Innovation for an ever changing world

CHARLOTTE STONESTREET: Can you tell me a bit about the history of TR Electronic, and how it has evolved over time?

Mark Friswell: TR-Electronic was established in 1983 in Germany, developing and manufacturing rotary and linear encoders for the automation industry.

Since then, the Manufacturing and Technology Campus in Trossingen has expanded greatly and our design and development teams pioneer leading edge rotary and linear encoder technology.

Our portfolio has also expanded with the design and development our own range of long distance laser measurement sensors and compact drives.

We now have offices and representative agents across the globe, providing innovative encoder solutions for a wide and growing range of applications in an ever changing and challenging world.

CS: Can you describe the main products TR Electronic provides and their primary applications in industrial automation?

MF: The primary function of our encoder range is to measure rotary or linear position and speed. This covers a broad range of applications, including the lift/elevator industry, printing, presses, cranes and winches, gates and shutters, labelling machines plus many more manufacturing machine applications.

Our rotary absolute encoders are available in a range of interfaces, including SSI, ASI, Analogue, PROFIBUS, Parallel, IO-Link, DRIVE CLiQ, Interbus and CANopen. We also offer a range of Industrial Ethernet interface options including PROFINET, EtherCAT, EtherCAT-P, EtherNet/IP and Powerlink. Absolute encoder resolutions are available with up to 18-bits / 262,144 Steps per Turn/Revolution with either magnetic or optical detection.

If you require SIL2/PLd or SIL3/PLe Functional Safety encoders, our range is available in an industry standard 58mm housing, for easy fitment of both new applications and for upgrading existing fitments to Functional Safety with minimum modifications. We also offer a range of 75mm housing Functional Safety encoders for larger hollow bore applications, up to 20mm shaft diameter.

Functional Safety encoders are available in both incremental and absolute versions.

The incremental range is available with a 5v/TTL, HTL or Sin/Cos output while the absolute range is available with ProfiSafe over PROFINET, EtherNet/IP CIP Safety, FSoE Safety over EtherCAT, CANopen Safety and Safety over Powerlink interfaces. We also manufacture a range of ATEX Zone 1/21 and Zone 2/22 encoders plus Wire Rope Length encoder units up to 60m, include Functional Safety and ATEX models.

We also offer a range of long distance laser measurement sensors with measurement distances up to 500m and a series of Compact Drives.

CS: How does TR Electronic approach innovation and stay ahead in the rapidly evolving field of automation technology?

MF: We are constantly analysing the challenging demands and evolution of the automation technology industry; monitoring the changing trends in engineering design and adapting our encoder designs.

We are always researching new ideas and developing cutting edge technology, so that our products meet the growing needs of our customers and the widening field of applications.

CS: What are some of the biggest challenges your customers face, and how do you help them overcome these issues?

MF: The biggest challenges that our customers face is the finding the right encoder for their design or application.

We are more than happy to help with this, with our comprehensive range of encoder interface and housing options.

This can range from our smallest 22mm absolute encoders and 24mm incremental encoder range to our large 60mm diameter bore hollow shaft encoder range.

We also offer customisation of our rotary and linear encoders, to suit the demands of our customer’s needs.

CS: Can you share a success story where your products have helped improve efficiency or productivity for a client?

MF: Our smallest SIL2/PLd and SIL3/PLe encoders are available in an industry standard 58mm housing size, which enables our customers to upgrade existing encoder installations to Functional Safety with minimal mechanical modifications and cost.

This has helped greatly with many of our customers, who are able to implement their designs more quickly and efficiently. 3D STEP files, EPLAN macros and comprehensive interface guides are available for all our encoders, which can significantly reduce a customer’s time and costs.

Our programmable rotary analogue encoders can be used for both position or speed applications, which can be a cost effective and reliable option with respect to alternative devices.

CS: What are the future plans of the company, and how do you see the field of industrial automation evolving in the next 5-10 years?

Our plans are to continually grow our range of problem solving encoder solutions and add value and reliability to our customers products and applications.

We are constantly driving forward with new developments and innovations, to keep ahead of the changes and challenges that the manufacturing and industrial automation industry brings us.

Our products and growing global success are driven by our application experts, their ideas and our development expertise.

The optimal combination of longstanding experience and the fresh inspiration provided by qualified new employees, ensures a continual competitive advantage in terms of functionality, quality and cost efficiency of our product range, both today and in the future.

CS: Are there any other issues/points you would like to bring to the attention of CDA readers?

MF: We are happy to help our customers in any way we can with their products or applications, backed up with our UK on-site support and technical assistance, whether they are OEMs, System Integrators or End Users.

We provide a range of fitment guides, to ensure correct installation of our encoders, plus comprehensive Interface manuals for all our encoders.

Additionally, our Commissioning manuals for our Functional Safety encoder range are available for all the major PLC manufactures, making for easier installations.

The customer is always the focus of our company; we recognise our customers' needs early on and develop innovative products with technical expertise to establish long-term relationships. We are always up to date with all regulations and compliances that are applicable to our products. We have respect for our environment and always minimise any affects we have on it by the careful handling and supply of resources. We strive to provide our customers with the best service we can possibly give, and any help that they require throughout the lifetime of our products.

www.tr-electronic.co.uk