At the China International Machine Tool Show (CIMT) in April, Klingelnberg, the specialist in gear and transmission technology, will unveil a range of new products – including the closed loop concept for cylindrical gears. The innovative concept will be demonstrated on the VIPER 500 cylindrical gear grinding machine in combination with the P 26 precision measuring center. The theme of this year’s exhibit is the growing digitization of production in the age of Industry 4.0. 

CIMT is one of the world’s largest trade shows for machine tools and a meeting place for machine manufacturing companies from around the globe. The show will take place in Beijing from April 17 to 22, 2017. Machine manufacturer Klingelnberg will again be among the exhibitors at CIMT, demonstrating its trade expertise at booth W3-152. Klingelnberg is reaffirming its role as a systems supplier with a broad product portfolio, which it will highlight at the show. But the main focus of this year’s exhibit is the closed loop system, which is now capable of networking a cylindrical gear machine directly with a measuring device. With the closed loop concept, Klingelnberg will be presenting its Chinese customers an innovative solution for a fully automated quality loop in cylindrical gear manufacturing.

Focus on digitization in production

Until now, the technology of the closed loop concept with networking of machine tools and measuring machines was reserved for bevel gear machines. Klingelnberg will unveil the transfer of automated machine correction to cylindrical gears for the first time in Asia at CIMT. Klingelnberg, is thus providing lasting impetus to digitization in gear manufacturing and playing a pioneering role in Industry 4.0. The technology doesn’t just create a network of in-house machinery alone. Rather than developing a self-contained solution, the company has set its sights on compatibility. The closed loop for cylindrical gears is based on a universal XML-file. The description is freely available.

Klingelnberg has established an integrative cyber-physical system in its own bevel gear manufacturing side, which fully links design processes to production processes. This makes Klingelnberg a pioneer of Industry 4.0. For this system the company received the Industry 4.0 Award in the "Integration Design & Production" category late last year.

VIPER 500 cylindrical gear grinding machine

The new closed loop concept for cylindrical gears can be implemented with the VIPER 500 cylindrical gear grinding machine, among others, which Klingelnberg will be demonstrating live at CIMT.

The VIPER 500 delivers cutting-edge technology for a fast, efficient production process. It is designed for component diameters up to 500 mm, and specifically for small to medium-sized batches, and is available in three different configurations: profile grinding, small grinding wheels for special jobs and multi-grinding wheel technology (K), as well as generation grinding (W). The VIPER 500 W configuration allows both profile grinding and continuous generation grinding on the same machine – with minimal retooling time.

P 26 precision measuring center

Klingelnberg consistently strives to develop innovations and solutions to enhance productivity – and sets the same standard for measuring technology, focusing on shop floor deployment of measuring centers in addition to integration into the closed loop concept. Thus the P 26 precision measuring center, which will be on show at CIMT, provides improved conditions for direct use on the production line – and can of course be networked into the closed loop system.

The fully automatic CNC-controlled precision measuring center is designed as a compact unit for the workpiece diameter range up to 260 mm. The machine can be used for a host of measurement tasks: inspection of cylindrical gears, pinion type cutters, and shaving cutters; worms and worm wheels; hobs and bevel gears; general dimension, shape, and positional deviations of axially symmetrical workpieces; measurement of cams and camshafts; and measurement of rotors.