Luxury blended with tradition
An Arabian dhow with luxury fittings and modern drive technology.
Alpha Marine Ship Equipment Trading, one of the Gulf Region’s leading distributors of generators for both industrial and shipboard use, has integrated strikingly modern technology into the dhow’s traditional silhouette. Instead of the simpler classical interior, this ship shines with luxury fittings.German Gulf Enterprises, the Bosch Rexroth cooperating partner in the United Arab Emirates, installed the Marex OS II system. This concept provides electronic control for the two engines and the gearing. The dhow is a vessel widely found along the coasts of the Indian Ocean. It is characterized by a long stem post, rather like a keel that has been extended and inclined toward the front. In the United Arab Emirates, this ship is considered to be part of the national cultural heritage.
Seeing and grasping
The new “ManModel” function lets designers simulate the field of vision and the reach zones.
Installing ergonomic workplaces is an important investment in the future, since healthy and highly motivated employees are a major factor in productivity. Using the MTpro software makes it possible to consider ergonomic aspects in workplaces right from the planning phase. The new “ManModel” function uses virtual human models to facilitate workplace design. The worker’s field of view and reach zones are simulated, as well. The amount of design work is reduced drastically, since the planned workplace system can be examined at once, in the 3D display, from the human engineering viewpoint. This does away with measurements made using a template.
Local growth
Bosch Rexroth invested 83 million euros in the new plant in China.
Bosch Rexroth has opened a new plant in Wujin, China. Some 1,200 employees are at work there, manufacturing components and systems used in hydraulics, linear motion and assembly technologies, and in pneumatics. Beginning in 2013, engineers will be able to use their own research and development center in Wujin to design regional variations of Rexroth products, to meet the needs of local customers.
The new GoTo app for the iPhone.
On the go
Rounding out its GoTo sales program, Bosch Rexroth in the U.S. first developed an app for the iPad. It is now being joined by an iPhone app. The entire catalog, with more than 3,500 products, fits in your palm of your hand. And ordering couldn’t be easier. Thanks to the GPS localization function, you automatically find the nearest distributor.
www.boschrexroth-us.com/gotoapp
Everything under control
In the past, condition monitoring systems for wind turbines were limited to specific solutions for major components. They could not, however, sufficiently evaluate the system’s overall status. The all-round monitoring system offered by Rexroth aims to include surveillance for all the relevant functional groups. In the initial step these are the rotor, the drive train and the tower. A stable and continuous link to the control center reduces the amount of hardware required and the system operator’s costs.
The all-inclusive condition monitoring concept enables, for the first time, surveillance of entire wind turbine systems.
Packed with power
The engineers at Bosch Rexroth have successfully packed more power into a smaller motor. The Hägglunds CBM direct-drive hydraulic motor weighs only half as much as its predecessor, is smaller in size, and still generates 50 percent more torque, giving it the world’s best torque-to-weight ratio. This also makes it suitable for smaller, lighter and simpler equipment. The motor was developed in direct response to wishes expressed by customers. Especially when harvesting power from the wind and tides, a powerful motor is a basic requirement. In addition, the engineers made sure that the drive could be easily installed and refitted. As a result, the CBM satisfies the most exacting requirements of today’s market.
Just 1.3 meters in height, the CBM puts more punch inside smaller dimensions.
Smart freedoms
Manufacturers of machine tools are increasingly turning to software engineering to implement customized software functions – in part to set themselves apart from the competition. That is why Bosch Rexroth is introducing its Open Core Engineering concept to close the gap between PLC and IT automation systems and to increase the degree of freedom in software engineering. Here manufacturers, when programming HLL-based applications, have complete flexibility in accessing the core of the IndraMotion MLC and IndraLogic XLC systems. As a result, specific control functions for real-time applications can be implemented independent of the control program. Users can also use high-level languages to write their own software functions, which can then run as real-time applications, close to the hardware, right on the controls. They can also run non-real-time on external units such as PCs or smart devices. Innovative functions – and even those that require expanded access to the core program – can now be realized by machine builders. The know-how built into the app is protected at the same time.
Using Open Core Engineering makes it possible to integrate smart devices seamlessly into the automation concept.
Driving on stilts
Europe’s largest and highest-performance driving simulator went into service at the University of Stuttgart in June 2012. Located inside this dome, weighing 1½ tons and built from carbon fiber, is a full-size car. Twelve video projections create a virtual traffic setting where new instrumentation, control systems, and driving assistants can be tested. The object is to enhance driving safety and lower fuel consumption. To achieve this, the capsule is driven by a complex motion system built by Rexroth. It achieves freedom of motion along eight axes, maximum velocity of three meters per second, and maximum acceleration of five meters per second squared. Thus the test driver experiences “motion” quite realistically, including acceleration, deceleration, and other forces – such as potholes in the road surface.
The simulator lets the driver feel every virtual pothole.
AWD as needed
A hydrostatic supplementary drive for trucks, made by Rexroth, is the efficient alternative to classical all-wheel drive. Weighing about 400 kilograms less than mechanical AWD, the Hydraulic Traction Assistant increases profitability thanks to higher payloads and lower fuel consumption.
HTA: an all-wheel drive system that saves fuel and boosts payload.
A pump for Brazil
A global product with local color. The high-efficiency, variable-displacement A10V axial piston pump has been enthusiastically received by the Brazilian market. That is why it is now being produced in Pomerode, as well. That’s reason enough to launch a singular “commemorative” model for use at trade fairs – in Brazil’s national colors.
The A10V in Brazilian colors.