PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS AT DRIVES & CONTROLS

Billed as the UK's leading event for drives, motor control, power transmission and automation, Drives & Controls 2012 takes place from 17th to 19th April at Birmingham’s NEC. Colocated with IFPEX (The International Fluid Power Exhibition), Airtech (Compressed Air and Generators), Plant & Asset Management Exhibition, Electrex, IP&EE and Mach, the event promises to provide Engineers with practical solutions, products and systems that meet their ongoing challenges.

One of the highlights this year will be a pavilion organised by the European Power Transmission Distributors Association (EPTDA) and featuring up to 15 of its members. The pavilion will be modelled on one that the EPTDA has run successfully at alternate Hannover Fairs for more than a decade.

This will be the first time that the EPTDA has organised such an event away from Hannover. "It is a chance for our members to get a better grip on the UK market,” says EPTDA executive vice-president Hans Hanegreefs, who expects most of his members at the show to be from outside the UK, with one even travelling from the US to appear.

PRODUCT LAUNCHES

As well as benefitting from unhindered access to the many professional teams at the show, visitors will be amongst the first to find out about a number of new products being launched to the market.

One of a range of products developments that Leuze will be showcasing at the exhibition, the new 318B family of cylindrical photo-electric sensors is said to offer high performance and innovation at a low price. A robust IP67 rated plastic housing, reliable detection and innovative mounting technology combine to provide a cost effective solution for standard detection tasks.

According to Leuze, the new 318B sensors improve on the traditional method of using an M18 hole for mounting, by providing fast and simple alignment at no additional cost. The supplied mounting nuts can be reversed to give an "omni-mount” solution, where the curved surfaces enable the easy and secure fastening of the sensors at any angle within ±8˚ in every direction. This feature, unique to Leuze, dramatically speeds up the setting of the sensor and therefore reduces the installation cost.

Another new development to be shown for the first time, the Lenze 8400 motec range of terminal box inverters has been extended and now covers powers from 0.37 to 7.5kW. By decentralising frequency inverters instead of fitting them in the control panel, machine cabling and installation is simplified. The motec range can be mounted directly on the motor in place of the terminal box, or on to a nearby surface – an option made easy with the enclosure rating of IP65. Either way, panel sizes can be reduced and the cost of cabling is lower.

On the control side, new products on display will include the N10 motion controller from Nanotec, represented in the UK by AllDrives & Controls, which is claimed to be the first stepper motor and/or brushless DC universal controller designed entirely for Ethernet and field bus operation. The N10 controller comes with ultra fast hardware and a new proprietary control software concept.

Setting of the Stepper or Brushless DC (BLDC) Motor and system parameters is via a platform independent browser based interface, NanoIP, and enables users to easily configure the drive and system. Based on the CANopen DSP402 standard, the controller supports the interpolated mode via CANopen or Ethercat, as well as speed and position mode.

SEMINARS

Complementing Drives & Controls 2012 and the co-located events will be a free, highly focused seminar programme. New for 2012 the Energy and Safety seminar theatre is sponsored by CompAir, where themed panel discussions and seminar presentations will focus on key energy management topics, ranging from wind turbine maintenance, to the latest legislative debates surrounding health and safety, including machinery safety, and ATEX.

Also new for 2012 is the Exhibitor Forum seminar theatre which will include more technical workshop style presentations, with practical issues being discussed concerning the various sectors covered at the exhibitions.