Automation Update - Issue 67

AUTOMATION UPDATE

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Issue 67

P

eco OWER AC

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AUTOMATION UPDATE Editorial Assistant Laura Sharpe 01843 580 460 laura@automation-update.co.uk Publishing Director Jodie Little 01843 580 460 jodie@jetdigitalmedia.co.uk Sales Director Tim Johnston 01843 448 443 tim@automation-update.co.uk Advertising Exec Jamie Simmons 01843 580 460 jamie@automation-update.co.uk

Automation Update is an engaging, editorially led publication & directory giving the reader news and updates on new products and services to our ever Progressing industry.

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Forerunner.

Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow.

The Sensor People have been setting technological standards in industrial automation for more than 50 years. This is how we ensure the success of our customers in an industry that is ever evolving.

We have been a forerunner from the start, and we are working on standardizing industrial communication. Among other things, we make sensors that are capable of transmitting data to control systems and the cloud via IO-Link and OPC-UA.

www.leuze.co.uk

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23.03.2020 10:50:21 Automation Update - 3

INCREDIBLE SERVO PERFORMANCE Not only does the mighty Twitter pack an incredible 5.5KW of qualitative power in a match boxed sized package of just 35 x 30 x 15.3mm weighting a mere 26 grams, but it’s crammed full of unbelievable technology including FSoE (functional safety over EtherCAT) plus an amazing array of class beating motion technology to allow automation developers to truly make smart machines, smarter.

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he Platinum series was designed to meet the evolving needs of OEM designers for smarter, smaller, faster servo, with higher functionality and ease-of-use. Platinum drives aim to assist machine and robotic manufacturers in creating better machines through both superior motion control and utmost safety Elmo Motion Control are a global manufacturer with R&D based in Israel along with production plants both in Israel and in Europe and subsidiaries in all major markets from US, through Europe to Fast East Elmo Motion UK, based in the midlands, provides local sales and application expertise to the UK market. Call us to discuss your motion requirements now T: 03303 327 983 E: info-uk@elmomc.com W: www.elmomc.com

4 - Automation Update

Platinum Twitter Highlights • World’s Smallest Most Powerful Servo Drive • Up to 80A/80V, 70A/100V, 30A/200V • Qualitative Power up to 5500W • Innovative Platinum line core • Ultra-Fast EtherCAT Networking • Functional Safety IEC 61800-5-2 (SIL-3, Cat4 PL-e) & FSoE

Platinum Series Highlights • Best-In-Class servo performance • World’s smallest servo technology to feature functional safety and safety over EtherCAT (FSoE) • Higher bandwidth, faster response, enhanced linearity and highest control resolutions • Ultra-efficient EtherCAT with cycling down to 100us, high synchronization with negligible jitters and near zero latency • Added feedback support: up to three simultaneously, or two absolute feedbacks • High processing power with large memory resources for better control, enhanced processing, and real time recording

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4Sight V2 – take a different view on automatic print inspection The difficulty of checking the presence, location and legibility of print, barcodes and specific artwork on packaging can not be underestimated and the launch of 4Sight last year addressed some of these issues. Working with SICK, we have been able to show how customers can avoid expensive reworks, packaging waste and, worse case scenario, retailer fines by ensuring all products leave the factory with legible codes in the correct location.

The 4Sight application has already received global interest, particularly from customers looking for an alternative to expensive OCR/OCV products. 4Sight uses a different, focussed approach to inline print quality inspection which does not follow the usual OCR/OCV route of teaching fonts. By using our detailed understanding of coding equipment and the characteristics of what they print, AutoCoding Systems has been able to develop a product which is adaptable to differing requirements, putting the user at the core of what they deem to be acceptable print quality – taking into account factors such as printing technology, speed of line and processing time.

The unique feature of 4Sight is Inspection Depth which gives users the choice to define the level of quality required for their inspection. The objective is to determine, with a high level of confidence, that the print is of adequate quality for the specific application. The user can decide on the print quality tolerance thresholds to define what is considered a good read, bad read and poor read on a per product basis. The deeper the inspection depth,

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the greater the processing time, but even at the highest inspection depth with the lowest tolerances, delivering exceptional results both in terms of quality and accuracy, the speed of inspection is faster and more reliable than conventional OCR. The latest version of 4Sight delivers even more flexibility and functionality than its predecessor. With the ability to combine inspections, multiple inspections can take place simultaneously. Users will have the ability to configure up to 4 different inspections, including print, barcodes or artwork, across a range of up to 4 cameras.

For example, one camera could perform a print inspection in two different areas of the field of view, each with its own region of interest and settings.

Alternatively, one camera could perform a print inspection plus a 2D barcode read in the same area, whilst another camera inspects specific packaging artwork.

