Platform for the food and beverage industry
A lot of companies struggle with outdated installations that need replacement - or at least an upgrade. But how do you start? Those operating in the Kortrijk region are in luck: they can call on the years of expertise of Siemens Solution Partner Dynamics, just as Meli Veurne, Ursa Desselgem and Hanssens Catering already did for their respective motion control systems.
As an integrator with years of experience, Dynamics offers thoughtful solutions to industrial automation issues. Companies can turn to them for new installations, optimizations, retrofitting, machine safety, system integrations, robotics and power studies. And so also for setting up motion control with a unique combination of Sinamics servo controllers and Simatic Technology, coupled with TIA Portal-integration.
Honey company Meli in Veurne knocked on integrator Dynamics' door to breathe new life into their outdated dosing unit. It no longer met the strict accuracy requirements, which meant that the machine had to be shut down more and more often for fine-tuning.
Alexander Dewaele of Dynamics: "We replaced the PC-controlled installation with a Simatic S7-1512SP F controller with adapted safety components. And we also chose a new Siemens servodrive system, specially designed for the Simotics S-1FK2 servo motor: the Sinamics S210 servo inverter, a high-performance servo system, which is controlled over Profinet. This controller has integrated safety functions via ProfiSAFE and is enormously easy to configure. In addition to commissioning via Start Drive in TIA-Portal can do the same with the integrated Web server. The One Button Tuning is a breath of fresh air in this regard." The Sinamics S210 has an integrated braking resistor that allows one to save cabinet space. The automatic recognition of the motor by the Sinamics S210 ensures fast commissioning.
"Thanks to the upgrade, the metering cylinders are automatically accurately adjusted to the right size. Downtime has also been reduced to an absolute minimum: the motor has low inertia and high overload capacity, and we can set short turning cycles under heavy loads, which only increases productivity."
URSA Desselgem, producer of mineral wool, also called in the help of Dynamics. Together they tackled the switch from Simatic S5 to S7, and also switched to motion control for rolling up the mineral wool sheets.
URSA's mineral wool sheets are first pre-compressed and then rolled up. Now this is done with motion technology, previously the machine was set up manually for this purpose. "Time-consuming and difficult work, because it has to be accurate to the millimeter," according to Alexander. "And as soon as you change the type of mat, you have to stop the machine to enter new parameters."
In the new setup with motion technology, the settings of those CAM profiles happen automatically. In combination with the technology objects in the overhead controller, there is a whole range of pre-programmed motion tasks. Alexander: "Using motion instructions such as 'Create CAM' and 'Interpolate CAM,' the control of the various axes by Sinamics S120 relatively simple. No need for a third-party motion controller: everything can be done in the Simatic S7-1500T-CPU."
The result: the mats are rolled up tighter, faster and more dynamically. This leads to a significant increase in efficiency, especially during product changes, which also allows URSA to expand their range without worry.
Finally, Hanssens Catering was also struggling. This catering company, which mainly serves meals to schools in the region, was still working largely manually and could no longer cope. So they asked long-term partner Dynamics to automate their warehouse - with motion technology.
To get the trays of school meals out of the warehouse and onto the belt that takes them to transport, Hanssens Catering uses a large crane with a wide span. This has to be adjusted extremely precisely - down to the millimeter - to ensure everything runs smoothly.
To make sure everything would run smoothly, Dynamics worked with a Siemens engineer on site. Alexander: "The movement is dynamically controlled by the Simatic ET 200SP remote I/O system, through software-based gear functions, superimposed move and absolute positioning, among others. Working with gear functions allows the motor to operate in closed loop. This makes the manipulator more accurate and dynamic. And the absolute positioning of the motors with "super imposed move" ensures a very smooth movement. Due to the large span, the required accuracy and high speed, the motion instructions such as "Create CAM" and "Interpolate CAM" and the Sinamics S120 frequency converters here their superiority."
