Brexit has undeniably reshaped the economic and industrial landscape of the United Kingdom, with London’s economy and the overall UK manufacturing sector facing significant challenges. A detailed analysis and reports highlight the multifaceted impact, emphasising the need for strategic measures to mitigate adverse effects.
In a previous article, we looked closer at the significant skills gap in UK manufacturing that threatens the country’s growth and innovation. As we navigate this challenge, manufacturing apprenticeships emerge as a key solution, providing a practical and effective pathway to cultivate the next generation of talent. This article highlights how apprenticeships, alongside T Levels, are being harnessed to address the skills gap in manufacturing, highlighting success stories and guiding businesses on how to get involved.
The UK finds itself at a crossroads, battling a significant labour shortage in manufacturing that poses a risk to its productivity and future growth. Amidst the challenges posed by digital transformation, Brexit fallout, the Covid pandemic, wage inflation, and a competitive job market, the need for innovative solutions becomes more pressing. This in-depth analysis examines the impact of adopting workplace flexibility, utilising advanced recruitment tools, and promoting strategic workforce development as key strategies to attract and retain essential manufacturing talent.
Deep hole drilling UK is an extraordinary engineering feat that captures the essence of technical brilliance in Britain. As the unsung hero of the UK’s industrial landscape, this remarkable technique holds a fascinating history and an exciting future that continues to captivate engineers, history aficionados, and technology enthusiasts alike.
Precision engineering is a crucial aspect of modern manufacturing, allowing for the creation of complex products with high levels of accuracy and reliability. The importance of precision engineering cannot be overstated, especially in industries such as aerospace and medical technology. In this article, we will explore the process of moving from blueprint to reality, highlighting the key role that precision engineering plays in this process.
Hydro-abrasive waterjet cutting is a precision cutting technique that uses a high-pressure stream of water mixed with an abrasive substance to cut through materials. It is a versatile process that can be used to cut a wide range of materials, including metals, composites, glass, stone, and ceramics. In this article, we explore the advantages of this advanced process and some of its applications across various sectors.
Deep hole drilling machines are metal cutting machine tools that can create very deep and extremely precise holes in just about any metal. Manufacturers relying on deep hole drilling machines can further optimise the process by using tools such as BTA and gun drills. It’s a prominent method in engineering materials and components used across numerous sectors. In this article, we take a quick look at how deep hole drilling machines work, the processes and some of the most common applications.
For some reason, many people believe that British manufacturing is dead and claim we no longer make anything. While suggesting that Great Britain transformed the industry is perhaps reaching but we know for a fact that we are still producing many products across various sectors. In this article, we look at the story of British manufacturing with some information from Phil Hamlyn Williams, the author of a new book, How Britain Shaped the Manufacturing World.
Deep hole drilling services are beneficial across several applications and require specialist equipment to maintain straightness and tolerances second to none. Oil and gas exploration equipment, armaments, aerospace equipment and engines are amongst the most common applications for deep hole drilling and machining processes.
Each of these industries needs enhanced hole qualities that are necessary for high-performance end products, such as landing gear that easily retracts. In this article, PRV explores how gun drilling works and highlights some of the benefits of quality deep hole drilling services.
Busbars, or buss bars, are also known as busbar trunking systems that distribute electricity with greater ease and flexibility. They are often metallic strips made from copper, brass, or aluminium that ground and conduct electricity better than other more permanent forms of installation and distribution.
An electrical bus bar can be defined as a conductor or group of conductors that collect incoming electricity and distribute it to an outgoing feeder circuit. The choice of bus bar depends on different factors such as reliability, flexibility, costs and time. Here is everything you need to know.
Rather than branching the main supply at one location, busbars allow new circuits to branch off anywhere along the route of the busway. A busbar is used to connect high voltage equipment at electrical switchyards, and low voltage equipment in battery banks but it is also prominent in the automotive and defence sectors.
Copper is a highly versatile material known for its low electrical and thermal resistance as well as superior mechanical strength. It also has a higher resistance to fatigue failure properties which makes copper a key component in busbars of electrical utilities. This includes switchgear, panel boards, and busway enclosures for local high current power distribution. However, it can be used for nearly any application within specification.
When compared to copper, aluminium busbars are manufactured using a lighter material which makes it more cost-effective to mass-produce. It offers a great solution for companies where budget, maximum weight and ease of installation are major considerations. Although aluminium is lighter, it must have a larger surface area than copper as it is not as conductive as copper. To match the same criteria of a copper bus bar, the size of the conductor must be larger and that is not always practical or feasible. While aluminium is the main alternative to copper and has many positive attributes, it’s been shown that in almost every practical aspect, copper is the better choice.
Laminated busbars have layers of fabricated copper that are separated by thin dielectric materials which are laminated into a unified structure. The layers are heated and compressed into an integrated component that offers several performance advantages over single-layer bus bar and cable conductors. The size and application vary from surface mounted busbars smaller than a coin to multilayer busbars several feet in length.
The reason why U-shaped busbars are popular is due to their ability to deliver continuous and reliable connections while maximising the potential locations. Here are a few more benefits to take note of:
People are always looking for ways to increase energy efficiency to cope with fluctuations in demand and busbar systems are often the solution. They not only reduce system costs while improving reliability but also increase capacitance and help eliminate wiring errors and lower inductance. The physical structure of a bus bar is a benefit in itself as it offers unique features in mechanical design. Multilayer busbars, for example, provide better structural integrity compared to other wiring methods. You can use busbars to conduct any form of electrical current from any type of grid. Recommended: Guidance for Design and Installation Of A Copper Bus bar
Energy efficiency remains one of the top concerns in industrial organisations and the corporate world. However, you can’t improve energy efficiency if you are not measuring it properly and without a baseline. If you don’t continuously measure performance and evaluate results, it is almost impossible to identify areas for improvement.
Some busbars do offer power monitoring as a standalone system mounted to electrical panels, or incorporated into a busway and branch-circuit applications. If you monitor power usage, you will be able to achieve the following:
Busbars are made from corrosion-resistant copper, brass or aluminium in solid or hollow tubes. The shape and size are either flat strips, solid bars or rods that allow for more efficient heat dissipation due to the high surface area to cross-sectional area ratio. Even though copper oxidises over time, it remains conductive but it requires more power to move electricity along the surface. While it cannot completely prevent oxidising over long periods, it greatly reduces the effects. Bus bar coatings typically serve three main purposes, namely:
Recommended: All The Reasons For Coating Bus Bars
As part of PRV’s electrical busbar manufacturing services, we provide several specialist coatings for additional insulative or conductive properties. We’ve been supplying the industry with quality busbars, conductors, contacts and connectors for many years. We use copper to manufacture all components for low, medium and high voltage industries such as rail rolling stock and trackside electrical components.
Our copper busbars offer the perfect balance between cost and application, especially with projects requiring higher levels of performance, versatility and reliability. Some of the services we offer our clients in the electrical industry include punching and folding, forging and pressing, complete machined castings and stampings, busbar fabrication, plating and heat shrink sleeving.
Find out more about PRV Engineering, busbars, deep hole drilling and other specialist engineering services on our website and our dedicated YouTube channel.
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