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Veronica gets a controls makeover

Ultra Packaging uses an MLC motion controller and IndraDrive Mi integrated motor/drive system to give its cartoner a cleaner look and improved performance.

NEW CARTONER. New controls technology helped Ultra Packaging build a cartoning machine that offers greater flexibility, faster c
NEW CARTONER. New controls technology helped Ultra Packaging build a cartoning machine that offers greater flexibility, faster c

Ultra Packaging, Inc. recently faced a unique challenge: Make their servo-driven “Veronica” vertical cartoner packaging machine even more attractive.

A few years ago, the firm successfully incorporated a servo and motion logic control from Rexroth to replace the mechanical axes on its original vertical cartoner. The result was dramatically reduced changeover times with better accuracy.

Back then, the seven-axis Veronica provided the industry with a fast and reliable machine for creating cartons from flat paperboard blanks and precisely synchronizing the loading, closing, gluing, and other steps while avoiding carton jams. The multi-axis synchronization capability Rexroth offered was particularly appreciated.

However, with industry trends changing, Ultra Packaging decided they could make the machine even better. Specifically, customers were asking for greater flexibility in carton capacity (including the capability for handling a wider range of cartons), faster changeover, additional reductions in wiring and maintenance, and a reduced machine footprint with a cleaner and less cluttered control panel.

Ultra Packaging began working with local Rexroth automation distributor CMA/Flodyne/Hydradyne to take the machine to another level. When Ultra Packaging learned about Rexroth’s IndraDrive Mi family of integrated motor and servo drives, the OEM scheduled Veronica for its second makeover in just a few years. With the new integrated servo motor and drive concept, Ultra Packaging saw the potential for a machine that could run an even wider range of cartons, provide more precise control of multiple axes, reduce the machine’s total system footprint, cut changeover times still further, and significantly decrease maintenance and wiring costs at the same time.

The Veronica makeover takes shape

A leading feature in the new-generation seven-axis Veronica machine is its use of Rexroth IndraDrive Mi integrated servo motors and drives mounted directly on the machine and away from the control cabinet. The drives, each about the size of a deck of cards, are powered by a single Rexroth IndraDrive power supply in the control panel. This enables the use of a single cable for power and communication running from the cabinet, instead of the 14 cables required by the seven servo drives on the “old” Veronica (power cable plus encoder for each drive). The single cable is daisy-chained to each motor/drive unit on the machine, proving ideal for coordination of the crucial cartoning axes, including pushing/leading lug, top and bottom flap folder, rotary feed width adjust axis, top flap spreader, and depth adjustment, as well as an option to add a rotary feed axis drive as well. With the drives mounted on the machine, new axes can be added with just minor changes to the control panel.

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