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78 MACHINERY UPDATE JULY/AUGUST 2018 www.machineryupdate.co.uk
Components
IO-link delivers flexible
machine build features
To deliver control of
forming and critically,
the sealing parameters
in its new shawpak
thermoforming machine,
Riverside Medical chose a new
IO-Link analogue hub from
Balluff. In operation, it makes
the handling of analogue
signals a plug and play process.
At the heart of the shawpak
machine is a servo driven
indexing drum which
transports the webs through
the machine. The drum is
surrounded by forming,
sealing and cutting stations.
The product is simply loaded
in to the top of the tooling drum
and ejected out of the base
onto a discharge conveyor.
This machine layout
ensures that the shawpak is
compact, portable, flexible,
energy efficient and very
competitively priced.
Integrating analogue
signals via networked control
architecture on such a machine
can often be more difficult
and costly than one would
want, says Balluff. Shielded
outputs from analogue devices
must be handled outside the
network and terminated to
conventional analogue I/O
cards. Furthermore, additional
machine-mounted network
blocks may be required to
The new shawpak thermoforming machine
By replacing traditional wiring methods, shawpak build time was reduced
ensure a sufficient number of
analogue ports are available.
These difficulties are
compounded by the variety
of analogue signal types
encountered, such as voltage,
current, and thermocouple.
Balluff’s introduction of a
new IO-Link analogue hub
solves these challenges on the
shawpak. The new 8-channel
analogue measurement hub
sits alongside the sensor hubs
handling standard I/O, both
utilising IO-Link to handle
all measurement and I/O
data via an IO-Link master
module and into the controller
seamlessly via the existing
industrial network.
“The classical
approach to analogue
integration required
either purchasing
expensive, controller
specific 2 or 4-channel
analogue-to-digital
input cards or
purchasing a specific
network-dependent
remote analogue
module,” explains
Russell Smith, product
marketing manager for
industrial networking
and safety at Balluff.
“Our new IO-Linkbased
analogue hub
eliminates the disadvantages
of both of these approaches,”
he continues.
“At Balluff, our focus is
to simplify the control and
integration of a variety of
sensors and devices by
offering a unified interface for
device-level connectivity.”
FLEXIBLE EXPANSION
Smith believes the shawpak
thermoformer is a great
example of IO-Link enabling
the existing machine
architecture to be expanded
flexibly to accommodate a
range of customer centric
options, while massively
reducing wiring time.
Indeed, by replacing
traditional wiring methods
with a plug & play IO-Link
solution, machine build time
was reduced by two days.
Furthermore, it also lays the
foundations for increased data
handling and diagnostics from
smart sensors and devices.
“This analogue hub
enhances Balluff’s extensive
IO-Link portfolio and further
enables the building of resilient,
modular control architectures
that can support Industry 4.0
strategies,” says Smith.
T 01606 812777
W www.balluff.co.uk
Safety solutions from Schmersal
Keeping it
safe for
robot users
At automatica 2018 in Germany
this June, the Schmersal Group
showcased an extensive range of
coordinated safety components
and safety systems for industrial
robots. These products allow
a wide range of robot
workstations to be reliably and
efficiently made safe, to protect
people and at the same time,
increase plant productivity.
Schmersal has developed
various ranges of safety light
curtains and light grids which
fulfil different requirements and
guarantee cost effective access
protection for robot workstations
while taking up very little space.
In operation, a safety field made
up of infrared beams is sent by the
transmitter and evaluated by the
receiver. If an object or a person
breaks the safety field, a stop
signal is immediately triggered in
order to stop the machine.
The safety switching mats
from Schmersal allow monitoring
of complete areas, not just access
points. They guarantee step-back
protection, which in practice,
means as long as an operator is
in the hazard area, the machine
cannot be started.
With the coded AZM201 RFID
interlock combined with the
BDF200-SD, individually,
ready-to-connect safety
solutions can be pre-assembled
for the safety doors on robot
cells. Thanks to the built-in RFID
technology, the AZM offers
tamper protection as required.
T 01684 571980
W www.schmersal.co.uk