also offers the low deflection and superior precision found on systems with shorter press beds. Thanks to a slide guide without play and excellent stiffness characteristics, the press delivers precision within 100 th of a millimetre, even when running at several hundred strokes per minute. In progressive lamination stacking, precision also plays a major role because of its impact on energy efficiency. The Smartline EV 3.8

entities and public companies. Its anchor customers include Amazon Web Services, Vodafone, American Samoa Telecommunications Authority and Research, and Education Advanced Network New Zealand. The US territory of American Samoa will be connected from day one, and the cable has several stubbed branching units to enable its future connection to of New Caledonia, Fiji and Tonga. Construction of the Hawaiki cable system, including the marine survey, design, manufacturing and cable laying, took 27 months, and was undertaken by USA-based TE SubCom. In Hawaii, the consortium selected DRFortress as its landing and operating partner, with a cable landing station located in Kapolei. Hawaiki Submarine Cable LP – New Zealand Website : www.hawaikicable.co.nz

A new trans-Pacific submarine fibre optic cable, connecting Australia and New Zealand to the USA mainland via Hawaii, has launched commercial operations. Hawaiki Submarine Cable LP, the independent consortium behind the $300 million project, said its 15,000km fibre optic cable represents a “new dawn” for digital communications in the region, delivering 43Tb of additional capacity. “This 25-year trans-oceanic infrastructure opens the door for unprecedented levels of economic, social and research collaboration right across the Pacific,” Hawaiki CEO Remi Galasso said in a statement. “Hawaiki is the fastest and largest cross-sectional capacity link between the USA, Australia and New Zealand. It will significantly enhance our connectivity to the rest of the world and, ultimately, improve the everyday lives of our communities.” The project has attracted support from government

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Wire & Cable ASIA – November/December 2018