A.T.U. Inc.

Automation Controls

John Washinsky, pres.

Phone(336) 712-0569
EMAIL: Sales@ATU1.com
Web Site :http://ATU1/ATU

Po. Box 1725
Clemmons, NC 27012
revised 9/20/2007

Project History

2007

Data Acquisition System
Designed a system using a small Automation Direct PLC and networked PC to collect analog data from a continuous process. One thousand data points are collected every 10 seconds and transferred to a PC using a an OPC server. The data is then time stamped and stored in an Excel file for DVD archival. VBA macros were written to provide a real time display graph and an easy way to analyze different sets of data points.

Vision System Downloader
Wrote a VisualBasic.net program to communicate with 7 Cognex Vision Systems and an Allen-Bradely SLC500 PLC over Ethernet. It provided recipe data downloading with read back verification and part number storage in an Access Data Base.

Vision System PLC communications
Wrote a detailed step by step illustrated procedure for plant maintenance personal to setup Modbus communications between a Cognex Vision system and an Automation Direct Ethernet module.
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Auxiliary Press Control
Designed a flexible control package to make it easy to connect and coordinate the operation of auxiliary feeders, reeling and inspection equipment to work with a stamping press. Included a small Automation Direct PLC and touch screen for plant personal to completely setup and configure the device without the use of a laptop.

Keyence Laser Integration
Wrote an extensive Allen-Bradely control logix 5000 PLC program to communicate directly with a Keyence CO2 marking laser. The program module allowed the machine operator to completely customize the mark and save the settings with the part number data base in the machine. Diagnostic screens provided detailed error information for maintenance personal to test Laser functions. The final installation involved removing the previous laser marking system and installing the Keyence system in less than 8 hours.

2006

Control System for Leak Testing of Metal Castings
Designed and built a control system for pressure testing metal castings for the automotive industry. Machine used an Automation Direct PLC, Proface HMI ,Cincinnati Pressure Tester and a Microscan Bar Code Scanner.

Assembly Machine PLC Programming
Modified PLC programs in several machines using Allen-Bradley Control Logix ,Compact Logix and SLC500, Omron and Automation Direct PLC's.

2005

Assembly Machine PLC Programming
Designed a 2nd generation injection molding automation system with updated controls , a Proface operator interface and an encoder based feed verification system.

Assembly Machine PLC Programming
Upgraded the firmware in several Allen-Bradley Control Logix processors. Modified PLC programs in several machines using Allen-Bradley Control Logix ,Compact Logix and SLC500 and Automation Direct PLC's.
Refurbished several existing PLC based machines and installed Automation Direct PLC's. . Modified PLC programs in several machines using Allen-Bradley Control Logix , Allen-Bradley SLC500 and Automation Direct PLC's.

2004

Refurbished Connector Insertion Machine
Reprogrammed a connector assembly insertion module using an Omron C200HX plc with Servo Feed unit. Installed and programmed a new Proface operator display. Added complete part number recipe management and diagnostic maintenance screens.

Injection Molding Vision System interface
Designed control interface for high speed triggering of a PPT Impact Vision system using Automation Direct DL06 in an insert molding operation

Assembly Machine PLC Programming
Changed an Allen Bradley SLC 5/04 program on a Swiss built connector assembly machine to add a high speed counter module and make program bug fixes and improvements. Sections of the program had to be translated from Dutch before changes could be made.
Changed an Allen Bradley SLC 5/04 program on a German built connector assembly machine to add a high speed counter module and add diagnostic tools for logging and displaying reject information using the Panel View Display.

2003

Assembly Machine PLC Programming

Documented PLC programs for multiple Japanese built connector assembly machines. PLC's used were NAIS FP3. Programs were poorly translated and were difficult to make changes. Used NAIS FPWIN GR programming software to comment, document and make added changes to lower scrap, improve quality and improve counting accuracy. Modified the Matushita IOP operator displays. Developed a low cost method for gauging parts in the assembly process.

2002

Assembly System Programming

Programmed multiple Pacific Scientific Servo axis assembly equipment , establishing a PLC/Servo interface and a programmable CNC type Control system.

Pallet Assembly System Upgrade

Allen Bradley Control Logics 5000 with multi-Axis Servo Pick and Place Units. Made on-line changes while process was running with minimal interruption in production. Improved through-put of machine from less than 4000 pieces/shift to consistently over 8000 pieces /shift with improved diagnostic capability.

