Drive retrofit brings digital benefits
A
Control Techniques product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
May 8, 2003
The urgent retrofit of a drive system saved the company concerned several months downtime on its key PVC extruder which was crucial to meeting production requirements.
The urgent retrofit of a drives system, by drives and CNC specialist QROTEK, saved the company concerned several months downtime on its key PVC extruder which was crucial to meeting production requirements.
The drive chosen to replace the obsolete analogue German-made drive was a digital Control Techniques Mentor II DC drive with additional onboard processing to emulate the characteristics of the drive it replaced.
Increased demand for PVC compound meant that Polycol needed to add a further large output extruder at its Stephanie works in Stalybridge.
Polycol used a top of the range Battenfield uniplex extruder, double the capacity of the machine it replaced, was added to their lineup of eight PVC extruders and output was boosted to meet the output requirement - until the drive failed, also damaging the motor beyond repair.
"We contracted the extruder manufacturer and were quoted three to four months for replacement - and a very high cost", explains Polycol Electrical Supervisor Keith Chambers.
"And this would have been analogue - old technology.
Fortunately, we knew of QROTEK who were able to engineer a better solution at half the price - and managed to get the extruder up and running again in under three weeks.
And, as a bonus, the Mentor drive they selected gives us superior control and data feedback to our Scada management system".
The extruder, a 130mm twin screw type, with a maximum output of 1500kg/h, was fitted with a 150kW M420R Mentor II digital DC drive, with MD29 applications module and an FMX5 field controller.
"Control Techniques drives are well-equipped to deal with retrofit applications", says Andrew Stephens, Technical Director of QROTEK.
"I've used both their AC and DC drives for many years and find their flexibility ideal for the special needs of retrofitting because of their onboard programming capability", he says.
In this instance, the client had tried to change analogue drives before, but had experienced problems because of the lack of I/O.
Using drives from other manufacturers, it could only be done with the addition of a PLC.
With the Mentor's functionality and MD29 onboard processing power, no PLC was needed.
QROTEK added an I/O box to act as interface and programmed the MD29 to make the drive emulate the analogue drive it replaced.
Being digital, the Mentor II provides additional benefits too - more accurate control, better reliability and new feedback of speed, torque and other control parameters via the RS485 to Polycol's plant control system.
"Without the MD29, we would have had the cost of an additional PLC", confirmed Keith Chambers.
"The system we now have is much easier to set up to our requirements, easily controlled and much better protected.
It is our intention to fully integrate it into our Scada system, which we couldn't do before".
Mentor II provides the platform for a wide range of application requirements.
Through a series of expansion boards, it can take on additional functionality, including many off the shelf application programs, as well as providing network communications.
Programming the Mentor has never been easier.
Designed to save commissioning time, the drive has comprehensive data displays, easily assimilated function menus and a five-key control panel.
With MentorSoft, programming can be carried out on a PC and downloaded to make setup even easier and faster.
At Polycol, the precision of Mentor is significant in maintaining screw speed accuracy to give the required 'work rate' and product quality, this being a complex function of temperature, crammer speed and screw speed combined.
The Polycol plant produces a range of PVC compounds including cable grade, shoe grade and window grade, all these being produced to different 'recipes', different temperature gradients and different work rates.
The plant is quality controlled to ISO9002 and can produce batches from 25kg to 100,000t.
QROTEK, with two UK bases in Wetherby, Yorkshire and Stoke-on-Trent in the Midlands, provides a comprehensive service for the repair, programming and retrofitting of CNC machine tools and automated systems, drives and servos, robotics and special purpose machines.
With a 24-hour response, on-site diagnostics, free estimates and evaluation, QROTEK covers the UK.
Not what you're looking for? Search the site.
Contact Control Techniques
Tel +44 1952 213 700
Other Control Techniques stories
-
Control Techniques launches soft starter families
Control Techniques has launched its compact Digistart soft starter range. -
Control Techniques releases motor control handbook
Commissioned by the Institution of Engineering and Technology, Control Techniques has launched the 2nd edition of the Drives and Controls Handbook, edited by Prof Bill Drury. -
Control Techniques releases drives brochure
A multi-language, 24-page product brochure entitled 'Drives, Drives Systems and Servos - 0.25kW to 1.9MW' gives an introduction to the range of drives products available from Control Techniques. -
Unimotor-FM performs smoothly at low speeds
Control Techniques has extended its Unimotor-FM servo motor range up to 136Nm. -
Control Techniques offers digital DC motor drive
Control Techniques has launched a digital DC motor drive - the Mentor MP.