With three different set-up options; standalone, printer-led or integrated into a code deployment solution; even greater flexibility is offered. The newly

enhanced HMI offers users easy-tonavigate, clear drop-down menus, with explanatory descriptions where relevant. The step-by-step Wizards ensure that new users, with the relevant permissions, can hit the ground running, creating new inspection configurations or loading existing inspection configurations with ease.

Managing Director, Mike Hughes, stated, “The 4Sight product is a gamechanger when it comes to automatic print inspection. Many companies veer away from automatic print inspection because historically it’s been expensive, unreliable and complicated to set-up.

4Sight alleviates these fears by offering a viable alternative to OCR/OCV methodology.

"Many applications outside of pharmaceutical now don’t need to rely on OCR/OCV. 4Sight offers the accuracy of OCR but at a consistent level without the usual nuisance stops. It allows an acceptable level of print degradation, specified by the user, before determining that the print is a bad read.” www.autocodingsystems.com

PRODUCT SHOWCASE – ON THE SHELF Stock items available immediately

Tempmaster PRO Precision Thermometer The Tempmaster PRO from Labfacility provides very high precision temperature measurement with Pt100 sensors. www.labfacility.com

L300 8 Zone Temperature Alarm / Controller with Pt or TC inputs The Labfacility L300 Pt100 and TC temperature alarm / on-off controller can be used in conjunction with a PC to provide accurate monitoring and alarm or on-off control of up to 8- zones simultaneously www.labfacility.com

L60 Thermocouple & Fine Wire Welder The Thermocouple Welder, manufactured by Labfacility, is a compact, simple-to-use instrument designed for thermocouple and fine wire welding. www.labfacility.com

Labcal PRO Precision Thermometer The Labcal PRO from Labfacility is fully characterised for Pt100 sensors and all major thermocouples. www.labfacility.com

Bognor Regis 01243 871280 | Sheffield 01909 569446 sales@labfacility.com

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Han® S: Reliable connections for modular energy storage systems New series features housings accommodating a heavy-current contact up to 200 A HARTING is now offering the Han® S, the first ever large-scale special connector for battery storage modules. The new series meets the technical requirements set down in the latest standards for stationary energy storage systems (including UL 4128) and offers users optimal reliability for connected units. The series features housings with space for a heavy-current contact up to 200 A. The contacts are mounted in a housing, which is freely pivotable. The locking system engages intuitively. The use of red for plus and black for minus, combined with the mechanical coding system, means that the interfaces cannot be confused. Han® S thereby facilitates fast and reliable mating for energy storage modules and helps to process high numbers of connections. Alternatively, the new series can also be installed as part of a control line (BUS system) for the battery management system. It features special contacts in the housing to support this.

Interfaces in modular energy storage systems are subject to special requirements. For instance, the wiring for lithium-ion batteries requires compact plug connections that do not heat their surroundings even when transmitting high currents. The connector housing must move as freely as possible to serve storage units effectively in terms of enhancing performance and efficient cooling.

Below: Han® S as a connecting element in energy storage cabinets (Tesvolt).

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Above: Han® S is the new, reliable connection technology for modular battery storage systems. The compact and flexible housings offer space for contacts up to 200 A.).

The Han® S series combines straight attachment housings with angled ‘sleeves’ that have integrated pivotable protective elements for the contacts. This combination can be rotated 360°, a key feature given the very limited space between the door opening and energy storage modules in a storage cabinet. This results in flexible connectors with high current load capacity, enabling the integration of the maximum number of storage components in the available space.

Further information: www.harting.com/UK/en-gb/connector-battery-storage

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SICK Launches SensorApp for Colour Inspection and Sorting SICK is continuing the roll-out of its customisable SensorApps for ‘easy’ machine vision, with the launch of its Colour Inspection and Sorting App, a cost-saving and simple solution for common inline quality control tasks in automated production and packaging applications.

The SICK Colour Inspection and Sorting SensorApp is a ready-made, yet flexible, packaged solution based on the ultracompact SICK Pico- or midiCam 2D streaming cameras. It is the first to be integrated with a choice of SICK Sensor Integration Machines as well as providing LED illumination and a photoelectric sensor to complete the set-up.

The Colour and Sorting SensorApp can be used to check that goods, assemblies or packs on a conveyor are the right size or colour. It can count objects with different sizes and colours as well as validate the correct colour or colour gradations, for example of baked goods or automotive components in an assembly.

Objects with anomalies, such as the wrong colour or size, can be identified for rejection and the integrity and completeness of secondary packaging can be confirmed.

“The Colour and Sorting SensorApp is the latest ready-made solution to be developed

by SICK in our AppSpace software framework and reflects a trend for SICK to provide more packaged hardware and software kits that solve common machine vision tasks,” says Neil Sandhu, SICK’s UK Product Manager for Imaging, Measurement and Ranging.

