News & Events
HMI Modernisation Upgrade
Tuesday 25th October 2016
Recently, we undertook a job at a pipe factory in the United Kingdom. Our job was to upgrade the drum take-up controls, from an old style discrete push buttons, to a modern HMI.
Modern digital control gives a fine adjustment of product pitch versus an old style product selection switch. Not only this but the screen can display actual motion and is correct as a 'History' of the last 10 turns. Traverse turn is more accurate, but also provides a clear indication of overrun progress with 6 LEDs. The right technology is often, still simple speed potentiometer, but it does need a rugged construction and clear scale.
Operators find the new screen layout intuitive to use, and like the recipe function for a quick and repeatable machine setup. Our client was impressed by the 90% scrap reduction, as loops of product on the drum are now very rare, drums fill flat across whole drum width with almost zero assistance. The maintenance team also like a tidy panel.