Packaging

Usually products require a final packaging stage that comes in the form of a cardboard case or carton. Case packers are designed for speed but also have a gentle rhythm as to prevent damage to the core products when being placed or wrapped around with a solid medium.

System Q is specifically designed to meet these needs offering a flexible range of products that can be configured for a specific application. The Q series motion system is eminently suitable for complex systems with many moving parts, as seen in typical packaging machinery. It offers the high degree of synchronization required to prevent errors in machine processes such as box opening, taping and transfer conveyors.

For simple bagging machines, where the end product is placed in a plain bag, pouch or sack, Mitsubishi Electric's FX Series PLCs offer a wide range of controllers with special function blocks, adapters and serial communication boards to fit a complete application solution. To prevent the foil bagging material from shearing on the tubular fill pipe, two synchronous axes are needed for precise feed control. With a servo system network using SSCNET III technology and the FX3U-20SSC-H controller, two independent axes work together to simultaneously start and stop the single speed positioning operation using the "mark to move" registration techniques.

Palletizing and de-palletizing applications are very similar, the difference being in that one is usually at the plant start point and the latter situated near the shipping section. These kinds of systems are usually simple in architecture, and do not require extensive servo control. However, still rely on high performance and high accuracy while keeping the cost down to a minimum.

For smaller applications, not requiring a motion controller, the QD75 module provides up to 4 axes of high accuracy servo control. Other aspects of control such as transport conveyors can be controlled using with the FR-A700 series of intelligent AC drives.