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WILKINSON SWORD: CuttINg eDge COmputINg 

Ferag: Integrated safety doesn't need to be expensive 

Alstom: Standardization of network technologies 

tu münchen: One tool maximum 

gorbel: Overhead lifting solutions 

07/2009 

Perfection in Automation 

www.br-automation.com

Contents 

26 

15 46 

32 38 

automotion: The B&R customer magazine, 

8th volume 

Online version: 

www.automotion.info 

Media owner: 

Bernecker + Rainer Industrie-elektronik 

ges.m.b.H. 

B&R Strasse 1 

5142 eggelsberg 

Austria 

Publisher: 

Hans Wimmer 

B&R Strasse 1 


Austria 

2 automotion 07/2009 

Editors: 

Andreas enzenbach 

Agnes Hufnagl 

margit Fellner 

Lukas maier 

B&R Strasse 1 


Austria 

editor@automotion.info 

Design: 

Lukas maier, Cäcilia Scherndl 

B&R Strasse 1 


Austria 

Print: 

Vorarlberger Verlagsanstalt gmbH 

Schwefel 81 

6850 Dornbirn 

Austria 

Publishing adress: 

B&R Strasse 1 


Austria 

Free subscription 

to subscribe, simply visit 

www.automotion.info

Title Story 

8 Wilkinson Sword: Cutting edge computing 

News 

4 Corporate and product information 

Interview 

14 Frequency inverters for all performance ranges 

Technology 

15 ACOPOSinverter at a glance 

16 One tool maximum 

26 Alstom: Standardization of network technologies 

30 Intel ® Atom processors for increased cost-effectiveness 

Application 

11 Fortuna: Entering new markets with Fortuna 

19 Focusweld: Welding with reduced power consumption 

21 Laempe: Molded into shape 

24 Gorbel: Overhead lifting solutions 

32 Miba: Increased efficiency with integrated safety 

technology 

34 Ferag: Integrated safety doesn't need to be expensive 

36 Wraptech: Outstanding packaging 

38 Maquinaria Canigó: CNC with the highest precision 

39 Salinen Austria: From the mountain to your roads 

and tables 

42 Rosen: Cool solutions 

44 Qel: All-terrain concrete mixers 

46 LINAK: Taking a powerful position 

48 Evatec: Innovative sputter process 

50 STM: Grabbing the bottle by the neck 

52 Lenzing: Straight from the lab to the plant 

54 Bitwise: Shrimp: more popular than ever 

56 CFS: Reel changes with real advantages 

Fair Dates 

59 Fair Dates 3 rd + 4 th quarter 

Dear Reader, 

Editorial 

It's not the individual components, but 

the overall system that matters - the 

cost-effective interaction of highly 

modern industrial technologies within 

the automation system is clearly one 

of today's top priorities. 

Regardless of what industry you are in 

or what your application entails, our 

technology can help you create economical, 

high-performance solutions. 

Complete scalability and the replacement 

of an increasing amount of hardware 

by intelligent software functions 

can significantly reduce hardware 

costs and ensure a streamlined automation 

solution. 

Our integrated solutions guarantee a 

high level of flexibility starting in the 

development phase and also provide 

freedom for all types of expansions. 

With Automation Studio, we provide 

the ideal development environment 

with tools for all phases of a project. 

that reduces both integration time and 

maintenance costs. 

With our unsurpassed range of technologies 

and extensive branch-specific 

know-how, you can equip your 

machines with new innovations and 

optimally meet the challenges of the 

global marketplace. 

Happy reading! 

Andreas enzenbach 

automotion 07/2009 

3

News 

Romania 

Grand Prix Prize for mobile truck scanning 

At the International exhibition of Inventions in geneva, the Romanian B&R partner 

mBtechnology (mBt) caught everyone‘s attention with its Roboscan1m vehicle. 

excellent functionality and a high level of automation convinced the highly esteemed 

jury members of the advantages of the mobile scanning system. the managing 

partner mircea tudor was very pleased to have won this year‘s grand prix. 

Mobile transport scanning 

Roboscan1m was developed for scanning trucks and small transporters. Fully 

automated operation and remote maintenance of the scanning system make it 

possible to scan loads quickly and easily. Mounted on a truck, the Roboscan1M is 

highly mobile and can be used at any location. 

An ApC620 and the X20 System was used for high-speed processing of the process 

data in real time as well as for communication with third devices. 

International 

The Danish project team proudly presents 

their 10,000 Euro prize. 

In the course of a university award 

among european universities in the autumn 

of 2008, B&R called for innovative 

concepts, creative solutions and promising 

scientific research projects from all 

technical areas related to Industrial ethernet. Out of 27 submissions from eight european 

countries, the group of students headed by professor Karsten Holm Andersen 

from the university of Southern Denmark in Odense was declared the winner. 

Formula Student Racing Car - Speed through innovation 

By integrating pOWeRLINK in a Formula Student Racing Car, the Danish project 

group was able to convince the jury with a creative solution in the area of circuit 

board electronics. the pOWeRLINK implementation, which they designed themselves 

using standard hardware components, brought the Danish team 1st prize 

and 10,000 euros. 


European Industrial 

Ethernet Award 

goes to Danish 

students 

Products 

Ideal for decentralized industrial requirements 

- the X67 I/O system from B&R 

Decentralized and 

cost-optimized 

With the possibility for installation outside 

of the switching cabinet, the X67 

I/O system from B&R offers complete 

freedom to use various topologies and 

performs as fast as a centralized solution. 

Because of the Ip67 protection, 

the X67 modules can be installed anywhere 

on the machine, and guarantee 

high performance and ruggedness 

even in the harshest conditions. 

Open I/O placement 

thanks to its ergonomic characteristics, 

the compact X67 System can 

be used anywhere on the machine 

and therefore permits decentralized 

machine automation according to the 

requirements of the application. The 

system can span over 25 km (up to 

100 m between modules), so the user 

is not limited with regard to placement 

of the modules. 

the ability to set the parameters for 

the digital inputs and outputs freely 

and to connect to all standard fieldbus 

systems ensures high flexibility and 

adaptability. 

Reduced costs for machine and 

system manufacturers 

there is clear potential for the user to 

reduce costs using the decentralized 

I/O philosophy. Installation, cabling 

and commissioning are made much 

easier and faster. the exceptional durability 

of the X67 System also provides 

excellent investment security.

Italy 

Products 

SafeDESIGNER - 

A new standard 

for safety technology 

With the SafeDeSIgNeR development 

and configuration tool, B&R 

provides an integrated safety tool for 

programming safety-related functions 

from within the Automation 

Studio development environment. 

thanks to complete integration of 

the safety technology, programming 

the safety application is reduced 

to virtual wiring of logical function 

blocks. Fixed-wired safety circuits 

are now a thing of the past. 

Uniform platform for CNC + robotics 

News 

this past march in milan, B&R was distinguished with the della meccanica award 

in the CNC controllers category for the gmC (generic motion Control) concept. 

In a handpicked field of 13 renowned international CNC manufacturers, B&R was 

able to convince the jury of high-ranking representatives from research and industrial 

organizations of the performance of its gmC platform. 

The unique advantage of the CNC solution is the integration of robotics and CNC 

in one system. Both processes are programmed using a single software tool, 

which clearly saves time and resources. the ultra-high-speed synchronization of 

the pLC, CNC and drives with µs precision can be easily implemented for synchronous 

path and interpreter processes and allows highly precise process results to 

be achieved. A programmable interpreter for all NC dialects ensures compatibility 

with existing NC programs. 

PLCopen and IEC conformity 

In addition to function blocks and 

language elements that conform to 

IEC 61131-3, users have a library certified by TÜV Rheinland with 20 function blocks for machine automation available 

to them. All function blocks correspond to the pLCopen standard. through virtual wiring of the function blocks, the 

user profits from a clearly structured and well-arranged work method. In this way, errors can be found and prevented 

very early in all development phases. 

the safety application created in SafeDeSIgNeR is processed in a safe controller - the SafeLOgIC - which supports 

cycle times starting at 1 ms and connection of up to 100 peripheral devices. 

Optimized commissioning times 

transferring the safety signals via Industrial ethernet clearly reduces setup and service work. In addition, programming 

in Automation Studio significantly reduces commissioning times. 


5

News 

Products 

Seamless system 

diagnostics via web 

the new System Diagnostics manager 

from B&R offers users a wide range of 

diagnostics options. Based on the B&R 

real-time operating system, the new tool 

allows seamless system diagnostics 

from any location using any web browser 

(Intranet or Internet). User-specific 

diagnostics tools for analyzing a system 

with regard to configuration or runtime 

settings are now no longer needed. use 

of the Automation Studio software tool 

is not necessary. The only requirement 

for using all of the diagnostics options is 

a web browser and a tCp/Ip connection. 

Polen Poland 

With the new System Diagnostics Manager, users profit from a wide range of diagnostics 

options for hardware and software via the web. 

Through the use of the System Diagnostics Manager, users profit from simple and fast access to diagnostics data during commissioning, 

field tests and operation of the machine. Additionally, the availability of fast access from any location saves considerable 

amounts of time and money. 

Many different diagnostics options 

In addition to system configuration and runtime parameter analysis, a software analysis can be performed to easily check software 

modules and versions on the target system. Hardware settings on the target system can be quickly checked using the new 

diagnostics tool functions. Recording of all sequential tasks provides detailed information about the active machine process. The 

system logbook informs the user of system events during startup and operation. 

Integrated Safety Technology receives 

award 

B&R was awarded for their Integrated Safety technology by the Institute for Automation 

and measurement technology at the Automaticon, the leading trade fair for 

automation in Warsaw. Market relevance as well as extraordinary product quality were 

among the main reasons for this achievement, in addition to the high level of technological 

innovation and a wide range of application options. 

A distinguished jury of representatives from the polish Chamber of patent Law, the 

National Chamber of Commerce, the ministry for economics and Social politics, the 

Warsaw university of technology and the Institute for Automation and measurement 

technology chose the winner out of 16 submissions. 

Not only the capability of seamless integration in existing automation infrastructures, 

B&R Integrated Safety Technology's flexible adaptation of safety behavior to the special 

demands of different machines also received high acclaim. thanks to secure data transfer over existing machine bus systems, 

hard wiring is now a thing of the past. Moreover, flexibly configured or programmed safety behavior also adapts optimally to various 

situations. Complete diagnostics of safety components via the machine bus system provide detailed data about the status of 

the machine. 

Jacek Barszcz, office manager at B&R Warsaw, proudly accepted the Gold medal at the Automaticon 2009 from Dariusz Bogdan, 

Vice minister for economics. 

6 automotion 07/2009

Company 

B&R USER Meeting 

achieves record 

number of visitors 

groundbreaking technologies for 

machine and system manufacturing 

and a comprehensive exchange of 

experience were the main points of 

the 20 th B&R uSeR meeting from July 

23rd-24th. With over 220 interested 

participants, the event achieved a 

record number of visitors. 

machine and system manufacturers 

from Austria and germany took the 

opportunity at the B&R uSeR meeting 

in Salzburg to learn about the 

At the B&R USER Meeting, over 220 participants found out about the newest developments 

in the area of automation. 

latest trends on the Automation market. In select presentations, company experts presented product innovations and 

the latest development projects in the area of automation. Representatives from industry and research also introduced 

practical applications and gave live demonstrations to show the impressive results of their cooperation with B&R. For 

all industries, this year‘s event provided a wide range of application solutions and expert consultation for optimizing 

hardware, engineering and commissioning costs. „We have to make preparations now in order to be ready for future 

requirements because the next upswing will certainly come,“ states Hermann Obermair, who is in charge of sales in 

Austria and is the initiator of the uSeR meeting. 

Raimund Ruf, HmI Business manager at B&R, reported on integration of the new Intel Atom processor generation in 

the industrial PC line. „Users will profit in the future from even higher performance in connection with several new 

products and the proven Automation pC 620 and panel pC 700 devices. the Intel Atom N270 processor with 1.6 gHz 

clock frequency offers performance that is clearly above that of the Pentium M 1.1 GHz,“ explains Raimund Ruf. This 

provides users with price-optimized technology for challenging applications. 

through the seamless integration of model Based Design (the mathWorks) and automatic code generation with 

Automation Studio, machine manufacturers save time designing projects and 

increase software quality throughout the entire engineering workflow. With 

B&R Automation Studio target for Simulink, complete machine functions 

are easily set up and tested in the Simulink simulation environment and 

implemented on any B&R controller with the push of a button. For customers, 

complete integration of the tools used is decisive - manual intervention by 

users is reduced to a minimum. 

USER Meeting initiator 

Hermann Obermair 

News 

In addition to selected topics for machine manufacturing, a special series of 

presentations concerning process control technology was offered for the first 

time in the 20-year history of the uSeR meeting. In selected ApROL process 

control system presentations, the plant engineers found out important details 

about alarm, trend and process data management. New navigation in the CAe 

Manager for optimal representation of individual system configuration tasks 

was also explained in detail to participants. At the workstations there, visitors 

could directly experience the numerous ApROL functionalities with the help 

of B&R experts. 


7

Title Story 

Cutting edge computing 

The market for wet razors is notoriously brutal. Understandably so - it 

is a billion dollar industry after all. If you want to make it here, you have 

to introduce new devices at short intervals, each providing a better 

shave than its highly praised predecessor did. Wilkinson Sword GmbH, 

one of the world-wide leading manufacturers of razor blades and wet 

razors, surprises the competition again and again with pioneering innovations. 

This kind of performance is no longer possible without hightech 

solutions - even in the assembly line. Reliable communication in 

the field is provided by devices from B&R's latest generation of industrial 

computers. 

8 automotion 07/2009

the days when body hair was 

hacked at with a sharpened piece of 

flint or plucked with two shells are 

long past, thank goodness. modern 

shaving devices have about as little 

in common with these tools as they 

do with the razor blades our grandfathers 

thought were the greatest 

thing ever to happen to shaving. 

Yet, with each new generation of 

wet razors, the challenge is still to 

improve the quality of the shave. 

One of the innovators in this field is 

Wilkinson Sword. 

manufacturing a shaving device 

is by no means a trivial undertaking. 

the design and manufacture 

of a wet razor is a complex technical 

process with absolute precision 

down to the micrometer. New materials, 

blades thinner than a hair 

and the ability of the user to notice 

the smallest deviation in quality or 

alignment of the blades are some of 

the reasons Wilkinson places such 

high demands on the assembly 

lines that produce the razors. 

100% quality 

Wilkinson Sword pursues vertically 

integrated production, which 

makes it easier to protect their 

intellectual property and provide 

seamless quality control. All of the 

component parts of the wet razors 

are produced on-site in Solingen, in 

part on assembly lines the company 

has designed itself. the plastic components 

for the various shavers, for 

example, are made with in-house 

injection molding equipment. The 

blades are also hardened, sharpened, 

treated and coated by Wilkinson. 

Video and image monitoring 

applications observe and control 

the vital production steps, and ensure, 

for example, that each and 

every blade is perfectly positioned 

in the head of the razor. 

In the past, these complex computational 

tasks were handled by various 

computer systems, including 

some standard desktop pCs and 

some that were sold as industrial 

pCs. In practice, however, these devices 

proved to be less robust than 

Wilkinson required, and had no 

long-term guarantee for the availability 

of the devices and replacement 

parts. 

About the APC620 

Title Story 

With five different housing designs and scalable processor performance, 

the ApC620 can be optimally adapted to any application. the solid construction 

without internal cable connectors ensures a high level of reliability 

- even in harsh production environments - around the clock seven 

days a week. 

■ Dual Independent Display operation 

with up to eight panels for optimum 

operating convenience 

■ Smart Display Link for simple cabling 

of the panels 

■ Integrated upS for safely shutting 

down the operating system 

APC620: Long-term availability 

and operational reliability 

Wilkinson was therefore on the 

search for an alternative to phaseout 

the existing computers and solve 

these problems. In the course of initial 

talks with B&R, they came across 

the ApC620 industrial pC. they were 

equally impressed with the guaranteed 

long-term availability and sup- 

■ CompactFlash cards approved for 

industrial environments store data 

without rotating media 

■ Slide-in drives offer flexible implementation 

of CD and DVD drives 

■ each pC is subject to an extensive 

fitness test before it is delivered 

ply of replacement parts, as well as 

the quality and production philosophy 

of the Austrian automation specialists, 

and the concept and design 

of the B&R devices. 

Nevertheless, there remained doubts 

at Wilkinson as to whether the 1.8 

gHz processor would provide a 

sufficient performance for the >> 


9

Title Story 

image processing applications used 

in the assembly systems. Intensive 

on-site testing thoroughly convinced 

Wilkinson's technicians that indeed 

it could. Concerns that the CompactFlash 

cards used in the fan-free 

ApC620 in place of error-prone hard 

drives might not provide secure data 

storage after many tens of thousands 

of write cycles were also completely 

eliminated by the end of this testing. 

Flash cards: Reliable even during 

continuous operation 

the Wilkinson technician have also 

been fully satisfied with the performance 

of the ApC620 in actual 

operation. today there are already 

several dozen of them being used in 

the Solingen assembly lines. they 

are especially pleased with the long 

lifespan of the CompactFlash cards. 

Due to the frequent memory access 

required by Windows XP Professional, 

the original estimate was that 

the CompactFlash cards would need 

to be exchanged every six months. 

Wilkinson managers were therefore 

pleasantly surprised to see that the 

computers have functioned perfectly 

so far without exchanging the cards 

once. 

As a result of their positive experiences, 

the system manufacturer has 

since made the ApC620 a company 

standard. Wherever a PC is required 

for video or image processing systems, 

a B&R computer comes into 

play. 

