Picture PM2016-1
The winners of the 2016
vector award were honoured at the Hannover Messe. The gold vector award was won
by the company Robotic Drilling Systems from Norway. From right to left.: Rune
Bjørnbekk, Jimmy Bostrøm (both Robotic Drilling Systems, speaker at the award
ceremony and patron of the competition Ken Fouhy, vdi nachrichten, Harald
Nehring, igus GmbH. (Source: igus GmbH)
Every two years, igus
GmbH presents the vector award for novel applications with energy chain systems
covering fast travels, adverse environmental conditions and dizzying rotations
this year, the gold vector award went to the Norwegian company Robotic Drilling
Systems, who use several energy chain systems from the motion plastics
specialist igus in extremely limited spaces within their robots.
The "Drill-floor Robot DFR-1500" from
the Robotic Drilling Systems is the central robot in a fully automated oil
drilling system. In an area where normal work involves the manual carriage of
individual drilling elements to and fro and fixing with bolts with enormous
effort, the company is working on the oil platform of the future, where the
drilling is completely prepared and executed by robots. The DFR-1500 uses
individual drilling elements and brings them into the correct position for the
drilling operation. RBR systems from
igus are used in the articulated joints of the robots, and are responsible for
the supply of energy, data and media. RBR stands for "reverse bend
radius", because the chains are used lying on their side and the chain
links can move in both directions, allowing rotational movements. This
sophisticated energy supply system solution convinced the jury of the 2016
vector award, consisting of representatives of specialised media, business and
research, who honoured the application by Robotic Drilling Systems with the
gold vector award. The award, also with Euro 5,000 prize money, was received by
Jimmy Bostrom, Chief Operating Officer at Robotic Drilling Systems, in front of
around 500 guests at the award ceremony in the fair stand of igus GmbH at the
Hannover Messe.
Silver for fast
rotational movements
The silver vector went to Italy this year,
selected from among the 190 submissions from 26 countries competing for the
2016 vector awards. In machine tools manufactured by Fidia, a completely
pre-harnessed and pre-assembled MRM (multi rotation module) from igus is installed,
which implements rotational movements of up to 720 degrees. As a result, fast
rotation speeds of 180°/s and acceleration of 30°/s² and extremely fast changes
of direction are possible. The module is simply installed on top of the machine
tool and connected, allowing a very fast rotation of the z-axis.
Production plant for
concrete elements wins the bronze
The application by Ebawe Anlagentechnik GmbH of
Eilenburg in Saxony, which the company designed and constructed for a project
in Thailand, was awarded the 2016 bronze vector. The plant is used for the
industrial production of very varied concrete elements. The concrete
distributor must go to the cleaning spot once or twice a day so that a smooth
operation can be ensured. This, however, is about 50 metres away from the
actual workplace of the plant. The solution was a chain from igus moving within
a trough in the main workplace. A second system composed of e-chain and trough
is used for the long spur track route to the cleaning place. The chain for the shorter
moving trough is locked and the chain including trough moves on rollers above
the lower system until its chain is fully extended. This entire process takes
place fully automatically.
Picture PM2016-2
Gold for oil drilling robot Inside the articulated joints energy chains
with reverse bending radii supply energy, data and media in a minimum of space.
(Source: igus GmbH)
Special award for
innovative water catamaran
Catamaran boats always need two
berths next to each other in the port due to their large width – this is
expensive and sometimes not even available in high season. Cranage in
particular is also extremely cumbersome, since there are few facilities
available with a minimum width of eight metres. To resolve these problems, the
Futura Yachtsystems Entwicklungs GmbH & Co KG developed the first
width-variable water catamaran, which was awarded the 2016 special vector. The
application enables the hulls to extend and retract, thus reducing the width
from 8 metres to just 4.85 metres. In addition to the drylin linear units,
seawater-resistant energy chains from igus are used, which guide the cables and
hoses safely.
All information on the competition
and the breadth of submissions - even from past years - are available at http://www.vector-award.de.
About igus® India
igus® operations in India
started in the year 1998 with head quarters in Bangalore. igus offers widest
range of products that includes polymer bearings, igubal® Spherical Bearings Plain Bearings and Bushing
Accessories etc. which enable them to serve the whole industrial establishments in
India from a small work shop to huge industrial establishments.
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