New technology opens the door to daily chemical packaging

P&G has increased the flexibility of the equipment through new servo technology, increased the production capacity and made better use of equipment assets.

A new toothpaste infusion line from Project Front Door has been running at Gross Gerau since May and most of its drive systems use servo technology. For example, toothpaste filling, carton packing, packing and packing on the new production line were completed by four machines, 54 of which were driven by servo motors supplied by Elau. The toothpaste filling line uses IWKA's TFS-80-4 toothpaste dispenser, consisting of 29 servomotors and many auxiliary drive mechanisms. All toothpaste tubes are captured, loaded, guided, poured, heated, sealed, and unloaded via two PacDrive controllers. Each controller has the ability to control motion, logic control, and connect the HMI human/machine interface and connect it to its corresponding servo drive via a SERCOS fiber optic network. In fact, installing a PacDrive controller on the TFS-80-4 toothpaste filling machine is sufficient; but in the early design process of the machine, IWKA engineers decided to use two controllers to ensure that the machine can play the highest Performance, each controller is responsible for the control of the machine half of the movement axis.

The task to be completed Project Front Door's main goal is to achieve high-speed filling of toothpaste. IWKA is responsible for the delivery of the TFS-80-4 toothpaste filling machine, while P&G is responsible for the metering. Thorsten May, P&G's maintenance director, said: “Compared to the old production line originally used in the factory, the number of toothpastes we produced per minute on the new system has tripled.” Old-fashioned toothpaste filling machines use common PLC programmable logic controls. The controller controls and depends on the mechanical drive/clutch/brake method. Only two servo motors are used to guide the toothpaste tube. The advantages of the new toothpaste filling machine are far beyond the speed improvement, and its conversion function has also been greatly improved. ”

1 w KA company manager AX e 1A_ugenste. Mr. m said: “The improvement of equipment flexibility is very obvious. The old-fashioned toothpaste filling machine is mechanical. When the toothpaste tube changes to a new size or changes the product formula, it needs to replace the mechanical cam. But after adopting the servo drive system, The format of the product can be stored in the controller and an appropriate format can be selected from the menu displayed on the HMI screen.The toothpaste infusion machine automatically adjusts the shape of the new cam as needed.The so-called conversion is the conversion of toothpaste from one taste to another. Or, it means that the toothpaste tube is changing from 50mL (1.7oz) capacity to 125mL (4.23oz) capacity.”

According to Mr. Augenstein, one of the requirements when evaluating the current control system for this new type of toothpaste filling machine is not only to change from one standard product format to another, but also during exercise and During operation of the product, the control system should be able to quickly and automatically change the cam profile.

In this case, P&G's operators/technicians will change if the product fluidity changes due to humidity or temperature or product viscosity or other variable factors, making it different from the original standard configuration. The correct measures will be taken to adjust the shape of its electronic cam on the menu of the HMI screen, even if the toothpaste is not affected during perfusion. Elau's servo drive mechanism and control system can meet the transformation requirements during this movement.

In this control system, the shape of the cam is stored in the central controller in the form of a mathematical function. Every time a setpoint for a new location is needed, the system calculates these setpoints online and transmits them to the drive. As a result, positioning is achieved at the same time as calculating the speed, and the current loop is completed by the intelligent drive mechanism. When adjusting the profile of the cam, there is no need to download or perform other operations on the drive mechanism. This combination of a central control system and a decentralized intelligence system allows the SERCOS bus to maintain a sufficient degree of openness, allowing it to change the shape of the cam during movement.

ABB's manipulators are installed in front of the toothpaste dispenser and are connected to the same Profibus network, allowing the exchange of information between the entire production line. The robot is equipped with six servomotor/driver assemblies. The robot receives digital signals from one of the PacDrive controllers of the 1w KA Toothpaste dispenser and is responsible for taking toothpaste tubes from the corrugated cardboard shipping container and placing them on the IWKA machine's delivery system.

Actual production of servo technology

Toothpaste tubes are arranged in every 10 crosses in a corrugated cardboard box, with the bottom opening upwards. The machine infuses a 50 mL toothpaste tube and the number of toothpaste tubes is 20 at a time. The whole toothpaste tube can be fed into the servo motor of the pick-up station. Each time, the two rows of toothpaste tubes can be accurately transported forward. Then, the two toothpaste tubes can be accurately grasped by the manipulator. After being hovered in the air, the toothpaste can be transferred to the pocket toothpaste of the filling machine. In the tube transport system, the toothpaste tube was inserted into the pocket of the transport system, and then the robot returned to its original position to grab the other two rows of toothpaste tubes.

Once the toothpaste tube enters the infusion system, more servo drives begin to work: the toothpaste tube presses tightly into the pockets and forwards through the guide mechanism, allowing the side to be adjusted appropriately when shrinkage occurs. Wall graphics. Four of the toothpaste tubes are pushed forward so that they are connected to four perfusion nozzles; the nozzles inject the toothpaste into the toothpaste tube, and then the bottom of the toothpaste is curled and sealed and trimmed to complete the filling of two toothpastes each time, through a double unloading station, The poured toothpaste is sent to a conveyor belt and transported to a carton packer for packaging.

The positioning accuracy inherent to servo drive technology is particularly suitable for products such as toothpaste, but the consistency of the toothpaste can make control operations difficult because the nozzle tool may affect cleanliness and tight seals when it is closed. However, the feed proportioning valve of the IWKA toothpaste dispenser is designed specifically. Although the operation control of the product is difficult, its operation procedure can still ensure a clean seal.

A sensor installed in front of the toothpaste filling station can detect if the toothpaste tube is damaged or not. The relevant data will be transmitted to the PacDrive controller, and then the controller informs the appropriate toothpaste infusion nozzle not to infuse toothpaste into the damaged or out of round toothpaste tube. At the same time, this information will also be transmitted to the downstream pneumatic devices so that the empty tubes of unfilled toothpaste can be removed from the production line before being sent to the cartoner.

The SC3HS carton packer is another servo drive machine provided by IWKA and is installed downstream of the toothpaste dispenser. In this machine, only 6 servo motor/drive combinations are required. It uses a rotary working method, which is just the opposite of the reciprocating movement. The tool can fold the side of the carton, allowing the machine to reach a packaging speed of 600/min. Next is the Garvens Checkweighing Machine and a pair of Sick Sensors for marking badly packaged scrap cartons, PacDrive controllers and 13 Elau servos for shaft drive, including push, stack, pack, seal And unloading. The Profibus network, which connects all parts of the equipment together, plays an important role in maintaining the synchronization of the balers and the equipment on the production line. Immediately after the Markem 5000 series inkjet printer, a Pester PAC 6-axis robotic palletizer with Kuka robots marked the end of the production line.

Source: Modern Packaging