New Hi-Speed XS-Series Controls, Electronics Increase Productivity, Efficiency
A bright new 15-inch touchscreen is the face of innovations in controls and electronics that make the Mettler-Toledo Hi-Speed XS-Series Checkweigher a more productive platform and part of a high-speed, high-efficiency processing line.
The XS-Series can use the Mettler-Toledo precision electromagnetic force restoration weigh cell technology or strain gauge load cell. The industrially packaged touchscreen provides IP69k protection, the highest rating in the industry. The new displays, controls, and electronics are also available as upgrades to existing Hi-Speed machines.
The XS-Series provides secure log-in to advanced functions with highly-configurable security options. The machine supports English, French, and Spanish; the interface language can be changed on the fly.
New Displays Increase Productivity
The XS Control's 15-inch touchscreen display provides intuitive, menu-driven access to checkweigher functions. Familiar, browser-like navigation gives users fast access to basic controls and read-outs, while allowing them to drill down easily into machine and line performance measures and statistics. The vivid displays are readable at up to 20 feet, allowing a single operator to see and control multiple machines.
Each touchscreen provides 23 unique control areas; touchable "buttons" leading to more information. "For instance, there is a seven-to-eight line 'message center' at the bottom of the main screen that scrolls short reports about machine status, fault events, and errors," said Mark Feher, Hi-Speed business development manager, checkweighers. "Touching that takes users to a full-screen view where they can see every event with the time it occurred. This makes trouble-shooting much easier." Similarly, line changeovers require only three taps on the screen, shortening downtime.
Open Architecture Improves Efficiency
These displays are the front end for a new electronics package for the XS-Series, an industrial-strength PC-based system using the Open Modular Architecture Controls (OMAC) for easy integration into production lines. The new system also allows the checkweigher to be set up as an OLE for Process and Control (OPC) server to store production data and present it on the Internet.
The XS-Series can use this industry standard to communicate with and control other intelligent sensor machines on plant networks via serial, Ethernet, Ethernet IP, USB, Bluetooth (for wireless report printing), Fieldbus, PROFIBUS, DeviceNet, or ControlNet. This network also allows the XS-Series to provide feedback for continuous process improvement. For instance, a trend toward excessive unit weight could trigger a signal from the XS-Series to a filler machine to reduce fill and bring unit weight back within the targeted range, reducing rejections and waste.
About Mettler-Toledo Hi-Speed Checkweigher
Mettler-Toledo Hi-Speed is North America's largest checkweigher manufacturer. In 1981, the company joined METTLER TOLEDO, the world's largest manufacturer of weighing solutions for laboratory, industrial, and food retailing applications, with more than 8,000 employees and $1.5 billion (US dollars) revenue in 2005. Hi-Speed, with sister companies Safeline and Garvens, make up the Mettler-Toledo Product Inspection Division, the world's largest manufacturer and marketer of checkweighers, metal detection devices, and other end-of-line inspection systems serving local and multi-national customers worldwide.
SOURCE: Mettler-Toledo Hi-Speed