Schaeffler exhibits sustainable solutions for the food industry and innovations for robotics

• Sustainable engineering and new product portfolio for the food and packaging industry
• Expansion of the product range for lightweight robots and cobots, and presentation of strain wave gears with an integrated sensor system
• Enlargement of the solution portfolio to include high-precision planetary gearboxes

The food and packaging industry, and the robotics industry, are two sectors with a high global demand for innovative solutions, and will be the main focus of Schaeffler’s attention at this year’s Hannover Messe. As Ralf Moseberg, head of the Industrial Automation business unit at Schaeffler, emphasized, the food and packaging industry is currently caught up in a maelstrom of sustainability, lower production costs, and strict hygiene guidelines. Schaeffler will be presenting its new food-based product range in Hanover, as well as demonstrating ways of solving the aforementioned challenges faced by the industry using automation solutions which have been derived in practice. Ralf Moseberg and his employees view “sustainable engineering” as a major instigator in reducing energy and raw material consumption, while simultaneously securing considerable benefits for the customer. Designers and developers are encouraged to conduct more extensive analyses of existing solutions with regard to the use of resources, durability and wear, and operating costs, and to look for alternatives. Examples of how digitalization and sustainability can be combined to ideal effect in everyday operations will also be demonstrated in Hanover.

For the second year in a row, robotics will be one of the Schaeffler topics taking center stage at the Hannover Messe – albeit on a purely digital basis last year. A substantially expanded range of precision strain wave gears and a sensor-based strain wave gear will be presented for the first time this year, both for use in articulated arm robots with a payload of up to around 20 kg. “We are adopting a new, innovative approach with the integrated torque sensors for each cobot joint, both in design and technological terms, which has aroused considerable interest among our pilot customers,” explains Moseberg.

Schaeffler will also present its portfolio of PSC-series high-precision planetary gearboxes for industrial robots in Hanover. These are characterized by a torsional backlash that is ten times lower and a service life that is three times longer than the market standard. Such large leaps in development are seldom seen in mechanical engineering and allow new fields of application to be opened up.