Press Releases of InfraTec

Miscellaneous welding tasks in steel constructions currently have a low degree of automation, resulting in a high amount of manual work and employee-dependent quality levels. As part of the 3dStahl collaborative project, a 6-axis robot, equipped with a welding machine, was attached upside down to a wall-to-wall wire rope hoist kinematics system in order to automate joining processes involving small quantities or even individual parts such as large-scale objects (lock gates, bridges). Fast 3D sensor technology provides three-dimensional data for defining the welding area. This data is used to position and track the welding robot. The continuous process quality assurance is achieved in parallel by means of an infrared camera and a multi-spectral camera system.

In 1960 when the first laser was announced there was no indication of how the field would develop and today there is almost no area of science and industry that remains untouched by lasers. New applications emerge almost daily demanding the development of even more sophisticated laser systems and one of the leading global research and development institutions for laser-based solutions and their implementation is Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH). Many of these new systems operate at very high laser intensity levels and consequently require close control of thermal processes. This is achieved by the use of infrared thermography which is both contact-less and provides imagery.

District heating is generally regarded as an extremely efficient and environmentally friendly form of energy supply. Based on industrial waste heat or renewable energy sources, it offers the possibility of heating water and thus supplying private, commercial and industrial customers. Prerequisite for this is an intact transport system. Only then energy reaches the consumers with minimal losses. This is precisely what Netze Duisburg GmbH is doing to control the city's entire district heating network supported by InfraTec infrared cameras.

This development is associated directly with an increasing demand to test the product reliability, functionality and life durability of wind turbine subsystems like the drive train.

Due to their flexibility, they serve as a key technology for implementing the goals of industry 4.0. Although laser cutting and welding are nowadays regarded as turnkey technologies, the majority of laser applications, for example joining of hybrid materials, 3D printing or ultra-short pulse processing, still require considerable research and development.