All articles by aladmin – Page 55
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ArticleFushimi to lead Yokohama’s American business
US – Leaving his role as head of OE Tire Sales and Marketing at The Yokohama Rubber Co. (YRC) in Tokyo, Japan, Takaharu Fushimi will move to California as CEO of Yokohama Corporation North America (YCNA). It will be his second assignment in America.Fushimi will be responsible for strategic operations ...
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ArticleVolvo Gent to cut CO2 emissions by 40%
Belgium – Volvo Car Group and Stora Enso, the global paper products group, have joined forces to reduce carbon emissions at Volvo's plant at Gent by over 40%. Stora Enso will install an underground hot water pipeline, from its biomass fuelled paper mill, to transport compressed water at a temperature ...
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ArticleFord Oakville to add 1,000 workers
Canada – Following the OEM’s selection of the facility to make its Edge utility vehicle, a C$700m ($621m) upgrade is underway to expand manufacturing capability. The cars made at Oakville will be exported to more than 100 countries.By adding more than 1,000 hourly jobs, Ford will have increased the total ...
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ArticleVW reaches 200m production total
Germany – The milestone vehicle was an XL Sport, made 15 years after the OEM celebrated the 100m mark with an anniversary New Beetle. VW’s global production footprint now encompasses 106 plants in 27 countries.“We are proud to have produced 200m vehicles. This impressive figure also bears witness to our ...
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ArticleDirigindo o futuro
Mark Simms considera as tecnologias que impulsionam o desenvolvimento do futuro de veículos híbridos e elétricosO número de veículos híbridos e elétricos em showrooms e nas estradas continuam a crescer, com a tecnologia que lhes está subjacente já aparentemente estabelecida. No entanto, em muitos aspectos, estamos apenas no início da ...
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ArticleEcoDiesel rises to 20% of Ram 1500 production
US – Working with VM Motori of the Fiat Group, Chrysler will increase the EcoDiesel mix to double previous expectations by the end of November, at the Warren and Saltillo assembly plants in Michigan and Mexico respectively. The move has been made to meet demand from North American consumers.The EcoDiesel ...
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ArticleDirigiendo el futuro
Mark Simms analiza las tecnologías que están lanzando el desarrollo de los futuros vehículos híbridos y eléctricosSigue aumentando el número de vehículos híbridos en exposiciones y en las carreteras y la tecnología subyacente parece establecida. Sin embargo, en muchos sentidos todavía estamos al principio del camino hacia un transporte más ...
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ArticleNew robot welding sensor
Meta Vision Systems claims its new SLS ARC laser sensor is optimised for robotic arc welding applications and is suitable for seam finding and real-time weld seam tracking in the usual welding processes, including high current GMAW and FCAW. It offers fully automatic image quality optimisation, combined with new sensor ...
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ArticleCompact portable CMM for on-the-move measurement
The ROMER Absolute Arm Compact offers a high-accuracy shop-floor solution for small to medium parts claims Hexagon Metrology. The company says the system offers high-tolerance 3D measurement in a 1.2 metre volume for use even in confined spaces. A counterweight system enables use without mountings and Hexagon says the absolute ...
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ArticleWeld destruct testing
To effectively deal with tougher materials now being used in vehicle structures, Honsa says it has created a new class of weld destruct tools. The company claims these new impact hammers and chisels utilise improved tool valve designs with a superior barrel assembly material to cut through boron steel and ...
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ArticleParts transfer for press hardening applications
Strothmann says its transfer solution for hot forming applications features three linear axes with dynamic drives. The company says the TransferFEEDER SRT 3/040 performs programmed motion sequences and can achieve parts transfer times of under two seconds, while the press does not need to be opened as wide as in ...
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WebinarWEBINAR: Faro scanning technology
CAD-based inspections, especially in the manufacturing and automotive sectors, are changing. Today, optimised scannings of diverse materials such as plastics, metal or a variety of surface finishes and colours is required. Technology from Faro permits high-precision 3D measurement, imaging and comparison of parts and compound structures within production and quality ...
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ArticleChrysler Warren redesigns assembly line for Ram rise
US – A requirement for increased capacity at the 76-year-old plant led to the revamp of 353 workstations, enabling five more trucks to roll off the assembly line every hour, or 100 more per day. With sales of the Ram 1500 on a 52-month streak, the Michigan facility will turn ...
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ArticleEngstler is Bentley’s regional director, Europe
UK – Succeeding Bart Gerris, who is moving to another role within Volkswagen Group, Robert Engstler will take up his new position on October 1, 2014. He will report directly to Kevin Rose, member of the board for Sales, Marketing and Aftersales at Bentley.Engstler was most recently managing director of ...
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WebinarWEBINAR: TRUMPF hot forming solutions
Laser technology is a constant companion to the increasingly common hot stamping process, a primary application being the trimming of hardened parts. But there is an array of laser applications in the process chain of hot stamping, which is maturing and developing in new directions as OEMs exploit its ...
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ArticleHealthy targets
A safe working environment accounts for both regulation and human behaviour, writes Robert Marshall While automotive OEMs and tier suppliers have not been subjected to such intense global scrutiny as that endured recently by the clothing industry following several fatal incidents in low-cost manufacturing locations such as Bangladesh, worker safety ...
