Open house in Austria provides a vision for the future, in which the control connects the injection molding machine with various auxiliary equipment. Wittmann also marked its first appearance in the field of composite organic sheet overmolding-and added some changes.
Wittmann 4.0 is a new effort to integrate the control of the Wittmann Battenfeld injection molding machine with all Wittmann auxiliary equipment (including (currently) TCU (pictured), robots, mixers, and water flow controllers). The control screens of these peripheral devices are integrated in the press controller, and the settings of auxiliary devices can be configured and stored as part of the mold setting recipe.
Another part of Wittmann 4.0 is the new WiBa QuickLook mobile application, which displays the operating status of presses and robots.
MacroPower Days publicly demonstrated for the first time WITTMANN BATTENFELD's promotion of composite organic sheet overmolding. The PP/glass slabs are selected from the stack by the robot, preheated in a drawer oven, hung on the pins in the mold (pictured below), and then overmolded into automotive-type demonstration parts.
The robot presents the preheated organic film to the infrared camera, and uses the SKZ system to display the heat distribution (below).
On the recent MacroPower Days open day in Kottingbrunn, Austria, WITTMANN BATTENFELD hosted 500 visitors for two days of technical demonstrations, machine demonstrations and visits to three facilities in Austria and Hungary. In a project focused on large machines, the company outlined its capacity expansion plan and publicly demonstrated its entry into the emerging composite "organic sheet" secondary molding field for the first time. However, the most prominent theme of the Open Day is the progress made in integrating injection molding machines with a large number of auxiliary equipment and even central factory MES or ERP computers-this goal is often referred to as "Industry 4.0".
Don't wait-integrate! In the United States, it is sometimes referred to as the "Industrial Internet" or "Internet of Things." For enthusiasts, Industry 4.0 is the "fourth industrial revolution"-following mechanization in the 18th century, mass production in the 19th century, automation/computerization in the 20th century, and networking/intelligence in the 21st century.
For more sober observers, we are not yet fully in place. In the MacroPower Days speech, Johannes Rella, Wittmann's head of software engineering, said that the current implementation is limited by low data throughput and the lack of universally accepted cables, interfaces, and protocol standards. Although the development and promulgation of such standards will take some time, Wittmann posed a question: "Why wait?"
In its unique position in manufacturing injection molding machines and various auxiliary equipment, WITTMANN released a connection program called "Wittmann 4.0" at NPE2015 in Orlando. This is a standardized Ethernet communication protocol between all Wittmann machines, robots and peripherals from the central hub (Unilog B6P controller for injection molding machines). This allows the control screen of the robot and auxiliary equipment to be visualized on the machine display. Therefore, the teaching program of the robot and the settings of Tempro TCU, Gravimax stirrer, Flowcon water flow controller, etc. will now be stored on the controller of the molding machine as part of the complete mold or work cell setup. Every time the mold is changed, the settings of the entire unit will be automatically downloaded to all peripheral devices, thereby reducing the chance of error and saving time. Now even the injection molding machine can be controlled by a robot controller.
In this method, each injection molding machine forms its own IP subnet, which can connect up to 16 connected devices, including up to 12 TCUs. This hot-swappable plug-and-play configuration has many advantages. Due to the use of native code, it is said to run very fast. It provides automatic configuration of automatic device recognition and connection, as well as automatic software synchronization.
In Wittmann's implementation, the peripheral device provides an interface for direct data access; all calculations related to the screen display are processed by applications that can run on the peripheral device and the injection molding machine controller. This eliminates any questions about which software versions are running on various peripheral devices. The software of each peripheral device is always synchronized with the molding machine and runs there with its specific version. Different from the past, the injection molding machine control presents the peripheral screen interface as if they appear on the auxiliary unit, rather than in the format of the injection molding machine interface. Therefore, plant personnel visualize peripheral equipment in the same way as when working independently.
Wittmann 4.0 is in progress-it currently connects Wittmann Battenfeld injection molding machines to Wittmann robots, mixers, TCUs and water flow controllers, but there will be more in the future. In Europe, WITTMANN also cooperated with MES software supplier TIG GmbH in Austria to integrate the forming unit with the central plant MES or ERP computer. (For the implementation of Industry 4.0 by another machine manufacturer, see Startup.)
Another element of Wittmann 4.0 is the new WiBa QuickLook, a free mobile application available from the Apple iOS App Store and Google Play for Android phones. It allows users to check the status of injection molding machines with Unilog B6 controls and robots with R8 controls via smartphones or tablets, display production data and equipment status, such as alarms. For simplicity, the application only provides the most important current parameter (or robot program) settings in the production cell. For more detailed information, the user must directly access the machine or robot.
The state of the machine or robot is color-coded as green, yellow or red. Any red content that indicates a problem will be displayed at the top of the screen list. For safety reasons, QuickLook can monitor but not change the machine settings. In addition, it can only be used in the factory via LAN/WLAN. However, the device settings viewed on QuickLook can be forwarded to others via email.
