Handheld HMI for multi-color flexo printing press

Leading Edge Automation, a designer and provider of industrial variable speed drives, motion control, and automation solutions, has selected a wireless HMI from Beijer Electronics as part of an upgrade to a CI Flexo printing press. Leading Edge chose the Qterm-G58 which has wireless capability to allow the operator to freely move up and down the printing units which saves on material costs due to faster makeready times.

As a provider of drive and control system retrofits, Leading Edge put together the upgrade plan for an aging eight-color Uteco-Jade 815 CI Flexo printing press. Due to customer delivery schedules and financial limitations, the upgrade had to occur in stages.

A major part of upgrade included improving the operator handsets that are used to control the press. The original handsets were functional but needed to be plugged in. Operators had to remain close to the print deck in order to make any print adjustments. Plus, the original handsets were proprietary which resulted in expensive replacement parts and lengthy lead times. The wireless HMI was chosen to replace the original operator handsets allowing operators the freedom to move to the inspection station and set-up print jobs or make any necessary inking or registration adjustments.

“We researched the wireless marketplace and came across the Qterm-G58 handset; it was exactly what we had been looking for,” said Robert Cappuccitti, vice president of Leading Edge Automation. “It allowed us the programming flexibility we needed, and the keypad customization made it fit the project perfectly.”  

The Qterm-G58 HMI features a 3.5" (89 mm), 320 x 240 pixel, sunlight-readable, LED lighted TFT-LCD display, resistive touch screen, 24- or 40-key customizable keypad, optional 802.11b/g wireless Ethernet, internal lithium polymer rechargeable battery, Atmel ARM9 200 MHz processor and Windows Embedded CE 6.0 or Qlarity object-based programming language for application development. The Qterm-G58 can operate in -20 to 60 °C and is NEMA-4 rated.

www.leadingedgeautomation.com

www.beijerelectronicsinc.com

Edited by Peter Welander, pwelander@cfemedia.com

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