尽管底特律地区仍在为经济上的看法而苦苦挣扎，但现实情况是，该地区的行业继续努力实现新的想法，而不仅仅是维持现有的行动，而是为帮助重建底特律的工业和社区的更大努力的一部分。
在最近的一次访问中，参加了美国的年度制造业活动，由西门子和Electro-matic，我有机会参观哈利大型机器在密歇根州克林顿，距底特律市中心不到30英里。
在公司的100,000平方英尺的设施中，Harry Major Machine建立了传送带系统，组装和测试系统，激光标记系统以及多种类型的工业垫圈以及干洗和冷却产品。该公司还开发了无电缆和机器人龙门系统，用于采摘/分类/加载应用程序。
“Most work we do here is systems integration,” said Curt Major, who has been president of the company (founded in 1962) since 1989. “Most manufacturing sites are set up around cells, and we develop and integrate those cells here with minimal integration required on site, though we also do that too,” he added.
One of Harry Major Machines’ new systems highlighted by Curt during my visit was a new PLC-controlled robotic gantry. The motion control systems of most gantries are CNC-based (as CNC controlled gantries were recognized as being faster than PLC/servo-driven gantries), but Harry Major Machine become interested in a PLC approach to address the high engineering and maintenance support requirements of CNC-controlled gantries. Major noted that these new PLC-controlled gantries can operate at speeds of “up to 4 meters per second.”
Beyond expanding and enhancing gantry control possibilities, Major knew this new PLC-controlled gantry also needed to address specific customer needs for unique performance specifications—ranging from speed, uptime and cost requirements to individual plant layout specifications.
With these goals in mind, Harry Major Machine set out to design a PLC-based linear, XYZ-type gantry that is user-friendly, easy to maintain, and able to multitask without major logic changes. The company now offers five models of PLC-based gantries, with the model numbers representing each system’s lifting capacity in kilograms: MGL-30, MGL-50, MGL-150, MGL-250 and MGL-500.
创建新龙门
Harry Major Machine的副总裁Frank Loria解释了创建这个新的龙门剧系列的开发过程，他指出：“西门子以先进和相关的技术（用于该系列赛）来到我们这里，包括全面的综合诊断和安全性。透明
西门子这一新系列PLC控制的Gantries中使用的产品包括：
- Simatic S71516F控制器，它是Siemens Advanced S7-1500 Failsafe CPU范围的一部分。该控制器的特定功能导致Harry Major Machine为新的Gantry系列选择它是：与Siemens Tia（完全集成的自动化）门户集成，用于快速软件开发和部署，一致的数据存储及其智能库概念，以简化使用通用功能。这些故障安全控制器还具有集成的诊断，并具有故障分析和故障排除以减少调试和停机时间。嵌入式诊断是Harry Major Machine的关键功能，因为它使Gantries的伺服电机PLC，HMI和I/O设备可以互相交谈。
- Simatic TP1500 HMI with a 15.4-inch wide screen, a high-resolution TFT display and touch screen controls.
- SINAMICS S120从西门子的驱动器被选为其在单轴驱动器中的协调组件和功能范围以及协调的多轴应用。驱动器还具有运动控制的向量和伺服功能。
- SIMATIC MP277移动面板 - 带有TFT（薄膜晶体管）显示器，64K颜色和LED的18个功能键的移动HMI设备。它可以通过触摸屏和膜键盘操作。它连接到Profibus，Profinet和以太网。系统体系结构的安全功能可在移动面板上获得，包括在关键情况下阻止机器的按钮。
These features, as well as the overall system architecture and digital communication options across the devices, allowed for implementation of the customized drive solutions that Harry Major Machine wanted this line of gantries to have for flexibility and increased productivity.
New gantry benefits
根据Harry Major Machine的说法，与CNC控制的型号相比，该公司能够通过这些新的PLC控制的Gantries向客户提供的一些好处包括：
- 正常运行时间增加了25％；
- Fault recovery times improved by 35 percent;
- 与各种机器人技术的兼容性，包括Harry Major Machine提供的自动化系统和工业零件垫圈；
- 能够喂养多台机器的能力；和
- 可配置为“ I”或“ H”布置。