Browse by category
-
Capital Equipment (3,533)
- Capital Equipment (1)
- Compressors and Air Treatment (546)
- Electrical hardware (131)
- Electronics Manufacturing, Tools, Instruments (192)
- Machinery and Production Equipment (1,133)
- Manufacturing Machinery and Plant Equipment (478)
- Production line blowers and fans (74)
- Robotics, Handling and Storage (978)
- Consultancy and Services (927)
-
Control and Instrumentation (5,142)
- Cabling, Conduit, Signal Conditioning (818)
- CNC and Motion Controllers (190)
- Control and Instrumentation (3)
- HMIs/Operator Interfaces (297)
- Logic Controllers, Timers and Relays (96)
- Mid-range and Large PLCs (204)
- Plant- and Machine-Wide Communications (1,210)
- Plantwide control (1,354)
- Power Supplies, Uninterruptible Power (577)
- Smaller-Sized PLCs (393)
-
Drives, Motors and Controls (3,450)
- Drives, Motors and Controls (2)
- Industrial Drives/Controls (1,293)
- Industrial Motors (502)
- Linear Drives and Motors (121)
- Precision Motors and Gears (434)
- Stepper and Servo Drives, Motors, Controls (1,096)
-
Electrical and Electronic Equipment Design (4,327)
- Batteries, chargers and circuit protection (588)
- Connectors, Terminals, Busbars, Slip Rings (724)
- Electrical and Electronic Components (652)
- Electrical and Electronic Equipment Design (4)
- Electrical and Electronic Subassemblies (377)
- Enclosures and Equipment Cooling Fans (722)
- Knobs, Handles and Enclosure Hardware (430)
- PCs and Embedded Systems (830)
-
Engineering Design Software (6,388)
- 2D CAD software (203)
- 3D CAD software (1,199)
- CAM, CNC, production management software (583)
- Data, document management software (324)
- Electrical design software (168)
- Engineering Design Software (17)
- FEA and structural analysis software (377)
- File conversion software, data capture (358)
- Fluid, thermal, noise, vibration software (340)
- Materials design and moulding design software (153)
- Maths, charting, statistics, QA software (325)
- PLM and collaboration software (665)
- Process, instrumentation, automation software (269)
- Publishing and documentation software (234)
- Rendering, visualisation, styling software (208)
- Simulation, modelling, validation software (965)
-
Engineering Industry News, Resources (6,199)
- Electronic Resources for Engineers (273)
- Engineering Business News, Views (388)
- Engineering Conferences (438)
- Engineering Education, Resources, Standards (851)
- Engineering Exhibitions, Events (578)
- Engineering Guides, Newsletters (354)
- Engineering Industry Developments, Awards (635)
- Engineering Industry News, Resources (4)
- Engineering Industry Reports, Surveys (597)
- Engineering Recruitment, Employment (219)
- Engineering Seminars (421)
- Engineering Training Courses (458)
- Health and Safety Consultancy, Software (180)
- Health and Safety Events, Training, News (285)
- Health and Safety Legislation (403)
- Health and Safety Strategy, Risk Assessment (115)
- Machine Building (4,633)
-
Materials and Processing (3,041)
- Materials and components (2,272)
- Materials and Processing (5)
- Materials processing and testing (292)
- Rapid Prototyping (472)
-
Monitoring, Measurement and Quality (5,681)
- Data Acquisition Hardware and PC I/O Boards (491)
- Data acquisition Software and Communications (505)
- Data loggers (428)
- Electrical and Electronic Testing, PAT Equipment (645)
- Form/co-ordinate, optical, vision instruments (766)
- Gauges, Indicators and Instruments (449)
- Materials testing equipment (439)
- Monitoring, Measurement and Quality (1)
- Telecomms/network test equipment, software etc (159)
- Testing and Calibration Services and Information (522)
- Testing, analysing and monitoring equipment (1,276)
-
Powertrain Design (3,723)
- Bearings (986)
- Chains and belts (334)
- Gears, brakes, couplings and engines (1,482)
- Hydraulic Components (475)
- Lubricants (441)
- Powertrain Design (4)
-
Sensors (7,319)
- Accelerometers and Vibration Sensors (450)
- Barcode Sensors (103)
- Flowmeters and Flow Sensors (650)
- Gas, Chemical, Radiation, Magnetic Sensors (294)
- Humidity and Environmental Sensors (158)
- Level Sensors and Leak Detectors (539)
- Linear Position Sensors (417)
- Loadcells, Force Sensors, Torque Sensors (732)
- Pressure sensors (643)
- Proximity Sensors (715)
- Rotary Position, Tilt and Angular Sensors (565)
- Sensors (12)
- Temperature sensors (624)
- Vision and Colour Sensors (1,417)
- Small Mechanical Components, Joining, Tools (2,057)
- Valves, Pumps, Process Hardware (3,732)
