i-Web Puts the Finishing Touches on Modular Web Finishing Systems for Commercial Printing

“With EtherCAT and AX5000 servo drives, we have encountered no limitations on how many individually-controlled axes of motion we can have in our machines,” Bob Williams, President of i-Web said. “Also, because the central IPC with TwinCAT handles all the motion control, i-Web no longer has to download data sets to individual drives in the event that any need to be replaced - this is an incredible benefit for machine start-up.” Even machine operators who aren’t automation specialists can replace a drive on i-Web machines provided they have standard electrician and maintenance skills. In the past, this was far more time-consuming and cumbersome, requiring the on-site help of specialists.

As the centerpiece of the automation and motion control platform, i-Web uses C6920 or C6930 series control cabinet Industrial PCs (IPCs) for all machine lines. Running on these IPCs, the TwinCAT software system (NC PTP) centrally handles all automation and motion control requirements for i-Web machinery and manages the hot-connect capabilities of the machine modules. Various Panel PCs from Beckhoff are used for visualization, including the pole-mounted CP72xx series and cabinet-mounted CP67xx series. These often feature a custom design with the i-Web logo included on the panel front. The HMI software for the machine interface is programmed using InduSoft.