Green Energy Buffering Is Cleaning up in Supplier News

AutomationDirect has added Metal Work Series 70 valves to their Valves and Pneumatic Components categories. Metal Work is a trusted name in pneumatics and several new valve types are available, including toggle and axial lever manual valves, push-pull manual valves, mechanically operated air valves (mechanical limit switch valves), pushbutton air valves, air pilot valves, and solenoid valves.

Configuration and port sizes include 3-port, 3-way, 2-position, and 5-port, 4-way, 2- or 3-position valves. Coils are sold separately for solenoid valves, allowing for a choice of voltages ranging from 12 VDC to 220 VAC.

Solenoid valves come in internally and externally piloted versions. Externally piloted valves allow a more comprehensive pressure range and control pressures down to full vacuum.

Molex, a connectivity innovator, is building on its automotive industry expertise with the introduction of its MX-DaSH family of data-signal hybrid connectors that unify power, signal and high-speed data connectivity in a single connector system. These innovative wire-to-wire and wire-to-board connectors are designed to support the transition to zonal architecture and address the full range of emerging applications requiring reliable data transmission. These include autonomous driving modules, camera systems, GPS and infotainment devices, LiDAR, high-resolution displays, sensor-device connectivity and more.

“The complete MX-DaSH portfolio enables automotive designers to reimagine vehicle electronics by integrating power and high-speed data transmissions within a single connector system to achieve major savings in size, space, cost and labor,” said Greg Everly, director, new product introduction for Molex, Transportation Innovative Solutions (TIS). “Our holistic approach lets designers mix and match different types of terminals, offering greater freedom and flexibility to support zonal architectures and simplify wiring harnesses.”

MX-DaSH connectors are available with sealed and unsealed options to optimize next-gen automotive architectures with assorted environmental and design requirements. Versatile configurations support different power and signal terminal sizes, such as 0.50, 0.64, 1.20, 1.50, 2.80 or 4.80mm, as well as high-speed FAKRA Mini (HFM®) modules for high-speed data transmission.

Emerson has announced the AVENTICSTM Series 625 Sentronic Proportional Pressure Control Valves. With a control deviation of less than 0.5%, the new valves are designed to deliver highly accurate, electronic proportional pressure control and provide the flexibility needed to support sophisticated pneumatic control engineering applications. Data acquisition software (DaS) software included with Series 625 Sentronic valves also make it possible to quickly startup, monitor and control valves directly on a PC.

“In high-precision equipment, such as that used for flame cutting and laser eye surgery, accuracy and control are critical,” said Nicolas Jacquet, director of product management for Emerson’s discrete automation business. “Series 625 Sentronic valves are engineered to precisely control pressure, flow rate, power, speed, distance and angular positions. As part of the extensive AVENTICS portfolio of cylinders, valves, air preparation and pressure regulators, the Series 625 Sentronic is a core technology for factory automation.”

Four valve sizes from 1 millimeter up to 20 mm support a comprehensive range of flow rates, from 55 liters per minute to 4,700 l/min. Pressure capabilities range from vacuum levels up to 50 bar, which can reduce the overall number of valves required for a machine design. Housing material is available in brass, aluminum or stainless steel and sealing material in nitrile (NBR) or fluoroelastomer (FKM) options. There are also three sets of connectors, M12 5-pin, M12 8-pin and M16 7-pin.

As development and manufacturing phases continue to get shorter, fast startup procedures and reliable, controllable manufacturing processes are more important than ever. Using the DaS software, operators can diagnose, control, repair or individually configure valves. They can also perform cascade controls when applications require exceptional precision and other complex control loops. The expanded range of diagnostic and monitoring functions include input pressure, commanded pressure, internal temperature and ethernet communication.

Pi, a piezo technology and motion control company, offers high-speed actuators for micro- and nano-dispensing applications. Both standard and custom-designed actuators are available. All actuators are based on PI’s in-house manufactured PICMA® piezoceramic drives. These drives are extremely reliable and underwent 100 billion cycles during life cycle testing by NASA before being employed on the Mars Mission.

