Completed projects

Central supervisory system for monitoring and controlling:

• the complete heating and ventilation system
• lighting and roof flaps
• room temperatures, with monitoring and logging
• energy consumption at approx. 100 metering points (machine tools, robot cells, lighting), with measurement, display and analysis
• archiving of current values to an SQL database
• PDF and XLSX reports on machine utilisation, electricity consumption, gas consumption …
• detailed alarming for all critical system components

The core of the system consists of 9 Siemens S7-1500 controllers with Siemens ET 200SP distributed I/O and a SCADA system built with WinCC Unified (TIA Portal V18).

This is an ongoing project: since commissioning, we have continuously been upgrading and extending the system with new functions.

The project extends the base software of a CNC machine that sews decorative stitching onto leather parts.

Cameras are used to determine CNC program correction factors for each individual part relative to a reference program: origin offsets in X and Y, rotation angle, and scaling in X and Y.

The PC application communicates with the controller through a dedicated USB interface that captures key process signals and passes commands to the base application.

Since the software was developed and tested in 2016, we have installed it on 10 machines.

The furnaces are used in pairs. The first heats the load gradually and then holds it at a set temperature (heating curve). After heating, the baskets with the parts are quenched in a cooling medium for a defined time.

The second furnace is used for artificial ageing: the parts are heated to a set temperature that must be held within 3 °C throughout the entire furnace volume (approx. 5 m³). The particular challenge was control across 6 zones within a single chamber – each zone has its own heaters and sensor, and the heaters of one zone also affect the temperature of the others.

Process data is written to a local server via a data logger.

The central supervisory system monitors and controls the complete heating and cooling system of office and production premises covering more than 20,000 m². It provides room temperature and humidity monitoring, weekly setpoint schedules, automatic shutdown temperatures, frost protection and detailed alarming for all critical system components.

The main control cabinet is located in the boiler room and communicates with 6 sub-cabinets in different parts of the plant. The boiler room can also be operated from the operator panel on the main control cabinet.

The machines cut leather goods parts by rolling over cutting dies placed on the leather. The aim was to completely renew the worn-out electrical and pneumatic systems, as the machine frames were still in very good condition, well maintained and refined over the years.

We replaced all electrical cables and wires, renewed the complete pneumatic piping, replaced individually controlled valves with Profinet valve terminals, replaced the energy-hungry vacuum pump with far more efficient vacuum ejectors, and replaced contactor control of the two-speed wheel drive motors with frequency converters.

The control system provides precise control of five zones heated by electric band heaters and one air-cooled zone on a nozzle for dosing liquid magnesium. Process data is stored locally on a USB stick.

Sewage sludge from wastewater treatment plants is mixed with ash in a precisely defined ratio (heavy metal stabilisation). The end product can be deposited in the environment (waterproof capping of landfills, cores of flood embankments …).

The presses cut parts for leather seat covers by pressing cutting dies placed on the leather with a hydraulically driven bridge. Particular attention was paid to operator safety, as the press applies a force of 2 MN (200 tonnes), and to control of the bridge stroke height.

The machine hot-stamps lettering into leather (e.g. AIR BAG, manufacturer logos …). The control system regulates the temperature of the platen (bottom) and the stamping head (top) according to the entered work order (entered with a QR code scanner). Data is sent to a database on a local server.

Winding of welding wire with a diameter of 0.54–1.6 mm with a precisely defined number of layers and turns per layer, without overlapping turns. The wire is rewound from a spool of approx. 60 cm diameter onto spools of approx. 10 cm diameter at approx. 5 m/s.

Winding of spiral ice conveyors from 8 mm stainless steel rods (various lengths and numbers of turns).

A linear servo axis follows the rotation angle of the drive spindle, based on numerical data from 3D drawings approximated with polynomial functions.

Gas meter housings are tested by immersion in water and a pressure test. The housing is placed in a specially shaped clamping head, where a pneumatic cylinder seals one port while compressed air is supplied to the other. The housing is automatically filled with air to a preset pressure, then a flap opens and a transparent tank filled with water rises to immerse the meter. Any leakage is checked visually (air bubbles) and with a pressure gauge.