£40m green transport facility unveiled

A new £40m research facility that will drive forward advances in powerful, clean electrification technology and pave the way towards a new generation of low-carbon, sustainable electric vehicles, power and propulsion has been unveiled by the University of Nottingham. The state-of-the-art Power Electronics and Machines Centre (PEMC) offers purpose-built laboratories for the Power Electronics, Machines and Control research group, the largest such group of researchers in the world. By March 2024, the PEMC estimates that £470m worth of industrial work will align with the facility.
For further information www.bit.ly/3PhVYAC

Quality comes to the surface with Accretech

After searching for a suitably accurate and efficient portable means of inspecting the surface characteristics of ground components, the technical staff of Kingsbury’s Grinding Division discovered the Accretech HandySurf+ instrument. In addition to delivering the high-levels of precision required, the robust product facilitates easy transportation to customer premises and to the ability withstand shop-floor use.

Kingsbury launched the company’s Grinding Division in 2017 and now represents Haas Schleifmaschinen GmbH in the UK, Ireland and Gulf regions. Also, in late 2021, Kingsbury began representing Studer within the Gulf area.

The recently purchased Accretech HandySurf+ at Kingsbury is now gathering accurate surface roughness data in pre-qualification trials before the sale of grinding machines. Kingsbury also uses the instrument to aid the development of new processes.

Grinding Division application engineer Kevin Ling says: “When demonstrating the effectiveness of our machine tools and showing the complexity of the components we can develop, establishing the required surface finish standards is a priority. This is a necessity not only for customer compliance, but also for determining dressing parameters and the optimal grinding wheel specification.

“The purchase of our advanced Accretech instrument provides us with the ability to measure surface roughness quickly with excellent levels of precision,” he adds. “In addition to other uses, our HandySurf+ is employed to prove the exceptional standards of surface finish that our grinding machines are able to achieve and provide our customers with confidence. Also, our Accretech equipment guarantees that our machines continue to deliver expected financial returns to our customers as we assist in the development of new processes and product lines.”
For further information www.accretech.eu

£400m turbine blade facility

Earlier this month, work began on a new £400m offshore wind facility on Teesside, which is set to become the biggest of its kind in the world and create 750 direct jobs. SeAH Wind Ltd’s 1.13m sq ft facility will produce bases for offshore wind turbines from Redcar’s Teesworks, the UK’s biggest industrial zone.

To mark the occasion, politicians, business leaders and key stakeholders visited the site for a formal signing event, followed by presentations and a Q&A session ahead of the ground-breaking ceremony. When complete, the facility will produce between 100 and 150 monopiles per year, with subsequent transportation directly from the factory to Teesworks’ under-construction South Bank Quay before heading to the North Sea for installation using specialised pile-driving equipment.
For further information www.seah.co.kr

Magtec ‘co-ordinating’ quality with Mitutoyo

Founded in 1992, Rotherham-based Magtec is the UK’s largest supplier of electric drive systems and specialist hybrid solutions. The privately-owned firm’s technologies include motors, gearboxes, generators, power controllers, battery systems and condition monitoring systems for heavy goods vehicles, buses, multi-wheeled and tracked defence vehicles, and bespoke specialist vehicles.

To ensure the continuation of its premium quality standards, Magtec administers a rigorous, company-wide quality-control regime and makes use various advanced inspection aids. The latest addition to Magtec’s collection of high-technology measuring equipment is a Mitutoyo Crysta-Apex S CMM.

Explaining the purchase Magtec head of quality Tom Dalgliesh says: “When the need arose for a high-precision CNC CMM, in addition to considering the potential machine’s accuracy standards, mindful of our rapidly increasing production volumes, we also considered factors such as speed and ease of use. As it satisfied all of our accuracy and efficiency requirements, we chose a Mitutoyo Crysta-Apex S CMM with a measuring capacity of 900 x 1000 x 600 mm in the X, Y and Z axis respectively.

“Now installed in our temperature-controlled inspection department, the Crysta-Apex S is delivering the high levels of precision that we need,” continues Dalgliesh. “Also, because of its impressive speed of operation and fast acceleration, not only is our new Mitutoyo CMM able to keep pace with our current output levels, it will also be able to cope with the massive rises in production and the increased amount of inspection work that we anticipate.”

Having written a large number of part programs, Magtec is now able to load single large components or large batches of smaller parts on to the Mitutoyo CMM’s bed, recall the relevant programs and start rapid, automated CNC inspection routines.
For further information www.mitutoyo.co.uk

Walter releases Laser Contour Check

Laser Contour Check is the new non-contact cutting tool measurement innovation that ensures high precision and fast in-process measurement of tool parameters in Walter tool grinding and eroding machines. Walter Ewag UK reports that the new development utilises blue laser technology in conjunction with an intelligent measuring system to measure various features on cylindrical tools from 1 to 52 mm diameter accurately and efficiently. Direct compensation for deviations takes place during the machining process.

Laser Contour Check’s analogue laser beam measures a tool’s entire contour rather than measuring at specific points as with tactile or digital methods. Notably, laser technology also avoids possible damage to the tool’s cutting edges, as well as measuring errors that could occur due to probe tip wear during tactile measuring routines.

A short measuring time of just 16 seconds (including cleaning) for diameter measurement (depending on tool type) ensures high productivity, while the operator can easily and quickly generate optimised sequences for cleaning and compensation.

The measuring system, which will be available as an option for Walter’s extensive range of tool grinding and eroding machines, integrates directly into the machine’s working area and moves into position when required.

Walter Ewag UK says the blue laser beam used offers improved accuracy compared with a conventional red laser. Blue lasers have a shorter wavelength and so optimise the laser beam geometry and reduce the effects of diffraction.
For further information www.walter-machines.com