Parker drive technology helps produce 90% energy saving in tube bending applications

Unison's Managing Director Alan Pickering notes: We have run tests against hydraulically-powered bending machinery that show comparative energy savings of 90% when producing exactly the same part. Combined with other advantages of a servo motor based architecture, all-electric tube benders provide the metalworking industry with a practical measure to help remain competitive and retain profit margins despite soaring material costs and the high costs of skilled labour.

Unison designed an automated setup tube bending machine to meet the requirements of its customers more effectively, and in 1995 this was developed into the first all-electric range. Today, the company has a broad catalogue of machines that use advanced servo motor technology to control all moving parts and provide customers with virtually unlimited control features to meet the specific needs of the tooling used or the part being made.

Since the launch of its first all-electric model, Unison has worked closely with Parker, installing servo-drives on almost all its equipment. Alan Pickering of Unison explained, “We’ve been working with Parker for many years and the quality of their products has been a crucial factor in our success. Their combination of leading edge drive technology and worldwide technical backup has been outstanding and has allowed us to refine and develop our market leading machines.”

The Unison tube bending machines have revolutionised the tube bending industry, providing users in wide range of sectors with a significantly more efficient and user friendly solution than conventional hydraulics technology. The all-electric machines enable production levels to be increased greatly as they can be reconfigured for a different part or batch in minutes, without the need for skilled labour and minimising costly scrap. As a result, in addition to boosting productivity, operational costs can be reduced considerably.

Furthermore, the all-electric machines are capable of far greater levels of accuracy and repeatability than their hydraulic counterparts; complex tube shapes can be created to tight tolerances of 1/100th of a millimetre, essential for critical applications such as those in the aerospace industry. This is made possible thanks to advanced closed loop control from the latest Parker servo-drives.

In addition to this sophisticated level of motion control, the electrically driven machines can reduce the energy consumption of conventional tube bending applications by as much as 90%, as they only require a significant amount of power when they are in operation, unlike the fluid power alternative. Likewise, with health and safety and environmental issues becoming increasingly important to operators, the all-electric machines are considerably quieter than conventional equipment and produce no waste products that are problematic to dispose of responsibly, such as hydraulic oil.

Alan Pickering is confident that Unison’s decision to use Parker has been the right one, commenting, “Parker’s support and high quality products have been vital to the success we’ve had with our all-electric tube bending machines over some thirteen years. Our customers continue to choose Unison machines because they know they can rely on them to deliver unbeatable performance over long, low maintenance service lives. With dependable Parker technology at the heart of our machines, we can be confident that we can live up to, and exceed, our customers’ expectations.”