Page 14 - Energize January 2021

NEWS

Taking standardised electrical designs into new markets

chaeffler Sondermaschinenbau, a company focused on
specialised machinery construction, is standardising its
Selectrical designs across its numerous locations, and relying on
its Eplan platform to get the job done.
The company develops customised machines and is globally active
as an automotive and industry supplier. Amongst the most recent
highlights are the development and realisation of complex assembly
and testing lines for automotive hybrid modules and for the new
electric axle drive systems.
As a Tier 1 supplier for the automotive industry, Schaeffler
develops and manufactures very complex products such as roll
stabilisers, 48 V drive systems and electric axle modules, all of
which are produced to the highest quality standards and under
intense cost pressures. infrastructure with code­compliant templates that every employee can
Software also plays an increasingly important role. IT production understand, as well as everyone in manufacturing. Basic information
solutions are programmed for almost all automated assembly such as equipment identification and plant/location assignment are
technology projects and the know­how goes much deeper. For normed, and device management has also been standardised.
instance, the developers created an app for condition monitoring to To simplify the design, the team created macros for frequently­
increase productivity and system availability in demanding used devices with a clear goal in mind:
production environments. Standardisation on the device level also leads to components that
Until quite recently, the company served in­house projects almost can be interconnected with a minimum of effort. So, if, for example, a
exclusively. Now the division will be making its know­how accessible customer chooses a controller or an electric motor from another
to outside customers. The focus is on assembly and testing systems as manufacturer, it is not a problem. Right now, the key users are testing
well as processing machines for grinding and honing in combination the use of Eplan eView as support, for instance during commissioning.
with product knowledge in the areas of robotics, vision and handling Two years after the project’s start, the key users don’t yet think
systems, and production IT. they’ve reached their goals, but believe they are on the right track. n
This opening up outside the group was just one of the factors
driving the standardisation of the electrical design software at the Contact Johan Reyneke, Eplan, Tel 011 609-8294,
various company sites. The Eplan platform enables a standardised reyneke.j@eplan.co.za

New smokestack instrumentation a towering success

hen electrical, mechanical and control engineering expert Proconics was recently called
upon to install new gas­monitoring instrumentation at a major petrochemical producer,
Wit turned to rope­access specialist Skyriders to provide the secure access and work­at­
height required for the trunking, tubing and cabling.
This followed an earlier project whereby Skyriders was called upon for its inspection expertise
to assist with the tests needed for remedial work to the smokestack. Marketing Manager Mike Zinn
explains that rope access was essential to carry out various concrete inspections and sampling.
An initial drone inspection of the smokestack flagged various areas for close­up inspection by a
rope­access team, which resulted in further cracking and spalling being identified. “This is a perfect
example of the synergy between drone inspection and rope­access work,” comments Zinn.
The testing that had to be carried out included carbonation and cover meter testing and taking
core samples for laboratory testing and analysis. In addition, the holes from which the material was
removed had to be patched properly.
The testing was essential to determine if the smokestack was structurally sound in order to be
able to accommodate the modifications in terms of wind load, among other factors. The inspection
data was then handed over for reporting and recommendations.
An expert six­person Skyriders team completed the project in mid­September. A particularly
challenging element of the project was that the sampling and subsequent repair work took place at
a height of about 20 m to 90 m, and involved equipment such as electric grinders and jackhammers
at height. n

Contact Mike Zinn, Skyriders, Tel 011 312-1418, mike@ropeaccess.co.za

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