Caterpillar Peterlee required a control system to operate weld manipulators with flexibility to change the speed & sequence of the rotation angles for weld access and have a positional accuracy of +/- 1mm.
It was a joint project whereby Caterpillar designed and manufactured the Weld Manipulator and C.A.M Automation Ltd designed, manufactured and installed the control system for the manipulator.
We designed a system using a Siemens PLC, Proface HMI and SEW Inverter which was connected to the PLC via Profibus.
We designed the safety circuit for the system based on a Risk Assessment which included Emergency Stop buttons, two sets of two hand start non-touch systems and safety bolt non-contact coded switches.

We manufactured the control panel and developed the PLC & HMI Software based on a specification from Caterpillar, the system allows the operator to specify the rotational sequence required to weld the type of part inserted into the manipulator, therefore, necessitating the need for PLC or HMI program changes.
We installed the system which involved connecting the motor, encoder, remote two hand start station, manual safety bolt lock and tailstock safety bolt switches.

Commissioning involved scaling the encoder to provide 1mm accuracy of the mechanical system.
We set-up dummy sequences to test the operation and accuracy of the system and tested all functions of the machine, we tested all safety functions using a safety matrix developed by ourselves.

We provided a full Technical File for the system which included, Electrical Drawings, PLC Software, HMI Screens, Operator Manual, Motor Parameters/Settings, CE Documentation.

We have since provided 16 further systems.