Chemicals, Rubbers & Plastics

Control System Upgrade for Rubber Coated Textile Manufacturer in Beacon, NY

Challenge:

Rotocure vulcanization machines dating to the 1940s needed new controls. Existing controls were old, inadequate, unreliable, in disarray, and obsolete. 

Solution:

We engineered a PLC control system that supported all the time, pressure, and heat characteristics needed for vulcanization. We built multiple panels and MCC, and implemented solid state heating controls. We used new instrumentation for process control loops, and ancillary support equipment was tied into the master PLC, HMI and a historian for reporting and analysis. We ran many motors in vector torque mode to maintain web tension. Our team provided Electrical and EC supervision, and all new documentation and drawings, training, and remote support. The Hybrid PLC migration included ControlLogix L81, SLC remote IO; (2) PanelView Plus upgrades; several 1336 VFD upgrades to 755s running in vector torque mode for web tension control. We also implemented FactoryTalk Historian and FactoryTalk ViewPoint to track performance.

Control System Renewal and Update for Adhesive Flexible Materials Manufacturer in Southampton, PA 

Challenge:

This project required a control system renewal and update for a six axis spooler/winder machine that was using obsolete Emerson motion controllers as the brains. The old Vacuum Fluorescent screen was failing. 

Solution:

We converted all the servo motors and drives to Allen-Bradley Kinetix, and replaced 6 obsolete Eurotherm DC drives and motors with Allen-Bradley PowerFlex AC drives and vector AC motors. To control this machine, a new CompactLogix PLC and PanelView touch screen were used. Our team replaced the existing sub panel with a newly built sub panel including ethernet and all circuit protection, and provided updated documentation and training.