Paper Technology Journal 17 - Voith

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transport system. Since 1996 Voith has
used high-speed plate type conveyors instead
of the walking beam formerly used,
which, due to its complexity, was prone
to breakdowns, wear and tear. Another
important argument for using plate type
conveyors is that they enable precise roll
positioning in front of each workstation
for winding, pressing, and labelling. This
ensures high wrapping quality even with
the fastest operating cycles (Fig. 6).
As shown by the Huatai PM 10 roll wrapping
line, Voith's One Platform Concept
developed for paper machines does not
end at the Sirius or a standard reel, but
also includes the entire roll handling
zone. Moreover, by changing only one
module, in this case the dispenser station
Fig. 6: Wrapped rolls.
Fig. 7: Let's roll!
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with feeding system, the Twister concept
has been enriched with a new option.
This ideally meets specialized customer
needs while benefiting from the experience
gained on numerous Twister installations.
After mainly dealing with the mechanical
aspects so far, it is time to take a look at
the control system. Normally, the wrapping
line is connected to the mill computer,
which keeps control of each roll from
beginning to end via its wrapping and
shipping data. An automation module,
therefore, had to be developed for this
specific application. This comprises the
Rolltronic, a powerful visualization and
communications software module individually
adjustable to communicate with
any kind of mill computer system. However,
the special possibilities in China as
mentioned above enable operation of the
roll transport and wrapping line without a
mill computer.
For Huatai the Rolltronic software was
extended with a special module to take
over the tasks of a mill computer. This
module generates, manages and prints
out the roll barcodes, and to this purpose
is directly interfaced to the two Voith
VariFlex winders for automatically uploading
the cut roll dimensions. After
weighing, each roll is then labelled with
all relevant data after wrapping.
The Rolltronic module saves all the roll
data, both before and after wrapping, in
respective databases and prints out the
shift log and production records. In the
same way as the mechanical plantcustomizing,
adjustment to specific customer
needs merely required a change of
module in a very well-proven software.
Thanks to systematic application of the
Voith One Platform concept to the Huatai
PM 10 Twister installation, and smooth
commissioning teamwork between the
customer and Voith, the maximum capacity
of more than 120 rolls per hour was
already attained at startup. In fact the
normal 2 or 3-stage performance optimization
phase was not necessary at all.
We are therefore particularly proud of the
praise we received from Tian Zhiding,
Vice General Manager Huatai, during the
official acceptance: “This fully automated
roll wrapping line meets all our requirements.
It is an excellent reference for
Voith.”
The rolls are wrapped so well that they
arrive at the printers in perfect condition
– obviously – even after the toughest
journey (Fig. 7).
PS: In Huatai I got the impression that
the robots felt very happy with their
professional treatment by the friendly
operators!
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