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Welcome to the April BEI newsletter. The
generally accepted origin of the month
April comes from the Latin aperire which
means "to open". It's easy to connect this
name to a time of the year when trees and
flowers begin to open with blooms.
In the spirit of the season - we at BEI would like
to open ourselves up to you, our customers
and friends. Contact us with your questions,
comments, observations or suggestions.
We're all ears and open to new ways
to serve you better. We also want to thank-
you for opening your eyes (and ears) to our
monthly newsletter - enjoy.
Help for Your Troubles
We're always looking for ways to help you do
your job a little better. We publish free design
guides for rotary and linear encoders; develop
new features and products that
increase control capabilities and
post simple encoder installation
instructions on our web site, just to name a few
examples.
Our latest tool for your toolkit is our "Encoder
Diagnostic and Installation Guide". We often
don't talk about what to do when things
go wrong - but the fact is - things do go
wrong. That's where our latest guide can be a
tremendous help.
It's full of tips and hints that help you make a
good, robust installation and
avoid trouble in the first place.
Then it lists the most common reasons that
encoders get returned, along with the most
likely diagnoses and specific actions to take.
In addition, we give you a diagnostic checklist
of mechanical and electrical tests that can help
localize the problem. Whether your job is to
design or to service control systems, I'd
recommend you get this guide. Understanding
the problems you might run into just might help
you sidestep them. Click the link below to get
yours.
Free
Troubleshooting Guide . . .
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Spring has Sprung |
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"If we had no winter, the spring would not be
so pleasant;
If we did not sometimes taste the adversity,
prosperity would not be so welcome."
-- Anne Bradstreet
Anne was one of the first Puritan settlers to
arrive from England to US shores and settle
into the Boston area in the new world. She
was unusual in that she was well educated
and frequently wrote poetry.
It was frowned upon at that time for women
to follow intellectual pursuits. Her works
were published in England (without her
permission) by her brother-in-law and were
well received. This lead to the rest of her
works being published posthumously.
Follow the link below to find out more about
this writer from the 1600's who braved a
perilous journey across the ocean, stood
outside of societal norms for the times and
raised eight children in the new world.
Bio for Anne Bradstreet . . . »
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Can You Solve This? |
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Here's an interesting one that came
across my desk recently. This was a customer
who felt like he wasn't getting the life out of his
encoders that he should have.
Looking at his history of returns, we saw that
typically his encoders had bearing problems,
and that they had been in service for about a
year before they were sent back. We
discussed his application in some
detail, looking for some clues.
He was operating a cardboard corrugation line
that ran continuously, 24 hours a day, seven
days a week. The encoder was on a motor
that controlled a conveyor. Naturally there
was some fiber and dust - but nothing
unusual. What was going on?
This was surprisingly straightforward. At
continuous duty with a motor speed of 1780
RPM, the encoder saw over 930 million
revolutions per year. It turns out that the failed
bearings were operating within their expected
rated life, given a moderate load. However,
since bearing life is a cubic function of load,
halving the encoder bearing load would
increase their life by a factor of eight. We
recommended that he either look at reducing
the load through attention to the mechanical
coupling of the encoder, or introduce a high
load bearing assembly to carry the load and
relieve the encoder bearings. Either one
would result in a much greater service life.
Look at a
High Load Bearing Assembly . . . »
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Groovy Geometry |
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For those of you that aren't familiar with
them "fractals" are generally shown as intricate
patterns of repeating geometries that can be
described through fairly simple equations.
Being mathematical in nature means that they
can be expressed not only graphically, as
shown here, but musically as well.
The study of fractals began in the 1870's by
Georg Cantor, a German mathematician and
the "father of set theory". Building from simple
repeating line patterns, subsequent
mathematicians expanded these concepts to
more complex geometries creating the sort of
hypnotic forms that represent fractals today.
Interestingly enough, once fractals started
being explored on the mathematical level
it became apparent that these patterns had
already been in use in the art world. It was
understood, later, that the simplicity of the
basic forms lent itself to biological systems and
examples became evident in the natural world
as well.
For a fascinating journey into both the art and
math behind fractals, follow the link below and
visit the various tutorials on that web site. You
will be treated to fantastic images, fractal
music
and can even download some fractal
generating freeware.
The World of
Fractals . . . »
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Thank You |
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I appreciate you taking the time to read our
monthly newsletter and hope you found it
informative and enjoyable.
Just a quick housekeeping note. I'd like to
remind you that the links at the bottom of the
page allow you to easily forward this newsletter
to a friend, update your email address or to
unsubscribe.
If you ever need applications assistance
troubleshooting help, or help with an order,
feel free to call us at 1-800-ENCODER or
send a reply email to my address. We'd be
happy to be of service.
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