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Industrial Automation and Motion Control Blog | The Knotts Company

Why is Friction Important to Proportional Valves?

Posted by Kelly Howe

Apr 14, 2015 9:00:00 AM

This post brought to you by Humphrey Products.

Proportional valves respond to variations in current applied to the solenoid by delivering a corresponding variable flow output. They are becoming a popular choice for machine and device builders desiring more flexibility in flow or pressure output from a PLC based on the conditions of the machine or making the machine "more flexible for the customers automation needs.”

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Topics: humphrey products, Proportional valve, friction

Dorner Conveyors -- Teamwork Helps Sumitomo Streamline Production

Posted by Kelly Howe

Apr 9, 2015 9:00:00 AM

This post brought to you by Dorner.

Butt splices aren’t the easiest things in the world to handle. The small, circular component designed to join two ends, or butts, of two objects together without overlapping, have been known to slip through fingers when inserting a wire connector while trying to crimp it.

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Topics: precision move, Dorner Conveyors,, 3200 series

IAI's Alignment of the Resin Block Application

Posted by Kelly Howe

Apr 6, 2015 10:16:54 AM

This post is brought to you by IAI America.

In a system for performing the alignment of some resin blocks, the ROBO Cylinder was adopted. The company’s products include designer plates to be used on the floor of a house by bonding resin blocks.  Previously, an air cylinder was used, this was changed to ROBO Cylinder which improved the cycle time and reduced the occurrence of Choco-Tei events.

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Topics: IAI, ROBO Cylinder, CT Effects, Resin Block

IAI's Spot Welding Application Example

Posted by Kelly Howe

Mar 31, 2015 9:00:00 AM

This post is brought to you by IAI America.

Defective Products: 10 pieces/day ==> 0/day (Zero)

Production Amount: 1920 pieces/day ==> 5,236 pieces/day

Production Efficiency is Increased by 2.7 times

Personnel Expenses: Cost is Down by $20.000*/year

*Exchange Rate 1 (USD) = 100 (Japanese Yen)

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Topics: IAI, actuators, ROBO Cylinders, Spot Welding, CT Effects

Zero Vibration Damper for Thomas OEM Pumps

Posted by Kelly Howe

Mar 26, 2015 11:19:18 AM

This post brought to you by Thomas.

Portable and stationary devices for medical, analytical and other applications require an extremely low sound and low vibration level of all functional parts. In the past individual adaptions have been created by customers in cooperation with the component manufacturers. Big efforts were necessary to generate a satisfying solution and many different taylored mounting brackets have been developed.

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Topics: thomas, zero vibration damper, pumps

Predictive Maintenance v. Preventive Maintenance

Posted by Rick Howe

Mar 12, 2015 2:48:25 PM

Wouldn’t you love to look into the future and anticipate machine failure and costly downtime?

Instead of shutting down every summer for a week or two for complete maintenance overhauls just to give your machines a better chance of uptime the rest of the year, wouldn’t it be better, easier and smarter to address the issues right before they might happen individually?

Throw out old Preventive Maintenance and bring in Predictive Maintenance.

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Topics: bimba, Intellisense, Predictive Maintenance, Preventive Maintenance

Valve Assembly Replaces 8 Components, Saving Time, Space and Money

Posted by Kelly Howe

Mar 6, 2015 8:59:12 AM

This post brought to you by Pneumadyne.

Challenge:

Prior to contacting Pneumadyne, a dental equipment manufacturer’s circuit was difficult and expensive to assemble. Individual components required a large amount of space in their equipment and numerous cut lengths of tubing connected the components, resulting in several potential leak points.

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Topics: Pneumadyne, Valve Assemble, Reducing Costs

Plastic Parison Extrusion Blow Molding

Posted by Kelly Howe

Feb 26, 2015 2:28:28 PM

This post brought to you by Proportion Air.

Plastic Parison Extrusion Blow Molding

Description

Parison blow molding of intricate plastic bottles and other plastic parts requires air pressure control that is precise, repeatable and rapid responding. Proportion-Air offers electronic closed loop pressure and flow controls that are used to improve processes in the plastics blow molding industry. Once set, the control profile can be saved to a file in the customer’s PLC. Change over to make a different part becomes as easy as pushing a button. The electronic pressure controllers can be factory-tailored to any application requirement. 

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Topics: Parison Blow Molding, Proportion Air

Make Unique Belting Work for You

Posted by Kelly Howe

Feb 20, 2015 9:57:00 AM

This post brought to you by Dorner.

With produce that is harvested for processing, there is often dirt and other debris that goes along for the ride. Dorner's customer for this conveyor hand picks their produce and places them into trays. They needed a way to separate the debris from the product as early in the process as possible.

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Topics: dorner, conveyors, food safety and sanitation, AquaPruf

Bimba Washdown Solutions

Posted by Kelly Howe

Feb 19, 2015 8:36:00 AM

This post brought to you by Bimba.

Washdown Solutions

Bimba provides a variety of standard actuation products designed specifically for use in wash-down applications. These actuators are manufactured using corrosion resistant materials such as 303 and 304 stainless steel and component designs with smooth contact surfaces that eliminate contaminant "catch points".

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Topics: bimba, solutions, actuators, washdown