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Done to a turn

Logix and the Rockwell Automation Integrated Architecture combine innovative control technologies with traditional Danish bakery techniques in DFE MEINCKE machinery.

Anyone who has tried a Danish pastry would be forgiven for not realising that behind such a delicacy lies years of bakery tradition working in harmony with a huge range of modern modular bakery equipment. Hans-Christian Jørgensen, who is in charge of programming and electric components for bakery machinery at DFE Meincke, explains how the company uses these modern automation and control technologies.

With support offices in more than 60 countries, DFE Meincke is a leading manufacturer of processing plant for the bakery and confectionery industries with core competences in a wide range of ovens, depositors, wire cutters and extruders. It helps its customers to keep one step ahead of their competitors, by offering accuracy, flexibility, continuous innovation and new products. It also offers new ways of mixing ingredients and raw materials and of decorating and shaping pastries. As every customer is unique, each solution should be unique. The flexibility and precise control systems provided by the DFE Meincke machines help ensure that each end user gets the perfect, unique shape of the products.

This customer satisfaction goal is aided by DFE Meincke's choice of technological partners. It is for this reason that, many years ago, DFE Meincke chose the experience and the automation solutions of technological partner Rockwell Automation, to further improve and optimise the performance of its machinery and to get a faster and more efficient worldwide presence and service assistance. As international and worldwide leader, DFE Meincke choose Rockwell Automation to assist with its export activity. This is especially important as 95% of the annual DFE Meincke production output is exported to worldwide destinations.

“DFE MEINCKE began using Allen-Bradley technology a long time ago, in fact we should look back at the PLC-5 system version,” explains Jørgensen. “At the beginning of the PLC era, the PLC-5 control solution was already able to offer, as a chassis-based, modular family, the typical Allen-Bradley reliability with a Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) rating that exceeded 400,000 hours, and the typical flexibility in programming, networking, I/O and choice of controller to match our exact requirements.”

In the bakery equipment market, new, demanding applications have arisen that can take advantage of motion control applications and axes control. For this reason DFE Meincke completely shifted to Rockwell Automation's Logix platform and to the company’s Integrated Architecture, choosing CompactLogix for simpler machinery applications and ControlLogix for more complex ones. In the DFE Meincke production offering the ovens, be they indirectly fired convection, directly fired, hybrid, high temperature, cyclothermic and stone band oven are a pertinent example of the DFE Meincke approach towards building modular concepts and they also offer the most demanding challenge in terms of control.

All ovens are pre-manufactured and delivered in 2m modules. Each zone has a heat exchanger, ensuring an accurate control of temperature, air circulation, humidity and heat distribution. All modules are built in 2m lengths with two types of heating modules, from 150 to 350kW while the working width ranges from 0.6 to 4.2m. A variety of baked products like hard biscuits and crackers, pita bread, arab bread and some types of pizzas, see best results in a direct-heated oven using gas burners placed over and under the baking conveyor within the baking chamber. The Logix platform control panel makes it possible to choose which burners to use to achieve the selected temperature and baking profile in the required zone while also allowing the ability to shift quickly and simply from one product type to another. As the burners operate in a zero-gas-pressure system, a blower in each zone sends speed-controlled airflow through the injectors on each burner. In this way the correct amount of gas is drawn to the burners, maintaining the right temperature with the temperature in the zones being controlled by the Logix platform.

The ovens are not always used as standalone machines; they normally form part of a bigger production line meaning that communication with other machines is necessary. The flexibility and modularity offered by Rockwell Automation's Logix platform makes it possible to use a programming language that reduces the time spent in software development and maintenance operations. The same concept also fits the dosing pumps in the depositing systems. Thanks to the Logix platform, the user can adjust the parallel pacing motion of the depositing head during each sequence, always achieving a synchronised speed of the baking belt and the correct pitch between the products within the working range of the machine. It's also possible to adjust the static height of the depositing head above the belt, to ensure an uncomplicated shift between different products and nozzles.

The enormous range of wire cutter templates developed by DFE Meincke to manufacture wire-cut biscuits and cookies also gains operational flexibility thanks to the modular concept of the Logix platform. As die changes are executed with a fast sideboard sliding in and out of die plates, the wire-cutting frame does not need to be removed during die plate changes. The geometric motion of the wire is completely adjustable from the control panel: this enables a full control of the drop on to the belt with no deformation of the product and perfect alignment. All relevant machine adjustments are made "on the fly" from the control panel and every adjustment is repeatable and part of the recipe control handling system.

The DFE Meincke machinery can also benefit from the high-level of integration between the Rockwell Automation control systems and the HMI. What DFE Meincke achieves, thanks to Rockwell Automation, is a FactoryTalk-enabled automation system where program tags can be referenced to anywhere in the system. Tags are available for immediate use anywhere within the automation system, even before the ladder logic program is downloaded to the controller. As the ladder program is edited, most tag information is updated, and new tags are available immediately across the system. With ControlLogix controllers, tags can reside right within the hardware, on a single computer or on multiple computers connected to a network. This means a complete matching of works and tasks on the machines, a precise exchange of information, instructions and data and an overall improvement in the productivity of the machinery.