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Article驶向未来
Mark Simms洞察推动未来混合动力车和电动车发展的技术展示大厅和大街上的混合动力车以及电动车的数量与日俱增，在这背后的技术似乎也已经完善。但是，我们在各个方面还是处在开始，还有很多挑战和难题需要攻克。 标准工业电机以及相关动力传动系统技术已经发展完备，当然还有移用其他部门技术而发展的空间。但是，这些产品到目前为止只是直接替换下了内燃机，还有许多问题有待解决，比如在效率、重量、可靠性、复杂性，以及强度方面的设计与成本。人们都期待，推动下一代混合动力及电动车前进的会是什么技术？ 关注的焦点是，电机的动力问题。传统行业世界里的电机技术已经相当成熟，但是在电动车里的运作情况确实另一回事 — 其他部门没有几个传统工业电机，就不得不求助于电池动力。所以，从另一个角度去设计电动车电机的需求非常强烈。动荡的Yasa引领下一代混合动力机电动汽车的两个制造商是Yasa Motors和Protean Electric公司。Yasa Motors公司出身英国剑桥大学，对无磁轭分段电枢(YASA) 拓扑进行发展和商业化，公司称这是一种新型轴向磁通电动机，在转矩密度上要比其他轴向磁通电动机领先一步。该拓扑是基于一系列由磁力分段组成的机械缸体而成的。电机比转矩的变化（20Nm/kg，据说比最好方案至少好2倍）来自电机的磁学、散热和包装方面的综合进步。500Nm的YASA电机是专门为电动车和混合动力车研发的。电机是紧凑型的，直径为34cm，宽为7cm，适用于前置或后置发动机的普通汽车，因为已经没有差别了。电机能产出500Nm每‘片’，最高功率达到75KW。这样的话，2个电机片就足以驱动大部分汽车，而4片就可以让跑车在比赛中大显身手了。 今年的早些时候，捷豹路虎斥资1,600万英镑（约合2,600万美元），启动了长达27个月的研究项目，叫做Evoque_e，目的是研发含有YASA电机的电动车。由工程咨询专家Drive System Design负责积分电动机、离合器、扭矩管理相关的离合器策略，以及传输到车轮的一系列工作。Evoque_e项目的其他成员有AVL, GKN Driveline, Tata Steel, Williams Advanced Engineering, Delta Motorsport, Motor Design 以及 Zytek公司。Evoque_e项目中的三辆汽车将于2015年面世，届时向世人展示下一代电动车的技术。 同时，Yasa Motors已经拿出500万英镑为新老投资商担保，提高生产力，以满足客户的需求以及公司的商业活动。Yasa Motors的首席执行官Chris Harris说，“我们当然很高兴得到投资商的支持，他们与我们共同见证高分化电机的真正实力。电机已经被日益增长的客户群融进产品当中去了。” Protean 的发展Protean Electric公司正在开发四轮电动马达驱动系统，即Protean Drive — 与传统内燃机相比，它的混合动力系统技术可是优越的多。这是电动车里唯一的牵动驱动来源。它能准确、准时产生转矩和动力，并能放在任何一个传统18至24英尺的车轮的剩余空间里，而且能使用原装车轮轴承。直驱配置降低了零部件的数量、复杂性和成本，因此就没有必要整合传统的传动系统组件，比如外界齿轮、变速器、传动轴、车轴和差值。Protean公司称，与之前的设计相比，新的电机产品能够提高25%的峰值扭矩，可以传输1,000Nm (735 lb-ft) 和 75kW (100hp)。商业开发部副总裁Ken Stewart说，该技术“可以解决汽车燃料经济问题，动力传动性能问题，以及整合的难题。” 2013年末，Protean Electric公司宣布与FAW- Volkswagen Automotive一共合作开发一种全新的电力推进系统，包括Protean Drive技术，投入汽车项目和生产。FAW-VW公司称，这会为VW Bora纯电动车创造一款全新的后轮驱动系统。 Protean公司已经能够确定在多部汽车当中使用其电机技术，比如Volvo C30 ...
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ArticleDriving the future
Mark Simms looks at the technologies propelling the development of future hybrid and electric vehiclesThe number of hybrid and electric vehicles in showrooms and on the roads continues to grow, with the technology that underpins them already seemingly established. Yet, in many ways, we are only at the very beginning ...
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ArticleSkoda celebrates 80 years at Kvasiny
Czech Republic – The plant opened in 1934 and has been part of Skoda since 1947, when the Superb started rolling off the line; it now produces three models with a workforce of 4,200. The factory has turned out more than 1.5m units to date.Skoda Kvasiny currently makes the Superb, ...
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ArticleNew intake Rolls up to Goodwood
UK – Eleven apprentices and 13 graduates toured the Rolls-Royce headquarters and plant in West Sussex on the first day of their induction. The premium OEM’s latest recruits met 11 personnel who have newly transitioned from the apprenticeship scheme to the workforce.The Rolls-Royce Apprenticeship Programme was launched in 2006 and ...