And if at some point in the future the 

performance of the ApC620 is no 

longer sufficient, the B&R lineup already 

has a solution ready: the new 

flagship APC810. The first devices 

have already gone through extensive 


testing by Wilkinson technicians, 

and have met their expectations in 

all respects. Wilkinson is therefore 

well prepared for future innovations 

and the increased demands they will 

bring for the image processing systems. 

Conclusion 

All industrial pCs are not created 

equal - this is a fact that system operators 

are confronted with again and 

again. Failures, lack of replacement 

devices and incompatibility cause 

problems and can even halt production. 

there are convincing alternatives, 

however, as can be seen in the 

case of Wilkinson. Like the renowned 

manufacturer of wet razors, those 

who would prefer to avoid problems 

in the long-term, should do some 

razor-sharp calculating and examine 

how well a solution is suited for an 

industrial environment. 

With video and image monitoring, consumers 

profit from seamless quality 

control of the razor heads 

- allowing Wilkinson to always 

provide the best 

possible shave. 

Wilkinson Sword: 

Founded: 1772, 1805 renamed to 

Wilkinson Sword 

Employees: approx. 800 (in Solingen) 

Locations: Solingen (De), further 

sites in uSA, CN and Ve 

Products & Services: Razors, razor 

blades and accessories 

www.wilkinson-sword.com

Entering new markets 

with Fortuna 

Because of increasing competition 

and dependence on specific 

industries, it is extremely important 

for many machine and system 

manufacturers to enter new markets. 

Fortuna Spezialmaschinen 

GmbH is a good example of how 

this can be successfully mastered. 

By transforming and upgrading 

manufacturing processes that 

were proven over many decades 

as well as by significantly increasing 

the degree of automation, 

they succeeded in entering into a 

completely new business area. 

For over 100 years, Fortuna Spezialmaschinen 

gmbH has been supplying 

the shoe and leather goods 

market. All over the world, tens of 

thousands of shoe manufacturers 

and other leather processing plants 

rely on machines and systems for 

splitting and skiving hides. Since 

Fortuna was founded, they have 

continually created innovative products 

and therefore became industry 

leaders. But business proved to be 

increasingly difficult - many suppliers 

copied proven series production 

machines and started a heated price 

war. the company is rich in traditional 

and continuously advances 

its existing product range in order 

to defend its prominent market position. 

However, Fortuna managing 

director gerhard Schulz is sure that 

sales increases can only be achieved 

with new applications: "We do not 

expect considerable growth from 

our traditional business in the shoe 

and leather industry. For this reason, 

we are actively entering new markets." 

Extensive splitting and skiving 

experience 

the company relies on its extensive 

experience splitting and skiving 

Application 

hides when developing machines for 

new markets. For example, Fortuna 

was able to gain a foothold in the 

plastics and automobile industries in 

this way with machines for producing 

folded cardboard beverage packages 

and plastic linings. 

the basic principle of skiving and 

splitting remains the same: When 

skiving, the material at the edge of 

the workpiece is cut at an angle in 

the desired form (for example to 

make a perfect butt joint without the 

workpiece becoming thicker at the 

junction point); and when splitting, 

the material is separated into layers 

over its entire length. 

Splitting is used to separate materials 

into several layers with extreme precision 

or to process unevenly thick 

material to a certain final dimension. 

Splitting is also used on a workpiece 

for layer analysis. Layer thicknesses 

as small as 0.1 - 0.2 millimeters are 

possible with Fortuna solutions due 

to their excellent precision. 

the principle of a splitting machine 

is similar to that of a band saw. However, 

the two rollers that transport 

the workpiece are arranged next >> 


11

Application 

The X67 System is the ideal choice of components because of the high level of protection 

and the possibility for installing remote I/O. 

to each other horizontally and the 

splitting machine uses a symmetrically 

or asymmetrically edged knife 

blade instead of a saw blade. the 

circulating band blade is guided in 

the upper area. the thickness of the 

finished material (top part) and the 

leftover material (cut part) can be set 

by adjusting the rollers and the blade 

guide. The blade dulls quickly, so a 

sharpener is an integral component 

of the machine. 

Fortuna advances skin graft 

technology 

this proven splitting procedure is 

also the basis for the company's 

newest innovation: However, it's not 

used to split leather for manufacturing 

shoes or handbags; instead, it's 

used to prepare human and sometimes 

animal skin from donors, 

which is to be used for skin grafts. 

"this procedure was previously done 

manually with a scalpel", explains 

markus Hoffmann, project manager 

and part of the machine design team, 

and continues enthusiastically: "the 

customer that requested that the 

skin splitting machine be developed 

has achieved an entirely new level 

of efficiency and quality by using 

machine splitting. the extent of the 

achievement has even surprised us." 

unlike the machines otherwise offered, 

this machine had to be designed 

to operate in a sterile clean 

room environment for hygienic reasons. 

therefore, the construction 

team had to use a totally different 


approach when designing and manufacturing 

the machine. 

Blade changes in record time 

One of the most obvious differences 

compared with traditional series 

production machines from Fortuna 

is the separation of the splitting and 

sharpening processes. In this way, 

the machines can be set up in separate 

locations and adapted to the 

operating conditions there without 

compromises. the head technical 

designer, Hans Laßnig, explains that 

this concept also has a disadvantage, 

which was able to be overcome in 

the application: "the blade is not 

continually sharpened, so it has to 

be changed in relatively short intervals; 

however, this does not represent 

a problem in this application 

because the blade for processing 

each donor's skin must be changed 

anyway." exchanging the blade and 

all parts that come in contact with 

the skin and subsequent sterilization 

is required to prevent cross-contamination. 

the actual splitting process 

only takes a few minutes per charge 

and can be done by trained operators. 

Changing a blade in a 

conventional leather splitting 

machine takes more 

The new splitting machine 

from Fortuna fulfills all of the 

requirements for a sterile work 

environment. 

than an hour including adjustment 

and must be done by an experienced 

mechanic. "For this reason alone, we 

had to considerably increase the level 

of automation. Here, we needed a 

partner that could supply the entire 

spectrum of components required 

for this application." 

Clean room conditions are met 

the Fortuna design engineers needed 

a stainless steel panel, which 

could be installed directly on the 

splitting machine as an operating 

and control device. It has to fulfill the 

requirements for use in a sterile environment. 

Because the associated 

switching cabinet was not going to 

be installed in the clean room, the 

automation technology also had to 

be able to bridge the over 25 meter 

distance between the switching 

cabinet and the machine. "Since it 

was also necessary to be able to exchange 

the splitting machine easily 

while keeping the rest of the system, 

a remote Ip67 I/O system with plugin 

connections was needed," adds 

markus Hoffmann. But that's not 

enough. Five axes are needed just 

for the splitting machine in order to 

be able to automatically make all of 

the necessary settings such as the 

material feed and thickness adjustment 

as well as tightening and positioning 

the knife blades. 

Centralized and decentralized 

architecture 

"B&R was and is the right partner 

for us," states Hubert Kleiser. 

"the company's product 

range has everything 

we need for implementing 

such a challenging 

automation task." 

the electronics expert 

says this also 

includes the fact 

that the ACOpOS

drives are available in all necessary 

performance classes and operating 

modes and can be networked optimally 

using modern pOWeRLINK 

technology. With the X2X technology, 

remote I/O can also be implemented 

in the architecture at longer 

distances from the switching cabinet 

without problems. the X67 remote 

I/O system provides the high level of 

protection and connection options 

required by Fortuna. "The best part, 

however, is definitely the fact that 

B&R has the pp420 both in a stainless 

steel design and in a standard 

design, which allowed us to use the 

same basic equipment as the control 

platform for the splitting and sharpening 

machines and we could therefore 

implement a uniform control 

philosophy," adds Hubert Kleiser. 

Operator errors ruled out 

Hans Laßnig is sure that the wellthought-out 

user interface contributed 

significantly to the success of the 

machine. "the software is designed 

in such a way that operating errors 

are nearly ruled out, and the customer 

can also assign less experienced 

personnel the task of operating the 

machine." the visualization system, 

which like the rest of the automation 

software for the machine was created 

in the Automation Studio engineering 

environment, guides the 

operator through the complex processing 

procedure in strictly defined 

sequences. "For example, the opera- 

The visualization system 

was implemented using 

Automation Studio - users 

profit here from a clear user interface 

that guides them step by step through the 

complex processes. 

tor selects the function for disassembling 

the parts, and then each necessary 

step must be carried out before 

it's possible to continue," explains 

mr. Hoffmann. even with the actual 

splitting process, the operator hardly 

has to make any adjustments. the 

appropriate processes and preset 

values are saved in recipes that were 

developed with the recipe management 

function in Automation Studio. 

the operator selects a recipe and 

then the skin is split with an accuracy 

of a few hundredths of a millimeter. 

"users do not have to document how 

the skin was split; they only have to 

enter the desired splitting results," 

adds the project manager. 

Remote maintenance and diagnostics 

included 

But if something does go wrong, 

the Fortuna engineers can access 

the machines via ethernet because 

they are connected using the integrated 

ethernet interface on the B&R 

panels. In this way, the specialists at 

Fortuna can determine if the error 

was caused by the machine without 

having to leave their workplace in 

germany. 

So far, this has not been necessary 

because the machines have done 

their job reliably and without problems. 

the operator can therefore enjoy 

the benefits of increased capacity 

without the restrictions associated 

with automation of the manual splitting 

process previously used. minimum 

operating times and extremely 

short downtimes resulting from fast 

tool changes and a high level of pro- 

Fortuna: 

Application 

cess reliability are important for the 

efficiency of the machine. 

the high level of automation and 

user-friendly operation are the most 

important features. "the success 

with powerful and modern machines 

like this splitting machine indicates 

where the future for our company 

lies: In complex machines that are 

easy to operate. This requires a high 

level of automation in our products," 

summarizes gerhard Schulz, managing 

director at Fortuna. 

Founded: 1903 

Employees: approx. 70 

Turnover: approx. 55 m euR 

Locations: Weil der Stadt (De), 45 

subsidiaries worldwide 

Products & Services: Series production 

and customized machines for 

splitting and skiving 

www.fortuna-gmbh.de 


13

Interview 

B&R recently expanded its drive technology portfolio 

to include frequency inverters, adding new devices 

to the successful ACOPOS family. With three new 

series of ACOPOSinverters S44, X64 and P88, the 

company now provides solutions that span the entire 

performance range required in the field of machine 

manufacturing. In an interview with Project Manager 

Bernhard Eder, automotion explored the background 

of the product introduction. 

Frequency inverters for all 

performance ranges 

automotion: Mr. Eder, what were the main reasons for 

B&R to add frequency inverters to the portfolio? And 

what advantages does this bring for B&R? 

Eder: The introduction of frequency inverters fills a gap 

in the B&R drive technology portfolio, and enables us offer 

our customers something they have been requesting 

for a long time. As a supplier of complete solutions for 

visualization, automation and drive technology, B&R is 

now able with this product expansion to strengthen its 

position on the market and offer its customers optimum 

solutions. The advantages therefore mainly benefit the 

customer. 

automotion: What target groups did you have in mind 

when introducing the new products? 

Eder: mainly we consider B&R's existing customers to be 

the most important target group, that is, customers that 

already use a complete automation solution from B&R, 

but have used third party frequency inverters. Of course, 

new customers will also benefit from the new products. 

automotion: Do the new frequency inverters complement 

the existing product spectrum, or are they more of 

an addition to the range of products, i.e. a new product 

types in addition to existing types? 

Eder: the product is a logical addition to the existing 

range of products in the area of drive technology. Before, 

B&R provided a complete spectrum of servo and stepper 

drives. The frequency inverters round off the drive family. 

this is why we gave them names based on the existing 

products. 


" As a supplier of complete solutions 

for controller, visualization, 

and drive technology, B&R can 

strengthen its position on the market 

and offer its customers optimum 

solutions." 

automotion: For what type of applications are the new 

products especially well-suited? 

Eder: With performances ranging all the way from 0.18 

kW to 500 kW, the ACOpOSinverter products have virtually 

unlimited possibilities with respect to potential 

applications. typical simple applications would be, for 

example, controlling pumps or conveyor belts. Yet they 

are equally well-suited for complex tasks, where the coordination 

of servo drives and frequency inverters plays 

an important role.

automotion: What are the key advantages that you are 

now able to offer users with the implementation of the 

new frequency inverters? 

Eder: Seamless integration of the frequency inverters into 

the entire B&R system is the decisive factor. With various 

interfaces, the products fit easily into existing hardware 

topologies. In addition, the complete integration of the 

entire range of frequency inverters in B&R Automation 

Studio supports a quick and easy commissioning process 

for the machine or system. 

automotion: Mr. Eder, thank you very much for taking 

the time to speak with us! 

Personal profile: Bernhard Eder (29), B&R Project 

manager in eggelsberg, is 

responsible for the frequency 

inverter product range. 

After completing the training 

program for electrical engineering 

and power electronics at a 

college in Salzburg, mr. eder 

started working in 2000 for B&R 

in Austria and germany in the 

process control technology department. His job included 

application tasks, sales and project management. Since the 

middle of 2008, mr. eder has been responsible for the frequency 

inverter product launch at the B&R headquarters. 

ACOPOSinverter at a glance 

The entire ACOPOSinverter product range is equipped with integrated communication 

interfaces. this allows the products to be seamlessly integrated in your existing 

automation system. Implementation in B&R Automation Studio offers the possibility 

to easily set all parameters. 

Highlights: 

■ Integrated communication interface 

■ Fast parameter settings 

■ extended diagnostics 

■ easy maintenance 

Interview 

ACOpOSinverter series S44 

ACOpOSinverter series X64 

ACOpOSinverter series p84 


15

One tool maximum 

Reprint from Computer&AUTOMATION, Issue 03/09 

Configuration of the controller is a 

core element of engineering, and 

one of the main disciplines in the 

mechatronic development process. 

A complete project typically consists 

of the hardware configuration, program 

sections for process control, 

closed-loop control functions (process 

characteristic curves for the 

drives) and the programs for the human/machine 

interface (HmI) of the 

system visualization. 

to simplify and accelerate project 

development, simulation has become 

a hot topic in machine and 

system manufacturing over the past 

few years. this provides the developer 

a model of the system that is to 

be controlled. this model simulates 

the behavior of the system components 

and the materials being processed. 

the problem, however, is 

that the simulation of the system's 

behavior and the development of the 

control code take place in different 

tools, which are dependent on the 

hardware used. 


For the project at the Institute for 

machine tools and Industrial management 

(iwb) of the technical university 

of munich, it was therefore a 

priority that the simulation solution 

combine the simulation of system 

behavior and the development of 

control functions into a single tool, 

independent of what control hardware 

is used. Functions developed 

this way could then be transferred 

directly to the target systems and 

Simulation and it's application in real life 

are researched at the Institute for Machine 

Tools and Industrial Management of the 

Technical University of Munich. 

In the field of controller development 

in machine and systems 

manufacturing there is a trend 

toward simulation. At the Technische 

Universität München 

(Technical University of Munich) 

there is currently a project underway 

with the goal of making 

it possible to develop automation 

and control functions in an 

integrated tool - and to do so 

independently of what target 

system is used. 

used without any further modification. 

A stand was constructed for testing 

the first prototype of the iwb's simulation-based 

development project. 

The test stand consists of a 3-axis 

portal arrangement (see Image 1) 

with a linear x and y axis and a pneumatically 

controlled gripper on the 

z axis. the sensors are designed as

1 

3 

photo cells. As far as software, the 

application is based on Automation 

Studio - the development environment 

for control and drive functions 

from B&R - and the tool mAtLAB ® / 

Simulink ® from the mathworks. 

the mAtLAB ® Real time Workshop 

embedded Coder is used to export 

the drive code. the process control 

itself is performed using the State- 

Flow toolbox in the form of state 

machines, and the Virtual Reality 

toolbox is used to animate the flow 

of material in 3D. The hardware is 

currently limited to a B&R power 

panel, i.e. a visualization with integrated 

Cpu, and an ACOpOSmulti 

frequency inverter for connecting 

four linear drives. 

Step 1: System analysis 

The first step in the development 

process is to analyze the system behavior. 

this analysis involves testing 

the actual system and the system 

model. the goal here is to gather 

knowledge about possible states and 

behavior of the system. For the portal 

arrangement, the system model 

was set up as a Simulink model, with 

the gripper axes represented as a 

pt1 system. the gripper pneumatics 

are also represented as a Simulink 

model with the corresponding timing 

behavior. A truth table was integrated 

in the state flow diagram for 

evaluation of the sensors. 

Step 2: Development of the control 

functions 

Based on the knowledge gained during 

the analysis phase, the second 

step involves developing an open or 

closed loop control function. In addition 

to purely textual descriptions 

2 

4 

Image 1: Using this 3-axis portal in a 

system network, researchers at the 

Technical University of Munich are developing 

new concepts in simulationbased 

control development. 

1 Y-drive 

2 X-drive 

3 Gripper witch pneumatic Z-drive 

4 Photo cells 

of the automation functions, formal 

description and modeling methods 

from software development may be 

used, as well as task or sequence 

diagrams. Once the software functions 

have been designed, they are 

implemented in the development environment. 

State machines in state 

flow provide descriptions. These are 

able to represent both simple and 

complex drive functions. 

