Shackle-Lok Shackle-Style Hoist Rings can be equipped with Lift ID, Jergens’ automated inspection and compliance system.

A manufacturer of lifting, work holding, and fastening equipment, announces the addition of Shackle-Lok, a shackle-style hoist ring. 100% domestically manufactured, the device combines the strength and safety of a hoist ring with the versatility of a shackle.

Available in a variety of inch and metric sizes, the shackle has internal ball bearings within a tamper-resistant design that provides smooth 180° pivot and 360° swivel action under load. The shackle is well suited for lifting tasks when conventional swivel or stationary hardware may be impractical. With a three-piece design, Shackle-Lok works well in low-clearance applications, general rigging, and permanent mounting on dies, molds, fixtures, and other heavy equipment.

The easy-to-remove anchor shackles are interchangeable, and the bolt can accommodate a wide variety of alternate styles. Magnetic-particle inspected, Shackle-Lok is CE-certified and conforms to ASME B30.26 and RR-C-271F standards, and it works with numerous thread sizes. The company can manufacture straight thread size, pitch, or length to meet particular lifting requirements.

Jergens Inc.
www.jergensinc.com

Windpower Engineering & Development

Unigear Industries in Montreal is capable of large custom gears.

David Brown, a manufacturer of industrial gearing and support services, says it has acquired Montreal based industrial gear manufacturer Unigear Industries Inc. Unigear is a privately held business known for its high quality gears. With its flexibility, innovation, quality, and performance it has an excellent reputation for customer responsiveness and a high standard of customer service in the North American gearing market.

David Brown (DB) already has a presence in key markets in North America, such as mining, and oil and gas, as well as through its premier double-enveloping worm gearing business Cone Drive, based in Traverse City, Michigan. The acquisition of Unigear and its industrial gear manufacturing and service capability is a key part of DB’s global and North American growth strategy. The business will be brought under the DB umbrella and will trade under the name: Unigear – a David Brown Company. The Unigear team, including President Ron Mehra and VP Peter Zurcher, will remain with the company and play key leadership roles going forward.

The parent company says it has a vision for the future and a defined growth strategy developed around expanding in key global markets including mining, oil and gas, conventional power, rail, and renewable energy such as solar, wind, and hydro. The acquisition of Unigear provides DB with wider access to many of these strategic industry segments coupled with local capability to manufacture and service industrial gear products for the North American market.

DB says expanding its aftermarket service offering is integral to its strategy to provide customers with locally employed specialist teams delivering world-class service. As well as becoming a North American manufacturing center of excellence, the company will also establish a service center at its Montreal facility to support customers in Canada. Additionally, the business is planning further expansion through the opening of a service center in the mining region of Kentucky, with near term plans for the establishment of additional service centers in strategic locations across North America.

David Brown
www.Davidbrown.com

Windpower Engineering & Development

Clifford Spring Co. developed an energy absorbing spring for the oil and gas industry that is non corrosive, chemical resistant, with high and low temperature resistance. The company selected a Vitrex Peek to develop the spring.

Victrex Peek (polyaryletherketone) polymers is said to be a good choice when replacing metal wind-turbine components. The high performance and light-weight material allows up to a 70% weight reduction. This can lower stress on the components and reduce energy needed to power the turbine. The tribological characteristics of this thermoplastic compared to metals also helps reduce downtime due to the inherent ability to perform with or without lubrication.

The polymers are useful in wind turbine applications such as bearing separators, connectors, braking systems, and pitches and yaw drive components. The material can be applied to wind equipment to create products that are more corrosion and high temperature resistant, light-weight, durable and stable. Most notably, wind turbine products benefit from PEEK’s strength and wear properties. Victrex polymers also prevent galvanic corrosion, and are an exceptional insulator for generators, motors or transformers. The polymers help extend equipment life, reduce product failures, improve thermal performance and material strength.

Victrex Corp.
Victrex.com

Windpower Engineering & Development

Zero-Max CD couplings are easy to keep clean and handle a temperatures from -22 to 180°F. They come in a range of inch and metric sizes and in stainless steel metric sizes.

