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6 P&TR Nov/Dec 2011 P&TR News Driven linear actuator system for bottle spraying The Liverpool-based company Dibro has one of the largest facilities in the UK for decorating glass bottles. It applies decorative painted finishes, acid-etched effects and lacquers to a variety of glass containers and has recently installed a new printing facility for the ceramic and precious metal printing of glass containers. The company is a specialist in its field but by its own admission no expert in linear motion. So when it came to automating a glass treatment process on the new plant to increase productivity it chose HepcoMotion® to recommend the most appropriate system for linear actuation. Alert on HSE cost recovery proposals New proposals by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) are likely, if they are implemented in their present form, to have serious financial implications for employers that are found to be in breach of health and safety laws, warns Paul Laidler, Managing Director of Laidler Associates, a division of TÜV SÜD Product Service. In essence, the HSE is seeking to recover, from offending employers, the costs it incurs while investigating a material breach of health and safety law, and also any additional costs in providing support to the employer as an aid to ensuring that the situation is successfully remedied. The arrangements have already been agreed in principle with the Government, and the proposals were available for public consultation until 14th October. If, as seems likely, the proposals are adopted, the new system of charging could start as soon as April 2012, and it is estimated that the HSE will charge for its The process Dibro was seeking to automate involves spraying the bottles with a slip coating after printing as they emerge on a conveyor from the firing lehr. This is a kiln with a temperature gradient from end to end for annealing glass, a method of slowly cooling the product to prevent thermal shock. The linear system was required to transport a spray nozzle mechanism across the full width of the conveyor, coating a line of bottles on each pass. For this purpose HepcoMotion® suggested a complete system based on a hybrid version of its Profile Driven Unit, the PDU2; a bespoke inspectors’ time at a rate of £133 per hour. “The costs will certainly mount up very quickly,” said Paul Laidler, “so it’s important that employers are fully aware of these new proposals. However, they should also bear in mind that the charges will only apply to companies that break health and safety laws, so those that are careful about meeting their responsibilities and staying within the law will not be affected in any way.” The new proposals are, however, a wake-up call to businesses to review their health and safety practices and procedures to ensure that nothing has been overlooked. In particular, machinery users are advised to check that their PUWER assessments are up to date and comprehensive in their coverage. Should these checks throw up any concerns, businesses are encouraged to seek expert advice of the type provided by Laidler Associates rather than taking the solution from its standard range of products. “We knew we needed a linear system that would provide consistent speed of the traverse unit to ensure an even spray coating and also the accurate positioning of the spray head so only the sides of the bottles are coated,” explained Tom Dickinson, Managing Director and son of one of the Dickinson brothers that founded the company in 1933. Many HepcoMotion® customers know precisely what they want to achieve through automation within a given budget but they do not have the linear motion expertise to specify the required system with confidence. Tom Dickinson continued: “We were certainly attracted by the quality of the HepcoMotion® product but more importantly for us it was the technical understanding the company brought to the table. HepcoMotion® just made it so easy for us.” The PDU2 at the heart of the Dibro system is a belt-driven linear actuator and ideal for this high performance application because it is compact and, thanks to its Herculane® wheels, runs virtually friction-free on the inside of the profile. This provides extremely stable support for the carriage plate that carries the spray nozzle; felt wipers sweep away any debris in its path. The overall system comprises a rigid but lightweight aluminium slotted profile into which fits the toothed belt drive and carriage, an arrangement that effectively encloses the unit and makes it ideal for operating in the damp conditions on the Dibro bottle production risk that HSE inspectors may be the first to discover a problem. “The cost of professional advice from a consultant with a proven track record is modest,” said Paul Laidler, “and will certainly be less than the fines and the new HSE cost recovery charges that are likely to be imposed if health and safety laws have been broken, even inadvertently. Therefore where there is any doubt at all about health and safety compliance, professional advice is a very sound investment.” line. This quality is enhanced by stainless fixings, available as a standard choice within the HepcoMotion® product programme. HepcoMotion® specified and delivered the turnkey driven system complete with extra long beam to accord with the width of the lehr and AC motor to drive the PDU2. “We also wanted to fit ancillary sensors for positioning and control of the drive unit to vary speed using an inverter,” Tom Dickinson explained. “And the HepcoMotion® system gave us the facility to do that easily.” The system cycle is dictated by the belt speed of the lehr which in turn is dependent on the size of the bottles being printed. Typically the traverse unit operates every minute, travelling at around 200mm/sec. The lehr is 2m wide so it typically takes the system 10 seconds to coat <strong>15</strong> one-litre spirit bottles or 50 perfume bottles. The new printing facility is now up and running bringing new business to this family firm. Tom Dickinson concludes: “Currently the lehr is operating 24 hours a day and I’m pleased to confirm the HepcoMotion® system is working very well.” For reader enquiries, please mention PTR: HepcoMotion, Lower Moor Business Park, Tiverton Way, Tiverton, Devon EX16 6TG Tel: +44 (0) 1884 243400 Fax: +44 (0) 1884 243399 Email: hepco@hepcomotion.com www.HepcoMotion.com News in brief EPTDA Annual Convention for 2012 will be held in Lisbon, Portugal on 26-28 September. Learning to walk faster with high performance modelling Discover how MapleSim physical modelling software is helping to perfect the process of humanoid walking in robots at MMU. MapleSim’s accuracy and kinematics capabilities help construct complex simulations and build models faster, plus complete experiments with better data. 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