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New controls bring smooth production

A flawed drives and controls package in this converting system had to be replaced before the machine could be returned to production.

A controls retrofit helped Polyair put its converting equipment back into operation.
A controls retrofit helped Polyair put its converting equipment back into operation.

Converting equipment used by Toronto-based Polyair to make protective packaging envelopes was retrofitted recently with servo motors, drives, and an integrated motion and logic controller all supplied by the Electric Drives and Controls unit of Bosch Rexroth.

In a single pass, the converting system joins two rolls of plastic film to make air-filled cells, laminates the air-filled cell substrate to paper, and—after some folding, gluing, and cutting stations—spits out finished envelopes. Two servo motors play key roles. One is responsible for pulling the roll-fed materials through the converting process—from roll stand through laminating and cutting stations and out the discharge end. The other servo motor actuates the cutting action that separates finished envelopes from the continuous rolls.

The original drives and controls package on the system had a serious flaw in its PLC logic-timing. The servo motor pulling material through the system was badly timed relative to a brake mechanism near the material infeed station. In essence, the machine was fighting itself by pulling material through yet braking material infeed at the same time. This caused failure of expensive components, and eventually it caused Polyair to take the machine out of operation until a new controls package could be retrofitted.

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