The Ring company is
The Ring company is strongly rooted in the region but active on a global scale. This family-run business was founded as a specialpurpose vehicle engineering company for non-metallic materials. Just 20 years ago it had only 20 employees. In the meantime, the workforce has increased more than tenfold. In addition to its headquarters and four further plants in Pirmasens, Germany, it has nine service and sales sites in Brazil, China, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, Italy and the U.S. The order books are bursting with orders from all over the world. Keeping up in this league requires constant innovation. Ring has an excellent record here in its production of perforating, punching and cutting systems. Its current flagship product is a traveling head press with a punching force of 100t. Not only does the punching die have an impressively high mass, the speed of 140 mm/s and positioning accuracy of less than 0.01 mm ensure maximum customer satisfaction. Another advantage of this machine are noise emissions up to 20 dB(A) lower than with conventional hydraulics. Dynamics and accuracy throughout service life Quiet giants The Ring Maschinenbau company from Pirmasens has evolved into a major player in special-purpose vehicle engineering. This sustained company growth can only be maintained through innovative solutions. Drives from Voith Turbo help it to keep satisfying ever more exacting requirements. To fulfill these demanding requirements, Ring employs an autonomous servo drive with hydraulic power transmission. It is an extremely compact structure, because the integrated hydraulic system is enclosed and there are few electrical interfaces. This creates ideal conditions for high dynamics and accuracy. Furthermore, the linear drive is virtually free from wear and features unlimited overload protection. This ensures a long service life for the drive components and all moving parts. The machine’s autonomous servo drives combine all the advantages of hydraulics and servomechanics. Electricity consumption is therefore reduced by up to 85%, with benefits for both your wallet and the environment. A small number of components, the lack of a hydraulic power unit and, last but not least, less pipework protects resources. But more than that – even the volume of oil used can be cut by more than 90%. Ready for the challenges of tomorrow As well as preserving resources, diagnostic capabilities and the data acquisition of operating states enable problem-free drive integration in keeping with the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This applies to both individual components and the system as a whole. A diverse range of operating parameters such as pressure, accelera- Features Advantages Benefits MACHINE ELEMENTS Servo drive with hydraulic power transmission Hydraulic system in a closed circuit without directional valves or servo valves Drive is nearly wear-free and absolutely protected against overloads Drive components and moving parts have a significantly longer lifetime Maximum force over the entire stroke The machine and the drive are not mechanically stressed or damaged in the event of an overload The HPD hybrid servo drive is easy to integrate n Higher availability n Lower maintenance and repair costs n Higher flexibility n No unplanned downtimes n Cost-efficient installation The integrated hydraulic system is self-contained No structural changes necessary n Fast commissioning The hydraulic cylinder is controlled with a servo pump whose flow rate is matched to the cylinder surfaces Simple and compact design with no conventional valve and control technology Hydraulic system throttle losses are kept to a minimum Simple system configuration Lower peak current No cooling No braking resistor Automatic load switching n Low cost and effort for commissioning, training, maintenance and repair n Energy-efficient drive and lower cooling capacity needed n Higher availability n Lower maintenance and repair costs n Lower investment costs for infrastructure n Higher production flexibility WORLD OF INDUSTRIES – MOTION, DRIVE & AUTOMATION 3/2017
tion and temperature are collected, controlled and transferred. Oil quality and efficiency can also be monitored, enabling any drop in system efficiency to be identified immediately and intelligent, predictive service measures to be initiated. This advantage is prized by customers. With its integrated technology, Ring is one step ahead. Maximum flexibility with high precision “The drive we use in our traveling head press was developed specially for us, and its novel, extremely compact design is very impressive. Our customers can therefore save not just on distance, but on pipework. Heating is prevented and the return stroke is even more flexible than before – and all this at the usual high speed and with completely freely programmable position, force and speed,” declares Matthias Ring, CEO of Ring Maschinenbau. The supplier of the drive in Ring’s huge traveling head press is Voith Turbo H+L Hydraulic GmbH & Co. KG, whose experience with the system demonstrates that process speeds from 70 to up to 640 mm a second are achievable. Stroke lengths also benefit from maximum flexibility, without any sacrifice in accuracy. Voith Turbo is a corporate division of Voith GmbH and a specialist in intelligent drive solutions and systems. The Voith Turbo subsidiary’s product portfolio includes hydraulic systems (with hydraulic power unit, actuators, open and closed-loop control, hardware and software for regulation and process monitoring), internal gear pumps, servo pumps (variable speed pump drives), valves, and hydraulic power units. www.voith.com 01 Control system set-up of a compact, highly dynamic drive, load range from 500 to 5 000 kN 02 Comparision drive technologies WORLD OF INDUSTRIES – MOTION, DRIVE & AUTOMATION 3/2017
