For a food processing and conveyance application.
The Client wanted the belt to index, call another machine to drop product onto the belt, and then index again. They also wanted another mode where the belt ran continuously for cleaning purposes.
Previously, the Client was having issues with their conveyor belt not indexing accurately. Over time the position that the operator set would walk over time.
In many applications such as this, the belt may not move as desired due to an undersized gearbox and motor combination. Other applications may have open loop control systems where there is no feedback on the motor. A great way to solve such indexing problems is to install a servo motor (closed loop control) which has an encoder. This can eliminate positioning errors that sometimes occur in open-loop control systems.
Kollmorgen servos also offer a significant amount of programming functionality which means for many simple motion control applications, a separate motion controller is not required. For example, indexing a conveyor belt when an input signal is received can be done without another motion controller. The speed and position of the motions are easily configurable.
In this application it was important that the motor was specified for washdown. Washdown can mean many different things. It is just a generic term that tells you that water is involved. It does not tell you whether it is submersion proof, or what level of pressurized water jet can be thrown at the motor without significant water ingress. In this application an IP67 motor was specified which means the motor is rated to be exposed to a certain amount of water immersion.
For all applications, it is important that the integrator have motion control programming knowledge. It is also important to be able wire up the servo drive properly, respect the environmental operating conditions, and understand how the machine works.
Clients, locations, and other details omitted for client privacy reasons.