Siemens highlights motion control and plant communications technologies

Atlanta, Georgia — At this year’s National Plastics Exposition (NPE), Siemens presented various automation, drives, motion control solutions and plant communications enhancements for the polymer industry and related end-user markets.

The demonstrations at NPE included the following developments from Siemens:

Industrial Ethernet Connectivity

Whether developing a Greenfield project with new and existing production equipment, adding stations to an extrusion line or expanding a brownfield installation for improved plant communications, regardless of the control brands on-board, plastics professionals can utilise the Siemens Sinamics drive platform to link all data devices and quickly expand a network.

Whether the plant runs Profinet, Profibus or Ethernet as its main bus, all machines and materials handling devices inline can now be connected.  This reduces total-cost-of-ownership and eliminates the need to match the existing drive network.  Integration of all legacy controls are made easily.

Totally Integrated Operations (TIA) and TIA Portal

In the real manufacturing world the Totally Integrated Automation (TIA) concept ensures the efficient interoperability of all automation components. The TIA Portal provides an engineering framework for implementing automation solutions in the plastics industry. From designing, commissioning, operating and maintaining to upgrading automation systems, the TIA portal saves engineering time, cost and effort.

Energy-Efficient Servo Pump Technology

Traditional hydraulic fluid solutions use pumps that run constantly which wastes energy.  The hydraulic fluids can be challenging to manage and maintain.  With a servo related solution to replace existing motors that run during the entire production shift, you can replace the main hydraulic motor and increase your performance while taking a step towards a greener solution for your process.

At NPE, Siemens also presented the new Sinamics servo pump and demonstrate how it delivers hydraulic oil, as needed, through its closed-loop pressure system.