Drive takes a lot of bottle

We were asked to write an article on a highly innovative drive solution provided for Radnor Hills Mineral Water Company by SEW Eurodrive. In order to write the article we had to visit Radnor Hills, at Heartsease Farm, nestling in the beautiful mountains and forests of Radnorshire. We had the pleasure of interviewing the managing director, William Watkins, and were kindly shown around the bottling plant for which SEW Eurodrive had provided the innovative drives solution. We also had to arrange all the photography that involved another enjoyable visit to Heartsease Farm with our team of professional photographers. The result was a two page article in the April 2016 issue of Eureka, the front cover with the full article inside Drives & Controls, the front cover of Controls Drives & Automation with the full article inside, a full page in Industrial Technology, and the story covered in numerous other publications including engineering magazines and the food and drinks press. The article is still online on various magazines' web sites. You can see it here on Eureka's web site. The article was credited to Mike Kinglsey, of SEW Eurodrive, who briefed us on the project and was present with us on our visits to Heartsease Farm. Thanks Mike! Thanks too to William Watkins, of Radnor Hills, Tony Sacks, editor of Drives & Controls, Charlotte Stonestreet, editor of Controls Drives & Automation, Paul Fanning, editor of Eureka, Mark Simms, editor of Industrial Technology, and all the other editors who gave this story such great coverage!

Decentralised drives bring energy savings and operational benefits

We were invited by the editor of Design Products & Applications (DPA) magazine, a leading engineering design publication, to contribute editorially to its 20th Anniversary Drives Supplement. We worked closely with SEW Eurodrive and DPA's editor to put together the lead article for the supplent that you can see here.

Thanks to Brian Jones, of SEW Eurodrive, and Paige West, who was then the editor of DPA.

Design Basics: A Quick Guide to Servomotors

Educational articles are extremely well received by engineers and often saved for future reference. Knowing this the engineering press value them highly too and as well as publishing them in the printed versions of their magazines, will often feature them online and make them available as PDF downloads. Engineers are always ready to learn something new, and no one understands specific technologies better than the manufacturers and suppliers of products designed for manufacturing and industry. Working with motec, we wrote an exclusive article for Design Solutions, a leading publication for design engineers within OEM manufacturing, exploring the history of servomotors, the technology behind them and their applications within industry. 

motec is a trusted UK supplier of motion control, motor technology, sensing and pump solutions—with over 40 years of experience in industrial automation. Thanks to Andrew Fallows, managing director of motec, for a thorough technical briefing and Rachael Morling, editor of Design Solutions.

First Service

We absolutely love trains so we were more than excited when Renold Hi-Tec Couplings asked us to write a short interest article for the press covering their recent servicing of of the transmission coupling on Ribble Steam Railway's BR Class 14 locomotive D9539. The coupling, a DCB UJ rubber-in-compression coupling, was requiring its first service since it was supplied when D9539 was built in 1965! Given the arduous work life of D9539 it certainly said something about the quality of the original product! Engineers love trains too and our finished article was received well by the press, with the two examples here from Design Products & Applications (DPA) and Industrial Technology magazine. Although visitors to Ribble Steam Railway are currently unable to see locomotive D9539 you can read more about it here. Thanks to Alan Dean of Renold Hi-Tec Couplings, Paige West, the then editor of DPA, Mark Simms, editor of Industrial Technology, and all the other editors of engineering and rail industry publications that ran the story.

Commercial and high precision worm gear sets provide innovative solutions

We wrote an exclusive article for Plant & Works Engineering magazine looking at the high technology design and manufacturing of modern day worm gear sets.

Despite the fact that worm gears are one of the oldest types of gearing systems, modern worm gear sets produced using the latest CNC machines, inspection equipment, and materials technology provide innovative, reliable, high performance solutions on a wide range of applications. We took a look at Renold Gears' advanced manufacturing capabilities and were delighted to have the opportunity to see first hand the whole process behind the design and manufacture of modern day worm gears and the huge amount of knowledge and expertise that is unique to Renold Gears.

Not only was the article published in Plant & Works Engineering, the magazine also featured it online. At the time the magazine had a top-ten chart on its home page featuring the top ten best read articles. Not only did the article we wrote for Renold Gears hit the number one spot within a matter of weeks, but it stayed there for several months! Obviously Plant & Works Engineering's readers found the article as interesting as it was for us writing it!

The article you can see here is still on Plant & Works Engineering's web site. You can see it here

Thanks to Robert Stanley, of Renold Gears, for showing us round the factory and for patiently briefing us on the highly technical subject of worm gear design and manufacture. Thanks too to Aaron Blutstein editor of Plant & Works Engineering

Extending the life of drive trains in heavy industry

We were contacted by the editor of Design Products & Applications (DPA), who invited us to write the lead article for an upcoming feature on power transmission couplings. The editor of the magazine wanted to focus on power transmission systems for heavy industry and the challenges engineers might face when specifying couplings on the most arduous applications. After consulting with engineers at Renold Hi-Tec Couplings and Renold Clutches and Couplings, our article covered the benefits of specifying rubber-in-compression couplings to ensure the smooth running of the entire power transmission system, reducing maintenance and the importance of back-stop clutches for designing in safety on large inclined conveyors. Thanks to Alan Dean of Renold Hi-Tec Couplings and Renold Clutches & Couplings for briefing us on this article, and Page West, the then editor of DPA.

Chain monitoring knows no barriers

When Renold Chain were asked to install their very latest data recording technology, Smartlink, on the gargantuan chain that operates the Dartford Creek Barrier, part of London's flood defences, we were thrilled and excited to be given the chance to cover the story! The barrier is part of London’s flood defence system and works in conjunction with gates at Tilbury Docks, Canvey Island, the King George V Lock, the Barking Barrier and the famous Thames Barrier itself.

The Dartford Barrier is made up of two towers, each almost 100 feet high that stand aside the Darent tributary river. Between them are sections of barrier that are lowered into place sequentially to form a defensive wall against high tides. The chain that drives the mechanism on the Dartford Barrier is simply massive. It is over 90 metres in length, weighs in at an incredible 13 tonnes and has a breaking load of a colossal 285 tonnes.

Apart from writing the article our challenge was getting great photography of the barrier and Renold's mammoth chain, given that when the barrier is raised virtually none of the chain is in sight. The engineers at the Dartford Barrier were very helpful though and with a bit of daring acrobatics our professional photographer managed to capture some stunning images. The resultant article can be seen here on the front cover of Design Solutions magazine with the full article inside! It also made it into Professional Engineering, Eureka magazine and several other engineering publications.

Thanks go to John Cooper (our daring photographer) the engineers at the Dartford Barrier, David Turner, the then marketing manager of Renold Chain, and Rachael Morling, editor of Design Solutions.