Lubrication — or, more correctly, improper or insufficient lubrication — is one of the leading causes of equipment failures in industrial applications. Without it, sliding, rolling, or meshing surfaces experience significant friction, heat, and wear, leading to increased noise, loss of accuracy, and reduced equipment life. One of the most important characteristics of a lubricant […]
Bearings
How to specify motion components for cleanroom environments: Part 2
In this two-part article, we cover the products, materials, and features that designers and engineers should specify when choosing motion components for cleanroom environments. In part 1, we looked at how to reduce particle generation due to friction between moving components. In this second part, we’ll look at another source of contamination — outgassing — […]
How to specify motion components for cleanroom environments: Part 1
In this two-part article, we cover the products, materials, and features that designers and engineers should specify when choosing motion components for cleanroom environments. In part 1, we look at how to reduce particle generation due to friction between moving components. Designers of automation systems are tasked with many competing demands, such as balancing cost and performance, […]
New igus robolink Apiro is modular kinematics system for automation
igus now sells components as part of a modular motion system called robolink Apiro. The systems could soon make designing and using individual automation setups more cost effective and much easier. With robolink Apiro, design engineers can choose from three lubrication-free worm gears for standard, inverted and linear movement. For users, the device offers setups […]
Rotary bearings: Summary of types and variations
Rotary bearings are common components in motion systems. They’re used in gearboxes, motors, pulleys, fans, pumps—virtually any time a shaft is rotating, rotary bearings are there to reduce friction and support radial or axial loads. The classification of rotary bearings begins with the type of bearing that supports the load—ball or roller. Within the ball […]
7 linear motion principles that electrical engineers should know
Electrical and controls engineers are normally tasked with selecting and integrating the electronic components that go into a motion control system, such as motors, drives, controls, feedback devices, and HMIs. In doing so, their primary concerns tend to be on making the various components communicate with each other, working through complex equations for drive tuning, […]
Six FAQs about bearings and choosing between oil and grease
Rotary bearings consist of smooth rollers or metal balls and inner and outer surfaces (races) against which the rollers or balls travel. These rollers or balls carry load carrier and let axes spin freely. Bearings typically encounter radial and axial load. Radial loads are perpendicular to the shaft, and axial loads occur parallel to the […]
Series of new bearings FAQs and interviews on bearingtips.com
If you’re looking for information on bearings, then check out the latest from motioncontroltips.com Design World sister site bearingtips.com. This site covers rotary bearings that take the form of ball and roller bearings as well as thrust bearings — in addition to the issues of bearing lubrication and integration. The following is a sampling of bearing features we’ve posted there recently. […]
igus motion plastics car ends 20,000 mile tour across North America
For nearly a year, the igus motion plastics tour has traveled across North America, visiting with more than 4,000 current and potential customers in all industries at more than 160 companies from Mexico City to Toronto. It has now returned to its home base in Rhode Island. After completing a worldwide tour in 2014, the […]
Motion control technologies you missed at MD&M West
Last week, many of us with motioncontroltips.com and Design World headed to MD&M West 2016 colocated with the ATX West show in Anaheim, Calif. The Internet of Things (IoT) still leads much industry buzz, as does the idea of increasingly smart and connected components and the unabated rise of automation — in the medical industry and elsewhere. My colleagues Paul Heney, Mary Gannon, and Danielle Collins covered many […]
