Plastics Industry -> INTELECS™ for Blown Film Lines

INTELECS™ - Blown Film Line Integrated Control Intelecs Controls offers a wide range of blown-film extrusion control solutions. Those solutions have enabled the automation of complex lines to help blown film processors reduce material and labour costs, and more importantly, improve the quality of their products by creating a repeatable, automated process. Control systems experts from Intelecs Controls have been involved in the automation of Co-Extrusion Multi-Layer Blown Film lines since 1995. In 1995-2000 they were responsible for the development of well-known ITALYCS (Integrated Temperature And Line Yield Control System) that is still being offered by Brampton Engineering Inc. as a proprietary control environment for their own high-end co-extrusion lines.

Extrusion control system INTELECS™ (INTegrated Extrusion Line Expert Control System) from Intelecs Controls can handle any blown film line configuration including AC/DC drives, batch or continuous gravimetric blenders, haul-off units and a variety of downstream equipment. Intelecs Controls assumes the ultimate responsibility for the integration of all line components into the extrusion control system to provide a technically sound and cost-effective solution. INTELECS™ installation may result in up to 50% improvements in gauge control and significant increase in extrusion line useful output (scrap reduction). INTELECS™ systems and components can be retrofitted to optimize the performance of existing extrusion lines or ordered by OEMs as integral control components for their new extrusion lines. A typical configuration of INTELECS™ from Intelecs Controls performs the following functions: Maintains gauge, width and layer composition of the final film product Controls all line operating parameters including temperatures, co-extrusion layer ratio and haul-off speed (line speed) Maintains the desired temperature profiles for all extruders and die zones according to the recipe of the product being made Controls extruder speeds according to the gravimetric monitoring of the material flow and desired gauge of every layer in the multilayer film structure Controls the blending process either directly or via an interface to a third party batch blending system Performs gauge profile monitoring (optional, requires infrared or ultrasonic sensor) Provides real-time trending for all major line parameters Stores unlimited amount of product recipes Performs alarms monitoring Accurately monitors material consumption and generates reports (per roll, order, shift, etc.)

INTELECS™ ONE - Mono-Layer Line Controller INTELECS™ ONE is a controller that performs process control and visualization tasks on the same hard real-time operating platform. It can be described as a "PLC with a screen" built on an almost standard PC hardware platform. Complex time-critical control tasks easily co-exist with very advanced color visualization processes due to the processor power and the efficiency of the hardware design. Fanless cooling system makes the controller very reliable even in the presence of very fine plastic dust. The device combines the robustness and reliability of PLC with the convenience of standard PC features. This controller is designed to be an inexpensive solution adding the presision of gravimetric control to the less sophisticated mono-layer extrusion lines. The INTELECS™ ONE system controls a single layer film production maintaining a desired film thickness as well as controlling the continuous blending process for up to 4 components.

INTELECS™ ONE Functional Specifications: Maintains the gauge of a monolayer film product by adjusting extruder speed or haul-off speed Maintains the desired temperature profiles for the extruder and die zones Controls the continuous blending process for one main flood-fed component (may be a blend delivered by a shared batch blender) and up to 3 additives fed by the individually controlled augers Provides interface functions that allow operator to specify the following parameters and setpoints: Gravimetric ratio for the continuous blender components (%) Film gauge setpoint (mils or microns) Haul-off speed setpoint (m/min or feet/min) Temperature setpoints for every extruder zone and die zone Allows manual control of every drive (extruder, blender augers, haul-off) Alarms monitoring (with optional light/sound device) Supports multi-language user interface (switchable) including Asian and Cycillic characters
INTELECS™ ONE Hardware Technical Specifications: Intel compatible 266 MHz processor running deterministic hard real-time operating system 5.7" QVGA color LCD display with touchscreen (resistive) and IP65 protection from the front 64 MB SDRAM for program/data storage Built-in Ethernet 10/100 network adapter Serial RS232 port 2 USB ports for serial printers, flash memory "sticks", etc. Fanless cooling, metal housing Power supply 24 V DC, lithium battery 256 KB SRAM Real-time clock Built-in CAN communication interface

