A large percentage of small-to-medium manufacturers have missed out on many the benefits of robotic industrial automation such as increased productivity, improved quality and enhanced competitiveness. Rapid change, however, is underway. Both traditional industrial robotics companies, as well as a number of new vendors, are providing products and services specifically designed satisfy the requirements and support the culture of the sizable and underserved small-to-medium manufacturer market. In this session, attendees will learn about these new products and services. Real world case studies will be presented to illustrate salient points. Topics covered include: Collaborative robotics Bench-top systems Grippers and gripping systems... Read More

CEJN, a leading manufacturer of quick connect coupling solutions, will share insights and ideas of how a hydraulic multi-coupling can add value for both the equipment/attachment manufacturer and its end customers. As our hydraulic industry continues to evolve, equipment/attachment manufacturers are tasked with finding and creating additional value for their end customers. Often times this is accomplished by utilizing components that offer operator time savings, ease of operation use, and the reduction of human mistakes… especially in areas with which the end customer interacts (i.e. quick coupling connection between the machinery and attachments). CEJN is a global company with manufacturing... Read More

Freudenberg Sealing Technologies has developed a new concept for the manufacture of diaphragm accumulators. Its advantages are a reduced need for components, fewer process steps, shorter assembly times, a higher level of product cleanliness, and an expansion of the product portfolio into additional fields of application. These diaphragm accumulators also weigh significantly less. This is opening up new opportunities for applications in the automotive and industrial fields. The assembly concept is based on a hermetically sealed pressure chamber in which the joining of the two housing halves with the help electromagnetic pulse technology (EMPT) as well as the filling of... Read More

Tompkins will provide a demonstration and hold an open forum for discussion of “Best Practices” for making hydraulic connections. Sponsored By:

Charter Dura‐Bar, the largest North American producer of continuous cast iron bars, will discuss the benefits and advantages of a newly introduced grade of ductile iron, Solution Strengthened Ductile Iron. With excellent strength and ductility, SSDI can be used in a wide variety of fluid power applications. One of the key features of SSDI is enhanced machinability, yielding productivity increases of approximately 30 percent! Charter Dura‐Bar is a North American based company headquartered in Woodstock, Illinois, where our continuously cast-iron bar stock is developed, produced, tested, and marketed. Available in a variety of grades, shapes and sizes, Dura‐Bar is engineered... Read More

Stop wasting your time on Strategic Planning and Start Thinking Strategically to achieve Competitive Advantage for Exponential Results. Sponsored By:

Join him for this interactive session as he uses 2D and 3D animations, simulations and fly-throughs to look at the functions of variable displacement pumps. A variety of compensators and stroke control valves along with their applications will be covered.

Looking to reduce the cost of operating your compressed air system. Have no idea how to do it? This session will explain common supply and demand side strategies to reduce the cost of running a compressed air system using examples of systems that have already been improved.

The fluid power industry has much evolved in recent years. Systems being designed now integrate other technologies to provide greater efficiency gains. Companies are looking for intuitive ways to incorporate, test and troubleshoot the electrical and control design with the fluid power systems. With cosimulation, the software model can interact with the hardware to create a complete machine with its control, as a way to develop and test electro-hydraulic systems. In this presentation, we will show how cosimulation can be used throughout the various step of a product lifecycle. Sponsored By:

Multi-stage telescopic cylinders, best known for the role they play on dump trucks, have historically had design limitations which kept them off the “main stage” and limited their use in other mobile and industrial applications. Today, there are several design options and features that can make telescopic cylinders a “Rockstar” in a variety of applications where the stroke length needs to be long relative to the retracted length. OEMs, fluid power distributors, and maintenance personnel will want to come and find out why critics are raving about telescopic cylinders’ recent performances holding loads, operating at low speeds, fitting tight spaces,... Read More

A panel of mobile machine manufacturers will be represented by Gary Dostal, Komatsu Mining Corp.; Gary Kassen, CNH Industrial; and Greg Downs, Zoomlion Heavy Industry NA Inc. They will be talking about how the hydraulics versus electrics debate has been playing out the last few years, what’s on the horizon for mobile hydraulics technology, and what OEMs want to see from hydraulic component manufacturers in the next couple of years.

