Good vibrations? Not really. Unwanted movements — vibrations — increase machine wear and decrease machine efficiency and machine life.
How does vibration become an issue? Sometimes it’s a side effect of a good idea. You want higher throughput, so you speed up the line. When the machines move faster, though, vibration increases. You’ll see oscillation in liquids inside containers, sway in workpieces, and lessened stability in robot arms.
That’s not what you want. Printing, pick-and-place, and other applications requiring precision can see severe reductions in quality and consistency if vibration is allowed to get out of hand. Think about packaging for juices. Increased vibration means sloshing liquid. The container has to be filled less or designed with additional reserve space in order to keep the juice in the carton where it belongs. Transit time on the line has to be increased so that the liquid can settle in between steps. And there can easily be wastage and spillage introduced by the excess vibrations.
But modern machinery often can work at increased speeds, as long as vibration is handled. Rather than avoiding vibration by reducing speeds, adaptive technologies can dampen the vibration and lessen the spill, slosh, and sway without reducing the speed.
Using smart machinery like IndraDrive servodrives and IndraMotion controllers, Rexroth Adaptive Systems Technology can gather vibration data from sensors and adjust motion. Specific position commands can do the trick, or specific adjustments in torque and acceleration.
Rexroth research has found that machinery with vibration control can increase throughput by 10% to as much as 50%. At the same time, machine liufe is extended.
We’re specialists in Rexroth electric industrial motion control. We’ll help you extend the life of your machinery with factory repair or reman. We offer phone support and field support, and we have the largest selection of Rexroth electric servos, drives, controls, and accessories in the nation.