A simple solution to complex automation tasks: This was the very challenge faced by SVZ Maschinenbau GmbH. The manufacturer of packaging machines for the final packaging process needed a flexible control technology to not only handle the machine’s elaborate control tasks, but also be able to control the entire periphery.
Use of MOVI-PLC® advanced
SEW-EURODRIVE is not only a one-stop shop for all drive components, its also a provider of efficient and flexible control technology, that enables us to master complex control tasks.
SVZ Maschinenbau GmbH is a specialist in the production of packaging machines for the final packaging process. The machines are used in sectors such as the food, confectionery, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries. The packaging machines have to perform a huge variety of tasks, including acting as a box aligner, multipacker, lidding machine and sealing machine. This variety of tasks requires a very elaborate control technology, which has to meet stringent demands in some sectors. Not only does the machine itself have to be controlled, but so too does the entire periphery.
SVZ’s box aligners and multipackers produce and fill boxes and crates made from corrugated or solid cardboard. These are of particular interest to packaging and logistics firms, such as Ideal-Pack in Heilbronn, a large full-service provider in the logistics sector. Alongside many other services, Ideal-Pack repacks goods from primary packaging into special sales displays. These are used by a chain of supermarkets, for example, which receives spaghetti, supplied by the manufacturer as bulk material in see-through packaging, and repacks it along with a pouch of sauce powder to produce a ready meal. These sets are manually placed into sales packaging, mechanically sealed and automatically placed into groups of six or twelve boxes, in which they will subsequently be presented on the supermarket shelf.
Ideal-Pack also uses a KA40 box aligner from SVZ, which relies on the SEW-EURODRIVE automation module for both its drive and control technology. This is where the product packaging, supplied flat in advance from a print shop, gets its final three-dimensional shape. During this process, a chain conveyor transports the packaging to a charging unit, where pre-packaged spaghetti is brought together with the boxes on two parallel conveyor lines. Once the packaging arrives, it is rotated through 90° on a star wheel turner station and then piled up and placed into groups of six or twelve. The charging unit places them in the retail box, which is then glued shut and transported out of the system on a roller conveyor.
Two parallel pairs of transport chains have been fitted in the packaging machine. The chains are mechanically connected to one another in each of the pairs. To keep at a distance from the driver without mechanical intervention, the servo drive technology fitted is able to freely move the pairs of chains against one another. To ensure that the two conveyor lines run in sync with one another, a MOVI-PLC® advanced has been fitted for control purposes and to ensure that the packaging is transported smoothly.
To avoid mechanical synchronization of the pairs of chains, a MOVI-PLC® advanced has been fitted for control purposes. This provides priceless benefits in cases where the packaging units are changed frequently. For the customer mentioned above, packaging varies between six and twelve units per box. So the machine has to be continually switched between a single and double box width. Using the MOVI-PLC® advanced meant that mechanical intervention was no longer needed. The transport chains were synchronized automatically, which adjusted the driver to the new packaging format.
To accomplish their diverse tasks, the box aligner and multipacker are equipped with a large number of modulo and positioning axes and a cam switch for controlling the external gluing unit. The designers used CMP.. servomotors from SEW-EURODRIVE for the positioning tasks. These motors are fitted with a high-resolution multi-turn absolute encoder for high dynamics and precision. They clearly record the motor speed over the encoder’s entire resolution range, meaning that there is no need for referencing after switching on.
The MOVI-PLC® advanced has been able to handle just all control tasks in the folded box aligner. It’s gone one step further. The control technology has also taken on responsibility for all the decentralized components in the machine line. A precise cam switch in the internal system bus is used to control additional applications for grouping and multi-packing. This includes the star wheel turner, the feed screw, the acceleration belt and the valve terminals for the pneumatic actuators. Comprehensive motion functions extending from single- and multiple-axis functionality to extremely flexibly programmable electronic cam functionalities are also covered. The controller also assumes responsibility for operation and visualization on the DOP11C-70 digital operator panel from SEW-EURODRIVE.
