Smart Molding International 1-2021

41 www.smart-molding.com periphery screen operating panel, and at the end of the pre-drying phase a signal is issued to release an automatic pro - duction start-up. The material drying data can be exported via a USB port or via OPC UA. With the integrated week timer, the use of the dryers can be ideally adapt - ed to ongoing production planning, and they are ready to run immediately as soon as dried material is required. In the CARD S models, the compressed air consumption is very finely and pre - cisely adjusted to the actual demand by an intelligent digital air volume con - trol system. If a material loader is used to fill the dryer, this ensures a continuous ma - terial supply, and the dryer recognizes automatically when the drying tem - perature must be lowered. If the interval between two convey - ing cycles exceeds a certain period of time, this is interpreted as “no mate - rial consumption”, and the dryer then starts the necessary actions to protect the material and to reduce energy consumption. CARD dryers can bemounted directly onto the machine feed. In combination with a claw flange, the appliances can be pushed into a parking or emptying position. If quick-change adapters are used on CARD dryers, this will save time when transferring the dryers from one ma - chine to another. M8 network control for central material handling systems User-friendliness and functionality of control systems are a top priority for WITTMANN. With the revision of the current M7-IPC control system, the CAN-bus-based M8-IPC network control system has been introduced. It simplifies the administration of com - plex installations and shows a clear display of every appliance in modern design. A new feature is a number of freely programmable modules – or “logical devices” – which support queries, counting functions, loops and much more, to enable logical switchover and connection of outlets. To give an example: as soon as one source of ma - terial runs out, the system switches over automatically to another source. These new possibilities to define logi - cal operations offer users an easy way to program sequences perfectly geared to each individual process. What is more, M8 comes with a “counting” functionality: whenever a user wishes to have a certain action triggered following the execution of a fixed number of switch cycles, this is now very easy to implement. Another new feature is coded re - grind recycling. If the regrind coming from several machines is not all pro - cessed in the same way, the regrind from individual granulators can be transported unmixed into separate containers. RFID-coded materials han - dling devices ensure that materials are only transported if the material line is correctly connected to the granula - tor and to the matching container. In this way, mixing of different types of regrind is prevented. Something often requested – and now alsomade possible: residual quan - tities of material left on the machine can be transported back to the mate - rial source. If the production is inter - rupted, there is a risk of dried material being left on the machine during the time of standstill, which then causes start-up problems when the produc - tion is resumed. Or it happens during a material change that left-over material on the machine is (mostly) emptied out and then disposed of. With the help of the M8-IPC control functions, such residual quantities can be “reclaimed” and re-used. The operating status of the individual appliances catches the eye immediate - ly thanks to the different color codes. In case of error signals it is possible to have persons responsible notified by email. Operators can choose between sev - eral different systems to perform the tasks assigned to them quickly and faultlessly. For this purpose, several different views are available, showing the path followed by the material – through all stations right up to the consumer, that is, up to the machine and/or to the mold. WITTMANN www.wittmann-group.com G-Max 13 beside-the-press granulator CARD 20S air dryer