An article written by DVS Technology in Gear Technology magazine examines the evolving developments in machine tools in gear manufacturing.
The article looks at a few key areas that are seeing machine tool advancements developing to meet various challenges and opportunities.
The areas that are seeing these shifts in development are:-
– Electrification
As the EV revolution gains pace machine tools are adapting to meet particular demands. VarioChamfer from Pra ̈wema Antriebstechnik is a solution for the critical components of planetary gears – the so called stepped planet and ring gear used in EV transmissions. This innovation skives and deburrs in a single clamping, significantly increasing productivity. All processing steps can take place inline on one machine. Particularly important in the series production of transmission components – a stepped planet can be deburred in less than 10 seconds!
– Smart Modular robot cells
Key strengths of smart and modular robot cells are the ability to adapt to whatever challenge is thrown at them. Modularity is key to the flexibility and acts as a building block.So, in the production process of an electric motor, Pittler’s Skiving, Buderus’s Hard Turning and Pra ̈wema’s Gear Honing Technology can be combined to form an efficient turnkey process with modular robot cells from the DVS Group.
Robots will be key to future-proofing and flexible automation combined with sensors for capturing the position of components. The modular system allows the seamless combination of the various elements in the process.
– Tool technology
Today’s technology requires gears with extremely fine surfaces and micro-geometries. High-end tools such as Vario Speed dressing technology and Pra ̈wema’s Synchrofine in combination with high-performance honing rings from Naxos are necessary to achieve the precision results required.
– Integrated solutions
Increasingly important is the ability to integrate and co-ordinate technologies, materials and services end-to-end from design to delivery.
– Digitalisation
The future of the machine tool industry is in digitalisation and Ai will accelerate this process maximising the use of actionable data.
– New Materials
New materials are now developed to solve key product requirements and attributes. Machine tools are responding and adapting to work with these new materials.
The above is a precis of the original article below. Please follow the link if you would like to know more on how the featured organisations are adapting machine tool technology to meet the latest production challenges.