Bigger Shows, Better Technology

What did we see at IMTS and MINExpo? How much time do you have?

Coverage of IMTS and MINExpo International will continue on the PTE website through the end of the year and into 2025. We're excited to share the stories and new technologies discussed at both trade shows in September. 

Autonomously Devoted to Manufacturing 

I spent some time with robots in Chicago during IMTS—Boston Dynamics agile, mobile robot known as Spot, for example. I’ve watched many iterations of this robot hop across trade show floors like a manufacturing celebrity, but witnessing Spot traverse the very industries I cover in Power Transmission Engineering is taking these applications much closer to home. 

Pump, motor and electrical equipment monitoring? Spot can do this.  Acoustic vibration inspection of bearings in rotating equipment? Spot can do this, too. In less than a year, thousands of these robots have been deployed in manufacturing facilities for gauge reading, thermal inspection and acoustic inspection. 

And they ‘re controlled with a system about as easy to navigate as an X-box or PlayStation game controller. Better yet, these robots are reducing unplanned downtimes, preventing critical machine failures and dramatically reducing plant maintenance costs.     

Additive AI

On the 3D-printing front, I’m always impressed how much the technology advances in additive manufacturing for every IMTS visit. There’s just enough bells and whistles every two years to remind attendees that the industry has come a very long way since the first 3D-printers were developed in the early 1980s. 

Now, an engineer can simply tell the computer what they want from a 3D-design. “Can you make me a cylinder, radius, diameter, circumference, height, inputs, etc. Wait, let’s cut those dimensions in half. Perfect. Please print me a prototype.” 

No need to scrap seven designs in your computer or crumple up another piece of graph paper and start from scratch. This is an additive manufacturing “collaboration” with a software partner such as Autodesk. Customers are asked to do things faster and more sustainably while cutting costs at every corner. AI is making this a reality in product development for additive manufacturing applications. 

Behind the Scenes Appreciation

Everything at MINExpo International is gigantic. This was my first chance to stand next to crawlers, rope shovels, trucks and conveyor belts used for mining applications. I was blown away by the sheer size and power of this equipment. 

What is equally fascinating are the components you don’t see in plain sight. Behind every direct drive transmission, for example, is an impressive gear set doing the real work. These gears are produced by many of the advertisers and contributors featured in PTE and Gear Technology. 

Direct drive crowd transmission for rope shovels.

The components—gears, bearings, motors—are hiding in plain sight behind this massive equipment, but the quality standards and energy efficiency needed to keep this equipment running in the most hazardous working conditions is truly mind boggling. 

Don’t forget what’s under the hood, inside the transmission and attached to the conveyor belts. Mechanical motion is the heart and soul of manufacturing. The components in mining applications need to be bigger, stronger and more durable than other industrial markets. 

The Importance of Raw Data

All the appropriate buzzwords were front and center during MINExpo. Predictive maintenance, condition monitoring, smart factories, etc., and IIoT is becoming more prevalent in mining for obvious reasons. 

Sensors are needed to perform in harsh environments where dust, extreme temps and vibrations cause equipment failures daily. To make the most of the information gathered, real-time communication is essential. Today, an engineer can get all the information necessary to assess a gearbox or motor failure from their desktop computer before sending out the maintenance crew into a mine shaft. Data transmission is creating safer working environments and more efficient mining production.

IoMine, Liebherr’s updated and expanded technology portfolio, for example, features cutting-edge technology designed to optimize all aspects of day-to-day mining operations. Because the new technology portfolio is intended to support customers as more and more move to an integrated operations approach to mining, Liebherr wanted to highlight this in its choice of name.

“An integrated operations approach uses a connected ecosystem of technologies to optimize the load and haul cycle. Enhancing these processes improves both productivity and safety – two vital criteria for our customers,” explains Tristan Malec, general manager, digital technology products, Liebherr-Mining Equipment SAS. “We want customers to know from the outset that our products will support them in these endeavors.”

The expanded IoMine portfolio offers new command and control capabilities, data integration and remote support services, all of which allows customers to use the integrated operations approach to their advantage. Each product within the three distinct product families is designed to improve the safety, efficiency and profitability of customers' mining operations.