INTELECS™ COEX - Co-Extrusion Line Control System INTELECS™ COEX is a control system designed to fulfill all the requirements of the most sophisticated co-extrusion blown film production. It's built on a solid foundation of the hard real-time operating system to ensure the highest degree of reliability. On the other hand, the system offers a lot of advanced features such as recipe handling, gauge profile monitoring, pre-defined schedule with temperature profiles for the gradual heating of extruders and die, production reports and statistical process control functions. INTELECS™ COEX features up to 15 inch colour touch screen or a combination of touch screen and push buttons. The INTELECS™ COEX system controls all aspects of multi-layer film production. It handles up to 12 layer film structures, up to 400 temperature control zones and up to 100 continuously blended chemical components.

INTELECS™ COEX Functional Specifications: Maintains gauge, width and layer composition of the final film product Controls all line operating parameters including temperatures, co-extrusion layer ratio and haul-off speed (line speed) Maintains the desired temperature profiles for all extruders and die zones according to the recipe of the product being made Controls extruder speeds according to the gravimetric monitoring of the material flow and desired gauge of every layer in the multilayer film structure Controls the blending process either directly or via an interface to a third party batch blending system Performs gauge profile monitoring (optional, requires infrared or ultrasonic sensor) Provides real-time trending for all major line parameters Performs alarms monitoring Generates reports (per roll, order, shift, etc.)
INTELECS™ COEX Hardware Technical Specifications: Intel compatible 266 MHz processor running deterministic hard real-time operating system Up to 15" VGA color TFT display with touchscreen (resistive) and IP65 protection from the front Up to 64 MB SDRAM for program/data storage Built-in Ethernet 10/100 network adapter Serial RS232 port 2 USB ports for serial printers, flash memory "sticks", etc. Compact Flash slot holding up to 2 GB Flash Drive with a file system for recipes and historical data storage Fanless cooling, metal housing Power supply 24 V DC, lithium battery 256 kB SRAM Real-time clock Up to 2 slots for digital communication adapters (CAN, Ethernet Powerlink, X2X)

INTELECS™ NET - Simultaneous Control of Multiple Mono-Layer Lines There are cases when it is more efficient to install a central control system looking after several mono-layer lines simultaneously. INTELECS™ NET does precisely that handling multiple drives, gravimetric measurements and remote I/O drops. INTELECS™ NET installation is a plant-wide system that includes a powerful central controller and very efficient fieldbus architecture. Both components are very important for the successful implementation of INTELECS™ NET configuration.

INTELECS™ BATCH - Simultaneous Control of Co-Extrusion Blown Film Line, Batch Blenders and Vacuum Loading System Some plastic processing companies prefer batch blending technology. Batch Blenders are very accurate and can be used in a shared configuration, when multiple extruders receive a blend of materials from a single Batch Blender. Batch Blender, however, can produce an estimate of its throughput only once per batch that may not be acceptable for the applications requiring more sensitivity with respect to throughput. INTELECS™ BATCH is designed to control an extrusion line that uses Batch Blenders to supply blends of resins to each extruder. The Batch Blender blending sequence control and vacuum loading system control are included in this process solution.

Extrusion Line Expert Concept INTELECS™ controllers are modern and sophisticated systems. The control logic and even the visualization objects are formally generated for every project by the code generator called EXTRUSION LINE EXPERT. This code generator is the collection of core services that know how to control every Blown Film Line component (extruder, bubble cage, blending system, treater, etc.) Every extrusion line component is represented by an XML model object easily changeable to address the specific requirements of every project. The collection of XML objects serves as the input for the EXTRUSION LINE EXPERT code generator that creates the actual logical statements and screen graphics. Such model-based approach allows Intelecs Controls to effectively handle a large variety of line configurations including retrofit and brand-new installations. Please contact us for more details related to the EXTRUSION LINE EXPERT engine and the objects it currently includes.

Plastics Industry -> INTELECS™ for Blown Film Lines