IEF-Werner presents with the domiLINE series

A linear handling puts the parts, one after the other, on one of two parallel tracks on a transport belt of the type miniTRANS with a height of 65 mm and a maximum width of 1.000 mm. Photo by IEF-Werner GmbH.

“The increasing cost pressure poses a great challenge for countless producing companies in many branches”, Fritz Wehinger, product manager at IEF-Werner, explains the situation of his clients. “In order to stay competitive they have to produce increasingly economically. Therefore, they need an efficient handling technology, because the parts, for examples in great quantities, have to be transferred dynamically and with high cycle rates to the next production step.” An efficient automation technology becomes more and more the important competitive factor. However, are the semi and fully automatic solutions always the more economic variant? “This cannot be answered generally speaking, it is different for every client”, Fritz Wehinger points out. IEF-Werner develops and delivers for every use an appropriate linear and adjusting unit – as well as the accompanying frames, energy supplies, motors and cables. The user receives his solution fully functioning and tailor made for the demanded task.

Automatically reaching success

Different aspects may be relevant when choosing a suitable linear unit. If saving installation space or reducing cycle rimes are focused, IEF-Werner offers diverse dynamic and at the same time precise semi and fully automatic linear axes. They are used for Pick & Place tasks and for measuring technology. “Moreover, we construct one, two or multi axial positioning systems quickly and economically for the users, with our linear axes systems and the standardised connection elements”, Thomas Hettich, product manager for linear systems at IEF-Werner, explains. “We adjust those and adapt them to the client’s available space.” The system provider works closely together with the users when developing and constructing, in order to meet the specific demands. The system is often supposed to be integrated into an existing production line.
IEF-Werner reacts individually to different demands as position and repeat accuracy, the necessary stroke, speed and especially the frame size. The user can basically make the descision himself, which part he wants to contribute and which components are integrated by IEF-Werner. “Linear unit, energy supply, motors or control – we deliver everything from one source”, Thomas Hettich promises.

Precise manual work

Dynamics and high cycle times are not always at stake – even if the production is in high quantities. That is the case for frequent adjustment and fine-tuning: proceeding measuring systems to every possible position, adjusting processing unit and axes or focusing burner nozzles. Here manual, spindle driven components demonstrate their advantages. “We offer high-precision manual adjusting slides for these tasks, namely our series domiLINE”, Fritz Wehinger says. A precise steel spindle, ball bearing mounted at one end plate with low backlash, pretensioned plastic nut, moves the system. Optional bellows protect the spindle against the oily and dirty environment.

The domiLINE adjusting unit is constructed modularly and is easily converted. The user can drive any stroke that is required with the slide widths of 30, 50, 80 and 120 millimetres. In order to simplify the work with frequently changing positions, IEF-Werner equipped the system with a bus interface. Thus, the unit can remember its own position. The exact adjustment is conducted with an adjusting knob, which is provided with a 0.05 millimetre scale. The user may position the slide manually and fixate it with a clamping lever. Depending on the position of the slide, the lever may be difficult to access. Therefore, IEF-Werner developed the possibility to clamp the slide to the spindle. When positioning exactly, a similar problem arises frequently. The slide is in an inconvenient position, thus the user can hardly reach the adjusting knob. IEF-Werner came up with a solution in that case as well. Thanks to the angled drive, the worker can conveniently position exactly.

domiLINE: the economic adjusting unit

“The possibilities of the adjusting unit are diverse”, Fritz Wehinger describes. “The domiLINE series is used for example at a producer’s site and adjusts the distance of two tracks on a transport belt independently from each other in order to be able to position rings with different diameters exactly.” These rings are assembled in the following work steps as wipers for pneumatic and hydraulic cylinders. The rails serve as lateral boundary and fixate the transport goods exactly on the belt. A palletizer system of the type varioSTACK provides the rings on pallets. A linear handling puts the parts one after the other into one of two parallel tracks. “If the diameter of the rings change, an employee has to adjust the relevant rail”, Fritz Wehinger explains. That should take place exactly and simply – in addition the distance of the rails of both transport belts are supposed to be moved independently. “Therefore, we assembled two domiLINE units with a slide width of 80 and stroke of 90 millimetres”, Fritz Wehinger says. The application width may be adjusted with two hand wheels: Depending on which hand wheel the employee turns, the distance of one track is changed. Hence, products of different sizes can be transported at the same time on both tracks.

For more information, please visit: http://www.ief-werner.de

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