Connecting the developed control 

function to the system model makes 

it possible to perform model based 

testing. In addition to verifying the 

basic functions, it is also possible to 

test disturbance scenarios and identify 

potential adjustments to improve 

performance. the design, implementation 

and model-based testing 

stages should be repeated until they 

result in fully-functional and errorfree 

control code that can be implemented 

in the real system. 

the input variables for simulation 

module process control include the 

movement variables of the X and Y 

drives and the simulated sensor sig- 

Image 2: Simulation 

model consisting of an 

open loop control model, 

system and closed-loop 

control models and signal 

evaluation in MATLAB ® / 

Simulink ® . 

nals. the system states encountered 

during movement are also represented 

in the process controller as 

states. the corresponding control 

values and transition conditions are 

also formulated in state flow syntax. 

process movements typically require 

more than binary control of 

Technology 

the drives. Often there are drives 

with speed or position control that 

are connected to one another via 

electronic cam profiles for coupled 

movements. the creation of these 

curves is an important part of the 

development of an automation 

solution. Image 3 shows a classic 

trapezoid movement profile with 

acceleration, speed and path. the 

development of the process characteristic 

curves takes place entirely 

in the simulation environment. this 

allows complex process movements 

and the corresponding control characteristic 

curves to be created and 

tested in the early phases of development. 

Via XmL exchange format 

(extended markup language) it is 

then possible to implement the process 

characteristic curves directly in 

B&R controllers without direct access 

to the target system. 

Step 3: Simulation and testing 

After the control functions have been 

tested, they are implemented. During 

the software test, the implemented 

functions are linked to the simulation 

model. the model then creates continuous 

processes, process movements 

and event-based processes in 

a common system. As a result, the 

overall behavior of the new system 

can be imitated realistically, and errors 

can be detected and corrected 

early and easily. the current testing 

environment is based on mAtLAB ® 

and integrates the following: 

■ process control model 

■ System behavior model 

■ process characteristic curves (control 

functions) 

■ Visualization of material flow 

An additional 3D environment was 

integrated for the gripper scenario, 

which displays the movements graphically 

for the developer. >> 


17

Technology 

Image 3: Process characteristic curves as control parameters 

in the simulation and in the real development 

environment. 

Step 4: Transferring to the target 

system 

the new program is transferred to a 

real controller using a generator that 

translates the functions into executable 

code. the B&R controller used is 

able to interpret and run ANSI C files. 

this makes it possible to execute the 

C code generated by mAtLAB ® on 

the controller. this is loaded into the 

programming environment (Automation 

Studio) as a project and then 

transferred to the controller Cpu. For 

the operator, there are only minimal 

manual adjustments to be made to 

perform the data transfer. In order to 

use control systems from different 

manufacturers, all that is needed is a 

new generator. 

there is research currently underway 

at iwb with the goal of automatic 

transfer of the process characteristic 

curves and the HmI data. An interface 

concept has been developed to 

do this, which is also designed for 

B&R controllers. this has one main 

difference from the simple import 

function for the coordinates of a 

function. In addition to the fixed coordinates, 

all other necessary values 

The authors: 


Thomas Hensel 

is a member of 

the iwb research 

team in the area 

of Automation 

and Robotics. 

for describing the function are also 

transferred, such as the type of function 

and the first and second derivative. 

The open questions 

Additional research is focused on 

simulation-based development of 

the system visualization. Configuration 

of the HmI must typically wait 

until the control programs have been 

completely established, since this is 

the only way to develop and test signal 

transmission and the monitoring/ 

operation functions. In short: the 

goal is to link the HmI system to the 

simulation model to enable earlier 

development of the visualization. Interfaces 

with common visualization 

systems such as WinCC (Siemens) 

and ZenOn (Copa-Data) are currently 

being tested and implemented. 

prototypes of this development environment 

show that the integration 

of simulation, design, implementation 

and transfer into a single tool 

Image 4: Based on the XML exchange 

format, this diagram shows 

the structure of a process characteristic 

curve, which can be read in 

Automation Studio. 

Fabian Meling 

is a member of 

the iwb research 

team in the area 

of Automation 

and Robotics 

promotes quality-oriented development 

with consistent data. the ability 

to connect different controllers 

is mainly a question of how open 

the interfaces are. the lack of manufacturer-independent 

standards 

for configuration files represents an 

obstacle to controller design and 

the export of parameters. the standardization 

of this data is therefore 

something that drive manufacturers 

should strive for. In the area of function 

blocks for motion applications, 

this approach is already being used 

successfully by the pLCopen association. 

Prof. Dr.-Ing. 

Gunther Reinhart 

Director of the 

Institute for machine 

tools and 

Industrial management 

(iwb) at 

the technical university 

of munich.

With the development of an innovative welding process, 

the Italian company Focusweld is clearly making 

its mark on the market. Reduction of energy consumption 

and systematic utilization of heat energy are features 

currently in high demand. 

Welding with reduced 

power consumption 

Since being founded in 1998, Focusweld 

has concentrated on the production 

of welding systems and various 

processing systems. In addition 

to producing capacitor discharge 

welding machines, Focusweld also 

does contract work at its plant in 

turin. experience gained over the 

years and continuous research work 

were decisive drivers for development 

of a new generation of welding 

machines. 

Welding without deformation 

In the course of developing the new 

machine series, Focusweld decided 

to use a modern welding process 

called capacitor discharge welding. 

this process uses projection 

welding produced by discharging 

a stored pulse of electrical energy. 

this welding technology is characterized 

by a very low supply current 

because energy is stored when it is 

not being used. Additionally, there 

are no voltage fluctuations because 

charging is controlled electronically 

with stabilized power consumption. 

Another important factor is that it is 

extremely simple to set the welding 

parameters, which results in consistent 

quality. 

A major characteristic of the welding 

process is the concentration of 

the energy on the areas that are to 

be welded, which prevents deformation 

of the welded parts. this makes 

it possible to weld closer to areas that 

are thermally sensitive. thanks to the 

high current and welding speed, it's 

possible to weld metals with high 

electrical and thermal conductivity as 

well as treated steel. Cooling of the 

electrodes is no longer necessary, 

which positively affects the life span 

of the system. Focusweld is a leading 

welder manufacturer in Italy: "With 

the development of this modern 

welding process, we have technologically 

unique selling points," states 

technical manager Luca moioli. 

Application 

Capacitor discharge welding 

provides a decisive advantage 

In general, capacitor discharge 

welding is based on the same physical 

principle as resistance welding. 

the parts to be welded are brought 

into contact with each other by applying 

pressure and are then fused 

together. the contact area is usually 

limited, so heat is produced using a 

sufficient current level to start the 

melting process. "With capacitor dis- 

“A special characteristic of our new procedure 

is the consistent power and current 

supply. Changing to B&R technology allows 

us to provide our customers maximum 

reliability.“ 

Luca Moioli 

Technical Manager 

Focusweld 

charge welding, the decisive values 

such as power, energy and output 

current are at least a power of ten 

higher than with conventional welding 

methods," explains Luca moioli 

and emphasizes that the current values 

can reach maximum values >> 


19

Application 

Because of the even power and current supply, the new Focusweld machines allow the 

best welding results without thermal changes. 

from 400 to 500 kA. the output energy 

is approximately 100 kJ. 

With resistance welding, however, 

the current values are considerably 

lower, at only 100 kA. to achieve 

close to the same welding result, 

much more energy would be required. 

In addition, it takes longer for 

the melting process to begin. A further 

problem is the large amount of 

heat generated, which is not limited 

to the welded parts and also spreads 

to adjacent surfaces. this can cause 

thermal variation that results in deformations. 

Innovation for improved competitiveness 

In order to counter the many disadvantages 

of resistance welding, 

Focusweld designed a new machine 

for welding steel radiators. the machine 

is equipped with a capacitor 

battery that is initially charged with a 

high voltage (3 to 3.3 kV) in order to 

store a sufficient amount of energy. 

"the energy that has been stored 

in the capacitors is normally discharged 

using transformers that reduce 

the voltage to a safe level of 20 

to 25 V, and the current can be raised 

to peak values of 500 kA," explains 

Luca moioli. 

With the new machine, it's possible 

to weld radiators with lengths from 

300 to 3,000 mm. A special feature 

of the new design is its complex 

mechanical structure. the head con- 


tains all of the most important tools: 

the radiator head (which contains 

the hydraulic connection) and up to 

six pipes, depending on the requirements. 

the parts to be welded are 

placed in a pipe and brought into 

contact with each other. enclosed 

in the form, the parts are melted together 

with a single pulse current, 

which is distributed evenly on the 

surface of the tube. 

"A special characteristic of our new 

procedure is the consistent power 

and current supply. this makes 

it possible to transfer the current 

evenly to the parts being welded," 

explains the technical manager. A 

further challenge, according to Luca 

moioli, is applying the forces to 

counter the high current values in 

order to avoid dangerous splashing 

or even explosions. each pipe requires 

approximately 2 tons of force 

to make welding possible. When 

six pipes are being welded simultaneously, 

a force of 10 to 12 tons is 

required that is applied between the 

head and the pipes using a hydraulic 

cylinder. 

Oscilloscope function provides 

quality data 

Equipped with components from 

B&R, the new machine solution is 

extremely efficient and reliable. A 

power panel with 15" display is used 

for control and intuitive operation. A 

shaft positions the unit precisely using 

a servo drive and servo motors. 

The current requirements are sampled 

in real-time at a high resolution 

in order to be able to reproduce and 

analyze the current waveform at any 

time. With the integrated oscilloscope 

function for the X20 analog input 

module, the data recorded in this 

way is used to evaluate the welding 

results. 

"In coordination with B&R experts, 

we were able to design machines 

with extremely high energy efficiency 

and performance in a very short 

time. Changing to B&R technology 

allows us to provide our customers 

maximum reliability," summarizes 

Luca moioli. 

Focusweld: 

Founded: 1998 

Employees: 15 


Locations: Orbassano (It) 

Products & Services: discharge 

welding machines, customerspecific 

welding machines 

www.focusweld.com

Molded into shape 

For over 7,000 years, humans 

have been using expendable mold 

casting to produce works of art 

and useful items that are made of 

metal. This procedure is still used 

today virtually unchanged from 

how it was traditionally done, 

in order to create one-of-a-kind 

objects such as bells or bronze 

statues. The technology has also 

been successfully used for decades 

for industrial manufacturing 

of mass-produced products 

such as engine blocks, truck axles 

or spoons. To produce the molds, 

many foundries utilize the efficient 

machines made by Laempe 

& Mössner, which operate using 

B&R technology. 

the high level of automation that is 

now achieved for mold production 

contributes to the fact that foundries in 

germany can also succeed in the highly 

competitive international market. 

Laempe & mössner gmbH are among 

the absolute specialists in the area 

of foundry technology. the machine 

manufacturer, based in Schopfheim, 

develops, produces and sells core 

shooters, core production lines and 

complete solutions for core-making. 

In foundry technology, cores are forms 

made of sand that are used to make a 

recess or cavity in a cast part. the core 

is placed in the mold at the location 

where the melted material should be 

prevented from entering when pouring. 

After the casting procedure, the 

sand core is destroyed mechanically or 

the sand is removed using a machine. 

25 liters of sand per shot 

Laempe & mössner have an extensive 

range of core shooters for the 

Core shooter machines from Laempe & 

Mössner are high performance machines 

for 24-hour continuous operation with hot 

or cold core hardening processes. 

Application 

automated production of cores. the 

"LB 25" is widely used in the automotive 

industry. It is used by nearly all 

well-known automobile manufacturers 

because it allows large quantities 

of cores to be manufactured 

economically. The machine can fill 

core molds that have volumes up to 

25 liters with molding sand using a 

single compressed air driven shot. 

the machine is also able to execute 

multiple shots in order to produce 

several cores in a tool or produce 

cores with a larger volume. >> 


21

Application 

Depending on the core hardening 

procedure used, various binders are 

added to the sand that ensure that 

the sand hardens very quickly after 

shooting. For the cold box system for 

example, a synthetic resin is mixed 

with the sand before filling the core 

shooter, and it hardens as soon as a 

suitable catalyst is added. With the 

cold box system, amine gas is used, 

which flows through the sand in the 

mold while it is fixed in the machine. 

For larger core volumes, the hot box 

process is usually used, in which 

hardening occurs when the resincoated 

sand grains are heated. the 

finished core is always hard enough 

that it can be handled without problems 

and be moved to its position in 

the molding box. 

Compact construction 

"the machines are in the foundry 

workshops, so they have to be able 

to withstand the extremely harsh 

environmental conditions that exist 

there. For this reason, we pay special 

attention to robustness and reliabil- 

ity when selecting the components 

and constructing the machine," adds 

thomas Ziemski, who is in charge 

of the Laempe & mössner service 

department and before that worked 

extensively to help developed the 

company's machines. "A further 

highlighting characteristic, which is 

just as important for our users as the 

quality of our machines, is the small 

amount of space required for our solutions." 

Laempe & mössner's customer base 

includes many traditional foundries 

that are confronted with approaching 

residential zones due to progressive 

town development, which 

makes increasing the size of the 

worksite difficult or impossible in 

part because of current emissions 

regulations. For the same reason, it 

is frequently difficult for companies 

to find a new location in the open 

countryside. especially these users 

appreciate the compact design of 

the Laempe & mössner systems as 

opposed to comparable solutions 

With the new core machines, sand cores can be produced for a wide variety of molds. 


Thanks to their compact design, the core production 

lines from Laempe can even be installed in tight 

spaces. 

from other manufacturers. "Our 

core shooters are not only for use 

in confined spaces - we can install 

two to three machines where other 

suppliers can only fit one. They are 

also easier to operate in a second 

floor production area because of the 

lower total weight compared with 

solutions from other manufacturers," 

clarifies Thomas Ziemski. 

Flexible I/O system eases construction 

the automation specialists at B&R 

with their intelligent X20 I/O system, 

which is installed in the machine together 

with the X67 remote I/O system 

with Ip67 protection, make an 

important contribution to the spacesaving 

design of the machines. "the 

modular and compact structure of 

the X20 System makes it possible 

for us to arrange the I/O modules as 

we need them and therefore without 

wasting space," states thomas 

Ziemski. Via an X2X connection, the 

company can extend the backplane 

bus as necessary and install the X67 

modules directly on the machine. 

this grants the engineers even more 

freedom for the construction of the 

machine. the X67 modules can be 

arranged nearly anywhere on the 

machine and only require a small 

amount of space. Laempe & mössner 

takes advantage of this and connects 

more than half of all necessary I/Os 

using X67 modules, for example to 

control hydraulic, pneumatic and 

electric drives. 

Simple handling during installation 

and maintenance 

In addition to the possible space savings, 

the service manager at Laempe 

lists the simple handling during installation 

and maintenance as just as 

important a reason for using the B&R 

I/O system: "In the standard version

of the LB 25, we already need more 

than 210 inputs and outputs for the 

integration of sensors and actuators. 

Here, conventional connection 

technology would not only result in 

substantial wiring and time expenditure, 

but would also be more prone 

to errors." 

that's much different with a busbased 

I/O system like the one from 

B&R: It reduces wiring to a minimum, 

and therefore also potential 

sources of errors. "With the prefabricated 

lines of the X67 system, 

wiring errors are nearly impossible 

and modules are exchanged according 

to the plug&play principle," says 

thomas Ziemski happily. "that results 

in faster installation and shorter 

downtimes, even though a good bit 

of software knowledge is required 

for bus system diagnostics." 

Additionally, the B&R solution can 

easily be expanded, and therefore 

the optional peripherals for the machines 

can also be integrated, as 

thomas Ziemski describes: "to do 

this, we only have to install an additional 

I/O module and connect it 

with the rest of the I/O system using 

a single X2X line." 

Simple connection to different 

control environments 

The company also benefits from the 

fact that the X20 System includes 

various bus controller modules that 

allow the I/O system to be connected 

to the controller using all wellestablished 

fieldbus systems. "Many 

of our customers insist on certain 

control manufacturers depending 

on the region where the customer is 

located. We have to be able to install 

controllers from different manufacturers," 

explains thomas Ziemski. 

"Here, B&R not only offered the suitable 

controller modules, they also 

provided competent and committed 

support when creating the necessary 

software for implementation of 

the I/O system in our machines." 

With the exception of its smallest 

machines, Laempe & mössner 

has already changed over its entire 

product range to B&R I/O systems. 

"Because of the advantages offered 

by a uniform architecture, for example 

regarding maintennace, we are 

in the process of changing over the 

remaining machines to B&R technology. 

It's only a matter of time," says 

thomas Ziemski. 

Laempe: 

Application 

Because the machine is operated in harsh environments (such as foundry workshops), 

Laempe places their trust in B&R components, which are extremely robust 

and reliable. 

The open fieldbus interfaces 

on X20 System 

devices allow connections 

to be made to 

nearly all 3rd party devices. 

Founded: 1980 

Employees: 330 


Locations: Schopfheim, meitzendorf 

(De) 

Products & Services: machines and 

systems for core and sand mold 

production, as well as necessary 

peripheral systems including robotic 

core production lines 

www.laempe.com 


23

Applikation 

Overhead lifting solutions 


Since Ancient Greece, cranes have 

enabled man to create extremely 

large structures. The basic principle 

of cranes has changed little, 

but the mechanics have been 

greatly improved over the centuries. 

The first cranes were operated 

by humans, animals, hoisting 

equipment and later by steam 

engines, but today combustion 

or electric motors and hydraulic 

systems propel high performance 

lifting equipment. 

Cranes are now available for various 

applications. the products 

range from small jib cranes, for use 

in workshops for example, to large 

tower cranes for constructing large 

buildings. these metallic heavyweights 

allow us to accomplish unimaginable 

tasks and to safely and 

efficiently move materials that we 

need on a daily basis. 

Today, advanced lifting equipment 

from gorbel is paving the way for 

new technology in the crane industry. 

