Upgrading Servo Drives for Steel Processing Automation

M.E.P. (Macchine Elettroniche Piegatrici) manufactures machines for bending, processing, and welding reinforcing steel. The engineering requirements for these machines have shifted due to changes in the coil material being processed. Machine designs must now accommodate reinforcing steel with diameters up to 26 millimeters, a significant increase from the previous standard of 16 millimeters. Additionally, the use of different materials, such as stainless steel, and the industrial demand to process two wires simultaneously to increase output have fundamentally altered the mechanical and electrical specifications required for the equipment.

Upgrading Servo Drive Capabilities
To manage the increased mechanical load and output requirements, the engineering department required more powerful servo axes. The nominal current requirement increased from a maximum of 100 Amps to 150 Amps. Following the discontinuation of a previously used component, MEP selected the KEBA D3 drive platform to meet these higher power specifications. The solution was chosen for its open architecture, which allows the drives to communicate seamlessly across multiple industrial automation interfaces, including CANopen, EtherCAT, and PROFINET.

Protocol Integration and Deployment
A specific deployment challenge arose during the realization of a mesh-grid production plant in Argentina, which required a PROFINET protocol. Working alongside technical partner Centro Automazioni, MEP implemented the KEBA D3 system to meet this requirement. The integration utilized an IRT PROFINET protocol, enabling the D3 drives to communicate directly with the plant's SIEMENS automation application to ensure stable, high-capacity operation.

Energy Efficiency and System Optimization
MEP is further evaluating the drive platform for a new rotor straightening and bending machine equipped with an EtherCAT interface. In this specific application, the drive's commonly shared DC bus solution compensates for the continuous high power required by the pulling system, which includes both rotors and rollers. This power draw is balanced by the energy regenerated by the shear unit, effectively reducing overall power consumption and minimizing the energy dissipated on an external brake resistor.

Giles Haysom, Procurement Director at MEP, highlighted the potential for future technical integration based on these results: “In cutting and bending applications it may well be possible to expand collaboration on the level of servo motors as well.”

Edited by Lekshman Ramdas, Induportals editor – adapted by AI.

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