Life broadcasting and promising technologies at the Bystronic glass stand

The company’s exhibition area clearly reflected its strong corporate philosophy to provide system solutions for building and automotive glass which was demonstrated via interesting and informative information on numerous machine presentations.A special attraction was the moderated live broadcast from the insulating glass production of a customer.



Four times daily, the trade fair visitors were able to convince themselves of the competence of Bystronic glass as a supplier of complete system solutions. This type of presentation celebrated its premiere at glasstec 2008. "In addition, one of the highlights of the exhibition week was the conclusion of our cooperation agreement with Jenoptik and the presentation of the product line first’laser for laser edge deletion and laser glass cutting of photovoltaic modules" Richard Jakob, CEO of the Bystronic glass group, summed up, and added: "The photovoltaic sector is an area which we will also turn our attention towards in the future."

In addition, the group presented numerous new and further developments of machines for efficient processing of structural and automotive glass on the 1,500-sqm (approx) fair stand. Bystronic glass presented the following machines, amongst others, in the respective core competences:



Glass cutting

• first’sort sorting system

Visitors could see for themselves how the dynamic first’sort sorting system is the modern solution for sorting flat glass within a minimum amount of space quickly and efficiently. The system requires an average of twelve seconds for one sorting process. At the same time, first’sort offers sufficient freedom for individual production requirements. For instance, glass lites can be manually transferred inward and outward at numerous positions. The featured first’sort 20 system processes glass lites in formats of up to 2,500 x 2,000 millimetres. Depending on the optimisation software used, it can be installed as a static or dynamic sorting system. Therefore, the user can always adjust the existing mechanical equipment to changes in the production requirements by means of software.



Laminated glass production

• Laminated glass line compact lamiline and filmtrimmer

With compact lamiline, Bystronic glass presented a new and effective entry-level solution for the production of laminated glass, which made an impact with a number of technical extras. In addition, Bystronic glass presented the filmtrimmer at glasstec for the very first time, a fully automatic seaming station prior to lamination. This is a completely new machine for automatic trimming of the film overhang from straight-edged glass packs before they are laminated. Pneumatically oscillating blades trim the film packs with up to twelve layers of 0.38 millimetres thick PVB film. Depending on the thickness of the film, the filmtrimmer operates at a speed of up to 40 m/min. Even cutting off loose overhanging film ends presents no problem. Because cutting is carried out as a cold process, the individual film layers also do not stick together: Any possible problems at the laminating stage can therefore be precluded in advance. The filmtrimmer is designed especially for the installation in fully automatic systems; in future, however, it will also be available for retrofitting of semi-automatic systems.







Insulating glass production / photovoltaics

• Sealing robot compactsealer

The compactsealer from Bystronic glass has made a name for itself not only because of its excellent cost/benefit ratio but also because of the unique value-added program that is included for the customer. At glasstec, customers saw the immediately available, cost-effective sealing robot with a guaranteed worldwide fixed price in action. Thanks to the innovative, revised control unit and intuitively operated touch screen terminal, operating the compactsealer has been made even more user-friendly. For example, parameters can be modified very easily. A help system, which consists of manuals with convenient search functions, spare parts catalogues with drawings and illustrations as well as video sequences to provide support for operation, handling and maintenance, has been integrated into the terminal. 



As the only machine manufacturer worldwide that can offer automated solutions for all standard spacer systems, Bystronic glass also accommodated the growing demand for warm-edge products at glasstec. Live demonstrations regularly showed the application of spacers TPS® and SuperSpacer® with TriSealTM. And also the photovoltaic sector was not neglected: The application of TPS® on semiconductor substrates – an area that generated great interest among customers – was shown live to visitors at the stand several times a day.





Handling equipment

Bystronic glass exhibited a broad range of handling equipment in the area of vacuum suction devices for use under a variety of conditions. Amongst others, a small variant of the Glasmaxilift, the world’s largest handling equipment, was shown.



Automotive glass pre-processing

• champ’speedgrind

The most impressive features of the new generation of glass grinders champ’speedgrind are the significantly reduced processing times and a considerably improved operator comfort. The optimised acceleration and deceleration process ensures even more dynamic grinding of the glass lites at a processing speed of up to 30 meters per minute. Better cycle times can be achieved thanks to faster processing of the corners of convex contours. The champ’speedgrind is intended for the integration into a champ’speed modular system, which Bystronic glass will introduce successively into the market. Here, the entire line concept is adapted to the very short cycle time. Also as far as ease of operation and change-over times are concerned, the new champ’speedgrind is considerably more user-friendly. At the stand, the visitors were able to see the champ’speedgrind 2500 in action. It is designed specially for the processing of windscreens. On the other hand, model 1600 is suited particularly for the processing of side lites / back lites. 







Living for the future – the Bystronic glass Eco Lounge

At the stand, Bystronic also thematically reflected the theme of this year’s glasstec "Glass and Energy". In the Eco Lounge, the trade visitors were able to get an insight into the ecological value-added chain of the Bystronic glass group: on touch screens, interested visitors had the opportunity to obtain information at their leisure on topics such as sustainability, energy efficiency, environmental protection and environmentally friendly use of resources.



Conclusion

This year’s glasstec was another great success for the Bystronic glass group. The largest stand in hall 14 was a meeting place for all trade visitors who wanted to obtain detailed information on technical innovations and enjoy live broadcasting of a complete system solution. The high volume of customers resulted in some successful contracts and numerous conductive discussions. For this reason, Bystronic is also looking forward to a successful follow-up business after the trade fair. With its appearance at glasstec 2008, Bystronic once again proved its competence as a provider of system solutions for the processing of automotive and structural glass.