Founded in 1977, the American 

company with its headquarters in 

Fishers (New York) has developed 

into a leading supplier of cranes and 

ergonomic lifting equipment. 

presently, they offer overhead transport 

solutions for weights from 50 

pounds to 40 tons. the product 

spectrum includes bridge cranes, 

track cranes, gantry cranes, jib 

cranes and various ergonomic lifting 

products. the newest product is 

the g-Force intelligent lifting device, 

an ergonomic device especially designed 

for transporting palettes. 

Safely transporting heavy loads 

With specially-developed g-Force 

technology, the new g-Force lifting 

device is equipped with a micro-

controller drive system. This unique 

combination provides for an exceptionally 

ergonomic lifting concept 

that can handle loads up to approximately 

300 kg. 

modern control technology ensures 

that the load is detected and 95% 

of the weight is carried by the lifting 

device and the remaining 5% by the 

operator. Designed for movements 

at high speeds, the g-Force lifting 

device allows precise placement 

of materials. the g-Force technology 

is especially user-friendly, and 

is therefore widely accepted by users. 

thanks to the intelligent reaction 

possibilities of the g-Force system, 

operator errors and resulting damage 

to end products and work area 

equipment are virtually eliminated. 

Scalable and therefore costefficient 

A special advantage of the new lifting 

device is the reaction speed of 

the control system. the patented 

motion algorithms and "float mode" 

functionality were implemented directly 

on the drive for very fast execution. 

this makes it possible to 

move various loads by simply activating 

the operator handle. 

Another advantage of the B&R solution 

is the optimal scalability of the 

system. this allows the g-Force system 

to be expanded at any time to 

meet the requirements of more complicated 

applications. there is also 

the option to expand the system as 

desired by adding additional X20 I/O 

Centralized or 

d e c e n t r a l i z e d 

topologies can 

be easily created 

with a combination 

of X20 and 

X67 modules. 

With the G-Force system, the user 

only has to carry 5% of the weight. 

modules. A CAN interface on the operator 

handle allows additional X67 

modules to be connected to control 

the lifting device gripper. the system 

can even be expanded to support a 

second drive and handle for tandem 

operation. 

Many functions - One software 

project 

By using Automation Studio, gorbel 

profits from integration of all system 

functions in a single software package. 

the machine software can also 

be easily integrated in all g-Force 

products as well as in other products 

such as the "easy Arm". 

Because of the extensive expansion 

possibilities of the new control system, 

Gorbel can react very quickly 

to changing market requirements. 

thanks to the use of high-performance 

B&R components, the new g- 

Force lifting equipment is a reliable 

solution for challenging overhead 

transport tasks. 

Gorbel: 

Application 

Founded: 1977 


Turnover: 35 m EUR 

Locations: Headquarters in Fishers, 

NY; production in pell City, AL (uSA) 

Products & Services: Solutions for 

overhead cranes and ergonomic 

lifting devices 

www.gorbel.com 


25

Technology 

Standardization of 

network technologies 

The Alstom control system AL- 

SPA Controplant is designed for 

energy applications. In this industrial 

sector, technologies with 

the highest level of reliability and 

availability are required. Alstom's 

decision to use a highly distributed 

structure for its control system 

makes the network a central part 

of the system. 


In addition to modbus tCp, Alstom selected 

Ethernet POWERLINK as fieldbus 

for its control system. Before complete 

implementation in the control system, 

it was necessary for Alstom to integrate 

the main characteristics of the pOWeR- 

LINK technology. the most important 

characteristic is redundancy, which Alstom 

implemented as system standard. 

this redundancy, together with this deterministic 

network, provides the necessary 

level of availability for open and 

closed loop control of the power plant 

processes. 

the operation management network 

and the system network have been using 

ethernet technology for many years. 

With the POWERLINK fieldbus, the entire 

network architecture is now based on 

the proven and standardized ethernet 

technology. there are many advantages 

to a network that is based completely on 

ethernet: Standardization of the network 

devices and protocols, reduced costs, 

simplified maintenance, high performance 

and the reduced risk of self-made 

solutions becoming obsolete. 

Alstom and EMB 

Alstom is a global leader in equipment 

and services for power generation and 

rail transport. In the field of power generation, 

Alstom is the world leader in 

integrated power plants, in power production 

services and air quality control 

systems. The company supplies 27% of 

the global capacity for power generation 

and covers all energy sources (gas, coal, 

renewable and nuclear). Alstom power 

comprises five businesses: plant, turbo 

machinery, energy and environment systems, 

hydro and the new energy management 

business (emB). emB improves 

the efficiency of energy infrastructures 

from fuel supply to electricity production 

and consumption. Complementing 

Alstom’s portfolio, emB is in line with 

its clean power and plant Integratortm 

strategies. Current developments will

further strengthen Alstom’s position for 

clean power generation, via the introduction 

of new technologies to monitor 

and control air quality in real-time in 

conventional plants and new clean coal 

plants that may be equipped with carbon 

capture and storage. With the development 

of carbon trading schemes, plant 

management solutions will require flexible 

integration with carbon registries 

and markets. 

emB focuses its expertise on four key 

areas of technology: 

■ Automation - including -- plant DCS, 

machine control & instrumentation 

■ plant management - including plant & 

dispatch optimization, asset condition 

monitoring and simulation 

■ grid connection & substation engineering 

- including isolated phased 

bus ducts 

■ power electronics - including excitation, 

automated voltage regulation 

and reactive power control. 

emB offers turnkey energy management 

solutions to optimize energy efficiency 

across the entire energy value chain, 

such as in the following areas: 

■ Plant efficiency increased through effective 

automation and control of the 

plants as well as new suites of power 

plant management software applications 

to manage plant scheduling, 

plant asset management as well as 

real-time plant simulation. 

Figure 1: Combined cycle power plant - Example architecture. 

Video Wall 

Site Network Operator 

Core RT 

Historian 

& IMS 

Engineering 

Stations 

Servers 

Servers 

workstation 

Unit Network 

HRSG & WSC 

Controller 

EMS, PPS, 

IMS Reports 

BOP & Electrical 

Controller 

■ plant availability increasing plant operational 

flexibility to provide the proper 

amount of power at the right time to 

the grid. this means providing the 

ability to ramp power up and down 

several times a day. 

■ Power quality enabling customers 

to deliver the desired power quality, 

whether related to grid frequency (active 

power) or voltage management 

(reactive power). 

Within emB, Alstom has designed a 

complete product line for control systems 

called ALSpA. Alstom’s ALSpA 

CONtROpLANt DCS system is dedicated 

to the power generation market. 

ALSPA 

The ALSPA system consists of a flexible 

and open distributed architecture and is 

based on specific hardware components 

and standard communication networks. 

ALSpA products support core functions 

for plant operation, and thus benefit from 

multiple safety and availability features 

such as self-testing, redundancy in controllers 

and communications, synchronization 

and time stamping to 1 ms, fault 

tolerance, and continued autonomous 

operation in the event of the loss of control 

room equipment. ALSPA products 

can be used for the DCS (thermal, hydro, 

nuclear, etc.) and for machine control. 

For machine control, ALSpA includes the 

following controls: 

■ ALSPA field controller 

Condition 

Monitoring 

Automation cell 

Multi-Function 

Controllers 

ALSPA 

Field Networks 

I/O Controllers 

OLC 

CLC 

Protections 

Steam Turbine 

Controller 

Web 

Thin Clients 

OLC 

CLC 

WAN 

Protections 

Gas Turbine 

Controller 

Firewall 

Technology 

■ Boiler control and protection and 

burner management system: Controflame 

■ Steam turbine controller: Controsteam 

■ gas turbine controller: Controgas 

■ generator controller, AVR and excitation: 

Automatic voltage regulator: 

dedicated to the excitation regulation 

of AC generator: Controgen. 

the control system is built around three 

major components: 

■ the control room HmI with its software 

and hardware, 

■ the engineering tool manages a 

consistent engineering design of the 

complete power plant including: DCS, 

machine control and simulator with 

single point of entry and a unique database. 

■ perform the control and protection 

functions and are connected to the 

process. the multifunction controllers 

and field controllers offer a number 

of advantages e.g. reduction of field 

cabling, tolerance to failures and easy 

expansion of the system. 

All these elements are connected by fast 

ethernet networks (Figure 1). 

Networking inside the ALSPA 

product 

the site network being mainly located in 

the control room, has limited industrial 

constraints. It is generally based on a 

standard Fast ethernet switched network. 

>> 


27

Technology 

HMI & Historian Engineering 

Unit network 

Fast Ethernet Technology 

Automation Cell 

Cell network 

Deterministic Fast 

Ethernet Technology 

the unit network links the three levels 

of the DCS. It is based on proven industrial 

ethernet solutions. A fault tolerant 

ring topology ensures high availability. 

Determinism is not needed, as standard 

ethernet is used with Ip protocol (tCp/ 

Ip and uDp/Ip). the unit network has a 

speed of 100 mbits/s or 1 gbits/s and is 

made of fiber or copper. 

The field networks are located at the field 

level and have the highest constraints. 

The equipment connected on the field 

networks usually has high availability requirements 

and thus shall be redundant 

and connected via a highly available network 

(Figure 2). 

Evolution of field network to Ethernet-based 

solution 

the new applications for the power 

market require increasing network performance. 

To fulfill these new market 

demands, the need for a new technology 

based on high-speed ethernet arose 

naturally. 

Among the offers for industrial ethernet 

technologies, Alstom had to select two 

technologies, one without any deterministic 

constraints and one with high realtime 

determinism requirements. 

For its non-deterministic field network, 

Alstom came to the decision to select 

modbus tCp after an intensive selection 

process. modbus tCp was selected for 

its wide openness to third party devices. 

Real-time deterministic field networks 

allow for the use of distributed I/Os. 

thus, real-time ethernet networks allow 

for simplifying architecture, concentrating 

regulation processes inside the Cell 

Controller and reducing the cost of in- 


Site network 

Fast Ethernet Technology 

Figure 2: ALSPA control architecture 

stallation, maintenance and engineering. 

Furthermore, the use of real-time and 

deterministic networks allows for time 

synchronization and time stamping via 

the network. there is no more need for 

external specific wire to send the synchronization 

information and signal to 

field controllers. 

Real-time deterministic network: 

The reason for choosing POWER- 

LINK for the field network 

While the choice was quite easy and natural 

for the non-deterministic network, 

the choice for the hard real-time deterministic 

network was more complex. A 

large study has been done on existing 

hard real-time technologies. the technology 

was expected to fulfill the following 

requirements: 

■ Open and independent standard, 

based on standard components 

■ A standard solution preferred by the 

market 

■ The use of standard equipment and 

components reduces costs 

■ Based on standard ethernet 

■ To benefit from worldwide evolution 

on networking technology 

■ universal solution on which all new 

protocols are based 

■ No specific hardware required 

■ proven and robust technology with 

safety protocol available 

■ power plant control system shall benefit 

from a proven solution based on a 

robust protocol 

■ High-performance safety protocol 

available (up to SIL3) 

■ Highly deterministic performance and 

real-time network 

■ 100 mbits/s becomes a standard for 

networking communications 

■ the network should be deterministic 

and should ensure that real-time constraints 

are fulfilled 

■ possibility to have a fast cycle time 

within the ms range for deterministic 

data exchange 

the long-term availability of the technology 

was a key criterion. With power 

plants being operated for decades, the 

solution should have a long lifespan. 

the most secure way to achieve this 

target was selecting a standard technology 

based on standard hardware. And 

of course, it was not envisioned depending 

on a single source provider or to be 

linked to a technology that would be 

obsolete within the first decade. After a 

long study, simulation and prototyping 

phase, pOWeRLINK was selected for the 

field network of its control system. 

New architecture 

thanks to the implementation of pOW- 

ERLINK inside the field network, the 

overall network architecture of the system 

is completely based on proven and 

standard ethernet technologies. this 

unique full Ethernet network structure 

has several advantages. First of all; it enables 

users to standardise the network 

equipments and protocols (TCP&UDP/ 

Ip). Secondly, even 

though the network 

itself is more expensive 

in certain cases 

because of the need 

The simple and intuitive 

design of the threepart 

X20 System I/O 

modules offers excellent 

component density 

and helps the user 

quickly create solutions 

for challenging automation 

tasks.

of active network devices (switches and 

hubs), the overall cost is reduced thanks 

to the decentralised architecture, the 

standardised equipments and protocols, 

the reduced cabling (only ethernet, bus 

topology) and the network synchronisation 

of devices. thirdly, the fully 

ethernet-based network increases operational 

and maintenance facilities and 

the performance is higher. At last, the 

use of standard ethernet technologies 

will make it possible to follow ethernet 

evolution without additional R&D cost 

thanks to the benefit from R&D investments 

of the entire ethernet community. 

pOWeRLINK being a pure software solution 

based on standard ethernet components, 

it has the great advantage to be 

fully compatible with standard ethernet 

devices. For example, one advantage is 

that it allows for the use of fibre technology 

to access distant equipment (several 

kilometres). The use of fibre also has the 

huge advantage of permitting networks 

to be located in electromagnetically disturbed 

areas. 

Evolution by Alstom in POWER- 

LINK: High availability 

Alstom has contributed to the pOWeR- 

LINK evolution by including the “High 

Availability” feature in the standard. 

thanks to the openness of the ethernet 

pOWeRLINK Standardisation group 

Redundancy demo 

(epSg), Alstom was 

able to share its 

long-time expertise 

on highly available 

control systems. 

The “High Availability” 

technical working 

group headed by 

Alstom has been set 

up with the objective 

to release High Availability 

features. One 

of the most important 

requirements was to 

avoid modifying the 

current pOWeRLINK 

specification and maintaining full compatibility 

with existing devices. the technical 

working group achieved this target 

and introduced High Availability features 

as an add-on of the existing pOWeRLINK 

standard. 

thus, Alstom was able to implement a 

pOWeRLINK network that reaches the 

necessary level of availability to control 

the processes of a power plant. Indeed, 

critical applications must be secured in 

a way that prevents functional disruptions 

in case of control hardware failures 

or cable damage. If one IpC with control 

functions breaks down, a second unit 

needs to immediately “notice” the malfunction 

and assume the tasks of the 

failing unit, preventing risk-entailing delays 

in operation. the cable redundancy 

implemented by Alstom allows easy 

localisation detection of the failure and 

avoids any loss of data (no cycle loss, no 

reconfiguration time). 

the High Availability feature of pOWeR- 

LINK has been validated by a state-ofthe-art 

model-checking approach. After 

completing all models and technical developments, 

Alstom went into an intense 

simulation phase in order to confirm 

calculations. the simulation was also 

an opportunity to test the functionality 

of the system in a range of critical scenarios. 

the system was put into opera- 

Alstom: 

Technology 

tion after a long and intensive validation 

phase to verify that the High Availability 

of the system was ensured. 

Conclusion 

With the integration of pOWeRLINK in 

the field networks, Alstom has demonstrated 

the industrial advantages of using 

ethernet technologies in power control 

systems. Alstom is confident in the 

emergence of the pOWeRLINK standard 

and very enthusiastic about the results 

as it has all the required qualities for critical 

process control. 

With the recent announcement of the 

release of an open-source pOWeRLINK 

solution (openpOWeRLINK), Alstom is 

also convinced that it will push more and 

more third party device manufacturers 

to adopt this technology. 

the highly distributed architecture of 

control system sets the network as the 

heart of the system. that is why using 

a high-performance ethernet network, 

based on standard ethernet devices, is 

a fundamental choice. moreover, Alstom 

offers a system which is standard, proven 

and reliable. 

By improving the technology, Alstom 

has gained more expertise and can 

push for further developments if necessary. 

thanks to this development, the 

whole community can profit from it, as 

the new functionalities have been be 

standardised within the epSg and are 

open to everyone. using ethernet technologies 

is not only a technology breakthrough 

for the present, it also ensures 

investment for future evolutions. 

Founded: 1928 

Employees: more than 80,000 

Turnover: 18.7 b euR 

Locations: In more than 70 countries 

Products & Services: Alstom is a 

world leader in the transport and 

energy infrastructure industry 

www.alstom.com 


29

Technology 

Intel ® Atom processors for 

increased cost-effectiveness 

Integration of the new Intel ® 

Atom processor generation offers 

a previously unheard of combination 

of low power loss and 

high performance at a particularly 

economical price. 


Fan-free operation - A plus for 

many applications 

the Automation pC 620 and panel 

pC 700, which have been proven in 

thousands of applications, and the 

Intel ® Atom processor represent 

an unbeatable combination. Here 

in the first construction step, the 

housing construction of the ApC620 

and ppC700, which is optimized for 

fan-free operation, shows its full 

strength because the components 

that have to be cooled the most, 

such as processor and chipset, 

are mounted directly on the large 

heat sink. the Intel ® Atom N270 

processor with 1.6 gHz clock frequency 

offers a significantly higher 

performance than the pentium m 

1.1 gHz. However, the power consumption 

of the Atom processor 

is less than that of a 

Celeron ® m 600 processor. 

The user profits from the 

low current requirements 

and extended temperature 

range in fan-free operation 

compared to pentium ® m 

processors with the same 

performance.

the new Atom generation can be 

equipped with up to 2 GB SDRAM, 

twice as much as before on the 

ApC620 and panel pC 700. 

The modular design leaves 

nothing to be desired 

With the switching cabinet pCs and 

the panel pCs, there is a wide range 

of well-established products available 

for the Atom platform. thanks 

to the modular design, there are devices 

available from 10.4" VGA to 19" 

SXGA or from the particularly flat 

design to 2 pCI slots. even existing 

custom panel pC 700 devices can be 

used without problems. 

the ApC620 is available in three 

housing designs with one, two, or 

five PCI slots. The especially small 

ApC620 embedded also has integrated 

fieldbus interfaces such as 

pOWeRLINK and CAN. the ApC620 

does not have any internal cable 

connections, which makes it possible 

to achieve maximum vibration 

resistance and operational safety. 

