Paul Heney

At a recent user conference put on by Bosch Rexroth in suburban Chicago, the company presented specifics on some of its latest components designed for use on mobile machinery. Specifically, we learned about products that, more than ever, incorporate hydraulics with electronics and software. This will lead to easier user experiences, additional flexibility in the…

Jon Hirschtick, the general manager of Onshape at PTC, spoke recently at the Robotics Summit in Boston, and he had a lot to say about the technology that is shaping our future. Hirschtick, who is well known as the fellow who developed Solidworks, was also a member of the famed MIT Blackjack Team, which was…

A recent question received by email: I need some help from you regarding air leak calculation. We just purchased a new air leak detector that calculates leakage flow.  We have high air leakage in our LPG bottling plant and our leak detector showed a flow of 9130.2 L/S. If we convert this to CFM then it will total […]

Bailey International, LLC has announced the acquisition of Québec-based, Hydrolico International Inc. The acquisition of Hydrolico will expand Bailey’s product portfolio and provide additional expertise in hydraulic and pneumatic manufacturing. Bailey will continue to develop and grow the Hydrolico business in Canada and the United States. “This combination allows us to bring a combined 70…

As first announced in September 2021, as of June 1, 2022, the Large Projects business of Bosch Rexroth in Boxtel (formerly known as Hydraudyne) has officially been taken over by Van Halteren Technologies, based in Bunschoten, the Netherlands. The new name is Van Halteren Technologies Boxtel. The activities remain unchanged — the development and production…

Emerson has announced that its Aventics Series Advanced Valve (AV) valve system with Advanced Electronic System (AES) Profinet and Ethernet/IP is now available with preinstalled Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture (OPC UA) functionality, making it the first and only valve system to offer this directly integrated capability. The AES helps users solve interoperability challenges and […]

By Ron Marshall A wood products manufacturer decided to save money by hiring a small service company to maintain its compressors. The company had minimal experience in repairing compressors, but agreed to do the job. The company didn’t have parts available to replace the faulty controls on the two screw compressors — so they did […]

By Ron Marshall A building products company had a compressed air system that featured one large 1,500-cfm compressor and three smaller ones. The compressed air flow had grown to a point where the large compressor could only be turned off during shutdown periods; when it was turned off, the plant pressure would collapse. The large […]

Iowa State University and Cleveland State University took Overall Champion in the 2022 Fluid Power Vehicle Challenge events hosted by Danfoss Power Solutions and Norgren. This year’s program held two separate Fluid Power Vehicle Challenge competitions in an effort to reach more students and industry members. The events took place April 20-22 and April 27-29, 2022 and…

Freudenberg Sealing Technologies has announced that Dr. Theodore Duclos, CTO, has elected to retire from the company on June 30 after more than 25 years of service. Duclos, who is recognized for championing innovative approaches to technology and manufacturing processes, has agreed to continue in an advisory role with Freudenberg’s e-Power Systems Business Group. “Dr. […]

CONEXPO-CON/AGG, and the co-located International Fluid Power Exposition (IFPE), slated to return to Las Vegas March 14-18, 2023, have gained a reputation for bringing results to global attendees and exhibitors, and is working to expand that reputation for the 2023 show. Considered one of the “Big 3” construction equipment trade shows globally, with the others…

Invitation The 13th International Fluid Power Conference will take place from June 13th to 15th, 2022 in Aachen. We cordially invite you to Aachen and hope you attend this conference to exchange technical expertise and talk with friends in the field. As one of the world’s largest conferences dealing with Fluid Power, the IFK gives…

A press operation used a pulse of compressed air for cleaning operations for 10 seconds, once every 10 minutes.  The compressed air flow to the press during the cleaning was 400 cfm, a quite significant flow, and data logger measurements of the air compressors found that each time the blow happened, a 150-hp compressor would […]

The LEAP Awards (Leadership in Engineering Achievement Program) celebrates the most innovative and forward-thinking products serving the design engineering space. This dynamic competition honors the most innovative engineered products/components across several of our flagship brands: Fluid Power World, Design World, Fastener Engineering, and EE World. Submissions for the 2022 LEAP Awards program are being accepted starting today, May…

The operators at a lumber mill were having production problems in two of their machines.  Annoyingly, critical sensing eyes were getting blocked by occasional pieces of bark as the logs went by.  After enduring this for quite a while the maintenance department finally took matters into their own hands. The plant had a welding department, […]

Are you still using open ended compressed air blowing?  Are these blowers simply controlled by a ball valve?  Did you know these tools can turn into dangerous uncontrolled projectiles if accidently dropped when the valve is wide open? They cause noise pollution and present a risk of eye injury when chips of debris are sent […]

Many industrial sites measure their compressed air quality, or think they do.  When asked to show the dew point of a system with refrigerated air dryers, the compressor operators will typically point to the air dryer display, not knowing that the reading is not really dew point, but the temperature within the air dryer itself.  […]

A large foundry had four large 200-hp air compressors that were water-cooled and were having overheating problems.  The units were capable of inlet modulation control,  where the inlet valve of the compressor closes off the intake to control the output flow.  Use of this control mode reduces the flow output of the compressors and the […]

Trelleborg Healthcare & Medical was named one of the Top Ten Prototype Engineering Service Companies of 2022 for the innovative solutions its Rapid Development Center offers to medical device manufacturers. “Trelleborg created the Rapid Development Center in response to our medical device customers’ needs to accelerate time to market, reduce the production cost of parts […]

A building products company purchased a compressor with 1,520 cfm capacity to help with the increased load after a plant expansion. Various dryer sizes were available, but one sized at 1,600 cfm was selected, rather than choosing the next size up, to save purchase costs. Shortly after installation, the production machine operators started complaining about […]

Edwards has introduced EJGO, a next-generation vacuum pump controller with cloud connectivity and control for industrial vacuum pumps and systems. EJGO intelligently manages, commands, directs, and regulates the operation of Edwards vacuum pumps and offers flexible accessibility and outstanding control functionality. The Edwards EJGO vacuum controller is a one‐stop solution with all the necessary pump information […]

During a compressed air assessment, a service provider was reviewing the total capacity of the storage receivers for his report.  Having adequate capacity helps make the compressors run more efficiently and saves energy.  During his checks, he spotted a strange color on one receiver safety valve.  On closer inspection, he noticed that the pressure relief […]

At this month’s NFPA Annual Conference, bestselling author David Burkus spoke to the attendees on “Leading high-performance teams from anywhere” and provided a lot of great advice for anyone in a management position. He acknowledged that Covid had forced many companies to rethink policies for remote work for eligible employees. And now employees expect more…

A facilities manager at a building products plant attended a compressed air efficiency seminar sponsored by his local utility. He learned about optimizing air compressors, filters, dryers, and piping. He discovered how to arrange to have a baseline taken of his compressed air system to assess its efficiency. He discovered the excellent savings he could […]

Hawe Holding GmbH has signed a contract for the acquisition of the business units Fritz Schur Energy (FSE) and Fritz Schur Teknik (FST) from Fritz Schur Technical Group A/S based in Denmark. Hawe Hydraulik, manufacturer of technologically advanced hydraulic solutions, is thus acquiring two business units at four locations and the associated product range as of 16.03.022. In 2021, the…