Sustainable solutions for the food industry and innovations for robotics

BIRMINGHAM, 2022-03-22.

  • Sustainable engineering and new product portfolio for the food and packaging industry
  • Expansion of the product range for lightweight robots and cobots
  • Presentation of strain wave gears with an integrated sensor system
  • Enlargement of the solution portfolio to include high-precision planetary gearboxes

Birmingham | March 23, 2022 | The food and packaging industry and the robotics industry, are two sectors with a high global demand for innovative solutions. These will be the main focus of Schaeffler’s attention at this year’s Hannover Messe.

As Ralf Moseberg, head of the Industrial Automation business unit at Schaeffler, emphasized, the food and packaging industry is currently caught up in a maelstrom of sustainability, lower production costs, and strict hygiene guidelines. Schaeffler will be presenting its new food-based product range in Hannover, as well as demonstrating ways of solving the challenges faced by the industry using automation solutions which have been derived in practice. Ralf Moseberg and his employees view “sustainable engineering” as a major instigator in reducing energy and raw material consumption, while simultaneously securing considerable benefits for the customer.

Ralf Moseberg, head of the Industrial Automation Business Unit at Schaeffler Images: Schaeffler

Designers and developers are encouraged to conduct more extensive analyses of existing solutions with regard to the use of resources, durability and wear, and operating costs, and to look for alternatives. Examples of how digitalization and sustainability can be combined to ideal effect in everyday operations will also be demonstrated in Hannover.

New precision strain wave gear from Schaeffler with integrated torque sensor

For the second year in a row, robotics will be one of the Schaeffler topics taking center stage at the Hannover Messe. A substantially expanded range of precision strain wave gears and a sensor-based strain wave gear will be presented for the first time this year, both for use in articulated arm robots with a payload of up to around 20 kg. “We are adopting a new, innovative approach with the integrated torque sensors for each cobot joint, both in design and technological terms, which has aroused considerable interest among our pilot customers,” explains Moseberg.

Schaeffler will introduce its new product range for the “Food, Beverage & Packaging” sector at the Hannover Messe 2022. The plastic used in the new radial insert ball bearing and housing units has been optimized from a hygiene perspective.

Schaeffler will also present its portfolio of PSC-series high-precision planetary gearboxes for industrial robots in Hannover. These are characterized by a torsional backlash that is ten times lower and a service life that is three times longer than the market standard. Such large leaps in development are seldom seen in mechanical engineering and allow new fields of application to be opened up.

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