2015 was a good year for manufacturing machinery.
Check out our five favorites below:
1. ARC Energy’s CHES 500 Furnace
The CHES 500 furnace. (Video courtesy of ARC Energy.)
The CHES 500 furnace developed by ARC Energy produced the world’s largest crack-free sapphire crystal boule in 2015—twice. The crystals are roughly 500 mm in diameter and 340 mm in height, weighing in at 300 kg (660 lbs.). The furnace is fully automated, producing large crystals for use in smartphone screens, LED substrates and other optical applications.
2. Okuma’s MCR-A5CII-35x100 Double-Column Machining Center
Deep hole drilling manufacturer Unisig recently installed a gargantuan machining center from Okuma. Now the largest of its kind in North America, the machining center is being used to process complex components rapidly for deep hole drilling systems. In order to install the machine, Unisig had to modify its production facility to include a deep, specially engineering foundation weighing 650 tons.
The TruBend 5030 panel bender.
The TruBend 5030 looks like a standard panel bender, but it’s capable of performing intricate operations which normally require a press brake. It’s semi-automatic (meaning that the machine’s operator needs to rotate the part) but once it’s clamped the machine takes over. The TruBend also features a 5-axis back gauge for setting offsets.
4. Unison’s 273mm All-Electric Pipe Bending Machine
The world’s largest and most powerful all-electric pipe bending machine was installed this year at Weston Yards, a Norwegian offshore and maritime services company. Capable of generating 660,000 nm of continuous, servo-controlled torque, the machine is used for precision bending of thick-walled carbon steel pipes up to 273 mm (10 in.) in diameter.
Hadrian the bricklaying robot.
The remote-controlled bricklaying robot Hadrian, named for the famed Roman emperor, is designed to lay 1,000 bricks per hour. That’s 20x the rate of an experienced human bricklayer. It features a 92-foot articulated telescopic boom and uses 3D CAD renderings for brick placement. The prototype is currently capable of laying roughly 300 bricks per hour.