Heavy duty models of the popular ETP Express keyless shaft bushings are now available in 20, 40 and 60-mm sizes. ETP Express shaft locking bushings provide fast and frequent mounting/dismounting capabilities with only one radial screw. This saves space in a system and provides accurate mounting without axial movement of the ETP bushing along the shaft.
Providing up to four times the radial load capacity of the standard ETP Express models, the new heavy duty models provide a tight connection between shaft and mounted components. When tightened, ETP’s radial screw compresses a pressure medium with the double-walled sleeve that expands and creates a solid connection between shaft and the mounting member. ETP’s uniform surface pressure prevents damage to surfaces and enables the use of shafts without problem-causing keyways. The single adjusting screw design makes the ETP Express superior to conventional mechanical locking bushings where numerous adjusting screws are required and axial movement of the mechanical bushing occurs when the screws are tightened.
Providing concentricity to 0.001 inch T.I.R., these ETP Express Bushings handle torque ranges from 40 to 6,400 lbs. They are ideal for use in tight areas. An Allen wrench is the only tool required to torque, mount, and lock these bushings into place. They position in seconds and can be readjusted many times just as quickly and without axial movement of the bushing or component along the keyless shaft.
ETP Express bushings require no lubrication. They are easy to keep clean and handle a temperature range from -22° to 180°F. They are available in a full range of inch and metric sizes and in stainless steel metric sizes.

Zero Max Inc
www.zero-max.com

Windpower Engineering & Development

A Davi four-roll plate rolling shapes wind-tower sections called cans. The latest versions can bend plate up to 145-mm thick.

The largest manufacturer of offshore wind towers in Northern Europe has ordered a new DAVI heavy four-roll machine with the capability rolling steel 4.0-m wide by 145-mm thick. “It’s the largest four-roll machine in the world completely dedicated to building foundations for offshore wind towers,” says Davi President Orazio

“The Davi High Productivity Package convinced that top player to buy our Wind Tower system for its benefits in building giant parts with only one operator, all the while requiring less production time than competitive machines,” adds Orazio.

The Davi Productivity Package for wind towers has been updated with the Davi iRoll CNC. The software, based on Apple iPad, lets an operator draw a part to roll and then starts production by sending the program by iPad Wi-Fi to the machine.

The iRoll puts all the information about the machine at a user’s fingertips. Then it connects to the Davi Service Center to dialog directly with a technician, dedicated to supply the required support.

Orazio adds that the European company had purchased several four-roll rolling machines in 1999 and 2001, and that let it work its way into the heavy duty offshore wind market with a machine capable of rolling steel 3.600-m wide by 125-mm thick (12 ft x 5 in.).

Davi
www.davi.com

Windpower Engineering & Development

-NSK

Machines that manufacture advanced wind turbines and towers depend a lot on conventional yet also advanced manufacturing methods, such as welding. One welding-machine manufacturer recently called on a linear motion and assembly-technology company to help improve custom welding machines for the wind industry. Such welding equipment is used to build turbine towers up to 100-m high.

Typically, a machine rolls a metal plate, often 709 grade 50 carbon steel. into a cylinder called a “can” that measures about 9-ft long by 8 to 15-ft dia. Another machine then welds along longitudinal seams to complete the can and then circumferentially to join them with multi-pass butt welds made by submerged arc welding.

The weld head is suspended from a cantilevered guide rail for outside welding. Most of the machine is stationary while the weld head moves short distances on two and three axes, both along and across a seam. A linear control actuator at the end of a horizontal arm determines the motion of the weld head. Smaller can sections are welded on a large assembly line, called a growing line.

Welding procedures and consumables can vary based on tower requirements for height, design, and location.

After assembling the sections and adding internal tower equipment, such as ladders, they are transported to the installation site, lifted into place, and bolted together.

Welding requirements for offshore tower construction are impacted by the tower’s large size and associated nacelles, as well as the thicker steel required for strength and fatigue resistance. Joining thicker steel sections with larger weld joints requires using a greater volume of welding consumables, thus requiring additional welding passes. This adds time and cost to the job.

Fabricating towers capable of resisting extreme environmental conditions requires thicker plate, or higher-strength steel, or both along with higherstrength weld deposits. Welding such material requires welding procedures and filler metal with a chemical composition that delivers the same mechanical properties in the weld deposit.

