Page 34 - Industrial Technology March 2020 issue

SYSTEM INTEGRATION

COMPLEX
AND PRECISE
6-DOF CONCRETE ON

MOTION...
SIMPLIFIED

®
HexGen Hexapods by DRIVES & CONTROLS
Aerotech
The next-generation in 6
degree-of-freedom positioning: BY INSTALLING SERVO DRIVES WITH INTEGRATED FUNCTIONAL
®
HexGen hexapods coupled with our SAFETY, HMIS AND CONTROLLERS ITS NEW PRODUCTION LINE,
control and visualization software
CONCRETE CANVAS HAS REDUCED WIRING INSTALLATION COSTS
make accurate six degree-of-freedom
AND HAS GREATER FLEXIBILITY IN TERMS OF FUTURE EXPANSION
positioning incredibly easy.
PLANS FOR MACHINES AND ADDITIONAL LINES
• Powerful controls and software with
motion visualization in any work or tool
ased in Pontyclun, Wales, Concrete Canvas Ltd unwinders, dry cement powder handling systems, a
coordinate system is the sole manufacturer of the award-winning main process section that forms the cement filled web,
• Simple graphical view of coordinate products, Concrete Canvas (CC) and CC Hydro coating machines, web handling machines and
systems and pivot-point locations B(CCH), which are manufactured in South rewinders.
Wales and exported to more than 80 countries. CC is a “The prototype production line is quite complex.
• Precision positioning – accuracy to ±0.5
new material technology called a geosynthetic There are many different machines with parts that need
µm and resolution to 20 nm
cementitious composite mat, or GCCM. The material is a to be moved at different speeds. We therefore started to
Contact an Aerotech application engineer flexible concrete impregnated fabric that hardens on search for a suitable supplier of drives that could handle
or visit our website for more information hydration to form a thin, durable, waterproof concrete this type of application. We needed the drives to be
on how Aerotech hexapods can improve layer. Essentially, the product is ‘concrete on a roll’. CC flexible and easily expandable to allow easy, rapid future
your positioning application. can be installed using simple hand tools, with no expansion of the line and individual machines, with as
requirement for specialist labour or equipment, and can little panel wiring as possible. Another key requirement
be installed up to 10 times faster than conventional for us was safety, so we wanted drives with in-built
methods. functional safety,” explains Rose.
In Spring 2018, due to increased demand for its After a thorough supplier evaluation process, which
HexGen products, Concrete Canvas purchased a new facility in included on-site demonstrations, Rose chose KEB
Visualization
Software Pontyclun, around six miles from the original factory in Automation for its servo drives with FSoE (FailSafe-over-
Pontypridd. This new site is around three times the size EtherCAT), as well as HMIs, a smart controller and the
of the Pontypridd facility, providing the company with COMBIVIS 6 software that provides a common
significant opportunities for continued growth. Graham development platform.
HEX RC Rose, engineering manager at Concrete Canvas, is “At present, we have around 10 COMBIVERT S6-A
Multi-Axis responsible for developing the new production lines at servo drives and some F6 drives from KEB operating on
Robotic Pontyclun, including machinery, controls and automation the production line. The lower powered drives tend to
Controller
systems. He states: “As there was no off-the-shelf perform lighter duties such as transporting the web
machinery available for producing our new product, all material, whereas the larger drives control the conveyors
HEX500-350HL
the design and build work was performed in-house.” and mixers for the cement, the main web forming
The continuous production line for the new prototype process section and the centre winding machine, as well
rolled product comprises a variety of machines, as performing general positional and control tasks. Some
equipment and automated systems, including of the drives are linked so that they operate

Visit aerotech.co.uk or
Call +44 1256 855055

AT0219A-RAD-IT

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY • March 2020