Controls & Machine Components

Sunx Sensors: Safety light curtain

The SF2-EH safety light curtain from Sunx Sensors, a div. of Ramco Innovations, (West Des Moines, IA) conforms to IEC 61496-1/2 international standards and is compatible with equipment conforming to OSHA, ANSI, and ANSI/RIA 15.06 regulations.

February 28, 2002

Controls & Machine Components: Page 279

Secondary Packaging

Custom Building Products: Custom case packing for multiple bottle sizes

On a packaging line for bottles of building materials, case packing operations done for 16-oz oval bottles start with the servo driven laner followed by collation, case erection and cross-loading.

February 28, 2002

Flow wrapping

OMAC readies pilot tests

A flurry of activity was announced this February at the OMAC Packaging Workgroup meeting in Orlando, FL, including at least two pilot tests on real packaging equipment.

February 28, 2002

Controls & Machine Components

TOSS Machine Components, Inc: Digital heat-seal controller

TOSS Machine Components (Nazareth, PA) introduces the RES-400 series machine controller that oversees all heat-seal functions without requiring a supplemental programmable logic controller.

February 28, 2002

Secondary Packaging

Giddings & Lewis Controls Measurement and Sensing: High-speed servo motors

Two new lines of Centurion™ servo motors from Giddings & Lewis (Fond du Lac, WI) feature high speed and fast acceleration. The low- and medium-rotor inertia XSM servo motors are ideal for demanding indexing applications, including wrapping and cartoning.

February 28, 2002

Controls & Machine Components

Siko Products, Inc: Measuring linear displacement

The miniature SG10 wire-actuated encoder from Siko Products (Dexter, MI) is for measuring lengths to 1000 mm (39.4”). Suitable for small machine displacements, the SG10 converts linear movement into precise rotational values.

February 28, 2002

Controls & Machine Components

Bosch Rexroth Corp., Electric Drives and Controls: Bosch Rexroth Corp., Electric Drives and Controls: Bosch Rexroth Corp., Electric Drives and Controls: Integrated PLS functionality

Indramat PPC controller from Bosch Rexroth Corp. (Hoffman Estates, IL) has new high-speed programmable limit switch functionality. Integration of PLS controls into the PPC machine controller eliminates the need for third-party involvement, including programming and networking time.

February 28, 2002

Controls & Machine Components

Jumo Process Controls: Microprocessor controllers

Jumo Process Control (Coatesville, PA) presents a family of microprocessor controllers designed especially for OEMs. Though low in cost, the iTRON series is said to offer functionality and reliability comparable to high-end units.

February 28, 2002

Controls & Machine Components

Nexen Group: Servo motor brakes

Nexen Group’s (Vadnais Heights, MN) Eclipse™ servo motor brakes provide emergency holding and stopping to increase safety in vertical and horizontal applications.

February 28, 2002

Secondary Packaging

Hershey speaks out

Hershey Foods engineers speak candidly about standardization, globalization, obsolescence, modularity, and harmonizing end user and machine builder standards.

February 28, 2002

Controls & Machine Components

Pilz International: Safety relays

For use with optical sensors, proximity switches, inductive sensors, and mechanical switches, the PMUT X1P muting controller is available from Pilz Automation Safety (Canton, MI).

February 28, 2002

Bag/pouch fill/seal (pre-made bags)

Rockwell Automation: Rockwell Automation: Controls improve vf/f/s operations

Bosch Packaging (Bridgman, MI) adds controls and servomotor drives from Rockwell Automation (Milwaukee, WI) to Model SVE 2510 vf/f/s machines. With Allen-Bradley ControlLogix™ networking onboard, the improvement allows users to customize and adjust the continuous-motion machine’s settings quickly and precisely.

February 28, 2002

Conveying & accumulation

Q&A: Melding packaging and electronics expertise

A discussion with Hershey Foods' Tom Hernley (top left), a 30-year packaging veteran; Wade Latz, packaging systems engineering manager (bottom right); and Keith Campbell, director of automation and integration.

February 28, 2002