Burnside Autocyl is an Irish-owned and operated manufacturer of hydraulic cylinders that has been supplying the OEM market with a broad range of cylinders of the highest quality for many diverse applications for over 40 years.
Central to the company philosophy is a strong commitment to building partnerships with its customers. This begins by working closely with them from initial concepts to the final design solution for each application. Its design and research departments are staffed by dedicated engineers with many years’ experience in the field of hydraulics and they are supported by the best tools available, such as Creo and Creo Simulate. Rapid prototyping and lifecycle testing of new products is made possible through its dedicated R&D facility.
Paul Heatherington (above), design leader in Burnside Autocyl, with 20 years’ experience, explained the changing nature of the hydraulic cylinder business today: “In the past, during the design stage we had to start a new design based on previous experience, then carry out an endurance test to prove the design was fit for purpose. For standard cylinders this was sufficient. However cylinders are now getting more complex in terms of mounting geometry and loading requirements. Cylinders now have integrated valve circuits and electronic components as part of the overall hydraulic cylinder package delivered to the customer.
“Traditionally the testing required to prove new design concepts could have a long lead time as it took time to arrange materials and build the cylinders before starting to test prototypes. This lead time, which in today’s competitive market can be too long a development cycle, needed to be shortened.
“Today, we work closely with our customers to establish a full set of working criteria. This information is then fed into our FEA analysis software to determine with high accuracy if a cylinder is fit for purpose. Rather than make initial design, test, find a fault and then redesign and start again, we can now accurately model complex new cylinders right the first time.
“FEA has allowed us to accelerate development time for new projects and guarantee increased reliability, usually without added cost. Designs can be proven in our R&D development areas in either static or dynamic tests under controlled environments to best replicate actual field conditions.”
For more information, visit Burnside Autocyl at Bauma 2016, in Hall A4 and at stand 347.
April 1, 2016
