Flexible automation control

A manufacturer of automation and control products offers a  high-density, highly configurable modular RTU and programmable logic controller (PLC) system. Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc. (SEL) says their SEL-2240 Axion extends their automation and control product family. The system has flexible architecture and integrated security to meet monitoring and control application needs. Users simply select the right combination of modules in almost any arrangement to create a customized solution for each job.

David Whitehead, SEL’s vice president of research and development explains that the Axion can help solve tough control system and substation automation problems. Users can build an Axion system with up to six units, or nodes, which are connected in a network using the EtherCAT protocol. Each node can accommodate ten modules, including a processor module, one or two power supplies, and a user-determined mix of I/O modules suitable for the application. An Axion node uses an integrated RTAC module as its CPU, which means the device is not only an RTU, but also a complete substation data concentrator and integration platform. The company says the power supply module employs the same technology found in their protective relays and supports an entire node. In critical situations where two incoming power sources are available, install dual power supply modules in each node so the Axion can control needed processes even if one power source should fail. Even when the Axion nodes are distributed using the available fiber Ethernet connections, all of the I/O points are updated every millisecond. All of the tags in the system can be logged for a system-wide sequence of events report. Engineers can combine the Axion with the SEL ICONTM communications networks when they need to place nodes significant distances apart with no loss of determinism.

The Axion has a complete IEC 61131 logic processor, secure communications, advanced data concentration, local and remote I/O, and protocol conversion capabilities between multiple built-in client/server protocols. The IEC 61131 engine provides a means for engineers to run their custom control logic at two different rates. The higher-speed solve rate can be as fast as 4 ms and is intended for critical control loops. The slower solve rate can be as slow as 1 second and is perfect for SCADA reporting. The solution also gives integrators the necessary tools to easily integrate and concentrate information from the wide variety of microprocessor-based devices found in plant applications.

SEL says the Axion works seamlessly with their SEL-3530 Real-Time Automation Controller (RTAC), SEL-2411 Programmable Automation Controller, SEL-2440 DPAC Discrete Programmable Automation Controller, and SEL-2523 Annunciator Panel to provide I/O, control, and annunciation for many industrial applications.

ACSELERATOR RTACTM SEL-5033 configuration software is included with each Axion for no additional cost. SEL says it features everything you need to set up I/O, communications, security, and programmable logic in one easy-to-use package.

Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc. www.selinc.com

Lay-up equipment cuts 85% off time to manufacturer big blades

A manufacturer of equipment that places composite material quickly and a quick-cure-molding system for wind blades says the combination reduces labor content by two-thirds, doubles throughput, and produces a consistently high-quality blade. Manufacturing firm MAG Industrial Automation Systems, Sterling Hts, Mich.,

says its Rapid Material Placement System (RMPS) combines automation and repeatable process control for what has largely been a manual or piecemeal automation. RMPS, an automated blade molding facility, is capable of spraying in-mold coatings, dispensing and lay-up of glass and carbon-fiber materials, and applying adhesive. It places material at 3 m/sec (lay-up speed) on blade skins, spar caps, and sheer-web molds, with laser and vision-based wrinkle detection in cross or longitudinal directions. Depending on a laminate schedule, MAG says the system can cut up to 85% off the lay-up time of a 45-m blade.

The CNC-controlled system consists of a gantry with multi-axis end effectors that manipulates spray heads and adhesive applicators, along with tooling for spooling and placing materials. After spraying on a gel-coat, a ply-generator with a ten-roll magazine of material cuts and dispenses plies to the lay-up end effector on the gantry. The lay-up end effector spools out material supplied by the ply generator.

Two such gantries adjacent one another can each produce a 45-m blade-shell half in less than two hours, with half the manual labor of conventional methods. The gantry rides on rails flush with the floor. It also carries bulk supply systems for gel-coat and adhesive. Off-line programming software developed by the company creates the CNC code from imported CAD data.

The company has also developed a quick-cure mold system using tooling it supplies. Molds are produced from client CAD data. The system yields a finished blade to spec with each cycle. It can be infused with resin in an hour followed by a two-hour cure, about half the normal time. One sample part represents a 100 mm-thick root section and root spar-cap system. The latter has three zones of material and three thicknesses, demonstrating the system can infuse and quickly cure all three zones at the same time. Like the lay-up system, the company says the infusion and curing system includes process control metrics for resin metering, temperatures, and blocked channels with alarm limits.

On the finishing side of blade automation, MAG says it is introducing a five-axis machining system for root drilling, milling, and sawing. For metalworking production of wind-power parts, the company is introducing a line of horizontal turning centers in the U.S. that combines unusual capabilities for finishing a large part in one setup. Well suited for rotor shafts, pinions and similar shaft parts, these machines perform operations unusual for typical turning centers, such as deep-hole drilling, serrating, grinding, hard turning, notch milling, hobbing, as well as cut-to-length and centering, rough and finish turning. European wind industry manufacturers are using these machines to produce parts up to 1,500-mm diameter and 2,800-mm long.