Meet Big Blue, the stamping press I worked on at Northwestern University.

        Big Blue is a 150-ton, double action HPM hydraulic stamping press.  Some of the specs on the press are:

• bed size:    90 cm x 90 cm
• max. stroke of punch:    90 cm
• max. stroke of binder:    45 cm
• pressing speed:    42 mm/sec

        Big Blue was originally built in the 1952.  Therefore, as you can imagine, she was not what would be considered state of the art.  To rectify this, Big Blue was revamped.  Data acquisition equipment was added including a displacement sensor and punch and binder pressure sensors and load washers.  Also, hydraulic proportional valves were incorporated into the press hydraulic system to allow for binder force variation during the process cycle.  The system is controlled and data acquired through Labview software from National Instruments.  Through these renovations, Big Blue has become the cornerstone of research efforts at the Advanced Materials Processing Laboratory at Northwestern University.

Here is a list of companies that we used during the press renovation:

• Displacement sensor: Temposonics from MTS
• Pressure sensors: Gems sensors from IMO
• Hydraulic valves: Mannesmann Rexroth
• Data acquisition (hardware & software): National Instruments
• Data acquisition (amplifiers & A/D converters): Pacific Instruments

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