Core Printer for Paper Mill

Scope:

The customers process required a stand alone machine to put an identification maker on the core in which paper is wound. The identification maker had to be readable once the roll was torn down.

Description:

A stand-alone machine was designed to print the reel/set/roll identification number on the inside of the core. The machine has a hopper that can be loaded with cores from the rear. Once the cores are loaded they are supplied to the printer 1 core at a time. The machine was setup to print the exact number of cores needed for set of paper to built.

The control system consisted of an Allen-Bradley remote IO drop which connected via ControlNet to the mills existing PLC. An Allen-Bradley PanelView was used to give the operators an indication and troubleshooting capabilities of the machine. They also have the ability to manually enter information when needed.

A mineral based ink-jet printer was used for the printing inside the core. By using a mineral based ink, cleanup is not necessary as with traditional industrial ink-jet printers. The printed identification number comes from the PLC via ASCII RS232 port.