|
|
| Bielomatik Leuze GmbH + Co KG; Neuffen (Germany) | | Optimally Adapted | Tailor-made paper cutting machine with Simotion
You need a flexible automation architecture to adapt a standard machine to the production environment. New machine modules were developed for an Indian paper manufacturer in no time with a Simotion-based solution. The possibilities of the motion control system were already taken into consideration in the mechanical conception.
An Indian paper manufacturer had ordered a highly efficient CutMaster paper cutting machine and packing station from the Swabian company Bielomatik - but they wanted some modifications made to the standard model: Because of the special properties of the paper, the sheets were to be cut in short format, i.e. in landscape rather than portrait format. A new turning station had to be built to turn the finished paper packages, the so-called reams, by 90 degrees for the packing machine. A ream diverter was also necessary to transfer defective reams to a correcting station where they can be corrected manually.Simple structureThe Bielomatik Leuze GmbH + Co. KG with its headquarters in Neuffen prefers to use the Simotion motion control system to automate its paper processing machines. The turning station for the paper cutting machine in India was the first newly developed machine in which experience with the motion control platform was already incorporated in the design.The Project Manager responsible for the electrical side of things, Axel Meyer, lists the advantages: "By considering the mechatronic possibilities of Simotion already in the conception of the turning station, we were able to adapt the structures of the mechanics and automation to each other and keep them very simple." The automation of the turning station also runs on the Simotion CPU of the cutting machine along with the automation of the transport, delay and calibration belts and the ream diverter.Excellent process stabilityThe complete ream forming, all the transport processes including the turning station and the ream diverter are combined in a continuous process. A Simotion D445 co-ordinates the movements of the 25 axes. 13 of these are real and 12 are virtual. Many of the virtual axes are used to implement the offset synchronization of two sequences of movements. The circumference of the virtual axis represents the distance which the product has to cover on the machine; the dynamic phase correction corrects process influences such as the ejection of sheets.Simple adaptationIn addition, the automation concept with Simotion has another advantage for Bielomatik: It is suitable for various formats and packing units. Only the parameters of real and virtual shafts have to be adapted to the format and the ream size. The open system also makes it easy to integrate other machine modules in the synchronized network. This flexibility allows you to respond faster to customer wishes and therefore improves your position in global competition.Short delivery timesMechatronics and innovative automation solutions has increased the productivity of machines in the paper industry by about 30 percent in the last two years. At the same time, Bielomatik has reduced the delivery time to an average six months. Motion control and homogeneity of the automation have a very high strategic value for Roland Schilling, the man responsible for electrical engineering in the paper processing division: "To achieve short delivery times, it is important to be able to implement customers wishes quickly. If we can find intelligent solutions here, it helps to maintain our great production depth and secure jobs at our sites."It is also becoming increasingly important to optimize the commissioning and service properties of the machines. Most owners only want their halls occupied by installation and service technicians for a short time. The homogeneous automation of the CutMaster machines has already proven an advantage in the commissioning. The time-consuming adjustment of interfaces to system transitions is done away with completely. "There is a tendency to integrate other system parts in the automation and Simotion is ideal for this," Schilling outlines the strategy. The machine manufacturers are already benefiting in all phases of the project from the integration of the Sinamics drives in the Simotion system which leads to easily configurable and compact solutions. "With Simotion and the new Sinamics drives, we have saved two complete switch cabinets," Project Manager Axel Meyer confirms.Good perspectivesWhere the integration of other system parts in the automation is concerned, the distributed automation possible with Simotion becomes interesting. It is possible, for instance, to use distributed intelligence flexibly and to synchronize several drive groups by distributed synchronization via Profibus or Profinet at a high performance. The consistently Ethernet-compatible communication extending right down to the drive level makes it easy to link up MES and ERP systems and is the basis for good diagnostics and remote maintenance properties of an automation.
Ideas 2 / 2007 | |
|
|
|
