Month: July 2017

July 28, 2017

CPI Sponsors International Submarine Races

In June of this year, CPI was approached to help sponsor an entry in the 14th International Submarine Race held June 22-26 at the U. S. Naval Surface Warfare Center’s Carderock test tank facility in Bethesda, MD. The contest is an exciting bi-annual event, drawing student engineering teams from around the world who compete to build and race the fastest human powered submarine.

This was the 10th in a series of biennial races sponsored by the ISR every 2 years since 1989, that test the creative skills of young engineering students from colleges, universities and technical and high schools from throughout the world. Teams wear scuba gear to compete in one- and two-person “wet” submarines designed to run along a measured course in Carderock’s 22-foot-deep model basin. U.S. Navy divers provide safety and underwater support.

The CPI Submarine – “Watsub”

Built by the University of Waterloo, CPI contributed electronic switches from our waterproof switch product line. Since our switches are truly waterproof, not just water resistant or splash proof, they can survive the operational environment of an undersea deployment without compromising their reliability or long life.

The Watsub team was particularly interested in our B5114, a normally open pushbutton switch which was set to control critical safety systems in the submarine.  Design team member William Klanac was looking for an IP 68 rated switch that would handle a 12V, 0.25A load used in the sub.  Ultimately our off the shelf switch with silver alloy contacts was the right choice. “The switch behaved flawlessly in our application, and we were able to pass all wet and dry checks for the competition.” For those with more stringent requirements switches are also available with gold contacts and customizable lead lengths.

How did they do?

While Watsub successfully passed all operational and safety checks, they were not able to complete the course due to other issues. But this has made the team even more determined. So with effort comes both added experience and added resolve.  Watch out ISR, 2019 could be University of Waterloo’s year!

CPI Supports the Next Generation of Engineers

If you are an educational institution sponsoring engineering programs like the International Submarine Race that have a need for CPI products, contact us today we love to help young engineers get their design on!

Original content posted on https://www.cpi-nj.com/blog/cpi-sponsors-international-submarine-races/

July 26, 2017

Position Sensing Hydraulics In Highwall Mining Equipment

Mining and earth-moving operations around the globe have inspired some of the largest, most powerful machines ever designed and built by man. These machines involve millions of parts and sub-assemblies and can weigh on the order of close to 500,000 tons. They are designed to be mobile too, and they are built to withstand the harshest, outdoor environments on the planet, while under almost constant use.

And the hydraulic systems these machines use…wow.  They’re really, really big.

One of the most innovative machines used in mining may be used for a technique known as Highwall Mining. In the old days, once surface mining had taken the majority of useful minerals from just below the surface, the law of diminishing returns dictated that as the machines moved farther and farther away from the core deposit where the density of target minerals became less, the economics of continuing full strip mining, or open pit mining become less and less attractive.  Yet these area’s still contained millions of tons of useful raw material (typically coal).

To drill directly into the “high walls” left by surface mining in an economic way, requires specialized equipment. Highwall mining is actually a hybrid of surface and underground mining technologies. It is a people-free, low footprint mining process which uses high power hydraulic cylinders as part of a Pushbeam Transfer System.  In this system, high power hydraulic cylinders advance the cutterhead into the coal seam on the highwall. Every 6 meters, a new conveyor belt segment is inserted between the Pushbeam and the cutterhead, allowing it to advance another 6 meters before the next segment is inserted, etc… Use of this system constitutes a great improvement on traditional high wall mining techniques like auger mining because the pushbeam system can penetrate nearly 1600 feet into the coal seam, with much higher recovery.

For a fascinating explanation of this marvel of mining engineering, see this video.

Big Mining Hydraulics Need A Tough Linear Position Sensor

Our end client is the the Addcar Company of Kentucky USA who designed and manufactures the Addcar Highwall mining system. The specifications of the hydraulic cylinders used on this intricate machine, are impressive to say the least.

STROKE LENGTH:            19.8 feet (5.8 meters)
WORKING PRESSURE:    200 bar (~3000 psi)
HYDRAULIC POWER:       400 hp.

To really understand the awesome power of these hydraulics, consider this: the hydraulic pushbeam system must be able to push the cutterhead up to 1600 feet into a solid wall of rock. It has to push the weight of hundreds of 6 meter conveyer segments as well as applying force to drive the cutterhead at the end of this chain, into the wall.  Then it has to retract them all when the vein is fully dug.

CPI Draw Wire Linear Position Sensor Solution

The Hydraulics used in this system were retrofitted to accommodate our SL2000 linear position sensor, by designing a modified end-cap per CPI instructions for in-cylinder mounting. This extended end cap allowed the CPI sensor to fit in the cylinder with the head of the short rod transducer providing easy connectivity to standard electronic interfaces.

Subsea Hydraulic Piston Linear Position Sensor

The CPI SL2000 Subsea Rated Linear Position Sensor

The CPI SL2000 is a hybrid sensor, part high-tech draw wire, part magnetostrictive transducer. For our draw wire sensor, a stroke of 6 meters is no problem at all. Our SL2000 provides critical position feedback into this application, improving the overall reliability and operational control of the system. No other hydraulic cylinder linear position sensor in the world can reliably handle such long stroke lengths while maintaining such high reliability. Add to that our IEC-EX and ATEX intrinsic safety ratings, and the complete waterproof, pressure tolerant nature of our sensor assembly, and you have the perfect solution for position sensing in long stroke, high power hydraulics.

CPI Hydraulic Linear Position Sensors Are Built To Last.

Into the toughest applications in the world, go all our switches and sensors. It’s what we do. For more information, please contact the CPI engineering team directly through the website.

Original content posted on https://www.cpi-nj.com/blog/position-sensing-hydraulics-in-highwall-mining-equipment/