Bernecker & Rainer Industrie-Elektronik (B&R), with its headquarters in Austria and offices all around the world, is a global leader in industrial automation. B&R combines state-of-the-art technology with advanced engineering to provide customers in virtually every industry with complete solutions for machine and process automation, motion control, HMI and integrated safety technology.
With industrial fieldbus communication standards like POWERLINK and openSAFETY as well as the powerful software development environment that is Automation Studio, B&R is constantly redefining the future of automation engineering. The innovative spirit that keeps the company at the forefront of industrial automation is driven by its commitment to simplifying processes and exceeding customer expectations.
B&R is present in India since 1998 through a 100 per cent owned subsidiary. B&R India is headquartered at Pune with branches across Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Baroda, Chennai, New Delhi and Mumbai. During the last 15 years the company has earned the reputation as a reliable automation partner in India as well. It sources its products directly from its state-of-the-art facilities in Austria. The software and services are provided by B&R professionals in India.
B&R has many years of experience in automating textile machines. It works with most of the leading textile machinery manufacturers helping them increase their technological competitive advantage in global markets. It also provides integrated automation solutions for all types of textile machines, making it the ideal partner for those seeking a complete solution. It works with all major Indian and global textile machinery manufacturers, including LMW, Rieter, Jupiter and many others.
Mr. P.V. Sivaram, Managing Director, B&R India, says: “Textiles is one of the industries which has a wide variety of machines with huge scope for automation. With increased focus on quality and high speeds of production, it is becoming more and more critical to come up with innovative automation solutions for this industry”.
When machinery manufacturers decide on harmonizing all the machine controllers for all products, the fundamental question that arises is whether a PLC or IPC system should be implemented. This is important because data processing and communication are increasingly becoming major requirements for a machine controller. The B&R control system offers a harmonious combination of PLC and PC-compatible industrial computer. For machinery manufacturers, this combination results in a considerable competitive edge as changing over to a new control platform could also be used as an opportunity to modularize the software.
Increased machine efficiency
The ACOPOS drive family includes Servo, stepper and VFDs. ACOPOSmulti servo drives developed specifically for multi-axis operation, brings together a whole range of advantages for textile machine manufacturing. It saves energy and provides constant DC bus voltage, thanks to its common power supply design. The devices can be equipped with various cooling systems, which means that they can be cooled optimally no matter how or where they are installed, even in the toughest environments. Because the servo drives are extremely compact, they can be installed in smaller control cabinets.
Just like in sports, integrated production lines rely on the effort of the entire team. As a solution provider, B&R has the technology to optimize entire systems. Real-time industrial Ethernet is the foundation for synchronized interactions between individual sub-processes. B&R offers intuitive diagnostics functions, remote diagnostics and open interfaces, and ensures worldwide availability of all automation components. These factors ensure unobstructed production without unnecessary downtime.
B&R systems are open for standard communication interfaces, both at the machine and the ERP level. The same PLC software can be used in any and all devices. Only the communication medium and the protocol must be configured. Dynamic I/O configurations allow the same software to be used for different hardware topologies. The result is a cost-efficient and highly flexible solution.
openSAFETY is a safety concept that replaces traditional safety wiring with intelligent electronics. Compact machine and line constructions are made possible, thanks to the fastest safety circuit response times as well as the highest degree of flexibility in the design of the automation architecture. These can be implemented easily with maximum design freedom and a level of safety that cannot be topped.
The X20 module
B&R recently launched new module – X20CM4810, with onboard intelligence for vibration analysis which helps condition monitoring an integral standard feature in every machine. (This X20 module is added to existing and ever growing X20 control system). Until now, preventive maintenance based on data from permanent condition monitoring has been rarely practiced due to the high cost of conventional systems.
The X20 module remedies this by maximizing machine availability while minimizing the time and money spent on maintenance, allowing significant reductions to the total cost of ownership of machines and systems. Preventive maintenance control based on the condition of the machinery can be planned more efficiently and performed during breaks in production.
With a width of two slots, i.e., 25mm in total, the module provides four input channels with an integrated electronic piezoelectric (IEPE) interface for querying acceleration sensors. This interface supplies the sensors with power, samples their signals and processes them internally to generate more than 70 condition parameters like configurable damage frequency values, which are then transferred directly to the CPU via POWERLINK or any other standard fieldbus system.
The integrated evaluation of vibration patterns sets the B&R X20 module apart from other tools on the market and completely eliminates the need to forward raw data to an external CPU for analysis. The result is a reduced load on the fieldbus as well as the elimination of superfluous interfaces.
The condition parameters generated by this module not only provide operators with the information they need to optimize maintenance intervals, but are also available for use directly as input in the automation software. B&R Automation Studio makes it a snap to configure the X20CM4810 and program how the machine should respond to a status change, significantly reducing the amount of time and effort spent working with software.
B&R is looking to India for a strong and sustained growth, and proposing to invest further more on the facilities here. With a loyal customer base, and strong product line, which covers all needs of a OEM machinery manufacturer, the company can look with confidence ahead, says Mr. Sivaram.