Using consumables intended for offshore towers minimizes the associated welding problems, such as cracking. Submerged arc-welding flux and electrodes have been developed to provide the strength and impact properties required for onshore and offshore towers, including the more rigorous requirements of coldclimate towers.

A recent welder is said to give operators the flexibility to control every aspect of the welding output to provide the best results for an application. Enhanced control over the welding waveform let operators weld at significantly higher deposition rates than comparable conventional power sources, thereby improving weld productivity and reducing costs. In addition, multiple power sources can be used to weld with multiple arcs to increase deposition rates and reduce the number of passes required to fill the joint. This decreases production time and consumables, contributing to lower overall wind project costs.

Windpower Engineering & Development

Portable circular mill. -Climax Portable Machine Tools

The portable circular milling machine is said to expedite on-site machining of large flanges from 73.5 to 199-in. diameter. The manufacturer says the mill is capable of extremely tight flatness tolerances required for wind-tower flanges as well as a surface finish of 63Ra (1.6Rm). The circular mill can be configured for milling or single-point machining as well as grinding operations.

Circular mills also are used on assembly lines in wind-tower fabrications and in-field services to machine flanges to spec that may have warped in welding. Multiple mounting options are another feature. It includes ID/ OD or face-mounted configurations, and a tubular rigid chucking system with adjustable feet. These allow leveling the machine quickly and precisely in the flange for simple and speedy setup.

A special compact gear hobber may let shops generate splines, spur, or helical gears in one operation. An adjustable tool holder eliminates having to transfer rough gears on one machine to another for gear hobbing. To compensate for different types of grooves or pitches in splines and gears, users simply set a vernier dial to ± 20°. The machine’s a compact design lets it operate in most instances without interrupting neighboring tool stations.

The gear-driven gear hobber is built for heavy machining loads and delivers 45 Nm torque and speeds to 3,000 rpm for hobs or slotting saws up to 2.480-in. dia (63 mm).

Arbor diameters are available for all standard sizes for use of slotting saws and gear hobs. Changing tools takes just seconds by removing the yoke plate and sliding out the arbor. The base of the tool holder remains in its station.

Abrasive water jets, the third item in this short list, can cut a wide variety of materials, including composites (turbine blades) and metals such as aluminum, stainless and mild steel, and titanium with an accuracy of motion up to ± 0.003 inches (0.076 mm). A cutting head that tilts on one waterjet cutting machine is said to make a cost-efficient, productive jet-cutting center with a multi-axis accessory and a direct-drive pump.

Manufacturers say abrasives waterjets are well suited for precision machining of larger or multiple parts. One manufacturer says it product is equipped with a drive system, developed for abrasive waterjet machining to ensure high accuracy. The drive is enclosed inside coated steel covers, making it well suited for harsh environments and requiring little maintenance. A recent design allows faster traverse speeds than traditional drive systems that reduce processing times when machining multiple or nested parts.

Windpower Engineering & Development

Second Wind's Triton wind profiler uses sodar to collect wind data.

Ultrasonic sensors function without moving parts. On a typical sonic anemometer, a transducer sends a pulse of ultrasonic sound from a ‘North’ facing side of the sensor. A microprocessor measures the time it takes to travel to a ‘South’ transducer. The wind speed is calculated from the time it takes the ultrasound to travel to the opposite transducer. Measurement times are affected by the wind speed and direction blowing along the line between the transducers. Without moving parts, measurement is said to be immediate and precise.

In the cases above, the instruments are small enough to mount on a nacelle. Larger, ground-mounted sonic instruments, however, can take the place of a met tower and measure wind speed and direction at several elevations.

This latter device, also called a sonic wind profiler or a sodar (sound detection and ranging) unit, detects wind speeds and directions at several levels up to about 300 m. The unit is said to work unattended to capture accurate wind data at turbine heights in any weather and location. One model runs on as little as 7 W from a battery recharged by a solar panel, and it can be relocated by one man with a truck. Readings from these devices look like anemometry results and so need no expert analysis. Users can often access data in real time from a computer over a satellite wind-data service.

