Electricity + Control April 2017

ROUND UP

CONTROL SYSTEMS + AUTOMATION

New automation division “Automation has always been part of the BBE competency, particularly under our Projects umbrella. BBE Automation division was a natural extension of our business and part of a growth strategy to develop an electrical and automation division, giving us focused expertise and greater capacity,” says Deon Nolan, Business Development Manager for the BBE Group. “Energy savings, smart control systems, cost-effective solutions that are the best available in the market, and automating plants in the Big Data and IoT (Internet of Things) era we live in are key services to our customers,” says Nolan. “The new division is a good fit with what we already offer in mine ventilation and refrigeration. Clients can expect the same ex-

The BBE Group, specialists in mine ventila- tion, refrigeration and energy optimisation engineering, have established a new auto- mation division to extend its services. BBE Automation primarily supports the Group’s consulting services and turnkey projects, but also provides automation and electrical services to mining and process plants in all commodities. Launched in November 2016, BBE Auto- mation comprises a teamof experts skilled in medium and low voltage electrical systems, field instrumentation and equipment auto- mation in mine ventilation, refrigeration and energy engineering. Other markets include mining process plants, water and waste wa- ter systems and the manufacturing industry.

cellent service from BBE but also extended to new areas of their mines or plants,” adds Christo Visagie, GM of the new division.

Enquiries: Deon Nolan. Email dnolan@bbe.co.za

E-chainsystem safely guides control devices

More andmore companies in crane technology rely onmodern cable guid- ance with energy chains. With the new guidefast control e-chainsystem, themotion-plastics specialist igus has developed an energy supply system that can also power a manual control on the indoor crane. Quick and easy to assemble, the guidefast control needs only a small installation space and can be adapted to the most varied conditions, thanks to the largest selection of cables for motion. While e-chainsystems are increasingly becoming the standard for energy supply on port cranes, they are also being increasingly used in indoor cranes.The advantages compared to pure trailing cables are obvious: the e-chain protects the cables inside them, they are not compressed and are thus safely guided when in motion. This is also the case for the manual control of the indoor crane, where the new guidefast control energy chain system safely transmits signals via control cable. A trough reliably guides the energy chain and cables as well as the moving end arm, even with a short-term high tensile load. As with the guidefast guide trough for the cable guidance of the trolley (lifting gear), the guidefast control can also be installed quickly and easily: in the first step of the assembly, the guide trough is fastened to the side of the crane girder to save space. A welding of consoles is not necessary. It is then hooked and bolted into the support, which saves additional installation time. In operation, the moving end arm can be easily moved and positioned by the control device along the entire crane girder, regardless of the position of the lifting gear thanks to the lubrication-free and maintenance-free xiros polymer ball bearings. Enquiries: Ian Hewit. Email ihewat@igus.de

Innovative coating process photochromic lenses

The coating technology developed by Shyre makes it possi- ble for large eyeglass retailers or labs to produce customised photochromic lenses made of all kinds of materials for their customers, making the need to keep large amounts of expensive pre-made photochromic lenses in stock a thing of the past.The process developed by Shyre produces photochromic lenses at one-tenth the cost of typical big brand photochromic lenses.The coatings can be applied in all colours and even with gradients, while the classic process produces lenses that turn either grey or brown.“We first saw Beckhoff ’s solutions at the Drives &Controls Show in Birmingham in 2014,” recalls founder Lee Gough. “What impressed us initially was the One Cable Technology (OCT) for Beckhoff’s servo motors.We had been looking for a compact so- lution since the drives had to be integrated into the machine. By implementing AM8100 servo motors with OCT we were able to save a lot of space, because the control cabinet needs to be only 20 centimetres deep. Since lab facilities are generally expensive and space is at a premium, this was a decisive criterion.” A CX5120 Embedded PC with an IntelR Atom processor run- ning TwinCAT 3 automation software functions as the central controller. A CP2912 multitouch panel is used for operator inter- action and 'recipe' control.With IP 65 protection at the front and IP 20 at the rear, the panel is ideally suited for this application. Lee Gough is also thrilled with the control system’s flexibility, which allowed the company to upgrade from TwinCAT 2 to TwinCAT 3 still during the design phase. Enquiries: Kenneth McPherson. Email kennethm@beckhoff.com

April ‘17 Electricity+Control

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