Precise Timing and Synchronization Drives Thermoformer Performance

Brown Machine used a PC-based motion controller from ORMEC Systems and high-speed PLS outputs on the system's axis modules to increase performance and reliability.

Thermoforming plastic product packaging, plastic cups, lids, foam plates, deli pieces, horticulture components and berry box products used in supermarkets requires highly precise, synchronized motion. And with inline, continuous thermoformers performance requirements are even higher, and require precise timing and repeatable sub-millisecond level synchronization between multiple axes.

Brown Machine improved the performance of its inline, continuous thermoformers by coordinating motion with a series of high-speed programmable limit switches (PLSs). Motion was coordinated based on the position of the thermoformer’s main drive.

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Digitally networked servos drive two new machines

Digitally networked servos that allow cost-effective, high-speed communications among the electronic components of shop floor machinery are becoming increasingly common. They not only enable the design of more effective equipment, but they enable the equipment to link more effectively with overall plant operations. This communications capability is at the heart of two new machines, very different in function, but based on the same standard digital servo technology.

One machine automates the process of making window screens; the other manages the design and production of steel piping systems. Both feature a digital drive system (ServoWire from ORMEC) that replaces the conventional +/- 10-volt analog interface with an all-digital control network. The system eliminates hundreds of interconnections and can be plugged together in minutes using standard cables. It allows programmers full access to drive parameters to ease the development of diagnostic logic and fault codes. The operator interfaces can provide real-time diagnostic data.

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Rreprinted from Design News, Motion Control Supplement, April 2001

Ethernet Simplifies Monitoring and Diagnostics

In terms of service headaches, the high-volume contract stamping facility had a conventional problem. A high-speed transfer press that moves sheet-metal parts through six sequential dies under one press ram, that had run reliably for months, suddenly experienced a series of mysterious "faults" that interrupted production. Visual inspection showed no obvious problem, such as an obstruction from stray scrap. What’s more, the programmable, servo-driven transfer system had a proven track record of efficiently handling sheet-metal parts.

What's different was the service call. Personnel at Atlas Technologies, a Fenton, Mich., pressroom automation specialist, diagnosed the problems without leaving the office. Through a modem and an Ethernet hub, controls engineer Scott Clement could explore the operational software and interrogate its logic....

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Reprinted from Machine Design, August 17, 2000.

Collating Candy at 3,000/minute

Goetze's Candy Co. triples speeds for packaging its venerable soft caramel cream candies after installing a new servo-driven feeding/collating system with high-speed ORMEC motion control.

After 20 years of trying, Goetze's Candy Co.'s Caramel Cream packaging line has finally moved into the fast lane. A first-of-its-kind packaging feeding/collating system gathers, collates and positions 10 individual caramel candies onto a paperboard U-board, which in turn is flow-wrapped at speeds to 300 packages/min, triple the speed of previous feeding equipment.

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From Packaging World® Magazine, March 1999 edition

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