Coating line upgrade for packaging and shipping company
A recent project for a packaging and shipping company hit a series of inopportune events, but installation finished smoothly due to careful planning.
Electronic Drives and Controls performed a major controls overhaul on a coating line for ADM, a manufacturer of high-quality pressure sensitive envelopes, packaging and shipping products. This upgrade included converting servos and programmable logic controllers (PLCs) to a vector drive system and Siemens S7-1500 PLC with ET 200SP Remote I/O and Comfort Panel HMIs. Scores of analog controls, relays and other electrical components were also being replaced or eliminated, cleaning up a rat’s nest of wires and chaos.
In-depth mechanical design was required for a load cell roll addition and pneumatic brakes to be integrated into the two unwinds, replacing the older electro-magnetic brakes. Even more difficult was converting the original equipment manufacturer’s (OEM’s) integrated rewind spindle dc motors and gear train to off-the-shelf ac vector motors and gearheads utilizing the existing cast housings. Since the turret’s slip rings could not carry all the signals needed for the new controls, wireless ethernet communications were used between the rewind drives, mounted on the turrets themselves, and a nearby remote I/O enclosure.
Veteran project engineer Joe Maloney took the helm early in 2021 with an expected August start-up. Explosive customer demand, supply chain issues and later, September’s Hurricane Ida, forced ADMs availability into the New Year.
Maloney devised a detailed project plan for mechanical and electrical facets to keep the install team on track. A meeting with the customer was called right after New Year’s. Everyone from operators to production supervision participated in the review of the plan to ensure all technical and delivery goals would be met.
Solid planning and a deep bench of quality project engineers helped EDC to ensure that ADM’s project goals were met despite potential challenges.
Courtesy: Electronic Drives & Controls
Electronic Drives & Controls is a CSIA certified member. Edited by Chris Vavra, web content manager, Control Engineering, CFE Media and Technology, cvavra@cfemedia.com.
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