TR Electronic has been a reliable partner in professional event technology for many years. TR Electronic’s encoders precisely detect the position of stage platforms, turntables, prospectus and lighting hoists. Linear encoders installed directly in hydraulic cylinders accurately report the position of lower machinery.
Reliable and safe sensors for event technology
High safety requirements apply in event technology. Malfunctions and incorrect positioning can endanger human life as well as damage system components. It is therefore important that system planners and users can rely on their partner, especially when individual components make a decisive contribution to the safety and reliability of the complex stage machinery.
In almost 40 years, TR Electronic has already equipped a number of stage machinery installations with highly reliable encoders. TR Electronic supports specific safety structures, from the absolute encoder with incremental track to the certified safety encoder whose position signal can be used directly in SIL3 or PLe applications.
“Curtain up” – thanks to the reliable sensor technology from TR Electronic.
Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Felix Lohrer, Head of Marketing and Events at TR Electronic GmbH
1. Last year, after a two-year break, there were more events again. How did your company perceive the past months?
TR Electronic GmbH has been a supplier of theatrical mechanical engineering for many years and is not directly involved in productions and tours.
That’s why we are only aware of developments in the industry with a time lag or even acyclically. For established theatres in particular, the forced break was also an opportunity to bring forward or consolidate already planned renovations or conversions where possible. We are pleased that the venues have started operating again and that the theatre machines on which our rotary and linear encoders are installed are back in use in a meaningful way.
2. What are your expectations for the industry in the coming years?
It is quite remarkable that audiences are no longer flocking to events in the same way. At the same time, we know of some renovation and new construction projects. Certainly, economic challenges in the event industry are also becoming more apparent.
Increasingly complex safety requirements in construction and operation; the need to become climate-neutral in the cultural and event sector as well; getting audiences off the couch again after two years of withdrawal; the industry already has some big tasks on its plate. We are sure that the creativity of the event industry will find innovative solutions, to which we will gladly contribute with our know-how.
3. This year you are participating in Prolight + Sound for the first time, what was the decisive factor and what significance does the fair have for your company?
We will find out what significance the fair has acquired for us on 28 April. When we were looking for solutions for our presence among event technology professionals at the beginning of 2022, PLS was the opportunity for us in 2023 to meet our customers from the industry in Germany in one place. The network with our customers and also their users from theatres, opera houses, event planning offices and event organisers always gives us impetus for innovative solutions, which then in turn inspire the application. And so we look forward to discussions with the people who achieve top creative performances every day and use our products in the process (often without knowing it).
Personally, I have known the PLS since it was a sister fair at the same time as the Musikmesse, offering a presentation platform for the lighting technology and stage elements sectors. If, like me, you are enthusiastic about the subject, a visit was simply part of the experience. Let’s see how the fair develops now that it has to do without its sister for the second year.
4. your products are mainly used in theatres and opera houses, Why don’t you explain to the readers what exactly these products do there?
As soon as automated machine technology has moved into the lacing floor or the lower machine, there was a need to know the actual position of the scenery bar, the lifting platform or the turntable. This is exactly where the rotary encoders from TR Electronic come into play. In the meantime, automated lacing bottoms, networked with the
In the mobile sector, too, today’s requirements for stage shows can no longer be met with “chain hoist up / down”. That’s why our products are not only found in permanently installed winches, but also in more complex chain hoists, for example.
Something happens on stage that is unthinkable in industry: powerful machines move heavy components without there being a fence between man and machine. Everyone must be able to rely on the technology doing exactly what is expected of it, what has been rehearsed and approved. The feedback of the real position of a splitter bar etc. to the axle computer or the control system is crucial. The reliability of the feedback values must be given directly when the system is started up, without having to move the axes to a reference point in any way. And for this, TR supplies the appropriate rotary encoders, linear encoders and rope length encoders that can be perfectly integrated into the safety strategy of the respective system manufacturer.
5. With regard to Prolight + Sound 2023: Can you give visitors a little foretaste of what to expect?
A lot of personal exchange! New is a series of compact, redundant rotary encoders that fit into many existing plant systems in terms of control technology, but only take up the installation space of a single industry-standard rotary encoder with a diameter of 58 mm. Instead of installing two of them, one is now sufficient, which is internally designed so that the signals can be
that the signals are determined independently of each other. And of course we have the right experts on the stand with whom the next projects can be discussed in a relaxed atmosphere. Perhaps an idea will emerge that we can then present at the PLS in 2024 as an innovation for event technology.
You will find the TR Electronic GmbH stand in Hall 12, Stand C35.
