Design of Servo Drive System for Automatic Packaging/Wrapping Line

The design of packaging and wrapping machines demands a high degree of automation to achieve fast and precise coordination of synchronized and dependent motions. Consequently, specially designed mechanical mechanisms are typically employed. However, these motion solutions have limited flexibility which makes them nonoptimal when motion changes are required. In such scenarios, it is often necessary to either install an entirely new mechanism or replace it with a servo drive, which can provide nonuniform motion. The decision to replace the entire mechanism with a servo drive system is widely and effectively implemented in packaging industry nowadays. In this paper the example of application of Siemens hardware and software tools in designing servo drive system for horizontal packaging and wrapping line is presented. The paper provides a brief overview of servo system design using currently available set of tools, which facilitate initial system demand planning, hardware specification, and final design. The process includes equipment defining, configuring, programming, and testing, through a case study of a packaging/wrapping machine designed for specific types of insulation building materials.