March 2017 – Monitoring modules of the latest generation, a technologically leading friction system and consistently-observed safety principles – safety brakes by mayr® power transmission are equipped for the challenges of the Industry 4.0. The perfectly-coordinated complete system guarantees the utmost level of operational and functional safety, and increases the productivity of machines and systems through preventative fault detection and maintenance. mayr® power transmission presents its brake technology 4.0 at the Hanover Trade Fair 2017.

With Industry 4.0, the Internet of Things and Services enters companies. That’s why mayr® power transmission as the leading manufacturer is already offering reliable safety brakes, which are equipped for the challenges for the forth industrial revolution. Brake technology 4.0 by mayr® power transmission stands for monitoring modules of the latest generation: The modules such as the ROBA®-brake-checker or the ROBA®-torqcontrol allow permanent brake monitoring. The ROBA®-brake-checker module, for example, monitors the switching condition as well as the tension path or tension force reserve without sensors and detects safety-critical changes in voltage, air gap and temperature. As a result, significantly more processes are depicted during the safety brake monitoring than was previously the case. On reaching the tension path reserve, the ROBA®-brake-checker therefore sends a warning signal indicating that the brake can continue to be operated for a certain amount of time at an early stage. During this time, the machine owner can undertake targeted maintenance – in coordination with their work process. In addition, the module also simultaneously assumes the control of the brake and therefore replaces a rectifier. Switching condition monitoring und brake controls are thus combined in one device.

For applications, which require braking torque control in addition to status monitoring, mayr® power transmissions provides the braking torque control module ROBA®-torqcontrol. It shares the features of the ROBA®-brake-checker and can also change the level of the braking torque in operation through purposeful influencing of current and voltage. As a result, devices and machines can be evenly and gently decelerated. The ROBA®-torqcontrol module permits the development of control loops and brakes movements intelligently – the ideal basis for its use in smart, interconnected machines.

The developers at mayr® power transmission have successfully created a new friction lining technology through which the brakes achieve even further-improved torque consistency and a higher performance density. Using the new linings, higher braking torques as well as higher area-specific friction work values can be achieved, which means the brakes are of a more compact design, but with the same features. Under certain circumstances, a smaller, lighter brake construction size can be selected for higher braking torques and for brakes, on which higher demands are placed. This takes into account the general trend for machines and their components, for example engines, to be increasingly more compact in construction and with greater performance density.

Brake technology 4.0 by mayr® power transmission is therefore a comprehensive overall concept, meaning a technologically leading friction system which, together with consistently considered safety principles, stands for reliable, safe brakes with extremely high performance density. Innovative monitoring solutions are firmly integrated into this system, and as a result mayr® brakes and the corresponding monitoring modules are able to master all challenges when safety regulations and standards meet Industry 4.0 and the demand for the depiction of all processes involved. They ensure the utmost operational reliability and enable preventative, purposeful maintenance in the increasingly compact, higher performance density machines and systems.

The family company Mayr power transmission, founded in 1897, is a leading manufacturer of safety brakes, torque limiters and shaft couplings. These products are primarily used for electrically-powered machines and systems. They can be found amongst other things in filling plants, machine tools, packaging and printing machines as well as in elevators, wind power plants and in stage technology. Approximately 600 employees currently work in the Allgäu-based Headquarters in Mauerstetten, Germany. Mayr power transmission has over 1000 employees worldwide. The company is globally established with plants in Poland and China, sales subsidiaries in the USA, France, Great Britain, Italy, Singapore and Switzerland and 36 further country representatives.