Controls & Machine Components

PC-based remote I/O

H2-EBC Ethernet base controller module is said to provide a PC-based controller with a low-cost means of connecting to an Ethernet I/O network. Module inserts into the CPU slot of PLCDirect's (Cumming, GA) 205 family I/O rack, which is said to be one of the lowest-priced I/O systems available, enabling high-performance remote I/O by a PC.

January 31, 1998

Controls & Machine Components: Page 385

Blisters/clamshells/skin packaging

Porous molding material

Metapor is a micro-porous aluminum for thermoformers from International Mold Steel (Florence, KY). The material is air-permeable and is said to eliminate venting problems in thermoforming, blister packaging and film processing.

January 31, 1998

Controls & Machine Components

Intellution Incorporated: PC-based control book

A new book, SoftLogic: Overcoming Funnel Vision, by Dennis E. Wisnosky, senior VP of Intellution (Norwood, MA), describes the promise of control software running on standard PCs, which it terms SoftLogic.

January 31, 1998

Controls & Machine Components

Galil Motion Control, Inc: Motion controller

Galil Motion Control's (Mountain View, CA) DMC-1412 single-axis stand-alone controller is for stepper and servo motor control. It uses a specialized 32-bit processor that accommo-dates encoder speeds to 8 million counts/sec for servos and 2 million/sec for steppers.

January 31, 1998

Controls & Machine Components

Newsletter

Kolmar (Port Jervis, NY) recently published the premier issue of its newsletter, Kolmar News. The six-page, color newsletter begins with a story on new developments in visually distinctive color cosmetics, such as marbleized lipsticks and body glitter.

January 31, 1998

Controls & Machine Components

Hoffman: High-voltage servo motors

High-performance, high-voltage MHD digital AC servo motors from Indramat (Hoffman Estates, IL) give packaging machines more power, with the space and cost savings of smaller motor-frame sizes and reduced-size power cables.

January 31, 1998

Controls & Machine Components

Controls on center stage

The National Industrial Automation(TM) show and conference is one of four trade shows that make up next month's mammoth National Manufacturing Week (March 16 to 19).

January 31, 1998

Controls & Machine Components

Controls: Unleashing a new productivity tool

Few topics in the packaging engineer's lexicon have changed as much as that of machine control. Not long ago, a controversial issue was the size of the start and stop buttons, or whether companies would pay extra for a discrete control panel that could swivel from one side of a machine to another.

January 31, 1998

Controls & Machine Components

Packaging machines speak up (sidebar)

Network facilitates data acquisition

January 31, 1998

Conveying & accumulation

Robotic palletization protects Sandvik

Automated lifting and stacking of heavy boxes onto pallets helps this maker of mining products avoid worker injuries and $120ꯠ of additional labor costs.

January 31, 1998

Controls & Machine Components

A window into the packaging line

Amway's graphical human-machine interface for an entire packaging line reduces troubleshooting time by 75%.

January 31, 1998

Controls & Machine Components

Emerson Motion Control: Sizing servo motors

A how-to paper on servo motor sizing for position control applications is available from Emerson Motion Control (Chanhassen, MN). Provides plenty of examples of formulas that can be used to compute required torque, factoring in inertia, friction, acceleration and deceleration.

January 31, 1998

Conveying & accumulation

Packaging machines speak up

Amway squeezes more efficiency out of a personal care packaging line by allowing packaging machines to communicate with one another over a PLC network. Benefits include tighter line integration, faster troubleshooting and reduced wiring costs.

January 31, 1998