FROM frozen food factories to printing presses, from bottling plants to pharmaceuticals factories, nearly all the world's production lines move on steel rollers. Now researchers working in the north of England have found a way to speed up the production lines with lighter, faster and smarter rollers.
Although widely used, steel rollers are not ideal for production lines because they are heavy, expensive and difficult to control. They also need external electric motors to keep them spinning.
The new rollers turn this concept inside out by making the spinning roller an integral part of the motor. They have been developed by researchers at the University of Sheffield's Electrical Machines and Drives group and at the Cheshire base of Urenco, the uranium processing company.
The roller is made of a carbon-fibre composite loaded with magnetic material. Inside the hollow roller is a stationary spindle. The magnetic roller acts as the motor's ...
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