Precise Timing and Synchronization Drives Thermoformer Performance

Application story on how Brown Machine utilized 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 go even higher, and require precise timing and repeatable sub-millisecond level synchronization between multiple axes.

Brown Machine (www.brown-machine.com) has improved the performance of its inline, continuous thermoformers by coordinating motion with a series of high-speed programmable limit switches (PLSs) that coordinate motion based on the position of the thermoformer’s main drive. Brown Machine utilized an ORION PC-based motion controller from ORMEC and high-speed PLS outputs on the system’s axis modules to increase performance and reliability.

Click here for a pdf of the Thermoformer Performance article.

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 that 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. Thus operator interfaces can provide real-time diagnostic data.

Click here for a pdf of the complete article, reprinted 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....

Click here for a pdf of the complete article on remote diagnostics using Ethernet, reprinted from Machine Design, August 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. Feature article appeared in the March, 1999 edition of Packaging World® Magazine.

Copyright 1999 Summit Publishing Company. All rights reserved. The article below from PACKAGING WORLD® magazine is reprinted by permission of Summit Publishing Company. Users of this site are granted the limited permission to view this article in their browser. Any reproduction, reprinting, retransmission or alteration, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited without the express prior written permission of Summit Publishing Company. PACKAGING WORLD is a registered trademark of Summit Publishing Company.

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.

Click here to read a pdf of the complete article from Packaging World® Magazine, March, 1999 edition.