Extruder Roll Line Controls Upgrade

The Extruder roll line was controlled for years with an Reliance AutoMate then AutoMax PLC.  Parts where becoming hard to find and the plant had to do something.  The natural solution for them was to replace the PLC with a new modern Allen-Bradley ControlLogix PLC.  But the budget was limited and the plant could not tolerate the downtime necessary to replace the systems.  Parker, Messana & Associates engineered a solution that allowed our client to do the project within their budget and with limited down time.  We utilized the existing AutoMate I/O blocks by connected them through remote I/O using an IOSaver.  All of the motors where 480Volt controls to the local panel so they had to be converted to 120 volt control and wired to new ControlLogix I/O.

Roll diameter measurement was a problem for the plant using the old style retractable arm which was taken out of service because of the high maintenance.  Parker, Messana & Associates proposed to use an ultrasonic level transmitter mounted above the roll width and roll scale to measure the diameter.  It work like a charm and was accurate to 1/2" which was good enough.  This diameter and roll width where used to automatically pick the correct paper width and wrap length with a potential cost savings in the thousands of dollars per year.

Scope of Work Included The Following:

Working with Plant personnel, Parker, Messana & Associates interfaced with engineering, operations and maintenance to evaluate problems, determine options, and provide corrective actions to accommodate modifications as required for these upgrades.  

We like to work closely with mill maintenance staff by getting them involved with the checkout, commissioning and startup of any upgrade.  This is the best hands on training that can be done and is very cost effective.  It also allows the maintenance staff to better understand how the PLC program works so they can maintain it them selves without having to call for outside support for simple problems.

Call Parker, Messana & Associates today for information on how we can help you.