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Vermeire automates a new production line at a major concrete tank manufacturer

Motion Control for a fully automated PVC tubes production line, from conveying to cutting

Vermeire automates a new production line at a major concrete tank manufacturer

Motion Control for a fully automated PVC tubes production line, from conveying to cutting

Machine Building

Vermeire

Ensival Belgium

The company produces tanks for the treatment of wastewater for residential buildings. PVC pipes are used as inlet and outlet for waste water. Originally, the cutting of PVC tubes was carried out through an external subcontractor. The objective was to take back the production.

The production line is divided into three areas:
- The supply store - The cutting station - The warehouse for cut tubes. PVC tubes come in a wide range of different diameters and lengths, and therefore in different masses and sizes. No less than 13 SINAMICS S210 servo drive systems controlled by a SIMATIC S7-1500T PLC were needed to fully automate conveying, cutting and sorting, regardless of the dimensions to be produced.
For each drive system, there is a SIMOTICS S-1FK2 servomotor: the first 3 servomotors operate a claw on a connecting rod raising the tube of the supply tank, as well as a pusher on a linear guide. 7 other units precisely adjust the tube positioning support in front of the grinder and direct it to perform the cut. Finally, at the output, a gantry equipped with 3 servomotors and a rotating gripper moves along the X, Y and Z axes to sort the finished tubes into the appropriate trolleys.
The whole process works 8 hours a day, 6 days a week, completely autonomously. (…) We thus obtain a production of tubes of the same diameter/length, depending on the choice made in the programming of the automaton. At the other end of the line, trolleys on wheels receive the cut tubes, and are sorted by means of robotic grippers, according to diameter and length.

The end customer is thus freed from the previously necessary subcontracting circuit, has a better control of his production and gains in flexibility.

Grégory Bragard - Area Sales Manager - Vermeire

The investment in this cutting machine made it possible to resume production on their own, from conveying to cutting PVC tubes. The positioning precision and movement dynamics offered by the SINAMICS S210 drive systems, used for the majority of the axes, make it possible to move the plastic tubes - by nature light and fragile - without difficulty all along the line. Thanks to their great compactness, the Simotics S-1FK2 servo motors could be deployed very easily, even in the tight space of the cutting station.
As such, SINAMICS drives and Simotics servomotors being part of the same assembly, the need to commission each component separately disappears. The deployment was also able to benefit from the innovative “One Cable Connection” technology which combines the data signal and the power supply in a single cable.
The combination of SINAMICS S210 drives with the SIMATIC S7-1500T PLC offers all the flexibility necessary to adapt the production line to the different tube diameters and lengths of the supply warehouse, as well as to the specifications required for the finished products.
In the end, this solution offers the company greater control over its production strategy and better control of its costs. The integration of components in the common TIA Portal platform and the One Cable Connection technology have a lot to do with it, since they translate concretely into time savings and increased efficiency during the engineering and commissioning phases.
Grégory sums up the main reasons that motivated the choice of an integrated solution from Siemens for the project of this new PVC pipe production line: "One of the major advantages of the SINAMICS S210 servo drive system is to have only one single cable for power and control. Add to that the greater compactness of the motors for the same power and you get much more flexibility and possibilities when designing. The configuration of the system via TIA Portal also brings a lot in terms of ergonomics and standardization.

Ensival - Vermeire automates a new production line at a major concrete tank manufacturer

Machine Building

Vermeire

Ensival Belgium

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Ensival Belgium

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