AE-PLC-MEMB Usine-école d'Emballage

The Bottling Workstation, "AE-PLC-MEMB", designed by EDIBON, is an automatic rotary table with a vessel feeding system, a controlled water filling system, a cap feeder, a vessel closing system, and finally, an extraction system to a complete vessel rack.

The "AE-PLC-MEMB" station is designed as a modular system for ease of understanding.

The main components are:

• The PLC: composed of the CPU unit and all the additional modules necessary for the correct operation of the workstation.
• The control panel: includes start/stop buttons, emergency stop button, reset button, indicator lights to display the current status of the process, etc.
• The pneumatic circuit: contains the necessary solenoid valves, pressure components, filters, and regulators to ensure proper operation of the unit, as well as different types of pneumatic actuators.
• The workstation: composed of real industrial components used in rotary table systems, such as reed sensors, presence sensors, DC motor, inductive sensors, capacitive sensors, rotary table with four positions, etc.

The pneumatic circuit and workstation are distributed in the following sections:

• Air treatment system: includes a filter-regulator block with water trap and shut-off valve to control the air pressure input to the unit. It also features a dual-scale manometer to monitor the supplied pressure.
• Vessel feed section: includes vertical storage for containers without lids. Two double-acting cylinders allow containers to drop one at a time. Each cylinder has its own air flow regulator to control speed.
• Container displacement section: rotary table with four supports for containers. Its rotation, powered by a DC motor, moves the vessel through the different process stages.
• Filling section: includes two tanks at the base of the unit —one as a reserve and the other to supply water— through a system of solenoid valves, a DC-powered submersible pump, and a siphon. A capacitive sensor prevents filling if no container is properly placed.
• Lid feeding and container closing section: includes a double-acting cylinder that pushes the lids one by one. Lids rest in a vertical magazine outside the rotary table. Vertical and horizontal actuators, along with a vacuum ejector and suction cup, move and press the lid onto the container.
• Container extraction section: features a set of actuators, including pneumatic grippers that pick up the container and transfer it to the storage rack.
• Signal tower: includes green, yellow, and red LED lights to indicate system status.
• Solenoid valve block: pneumatic manifold with nine solenoid valves — eight monostable five-way valves and one monostable three-way valve.
• Electrical terminal block: provides access to all unit signals, clearly labeled for manual testing. Terminals are color-coded to help identify signal types and names.