trends in automation

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SupraMotion 3.0
Festo has developed the so called “SupraMotion 3.0” exhibits to illustrate future
superconductor applications. The latest exhibits include SupraCarrier, SupraCycle
and SupraHelix. Products can be supported and transported on suspended rollers
with the SupraCarrier exhibit. SupraCycle from Festo shows the contactless
transfer of a magnetic puck between two superconductor elements. The stored,
permanent connection can be actively released and restored. SupraHelix, on the
other hand, is a suspended screw shaft, which can be driven actively and
contactlessly to transport ring shaped products or process them while in rotation.
Three cryostats with superconductors are mounted on a base plate and the two magnetic
object carriers are transferred contactlessly in turn to the next cryostat.
Contactless transfer
The new SupraCycle from Festo transfers
a magnetic object carrier between two
superconductor elements without any
contact. It shows how the stored,
permanent connection can be actively
released and restored. Three cryostats
with superconductors are mounted on a
base plate. Two magnetic object carriers
are transferred in turn from one cryostat
to the next. Two small, open bottles filled
with liquid are attached to these object
carriers. The magnetic object carriers are
frozen in the cryostats at a distance of
several millimetres from the
superconductors. The cryostats can be
rotated through 360 degrees using the
rotary modules ERMB. When two of them
are positioned exactly opposite one
another, one hands over the magnetic
object carrier to the other. A PCB on the
cryostats provides the necessary built in
intelligence. One of the many possible
practical applications of the SupraCycle is
the securing of a workpiece carrier to an
object carrier. The carrier can be
transferred between the two systems in
order to transport objects, as the exhibit
illustrates using the glass bottles as an
example.
A host of new applications
Superconductor automation modules can
be designed using numerous bearing
variants and active drives. Any suspended
kinematic sequence can thus be set up.
The transfer of objects using a shuttle can
be carried out completely contactlessly.
This means that the systems meet the most
stringent demands on sterility. The
modules maintain their predefined
positions by means of the system’s
intrinsic resetting forces, regardless of
spatial alignment.
The vision for future Festo modules
involves completely wear resistant
bearings and cooling systems with a long
service life of up to 10 years. Contactless