The bending of tubes Pedrazzoli opt for B & R technology

"We have international clients in many industries, including automotive, the aeronautical, air conditioning and heating, chemical industry, food, etc.", says Roberto Cian Seren, director of Marketing of Pedrazzoli IBP. "The day of today, more than 50% of our production is exported to all over the world." "A network of subsidiary offices and distributors provide local support."

A significant example of the production of Pedrazzoli IBP is your new machine folding of 9 axes pipes, called Bend Master 45. The machine can run both bent with curved fixed as folded under pressure from the first type of bending roller tube tied in a matrix of dubbing while bending axis forms a tube around the fixed array from folding. In the second case, the tube is pushed through rollers by extrusion, varying the radio medium curvature and rotation in space.

"On the machine that uses only one electric axis, there are many components of automation which provider is B & R", says the head of the Department's r & d in Pedrazzoli IBP. They include, first of all, the CPU X 20 for the control of the machine; In addition, there are approximately 20 digital inputs, 20 digital outputs and some analog inputs/outputs of type X 20. Investors ACOPOS are used in the 9 axes, commanded by PowerLink. Another strength of PowerLink is also used. "Select the PowerLink bus first of all by the high speed of communication and the conectibidad that provides the Ethernet cable", explains Michele Rigon, responsible for r & d.

Bend Master 45, the CPU B & R has an industrial PC with a software interface to manage the operator interface. To communicate with the CNC, Pedrazzoli IBP developed own protocol based on Ethernet, independent of the operating system. This allows machines operate with operating systems other than Windows, such as for example Linux.

Operator based in Pedrazzoli software, interface allows the machine to receive instructions for the implementation of the desired product. The product to be manufactured is shown in 3D in the console of the operator, along with a simulation of all the movements of the machine. Before the commencement of the work cycle, the control system checks the presence of possible collisions and if no errors are found, the work programme is downloaded to the CPU. During the work cycle, the graphical interface monitors, in real time, the passage of the program that is being executed and the progress of the elaborate piece. All production data are saved in local and remote databases.

"Previous control systems did not provide the benefits that we asked for them and therefore are looking for a solution for automation of more high-performance and efficient", according to Michele Rigon. After examining thoroughly different control solutions, it became clear that B & R met our needs with its great flexibility. Today, we are able to schedule all our bending machines and cutting using a single control architecture. A significant advantage is that the basic configuration remains the same on all our machines.

After taking the 20 X CPU as replacement for the previous CNC, Pedrazzoli decided to switch to digital axes. After checking that CANopen could not offer sufficient benefits to interpolate 6 or 7 axes at the same time, he was replaced by PowerLink. The selection of Acopos motion control was a natural consequence.

"We are progressively replacing the current CNC control with B & R control to improve the performance and functionality of our machines," adds Michele Rigon. Future machines that develops Pedrazolli PPI will be used by B & r. "the path is clear: our new machines will be implemented using B & R systems, while in the current machines we will implement progressive retrofittings, with changes both in the mechanical part as electric"adds to logistics manager Andrea Fioretti. "This will allow us manage a period of transition which otherwise could generate problems of obsolescence for some of our products on the market", according to Fioretti.