The project of the automation of an industrial winding machine for calendering sealing materials is presented in the thesis. The CJ1M modular programmable logic controller manufactured by Omron, K3HB digital indicators and E5CN digital temperature controller ensure the control of the winding machine. The goal was to add the automatic control mode to the machine that fully operates in a manual control mode. The automatic control mode significantly facilitates the work of machine operator and contributes to better process repeatability.
The winding machine, or so-called calender, consists of a pair of smoothly grinded metal cylinders which compress, wind, smooth and dry viscous paste and kneaded semi-dry mixtures. The key parameters of the procedure are the pinch force of the cylinders, peripheral speed and the friction between the cylinders as well as the temperature of the cylinders.
In order to perform the automation of the process of work on the machine, it was first necessary to connect the digital instruments with the programmable logic controller (PLC) through the RS485 serial communications unit according to the CompoWay/F protocol. For that purpose, the CJ1W-SCU41-V1 serial communications unit was used on the PLC end, which is programmed separately with the CX-Protocol program. On the basis of measurement information obtained in this way, we were able to add the automatic control of operation to the PLC apart from the manual control.
The CX-Supervisor, supervision computer with the SCADA system, manufactured by Omron, ensures the purpose of the supervision of work, adjustment of machine settings to different materials and archiving of workflow. The database management system is based on a Microsoft Access server, whereas the entry of new materials or settings is possible in the SCADA application itself.
After the first test period, the supervision system and archiving of workflow proved to be important contributions in the search for the causes of the poor quality of products. Due to smaller deviations in raw materials, the automatic control still has to allow certain corrections made by the operator while keeping the desired advantage over manual control.
|