The PLC uses Modbus RTU, to talk to the SSD drive, Gefran controller and Siemens S5 PLC and Modbus TCP to talk to the Eurotherm controllers and ProfiNet to the Siemens S7 PLCs.

Dedicated comms modules are used on the S7-1500 PLC.

Extruder

Die

Water Bath

Haul off & Cutter

Puller

Winder

Cable Spools

The S7-1500 read/writes data to the;

1. The Extruder motor, setting line speed

2.  The Extruder temperature and pressure instruments, controlling the melt

3. The Puller motor speed, drawing the unsheathed cable from the spool

4.  The haul off speed and cutter length

5.  The Winder motor to control the winding speed, allowing for increasing diameter

6.  The winder tension, adjusting the motor speed

The S7-1500 program uses the networked data to synchronise the cable line speed.

As the Extruder line speed demand is increased, the puller speed is increased proportionally according to a ratio set on the HMI.

In an ideal world, the Haul off speed is identical to the Puller speed. However, the HMI allows the operator to adjust the ratio (normally 1.000:1.000) to take up any slack or relieve any tension.

The Winder PLC monitors the tension and reel capacity and adjusts the motor speed accordingly. The Hub PLC, adjusts the extruder line peed (and therefore the puller and haul off speeds) as the data from the winder indicates the reel approaches capacity and will be changed.

Ethernet : Modbus TCP

RS485 : Modbus RTU

The Comfort Panel HMI provides  touchscreen navigation to 20 mimic screens, a series of trend pages, recipes and diagnostics.

Touching a mimic object navigates to a screen showing more detail of that device i.e. the Extruder temperatures and pressure PID values and alarms.

CP1

CP2

CP3

CP4

Ethernet : ProfiNet

Ethernet : ProfiNet

Ethernet : ProfiNet