Western Forest Products (WFP) of Vancouver, British Columbia uses two powerful hydraulic cylinders with a lifting capacity of 50 tons to lift bundles of wet western Hemlock, Douglas fir and western red cedar logs out of the adjoining bay and into the company's mill in Ladysmith, BC. The cylinders are connected to lifting arms, which are attached to either side of a large cradle, which lifts the log bundles out of the water onto the log deck at the mill operating elevation. Both lifting arms must move in unison or else the cradle could be damaged. (Timber Processing, November 2017)

The test group wanted a better way of controlling the hydraulics, and settled on the idea of doing closed-loop control via an electronic motion controller. The advantage of closed-loop control would be consistent and repeatable application of forces on the structure under test. In addition, if the right motion controller was selected, it would be much easier to operate multiple hydraulic cylinders in concert than it had been using the old manual system. Since the test team wanted to continue using LabVIEW, it was also important to select a motion controller that was easy to interface to the PC running the LabVIEW environment. (Aerospace Manufacturing and Design, November/December 2017)

Delta announces that its RMCTools motion control software now features XY plotting in addition to plotting variables over time. XY plots have value in a number of uses in aiding manufacturing and testing applications. The tool can now produce stress-strain curves. It can be used to compare valve flow versus command signal to check if a valve is within spec. It can analyze actuator position versus temperature, or it can be used to characterize hysteresis by observing variation in control variable behavior increases versus decreases. An XY plot displays all the data items in a plot relative to any other data item in the plot, with that other data item being the horizontal (x) axis, and the remaining data items being plotted on the vertical (y) axis.

Wuxi FOREVER in China

FOREVER Automation Technology is a system integrating distributor offering complete system solutions with high performance servo hydraulic/electric motion controls and advanced sensing technologies, to industrial customers in the East and Central-South Regions of China.

With Delta's RMC motion controller and other brands of complementary products, FOREVER has provided turnkey solutions for technically challenging applications in industries such as automotive, aviation, testing, machinery, hydraulic presses, oil & green energy, metals and wood products.

FOREVER aims for "Global Partners, Local Values" and continuously strives for applying world leading technologies in mission critical applications for local customers, in order to provide innovative, reliable and cost effective solutions that satisfy the growing demands of the Chinese markets.

Don Turrentine - IT Manager

Don has a strong background with more than 20 years’ experience in network administration, software development, and business application systems having owned and managed a successful computer business.

 

Don stays busy outside of Delta as he and his wife Emma are raising six boys on their small farm here in SW Washington state.

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