1999-2001

Insert Molding Control System

Designed a PLC control system for a customer to control an insert molding strip handling system. System included a Stepper Motor drive and multiple part number recipe storage with easy to use operator interface. Project involved multiple systems on a tight schedule. All systems were delivered on time and within cost.

Vision System Transport System Control

Designed PLC controls to interface with a PPT vision system and provide repeatable stopping for movement of strip through the material handling system.

Assembly System Programming

Programmed multiple Pacific Scientific Servo axis assembly equipment , establishing a PLC/Servo interface and a programmable coordinate system.
Added Diagnostic Screens for an Allen Bradley Control Logics based assembly line which included I/O status and Force test.
. Developed teach screens for defining move points of a multi-axis servo pick and place system. Had to work with a system that was without comments or electrical prints.

Amp Incorporated Machine Development 1982-1999

Department Group Leader for machine controls when Tyco International dissolved the Machine Development organization during their acquisition of Amp Incorporated in 1999.
17 years of experience designing PLC based and computer based embedded control systems for high speed assembly, inspection and packaging machines for the electronic connector industry.

1999

Stacked Multiport Modjack Test Fixture
Automated test fixture which incorporated a PlcDirect 205 PLC with a Cirrus contiuity/short/hipot tester to test a 32 port ethernet jack connector. Using an Analog module, the PLC measured the current in each of the 32 LED's with a resolution of 100ua. The PLC remotely controlled the Cirrus unit and the system displayed to the operator the faulted circuit or LED.

Hydraulic Punch Press modifications
Modified the control program of a Micrologix 1000 PLC to run an air feed and reeler added to a hydraulic punch press.

110 Block Connector to Board Insertion Machine
Fully automatic assembly machine to insert a vibratory bowl fed connector into a small PC board. Machine incorporated a 3 axis PacSci 950 servo system with PACLAN communications. The servo system was controlled by a PLC Direct 450 PLC via a Modbus link. A DirectTouch Color LCD display provided the operator display and programming of setup parameters.

1998

Grease Dispensing System
Developed a multiple PLC control scheme using a PLC Direct 105 and 250 to control air piloted metering valves dispensing a heavy sealant being injected into a telephone cable connector. The system varied the valve timing dependent on material temperature and pressure operating at 60 feet/minute.

Modular Jack Inspection System
Developed a 2 camera in-line video inspection application operating at 145 assemblies/minute. Using the Acuity Power Vision System, the tasks involved front lighting and required the development of custom morphology to enhance the connectors features under constantly changing product surface conditions.

1997

Modular Plug Assembly Machine - 3rd Generation
High speed (425 assemblies /minute). Controlled by a PLC Direct 440, with interrupts. Allen Bradley Machine Vision CVIM2 inspection of 100% of the parts. The machine used a small stepper motor to automatically reposition the cameras for each part size. Utilized the smart slice remote I/O system to control the vibratory feeder, automatic packaging system and reeling system. Automatic part changeover configuration of the vision system using an Ascii Basic Module. Developed a Visual Basic HMI that also collected machine production data. This information was then used by VBA macros to create HTML pages for the company intranet, updated automatically on the hour.

1996

Infoport PCMCIA Cable Connector Assembly Machine
Extremely small and difficult tolerances for the assembly of cable connectors used on PCMCIA cards. Motion control consisted of an 8 axis Pacsci SERCOS based PC control servo system. Multiple assembly heads and an 8ft servo controlled walking beam system capable of 85+ strokes /minute. Visual Basic HMI. 100% inspection utilizing a 3 camera Allen Bradley CVIM2 machine vision inspection system. To meet resolution requirements, each camera had to be strobed 3 times per part.. PLC Direct 440 master control networked with a secondary 440 to perform on line continuity and short electrical testing. Developed a protocol using the Ascii Basic Module to communicate with the PC based Servo system. The ABM also reconfigured the vision system using the AB RS232 protocol.

1995

CAT 5 Multiport Array Insert Molding Reeling Systems

Developed a servo positioning and reeling system for an insert molding operation on a vertical injection molding machine. Two Pacsci 750 systems positioned 4 strips into the mold/die while the overall process was controlled by a PlcDirect440 and smart slice remote I/O system. The PLC also controlled the custom sprue picker robot and interfaced with the Engle molding press to provide mold safety.

Modular Plug Assembly Machine - 2nd Generation Controls modified for use in SPAIN
Same as 1992 machine but redesigned to accept different voltage and frequency. Many components were changed to meet the needs of AMP Spain.

