EtherCAT platform conveyors

To be competitive the food industry has to equip itself with innovatory and automated processing systems that ensure good production yields, flexibility and efficiency at contained costs. For this reason, in cooperation with Beckhoff, tna Australia has devised a hitech conveyor that enables the complete management of product speed and handling.

Tna is one of the huge global suppliers of integrated systems for processing and packaging food, with over 3,000 installations in more than 130 countries. Thanks to the adoption of controllers supplied by Beckhoff, its feed and distribution systems can now be completely integrated in the packaging line, thus guaranteeing high flexibility and operating speeds. The solution fielded by tna Australia (Syndey) is innovatory and particularly “performant”: with the new tna roflo HM 3, different products (snacks, confectionery, nuts, pasta, fresh produce, petfoods…) can be conveyed simultaneously on a single line, to then be shifted in different directions. On top of that, the type of control provided by Beckhoff allows the operator complete mastery over the speed and the direction of movement of the products being transported.
 
The importance of communication
To optimize the performance of the horizontal roflo HM 3 conveyors, tna has implemented a distributed control system based on Ethernet real-time.
«Prior to defining the project - tna Packaging Systems’ Kerryn Ball explained – we considered different communication technologies indeed focussing on the advantages ensured by EtherCAT, aboveall because it is the only system that has been shown to function efficiently using standard hardware, without having to install a communication dedicated processor cards.
In that EtherCAT is an open standard, this has enabled us to develop our own EtherCAT proprietor master for real-time communication within the horizontal distribution system. As well as that, the opening of the EtherCAT platform enables us to adopt devices from different suppliers and hence to field a flexibility to the benefit of the system user that would otherwise be unachievable.
 
A streamlined and effective architecture
Tna has adopted EtherCAT in all its dependent tna roflo HM 3 systems. To date the most significant installation has been in a French factory where 21 servo axes on three production lines are controlled by a single computer and connection to the field level is via EK1100 EtherCAT coupler. The digital inputs, such as level sensors and all universal inputs are connected by standard terminals, the EK1122 derived terminals increase the EtherCAT network topology options, also enabling the creation of star-shaped architecture.
In the system installed in France, a single tna "switcheroo" or "lifteroo" power line - a mechanism that separates the fore wheel and the dishes of the tna roflo HM pans - can convey three different products to the packaging machine. It is a new function that changes the way in which the process lines are interconnected and allows the simultaneous movement of the products in multiple directions on a single packaging line. «Previously, to achieve the same result three conventional feed lines were required - says Kerryn Ball - with much higher construction and maintenance costs and with a greater need for physical space in order to ensure the operation of the subsystem. Using the EtherCAT based solution, the 21 servo axes distributed throughout the whole plant are controlled by a single computer. It not only thus simplifies the construction and maintenance of the automation of the lines, but also enables the addition of new and faster multiproduct packaging procedures».