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Optimizing machine control through simulation software

A 3-D CAD mechanical design software linked to Allen-Bradley mechanical, controls, and electrical design software lets machine designers size and select motors and drives.

Simulation software helped cut by a third the amount of design time required on the servo-powered CELOX cartoner.
Simulation software helped cut by a third the amount of design time required on the servo-powered CELOX cartoner.

The CELOX Endload Cartoner from Kliklok-Woodman (www.kliklok.com) has been available since 2007. But the engineers at Kliklok-Woodman recently upgraded it by improving its flap kicker, a finger-like device that deflects the flaps of each carton outward at just the right instant to ensure the product is smoothly loaded into the carton. Originally the flap kicker was powered by a pneumatic cylinder, which was subject to wear out more quickly than a servo-based solution when used at high speeds. So K-W engineers replaced the pneumatics with a servo motor, the B310P MP-Series Food Grade motor from Rockwell Automation. According to Florin Bruda, K-W mechanical engineer, the flap kicker now ensures accuracy and reliability at speeds to 325 cartons/min. As for the MP-Series servo motor, in addition to being more reliable than the pneumatic cylinder it replaced, it’s compact and can withstand high-pressure caustic washdowns.


To help develop the servo-driven flap kicker, the engineers employed another Rockwell tool: Allen-Bradley Motion Analyzer software. Motion Analyzer is a digital modeling and simulation tool that helps size and select an optimal motion system solution—one that uses the appropriate amount of energy and achieves the specified speed and throughput. Motion Analyzer also reduces the time required to design, develop and deliver a new machine.


“It made complete sense to use Motion Analyzer to do the initial motor sizing because the motion of the flap kicker is solely dependent upon the size of the particular carton and the size of its flaps,” Bruda said. “I could plug in the specific end-user requirements and quickly test different servo motor sizes to find the right one, avoiding the need to test each option on a physical machine.”

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