What should you do with a machine that is in perfect mechanical working order, but it has obsolete control equipment? This was asked when Motion Tronic was consulted on a food grade paper tubing line control system upgrade. With cost savings and improve machine up time two goals for the system, the Projects team set to work retrofitting a client’s W&H AM8115 Tuber with cutting-edge control technology from Baumüller and Invertek.
What’s a paper tuber?
A tuber is the machine that takes reels of paper and folds them into the tube that will eventually become a bag to hold products. Examples of these bags are cement bags, potato bags, and bulk paper sugar bags. The W&H AM8115 Tuber can produce bags in lengths of 380mm – 1500mm and widths of 180mm – 750mm.
The process requires two main motors to run in perfect synchronism, ensuring the bags are all exactly the same length and registration mark reading to maintain the perforation position relative to the print on the bag. This was a perfect opportunity to see the new Baumüller PLCmc module in action!
Servo Drives & PLC
The Motion Tronic Projects team deployed the Baumüller bmaXX5000 series servo drives, along with the new Baumüller PLCmc. Perfect control was achieved over an EtherCat network. Active mains rectifiers were installed on tension axes which push power back into the grid for other motors to use.
At axes that didn’t need position control, where a variable speed drive would do the job, Invertek P2 VSDs over EtherCat were used. The remote push button stations were replaced with an EtherCat version of the same brand. The project contained a whopping 143 EtherCat nodes in total, all communicating at lightning fast speeds.
Main motors
The system’s two main motors were changed to the Baumüller DS series motors. These 2 motors form the heart of the machine, controlling the length of the finished product and the adjustment of the variable length knife.
The synchronous operation is achieved through Baumüller function blocks, coming standard with the Baumüller PLCmc (Motion Control). This small package PLC packs a big punch running in the microsecond processing range, making it perfect for multi-axis synchronous motion control applications.
Official Baumüller & Invertek distributors in South Africa
Motion Tronic is the official product agency in South Africa for Baumüller, Invertek, Microsonic, Servomold, Panasonic, and Inovance. We’re industrial machine experts, process automation specialists and the leading specialists in PLC and Drive Automation in South Africa. Motion Tronic can enhance and improve a range of industries, including food & beverage, paper & packaging, and plastics & metal fabrication. Contact us today for professional, effective industrial automation support.