1994

Selectable Punch and Forming Die
Developed a system using a PLC direct 240 PLC to control 5 air cylinders in a forming die which made a metal shield for a variable length part. The system replaced 8 different sets of change tooling and provided an electronic change over via the DV1000 operator interface.

CAT4 Multiport Array Insert Molding Reeling Systems
Used an air feed and reeling system for an insert molding operation on a vertical injection molding machine. Two strips were controlled by PlcDirect340 system. The PLC also controlled the custom sprue picker robot and interfaced with the Engle molding press to provide mold safety.

1993

Multiport Inline HIPOT Inspection System
Developed a 600 VDC Hipot Test for use on a multiport assembly machine.. The unit consists of a High Voltage Power supply, high speed reed relays and a Keyance KV40 PLC which also performed a high speed continuity and short test. It ran all 3 tests at 150 ports/minute..

CHAMP 4th Generation Assembly/Inspection/Packaging Retrofit
Upgraded STD BUS embedded control system on assembly machine to use a PLC Direct 440 with interrupt control. Replaced touch screen display with TCP Smart Touch Display. Added PLC network communications to the Inspection Module for transmission of setup data. An Ascii Basic Module was added to the module to send configuration data to the PC based Inspection System. The packaging system STD BUS system was replaced with a 440 CPU and pulse modules to control the stepper motors.

1992

Modular Plug Assembly Machine - 2nd Generation Controls
High speed (350-400 assemblies /minute). Controlled by a PLC Direct 440, Allen Bradley Machine Vision CVIM inspection of 100% of the parts. Utilized the smart slice remote I/O system to control the vibratory feeder, automatic packaging system and reeling system. Used a TCP Smart Touch Display for the HMI to setup the machine parameters.

CHAMP 4th Generation Inspection System

Worked closely with an outside vendor to develop a PC based inspection machine. The unit consisted of a constant velocity belt with an encoder tracking system that took multiple pictures of each part as it passed through the system. Custom light sources were developed to inspect terminal coplanarity. The system inspected 100% at 140 assemblies/minute.

1989-1991

Mylar/Polyester Film Laminator
The machine joined 2 films together which involved control of a corona treatment roller , IR oven, induction heated rollers, web tension controls, positioning and speed control. A TI305 was used to automatically control the entire process. A Computer Dynamics 186 STD BUS computer was added to collect data from Newport meters monitoring 9 different process parameters, a Burr Brown ASCII terminal, a Redlion Rate/Footage meter and from the PLC. The monitoring system was written in C and involved writing protocols for all the meters, the operator terminal and the PLC communications. A windows DDE driver was written for Windows 3.11 using MS Windows SDK to communicate over a BITBUS network to the STD BUS computer and poll data from the machine. The DDE link transferred production and trace information to an Excel spreadsheet which was running Excel 4.0 macros on a remote PC. A data collection spread sheet was automatically generated for each roll of material produced.

Modular Plug Assembly Machine 1st generation Controls
High speed (325 assemblies /minute). Controlled by a GE Series 1 PLC. High Speed counter module was used to count the inserted terminals.

Robotic Insertion Machine

Worked with an outside vendor to develop a 110 connector to PC board insertion machine using an Adept Robot for the control system.

1985 - 1989

Modular Plug Strip Assembly Machine
Controls consisted of an 8085 STD BUS embedded computer and an ASCII Text touch screen. The operator used the display to program selective insertion of the part. Counter timer card was used as a high speed pin counter.

CHAMP Packaging Machine
Developed an embedded control system using STD BUS 8085 computers and a IEE488 communications network. to control a machine that packaged the connectors into an egg crate style box. The parts were singulated, rotated and dumped row by row into a foam tray. STD BUS pulse indexer cards were used to control 4 Compumotor stepper drives. Absolute resolvers verified positions of each axis. The machine received setup and command information via the 488 link.

CHAMP 4th Generation Assembly Machine

Developed an embedded control system using STD BUS 8085 computers and a IEE488 communications network. The system used Ascii text touch screen displays and allowed control of the entire line from any terminal on the machine. The assembly machine used a centrifugal bowl feed system, ultrasonic loop controls and a pulse train DC motor speed control.

1982 -1984

Designed several reeling systems using AB PLC2 and OMRON S6 PLC's for injection overmold processes. Worked with line scan camera's in development of a proprietary vision inspection system using STD BUS 8085 embedded computer systems

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