News items October 2014

SMC has upgraded its market leading VXD Series, a pilot operated 2 port solenoid valve, so that it’s smaller in size and more energy efficient whilst still delivering big benefits to customers. Ideal for air, water, oil, heated water and high temperature oil applications, ranging from car wash centres to oil lines in process industries, the renewed VXD Series is 7% smaller than the former conventional model, supporting SMC’s commitment to improving the performance and functionality of its products. As part of this focus to develop new innovations and drive energy savings for customers, the VXD Series now uses less power. Available in a wide range of body materials – aluminium, resin, brass and stainless steel – the VXD Series offers low concentration ozone resistant and oil free options. Labour time is also reduced, as the air version with resin body offers a built-in one-touch fitting option. Other benefits to be derived from the refined VXD Series include

At unbeatable prices in a special sale: drum mills for the laboratory Special offer until the end of the year! Laboratory drum mills made of high-performance polymer Nollan® – light-weight, low-noise and insensitive to impacts and hard blows. An unbeatable occasion: get the price list now. The more you order, the more you save. The offer is valid for small-size mills with a capacity of 1, 3 or 5 liters. NOLL drum mills are easy to disassemble and clean and feature outstanding characteristics for laboratory use. Made of the high-performance polymer Nollan®, they are specially suitable for brittle, hard and abrasive products and for dry processing as well as wet processing in aqueous and other media (alcohol etc.). Nollan® is also an extremely light material: a weight reduction of 60% enormously simplifies the mills’ handling in the laboratory. Application examples: raw materials, pigments & colors, minerals, glasses, frits, dental ceramics Temperature range: «100°C Product hardness range: Mohs hardness 1-7 High

Nürnberg once again the world’s biggest gathering of the powder and bulk solids community 15,235 trade visitors travelled from 78 countries High-tech “live” from 930 exhibitors from 30 countries Starting 2016: TechnoPharm merges with POWTECH Nürnberg was host to the world again from 30 September to 2 October 2014, when specific solutions for handling powder and granules and current pharmaceutical production issues were discussed at POWTECH and TechnoPharm. Over one-third of the exhibitors and visitors came from abroad. With altogether 930 exhibitors from 30 countries and 15,235 trade visitors*, this is the world’s largest and most important event for new trends in processing and handling bulk solids and for innovative technologies for the manufacture of solid and liquid drugs. * The figures for visitors, exhibitors and space at this exhibition are determined and certified according to the standard definitions of FKM, the Society for Voluntary Control of Fair and Exhibition Statistics.

Perfect screw feeding with top processing reliability DEPRAG expands their wide range of intelligent manual work station solutions with the DFM There is an increasing trend in the assembly industry: Fully automatic assembly is taking a backseat to intelligent manual work stations. Around 15 years ago companies were investing in automatic systems to increase processing reliability – the required zero error quota or permissible deviations in the lowest ppm range were at this time not possible in manual assembly processes due to the unpredictable human factor involved. What came out of the economic crisis of 2008/2009 was that when orders rapidly decreased, fully automatic systems would not have a 100 percent and therefore, economic workload utilisation. If the demand increases unexpectedly and exceeds the capacity by the possible 100 percent then again automatic production cannot adapt to the overcapacity. The company cannot react adequately to the recovered full order books. Manual work stations are flexible and can

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When assessing the functional safety of a protection system it is above all important to ensure that its reliability matches the risks of a plant that is in danger. Such a SIL classification is based on a risk assessment that covers the probability of failure in a safety setup within a given scenario and the potential severity of any resulting damage. The defined tables and values, which can be found, for instance, in EN ISO 13849, lead to the required SIL level for the relevant (electronic) component. The higher the probability of occurrence and/or the potential severity of damage, the higher should be the requirements on the electronic componentry and also on the necessary SIL level. Any facilities with SIL level 4 certification thus offer the best risk minimisation and must be provided wherever probability and potential severity are especially high. The risk assessment then forms the basis for an evaluation of measures designed to help reduce those two factors: probability

