Reaction Injection Molding

Services

Our experience with injection molding and reputation as a industry leader in controls, hydraulics, motion control, and technical service presented us with an opportunity to enter the RIM (Reaction Injection Molding) field.  Over the past several years we have developed this into a major potion of our business, providing technical service, troubleshooting, hydraulic and control upgrades for RIM system.  We have worked on most manufactures RIM presses, including Milacron, Hinkley, Admiral, and Linden

S-Max RIM Control Upgrades

Integral Controls, Inc. had already developed and successfully provided our S-Max IMM control system for several years when presented an opportunity to upgrade our first RIM system.  The speed and power of the S-Max controller made it the perfect fit for developing a new control system for the RIM industry resulting in the S-Max RIM control system introduced to the industry over three years ago. Since it’s introduction we have upgraded over twelve RIM presses, with entire manufacturing facilities standardizing on our control system.

Integrated Controller and HMI

The control system is based upon Phoenix Contacts S-Max controller, running Entivities Visual Logic Controller and MMI.  This is an extremely powerful control system, capable of scan times as low as 200 us, and is perfect fit for any project. This is an open control system that can be modified or expanded at any time.  This system has many advantages over traditional PLC based systems, including an integrated HMI with advanced features, simple flow chart programming, and extremely fast scan times to name a few. The Phoenix Contact S-Max controller is an embedded PC with no moving parts. This provides the power and flexibility of a PC based system with the reliability and ease of use of a PLC based system.  The controller has both Profibus and Modbus TCP/IP communication protocols allowing it to connect to a large verity of devices.

Powerful

The power and speed of the S-Max controller allows all of the control to be performed by one CPU.  A single processor performs the machine control, closed loop lance injection control, closed loop clamp control, closed loop temperature control, and HMI functions. Most systems would require a main processor for the machine sequence and coprocessor card for all of the addition functions, such as closed temperature control.  The more temperature zones a system has, the more coprocessors would be required, thus the more complex and expensive the system will become.  Our system uses the same processor for all of these functions eliminating the need for coprocessor cards.  This simplifies the system and greatly reduces the cost.  The more complex the molding machine the more cost effective our system becomes. Our processor does all of this while still running a 2 millisecond scan time.  Most control systems are only capable of a program scan time of 20-30 milliseconds. This scan time includes reading all inputs, processing all of the machine control logic, closed loop control calculation, and then writing to all of the outputs. This speed allows our system to have extremely tight closed loop control, makes it extremely repeatable, and improves cycle times. Our system can see an input change or position reached, make a decision based upon it, and energize a valve 10-15 times while other systems are still executing the logic for the first time.

User Friendly HMI

Integral Controls Inc. has used our years of experience with different molding machines to create and HMI (operator interface) package that is easy to use. The screens are laid out in an organized manner, and provide you with all of the flexibility required to process your parts. We have included advanced features in our HMI that other systems don't or can't provide. Some of these feature are listed below

• The logic controlling the machine can be monitored form the HMI screens.
• The status of every input and output can be monitored from the HMI.
• Outputs can be forced on/off for troubleshooting.
• Every pressure, position, and proportional valve command can be trended on the HMI screens providing graphical images of processes. An example would be clamp pressure, position, along with the pressure valve and speed valve commands all graphed on the same screen, at the same time.
• The times of every step of the machine sequences are logged and displayed on a cycle breakdown screen for the past ten machine cycles. All of these times can also be graphed. The graph with trend the past 720 cycles of the machine.
• The HMI's security features allow access to different variables only if the user current user has a high enough security level. New users can be added at any time as well as user names and passwords modified. Calibration screen can only be accessed by maintenance and supervisor levels.
• Our HMI has unlimited recipe storage. Any process specific parameters can easily be saved onto the flash drive. They can latter be recalled as long as the machine pumps are off. The recipes are saved in a format that can be view using Microsoft Excel if required.
• All variables can be accessed by your network using our systems built in OPC and DDE servers
• With the screens being our own design we can easily configure them or add additional features you may require with ease.

Position/Velocity Measurement

• Our S-Max IMM system provides further cost saving by using MTS Temposonic rods over a Profibus network for our position measurements. This allows us to monitor up to twelve positions with each Temposonic rod. We can monitor clamp, and ejector position with one rod.  By not using a separate measurement device for each position we reduce the number of components used which reduces the systems cost, plus simplifies the system.  Existing components can be used for cost savings, but we recommend upgrading to the Temposonic rods for the reliability, resolution, and repeatability they will provide. The Temposonic rods provide our control system with .005 mm of resolution for extremely tight position and velocity control. Temposonic rods have been proven to be rugged and reliable with years of use on molding machines. The Temposonic rods connect to our control system over a Profibus DP high-speed communication network.
  

I/O System

• Our control system uses a Profibus DP high-speed communication network. This not only allows us to have extremely fast I/O update rates buts allows us to communicate with almost every manufactures I/O products. Most popular I/O systems can communicate over a Profibus network. This means if your company has standardized on a particular manufacturer such as Allen Bradley, or GE Fanuc, we can integrate their I/O into our control system.  The standard I/O that our system uses is Beckhoff’s Field-bus I/O. This is a rugged, flexible system that is priced to be competitive. Using a distributed I/O system and a Profibus network, allows us to have either one central I/O strip in the electrical cabinet or several strategically placed I/O strips anywhere on the machine. It also allows us to expand the system at anytime if required.

Crossover Prevention

Integral Controls, Inc. has developed advanced cross over detection/prevention software.  This software continually monitors the injection sequence, once an injection variable is detected to be out of specification the injection system is locked out, preventing an injection crossover. All injection variables are sampled every 2 milliseconds, creating log files of the injection data.  This data can be analyzed to determined the cause of the potential crossover. The example below shows a potential crossover, where a mix head failed.

Remote Diagnostics

• The S-Max RIM control has remote diagnostics built into it. We can dial in over an analog phone line or connect over your companies network to perform remote diagnostics and troubleshoot at your request. This can reduce down time, increasing production.

Documentation

• Once a control upgrade is performed, Integral Controls, Inc. will provide our customer with a full documentation package. This package includes the electrical, bill of materials, spare parts list, and full copies of the HMI and machine control software