In addition to the nine technology demonstrations, there were also 10 machine demonstrations on the open day, seven of which involved MacroPower two board production lines. In order to improve energy efficiency, all machines are fully electric or servo-hydraulic driven, some of which demonstrate the versatility of five-axis or six-axis Cartesian robots.
• Composite materials: This event is the first public appearance of lightweight, high-strength thermoplastic composite materials by WITTMANN BATTENFELD. As reported in the startup column last month, the unit uses MacroPower E 450 (450 metric tons), a relatively new hybrid press with a servo-electric injection device. In this unit, the new WITTMANN W843 pro robot (five-axis with servo wrist) picks up PP organic sheet pre-cut blanks reinforced with continuous glass fabric, puts them in a drawer-type preheating furnace, and then heats the sheets Hang up on two pins in the mold, where the sheet is formed and overmolded with additional PP. The net shape (no post-finishing) automotive demonstration parts are made of Tepex sheets from the Bond-Laminates division of LANXESS (Pittsburgh, USA).
Another function that has not been disclosed before is an infrared camera. After the robot takes it out of the oven drawer and displays the heat distribution on the screen next to the printer, the infrared camera can "read" the heat distribution. The online thermal imaging system was developed by the South German Plastics Center or SKZ Würzburg, which has cooperated with Wittmann Battenfeld at various exhibitions since 2010 (see January 11).
• Sandwich molding: As a pioneer in co-injection technology, WITTMANN BATTENFELD marked its renewed active participation in this field. A large flowerpot made of solid/foam/solid PP was formed on the MacroPower 450 press with two side-by-side syringes. "V" configuration. The five-axis W843 robot with two-axis servo wrist has gate picking and cutting functions directly on the end-of-arm tool.
• Automotive: MacroPower 1600 (1600 metric tons) is the largest press in the WITTMANN production line, equipped with an electric screw drive and an independent hydraulic power unit for core pulling and ejection. It molded a glass-filled nylon 6 car grille.
In addition, the MacroPower 700 Combimould device performs two-component molding of a 20% talc-filled PP air duct with a TPE sealing lip. The two syringes are arranged in an "L" configuration, and the mold has slide rails that can be retracted to make room for the second injection.
• Packaging: MacroPower 1100 is also equipped with an electric screw drive to form PP folding crates in a household mold. The five pieces were demolded by a W843 robot with a two-axis servo wrist (a total of five axes) and placed in an automatic assembly jig.
• Equipment: MacroPower 850 with electric screw driver molded PS freezer door, parts are disassembled and processed by Wittmann W853 robot, with three-axis servo wrist, there are a total of six servo axes. David Preusse, president of WITTMANN BATTENFELD, said that the cost of a six-axis Cartesian robot is about the same as that of a six-axis articulated arm robot, but it can work under the condition of less sunlight on the printing press. The coverage area has a larger payload capacity.
According to Preusse, articulated robots are only used in less than 5% of injection molding applications—for example, in places with low ceilings or applications that add value in downstream secondary processing. Preusse pointed out that six axes are not the limit of Cartesian robots: Wittmann Battenfeld is working on a system in which a single degater forms the seventh axis.
The second device application involves an 11-pound PP washing machine drum molded using the Cellmould physical foaming process on a MacroPower 800 equipped with a hydraulic accumulator. The unit includes a nitrogen generator, shut-off nozzle and 120 mm diameter. Screw, the company currently offers the largest screw for this process, but 135 mm applications are under development.
In 2013, a large machine assembly workshop was built in Kottingbrunn, which can accommodate presses up to 1,600 tons. This year, the new workshop has increased by 650 square meters to expand the in-house production of all major fixture components of MacroPower presses, including for the largest machines The size of the pressure plate (photo). The first large-scale machining center was launched in April, and the other is scheduled to be launched in October.
This summer, WITTMANN plans to modernize its sheet metal manufacturing facilities with new laser cutting and bending equipment, and will reorganize the assembly of EcoPower and SmartPower machines to achieve a smoother process. The expansion of the technology center for MacroPower press testing, training and demonstration is scheduled to open in spring 2016. It will house two to three machines for all processes and special applications.
At the same time, Wittmann Material Handling in Vienna is building a new 6,837-square-meter factory in nearby Wolkersdorf for auxiliary equipment, which will be completed in September. Another 3,100 square meter building is being rebuilt as the new home of the WITTMANN process cooling department and will open in December. By April 2016, the headquarters building (9,500 square meters) will be transformed into a dedicated production facility for side-entry and large-scale top-entry robots.
WITTMANN Hungary expanded by 2514 square meters (39%) at the end of 2014 to assemble small robots and EcoPower machines from 55 tons to 180 tons. WITTMANN BATTENFELD Mexico branch expanded to 2000 square meters in March. Mexico has surpassed China to become Wittmann's third largest source of income, second only to Wittmann in Germany and the United States, and has just completed the renovation of a 1,400 square meter factory in Taiwan.
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