Kitagawa Hydraulic ECO Cylinder slashes power consumption Kitagawa
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Kitagawa

Kitagawa Hydraulic ECO Cylinder slashes power consumption

 

Hydraulic cylinder uses 96 per cent less power

Hydraulic ECO cylinder slashes power consumption

Companies developing and building lathes with a spindle speed of up to 5,600 rpm have the option of fitting a new, hydraulically actuated, rotary chuck cylinder that typically consumes 1.5 kilowatt-hours over a daily shift, compared with 36 kilowatt-hours for a conventional cylinder. The reduction is nearly 96 per cent and equates to a saving of more than 19 kg of carbon dioxide.

Called ECO Cylinder, the unit is manufactured by Kitagawa, Japan, and will be launched on the company's stand, A53, in hall 5 at EMO 2011, Hannover, 19th - 24th September. Availability in the UK is through Kitagawa Europe, Salisbury.

The open-centre cylinder achieves its massive, 24-fold efficiency advantage by allowing the electrically driven pump to cut the hydraulic oil supply once the chuck is clamped. Clamping pressure is maintained using a internal locking mechanism which is only released during the chuck unclamp process. This is in contrast to conventional cylinders, which deliver the hydraulic supply constantly to maintain holding force.

A further advantage of Kitagawa's new design is that thermal distortion of the lathe spindle is minimised, as less heat is generated in the rotating elements of the cylinder and oil temperature is reduced. Early figures released from Japan indicate that in a normal workshop environment, a maximum temperature of less than 47ºC is reached by ECO Cylinder, compared with a norm of 80ºC.

Moreover, the rise to maximum temperature takes typically twice as long, around four hours, giving more thermal stability during warm-up so that component accuracy and repeatability can be maintained.

The specification of ECO Cylinder is designed to match the popular 8" BB series Chuck and includes 278 mm outside diameter, 160 mm length, 66 mm diameter through-hole, 20 mm piston stroke,

50.5/48.3 kN drawbar push/pull and 3.5 MPa maximum operating pressure.