The Duct Liner System is part of a manufacturing line that produces rectangular duct sections from metal coils. In the sheet metal fabrication sector, this is called a Full Coil Line and it is the workhorse of the industry. My project, The Duct Liner System, has three main functions:

1. Uncoil and shear the duct liner,
2. Apply glue to the metal sheet,
3. Locate and pin the liner to the metal sheet.

The uncoil, shear and gluing portions are relatively easy (rewiring, updating pneumatic actuators etc.). However, the challenge comes with the old Gripnail pinning machine. This will need to be replaced with a weld pinning type machine that has manual controls and a different footprint. I will be using an Allen Bradley Micro 850 plc to account for the new inputs/outputs associated with the weld pinning machine. A new sequence of operations will be written to integrate the dwelling/welding times for the machine, new safety protocols due to the welders etc., and much more.

The Gripnail Machine that will need to be removed. The replacement has a bigger footprint.

The manual controls of the welding pinning machine that will be replaced by the new plc.

The Micro 850 plc will integrate the controls for all 3 stations.

Using CCW to create a function block used to calculate the pin locations.

At this point, I have the sequence of operation done and I am writing the new ladder logic program that will integrate the operation for all the stations. The operator will have full control (auto mode or hand mode) thru an HMI.

The next step will be to build the control panel and re-wiring the whole system.