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| Simatic Microbox PC in chocolate production | | Compact PC for Custom-made Confectionery | Exact portioning is crucial for chocolate production. In the future, the portioning machines at Bühler Bindler will rely on a Simatic Microbox PC to handle all of the PC and control functions necessary for casting liquid chocolate. The cost-optimized industrial system coordinates up to five intelligent drives, and also forms the computing backbone of a graphics article generator which greatly simplifies product and process optimization.
The portioning machine forms the central element of every casting line at the chocolate plant. The liquid chocolate is precisely and reproducibly portioned and poured into reusable plastic molds with the help of a system consisting of pistons and nozzles. Thereafter, the chocolate hardens on the cooling line to such a degree that the article can be removed from the mold and further processed or packaged.
Employing a staff of 140, Bühler Bindler GmbH of Bergneustadt, Germany designs and manufacturers customized systems for the production of solid and filled chocolate products for a well-known customer base worldwide. Featuring an individually adapted number of controlled axes for the casting head, the newly designed portioning system for pralines and chocolates of Bühler Bindler, the VersiShot, is also consistently modular and flexibly scalable in its architecture. The (X, Y, Z) directional movement range of the casting head depends solely on the article spectrum of the user. If necessary, the casting head movement can be synchronized with a conveyor belt via an additional external transmitter. In addition to the three servo drives for the main axes, there are two others for the proportioning pistons. Thus, five axes can be synchronously driven in the final expansion.
Integrated innovative drive and control technology
Even in the complex casting machines with up to 70 axes at Bühler Bindler, the vertical shaft was replaced with a flexible system architecture consisting of individual, electronically linked drives. Another innovative step involved the utilization of the Sinamics S120 series of drives in combination with the drive-based Simotion D435 motion control system and the 1FK7 servo motors featuring a Drive-Cliq interface. The modular control design of the machine, based on the highly compact, tailored-to-application Microbox PC 420, is equally innovative. Control tasks are handled by a Simatic WinAC software-based PLC.
One of the key requirements of the machine manufacturer with respect to the control architecture involved the seamless integration of the "article generator" into the control system, which was developed parallel to the portioning system. With the help of the convenient 3D software tool, the operator now need only create or select the desired product mold from the configuration options, and then define the dimensions, the casting method and the number of molds to be filled. Based on this data, the program creates all of the necessary process parameters such as the portioning signals, travel paths and speeds.
Not surprisingly, the customer preferred a PC-based control solution. The compact yet open architecture of the Simatic Microbox PC 420 offers great flexibility in terms of equipment and performance, and thus a cost-optimized solution for the respective application. It is seamlessly integrated into Totally Integrated Automation and is fully compatible with the PC-based Simatic WinAC. For communication, the Microbox PC makes use of the versatile options offered by Profibus and Industrial Ethernet: for example, to link the Simatic Net OPC server (OLE for Process Control) with office and master ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems such as SAP, which are increasingly gaining in importance in the candy industry.
A key advantage of the Microbox PC 420 is its space-saving installation in combination with Simatic ET 200M distributed peripheral devices on standard DIN rails in the switch cabinet. When mounted on the wall, the robust solid metal housing also protects the electronic interior against electromagnetic and other types of external influences, including temperatures up to 50°C as well as increased vibration and shock stress, which can occur in machine-oriented environments. When combined with a built-in Microbox PC, the extension plug-in cards, battery, SDRAM and CompactFlash (CF) cards are positioned to allow for easy replacement. Also, all components are designed for fanless around-the-clock operation.
Customized functionality
The CF memory and the Windows XP Embedded (XPe) operating system form the basis for the hard disk-free architecture of the Microbox PC 420. This ensures trouble-free operation even at high temperatures and increased vibration and shock stress. Depending on the expansion level of the portioning application of Bühler Bindler, the memory capacity of the required CompactFlash cards can be optimized specifically for the requirements of the application.
Siemens precisely adapted the Windows XPe software - a scaled-down version of the current Windows XP Professional - to the technical hardware and software requirements of the customer application. This involved an extensive range of interfaces suitable for industrial applications. Featuring a serial interface, four USB 2.0 as well as an Industrial Ethernet interface (10/100 Mbps) for linking PC and process periphery, the basic unit leaves nothing to be desired. Bühler Bindler also uses the optional Profibus DP interface for fast and simple communication with the Sinamics drives.
The Microbox PC 420 was specifically designed for interaction with the Software PLC Simatic WinAC. Based on Windows XPe, it allows for open PC-based control with all equipment resources. Moreover, the integration of all of the software components also greatly simplifies online documentation of product data for example. The software controller is programmed and configured with the popular Step 7 tools: apart from Function Plan (FUP), also other engineering tools such as S7-SCL (Structured Text) or S7-Graph (Sequential Function Chart) for the graphics configuration of process controls in the Simatic Manager. All configuration data of the PC-based application are created, man-aged and saved on a common, integrated platform, thereby significantly reducing engineering and software maintenance complexity.
Bühler Bindler can also easily port program sections created for Simatic s7-400 controllers onto the Microbox PC and vice versa. Know-how and previous investments are thereby safeguarded. "The sum of the advantages resulting from the combination of Microbox PC 420 and the intelligent drive technology created here in Bergneustadt are also an item of discussion at our Swiss company headquarters," as Karl-Jürgen Kasemann, automation engineer at Bühler Bindler, reports. "The colleagues there are seriously considering transferring the concept to other applications with similar requirements." |  |
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