Machining Centers include internal energy management system.
(Archive News Story - Products mentioned in this Archive News Story may or may not be available from the manufacturer.)
"Energy-Efficiency" in Manufacturing "Go Green" with STAMA Energy Management
STAMA America
1063 Hawthorn Dr.
Itasca, IL, 60143, USA
The efficient use of energy resources with STAMA machining centers goes far back in the company's history.
With the TWIN spindle centers, it's possible to machine two identical workpieces at the same time. The use of energy in that case is on average only 20% higher than with a normal single spindle machining center. The increased consumption is primarily from the second milling spindle. With TWIN spindle manufacturing, the overall energy consumption per finished workpiece is thereby 40% lower than with single spindle production. For workpieces that can be machined on a four spindle machine, the STAMA-TWIN², there is a provable reduction of nearly 60% in power consumption.
The created braking-energy is fed back to other components on the machine. This is made possible by state-of-the-art electrical drives. During deceleration, there is a demand for energy from the peripheral units such as the hydraulic pump, air suction unit, coolant pumps etc. The machine's internal energy management system uses the gained energy from braking systems and feeds that power directly back to the peripheral units. The machine will not feedback or supply the public network with energy, but will utilize this energy, therefore reducing the demand for new energy. Without any agreements with the electric supplier, this allows the user to lower energy consumption and the associate costs.
Standard on every laptop, new for manufacturing equipment - STAMA introduces the multi-step Standby Mode. In phases, where the machine isn't used for production for numerous reasons, the peripheral units, as well as the feed axes, can be shut-down sequentially. The STAMA machining centers are equipped for that scenario with an "ECO-Menu". The factory setting for a timely stepped shut-down can be modified to the user's own requirements.
With the "ECO-Mode", a saving potential of up to 80% in power consumption can be achieved, realizing a saving in energy costs up to approx $1800 per year per machining center.
In Standby Mode, the machine can be activated without any time delay with a single push of the start button. A self-reactivation is also integrated. With that, for example, the coolant equipment can be set to a cyclic intermix of coolant water on the weekend, without having the full machine on-power during these non-productive hours.
Another positive in this STAMA system for the energy savings is the design of work-zones for dry-machining. In wet-machining mode, the required amount of coolant to wash off and remove chips is noticeably smaller. A benefit in two ways is provided here. First, the amount of water throughout the system and necessary consumption of energy are reduced. At the same time, the whole system can be designed smaller and more cost efficiently for lower investment costs.
Compared to electrical energy, pneumatic energy is considerably more expensive and the consumption at most companies is very often not evaluated, as the related cost of pneumatic air is often underestimated. Besides the use of air for actuators, compressed air is necessary to create positive air in machine elements to seal components against humidity. Having the positive air shut down with the machine could cause condensation on the cooling machine elements. Also, with the cooling process of the machine and "thermal shrinking" in the sub µm range, a negative pressure can build up and suck in moisture particles. The positive air in the system is also necessary after the machine's shut-down. With the STAMA pneumatic-power-safe feature, the air can be programmed to a certain time limit after the machine is powered off. The NC-control is not required for this action and the consumption of air energy can be reduced dramatically during off-shifts and weekend periods.
For more information, please contact:
STAMA America
1063 Hawthorne Drive
Itasca, IL 60143
Phone: (630) 233-8101
Cell: (630) 336-9795
Fax: (630) 773-1660
www.stama-america.com
michael.herman@stama-america.com
Michael Herman, Director of Sales


