PositionServo 940 and SMD Slice the Price

Lenze Americas worked closely with the ultrasonic engineering company to solve the problem of making the perfect sliced sausage quickly and with minimal waste.

A traditional cured continental sausage is difficult to cut finely in an automated process because of the adhesive qualities of the meat. When a slice is made with a normal blade it tends to stick to the blade surface after the cut is complete.

The ultrasonic company, more used to sieving and sorting fine powders than chopping sausages has applied it's high frequency vibration technology to ensure the slices drop away from the blade neatly into the correct place each time. The challenge was to integrate this high-end technology into a slicing machine and still meet the low-cost demands of the food processing industry. The solution was simple, using a 4 amp PositionServo 940 with encoder feedback to control the position of the blade; the knife could be reciprocated in minimal time and with maximum speed and accuracy.

Driving through a precise Lenze MCS Servo Motor and gearbox combination and a cogged belt drive, the thickness of the slices can be controlled along the entire length of the sausage. The PositionServo is controlled by a Lenze drive PLC unit and an HMI, in this case a 4" Lenze LCD grey scale touchscreen display.

By using an SMD drive to power the conventional AC motor that actuates the blade, the machine can be operated with domestic 110 - 240 V supply and still supply a super cost effective combination. Using CANopen to link all the machine control components also allowed minimal wiring to be used and resulted in a highly compact machine that is easy to program and very easy to use.

Do you use digital and analogue inputs, preset speeds or a display with keypad for your applications? Is space in your control cabinet tight and is your budget tight too? The smd frequency inverter is a zero-compromise solution. The smd covers a power range of 0.25 to 22 kW and handles everything you could possibly need of a universal use frequency inverter today. A large range of applications can be easily solved using clear functions.

All you need is three on-board operator buttons and a handful of parameters - commissioning is child's play. The parameter setting can be saved on one single chip. The Electronic Programmable Module (EPM) is a pluggable memory chip designed especially for the smd. The EPM allows you to transfer & set drive data to other frequency inverters in the series as often as you want. Modified drive parameters are also handled in a matter of seconds by simply replacing the EPM on the front of the frequency inverter.

Programming is undertaken on the inverter itself or via a battery-operated EPM (Electronic Programmable Module) programming unit. Configurations can then be conveniently produced or edited offline. The device saves up to 30 different drive programs as a file. You can copy from EPM to EPM, file to EPM or write the EPM back to a file in a couple of seconds at the push of a button.

The frequency inverter has integrated motor overload protection. To achieve this a microprocessor calculates the motor load regardless of output speed, protects the motor and makes additional hardware superfluous.

The function and number of control terminals corresponds to the usual Lenze standard:

• start-stop function
• analogue setpoint selection with voltage or current freely
• programmable inputs
• freely programmable relay output

The smd has a current limitation with reduced frequency for stable operation, a clearly legible LED display and scope for low-noise operation thanks to an adjustable switching frequency of up to 10 kHz.

Product Benefits:

• Integrated servo, inverter, gearbox and HMI solution
• Complete component compatibility
• High speed accurate position control
• Precise automation within a low budget
• CANopen compatibility
• Easy to use