Since then, three packaging machines without an electrical cabinet have been successfully deployed at different customer sites. By mid-year, ten more of these machines will have been built and delivered. Series production of the machines without an electrical cabinet will begin in the second half of 2016.
The decisive advantage of the TLM machine without an electrical cabinet is the reduction of electrical components and the resulting simplification of the machine. By eliminating the electrical cabinet, the number of cables and the installation work are significantly decreased. The reduction of electronics lowers the maintenance costs of robotic packaging machines. At the same time, the machine’s operation and maintenance are easier than ever. Customers can master their packaging tasks with even more operator-friendly automation in virtually trouble-free operation with minimum personnel input. Since each function can also result in a malfunction, fewer components mean reduced susceptibility to failure.
The remaining control components of the machine without an electrical cabinet are equipped with a special cooling system which extends the life of electrical equipment. It also reduces the system’s waste heat. With a heat exchanger, the customer can use the energy from the water-cooling system. Another plus in terms of the system’s energy footprint is that Schubert uses drive systems with energy recovery – as it does for all its TLM systems.
The previously used TLM machines with electrical cabinets are equipped with the fifth hardware generation of VMS packaging machine control systems. The sixth generation is used for the machines without an electrical cabinet.
“We are set to manufacture machines with the fifth generation of VMS control systems over the next two to three years on our pre-production line together with the machines without an electrical cabinet. This previous version will also be further developed,” explains Gerald Schubert, Managing Director at Gerhard Schubert GmbH. New software features will be made available automatically, since there is only one software line which is compatible with both types of machines.
