WORLD-class products available from local manufacturers. Sponsored by Advance Metal Products, the below finalists of the Australian Industrial Product of the Year have demonstrated they can compete with the best in the world.
Albatech
Product: Evcco HFT Safety Conduits
ALBATECH’S new Evcco safety conduits are designed for areas where there are high concentrations of people and assets.
The safety conduits offer a halogen-free flame retardant polymer formulated as an alternative to PVC conduit and containing no known toxins.
The range includes the Enviro halogen-free MD (medium duty), UV-stabilized conduit and the STD halogen-free, flame-retardant (HFFR) MD conduit with long-term UV protection.
CVW Engineering
Product: Automotive Component Work-Holding System
CVW’s automotive component work-holding system combines a standardised platform with a flexible work-piece envelope.
The standard system elements allowthe application of historic modelling data to be used in the design process where finite element analysis is used to simulate the actual machining process and system reaction.
The system provides work-piece flexibility for model variations, plus work holding system integrity through, maximum structural stiffness, optimised location and clamp point arrangements, high force clamping and optimised hydraulic porting and piping layout.
Fork-SAFE International
Product: TFC (Traffic Flow Control) Device
FORK-SAFE International’s bolt-together TFC device offers the ability for companies to create a safe working environment and can be expanded as needed.
Applications include vehicle and pedestrian separation areas and/or controlling crossing points with or without interlocks. Sensors warn when vehicles or pedestrians are around.
The product is said to be simple to install with no welding, cutting or painting.
JNI Pallet Systems
Product: Pallet Safe — Collapsible Timber Pallet Converter
THE Pallet Safe converter is built to suit a standard timber pallet. It converts a standard timber pallet into a secure four sided meshed storage container.
Made from galvanised steel sections and mesh, the pallet converter has both sides and rear gate fixed; on the front gate is removable for access to the goods.
With a 300mm collapsed height, the converter is said to offer economical return transport.
KE Brown Electrical Switchboards
Product: Electrical Distribution Switchboard
THESE custom-manufactured products feed, monitor and control electrical current to industrial and commercial functions in a building.
The latest switchboards incorporate advanced branch current monitors and associated software to measure the individual current draw of each and every breaker in a distribution board.
The Schneider Electric Power Logic family H704 series branch circuit monitors allows the switchboard controllers to see exactly how much power individual circuits are drawing.
KD Binnie
Product: Binnie Swarf Crusher
THE swarf crusher is designed to be suitable for all types of workshops or production lines. It was then further designed to fit underneath a machine tools chip conveyor so that the machine can operate automatically.
The average volume reduction of 5:1 means that users now need to remove the drum five times less than normal.
Alternatively it can be used as a stand-alone unit with material being manually tipped into the hopper.
Peacock Bros
Product: Indoor Vehicle and Product Tracking System
PEACOCK’S new indoor positioning system will track, record and monitor the activities of any indoor vehicles and RFID tagged pallets within a warehouse.
Said to be accurate up to 3m2, the system is designed to improve the performance and management of forklifts in real-time as they operate within a warehouse or distribution centre.
The system includes a server and software called OPSman, which constantly records and gathering data in real time.
Peregrine Semiconductor Australia
Product: Low Noise Amplifier
PEREGRINE recently developed the Low-Noise-Amplifier (LNA) said to be the first amplifying electronic circuit that any communications receiver uses in receiving very faint radio signals.
To overcome inherent noise, Peregrine developed the UltraCMOS process which includes an advanced circuit architecture which was optimised for lowest noise over a broadband of operation.
Advantages are said to include very high linearity transistors, excellent high frequency performance at very low power and good substrate thermal conductivity.
Ronstan International
Product: Series 55 BB and RT Orbit Blocks
RONSTAN has designed, developed and manufactured a range of pulley blocks that assist with the operation of the mainsail on small racing boats.
The pulleys decrease the amount of force required to move the boom and the mainsail. The pulley blocks provide the highest performance to weight ratio and were designed for maximum load carrying capacity at a minimum weight and size.
The product range consists of numerous configurations of ball-bearing blocks and ratchet blocks designed to have significant advantages over other products.
Scale Components
Product: PalletScan Dimensioning System
SCALE Components has launched the PalletScan Dimensioning System designed for transportation, distribution and logistics installations where pallets are weighed, cubed and tracked.
PalletScan is an automatic data capture system that dimensions pallets and other oversize items.
The system can process multi-piece shipments, pallets of the same or random size, initiate pallet tracking tasks and transfer the collected dimensional and weight data directly to the customers host processing system.
Scale Components
Product: ParcelScan Dimensioning System
SCALE Components has recently designed the National Measurement Institute (NMI) approved ParcelScan in-line dimensioning system.
The in-line dimensioning system is suitable for weighing in freight manifesting applications in distribution centres, warehouses, direct order fulfilment and logistics environments.
The system is designed for use in facility layout, pallet stacking and load planningand provides data for storage location selection, carton selection, shipment planning and interfaces directly to manifesting and warehouse management solutions.
Thompson Couplings
Product: Thompson Coupling
AFTER several years in development, the Thompson Coupling, a constant velocity coupling with no load bearings or sliding surfaces, is now available.
It is described as the world’s first and only true constant velocity joint, said to be more efficient than existing universal and constant velocity joints due to pure rolling motion of standard bearings.
The mechanism employs a spherical pantograph embedded within two concentric torque rings to continually divide the resultant shaft angle between input and output.