FEATURE MOTION CONTROL FROM AGRICULTURE TO MEDICAL...
As a company with over 40 years of experience in the supply of precision components to manufacturing industry, R.A. Rodriguez has been involved in a huge range of applications in a diverse range of industries. In two of its most recent projects, the
company has supplied precision motion components for agricultural machinery and for a new machine that may change the face of cancer treatment forever
T
ong Engineering is a designer and manufacturer of vegetable grading,
handling and cleaning machinery – from single machines to complete, custom- built solutions – for processing everything from potatoes, onions and carrots, to parsnips, brussel sprouts and swedes. Its latest machine, the FieldLoad PRO, offers effective and versatile in-field and on- farm crop loading and cleaning, providing users with superior transportability and the gentlest of handling, with the ability to provide throughput rates of up to 150 tons per hour. When developing the new machine, the
company wanted a solution to precisely and reliably control the slewing position of the crop unloading elevator, in effect a type of cleated conveyor that expedites the efficient transfer of harvested, clean crops to an awaiting trailer. With reliability essential in modern agriculture, the company decided to use a turntable bearing because, looking at the loadings and level of control required, it seemed the most reliable option. Following research, the company identified a KDM series turntable bearing from Rodriguez as its preferred option. Rodriguez medium series KDM four-point-contact bearings have, for
many years, been meeting requirements in a multitude of approved and economical turntable applications. As axial and radial loads – and tilting moments – can be absorbed, these bearings are robust and proven in the toughest of tasks. Featuring hardened raceways, KDM turntable bearings are available ungeared or with gear teeth as an integral part of either the inner or outer ring. The KDM.I (internal gear) variant, supplied to Tong Engineering, features
a diameter of 1094mm with standard clearances of ≤0.3mm (radial) and ≤0.53mm (axial), although reduced clearance options are also available. Each FieldLoad PRO requires one turntable bearing, and each bearing
features a pinion (also supplied by Rodriguez, the SS825 model was specified). Rodriguez has already supplied four turntable bearing/pinion sets to Tong Engineering as it ramps up the production of its FieldLoad PRO, each of which is built to order. In another application, Leo Cancer Care is relying on precision motion
The Marie Proton Therapy compatible solution
control products from R.A. Rodriguez (U.K.) for its new Marie Proton Therapy compatible solution.
Tong Engineering’s FieldLoad PRO
TREATING CANCER Leo Cancer Care is built on global research which suggests that vital organs move less in the upright orientation due to gravity. When targeting a cancerous tumour, this reduction in motion allows Particle Therapy solutions to be more accurate. By combining upright positioning with a shift to patient – not machine – rotation, the company believes it is set to change the face of cancer treatment forever. The basis of the company’s foundation
was to reduce the cost involved in producing conventional radiation therapy systems, whereby a machine that sometimes weighs up to 600 tons rotates around a horizontal patient to fire radiation beams at a tumour from different angles. “Research revealed it was way more cost-effective to rotate a 100kg
upright patient in front of a fixed radiation source, reducing overall machine size by a factor of 16 and simplifying use, service and maintenance,” explains Stephen Towe, CEO of Leo Cancer Care. The company worked closely with R.A. Rodriguez on Marie to provide
solutions capable of delivering patient positioning to less than 1mm. So, not only does the chair rotate, but the system can lift and lower the patient, and tilt them left to right and front to back. This capability facilitates the imaging and treating of all Particle Therapy-specific anatomical sites in the upright orientation. “The other major component of Marie is the imaging system, which
images the patient just before treatment,” says Towe. “Here, R.A. Rodriguez supplies a bearing and slip-ring interface where we spin a large ring at 60rpm to collect lots of images. The ring also has to travel up and down, and we have to tilt the arms upon which the ring moves. Ultimately, the system provides flexibility through many independent motion axes.” R.A. Rodriguez supplied ten different products for Marie, including
slewing rings, ballscrews, linear guides, Grob LinearChains, gears and bearings. A large bearing facilitates rotation of the sophisticated patient positioning system, while another interesting application involves a Grob LinearChain. “LinearChain is really clever technology,” explains Towe. “One of our
design constraints on Marie is that we are trying to introduce 700mm of vertical translation, and when the unit is completely compressed it has to fit inside a space that is only 500mm deep. The Grob LinearChain is a ‘push’ chain, so unlike a traditional chain it can push and pull. However, the other neat trick is that it folds up into a very compact space. It would have been challenging to design another solution if LinearChain did not exist.” Marie is already through prototyping and the company is currently
placing its first production-representative system with a potential customer under a research agreement. In full production, Leo Cancer Care anticipates the sale of hundreds of Marie systems per annum.
R.A. Rodriguez
www.rarodriguez.co.uk
10 MAY 2021 | DESIGN SOLUTIONS / DESIGNSOLUTIONS
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