Plastic Projects
Our project team has acquired a vast amount of experience working with multiple machines in the plastic industry.
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Our project team has acquired a vast amount of experience working with multiple machines in the plastic industry.
A Cape Town company recently had one of its original machines malfunction due to the control system shorting. This Injection moulding machine is their only producer for the larger product range. Applying our previous strategy of cost efficiency, we proceeded to analyse the existing equipment we would be connecting to.
The challenge we faced with this machine was the tie bar clamping compared to the previous toggle clamping machines.
This endeavour was undertaken by us, and after reviewing all necessary equipment and requirements, we moved forward with the development of the control panels.
Analysis conducted on the machine provided insight into the procedures and extras required to complete this project.
The hardware we selected was our upgraded version of the SmartMold Injection Moulding Machine Controller developed by B&R Austria. After building the Main Panel, Barrell Heating Panel, and Blank-out Panel, we gathered our equipment and headed on a long haul down to Cape Town.
We were challenged with upgrading a 30-year-old Injection moulding machine for a European-based OEM. The Machines are past the point of their standard upgradability, hence, we were given the task of developing and designing a solution that could get the machines functioning and cost-effectively producing products. We accepted the challenge and made our way to the customer based in the United Kingdom to identify all the necessary equipment needed in order to proceed with this retrofit upgrade. Thereafter, in conjunction with the machine manufacturer and the customer, we concluded on the necessary equipment and control system to carry out the development for the project.
After our findings from our preliminary visit, we set about designing the control system and electrical drawings in order to manufacture the control system panel. The hardware we selected was our tried and trusted SmartMold Injection Moulding Machine Controller developed by B&R Austria. After building the Main Control Panel and Hot Runner panel for mould heating, we proceeded to ship a crate containing all the equipment required to complete the project.
Austin Moodley – hold the first quality produced product
It has now been 6 Months since the completion of the project. We have only received positive feedback from the customer. They require us to asses a couple of other Injection molding machines for upgrades. 2024 has been our most productive year for Injection Moulding Machines, with two completed thus far.
Automation Republic offers many upgrade options to bring an old machine back to life and improve performance.
To the right is an example of an Extruder Control System Upgrade on an old, outdated machine. Automation Republic refurbished the panel and completely redid the wiring, as well as adding a new PLC system and fresh new software to make the old machine run like new. The project involved taking just about everything and putting it in a completely new PLC system, and redid the wiring.
Using B&R Seamless Integration of complex extras
Automation Republic executed an extensive upgrade on a blow moulding machine. The project involved seamlessly integrating takeout robots, in-mould labelling robots, a hydraulic scrap remover, and a needle blow onto the B&R blow moulding control platform, which is now running on a Power Panel 400 embedded HMI/PLC with X20 IO.
An 8-layer parallel control sequence allows for adjustable movement, ensuring that the machine can handle even the most complex of tasks. Each movement in the process chain has a delay adjustable with a resolution of 10ms. The hydraulic mould movements on the machine involve proportional control of flow valves based on analogue feedback from position transducers. The hydraulic blowpin movements, however, are simple proxy to proxy movements with directional hydraulic valves and robot movements that are all pneumatically controlled.
Fastest possible turnaround with B&R control system
Automation Republic recently completed a control system upgrade on an old dual-carriage extrusion blow moulding machine. The upgrade took only 5 days from arrival on site to full production! This super-fast turnaround time was made possible by the pre-written B&R blow moulding software.
It is commonplace in many factories to find machines that have been shelved due to ageing control systems. In many cases, these machines are mechanically still in near-perfect condition and they end up being put aside only because of the cost of replacing failing electronic control components that are becoming obsolete. Automation Republic provides an opportunity to breathe new life into these machines.
A perfect solution in the case of extrusion blow moulding machines is the B&R blow moulding upgrade solution. A fully developed touch screen HMI with process animation provides an intuitive operator interface. Software from B&R, which is already 80% complete, means a less ‘buggy’ experience than many other upgrade solutions on the market, which often require software to be written from scratch. The turnaround time for the installation is also unusually fast among the competitors in this segment.
B&R SmartMould
Complicated electrical control systems, although ruggedised to varying extents, are usually based on similar technology to PC’s and expecting them to perform day after day in the often harsh production environment for years on end is, of course, unrealistic.
It is normal for the downtime on machines with electronic control systems to increase exponentially as a function of time due to the decreasing availability of components, greater difficulty in troubleshooting as problems become more stochastic, complex and interlinked and the increased chance of failure of these components due to years of daily wear and tear. These challenges are compounded by the fact that older components generally become more expensive as the volumes of their global use decrease. Constantly repairing these systems is akin to trying to repair a 10-year-old computer at an ever-increasing price with ever-worse reliability and functionality as the end result. As with the computer, it makes much more sense to simply replace the control system with a new one.
Successful local installations include machines for AstraPak, Venture and Boxmore.
Upgrading a machine’s control system comes with its very own set of problems, however. Many factories have had a failed upgrade attempt or two, which has probably led to the machine being scrapped or cannibalised for spare parts or often having ‘buggy’, niche software, leaving the machine owner forever tied to the company or person that did the upgrade for support. This kind of solution can also leave machines with decreased functionality and worse production quality than the original.
The solution is simple: upgrade using a system which is in serial production with thousands of successful implementations worldwide. A system which is supported by one of the top automation companies in Europe. A system which guarantees the availability of spares and support for 10 years and has it installed by a company with a track record of success with the installation of the system in your market.
This project included a control system upgrade, which was executed by removing the existing CPU and replacing it with the B&R smart mould. Existing hardware that was not obsolete was repurposed within the upgrading process. The machine was reprogrammed and commissioned on site. Installation of new hardware was conducted by the Automation Republic team.
Procedure
1. Commence with programming at the Automation Republic office
2. Removal of existing, obsolete hardware
3. Installation of new smart mould and control hardware
4. Program fine-tuning and testing
5. Commissioning
6. Handover
Injection Mould upgrade using the Smart Mould system for a machine doing multiple custom injection moulding plastics. Automation Republic has successfully installed the Smart Mould from B&R automation on many machines in South Africa, and we will happily provide you with a quote to do so on any of your machines.
The Smart Mould system is a retrofit kit. This system ticks all the boxes and can be used on almost any injection moulding machine, no matter the size or complexity. Several thousand are already running in the field globally, and the lessons learned over years of implementation, operation and support are available to the purchaser right out of the box. So complete is this system that it is being used by many OEMs as a complete solution for their machines right from the start. Support of the system is easy even for basically trained technicians due to an onboard diagnostic platform available right on the HMI. All components of the system are plug-and-play once installation and commissioning are complete.
