In response to customer needs, a leading packaging company has created a small-footprint bag-in-box cartoner, using a Rockwell Automation integrated architecture-based 'virtual drive train'. Able to complete 90 to 100 cartons per minute with minimal changeover time, the Triangle/FlexCell fills a niche between large continuous- and intermittent-motion cartoners.
Benefits flowing from the machine, developed using Rockwell Automation automated controls, range from minimising floor space requirements to reducing maintenance costs and slashing product changeover times. Steve Bergholt, chief electronics engineer at Triangle, says: "Manufacturers have long struggled with quickly switching carton sizes or pack patterns, with changeover times for a typical carton size taking from two to four hours. Using this cartoner, the manufacturer can change size or pack pattern in 10 to 20 minutes." The PanelView operator interface displays various machine settings. Users simply indicate the carton size and the servo drives adjust accordingly.
The integrated control and communications architecture notifies users of operational changes, which allows them to predict and schedule maintenance. The new design also reduced the number of moving parts by 70%, further reducing maintenance costs. Smart servo drives also save time. In the past, engineers had to configure the drive and motor by connecting a laptop to the drive. "Now, all a customer needs to do is set the switch to the address and plug in the SERCOS fibre-optic cable to bring a machine back online," explains Bergholt. This saves commissioning time, and mean time to repair, ensures proper drive replacement and gives users realtime reporting of critical motor data such as temperature.
With servo control, mechanical adjustments can be made with a simple keyboard entry. The machine design is adjustable and flexible, as mechanical parts no longer have to be designed for each cartoner and carton size change. "The flexible architecture allows us to re-use the design and simplify engineering tasks," added Bergholt. "We can forecast and pre-build the cartoners, allocating our resources to get a machine to market in three months instead of six months and saving thousands of dollars in engineering costs."
Triangle engineers employed a Rockwell Automation Kinetix Integrated Motion solution featuring an Allen-Bradley ControlLogix controller, Ultra3000 digital servo drives and MP-Series servo motors. The ControlLogix-based solution, eight servo axes and a noise-immune, fibre-optic SERCOS interface provides a single integrated solution, eliminating the need for multiple application programs and other redundancies. For product changeovers, users only need to enter the parameters once, using a touch screen PanelView operator interface. Another advantage is the single programming environment, which eliminates programming and synchronising two separate controllers for every machine function.
"In previous designs, we would have to program every device sequentially rather than simultaneously, increasing our engineering costs and extending our time-to-market," explains Bergholt. "Symbolic addresses lay a foundation for concurrent engineering, as they provide the opportunity for our programmers to work in parallel on the electrical design and application code." A DeviceNet network enables the company to pull information from any point in the control system. Triangle uses the network in tandem with EtherNet/IP to control all of its cartoners through one operator interface.
ControlLogix's ability to tightly integrate motion functions with the high speed of the SERCOS communication allows the eight servo axes to deliver optimum synchronisation. "In the past it was necessary to make one move match another to keep everything consistent," explains Bergholt. "The Rockwell Automation integrated motion technology produces a dual benefit. First it allows us to redefine the relationship between the axes during changeover so that all the relationships are maintained for the next operation. Second, a single recipe selection is used to reconfigure the cartoner."
For more information contact Clive Barwise, Rockwell Automation, +27 (0)11 654 9700, [email protected], www.rockwellautomation.co.za
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