PI’s dispensing actuators are available as bare piezo stacks and in highly customized forms with motion amplifiers and integrated sensors. Standard stacks provide a travel range of 30µm, and motion-amplified actuators can reach hundreds of microns while still providing sub-millisecond responsiveness.
Accurate dispensing of bio-medical substances or highly viscous liquids, like sealants, glues, or solder pastes, can boost the efficiency of production lines while meeting the quality demands of small-scale components. Piezo-driven mechanisms excel in this role: they produce rapid, dynamic actions coupled with considerable force. his makes them exceptionally apt for valve-actuation or the non-contact distribution of ultra-fine droplets, enabling consistent quality and highest throughput.

Piezoceramic actuators are renowned for their rapid response times and are capable of dynamic movements at frequencies up to several kHz, with motion resolution down to the sub-nanometer range. Their motion is based on molecular effects, and the solid-state design excludes traditional moving parts and gears, rendering them maintenance-free. This is only one of the advantages stemming from the inverse piezoelectric effect in their crystalline structure, which operates without any friction-inducing elements. Piezo actuators are also notably energy-efficient, as they do not consume electricity when idle. Such features make them highly adaptable for a variety of applications. For example, in process technology, they facilitate quick dosing cycles, offering finely adjustable and precisely controllable travel ranges essential for dosing processes.

Precision Micro believes it is now uniquely placed to meet the increasing global demand for next-generation energy technologies such as hydrogen production and storage, carbon capture, green energy buffering, electric, and hydrogen electric vehicles.

“With carbon neutrality and net zero a crucial agenda item for many countries and businesses around the world, there is an ever-growing appetite for complex etched components used in the production, storage, recovery and transfer of green energy,” said Karl Hollis, Precision Micro’s director of engineering. “This includes components such as printed circuit heat exchangers, busbar battery interconnects, bipolar plates for fuel cells and electrolysers used for hydrogen production.

“The increased volumes needed to meet this demand, however, often require much larger and thicker sheets of metal to be used and after many conversations with customers in the green energy sector, it became clear there was a gap in the market for a supplier that had the capacity and equipment to manufacture these components.”

Believed to be an industry first, the new etch room facility is home to six new state-of-the-art etching and stripping machines, as well as an automatic exposure unit which enables larger sheet metals up to 1500mm x 600mm x 2.5mm in size to be etched in production volumes. In addition to increasing throughput and delivering cost savings to customers, the new equipment also minimizes human interaction and manual handling.”

To support this investment, Precision Micro has also made further improvements to its chemical regeneration processes by introducing automated systems that will increase the overall effectiveness of the new machines.

Innodisk, an AI solutions company, has taken a pivotal step forward in environmental sustainability with the launch of its latest innovation, the “iCAP Air” air quality management solution.

This solution empowers businesses worldwide to enhance air quality, sustainability, and human health. Additionally, business can benefit from monthly AI-generated air quality data report, providing valuable insights for informed decision-making. Leveraging its expertise in edge computing and software and hardware integration, along with the expertise of its subsidiary Sysinno in air quality detection, Innodisk has achieved the development of the “iCAP Air” air quality management solution.

This solution integrates advanced technology, including the innovative “iAeris7” air quality detector from Sysinno, to deliver accuracy in detecting temperature, humidity, fine suspended particles (PM2.5), suspended particles (PM10), carbon dioxide (CO2), formaldehyde and total volatile organic compounds (TVOC). It can also be customized to detect NO2, SO2, CO, NH3, and other air factors. At the same time, the iAeris7 device is known for its reliability, patented technology, and various international certifications, including those from SGS and FCC/CE/RoHS/NCC/BSMI.

binder is a provider of industrial circular connectors that designs and produces customized connectivity solutions based on specific customer requirements. The company specializes in creating solutions for use cases with unique demands that go beyond the standard scope of products listed in the binder catalog. For such applications, binder offers customized solutions that are reliable and tailored to meet the customer's specific needs. With over 60 years of experience in connector design and development, binder has extensive expertise and a long-standing history of collaborating with customers to create individualized connectivity solutions.

