2D coordinated motion with PLC

[northwind]

Hi,
I have a project to automate a molding machine. It meters out a 2-part resin into open face molding plates, closes the plates, vacuums them down, heats, etc. It currently has an AD DL06 PLC controlling everything, including two steppers to meter the resin. The only manual part of the process is that the operator must manually position a sliding X/Y gantry with the filling tube over the mold cavity to deposit each shot. The customer wants to automate that.

I'm looking for pointers on which direction to head with the control hardware for the coordinated motion. I know the DL06 with CTRIO cards cant deal with it. Criteria is as follows:

• Need coordinated motion to "lay in" the resin in a path, not just move to a point and shoot.
• Existing controls are extensive, don't want to abandon the existing PLCs. Thinking the motion control would be a "sub-system".
• There are many different molding plates that can be mounted. Operator currently selects a recipe on the HMI based upon which plate is mounted. Recipe loads the correct shot size, heating parameters, etc. Thinking that the recipe could also pass info to the sub-system as to which motion path to run when told to "go" by the main PLC.
• New plates are added to the product line once in a while. Need a (relatively) easy way to convert the CAD based path into the motion controllers native language. This does not need to be done by the customer, it's OK if we have to schedule a service call to add a new recipe / motion profile (they do not have the in-house expertise)
• A PC based control is not acceptable.
• Prefer stepper over servos.
• Positioning accuracy is loose, in the .1-.01" range.
• Prefer to avoid AB product.

I've dealt with PC based coordinated motion, but not PLC based. Looking at the Galil offering but open to suggestions.


Thanks.

 

[gclshortt]

Automation Direct will only have individual single axis control. Any coordination would have to be done by programming. I have done this previously with spraying flux on a printed circuit board before soldering.
The Galil looks like a good solution.

Regards,
Garry
http://www.accautomation.ca

 

[Steve Bailey]

Kollmorgen has a full range of servo and stepper systems as well as a distributor in Nashua. I know from experience that they can communicate via Modbus TCP, so I expect you could also pass recipe data over RS232 or possibly RS485 from the DL-06 using Modbus RTU. You might even be able to pass data directly from the C-More to the motion controller.

Are you retrofitting all of the machines or will this be the prototype to prove the concept?

 

[northwind]

Hi Steve, Hope you have been well.

Proof of concept.
Yes, these are the tables you have seen . If they like the outcome we will proceed with a ground up re-design of the process to be fully automated.

I'll check out the Kollmorgen offering. I'm also looking at the Aerotech product. I spoke with them and their controller will do everything we need. They also have a nice software package to create the motion code from CAD files. It's pretty slick.

Regards,

 

[Archie]

Beckhoff is very good for motion control applications. I like their EL7041 card for stepper motors because it does not require an external drive. The stepper motor wires directly to the card. They also have cards for small servo motors that can wire directly.

They support a large number of communication standards, so they are very easy to integrate into an existing system. I have done a number of application with a CX5010 performing motion and also being an Ethernet/IP slave device to AB ControlLogix systems.