Motion Control

The Case of the Jerky Barrel Heads

THE MYSTERY A barrel manufacturer called ACES with a problem: The heads that formed the beads of the barrels had started moving inconsistently and roughly enough that when they stopped the whole machine would jerk. Just two years earlier ACES had installed a brand new…

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The Case of the Plummeting Drop Bottom Furnace

THE MYSTERY A customer called ACES to the scene of a drop bottom furnace, which was used to fabricate aircraft detail parts and components. Like all drop bottom furnaces this one was equipped with a parts basket that was lowered from the underside of the furnace into…

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The Case of the Stuck Freezer Elevator

THE MYSTERY A beef production facility had a industrial deep freeze, 20 shelves high, complete with an elevator that delivered boxed beef to each shelf. The pusher that automatically dispensed the boxes onto the shelves for freezing had become stuck in the out...

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The Case of the Missing Parameters

THE MYSTERY The ACES CSI was called to the scene of a factory that manufactured cardboard boxes. Two of 24 drives controlling a folding and gluing machine were down and there was an error code on the front of the amplifier that indicated “the operating parameters were...

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The Case of the Fried DC Drive

THE MYSTERY An ACES Control Systems Engineer was called to the scene of a violent crime: A forklift had rammed a control cabinet, which pushed the side of the cabinet into the terminals of a DC drive. The power arced to the cabinet wall and grounded, causing the...

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The Case of the Non-Lifting Hoist

THE MYSTERY The depalitizing elevator of a local bottling plant stopped working, bringing production to a halt. The case of the non-lifting hoist.THE CLUES Upon examination the ACES Control Systems Investigator found that the depalitizer hoist which lifts the bottles...

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The Case of the Miscalculating Rock Saw

THE MYSTERY A quarry providing limestone for construction and landscaping called ACES because their rock saw wasn’t cutting stone to the proper width. The saw operator had to subtract 1?8” from each cut to arrive at the proper stone width.THE CLUES The operator said...

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The Case of the Stalling Tortilla Press

THE MYSTERY A local chip maker called because their tortilla press would run fine for awhile, but then during the middle of a cycle the press would come down and not return to the up position. Cycling power to the machine it would resume operation sometimes for hours...

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