Equipped with a CompactFlash slot, 

it is extremely robust and has no rotating 

parts. the ApC620 is therefore 

the ideal storage medium for use in 

harsh industrial environments. 

If necessary, a second Compact- 

Flash card can also be used. If the 

maximum 8 GB card is not sufficient, 

hard disks suitable for industrial 

environments can also be used. 

Only hard disks that pass B&R's strict 

continuous operation test criteria 

are used. 

The Panel PC 700 devices cover the 

entire range of display sizes from 10.4" 

VGA to 19" SXGA. The 

modular devices are 

fan-free and offer up 

to two PCI slots. 

Additionally, the pC design permits 

combined use of a CompactFlash 

card and hard disk. In this way, the 

operating system can run writeprotected 

on the CompactFlash card 

so that the system can boot properly 

after a power failure. CompactFlash 

and hard disks are easy to exchange 

without opening the housing. Other 

drive options, for example for DVDs, 

are available as slide-in drives. An 

optional integrated upS ensures 

maximum security and properly 

shuts down the pC system if a power 

failure occurs. 

As seen by these examples, the 

ApC620 offers the user complete 

freedom when implementing a pC 

system. A high level of modularity 

and scalability allow adjustments to 

be made in order to ideally meet all 

application requirements in a costefficient 

manner. 

Intel ® Atom 

Technology 

the Intel ® Atom processors are 

based on an entirely new microarchitecture 

that is optimized for small size 

and minimum power consumption 

while providing good performance. 

the N270 processor (code name Diamondville) 

used in the ApC620 and 

ppC700 has a tDp value (thermal 

Design power - the maximum power 

consumption of a processor) of only 

2.5 W at a clock frequency of 1.6 GHz, 

which is less than a Celeron ® m running 

at 600 mHz. In spite of this fact, 

its performance is significantly higher 

than a pentium ® m 1.1 gHz. the N270 

is manufactured using advanced 45 

nm technology. the target markets are 

mobile Internet Devices (mIDs), ultra 

mobile pCs (Netbooks) and embedded 

applications in industrial environments. 

Open platform 

many so-called industrial pCs only 

use standard boards designed for 

standard operating systems, but the 

Automation pCs from B&R cover 

open Windows systems and also 

embedded runtime systems. 


31

Increased efficiency with 

integrated safety technology 

Engine bearings are used for 

crankshafts and camshafts in 

combustion engines to minimize 

the friction that develops while 

the engine is running and to protect 

against engine damage and 

engine failure. Miba, based in Laakirchen 

Austria, is a world-leader 

in the production of these types 

of bearings, and also of sputter 

devices for their surface coatings. 

The current generation of these 

systems was completely automated, 

including the integrated 

safety technology, via POWER- 

LINK in B&R Automation Studio. 

This results in shorter commissioning 

times and improved diagnostics. 

minimizing energy lost due to friction 

is crucial in order to ensure that 

transport systems such as trucks, 

buses, trains, airplanes and ships are 

economical, durable and environmentally 

friendly. this is guaranteed 

by selecting the right bearings for the 

rotating parts. While antifriction bearings 

have become generally accepted 

in the power transmission system 

between the engine and the wheels, 

combustion engines themselves are 

still a domain where engine bearings 

are used. they are mainly used for 

crankshafts and camshafts to minimize 

the friction that develops while 

the engine is running and to protect 

against engine damage and engine 

failure. Because of continually increasing 

requirements and stricter 

regulations, it's necessary to also 

continually increase bearing quality, 

durability and precision. 

Strategic partner for the automotive 

industry 

miba, an international company 

based in Laakirchen that manufactures 

sintered components, engine 

bearings and friction materials with 

approximately 2,700 employees at 

eleven locations worldwide, is one 

of the main strategic partners for 

the international engine and automobile 

industry. miba was founded 

in 1927 as a repair and production 

workshop for engine parts, and today 

their products can be found in 

automobiles, trains, ships, airplanes 

and power plants all over the world. 

engine bearings are manufactured 

by the miba Bearing group in mc- 

Connelsville, Ohio in the uSA and 

by miba gleitlager at the miba headquarters 

in Laakirchen in Austria. 

engine bearings, including all engine 

bearing products such as half shells, 

bushings and thrust washers, have 

been manufactured there since 1949, 

primarily for large diesel engines. 

the main parts of the engine bearings 

are made from non-alloy steel, but the 

In sputter devices from Miba, part surfaces 

are coated using cathode evaporation 

(sputtering) in high vacuum containers.

antifriction linings are intelligently developed 

according to exact specifications 

using steel and non-ferrous metal 

alloys. miba has its own metallurgical 

research lab where the alloys are developed 

as part of the company's core 

competence. the surface material is 

applied using a sputtering process 

(also known as cathode evaporation). 

Similar to the way picture tubes in 

older television sets were made, at- 

oms are ejected from a cathode in a 

vacuum and then they condense on 

the target object to form a layer. 

this is done using a large array of automated 

systems, which miba developed 

in the 90s, all the way from lab 

testing to production. these systems 

are not only used in their own manufacturing 

plants, they are also supplied 

to other manufacturers with similar 

requirements. In addition to an extensive 

coating and temperature control 

unit, each of these machines has six 

vacuum chambers arranged around a 

central distribution station for the sequential 

surface treatment steps. 

Automation of the sputter device has 

been the domain of B&R controllers 

for many years. Since the last rede- 

Connected with a centralized 

Safety CPU via POWERLINK the 

Safety I/O modules on eight X20 

nodes monitor the system. The 

lack of discrete wiring accelerates 

commissioning, and extensive 

diagnostics features speed 

up reaction times in the event of 

an error. 

sign, a centralized X20 Cpu controls 

the entire machine with over 20 

servo drives and a large number of 

valve manifolds. Approximately two 

years ago, a new system needed 

to be developed for handling larger 

dimensions. At that time, a decision 

was made to develop an automation 

system that included safety technology. 

"Although the main features 

of the automation solution were 

“Within a few months, we were able to 

completely implement the automation solution, 

including a new visualization system 

and integrated safety technology, using B&R 

Automation Studio.“ 

Gerald Hochmuth 

Software Development 

Miba 

already 10 years old, we were able 

to reuse the software with only minimal 

changes," states miba software 

developer gerald Hochmuth happily. 

Development was able to be 

completed within a few months, including 

an entirely new visualization 

system. "the most important change 

for us, however, is the seamless integration 

of the safety technology." 

this is critical because, for example, 

the extremely high voltage of the 

cathode must be switched off and 

grounded quickly and reliably if the 

vacuum seal is broken - for instance 

because of a leak. 

Safety I/O modules are installed on 

the eight X20 I/O nodes, which are 

connected with the entire system via 

pOWeRLINK, and in particular with 

Miba: 

Application 

a centralized Safety Cpu. In earlier 

versions of the sputter device, the 

safety system had to be connected 

with all relevant points in the system 

using discrete wiring, and now 

the amount of wiring required is reduced 

to a minimum by routing the 

safety signals over the fast ethernet 

bus. "Above all, we were able to significantly 

reduce the commissioning 

time," gerald Hochmuth is pleased 

to report. "Additionally, the change 

provides our customers and us with 

clear improvements for ongoing 

maintenance." 

This includes simplification of the 

system because extensive wiring is 

no longer needed and also, just as 

importantly, additional possibilities 

for diagnostics and remote maintenance. 

Clear error messages can be 

accessed in the logbook for all modules 

from anywhere in the network, 

and of course also using long-distance 

data transmission. this makes 

the system easier to use and speeds 

up reaction times, which increases 

the availability of the system. 

"the upgrade to Automation Studio 

3.0 is a double advantage here," 

says gerald Hochmuth. "Integration 

of safety technology means accelerated 

development for our technicians 

and our customers profit from 

the advanced diagnostics features." 

With the help of the integrated safety 

technology from B&R, miba can 

further develop its leading role as a 

supplier of critical components for 

large combustion engines. 

Founded: 1927 

Employees: more than 2,700 

Locations: 11 worldwide 

Products & Services: miba manufactures 

high-tech and extremely 

durable engine components; from 

sintered components, to bearings 

up to special plant solutions 

www.miba.com 


33

Application 

Integrated safety doesn't 

need to be expensive 

The integrated safety technology 

from B&R helps reduce the cost 

of developing and manufacturing 

machines and systems. Compared 

to traditional solutions, an 

integrated safety solution takes 

up less space in the switching 

cabinet. It provides more flexibility 

and is easier to design and 

implement. FERAG, a manufacturer 

of machines for print finishing, 

was one of the first companies to 

experience how B&R technology 

can bring a sustained increase in 

the productivity and competitiveness 

of their machines. 


When retooling or modernizing a 

machine or system, a company 

will often look for ways to reduce 

production costs and/or offer more 

functions without increasing costs. 

they would therefore be more than 

happy to do away with the costs associated 

with communication with 

numerous automation suppliers, 

working with multiple more or less 

integrated engineering tools or using 

a separate safety controller. 

the multiLog from FeRAg Verfahrenstechnik 

gmbH proves that this can 

be more than just wishful thinking. 

With the development of the second 

generation of their log former, the 

engineers at FeRAg were not only 

able to boost the performance of the 

machine and make it more service 

and installation-friendly, they did 

this all without generating any additional 

costs. 

this was made possible by replacing 

the previously used automation 

solution, which depended on separate 

island solutions from various 

suppliers for visualization, I/O, drives 

and safety control. In its place, they 

implemented a uniform architecture 

based on powerful B&R technology. 

Performance bottleneck eliminated 

"the handling of the old software 

and hardware was sometimes very 

inconvenient," reports FeRAg's electrical 

engineering department manager. 

"With our decision to go with 

a total solution from B&R, we not

only solved this problem and took 

a big step forward; we also eliminated 

any conceivable performance 

bottlenecks." 

the FeRAg expert is referring in part 

to the continuously increasing turnout 

of the rotary printing machines 

prevalent in the printing industry, 

which the subsequent print finishing 

machines must then keep up with. 

Rotary printing machines are used 

primarily to produce newspapers, 

magazines, catalogs, flyers, books 

and other printed materials in middle 

and high quantities. 

more complex products, such as 

phonebooks, are composed of numerous 

different signatures. these 

are usually produced one after another 

on a single rotary printer. Finished 

signatures must therefore be 

stored intermediately. 

print shops that specialize in job 

printing, such as advertising brochures 

and other occasional printed 

materials, also often need to store 

their products temporarily. this is 

the case, for example, for advertising 

materials that accompany newspapers 

and are printed in advance. 

In these and similar cases, it has 

proven effective to store the printed 

materials in the form of "logs". this 

is where the multiLog from FeRAg 

comes into play. It receives the 

folded and creased signatures from 

the rotary printer and stacks them in 

logs, which can contain thousands 

of signatures. One unique feature 

of the log former from FeRAg is the 

large, covered format area (190 x 135 

mm up to 500 x 320 mm); another is 

The new MultiLog can handle up to 120,000 copies per hour. 

the loose structure of the logs. this 

prevents loops from forming and 

the ink from smearing, which would 

reduce the quality of the end product, 

or even result in a misprint. the 

gentler handling of the paper also allows 

thinner print items with as few 

as 8 pages to be processed. 

POWERLINK replaces CAN 

the challenge is not only that paper 

can vary greatly in composition and 

thickness and that signatures can 

contain different amounts of air, 

which makes handling more difficult, 

but also that modern high-performance 

rotary printers with which 

the multiLog is used have such a 

high processing speed. 

the rotary printers used in job printing 

have typically printed between 

60,000 and 70,000 copies per hour. 

"Recently, however, we had the first 

case where the printer was designed 

for 120,000 copies per hour," reports 

the FeRAg electrical engineering 

department manager. 

"the processing speed 

With POWERLINK communication, 

the MultiLog is capable 

of achieving even the 

highest processing speeds. 

Application 

this requires would have brought 

our previous architecture, with one 

CAN bus driving the machine's six 

servo axes and a second to connect 

the I/Os and frequency inverter, to 

its limits." When planning the modernization, 

FeRAg therefore was 

looking for an alternative to the CAN 

bus that had already established 

itself, yet had sufficient reserves to 

handle existing and future developments. 

"the decision came down 

to pOWeRLINK and etherCAt," explains 

the FeRAg manager. A third 

product from a well-known automation 

manufacturer had been eliminated 

from the decision early on 

due to technical reasons. multiple 

factors contributed to the final decision 

in favor of pOWeRLINK, as the 

FeRAg manager summarizes: "We 

decided for pOWeRLINK, because 

of our previous positive experiences 

with B&R products. In the end, the 

deciding factors were the integrated 

and reliable safety technology." 

Flexibility through integrated 

safety 

As a beta user, FeRAg was one of 

the first companies to benefit from 

the advantages of B&R's integrated 

safety technology: "the cabling is 

considerably easier, and we saved 

space on the mounting rail, compared 

to the traditional solution with 

contactors and e-stop circuits or a 

separate safety controller," praise 

the software developers from >> 


35

Application 

New safety scenarios could be implemented thanks to the 

use of B&R safety technology. 

FeRAg, who played an important 

role in the development of the multiLog. 

the software experts also 

emphasize that integrated safety 

technology also has other advantages, 

besides saving on materials 

and installation, such as flexibility: 

"Our first step was to implement the 

functions that we had from the previous 

machine. these included, for 

example, an e-stop button, a safety 

door function and two-handed operation. 

Now our second step is to 

work out new safety scenarios." the 

FeRAg employees are planning a 

combination of safe drives with 

"safe speed" and a light curtain to 

replace the two-handed operation 

function. "this and other scenarios 

are much easier to implement using 

B&R safety technology together with 

the integrated engineering environment 

Automation Studio. It is much 

faster to modify the safety concept 

of a machine, since this generally 

only requires loading a new software 

project rather than modifying 

the cabling," they reason. 

FeRAg plans to take advantage of 

the flexibility provided by B&R safety 

technology for further increases in 

productivity: "We plan on adding a 

log handling unit to the multiLog device. 

thanks to the integrated safety 

technology, the log former will be 

able to run without interruption, 

even when the operator changes 

the palette where the finished logs 

are placed, and opens a safety door 

or interrupts a light curtain in the 


process. this safety scenario would 

have been out of the question with 

our old solution." 

FERAG: 

Founded: 1991 


Locations: Leipzig-plaussig (De) 

Products & Services: and systems 

for print finishing 

www.ferag.com 

Outstanding 

Because of the increasing similarity 

of product characteristics 

such as quality and appearance, 

manufacturers of mass produced 

products are turning more and 

more to packaging to help them 

distinguish their products on the 

overcrowded store shelves. More 

attractive packaging that stands 

out in a crowd is required to give 

people the incentive to purchase 

the product. Therefore manufacturers 

of packaging machines are 

now faced with the challenge of 

developing customized machines 

that meet the requirements for 

modern packaging solutions.

packaging 

At their company headquarters in 

mumbai, India, Wraptech machines 

pvt. Ltd. manufactures a wide range 

of high-quality form, fill and seal machines, 

auger fillers and specialized 

filling systems for the packaging industry. 

Backed by years of expertise in 

the development of custom machine 

solutions and a global presence in 

over 30 countries, the company has 

become one of the most important 

suppliers in the industry. 

Reducing costs with scaleable 

hardware 

A conventional control solution 

was no longer able to meet the 

current requirements with regard 

to speed and precision, so Wraptech 

decided to change the system. primarily, 

a solution was needed that it 

made possible to equip various machine 

types with a variety of machine 

options in order to provide the corresponding 

controller performance. B&R 

was chosen because they provide a 

wide range of scalable hardware and 

local support. thanks to the capability 

of integrating all of the components, 

it became possible after a short time 

to equip each machine type with a 

custom system solution with special 

consideration given to the price/performance 

ratio. A centralized local 

product warehouse guarantees the 

highest level of availability for all con- 

trol components when systems are 

serviced. 

Optimum performance for each 

machine type 

the main challenge was meeting the 

schedule for changing over the various 

machine types that was set when 

development was started. All machine 

types were to be changed over to the 

B&R platform within six months. Simpler 

applications were handled with a 

B&R power panel pp15, which features 

control and visualization in a single 

device. Here, the mechanical fill axis 

is controlled using the integrated highspeed 

inputs and outputs on the pp15. 

Reduced time to market! 

A power panel pp45 or a power panel 

PP420 was used to control the form, fill 

and seal machines for high end products. 

these devices also combine control 

and visualization in one system, 

but have increased processor performance 

in comparison to a power panel 

pp15. two servo 

drives are used 

for the fill axis and 

the seal axis. Standard 

technology 

functions such as 

print mark control, 

etc. are used with 

these machines 

in addition to the 

easily configured 

functions for syn- 

Wraptech: 

Application 

chronizing servo axes. thanks to the 

possibility of making easy parameter 

settings instead of time-consuming 

programming for all of the necessary 

machine functions, the time to market 

was considerably reduced and the 

schedule for changing over the various 

applications was met. "Because 

“Today, we deliver to customers in over 

30 countries. Equipped with modern B&R 

technology, we can quickly adapt our 

machine solutions to the changing requirements 

of the packaging industry and comprehensively 

meet all of our customers' 

requirements.“ 

Ashish Meghani 

Managing Director 

Wraptech 

Through the use of 

B&R technology, it was 

possible to equip the 

various Wraptech machines 

with an ideal 

control solution within 

a very short time. 

of our positive experience with B&R 

developing various system solutions 

and the much shorter commissioning 

times, we will also implement our 

future packaging designs using B&R 

technology", says Ashish meghani, 

managing Director at Wraptech. 

