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Three million waffles a day


Belgium-based Acemal recently sent three waffle-cooking lines to a Canadian company that has been one of its clients since 1990. Thanks to these additions, production capacity has now increased to over three million waffles per day.

This would have been a quite ordinary delivery had Acemal not, for the first time, produced a fully automated line equipped with a PLC and integrated electronic system. Indeed, the most striking feature of this new line is a variable-speed electrical gear system synchronised and commanded by a PLC.

To automate the machines, Acemal chose a system with two Allen-Bradley Powerflex 700S drives, one acting as the master and the other as the slave
This line has maximum adjustment flexibility and contains several alarms with functional error displays. In addition, it offers more possibilities than the client originally asked for, in terms of both functionality and maintenance. The Canadian waffle maker originally only required an automated system based on our components, but the use of EtherNet/IP also makes long-distance maintenance possible using Web technology.

Acemal produces automatic and semi-automatic cooking lines for all kinds of waffle. The machines do not just produce the batter; they make the complete product, the nerve centre of which is the oven. The oven has an automated conveyer belt system that can comprise up to 400 waffle irons and, depending on the cooking time, the range varies from 4 to 12.5m in length. The gas-supplied ovens are equipped with burners controlled by infrared sensors to regulate and maintain the temperature to within 0.5°C. Acemal also produces semi-automatic installations equipped with this conveyor system. Generally, these lines have a smaller capacity (1,000 to 8,000 waffles per hour). The waffle makers can use these ovens to cook different kinds of waffle using a single cooking line.

“The designers used the new technical opportunities to simplify the cooking line control and all the security devices are now integrated into the command panel.”
Most lines are equipped with injectors that deposit the mixture into each iron in perfect synchronism with the forward movement of the belt. At the other end, the waffles are unloaded by a mechanism consisting of a synchronised drum equipped with needles, that slide between the cranes to lift the waffles out. The waffles are then placed on the conveyor belt, which takes them onto the next section or the packer.

Thanks to its wide range of products, Acemal can supply installations to all sizes of company
Because of the complexity of the process, a PLC system was introduced in 1998. This was a major step forward for Acemal, whose manufacturing process had been based on the same concept for almost 25 years. The Canadian order therefore provided a golden opportunity to introduce this adaptation. The machine is still 80% the same, but the mobile elements are now commanded through gear modules and the full range of operations is now regulated through the PLC.

The client, as with every new line involved from the machine construction phase onwards, earmarked our automation equipment. Rockwell Automation Belgium was therefore approached, and proposed a system consisting of two Powerflex 700S gear modules – one acting as the master and the other as the slave. The master contains an integrated Logix module and serves as a central command device, with the gear modules communicating with each other over EtherNet/IP. The communication has to be very fast as all operations have to be synchronised, with no room for even the smallest displacement. Communication between the master and the HMI, an Allen Bradley PanelView Plus 1000 with a touch-sensitive screen, is also over EtherNet/IP.

The designers used the new technical opportunities to simplify the cooking line control and all the security devices are now integrated into the command panel. The machine’s functions can now be seen visually and numerous alarms have been incorporated to provide high-level maintenance. Regulation of the whole system is now very flexible – everything has been carefully thought through to allow optimum adjustment as soon as the line is started and to control production using the same parameters day after day.

Left to right: Hervé Jamin (Acemal), Alfons Calders (Industrie Technique & Management), Herman Ertveldt (Acemal), Patrick Clément (Rockwell Automation) and Emmanuel Moriau (Acemal)
As EtherNet/IP is compatible with TCP/IP, the network can use standard Ethernet equipment. Thanks to this compatibility, monitoring the process from a distance on the company’s local network could not be simpler, allowing users to control production and, through the Internet, to provide maintenance. This is not yet in place for the Canadian order but in future deliveries, the potential for long-distance maintenance will be offered.

The new automated device was fully tested before the installations were sent to the customer and set up at its operating site. The aim is now to ensure that each cooking line delivered in the future is similarly automated and equipped with new technology. The new system makes the machine simpler and provides more reliability, and after the Canadian order was finalised, a new machine was built for another Canadian manufacturer for a cooking line capable of automatically mass producing pancakes.

Author: Alfons Calders, ‘Industrie Technique & Management’