BGB Innovation

 

The company specialises in the design from concept, manufacturing and marketing of its own range of niche market products. BGB has experienced significant growth over the last few years despite having a policy of offering its customers reductions in annual pricing. Growth is attributed to the ‘Anglo- Japanese Culture’ of empowered teamwork within manufacturing cells, Just-In-Time manufacture, continuous innovation and improvement, and the latest manufacturing expertise.

 

Well-trained, multi-skilled staff within ‘teams’ are heavily involved in the day to day running of the for the organisation of production, efficiency analysis and aspects of quality. Goals are to offer complete customer focus while having the flexibility to react quickly to customer requests. Major markets include wind turbine control and power transfer, water and sewage treatment, packaging machines, leisure rides, cable reeling, stand-by power generation and fish farming.

 

BGB Engineering
BGB Engineering is a high-precision electro-mechanical engineering division of the company. Established in 1976 as a manufacturer of carbon brush holders, the business progressed into the production of electrical slip rings during the 1980s. While BGB continues to supply both brush holders and slip rings as standard component parts, today’s core activity is the design and manufacture of specialised slip ring solutions.

The company continues to develop slip ring technology in conjunction with global customers. Partnerships are formed through working closely with clients’ design engineers and having the operational flexibility to meet their requirements.

 

Slip Ring Overview
Slip rings provide the dynamic electrical connections between machine static and rotating elements. They function as a rotary interface, continually transferring electrical power, signals and data through to 360 degrees. Slip rings are produced in varying types and sizes, dependent upon:
• application current
• application voltage
• application power
• nature and quantity of signals
• size of the mounting shaft
• size of the through bore
• radial speed
• available space envelope
• operating environment.

 

Products
Design engineers requiring a rotational interface solution can either select from a standard range or liaise with their applications design department to obtain a special solution. They have an extensive range of standard components to suit most industrial, military and civil applications. Their products cater for a variety of speeds, power/signal transmission and environmental conditions such as lightning protection for wind turbines.

BGB offers bespoke design solutions. In many instances standard parts can be adapted to provide a new product. BGB has an extensive library of standard parts, special mouldings and press tools. Using these, the company is able to adapt many parts to offer a new solution.

 

Export Markets
The business began exporting in the early 1990s – now over 87% of turnover is achieved through the exportation of goods and services. Predominant European markets include Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, Malta, France, Monaco, Portugal, Spain, Latvia, Poland and Germany (in which BGB lays claim as leader in the field). Products are being supplied to worldwide markets such as Australia, India, Canada, Ghana, Israel, Korea, Kenya, the USA and Japan.

 

Other Divisions of BGB Innovation In 2004 BGB purchased the commercial interests of Aquabeam Ltd, manufacturers of Aquaculture products. This acquisition expanded the company’s product portfolio into the field of underwater lighting, camera systems and cables/ connectors. Primary applications include cage illuminators for photoperiod manipulation within fish farming, underwater lighting for the energy and water treatment industries, and submerged transom lighting for yachts.

 

Through this division, BGB has now developed Digilinc, a wireless Ethernet bridge that enables high-speed data or video links to be transmitted across distances of up to 20km with line of sight. Applications for Digilinc include wireless CCTV and remote security and monitoring functions. Wind turbines situated in remote and offshore locations can be monitored and data recorded without having to lay cables, while reducing the frequency of expensive trips out to sea. The data collected can report running maintenance and perform self-diagnostic checks.

 

Barriers

 

Future Expectations
BGB will continue to be a key supplier to the major manufacturers in the wind industry and plans to carry on being the first point of call for slip ring solutions.