Founded: 1988 

Employees: 35 

Turnover: 4 m euR 

Locations: Navi mumbai (IN) 

Products & Services: Development 

and manufacture of form, fill and 

seal machines, auger fillers and 

special filling systems 

www.wrapmachines.com 


37

Application 

Today, modern CNC solutions represent 

an important tool for stone 

processing. Making precise cuts 

and creating all kinds of shapes 

such as lines or curves require 

machine solutions with exceptional 

functionality. Together with 

B&R, the Spanish manufacturer 

Maquinaria Canigó created a CNC 

system that makes it possible to 

make all kinds of cuts with just a 

few operating steps. 

CNC with the 

highest precision 

The high flexibility of the CNC system 

and the intuitive control concept 

make the new HtO-XALOC-R an 

attractive machine solution. Short 

commissioning times and exceptional 

functionality are the main advantages 

of the new stone cutter. 

Highly flexible CNC solution 

For the implementation of this innovative 

machine concept, a control 

system was needed that allows simple 

integration of all components in 

the existing machine configuration 

and provides the highest flexibility 

for the CNC system for optimum 

movement control. 

the most important feature on this 

machine is the new rotational head, 

which allows the creation of most 

standard shapes (e.g. lines, curves, 

etc.) that can be drawn using a computer 

system. thanks to the use of 

B&R software, the machine operator 

does not require any knowledge of 

g-codes or experience with CNC 

machines. "particularly important 

for us was the implementation of 

a highly flexible CNC system. This 

lets our machine solution master 

a wide range of cutting tasks with 

precision," explains Jordi Daranas, 

technical manager at the company. 

Apart from the typical execution of 

a g-code program, many more axis 

control capabilities are needed in 


order to perform different kinds of 

movements or handle the many machine 

options. 

through synchronization between 

the g-code interpreter and the control 

software, most of the positioning 

is calculated by the pLC and 

transferred synchronously to a configured 

G-code interpreter. In semiautomatic 

operating mode, standard 

programs can be run without having 

to write or generate g-code, and 

the operator can execute various 

standard stone cuts very easily by 

selecting from a variety of different 

shapes. 

With the power panel, an intuitive 

user interface is available in Windows 

Xp embedded that permits 

the user to design various shapes 

directly on the control panel. then 

all movements are calculated and 

executed by the system. 

the entire system, including safety 

functions, runs on a small but powerful 

X20 Cpu, which handles the 

control of a 5-axis CNC system. Data 

exchange takes place very quickly 

with the connected safety Cpu and 

ACOpOS servo drives. using Automation 

Studio as the comprehensive 

programming tool, the commissioning 

times of the stone cutter could 

be shortened significantly. 

50% savings through reduced 

cabling 

today, time-to-market and manufacturing 

costs are determining factors 

in the machine manufacturing industry. 

For this reason, engineers at 

Maquinaria Canigó decided on using 

a backplane for remote I/O connection. 

Because of the simplicity of the 

motion system cabling using pOWeRLINK, 

the cabling costs could be 

reduced by 50%. 

Maquinaria Canigó: 

Founded: 1981 

Employees: 65 

Locations: Banyoles (eS) 


and manufacturing of stone cutting 

machines 

www.canigo.com

Application 

From the mountain to your 

roads and tables 

Salt goes through numerous mining 

and processing steps on its 

way from its alpine deposits to its 

end users. In two steps, Salinen 

Austria converted its entire production 

chain into a uniform automated 

system using the APROL 

process control system from B&R. 

Implemented by Lenzing Technik, 

the comprehensive automation 

solution brings improved process 

safety and considerably reduced 

maintenance. 

Austrian salt mining and production 

is firmly in the hands of Salinen 

Austria Ag. the company operates 

mines in Altaussee, Hallstatt and 

Bad Ischl, where the white gold is 

extracted from the surrounding rock 

using the borehole well method and 

pumped through pipelines to the 

central salt works in ebensee, which 

was opened in 1979. After the brine 

is filtered, the primary production 

phase uses thermo-compression to 

obtain the salt in its pure form. In 

the final production phase the salt is 

packaged and prepared for shipping. 

After production capacity was boosted 

by investing around €100 million 

(including a fourth evaporator, a third 

On the way to the warehouse: 

Packaged salt in 

the final production phase. 

Operator terminals with 

B&R technology working 

in the background. 

store room, a warehouse for finished 

goods and numerous auxiliary components), 

an annual output of 1.1 

million tons and a storage volume 

of 300,000 tons have been available 

since November 2007. 

In addition to the selection of wellknown 

Bad Ischler table salts used in 

the households and restaurants, deicing 

salt improves safety on winter 

roads, and commercial and industrial 

salts are a fundamental element 

in the glass, paper, metal and textile 

industries. Another use for the salt 

from ebensee is to increase the shine 

of dishes out of the dishwasher. the 

salt with the highest and purest >> 


39

Application 

The entire mining and production chain at a glance: Control center with 

B&R APROL process control system 

quality manufactured in the Ebensee 

salt works is pharmasal, which is used 

in the pharmaceutical industry for 

manufacturing medicinal products. 

Step by step to comprehensive 

process automation 

The first step to the comprehensive 

system of control technology was 

made in 2003 when the mines and 

primary production - the production 

chain up to the finished raw salt - were 

evaluated in consideration of implementing 

a central control system. One 

obstacle in the way of a classical automation 

solution was presented by the 

fundamental differences of the systems: 

While the filtering of the brine 

and production of the salt in the salt 

works take place in large processing 

systems, the mines consist of widely 

distributed individual systems. 

What Salinen Austria wanted was a 

uniform process automation system 


with the ability to monitor and possibly 

control all areas of mining and 

production from a central location in 

ebensee. In doing this, the company 

hoped to achieve savings in maintenance/servicing 

and improve processes 

by utilizing the collective expertise 

from all areas of production. 

Other aspirations included a uniform 

engineering and operating philosophy, 

consistent documentation, centralized 

access to production and 

archive data and the elimination of 

interface problems. 

Step one - Select the technology 

unlike many similar projects, the 

first thing they did was select the 

technology, before they even began 

the search for a company to implement 

it. they decided on the ApROL 

process control system from B&R. 

"What really convinced us was the 

excellent scalability at the process 

level. this allowed for company- 

Salt is an important dietary 

supplement, contribution 

to traffic safety and 

valuable raw material for 

many products. Shown 

here is de-icing salt, in the 

central salt storage hall in 

the Ebensee salt works. 

wide standardized components 

and a high-degree of consistency 

throughout the system," says Sigfried 

Haslauer, Electrical Equipment 

maintenance Department manager 

at Salinen Austria. "Another deciding 

factor was the I/O hardware that 

could be used for both the centralized 

and decentralized system structures, 

which is often only possible 

using sluggish modem lines." 

then there were the factors important 

for maintenance, such as 

guaranteed short-notice availability 

of replacement components even 

without a maintenance contract, the 

excellent price/performance ratio 

of the hardware and software, free 

telephone support and low upgrade 

costs. "Classic It factors also played 

a role," adds It project manager Andreas 

Feichtinger. "Not only is it possible 

to do engineering work from 

any operating station and any office 

pC, even with version control at all 

levels, but the operating system also 

keeps security high and makes security 

updates easy. We were even provided 

with the source code, just in 

case. management has web access 

to production data and process images 

without requiring any additional 

engineering or licensing costs." 

General contractor with system 

experience 

the close proximity of development, 

production and training in upper 

Austria also helped in the decision.

the resulting short response times, 

lack of language barriers, quick 

decision-making processes and flexible 

reactions to customer requests, 

such as custom software libraries, 

were important factors in the selection 

of an implementation partner 

through B&R. 

the selected partner was Lenzing 

technik gmbH, who already had 

experience both with B&R process 

control technology and with large 

process-oriented systems with large 

numbers of interfaces for third party 

systems. Lenzing technik's separate 

development department, existing 

B&R testing equipment and ability to 

perform ApROL simulations, as well 

as the company's experience modifying 

systems with minimum downtime 

made them the first choice, 

and enabled the new system to be 

implemented in only a few months 

without interrupting operation. 

the increase in system availability 

alone was a resounding success. 

this was made possible by the robust, 

touch screen operated industrial 

pC - the ApC 810, which operates 

without fans or a hard-drive, and 

is connected via pOWeRLINK with 

the X20 I/O systems, which also increased 

the ability to react flexibly to 

changing market demands. However, 

the practical benefits are primarily 

in the maintenance. "We were able 

to double our production capacity 

without increasing personnel," says 

I/O nodes with B&R X20 Systems via POWERLINK. 

Since November 

2007, the Ebensee 

plant of the Salinen 

Austria AG has 

an annual output 

of 1.1 million tons 

and a storage volume 

of 300,000 

tons. 

Siegfried Haslauer. "this was made 

possible by the availability of remote 

maintenance and diagnostics, and 

the consistency of the user interface 

in all areas, which reduces training 

and ensures that any employee 

can be deployed in any area." there 

is also a significantly lower capital 

commitment due to the considerable 

reduction of replacement parts 

in storage. 

Logical second step 

The success of the first implementation 

lead to the decision to include 

the final production phase in the 

ApROL process control system as 

well. the challenge here was the 

heterogeneous structure with different 

control systems that must 

be coordinated simultaneously, as 

well as the numerous complicated 

interfaces for cross communication. 

then there was the necessity of a 

rolling implementation in 

existing cabinets with a 

limited amount of space, 

without stopping production. 

One result of this second 

step is that the entire salt 

production process, from 

the mine or laboratory 

to the warehouse shelf 

has been converted to a 

uniform system. Another 

is that the acquisition of 

operating data and the 

automated shipping system 

are now completely 

integrated. the uniformity 

of the user interface 

throughout the company 

and the increased transparency 

of manufacturing 

Application 

data across all subsystems increase 

the reliability when providing each 

customer with the product quality 

they require. 

thanks to the integration of all steps 

in the salt production process into 

one uniform system, and the utilization 

of the most modern technology, 

Salinen Austria is now even better 

prepared to react quickly and costefficiently 

to the demand for their 

"white gold". 

Salinen Austria: 

Founded: 1979 


Turnover: 65.3 m EUR (2007) 

Locations: ebensee (At), locations 

in CZ, HR, Hu, It, SLO 

Products & Services: mining and 

processing of salt of every kind 

www.salinen.com 


41

Application 

Cool solutions 

As Europe’s largest ice cream 

producer, Rosen Eiskrem has 

extensive production facilities. 

With frequent product innovations, 

the company has a great 

deal of experience modifying and 

expanding existing production 

processes. It’s little wonder that 

Rosen Eiskrem knows just what 

to do when existing system components 

are discontinued, as can 

be seen in the case of a recent 

system modification in one of the 

company’s production facilities. 


With facilities in Waldfeucht-Haaren, 

Nuremberg and prenzlau, Rosen 

eiskrem gmbH is the largest private 

ice cream producer in europe. 

Since taking over production of the 

brand Nestlé Schöller gmbH at the 

end of 2006, Rosen eiskrem now 

produces 230 million liters of ice 

cream per year. Far more than 90% 

of this is sold as private label products 

for retail stores and large discount 

chains. the remaining share 

is sold under the brand Cassie or in 

restaurants. 

Recognizing trends early and 

acting on them quickly 

“With this kind of capacity it becomes 

especially important to iden- 

tify the right trends and act on them 

quickly so that our sales partners 

can surprise consumers with fresh 

ideas right at the beginning of the 

season,” explains michael müller, 

head of development and sales at 

Rosen. 

High quality, great taste and an unbelievably 

diverse range of products 

have always been the trademark 

qualities of the Rosen company 

philosophy. Quality ingredients and 

the use of state-of-the-art technology 

go into the development of new 

products. 

Since 2000, Rosen has invested tens 

of millions of euros per year in the 

modernization and expansion of

their production and warehousing 

capacity. this has laid the foundations 

for even more surprising innovations. 

In Haaren, they are proud of 

how often they have been right on 

top of the latest market trends. the 

company is constantly expanding its 

assortment, and adapts its production 

processes with additional processing 

steps wherever necessary. 

Technology for ice cream innovations 

For the production of the BIg CARAmeL, 

a new vanilla ice cream bar 

with a caramel filling, the existing 

production equipment required an 

expansion. A manual tool developed 

by Rosen and a partner company 

needed to be synchronized and 

moved electrically with the timing of 

the production line. Since the drive 

technology conventionally used by 

Rosen had been discontinued and 

would only be available for a limited 

time at extremely high costs, 

the company took the opportunity 

to change to a new supplier. While 

evaluating offers from various potential 

suppliers, Rosen based their 

decision on criteria such as service, 

price/performance ratio and especially 

long-term availability. In the 

end they decided on a future with 

B&R, and selected products from 

the ACOpOS series for the project. 

these user-friendly and intelligent 

servo drives feature very high-precision 

positioning, which allows for 

exact dosing of the caramel center 

in the ice cream to meet Rosen’s 

high quality standards. 

A 5.7 inch Power Panel with touch display 

guarantees maximum operating comfort for 

the new production line. 

Rosen extended their changeover 

to B&R to include the control and visualization 

platform: In the operator 

station, a power panel with a 5.7 inch 

touch screen display is the HmI used 

to control the tool. And that won’t 

be the end either: A further optimization 

of the tool involving replacement 

of a pneumatic cylinder with a 

“High quality, great taste and 

an unbelievably diverse range 

of products have always been 

the trademark qualities of the 

Rosen company philosophy. 

Quality ingredients and the use 

of state-of-the-art technology 

go into the development of new 

products.“ 

Michael Müller 

Head of sales and development 

Rosen Eiskrem 

Rosen Eiskrem: 

Application 

direct drive to further increase the 

performance, as well as other projects 

in cooperation with B&R, are 

already underway or in planning. 

Founded: 1967 

Employees: 1,100 

Locations:Waldfeucht-Harren, Nürnberg 

and prenzlau (De) 

Products & Services: germany‘s largest 

ice cream producer 

www.roseneis.de 


43

Application 

All-terrain 

concrete mixers 

In order to adapt to conditions on 

any terrain and be able to make 

technical changes or additions, 

concrete mixers must be extremely 

flexible. The modular structure 

of the system and the harsh environment 

on-site place high demands 

on the control system that 

is used. In addition to excellent 

reliability and operational safety, 

the market expects an optimal 

price/performance ratio. This is 

achieved with modern B&R technology, 

which makes the integration 

of various devices from other 

manufacturers possible through 

the extensive range of I/O modules 

and the integration of all 

fieldbus interfaces. 


Concrete mixers have to produce 

material that meets a wide range of 

customer requirements. The systems 

not only have to meet technical criteria; 

they must also be able to adapt to 

the conditions of the terrain on-site. 

the systems themselves and their 

components can be set up in various 

designs depending on the requirements. 

An important requirement is 

that the automation system provides 

a high level of flexibility for changes, 

additions and technical expansions 

to the systems. the Slovakian company 

Qel s.r.o. is one of the leading 

suppliers of electrical equipment for 

concrete mixing systems and lines. 

During their 15 years of activity, the 

company has already completed 

over 120 projects in this area. 

Concrete mixing systems 

Concrete mixing systems consist of 

various independent units and processes. 

The mixer 

the task of the control system is to ensure 

safe and reliable mixing operation. 

the main things that are controlled are 

the motor and closing mechanism for 

the cover. When driven indirectly, control 

of the mixing drum is also required. 

Today, most systems are equipped with 

a consistency measuring device. Additionally, 

a microwave sensor to measure 

moisture and a temperature sensor are 

mounted in the mixing system. 

Concrete management 

The concrete management equip-

ment consists of concrete silos, a 

concrete scale and discharge screw 

that are controlled using a frequency 

inverter. Scales or - for gravel - radar 

sensors are used to measure 

the amount of material in the silos. 

to prevent a lot of dust from being 

produced, the concrete mixers have 

to be equipped with air filters that 

automatically remove dust using vibration 

equipment. Additionally, it's 

necessary to protect the silos from 

excessive pressure using sensors. 

Transporting gravel 

gravel is weighed at the discharge 

chute or on the loading conveyor 

belt using strain gauge sensors. If 

gravel loading trucks are used, they 

are controlled by frequency inverters, 

end position sensors and safety 

end position sensors. gravel loading 

silos consists of one or two vibrating 

devices that guarantee precise material 

loading. In extremely challenging 

applications, the gravel quantity in 

the loading silo is measured by radar 

sensors. If necessary, radar rod sensors 

are used to measure the amount 

of moisture in the sand. In this way, 

the concrete preparation process 

can be corrected accordingly using 

the measured data. 

Water dosing 

Water dosing is done using scales 

with two control valves. A parallel 

dosing flow meter ensures even 

more precise dosing. 

Adding ingredients 

Concrete is produced for specific 

purposes and different applications 

each with unique characteristics. Today, 

producing concrete without any 

The control system visualization is 

realized via connection to an OPC 

server. 

The X2X Link connection 

used for the 

I/O modules ensures 

fast data communication. 

additives is no longer conceivable. 

these are mostly added in small 

doses using pumps and scales. 

In addition to optimized control procedures, 

the B&R automation system 

also supports implementation of 

safety regulations for concrete mixers. 

In this case, control systems not 

only have to be able to create reports 

and statistics using databases, 

they also have to be able to connect 

to higher level data systems at the 

company. 

Remote I/O arrangements reduce 

costs 

Qel uses X20/X67 System components 

to control the new concrete 

mixers. the modules are connected 

in cabinets on-site. the X2X Link 

connection guarantees extremely 

fast data communication. An important 

advantage is the simple distribution 

of input and output modules. 

the I/O modules are installed at the 

location where they are needed. 