“The App comes with all the instructions you need for a really simple set-up. It can be customised to meet individual needs

and to extend the application with additional sensor and actuators, as required. The field of view can be adjusted by choosing from a range of camera resolutions and lenses and the ambient conditions of your production environment can simply be matched to the correct level of illumination.

“The easy-to-use solution includes everything you need for the camera set-up, together with step-by-step instructions to teach-in the inspection. In the graphical user interface, the object colour can be matched by using the colour scale or by simply inputting the colour pigment. Object sizes are easily defined by minimum and maximum pixel values. A demo mode is included with example images to show the principle of operation in simple terms.”

The SICK Colour Inspection and Sorting SensorApp allows different inspections to be saved as jobs. In total, 12 different objects can be determined in one job and up to 10 different jobs can be saved at any time. The SensorApp is designed to work with the SICK SIM4000, SIM1012 or SIM1004 Sensor Integration Machines, as appropriate for the application.

Triggered by the photoelectric sensor supplied, the 2D vision camera sends an image to the Sensor Integration Machine, which then processes the image

according to the object specifications, before outputting a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ decision.

Results are provided by the intuitive graphical user interface and can be configured with digital output and TCP/IP. The SICK picoCam and midiCam streaming cameras are ultra-compact industrial digital cameras with GigE interface, easily integrated using industrygrade M12 plug connectors for the voltage supply and trigger signals. As an alternative, it is also possible to operate them with just one cable measuring up to 100m in length using Power over Ethernet (PoE).

The SICK Colour and Sorting App is a simple and elegant solution for low-cost, easy-set-up common inspection tasks that can operate in decentralised, ‘edge’ configurations using Sensor Integration Machines to power localised applications and take the processing load off higherlevel controls such as PLCs, as part of Industry 4.0-compatible production environments.

For more information please contact Andrea Hornby on 01727 831121 or email andrea.hornby@sick.co.uk. www.sick.co.uk

12 - Automation Update

Brainboxes expand their range of Ethernet Switches with a new 5 Port Gigabit Switch 10X FASTER THAN FAST ETHERNET Brainboxes new Gigabit Ethernet Switch offers 5 unmanaged Ethernet ports within a compact, wall-mountable enclosure.

With data transmission at 1000 Mbs per second; the Gigabit standard provides simultaneous sending and receiving of data at a speed 10 times faster than Fast Ethernet.

Backwards compatible; the SW-015 can plug into older networks, and connect to devices that are 10Mbs, Fast Ethernet (100Mbs) or Gigabit, whilst detecting the highest common speed between both ends of the connection.

As with all Ethernet Switches in the Brainboxes range - the SW-015 can be powered from +5VDC to +30VDC, and has a wide operating temperature range (-100C to +600C /-140F to +1400C.) Connection monitoring automatically powers down devices when not in use for optimum energy efficiency.

At a glance: • 5 Gigabit Ethernet ports – bi-directional data flow at super-fast speed • No software required - simply plug in and connect • Backwards compatible – plug into older networks & connect to existing devices • Wide operating temperature range (-10ºC to +60ºC/-14ºF to +140ºF) • Wide voltage input range (+5V to +30V) - can be powered by varied sources • Compact design • Integral wall mount efficient use of space

Further information is available from the Brainboxes website.

14 - Automation Update

HOW DEEP LEARNING AUTOMATES INSPECTIONS FOR PACKAGING SOLUTIONS Increasingly, packaging products require their own custom inspection systems to perfect quality, eliminate false rejects, improve throughput, and eliminate the risk of a recall. Some of the foundational machine vision applications along a packaging line include verifying that a label on a package is present, correct, straight, and readable. Other simple packaging inspections involve presence, position, quality (no flags, tears, or bubbles), and readability (barcode and date/lot codes present and scannable) on a label.

For this type of inspection, manufacturers need highly flexible inspection systems which can locate and verify that individual items are present and correct, arranged in the proper configuration, and match their external packaging.

effective new tool at the disposal of application engineers in the packaging industry. Deep learning technology can handle all different types of packaging surfaces, including paper, glass, plastics, and ceramics, as well as their labels.

Be it a specific defect on a printed label or the cutting zone for a piece of packaging, Cognex Deep Learning can identify all of these regions of interest simply by learning the varying appearance of the targeted zone. Using an array of tools, Cognex Deep Learning can then locate and count complex objects or features, detect anomalies, and classify said objects or even entire scenes. And last but not least, it can recognize and verify alphanumeric characters using a pre-trained font library.

But packaging like bottles, cans, cases, and boxes—present in many industries, including food and beverage, consumer products, and logistics—can’t always be accurately inspected by traditional machine vision. For applications which present variable, unpredictable defects on confusing surfaces such as those that are highly patterned or suffer from specular glare, manufacturers have typically relied on the flexibility and judgment-based decision-making of human inspectors.