Sodar uses short-wavelength sound waves to measure the Doppler shift of emitted sound and calculate wind speeds. Sodar units are reported have performed well in tests.

Laser-based wind sensors use laser Doppler velocimetry – an optical remote-sensing technique similar to Doppler radar – to measure minute frequency changes of light reflected by microscopic air particles moving with the wind, which precisely determines wind speed and direction. One laser wind sensor mounts atop the turbine nacelle (pointing through the rotor) to measure real-time horizontal and vertical wind speed and directions in front of the turbine. This sensor looks 300m ahead of the turbine to measure wind speed and direction as it approaches the turbine rotor. It transmits that data to the controls in time (20 sec of lead time for a 35-mph wind) to reorient the turbine. The system is comprised of a base laser and a remote lens. The base unit, housed in a separate assembly, can be mounted inside the turbine’s nacelle. The remote lens mounts atop the nacelle. According to one report, reacting to oncoming wind before it reaches a turbine improves power production by about 10%.

Windpower Engineering & Development

-Leitwind

The advanced technology in wind turbines depends a lot on conventional manufacturing techniques, such as welding. One welding-machine manufacturer recently called on a linear motion and assemblytechnology company to help build a new generation of custom welding machines for the wind industry. Such welding equipment is used to build turbine towers up to 100-m high. Engineering taller tower may have to put conventional thinking on hold. For example, one engineering firm proposes a wide concrete base, 35-ft tall, cast and built on the site to keep tower costs down.

Conventional towers are manufactured by first rolling a plate into a cylinder, or “can”, measuring about 9-ft long by 8 to 15-ft dia. Another machine then welds along longitudinal seams to complete the can and then circumferentially to join cans. The welder is suspended from a guide rail for outside welding. In each case, most of the machine is stationary while the weld head moves short distances on two and three axes, both along and across the seam. A linear control actuator at the end of a horizontal arm determines the motion of the weld head.

A manufacturer of equipment that quickly places composite material and a quick-cure-molding system for wind blades, says the combination cuts labor by two thirds, doubles throughput, and produces a consistently high-quality blade.

The machine can produce both halves of a large turbine blade in about 15% of the time needed by manual lay-up. As fabric pays out onto the mold, two articulating powered brushes smooth the fabric onto the tool surface. Lay-ups repeat to ±2 mm with and application tolerance of ±5 mm.

The automated blade molding facility is capable of spraying in-mold coatings, dispensing and lay-up of glass and carbon-fiber materials, and applying adhesives. It places material at 3 m/sec (lay-up speed) on blade skins, spar caps, and sheer-web molds, with laser and vision-based wrinkle detection in cross or longitudinal directions. Depending on a laminate schedule, the manufacturer says the system can cut up to 85% off the lay-up time of a 45-m blade.

The CNC-controlled system consists of a gantry with multi-axis spray heads and adhesive applicators, along with tooling for spooling and placing materials. After spraying on a gel-coat, a ply-generator with a ten-roll magazine of material cuts and dispenses plies to the layup end effector on the gantry. The lay-up end effector spools out material supplied by the ply generator.

Two such gantries adjacent one another can each produce a 45-m blade-shell half in less than two hours, with half the manual labor of conventional methods. The gantry rides on rails flush with the floor. It also carries bulk supply systems for gel-coat and adhesive. Offline programming software developed by the company creates the CNC code from imported CAD data. However, at least one machine in development aims to produce a blade in one piece–without seams, a weak point in conventional designs.

Another manufacturing challenge has been to true-up a tower’s flange bottom with the tower centerline. Tower sections are huge and heavy. One solution, a portable mill, can machine wind towers that now have from 10 to 14-ft dia. The mill is said to produce a surface-flatness tolerance of 0.002 in. The mill creates a 60-rms micro finish, exceeding the current requirements of the windpower industry and, in particular, tower fabricators.

Thanks to its modular design, the portable mill can store in a fabrication shop until needed and reassemble in 60 min, moved into position by an overhead crane. Its in-situ machining eliminates the time and work required to build subassemblies at a machine shop for re-machining, and the cost of subcontracting with field service companies.