For the development of its latest filter valves, Buschjost wanted to come up with a product that allows for greater cleaning effectiveness, using air blasts of higher pressure. With these new valves, Buschjost has once again extended its product range in this field, being the first supplier to offer these advanced solutions. Apart from its reliable 2/2-way valves designed for a maximum operating pressure of 8 bar, Buschjost now offers these valve types for operating pressures of up to 12 bar. These new products have a number of commercial advantages for plant operators: On the one hand, filters are cleaned more effectively. On the other, longer and larger filter hoses can be used in the filter systems. At the heart of the new sturdy filter valve is a high-performance membrane made from a special TPE compound that has been tried and tested in many different applications. The TPE membrane is resistant even to the most aggressive chemicals. Thanks to a number of

At Buschjost, users can buy valves and control systems from one source. At the Powtech, the company is now presenting a decisive system enhancement. Whereas up to now one to 64 valves were activated with the existing system, now up to 576 valves are possible! The trick: No new control systems are required for this, only a master valve control unit that can be combined with existing control units. On the master device itself, up to 48 slave control units each with up to twelve valves can be activated with differential pressure or with a time delay via the system-internal CAN bus. The control units of single-valve solutions up to waste combustion systems with multi-chamber large filters can thus be used and can be extended as necessary in the event of increases in capacity or changed boundary conditions. The master valve control unit is envisaged for installation in the control cabinet and has a user-friendly user guidance via touchscreen. Time-consuming and costly

Leading industrial companies rely on Buschjost valves for their air purification. There are many advantages to this approach: Valves and advanced technologies keep operating and maintenance costs low, as they significantly lower compressed air consumption and reduce downtimes. Plant operators can thus focus on their core business. In 2000, Buschjost launched its (one-piece) TPE diaphragm, revolutionising filter valve technology. Since then, this technology has been developed and optimised further. The TPE diaphragm from Buschjost is a polymer diaphragm that works reliably without the need for compression springs. Its service life significantly exceeds that of conventionally used fabric diaphragms. Fewer parts means less hassle for users: As the new valves contain only few moving parts, leakage and malfunction are things of the past. In order to further increase the service life of the diaphragm at high and low temperatures, Buschjost has developed a diaphragm

Which of them ensures more efficient bulk material transport? Finally it should be sustain Modern cropping technologies require systems capable of transporting bulk materials quickly and efficiently from the quarry to the destination, and through rough terrain as well. Often trucks are used in this regard. Depending on the nature of the terrain, however, trucks rapidly reach their limits as they need, for example, well-developed roads. The costs arising for construction, maintenance and possible extension are not insignificant. In addition, all of this implies serious landscape changes. The emissions caused by truck traffic are undoubtedly high, both with regard to toxic substances and to noise and dust. With its belt conveyors, BEUMER provides an economical and environmentally protective solution for bulk material and piece good transport. The belt conveyors are able to navigate long distances, high angles of inclination and tight curve radii, and can be adapted individually to the respective application and topography. The landscape changes are minimal

The newly developed RHEWUM App for the iPhone has been introduced in the Apple Store RHEWUM decided to combine three helpful technical functions for operators which are handling bulk materials together in a single App. The App can be downloaded and installed free of charge at the App Store. It supports you to maintain your screening machines. Needless to explain that the functions can be used in many other applications as well. The RHEWUM ScreenCheck App consists of three parts: 1. RHEWUM VibFlash 2. RHEWUM VibSonic and 3. RHEWUM SizeChecker The VibFlash uses the inbuilt photo flash of the Apple iPhone and generates light pulses at a predefined frequency. It allows you to investigate structural movements for any high frequency moving equipment at a frequency between 16 Hz and 60 Hz. At the same time you can also measure the rotation speed of any shaft as well. The VibSonic App uses and calibrates the inbuilt microphone of the Apple iPhone. It measures the sound pressure of any equipment (not only screening machines) related to its