Attendees will learn about the advancements in Automation and the influence of technological breakthroughs that are impacting the industry for years to come. The presentation will review the role of pneumatics in automation, the reasons driving embedded intelligence, and the growth of smart machines on the plant floor.

Telematics for Off-Highway Machines: Improving operational efficiency and productivity by connecting your machines to the cloud via wireless or cellular interfaces; enabling real time machine data monitoring and data logging and more advanced functionalities such as prognostics and predictive maintenance. Sponsored By:

Understanding pressure balanced gear pump technology and the integration of hydraulic valves allows mobile hydraulic engineers to increase efficiencies within their mobile hydraulic machine designs. The results come in the form of a longer life cycle of the hydraulic pump, reduced up-front costs of system components, increased performance of the hydraulic system, eliminating hose connections, reducing the hydraulic pump footprint and lowering machine operating costs. Sponsored By:

Automation has become a foundation in modern industrial applications, often demanding precise control of a cylinder. If the cylinder and system are not designed correctly, the automation won’t work as required, or have a reduced life. This presentation will discuss 5 considerations important to designing a robust, fast, accurate automated hydraulic cylinder solution.

The laws of thermodynamics dictate that the majority of fluid power energy not applied as useful work is wasted as heat. By monitoring your machine’s heat signature, you can not only map performance trends but also troubleshoot complicated failures. Learn the shocking truth about following heat to improve maintenance and troubleshooting.

Dyke’s photo collection of hydraulic system care issues from twenty years of hydraulics training at industrial sites will be the basis for a lively presentation and discussion. He will cover what contaminants are most common in hydraulic systems, how do they get into the fluid and what steps are needed other than basic filtration, in order to keep hydraulic fluid healthy.

Marshall will describe some common ways to eliminate compressed air system energy waste on both the supply side and demand side of the system. He will discuss everything from compressor control to leakage repair and various points in between.

How can the hydraulic system benefit from a SMART reservoir design? Learn about fluid conditioning technology, efficiency, and reliability in hydraulic reservoir design while ensuring  optimal mobile hydraulic machine performance in a unique, demanding environment. Sponsored By:

Bring your laptop or tablet to learn how using web-based CAD configurators can make pneumatic cylinder selection easy. Sponsored By;

In today’s world, innovative products are tested virtually by multi-domain simulation. The first step is the proof of concepts. With the chosen architecture of the machine, more detailed analysis is performed, up to the release of the actual prototype. To accelerate the development process and validate the decision making, dynamic simulation can virtually assess and optimize the performance of systems. Through a recent case study on a “Locomotive Speed Control System”, this presentation’s purpose is to explore the methodology used to improve the understanding of the mechatronic assembly, its operation, and to optimize the safety. Once the system virtual model... Read More

When designing or retrofitting a machine to improve cycle times, one consideration that frequently gets overlooked is the rapid accelerations and decelerations that are required by short move times. Management wants faster throughput, but in order to achieve that, the machine not only has to move quickly, but it also has to speed up and slow down quickly, too. This can create a controls headache, because hydraulic systems are inherently flexible by nature. Without careful planning, the desired precision may never be reached because the system is just too sloppy. An advanced motion controller, such as the RMC family from... Read More

If all symbols were meant to be animated in your mind’s eye, then many symbols still present some real challenges, even for the most active imaginations. Making sense of the symbols and the interconnections on hydraulic system schematic diagrams can be challenging. Join Carl Dyke for an interactive presentation that examines the very brief and recent history of hydraulic symbol standards. Carl will be using Live Schematics simulations to simplify the reading of mining machine and pulp mill hydraulic schematics. Bring your phone, tablet or laptop to the session to interact with the same systems used in the presentation and... Read More