Less wiring is required and costs are 

reduced considerably. 

the connection with the control 

system for creating the statistics 

and graphics as well as for database 

management is made via an ethernet 

bus with tCp/Ip protocol. the basis 

for this is a pLC with OpC server. A 

control system designed in this way 

can be expanded without problems 

- which results in a high level of flexibility 

for the manufacturer. 

In most cases, the controller used 

for concrete mixers does not only 

concentrate on the concrete mixer 

itself, it also handles many other devices 

that are not directly related to 

producing concrete and are included 

Qel: 

Application 

in the total equipment offered at Qel. 

these include recycling, heating 

gravel and water, thermal insulation, 

equipment lighting, etc. Because of 

its flexibility and open structures, 

B&R technology is well-suited for 

optimal integration in the various 

systems and can meet various requirements. 

Founded: 1994 

Employees: 20 

Turnover: 2.1 m euR (2007) 

Locations: Bardejov (SK) 

Products & Services: manufacturing 

of electronic equipment for 

concrete mixers and lines for concrete 

production 

www.qel.sk 


45

Application 

Taking a powerful position 


They can be found in industrial applications, hospital beds and mobile applications such as tractors 

or in work benches and spreader vehicles - electric linear drives. In many applications they have already 

become an integral component. For some time now, they have been finding more and more 

followers among industrial users, and are dethroning conventional solutions such as hydraulic and 

pneumatic axes. LINAK, a well-known manufacturer of linear drives, and B&R have picked up on 

this trend, and have cooperated on designing their products. A demo application now shows how 

simple it can be to integrate and network linear drives into machines and systems. 

Linear drives are perfectly suited for 

applications such as adjusting the 

height and angle of a hospital bed or 

the adjusting the height of a workbench 

to the worker, and they can be 

found performing these tasks well in 

the field. Yet they are also becoming 

increasingly popular in the areas of 

auto manufacturing and machine 

and system manufacturing, and are 

displacing hydraulic or pneumatic 

solutions. 

"One thing that speaks in favor of 

an electric drive solution is that an 

electric power supply system is 

generally already in place that can 

easily be used to supply the electrical 

linear drive," points out Christian 

Renner, PR officer for LINAK GmbH 

in germany, the largest branch of the 

Danish electric linear drive specialist, 

LINAK. "As a result, the hydraulic 

circuit and pump or the compressed 

air circuit and compressor are no 

longer required." This reduces component 

costs and greatly simplifies 

the construction of the vehicle or 

machine. In addition, the movement 

of an electric drive can be controlled 

with more precision. the environment 

also profits from the switch to 

electric solutions: the electric drives 

are generally much more energy efficient 

than pneumatic axes, and the 

danger of having harmful hydraulic 

oil leak into the environment is completely 

eliminated. 

"manufacturers of vehicles such as 

tractors or mobile traffic signals have 

recognized these advantages, and 

have developed products that can 

produce the necessary movements 

electrically, without any hydraulic 

components at all," adds Renner. 

This was first made possible by the 

development of electric drives that 

are suited for operation in harsh 

environments and can also provide 

the necessary power. until now, this 

power was only available with pneumatic 

or hydraulic drives. 

Powerful and fast 

LINAK is one of the forerunners in 

the production of linear drives, and 

provides products that are designed 

specifically for industrial applications. 

LINAK's techline drives have 

been developed for industrial automation 

applications, and include the 

LA35 and LA36 servo drives. Not 

only are they especially well-suited 

for harsh industrial environment 

thanks to their high level of protection 

(IP 66 dynamic, IP69K static) and 

other standard features. their numerous 

options (such as integrated 

Hall generators and potentiometers 

for relative or absolute position 

feedback) and the range of available 

stroke lengths allow it to be optimally 

adjusted to a particular task. It is 

the high forces that can be achieved 

with these drives (push and pull directions) 

that in many cases enable 

them to replace hydraulic or pneumatic 

drives. The LA36, for example, 

generates up to 10,000 N of force 

and operates at a speed of up 

to 160 mm/s depending 

on load and spindle 

pitch. 

In order to make it 

as easy as possible 

for the users 

to integrate 

the drives into

their machines, LINAK engineers have 

developed control and operating units 

with the appropriate basic functions. 

"We couldn't ignore the trend that 

when users are provided controllers 

“Rather than reinventing 

the wheel by developing 

I/O systems, controllers or 

visualization devices on our 

own, we chose to team up 

with another company and 

combine our products into a 

complete solution. It became 

clear that B&R would be the 

ideal partner.“ 

Christian Renner 

Spokesperson 

LINAK GmbH 

that are more powerful and easier to 

operate, they increase their demands 

for synchronization, movement profiles 

and especially the networking 

capability of the drives," explains 

Renner. "Rather than reinventing the 

wheel by developing I/O systems, 

controllers or visualization devices 

on our own, we chose to team up 

with another company and combine 

our products into a complete solution. 

It became clear that B&R would 

be the ideal partner." 

Linear servo motors - Simply integrated 

the results of this cooperation are 

quite impressive. Engineering and 

handling has never been so userfriendly. 

A demonstration designed 

as part of a thesis project provides 

convincing proof of this fact: "the 

core of the demo consists of B&R's 

X20 System and X67 System motor 

modules, which control an LA35 

and an LA36, each with an integrated 

Hall sensor, directly and without any 

additional conversion. the drive signals 

are therefore available for further 

processing on the controller or 

on a visualization system," explains 

Christopher Herget, the student responsible 

for this project at LINAK. 

"this allows the user to utilize all the 

communication options that these 

I/O systems from B&R offer." users 

of B&R solutions don't have to leave 

the convenient Automation Studio 

engineering environment when they 

use LINAK drives, which allows them 

to create complete control and visualization 

applications conveniently 

and effectively. 

The combination of the LA36 and 

the X67 motor module illustrates just 

how perfectly the products from LIN- 

AK and B&R complement each other: 

As though the X67 module had been 

developed specially for this purpose, 

it provides precisely the connections 

needed to power and control two 

LA36 drives with Hall sensors. 

there is now a broad palette of linear 

drives available to the user as a result 

of the cooperation between B&R 

and LINAK. these are not burdened 

with the disadvantages of hydraulic 

or pneumatic drives, and are as easy 

to configure, install and commission 

as any of the other electric drives 

from the two partners. 

The LA36 is ideal for mobile "off-road" devices, such as agriculture 

and forestry machines as well as construction machines. 

Application 

On this demo, the LINAK drives are controlled 

directly by B&R modules. 

LINAK: 

Founded: 1907 

Employees: 1.500 

Locations: production facilities in 

DK (Headquarters), SK, CN, USA; 

subsidiaries and representatives 

in over 35 countries 

Products & Services: Design and 

manufacture of electric drive systems 

www.linak.de 


47

Application 

Innovative sputter process 

Evatec Ltd., which originated in 

2004 as a management buyout of 

Unaxis Balzers AG, supplies the 

world market with evaporator 

systems in different designs and 

sizes. The products manufactured 

using these machines, such as 

color filters, lenses or antireflection 

coated surfaces, are used 

mostly in the semiconductor electronics 

and optical filter industries. 

Evatec Ltd. developed the 

new Radiance product generation 

in order to extend the possibilities 

in the optical filter industry and to 

open new markets with metalcoated 

surfaces. Through a revolutionary 

idea and professional 

implementation, a sputter cluster 

tool was developed that provides 

completely new possibilities for 

coating applications. 


Sputter systems have been around 

for quite a while. There are several 

manufacturers that produce these 

types of machines as a single module 

or as a cluster tool. unlike the 

existing systems, which were always 

designed as single target solutions, 

the Radiance system allows several 

substrates to be placed on a rotary 

table and rotated past the sputter 

sources up to once every second 

and simultaneously coated. this 

new functionality makes it possible 

to carry out several sputter processes 

at the same time. With the old 

systems, changing between different 

targets always required transport 

because the process took place in a 

closed chamber. With the Radiance 

system, up to six sources can apply 

different materials to a substrate in 

rotation, which allows unimagined 

possibilities and variations. 

Sputtering is a physical procedure, 

with which atoms are extracted from 

a solid target due to bombardment 

by energetic ions (mostly inert gas 

ions) and go into a gaseous state. 

these high-vacuum coating processes 

are also referred to as pVD 

(physical Vapor Deposition). 

In semiconductor and microsystem 

technology, the procedure is mostly 

used for thin film production. However, 

thin films created by sputtering 

are also used other industrial areas,

for example for material and surface 

refinement (e.g. mirrors, headlights, 

automobile rims) or as a functional 

layer for optics (e.g. thin film polarization, 

glass for protecting against 

heat). 

evatec offers different process 

modules that can be roughly differentiated 

as batch process modules 

(multiple sources) and single process 

modules. In a production plant, 

these single machines can be freely 

arranged according to the customer's 

requirements using the building 

block principle. 

PC-based controller 

each of these processing units is 

self-contained, i.e. each machine 

has its own controller, in this case 

an ApC620 with a CAN, DeviceNet 

and pOWeRLINK interface. the controller 

takes over responsibility for 

controlling and monitoring all sensors 

and actuators including motion 

control. A batch process module 

with 5 sources has approximately 50 

valves, 30 DeviceNet components 

such as vacuum gauge heads and 

gas flow controllers as well as 7 servo 

axes for various positioning tasks. 

Common tasks such as controlling 

pumping procedures and monitoring 

the safety circuit are achieved using 

an X20 controller together with a 

SafeLogic controller. 

A pC operator station used as higherlevel 

system also functions as a communication 

interface to the entire 

Evatec: 

Application 

Implementation of any combination of batch and single-process modules provides customers the highest level of flexibility when planning 

and creating their systems. 

This innovative process is also used, for example, 

to apply a functional layer for optics. 

production plant (host connection). 

Communication to the individual 

machines was implemented with pVI 

(process Visualization Interface) using 

.Net controls. the capability to 

configure the system was also given 

great importance here, and a system 

was developed that leaves nothing to 

be desired. 

Simple integration of 3rd party 

devices 

the B&R hardware platform has proven 

itself again and again to be a modern, 

fast and flexible control system. 

With this project however, there was 

a new twist that had yet to be fully explored 

- the ability to work openly with 

3rd party devices and bus systems. 

No less than five different interfaces 

have to be integrated here because 

many special devices are used in the 

industry and the availability of alternative 

fieldbus connections is limited. 

these many different systems could 

be easily integrated into the B&R system, 

in particular because of the new 

functions that are available and full 

integration in Automation Studio. 

A further highlight when implementing 

this project was the use of the 

new Safety controller and the X20 

Safety I/O modules belonging to it. 

The continuity and flexibility that 

could be achieved with this system 

can hardly be found on the market 

with another manufacturer. Above 

all, the various operating modes 

and the many configuration options 

implemented here would have been 

impossible using hardware. 

Founded: 2004 

Employees: 38 

Locations: Flums (CH) 


and manufacturing of thin film deposition 

systems 

www.evatec.ch 


49

Application 

Grabbing the bottle 

by the neck 

For 25 years now, the Polish production 

company STM with headquarters 

in Złocieniec has been 

providing filling systems for the 

foodstuffs industry. The new AR- 

ROW machine series is an innovative 

solution for handling bottles 

by the neck, which allows for variations 

in the size and shape of the 

bottles. Integrated automation 

technology provides support for 

configuring all machine functions 

and offers the flexibility needed to 

react quickly to changing market 

demands. 


ARROW is a compact system used to 

fill carbonated and non-carbonated 

beverages as well as various vegetable 

oils for the foodstuffs industry. 

The machines fill both PET and glass 

bottles as well as large volume containers 

that hold up to 7 liters. 

Developed for a large range of filling 

speeds, the ARROW machines 

achieve a throughput of up to 14,000 

units per hour. they can adapt to 

the requirements and process various 

types of bottles. In addition to 

the broad pallet of filling machines, 

Stm also offers various components 

for efficient bottle handling: 

This includes rinsing equipment for 

cleaning the inside of the bottles and 

capping machines for applying many 

different types of caps. 

machine parts that come in direct 

contact with the liquids during filling 

can be cleaned at CIp stations (cleaning-in-place). 

the entire cleaning 

process is contained in a closed system. 

the main element of the rinsing 

system is a central washing station. 

Equipped with a time, temperature 

and opacity check as well as a flow 

check, the CIp stations ensure fast 

and easy cleaning of the respective 

machine parts. 

Higher flexibility - Lower costs 

the integrated rinsing system on the 

filling and capping machines was

originally operated using relay-based 

control with a synoptic table. today, 

a power panel handles centralized 

motion control and visualization of 

all parts of the machine. the power 

panel visualization system makes it 

simple and intuitive for service personnel 

to enter all the necessary process 

parameters. Various alarm systems 

and monitoring functions allow 

seamless error diagnostics, which 

results in significantly reduced machine 

downtimes. 

“Thanks to a uniform automation 

platform and the ability 

to connect B&R components 

to systems from other manufacturers, 

we are now in the 

position to optimally meet the 

individual requirements of our 

customers.“ 

Tomasz Socik 

Technical Manager 

STM 

Motion control was implemented efficiently with Automation Studio. 

thanks to the use of highly modern 

I/O systems like the X20 as well as 

the X67 and XV modules that are 

attached directly to the ARROW machines, 

the installation and wiring 

costs can be considerably reduced. 

the compact modular construction 

of the B&R components considerably 

reduces the amount of space 

required in the switching cabinet. 

This results in significant potential 

for reducing costs for the end user 

while at the same time increasing 

flexibility and line speed. 

Because B&R components are open 

in relation to third party systems, 

STM profits from quick installation 

of its machines and equipment 

in its customers' production lines. 

"through implementation of the 

B&R control system, we were able 

to significantly increase the production 

capacity of our filling systems. 

thanks to a uniform automation platform 

and the ability to connect B&R 

components to systems from other 

manufacturers, we are now in the 

position to optimally meet the individual 

requirements of our customers," 

explains tomasz Socik, technical 

manager at Stm. 

Fast reactions to market demands 

In the future, Stm would like to place 

special emphasis on supplying and 

installing complete production lines. 

thanks to the use of B&R technology, 

the polish supplier is now able to 

quickly adapt its filling, capping and 

cleaning systems to current market 

demands. "We are an especially service-oriented 

company. providing an 

appropriate price/performance ratio 

is therefore one of our top priorities. 

Application 

thanks to the combination of Stm 

and B&R technology, we're able to 

provide internationally competitive 

niche products for the foodstuffs industry," 

emphasizes tomasz Socik. 

STM: 

Founded: 1984 

Employees: 40 

Locations: Złocieniec (PL) 

Products & Services: Filling machines 

for water, vegetable oil, 

juice; auxiliary equipment such as 

CIp stations, saturators, mixers/ 

saturators, integrated systems for 

material handling 

www.strzala.com 


51

Application 

Straight from the lab to the 

plant through simulation 

The production of cellulosebased 

fibers, as performed by the 

world market leader Lenzing AG, 

involves a long chain of highly 

complex chemical processing 

equipment. Between development 

of an improved process in 

the laboratory and its implementation 

as a full-scale system, several 

months would traditionally 

be needed to test and optimize a 

pilot system and its control technology. 

Lenzing was able to skip 

this intermediate step by simulating 

the new system in MATLAB ® / 

Simulink ® and running real-time 

tests of the control software using 

the real B&R APROL process 

control system, which also shortened 

the commissioning time of 

the system from several weeks to 

just a few days. 


Increased awareness about global 

climate change has increasingly led 

environmentally and health conscious 

consumers to consider where 

their purchased products came 

from and what materials went into 

making them. Because clothing as 

well as non-woven products such 

as hygiene products and foodstuffs 

are products with direct physical 

contact, the clothing industry has 

responded by using ecological labeling 

and carbon labeling to communicate 

information such as a product's 

'carbon footprint' or skin friendliness. 

the Lenzing group is a global leader 

in the marketing and manufacturing 

of man-made cellulose-based fibers. 

teNCeL®, Lenzing modal® and 

Lenzing Viscose® fibers are primarily 

used in the textile industry; special 

fibers from Lenzing are used in the 

area of hygiene as well as for technical 

applications. The fibers are then 

distributed to companies around 

the world for further processing, 

whereby Asia represents the largest 

market with over 50%. Nearly 6% remain 

in Austria, home to the largest 

single customer. 

The fibers are manufactured in several 

steps, beginning with the renewable 

resource wood. Approximately 

800,000 solid cubic meters of beech 

wood are processed annually at the 

Lenzing location alone. 

New plants optimize production 

the wood is converted to natural 

fibers in expansive systems, which 

operate with a high degree of automation, 

the lowest possible environmental 

impact and the best possible 

utilization and recycling of energy 

and residual materials. Optimization 

in this area is the main motive behind 

the successive modernization

of individual plants throughout the 

entire complex. 

Dr. Bernhard Voglauer, managing 

control technician in the Lenzing Fibers 

technical planning department 

found himself confronted with just 

this back in 2006. In-house chemists 

developed and tested a completely 

new process in the laboratory, which 

proved to be effective. the goal now 

was to implement the results in a 

full-scale production system. Construction 

of the system was mostly 

finished and a general automation 

concept had already been created. 

even the decision for the process 

control technology which would be 

used had already been made. the 

automation engineers at Lenzing 

count on B&R's ApROL for this. 

Because the production processes 

in this sort of system are complex 

and are not entirely hazard-free due 

to the chemical processes used, it 

is common to build a so-called pilot 

system after lab testing and before 

construction of the full-scale 

system. the pilot system is used to 

test and optimize processes scaled 

down to kilograms, before they are 

applied to the full-scale system. It is 

not hard to see how this procedure 

can consume a good deal of investment, 

time and space. "this drove 

us to search for a solution that didn't 

require this cumbersome intermediate 

step," remembers Bernhard Vo- 

glauer. "It was clear that the unproductive 

time spent on optimization 

during the commissioning phase 

was not acceptable." 