For powerful size reduction of a feed size of 95 mm down to 0.05 mm in a single step! For especially fast continuous premium pre- and fine-grinding of large quantities of coarse material, the combination of the Jaw Crusher PULVERISETTE 1 premium line and the Disk Mill PULVERISETTE 13 premium line is the ideal solution. Together, they form an efficient, heavy-duty, high-performance grinding instrument with integrated Riffle Sample Splitter. This gives you the full range of opportunities for optimal sample preparation with a feed size of up to 95 mm and final fineness of down to 0.05 mm – all in a single step. premium combination for integrated pre- and fine-grinding - Powerful continuous pre- and fine-grinding - Compact in a single instrument with integrated Riffle Sample Splitter - High throughput for production of small amounts - Maximum feed size 95 mm - Minimum final fineness 0.05 mm Integrated representative sample division After the comminution in the Jaw Crusher PULVERISETTE 1 premium line, the ground material falls directly into the

New record of high-quality and personal contacts during the POWTECH exhibition Our new fair presentation at the POWTECH, the world’s undisputed number one for powder, granule and bulk solids technologies, has an essential contribution to our exhibition success. Out of a variety of industries from glass, building materials and paper to pharmaceuticals, chemicals and food we have been able to gain a lot of new interested parties from all over the world. Of course, many actual customers visited us and used the opportunity to experience the new products of MOLLET in operation. Beside the approved technologies for point level measurement, like rotating paddles, membrane- and pendulum switches or vibrating rods first of all the new technologies MOLOSbob and MOLOSwave for continuous level measurement created great interest.

Bohle extends graulation range With the BRC 25 roller compactor, which premiered at the Interpack 2014 in Düsseldorf, the machine builder L.B. Bohle Maschinen + Verfahren GmbH from Westphalia rounds off its offer of granulation solutions. The BRC 25 is the smaller version of the BRC 100 which has already proven itself on the market. Easy handling, continuous production and a small footprint are only some of the features of the roller compactor. Continuous dry granulation has been used in the pharmaceutical industry for decades. An advantage of the dry granulation process is that, in contrast to classic wet granulation, no energy-intensive drying processes are needed. Therefore,, customers will be able to invest less in machines and production rooms, resulting in lower costs per batch. In addition, the operating costs are reduced as there is no additional power consumption for drying. With the compacting process, high material throughputs are possible. All of this results in having one machine

Globay sales strategy successful The pharmaceutical machine builder L.B. Bohle from Westphalia records huge success in South America thanks to the restructuring and expansion of the distribution network recently launched. Through the support of the two local agencies Maquidrex (Brazil) and Tecfarma (Argentinia), two new process machines – one Fluid Bed System and a Bohle Table Coater - were commissioned in the growth market of South America. The Bohle team installed a BFS 120 Bohle Uni Cone BUC® Fluid Bed System at the premises of the Brazil-based company Biolab. Biolab specialists visited the service center at Bohle headquarters in Ennigerloh and examined the quality of the process machine. Just six months later, the machine was commissioned at the Brazil site in Sao Paulo. Biolab aims to produce pellets with a 50 percent mass gain using the Fluid Bed System which is also used for drying and coating in addition to granulating. Apart from the Bohle Uni Cone BUC®, the first Bohle process

Closely linked to research Intelligent process control, continuous production and sustainable knowledge management are of major importance in the pharmaceutical industry. These three core segments are Dr. Hubertus Rehbaum’s fields of expertise. In May 2014, Dr. Rehbaum succeeded Dr. Dejan Djuric, who transferred to a large pharmaceutical group, as Manager Scientific Operations L. B. Bohle Maschinen + Verfahren GmbH. From the beginning, Dr. Rehbaum will face sophisticated challenges with the construction, setup and scientific design of the new Technology Center in Ennigerloh. After graduation from the RWTH Aachen, the certified electrical engineer held the position of development engineer at the global player for prostheses, Otto Bock in Duderstadt, Lower Saxony. With his specialization in medical engineering, Hubertus Rehbaum already set the course for his career during his studies. In his Ph.D. thesis on applied computer science at Göttingen University, the native from Warendorf focused

Earth-Rite RTR - Road Tanker Earthing System The new guidelines regarding the security of truck (un)loading processes against the danger of static electricity proves once again the quality of the patented measuring method of the Earth-Rite RTR systems from Newson Gale. These systems are the best solution to meet the new guidelines, to avoid the buildup of static electricity. This new brief an clear video explains the many benefits of using these systems, with references to the most important standards.

