Siemens Controls Assist Tire Cord Manufacturer in Improving Wire Draw System Performance

“We were presented with a significant challenge by one of our great customers, a tire manufacturer in the area,” says Chad Garner, a Nashville-based application engineer with distributor Wesco. They are required to improve their various wire drawing machines in the plant for tire cord production.”

Garner goes on to say that “they were faced with very specific challenges.” To achieve the wire criteria, the machines needed to maintain a very tight and consistent tension. The company was utilising a ‘black box’ system that had been custom-developed for them by a tiny local company that had since gone out of business. In this scenario, the black box originally allowed the user to modify the strain on the wire without affecting the motor parameters. However, even after the customer tested nine alternative control schemes to find a solution, the system could only hold +/- 500 grammes of tension on the line. Their ideal goal was to replace the black boxes with commercially available solutions, but their present drive and control provider was unable to assist successfully. Wesco was able to create a solution in collaboration with a local integrator and Siemens, using conventional Siemens components for the first line.”

This wireline could reach speeds of up to 1000 metres per minute. The required wire tension ranged from 600 to 2000 grammes (+/- 50 grammes). Wire sizes on the line were typically 0.15-0.3 mm. To tackle the problem, the tire manufacturer and integrator first attempted to use their default drivers and PLC platforms supplied by another company. However, it was determined that the manufacturer was unable to match the job’s tension standards. As a result, Wesco and Siemens were asked if they could come up with a better alternative.