Although standard products from the binder portfolio suit most applications, they do not fit all of them. In such cases, the Neckarsulm-based manufacturer's solution expertise comes into play, namely, in the form of exclusive connectors that are perfectly tailored to the application. Customers benefit from binder's exceptional vertical integration and six decades of experience in design and engineering. Examples of customer-specific developments can be found, for instance, in the medical device and plant engineering sectors.

For applications in patient monitoring, binder has developed a modular 12-pin connector system consisting of a panel mount plug and eight panel mount sockets (970 series).

Reliability was the key design criterion. While the sockets were integrated into the patient monitor's housing, the plugs were part of the pluggable parameter modules. The concentric arrangement of the contacts ensured the plug connection was centered automatically when mating—without the need to remove the protective cap.

Igus has announced the winners of its 2024 vector awards, a biennial competition that honors bold, exciting projects that incorporate igus e-chain cable carriers made of high-performance plastics. A U.S. company, TDK RF Solutions, took the silver vector award for its automotive test rig.

The winners of the igus 9th vector award: gold goes to the spectrograph from the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences at the University of Lisbon (Portugal); silver to the TDK RF Solutions (USA) automotive test rig; and bronze to MECAoctet for its movable nightclub ceiling (France). The green vector goes to Bear Machines GmbH (Germany) for a machine that automatically recuts tires.

The winners — selected from 328 applications from 37 countries — were decided by a panel of research, press and industry experts. igus awarded the gold vector to the University of Lisbon’s Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences, where researchers developed a spectrograph with a moon-sized field of view and ability to simultaneously observe over 1,000 objects in the visible and near-infrared wavelengths. The spectrograph incorporates igus triflex series energy chains, ensuring reliable operation even at an altitude of 2,670 meters.

The silver vector was awarded to U.S. company TDK RF Solutions for its vehicle-in-the-loop (VIL) test rig for driver assistance technologies. The rig includes a turntable, surrounded by antennas that expose the vehicle to high electric fields. To guide the control cables and compressed air hoses along the system's five axes, engineers used igus 1400 series energy chains, which they wound into spring cable reels from the igus e-spool series.

Additional winners include French company MECAoctet, which received the bronze vector for its movable nightclub ceiling with igus e-spool products, as well as Bear Machines GmbH, which received the green vector for its environmentally-friendly vehicle tire recutting machine, which includes chainflex cables and E2 e-chain cable carriers.

Igus has announced the winners of its 2024 vector awards, a biennial competition that honors bold, exciting projects that incorporate igus e-chain cable carriers made of high-performance plastics. A U.S. company, TDK RF Solutions, took the silver vector award for its automotive test rig.

The winners of the igus 9th vector award: gold goes to the spectrograph from the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences at the University of Lisbon (Portugal); silver to the TDK RF Solutions (USA) automotive test rig; and bronze to MECAoctet for its movable nightclub ceiling (France). The green vector goes to Bear Machines GmbH (Germany) for a machine that automatically recuts tires.

The winners — selected from 328 applications from 37 countries — were decided by a panel of research, press and industry experts. igus awarded the gold vector to the University of Lisbon’s Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences, where researchers developed a spectrograph with a moon-sized field of view and ability to simultaneously observe over 1,000 objects in the visible and near-infrared wavelengths. The spectrograph incorporates igus triflex series energy chains, ensuring reliable operation even at an altitude of 2,670 meters.

The silver vector was awarded to U.S. company TDK RF Solutions for its vehicle-in-the-loop (VIL) test rig for driver assistance technologies. The rig includes a turntable, surrounded by antennas that expose the vehicle to high electric fields. To guide the control cables and compressed air hoses along the system's five axes, engineers used igus 1400 series energy chains, which they wound into spring cable reels from the igus e-spool series.

Additional winners include French company MECAoctet, which received the bronze vector for its movable nightclub ceiling with igus e-spool products, as well as Bear Machines GmbH, which received the green vector for its environmentally-friendly vehicle tire recutting machine, which includes chainflex cables and E2 e-chain cable carriers.