Safety through simulation 

Bernhard Voglauer found the answer 

to this challenging task to be 

dynamic process simulation, in 

Application 

The production chain goes from the sustainable raw material wood to the finished fiber. 

which the entire production system, 

including all process data, is simulated 

as a computer model. In this 

way, optimization can be performed 

on a virtual system. Without production 

downtime, without substandard 

production and most importantly 

without endangering the workers, 

the machine or the environment. 

As a tool, mAtLAB ® /Simulink ® from 

the American manufacturer the 

mathWorks was an obvious choice. 

On the one hand, because it is a 

well-known simulation system used 

worldwide that, unlike the product 

used earlier by Lenzing Ag, can 

handle the required complexity. On 

the other hand, because code that is 

understood by B&R systems such as 

the ApROL process control system 

The savings achieved by shortening the 

commissioning time for large systems from 

weeks to days are enormous. 

can be generated directly from the 

simulation models. 

With respect to the expected benefits 

brought by dynamic simulation 

of production systems, Bernhard Voglauer 

says: "The economic benefits 

are a result of being able to start production 

at full capacity sooner, with 

“Through simulation with MATLAB ® /Simulink 

® we were able to shorten the commissioning 

time of a new production system to 

a minimum. The time saved and the problems 

avoided through virtual commissioning 

convinced even the toughest critics.“ 

Dr. Bernhard Voglauer 

Managing Control Technician 

Faser Lenzing Technik Planung 

minimum time lost during commissioning." 

Predefined settings for PCS 

parameters such as operating points, 

limit values, closed loop control parameters, 

alarm limits, etc. also contribute 

to the control concept and 

operability as does the detection of 

errors/defects in the pCS programming. 

In addition, the plausibility of 

the process design can be checked, 

and acceptance by the system operators 

can be increased by providing 

training in advance and implementing 

impressive functionality, which is 

important for smooth operation. 

Over the course of three months and 

nearly 400 hours of work, a physical 

model and then the Simulink simulation 

model were created based 

on construction data, the process 

graphic, expert knowledge and the 

results of lab testing. 

the "hardware-in-the-loop" concept 

was used: the simulation model >> 


53

Application 

was connected with the pCS via a 

LAg simulator, which was supplied 

with an I/O list by a CAe system. 

the extent of the task can be illustrated 

with numbers: In the system, 

420 inputs/outputs, 78 measured 

values, 36 motors, 77 valves and 70 

binary indicators must be controlled 

and queried. The visualization system 

includes 6 process graphics and 8 

system graphics, and the automation 

algorithm is handled using 51 control 

concept and balance sheet graphics. 

In addition, there are 2 step sequencers 

with a total of 35 steps and 42 

cross traffic variables with other systems. 

Successful "test drive" in the office 

"this process has brought Lenzing Ag 

enormous savings before and during 

commissioning," states Bernhard 

Voglauer. "180 errors were able to be 

corrected in the application software 

before commissioning was started." 

Actual commissioning then went very 

quickly because the process control 

system could be ruled out as source 

of errors. the programmers were 

also able to get through the commissioning 

phase without working the 

otherwise usual "nightshifts". they 

were able to their tasks, such as setting 

the parameters for control loops, 

limit values and program automats in 

the office during the simulation phase 

as planned without having to rush. 

the possibilities provided by the virtual 

test run, including simulating unusual 

operating conditions, increase 

the quality of the training courses for 

the service personnel. 


"the time saved and the problems 

avoided through virtual commissioning 

convinced even the toughest 

critics," says Bernhard Voglauer. 

mAtLAB ® /Simulink ® is now almost 

always used to develop new control 

concepts, and the plan is to use the 

direct code generation options provided 

by integration of Automation 

Studio and the latest version of Ap- 

ROL. 

Lenzing: 

Founded: 1892 paper plant in Lenzing, 

1938 Lenzing Zellwolle AG 

Employees: approx. 6000 

Locations: Lenzing (At), ID, CN, 

uSA, uK, De, CZ 

Products & Services: the Lenzing 

group is the global market and 

innovation leader for cellulose fibers 

in the textile and nonwovens 

industry. the company is also active 

in the business of engineering 

and systems manufacturing 

www.lenzing.com 

Partial view of a 

system model 

Shrimp: 

more 

popular 

than ever 

Delicious shrimp has taken on 

a permanent role in the modern 

diet. Step by step, highly-automated 

shrimp farms are displacing 

traditional agricultural 

production facilities. Technical 

advancements in this area have 

allowed shrimp farms to grow 

into a global industry over the 

years. 

75% of the shrimp from shrimp 

farms are produced in Asia. China 

and thailand are two of the most 

important countries for production. 

One of the prominent conglomerates 

in this area is the Charoen pokphand 

(Cp) group located in Bangkok (thailand). 

Cp is one of the largest animal 

feed producers in the world for the 

aquaculture industries. CP assigned 

the company Bitwise, a partner of 

B&R for many years located in Brisbane 

(Australia), the task of automating 

a feed system for aquacultures 

in Cikampek (Indonesia). the control 

system used was the proBatch from 

Bitwise, which is based on B&R technology.

Seamless documentation of the 

production process 

the raw materials, usually with some 

pre-processing such as grinding and 

weighing, are brought in directly from 

bags or silos according to requirements. 

the entire production process - 

from the incoming goods to packaging 

the finished products - is completed in 

batches. 

What makes this type of application different 

from conventional plant control 

is the volume of data that needs to be 

recorded to document the path of the 

various materials through the process. 

the process steps are variable and 

often need to be changed for maintenance 

without stopping the process. 

the manual interventions must also be 

tracked - this is done using pDAs with 

barcode scanning capabilities. 

Efficient data management on the 

PLCs 

"Normally this data-intensive work 

would be handled by Windows-based 

pCs, which would put the plant at the 

mercy of a stable pC platform," explains 

Jason Zarew, technical Director at 

Bitwise and continues: "Our proBatch 

system has the capability to store and 

manage all this vital information on the 

pLC layer. this means the B&R controllers 

handle automation of the plant and 

also data management. the memory 

capacity was one of the major features 

of the B&R controllers that made this 

application possible. thanks to the 

processing power of the Cpus, this 

application with 2000+ digital I/Os and 

200+ analog I/Os is easy to handle. In 

addition, the ability to have so many 

independent serial ports made the installation 

very cost effective." 

the application consists of multiple 

servers for redundant data management, 

for example for trending and 

reporting. the pCs have access to the 

large volumes of pLC based data via 

pVI. this allows the proBatch servers 

to synchronize all this information between 

the running system and the SQL 

databases. 

Remote maintenance saves times 

and money 

Although the Cp group shrimp breeding 

station is in Indonesia, the Bitwise 

All processes of the Probatch control system are monitored and displayed in the shrimp 

breeding station control room. 

Bitwise: 

Application 

engineers can access the system 

whenever required. Fast and easy 

maintenance is possible from Brisbane 

at any time using either Automation 

Studio or if necessary an SQL server. 

Increased cost-efficiency 

Jason Zarew considers the simple 

import of source code into the project 

particularly advantageous. Version 

management also makes it possible to 

easily maintain even very customized 

systems. "the amount of programming 

required was therefore minimized." 

the technical director also notes the 

DVFrame library, which is used by external 

devices for data exchange. this 

is a cost effective method of interfacing 

with 3rd party devices such as light 

weight indicators, barcode scanners, 

and other devices. 

Founded: 1999 

Employees: 10 

Locations: Brisbane (Au) 

Products & Services: Automation 

and process control technology, 

proBatch control system 

www.bitwise.com.au 


55

Application 

Reel changes with 

real advantages 

For foodstuffs processing lines, 

downtime for changing label 

reels or due to torn backing material 

is not just inconvenient, it 

costs money. CFS has therefore 

developed a concept that enables 

label reels to be changed without 

stopping the machine. With 

a thoroughly modular structure, 

the new labeling machine can be 

perfectly adapted to the requirements 

of any application. Up to 16 

ACOPOS servo motors, as well as 

control and visualization technology 

from B&R provide the necessary 

dynamics, precision and ease 

of operation. 

"In a typical processing line for 

lunchmeat or cheese, between 7.5% 

and 12% of all downtime is caused 

by the labeling equipment," explains 

michael Brandt, product manager for 

Labelling & printing at CFS germany 

gmbH in Wallau. the bulk of this 

downtime is spent exchanging the 

label reels. Not surprisingly, considering 

that at typical speeds of high 

performance packaging machines (8 

cycles per minute, 16 products per 

cycle), an average reel of 5,000 labels 

is used up after only 40 minutes. 

If a thermal transfer printer is used, 

there may be additional downtime 

required to exchange the carbon 

tape it requires. If the backing material 

for the labels is especially thin, 

flexible or perforated, conventional 

machines experience additional 

problems and unexpected downtime 

due to torn backing material. 

Going their separate ways: Label 

dispenser and applicator 

unit 

the experts at the CFS competence 

center for packaging machines and 

labelers in Wallau have addressed 


this problem by developing a new 

concept, and used this concept to 

implement a new labeler, the tiroLabelNt. 

this labeling system is 

the first cross web labeler on the 

market that allows label reels to 

be exchanged during machine operation. 

this innovation was made 

possible by creating two separate 

units for dispensing and applying 

the labels, functions that were previously 

grouped in a single construc- 

tion. the movable applicator unit 

takes the labels from the stationary 

dispenser and places them over 

the products to be labeled. Springloaded 

"fingers" then press the labels 

onto the products. 

Equipping the machine with two dispenser 

units allows the label reels to 

be exchanged without stopping the 

machine: to make this possible, the 

machine must be constructed and 

The new TirolLabelNT is designed so that the applicator unit goes to the second 

dispenser as soon as the first dispenser is empty - the empty dispenser 

can then be easily filled without shutting down the machine.

programmed so that the applicator 

unit automatically goes to the second 

dispenser as soon as the first 

dispenser is empty or the carbon 

tape is used up. Since the empty 

dispenser can be refilled while the 

second dispenser is working, the 

machine is now ready for continuous 

operation. michael Brandt and 

his team of experts at CFS have been 

able to accomplish this thanks to a 

sophisticated modular system and 

revolutionary drive and control technology 

from B&R. 

Flexible configuration 

Since the downtimes caused by 

changing label reels do not present 

the same problems in every processing 

line, CFS offers the tiroLabelNt 

in various models - the entry level 

tiroLabelNt 201 with one dispenser 

and one applicator unit, tiroLabelNt 

202 with two dispensers and one 

applicator unit for systems with a 

throughput of 120 to 170 packages 

per minute, and the high-end model 

TiroLabelNT 203 with two dispensers 

and two applicator units for the 

most demanding applications. 

"A labeler with two dispensers 

has more uses than simply reducing 

downtime," emphasizes Brandt. 

"the user could also apply a second 

promotional label, such as '2 for the 

price of 1' or 'Now with 20% more', 

without the added time and effort 

this usually requires." And if two 

dispensers and one applicator unit 

are not enough, there's always the 

labeler with two applicator units. 

High-tech from B&R makes it 

possible 

the new tiroLabelNt machine concept 

was only possible using newly 

developed technology: Since the dispenser 

and applicator are no longer 

one unit, and the dispenser is placed 

in an optimum position for the selected 

packaging format and remains 

there during operation, the applicator 

unit must return to the dispenser 

after each cycle. "Just to achieve the 

same productivity as conventional 

systems, the applicator unit must 

move more quickly than with previous 

approaches," explains 

Brandt. "that's why our 

labeler uses a linear motor 

that can accelerate at 2 g 

to provide the necessary 

dynamic drive for the applicator 

unit. In addition to 

the increased throughput, 

this technology is also absolutely 

maintenance-free 

because it doesn't require 

parts such as toothed 

belts that are subject to 

wear and tear." the motor 

is controlled by an intelligent 

servo drive from 

B&R's ACOpOS line. "B&R 

It is also possible to apply 

two different labels in one 

process. 

Application 

In the full version of the labeling machine, 16 intelligent 

servo drives from the ACOPOS series are used to control 

the motors. 

agreed right away to handle integration 

of the linear motor and create 

all of the drive-related software. this 

was a great experience for us that 

confirmed our decision to trust B&R 

with not only the control and visualization 

- like with all of our machines 

- but also with the drive technology," 

reports Brandt. For the tiroLabelNt 

the latter was quite extensive: The 

labeling system utilizes a total of 16 

servo drives. 

Winder drive replaces mechanical 

coupling 

The dispenser unit alone requires 

two servo motors (or ACOpOS 

drives): Like the applicator unit, the 

dispenser unit must also work faster 

to avoid any unnecessary delays. 

Here the servo replaces the stepper 

motor that is usually used to 

wind the label reels. the mechanical 

coupling previously used to drive 

the reel, around which the backing 

material is wrapped after the labels 

are removed, has also been replaced 

with a servo motor. "this drive is 

torque-controlled, which prevents 

unwanted loop formation and band 

vibrations, even at higher speeds 

and with the use of modern backing 

materials. Overall the material is 

simply handled more gently," adds 

Brandt. 

the B&R drives provide optimum 

support for the decentralized architecture 

selected by CFS: each 

modular dispenser unit has its own 

switching cabinet which contains the 

drives and the I/O modules, also from 

B&R. "Both the ACOpOS drives >> 


57

Application 

and the X20 I/O system are very 

space-saving. even the drive for the 

linear motor is surprisingly small," 

raves Brandt. 

Control functionality is provided by 

the control system of the upstream 

packaging machine (the powerpakNt 

or powerpakRt thermoformer). this 

control and visualization solution is 

based on the industrial pC ApC620 

from B&R, and is used as a standard 

throughout CFS machines. the architecture 

of the thermoformer is set 

up so that when the labeler is added, 

the only change necessary is the addition 

of a hub to the pOWeRLINK 

network. If needed, the architecture 

can even be further expanded to include 

more labelers without requiring 

any changes to the switching 

cabinet of the packaging machine. 

Simulation and code generation 

with MATLAB ® /Simulink ® 

the modern concept and technology 

of the tiroLabelNt are matched by 

the modern tools and processes used 

by the CFS engineers to develop the 

machine. "the control software for a 

machine like the tiroLabelNt could 

hardly be developed using traditional 

processes - the movement 

sequences are too complicated and 

the management is too complex," 

explains Brandt. "that's why we used 

mAtLAB ® /Simulink ® to develop the 

mechanics, process sequences and 


Use of a servo motor prevents 

unwanted loop formation and 

band vibrations. 

timing, as well as to generate the 

control program." this guarantees, 

for example, that the throughput 

achieved through simulation is also 

achieved in reality. the CFS expert is 

enthusiastic about the advantages for 

the user: "the operator can directly 

enter the desired number of cycles 

for a certain packaging format, and 

receives immediate feedback indicating 

whether or not it can be achieved. 

If it can, the controller automatically 

sets all the parameters accordingly. 

the previous method of gradually 

working up to the desired number 

of cycles is now obsolete." this also 

prevents damage to the mechanics 

and increases positioning precision, 

since each applicator unit only works 

at the speed necessary to achieve the 

specified number of cycles. 

All in all, using the new labeling system 

instead of a conventional solution 

means higher processing capacity 

and more precision with a smaller 

footprint. What is more, the label reel 

can be inserted outside the safety 

covers, the machine is easier to clean 

due to the integration of the applicator 

unit in the cleaning process, and 

reel exchange is much more ergonomic. 

CFS: 

Founded: 1997 (Management buyout 

of the Convenience Food Division 

of tetra Laval) 

Employees: 2,200 

Locations: more than 60 worldwide 

Products & Services: Worldwide 

leading supplier of machines for 

the foodstuffs industry; from the 

preparation of the products to the 

packaging process, including the 

required packaging materials 

www.cfs.com

All fairs + details at www.br-automation.com/events 

July 

Salón Internacional del Empaque 

y TECNOPLAST 2009 

07/01 - 07/04/2009 

Caracas, Venezuela 

September 

Motek 

09/21 - 09/24/2009 

Stuttgart, germany 

PPMA 

09/29 - 10/01/2009 

Birmingham, united Kingdom 

October 

Pack Expo 

10/05 - 10/07/2009 

Las Vegas, uSA 

Smart 

10/07 - 10/09/2009 

Linz, Austria 

Agroprodmash 

10/12 - 10/16/2009 

moscow, Russian Federation 

Elosys 

10/13 - 10/16/2009 

trencin, Slovakia 

November 

ISA 

11/03 - 11/07/2009 

Shanghai, China 

TIB 

11/04 - 11/07/2009 

Bukarest, Romania 

Brasil Automation 

11/10 - 12/2009 

Sao paulo, Brazil 

SPS / IPC / DRIVES 

11/24 - 11/26/2009 

Nuremberg, germany 

Fair Dates 

Dates 

3 rd + 4 th Quarter 

December 

PTA - Ural 

12/01 - 12/03/2009 

Yekaterinburg, Russian Federation 


59

Best in Class! 

Automation PCs 

Automation pCs by B&R: scalable, fanless industrial pCs with maximum performance. Intel ® pentium ® m, Core Duo, Core2 

Duo, and Atom processors, Dual Independent Display operation, 1gbit ethernet, integrated upS, CompactFlash, hard disk, 

DVD drive, remote displays. 

Perfection in Automation 

www.br-automation.com 

MM-E00926.758 

© 2009 by B&R. All rights reserved. 

All trademarks included are the property of their respective company.

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