Yet human inspectors have some very large tradeoffs for the modern consumer packaged goods industry: they aren’t necessarily scalable.

New deep learning-enabled vision systems differ from traditional machine vision because they are essentially selflearning and trained on labeled sample images without explicit programming.

For applications which resist automation yet demand high quality and throughput, deep learning technology is an

For more information on deep learning for packaging solutions click here.

16 - Automation Update

Deep learning-based software uses human-like intelligence which is able to appreciate nuances like deviation and variation and outperform even the best quality inspectors at making reliably correct judgments. Most importantly, however, is that it is able to solve more complex, previously un-programmable automation challenges.

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ifm launches G 1/2 pressure sensors for hygienic applications The first hygienic pressure sensors on the market with a G 1/2 fitting, products in the new PM15 range from ifm electronic provide a convenient and dependable solution to the problem of measuring pressure in small pipes, such as those often found in dosing and filling systems.

Thanks to their G 1/2 thread, the sensors can be installed quickly and easily without the need for expensive adaptors and, as they use oil-free ceramic sensing cells, they are ideal for applications in the food, pharmaceutical and other hygiene-sensitive industry sectors.

PM15 pressure sensors feature I/O-link connectivity, which ensures accurate transmission of measurements even in electrically noisy environments and allows the sensors to additionally provide temperature measurements.

In many applications, this eliminates the need for a separate temperature sensor, thereby saving money and reducing complexity.

The sensors also provide a 4 to 20 mA analogue output for pressure measurements only.

Since they need no elastomer seal and incorporate a pre-mounted PEEK sealing ring, PM15 sensors are virtually maintenance free. All types have stainlesssteel bodies with an IP67 or better ingress protection rating, depending on the method of installation.

They are highly resistant to pressure and vacuum shock, and to the effects of abrasive substances. In addition, they are suitable for use with media over a wide temperature range of -25 to +125 ºC (<1hr: 150ºC). These features, together with their robust construction, make the new sensors ideally suited for use in even the most demanding environments. ifm electronic is currently offering the PM15 G 1/2 hygienic pressure sensor with ranges from 0 to 2.5 barg through to -1 to 40 barg and all have a minimum of 5 x measuring range overload resistance.

18 - Automation Update

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Whether food or beverage industry, milk production or meat processing: The ifm pressure transmitter, PM, reliably monitors your process, with a high accuracy of 0.2 percent! The excellent temperature compensation allows for rapid temperature changes in the process, eg. In CIP / SIP up to 150° C. This makes the pressure transmitter ideal for demanding applications in the food industry.

A free factory calibration certificate for each sensor is available as a download.

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Powering Out Of Lockdown The recent lockdown has initiated significant changes to the working practices of most businesses. Reich Drive Systems UK, like many other agile businesses, has used the lockdown period to turn the challenges that it presented into opportunities for the future.

David Proud, General Manager of Reich Drive Systems UK explains how the company has not only adapted to a new working environment, but also how the business has become stronger as a result.

For many the greatest challenge presented at the outset of lockdown was the re-organisation of resource to ensure safe working practices for employees, whilst still maintaining effective business trading. In addition, the restrictions on unnecessary travel combined with social distancing measures brought with them the demise of face to face meetings and the need for individuals to embrace digital communications options.

The strategy put in place in March of this year has served the business well in recent months and has laid the foundations for a strong and positive outlook for the remainder of 2020.

David Proud concludes: “ From a business perspective, the lockdown period presented the opportunity to take a holistic view of how we operated, allowing us to not only focus on what worked well, but how we could adapt to become even more efficient and effective.

Now with established and proven procedures in place we are set up and ready to maximise the opportunities available to us as lockdown continues to be eased.

Whilst we will continue to make use of the digital communications channels that have served us so well recently, we are now also in a position to re-commence customer visits whilst adhering to Government guidelines in force at the time and making effective use of appropriate PPE.”

Over recent months Reich has successfully put in place a series of measures which has allowed the business to operate effectively, maintaining contact with customers and importantly ensuring ongoing deliveries and availability of technical support.

David Proud explains: “As a lean and agile business we were able to adapt quickly to the changes imposed upon us by the COVID-19 crisis. Wherever possible we arranged for employees to work remotely and also implemented safe working practices for those still working in our office.

Our manufacturing facility in Germany remained at full capacity throughout, enabling us to maintain scheduled deliveries to our customers.”

www.reich-uk.com 20 - Automation Update

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Automation Update - 21

Protecting Your Plant Before

Rotech Motion Sensor’s can be used whenever information or monitoring of shaft rotation, position, direction, speed, slip etc is required!

Rotech Motion Sensor’s can be used for indication, control, interlocking, protection, sequencing, alarm initiations and many more functions!

Rotech Motion Sensor’s can be used wherever materials are transported or processed By conveyors, elevators, screws, mixers, etc!

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