smart plastics
Effective immediately, igus offers the ReBeL service robot – also as a smart version. At €4,970 and only around 8 kilogrammes, the plug-and-play variant is one of the lightest cobots on the market. Digital services such as the RBTXpert and new online offerings enable customers to create complete automation solutions in just a few days that don’t break the bank.
Even today, 3D printed wear-resistant parts from igus often have the same service life as original parts. Now igus goes one step further and makes the printed components intelligent. Manufactured in filament printing, they warn against overload and report their maintenance requirements. The special feature: for the first time, the sensors are directly “printed into” the parts. As a result, they not only have extremely short delivery times and low costs but also feature useful Industry 4.0 options.
A forgotten screwdriver in an energy chain, a bent trough as well as ice, snow and bulk material can quickly lead to a total failure of cranes with high costs. This prompted igus to develop a new push/pull force monitoring system. The EC.PR precisely records the force values of the floating moving end and adjusts the force limits. This prevents high repair costs and damage to the system.
The drylin linear guide systems have to withstand extreme conditions in continuous operation or even in abrasive environments. In order to have the linear guides slide without lubricant, igus relies on linear bearings made of high-performance polymers. But when should I change the bearing? The new smart linear carriage from igus helps here. In accordance with the traffic light principle “stop when red, go when green”, the maintenance technician receives information about the maintenance requirement at the push of a button.
Plan maintenance in advance: this goal is not only pursued by igus with its intelligent smart plastics products for monitoring energy chains, cables and plain bearings, but manufacturers of machines and systems are also offering increasingly more solutions with their own condition monitoring tools.
In order to be able to evaluate data from machines and systems centrally, Fanuc is now presenting its new open industrial IoT platform called “FIELD system”. The system can connect production machines of all manufacturers by means of a local network topology, enabling comprehensive data analysis of the entire process chain. In this infrastructure, apps from Fanuc and also from third-party suppliers are used. Now, igus has developed a smart plastics app for the new system. The app can be used by maintenance personnel to monitor the condition of their igus components, for example, energy chains and cables and plan all their maintenance work in good time.