What's New
EFI prides itself on being sensitive to customer requirements.
In response to requests from our customers our developers have released software updates which add functionality to our range of controllers. This process is continuous and ongoing.
New Software Release for Kompact
The Kompact range of controllers now feature an adaptive control algorithm developed in-house at EFI. The controller monitors the system process and matches controller characterstics to it in order to provide the best system response, minimising or removing overshoot and improving response times.
Additionally, the Kompact controllers are able to automatically detect a variety of faults through their improved diagnostic functions, allowing tool faults to be quickly identified and corrected.
Adaptive Control
The Kompact controller is a traditional "PID" controller with a difference. By carefully monitoring the zone of control and its responses to control inputs, the controller is able to alter the "PID" settings automatically. This allows the Kompact to control the temperature of the zone much more closely - the ideal "PID" settings are automatically determined by our proprietary algorithm. Because the controller continously monitors the zone of control and makes live changes, the controller characteristics can adapt to changes in the system process due to:
- Tool changes - the controller is easily moved between production cells; the controller will adapt to the new tool.
- Coolant changes (e.g.: a change in water flowrate or temperature).
- Ambient temperature changes.
- Gate shear.
- Tool bleed.
- Cycle changes (e.g.: a change to the speed or pressure).
These features mean that production cell downtime and waste are minimised and energy requirements (and bills) are reduced. Your hotruner equipment also becomes more flexible because hotrunner controllers can be deployed to production cells as needed with setup time eliminated.
Diagnostics
An invaluable addition to the functionality of any hotrunner controller is the ability to test the tool offline. By doing so the following common problems can be detected and remedied before the tool is placed into production:
- Blown fuses
- Open thermocouples
- Cold thermocouples
- Reversed Thermocouples
- Cross-wired zones
For further information on the hardware features of the Kompact [Click Here]
New Software and Hardware Releases for CM8
The software for our CM8 controllers has been upgraded in several key areas. Auto-tuning has been introduced to the control algorithm, 4-20mA input zones are now supported and we have implemented network connectivity in order to support our customers who need to perform remote monitoring and control via VNC.
Auto-Tuning
When this option is selected, the controller performs a single experiment during the start-phase in order to determine the best "PID" charateristics for each zone. Our in-house developers have designed an algorithm which produces a critically-damped response, ensuring that temperatures are reached with little or no overshoot and that zones are controlled in the best way possible, minimising temperature errors during production.
|
|
4-20mA Input Module
An optional hardware module can be added to a standard CM8 in order to provide input capability for the industry-standard 4-20mA signalling protocol. This provides the ability to interface to a wide variety of process-monitoring equipment including:
- Temperature sensors.
- Pressure sensors.
- Flowrate sensors (e.g.: for monitoring coolant).
Development of this hardware module was initiated in response to customer requests for water flowrate monitoring and software has been developed to allow the CM8 controller to interface to 4-20mA flowrate sensor equipment. EFI welcome suggestions from their customers for further applications requiring 4-20mA current-loop connectivity.
VNC Connectivity
CM8 controllers now have the ability to connect to an ethernet network and our software suite includes a Virtual Network Computing (VNC) server. This means that you can attach a CM8 to a company network and remotely connect to it in order to monitor, configure or control the CM8 controller. Given a correctly configured security scenario, it is possible to connect to a CM8 from any laptop or handheld computer attached to the internet.
- Remote management
- Connect from any VNC-enabled device
- Operating-system independant
- Connect to the machine control-panel and integrate the hotrunner control pane
- Centralise management structures and improve producivity
Using the VNC feature allows operators to view the CM8 screen and to make changes to the CM8 as though they were standing at the controller itself. If all the CM8's on the factory floor were networked together and attached to the company network, a single operator could view and control all of the CM8's on the factory floor from one VNC-enabled client device (e.g.: their laptop). Furthermore, you could connect your VNC-enabled machine control-panel to the CM8 and control all the functions of the production cell from one panel.
For further information on the features of the CM8 [Click Here]