FIRST SIEMENS SIMODRIVE 611U SYSTEM FOR FORD KOMATSU TRANSFER PRESS


CNC Design Australia has just completed a first for the Automotive Industry in Australia, in particular for a Stamping Plant project in the South East Asia / Pacific region. CNC Design was commissioned by the management of the Ford Geelong Stamping Plant to retrofit a critical aspect of their Komatsu Transfer Press.

The 'Roll-Over Arms' form a key component of this Komatsu Transfer Press. The blanks are loaded onto the Roll-Over Arms once they come out of the first press operation, as the wording suggests the blanks is turned over 180 degree's and then fed into the transfer part of the press for a further four pressing operations.

The problems faced by Ford from the old Servo Drive system was it's lack of reliability, and also it took long periods to reset once home positions, and reference points had been lost. Large amounts of maintenance time was spent rectifying these problems. CNC Design was asked to install a new Siemens Simodrive 611U system with S7 PLC that would integrate easily into the existing non-Siemens press control.

New 1FT6 Servo Motors with brake, and absolute encoders were installed to add stability and consistency to the system. With these type of motors in place, referencing now became a simple, 'one button push' function. A home position, soft limits, half cycles, manual mode, auto mode, and braking speeds, where all established to provide very simple easy to maintain functionality. The entire system was built, tested, and pre-commissioned on it's own gear tray in our Melbourne production area ready for a quick installation.

The key to the whole success of this project revolved around a project schedule of 7 days over the Easter period. Ford could only provide the Transfer Press for this short period of time. The completed Simodrive system was installed by Ford personnel and then wired to their existing control system. Commissioning was completed by one of CNC Design's Project Engineers, Graeme Linsdell.
Once testing had been completed then went live and worked immediately, final commissioning took less than a day. Referencing the motor's is now just a simple matter of pressing the "home" button. A problem area that used to take up to 20 minutes for three people is now a simple function that takes one person only 5 seconds.