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Matcon is delighted to announce the appointment of Dave Cooper to the position of Managing Director with effect from 1st October 2014. Dave takes over from Charles Lee who has decided to step down in order to be able to spend a little more quality time with his family. Dave joined Matcon in 2002, working first in Engineering, then Sales and Business Development before joining the senior management team as Operations Director in September 2008. He has been at the heart of Matcon’s management and strategic development for several years and his strong customer focus, technical skills, dynamic work ethic and deep understanding of our business provide the perfect foundation to take on the Company leadership. Charles has been with Matcon since 1991 working in Sales, Engineering and General Management before becoming Managing Director in 1997. He has provided great vision and led the Company through periods of dramatic change and together with a superb team has

SMC, the world’s leading pneumatics provider, is pouring hot water on the competition with the launch of the extension of its enhanced VX2 valve series. A direct result of SMC’s commitment to invest in research and development in order to refine and improve the performance and functionality of its products, the new VX2 series includes new innovations to drive energy savings and deliver competitive advantages for customers. The VX2 series now offers a solution for steam and hot water applications, as well as air, medium vacuum, water and oil. Able to withstand fluid temperatures of up to 180°C in the case of steam, the VX2 series can be used in more extreme conditions due to its type H class coil insulation and FKM seal material together with the option of brass C37 or stainless steel body construction. With normally open specification available in all fluid applications, SMC customers also benefit from space savings and reduced labour costs thanks to the

Securyfence simplifies exchanging mesh panels and doors Qimarox has extended the Securyfence safety fencing system with a new line of hinged and sliding doors. The new doors are always supplied pre-assembled and are not only stronger and more robust than in the previous line, but also increase the flexibility of the system. Because they have the same dimensions as the standard Securyfence mesh panels, it is now even easier to install a door. The new hinged and sliding doors in the Securyfence range are available with a width of 730 and 990 millimetres, the dimensions in which the standard mesh panels are available. This means that companies that are already using Securyfence for safety fencing can replace a mesh panel with a door in a matter of minutes, all the more since doors are always supplied fully assembled. Posts no longer need to be moved, so it’s easier than ever to change access to a machine. An additional advantage is that the new doors can be used as both hinged and sliding doors. All you need to do to

At the Industrial Processing fair 2014

POWTECH and TechnoPharm 2014 can be summed up positively after three days of productive exhibition activity and knowledge transfer. With altogether 929 exhibitors from 30 countries and some 15,000 trade visitors*, it is the world’s largest and most important event for new trends in processing and handling powder and bulk solids and for innovative technologies for the manufacture of solid, semi-solid and liquid drugs. “We have a successful autumn event to show,” sums up Willy Viethen, Director Exhibitions POWTECH and TechnoPharm at NürnbergMesse. “This year’s exhibition combination has sent a positive signal to the relevant industries. The exhibitors report very good talks held in the past three days. This is all the more encouraging, as the German machinery construction sector is registering heavy drops in the number of orders. Here the trade fair duo is clearly showing the growing optimism within the industries.” Although the event is weaker in the

Continuous Guided Level Radar with point level detection Fluidwell Instruments launches the Guidense, a robust guided wave radar (GWR) for continuous level measurement and point level detection in liquids and solids. The Guidense TDR100 is equipped with an active analog and a digital control output. As all Fluidwell products, the Guidense is very easy to install and user-friendly to configure. It can be used with any of the F-Series and D-Series level indicators and controllers. Within the Guidense family a Smart sensor is also available! Together with the M844 Data Acquisition and Communication Module from ProcessMonitor, you can easily read, modify, store and analyze all process parameters from anyplace, anywhere, anytime using a web browser. Best price-performance ratio in the market! “The Guidense is your first and best choice when it comes to reliable level measurement. ”, says Ronald Zijdel, Product Manager of Fluidwell Instruments in the Netherlands. “The Guidense guided wave radar is the multi-applicable