Windpower Engineering & Development

The closed-mold doctors will be "in" at the COMPOSITES 2012 show in Vegas. 15 partners to demo different tech and materials for a range of products.

Composites One, along with the Closed Mold Alliance and over 15 industry partners, will host  comprehensive, ongoing demonstrations of closed-mold technology –on the show floor – during COMPOSITES 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Presentations will take place in a specially designed staging area at Booth #629, Wednesday, February 22, and Thursday, February 23.

At the event, manufacturers can experience work cells demonstrating closed-mold processes such as Light Resin Transfer Molding (Light RTM), the Vacuum Infusion Process (VIP), and Flex Molding to produce replica wind-turbine blades, a half hull, and a mini boat hull. Highlighting this year’s event will be the latest technologies that enhance closed-mold production.

New this year will be the introduction of a specially formulated CCP Composites OptiPLUS infusion resin for tooling to the Vacuum Infusion Process. Vacuum Infusion, ideal for making large and small part tooling, has benefits traditional tool manufacturing does not.

“The importance of a quality manufacturing process is key to successful tooling,” says Composites One VP Greg Shymske. “With infused tooling, manufacturers find improved heat resistance, extended mold life, faster build times, as well as a significant reduction in styrene emissions.”

Also featured this year will be Flex Molding Technology, developed by Magnum Venus Plastech, and improved upon by the Closed Mold Alliance. The program will feature a video demo of how to make a silicone bag using the Flex Mold Process. Afterward, a live demo using the same silicone bag will feature production of a replica wind blade. In addition, new Flex Molding Controls will be featured in all work cells during the two-day demonstration.

This year, the Lean Mean Closed Mold Machine will feature demonstrations of advanced composite technologies, including Axiom Prepreg, Huntsman Epoxies, MIT Recycled Carbon Fiber Preforms, and Bayer Polyurethane Resin Systems. These presentations will showcase a number of different parts including a tractor hood and a motorcycle engine cover.

“We recognize the importance that emerging technologies have to composites manufacturers today,” says Shymske.  “And by including products that offer high performance properties, no styrene emissions, and environmentally-friendly features, we will demonstrate that these products have a place in many composites markets, as well as being a perfect complement to closed mold processes.“

New to the demonstrations this year will be the launch of the Sprayomer technology by SR Composites.  This flexible bag system is well suited for a variety of parts. The demonstration will also showcase the CARTM process and benefits it offers to those manufacturers using closed molding today.

The Lean Mean Closed Mold Machine at COMPOSITES 2012 will also showcase a micro-infused resin technology that can be used in closed molding. MIRteq is a highly versatile material in so far as it is viscous at room temperature and can be poured, pumped, sprayed and machined to deliver a wide range of engineering solutions.  Access to the technology is available exclusively through Composites One.

All closed mold demonstrations will feature Magnum Venus Plastech (MVP), the industry’s leading meter/mix equipment manufacturer with specific expertise in closed mold processes and a member of the Closed Mold Alliance.  The program will also be presented with the assistance of Alliance member RTM North Technologies, North America’s leading Light RTM experts. Composites One is a member of the Closed Mold Alliance. Throughout the event, industry experts from the Alliance, along with the Composites One Closed Mold Team, will be on hand to answer questions about closed-mold processes, discuss equipment and materials, and help manufacturers learn how to put closed mold to work in their operation.

The live demos at COMPOSITES 2012 are the culmination of a joint effort between Composites One, the Closed Mold Alliance and its supplier partners: Airtech Advanced Materials Group, Airex Baltek, Arkema, Axiom, Bayer Material Science, CCP Composites, Chemtrend, Chomarat, Huntsman Advanced Materials, ITW Plexus, JRL/Marine Composites, Kit Concepts, Magnum Venus Plastech, MIRteq, MIT, Owens Corning, RTM North Technologies, RTM North Solutions,  Sprayomer, Syrgis, Vectorply, and Wacker Silicones.

“Composites One and the Closed Mold Alliance is the one place where manufacturers can find leading industry closed mold experts who can offer them a roadmap to successful closed mold conversion,” says Shymske.

Composites One
www.compositesone.com

Closed Mold Alliance
www.closedmoldalliance.com

Windpower Engineering & Development