Technology Matters: Beckhoff's XPlanar System

This video is an excerpt from Automation World's "Technology Matters" video series in which Beckhoff's XPlanar technology debut at PACK EXPO Connects is highlighted.

Nov 10th, 2020

B&R Automation Highlights Planar Conveyance System

B&R Automation’s Acopos 6D is a unique conveyance system that transports items using levitating planar movers. Watch the innovation in action on this Take Five video.

Turck showed a conveyor demo, showcasing various Turck products and how they can be used in the packaging industry, especially automotive and other wet, harsh environments.

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The Mini-Geo and Acopos 6D from B&R Automation

B&R is highlighting two of its unique transport systems, both of which allow for batch sizes of one.

Beckhoff highlights XPlanar’s no contamination through contract-free and wear-free movement.

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From additional hygienic and washdown capabilities in its XPlanar and XTS technologies to new TwinCAT integration packages and I/O safety features, Beckhoff Automation brings an array of cutting-edge automation products to PACK EXPO Las Vegas.

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Dorner Flex Move Helix

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Festo’s SMS combines pneumatics with electric automation for use in positioning, indexing, clamping, feeding, and cut-to-length tasks.

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'On the surface of the tile, there are a lot of very flat coils; and that's where the name XPlanar comes from. By generating electromagnetic fields, the coils float and propel the mover above the surface. And then, by varying these electromagnetic fields, we’re able create free 2D motion, which allows for six degrees of freedom, enabling the mover to travel in any direction we want.” — Jeff Johnson, Beckhoff Automation

Adaptive Manufacturing Gets Real with New Materials Handling Tech

The ability to easily create custom products requires new technologies to move beyond mass production. Beckhoff’s XPlanar enables lot size one production as well as positioning for labeling, inspection, and other production and packaging operations.

How Can New Material Handling Technologies Support Adaptive Manufacturing Concepts?

In this episode, we connect with Jeff Johnson, U.S. mechatronics product manager at Beckhoff, to learn more about how Beckhoff's XPlanar material handling system uses levitation to move parts and products for assembly and/or packaging applications.

Cables and hoses are routed in conduit around the robot to protect them against the robot’s movements and application environment.

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Analog Signal Conditioning

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Flexible feeding system using vision, motion, and robotics technologies developed by Armo Tool in conjunction with Omron Automation and Taylor Fluid Systems.

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Beckhoff Highlights Material Handling and Machine Vision Updates

Beckhoff’s press conference at Hannover Messe focused on new functionalities for its XTS, XPlanar, and TwinCAT Vision products.

Digital twins can be used to help optimize production lines, including motor and drive configurations.

Motors and Drives Come Together for Motion Efficiency, Performance, Reliability

Beyond the advances made to both motors and drives in terms of energy efficiency, safety, cleanability, and more, suppliers emphasize the importance of how they work together in a complete motion system.

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ION®/CME N-Series Digital Drives are compact, PCB-mountable intelligent motion control amplifiers that feature full programmability, 1 KW output capacity, support for quadrature, sin/cos and BiSS-C encoders, and more.

General purpose inverter duty rated motors from Siemens.

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What's the Difference Between Standard and Inverter Duty Motors?

In this episode, we connect with Brent Kooiman, senior project engineer and design manager at Interstates, to learn about the differences between general purpose and inverter duty motors and the types of industrial applications each are best suited for.

XPlanar eliminates the need to move the plasma jet; instead, a floating planar mover carries the workpiece into position for precise surface treatment. Source: Plasmatreat

OEM Redesigns Equipment to Incorporate XPlanar Floating Movers

The levitating material handling technology from Beckhoff is being used by Plasmatreat in its equipment to position materials beneath spray nozzles for plasma pre-treatment and coating.

Beckhoff X Planar

Technology Matters: Beckhoff's XPlanar System

This video is an excerpt from Automation World's 'Technology Matters' video series in which Beckhoff's XPlanar technology debut at PACK EXPO Connects is highlighted.

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The complex structure of Roche’s cobas plasma separation card consists of a carrier layer with a bonded nonwoven fabric and an upper layer for protection and labeling.

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