Hot Off the Press
Cosma Auto-Chassis Line
Developed to Take On Solar-System Work
Friday, October 23, 2009
Solar-array manufacturer Skyline Solar, Mountain View, CA, has begun commercial production of the racking and structural components of its new high-gain solar (HGS) arrays at the Cosma metal-stamping facility in Troy, MI. Cosma and Skyline Solar collaborated on product design and materials optimization, including the development of the HGS structure so that it would fit into Cosma’s standard plant layout developed for large-volume metalforming and assembly.
According to Skyline Solar, each HGS array consists of two main components: a reflective rack with integrated tracking, and four rows of high-gain solar panels along its edges. HGS arrays are mechanically coupled together into long columns with adjacent units sharing mounting and tracking hardware. Multiple columns are installed side by side to create large solar fields. Cosma’s initial production line is expected to yield 1000 units per month.
Visit Skyline Solar at
www.skyline-solar.com. Cosma, an operating unit of Magna Intl., manufactures vehicle frames, chassis systems and body-in-white systems using a variety of processes including stamping, rollforming, hydroforming and welding;
www.cosma.com.
Download White Papers, Other Articles
on Formability of Deep-Draw and AHSS Alloys
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Technical consulting firm Engineering Quality Solutions, Inc., Southfield, MI, has added several articles to its website covering highly formable extra-deep-drawing steels and advanced high-strength steels, as well as a white paper on circle-grid and thinning-strain analyses. Also unique to the site, at
www.eqsgroup.com: an industry blog titled The Future is Forming, and several calculators where visitors can convert from English to metric units and calculate forming-limit-curve data.
Robotic-Welding Seminar Slated for Houston
Thursday, October 22, 2009
System integrator ARC Specialties, Houston, TX, will host a robotic arc-welding seminar, in partnership with the Lincoln Electric Automation Division, on December 9-10, 2009. The seminar, Applied Automation: Robots in Manufacturing, will address robotic spray applications, through-the-arc sensing technology, robotic pipe welding and a new technology developed by ARC Specialties called Cut-to-Fit Technology. Also on display and available for demonstration will be a Fanuc ARC Mate 100iC welding robot equipped with an iRVision package, recently donated to ARC Specialties by Lincoln Electric through its partnership with Fanuc Robotics. For more information, visit
www.arcspecialties.com; visit Lincoln Electric online at
www.lincolnelectric.com.
