San Martino paper mill assign to SAEL the control and automation rebuilding of its laminating machine

After the excellent results obtained in the various drive and DCS reconstructions carried out in the last 5 years, San Martino paper mill assigned to SAEL the electrical rebuilding of the drive of its Pizzolato machine: a cutter in line with the sheet laminator system. Start up is scheduled at the end of 2023.

The job will imply a deep mechanical reconstruction, eliminating all the existing PIVs that will be motorized individually; moreover, the mechanical cutting kinematics – the heart of the system – will be replaced by new low-inertia AC motors that will control the two cutting blades. Beside the obsolete electronic renewing needs – due to efficiency lacks caused by spare parts unavailability – the revamping was required to upgrade the entire system fulfilling the safety regulations.

This new retrofit will be launched in the coming months and will offer powerful diagnostic tools to the machine operators. Thanks to the “open source” documentation and software, the video messages will support the plant maintenance. Another important part of the project will be all automation optimizations, to an easier and more user-friendly plant management. Nevertheless, laying the groundwork for possible and future upgrades.

The milestones of the job commissioned, are:

• Replacement of all existing automation systems with PLC-HW-Drive-transducers (today obsolete).
• Machine management through standard S7 1500 PLC FAIL-SAFE and integration of all the technological cutter functions formerly managed by the original systems.
• Implementation of the new Fail-Safe remote I/O modules for Safety upgrade.
• Replacement of the entire supervision section, currently located on dedicated PCs as well as custom operator panels (today obsolete).
• Integration of the machine control to the plant network for a 4.0 perspective.
• Supply of Sael inverters for the new motors cutting group, that controlling the AC motors.

The system will be linked to the plant management system for a production an control management; the ultimate goal will be production cycles downtime and waste reduction, increasing the productivity.