Page 21 - MetalForming-Aug-2018-issue

Developments in Motors,
Drives and Controls
Impacting the Pressroom
BY BRAD F. KUVIN, PUBLISHER/EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
In a recent conversation with Tim Barry, business devel- opment manager for metalforming at Siemens Digital Factory, he describes what he calls a “perfect storm” press- room environment. So many metalformers, he says, continue to run their equipment at capacity, making any sort of shut- down for maintenance, retrofit or repair, and any desired transition to newer press technology practically impossible.
“Press-shop equipment is at its oldest average age since 1938,” says Barry. “Meanwhile, newer press and control tech- nologies have evolved to a point where a retrofit, or even a new-press purchase, often makes perfect business sense.”
As Barry’s work passion involves helping shops, as well as pressroom-equipment OEMs, bring their visions to reality by applying new technologies, he knows well that the metalforming industry is at a critical junction.
Press-shop equipment is at its oldest average age since 1938. Meanwhile, newer powertrain and control technologies have evolved to a point where a retrofit, or even a new press purchase, often makes perfect business sense.
This hydraulic press from German builder Lasco Umformtechnik GmbH features a hydraulic pump directly coupled with a servomotor, as an energy-efficient solution. With a response time of 250 μs, as many as 256 axes can be synchronized and precise axis motion and curve profiles executed. Plunger speed is controlled by motor speed and thus by the volumetric flow rate of the pump.
www.metalformingmagazine.com MetalForming/August 2018 19