Page 38 - trends in automation 1.2013
Basic HTML Version
M
ore than 50 per cent of Swe-
den’s land area is covered by
forests, making it the country
with the highest proportion
of forest in Europe. No wonder then that
the forest-based industry is an important
sector of the Swedish economy. Swedish
machine builder Söderhamn Eriksson
focuses its entire business activity on this
sector, producing machines such as edg-
ing systems for the sawmilling industry.
During the edging process, the rounded
outer edges created by the curve of the
log are removed using a sawing machine.
It is important to remove only as much
bark as is necessary and at the same time
to generate as little waste as possible.
Twelve times faster
The high-performance edger from
Söderhamn Eriksson feeds boards at a
speed of up to 450 metres per minute,
which corresponds to about 75 boards
per minute. Eight moving arms rapidly
transport the boards, stop them for pro-
cessing and then unload them. Speed is of
the essence, but it places considerable
stress on all moving machine parts. Wear
can increase and shorter maintenance
On your boards,
get set, go!
The process of transforming
a tree into a board is a long one. Waste of this valuable raw
material must be kept to an absolute minimum during processing. This is where the
new high-speed edger from Söderhamn Eriksson comes in. Standard cylinders DSBC with
PPS cushioning ensure smooth running and a long service life.
PPS cushioning reduces wear and maintenance
intervals can lead to a significant amount
of machine downtime. To ensure that
this doesn’t happen in the new machine,
the Swedish company is using standard
cylinders DSBC from Festo with PPS
cushioning.
Less stress for people and machines
A total of 30 standard cylinders type DSBC
operate in this dusty environment. Thanks
to PPS cushioning, the cylinders don’t
have to be readjusted. This eliminates the
need for painstaking, time-consuming
adjustment using an adjusting screw. All
cylinders in the machine are therefore
always accurately set. The self-adjusting
pneumatic end-positioning cushioning
also reduces hard shock, thus reducing
stress for people and machines and
increasing the service life of the system.
Ulf Bodare, Managing Director of Söder-
hamn Eriksson Catech AB, is more than
satisfied with the choice of the standard
cylinder DSBC from Festo: “PPS cushion-
ing speeds up our production process
because it always adjusts itself perfectly.
It saves our customers time, because
there’s no longer any need to readjust all
of the cylinders.” To ensure that the
cylinders DSBC are fit for long-term use
in the forest-based industry there is
a comprehensive modular seal system
available. Seals and scraper rings de-
signed to meet a wide range of require-
ments protect against even the most
stubborn contamination. Last but not
least, the weight-optimised design of the
standard cylinder DSBC makes it ideal
for moving components. Customers of
Söderhamn Eriksson can thus focus on
their core competencies, even when it
comes to high operating speeds, and no
longer need to worry about the function-
ality of pneumatic components.
