Paper machine drive engineering modernized

German retrofitting specialist Lebbing Engineering & Consulting worked in partnership with Actemium/Controlmatic, Essen, on the modernization of Paper Machine 1 at the Procter & Gamble tissue paper factory in Neuss (now Svenska Cellulosa). The factory supplies most of the Tempo handkerchiefs sold in Germany - a daily production of up to 7M packs.

The drive control is implemented with a S7-416 2 DP station. The link/communication to the Simoreg DC master control (6RA70) modules (4Q drives) is established through a Profibus line with a transmission rate of 12Mbit/s. All individual drives run with controlled rotation speed and receive their setpoint from the PLC. Only the crepe cylinder is operated with two drives due to its mass. This control is implemented in master/slave operation.

The relative speed for each drive is determined by the master system. A correction factor is calculated according to factors such as roll diameter and gear ratio, and applied to the master control value. All required factors can be configured through the multi panel. A second Profibus line (1.5Mbit/s) connects the I/O level, the multi panel and the mobile panel, as well as the SEMEAS Powermeter of the feed to the control system.

The entire plant is operated and monitored with a Honeywell (Altim Alcount) process control system, with an ET200M decentralized periphery as interface.

The production section is now to be modernized by dedicated retrofitting to increase the speed. The tissue paper plant will be operated continuously under full load. This has made it possible to increase the drive speed by 15 per cent. In addition to the production increase, energy consumption was also optimized.