Control and plant monitoring system

Rizla, a UK supplier of cigarette papers, is using Beckhoff industrial PCs, supplied by Hayes Control Systems, for a demanding control and plant monitoring system throughout its Pontypridd plant.

Rizla, a UK supplier of cigarette papers, is using Beckhoff industrial PCs, supplied by Hayes Control Systems, for a demanding control and plant monitoring system throughout its Pontypridd plant.

The system has been so successful that Rizla are looking to extend its capabilities.

The modular design of the Beckhoff CX1000 embedded IPCs allows them to be adapted easily to suit different types of machine, and their small size makes them easy to accommodate.

Response speed is also a significant factor.

The process on the paper packaging machines is triggered when the vacuum reaches the requisite level, as indicated by an analogue signal fed to the controller.

The CX1000 is required to evaluate this signal and reliably initiate the appropriate actions in just a few milliseconds.

The CX1000's quickly proved their worth as control devices in a variety of applications and, to date, they have been installed on six drum gumming machines and two five-packers.

Work is also currently in progress on implementing a CX1000-based control system for an interleaving machine.

This will make full use of the motion control facilities provided by the CX1000 to provide fast, accurate point-to-point control for a 6A servo drive.

Always seeking ways of improving productivity and efficiency, Rizla quickly realised that the IPCs had access to a large amount of data which would be invaluable in monitoring and evaluating plant performance.

The CX1000's are linked to an Altitude web server via an Ethernet network, which enables data to be delivered to production and maintenance staff in a convenient and easy-to-use format.

So successful is Rizla's plant monitoring system that the company is now looking at extending its capabilities.

One option is to track the amounts of raw materials used by each machine.

"Thanks to the versatility of the Beckhoff products, the implementation of our control systems and of the monitoring system was straightforward," comments Neil Davis, production manager, "and the support we received from Hayes Control Systems was also excellent at every stage of the project.

This is particularly gratifying as, in the past, we have had severe support problems with some other suppliers of automation products.".

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