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When Combining Technologies Makes Sense
There are classic combinations that work. Say, peanut butter and jelly. Or, chocolate and peanut butter. In technology, the combination that makes sense for machine builders is mechanical motions and electronic motion control—mechatronics.
It really hasn’t been that long ago that mechanical designers and controls designers didn’t talk to each other. In fact, many machine builders had only electricians who could program a programmable logic controller (PLC) and no electronic motion control engineers at all. The past ten years has witnessed a huge change in this situation.
European academic engineers coined the mechatronics concept as a way to describe how mechanical design and electronic design can work together. When designers look at moving points in a machine, they can evaluate a purely mechanical motion with gears or pulleys, a hydraulic or pneumatic motion control, or digital servo control of the motion. The increased flexibility allows designers to produce machines that give customers the ability to run smaller batches of a greater diversity of package sizes, for example...
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Mechatronics in Packaging: Common Sense and Cutting Edge
Because of its high-tech aura, the term “mechatronics” lends itself to use, or misuse, as a marketing buzzword. Still, the lofty sounding concept is being used by automation suppliers and packagers to address very down-to-earth concerns.
The term “mechatronics” is starting to be heard with greater frequency in the packaging industry. Just last September, for instance, at the Pack Expo trade show, automation supplier Bosch Rexroth Corp. (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) heralded its booth display as illustrating “Innovation in Mechatronics.” A big part of the company’s justification for that claim was Indra Motion for Packaging control, its open control system that was being exhibited with new software. This expanded solution offers a PackML compliant, IEC61131-3 programming environment and handles precise synchronization, camming, registration, electronic gearing, collating, robotic path planning, dynamic belt synchronization and other aspects of automated packaging line operation.
Added to this was the “mechatronics training simulator,” a mobile training device that allows students to simulate a number of functions such as those connected with pneumatics, electronics and control, to create hypothetical systems in which the individual components operate synergistically to optimize the overall system. Put these and other elements of the display together, and it becomes clear that Bosch Rexroth has a pretty strong claim to the word “mechatronics...”
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Machine Design: Reducing Case Packer Cost and Complexity
 Brenton engineers did everything they could to make a faster and simpler case packer machine. Creativity—and new technology—were the keys.
The task faced by Brenton Engineering, Alexandria, Minn., was to design the next generation of its BrentonPro Series of case packer machines. “We asked our customers how we could improve the machine. The feedback was to make it a faster and simpler all-servo machine,” said Mike Grinager, vice president of technology for the company. “With the new design we did everything we could to reduce the complexity of the machine. We took out the pneumatics, which was the most expensive aspect of the machine, and our engineers removed more than 200 moving parts, reducing costs by one third. Plus, the integrated servo motors and drives that we now use require less space than even the smallest motors we used previously,” said Grinager.
The new BrentonPro Mach-2 case packer is an all-servo-driven, side-load case packer. It employs an IndraDrive Mi integrated motor/drive platform with Sercos distributed input/output (I/O), an IndraMotion MLC motion logic controller and the IndraControl VEP40 human machine interface (HMI)—all from Bosch Rexroth, Hoffman Estates, Ill. According to Grinager, the multi-axis machine reaches speeds of up to 25 cases per minute and can accommodate a variety of cases. Types include RSC, HSC, tray, wraparound, knock-down and harness for cartons, bottles, cans and tubs... Read more
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