1. Development overview of packaging industry
Packaging machinery refers to the machinery that can complete the packaging process of all or part of products and commodities. The packaging process includes filling, wrapping, sealing and other main processes, as well as related pre and post processes, such as cleaning, stacking and disassembly. In addition, packaging also includes measuring or stamping on the package.
China's packaging industry is relatively backward compared with developed countries such as Japan and the United States, which has great development potential. In 2005, China produced a total of 93000 packaging machines, with an output value of 55 billion yuan, a slight decrease from 2004. According to the statistics of the food and packaging machinery industry association, there are more than 3600 packaging machinery manufacturers in China, but there are only 20 with an output value and sales of more than 100 million yuan.
Domestic packaging machinery enterprises mainly produce relatively simple equipment, which mainly depends on imports. Only a few domestic enterprises can provide complete sets of production lines.
2. Application of automation products in packaging industry
1.) general situation
Automation products used in packaging machinery mainly include control system, transmission control, motion control, man-machine interface and sensors, including:
Control system: embedded products, PLC, IPC, fieldbus; Transmission control: frequency converter, DC speed regulation; Motion control: servo, stepping, motion controller;
Man machine interface: text display, touch screen, tablet computer, electrical components and sensors: photoelectric switch, temperature sensor, pressure sensor, travel switch, etc
2.) introduction to main automation products
There are great differences in the use of controllers in food and packaging machinery. Fieldbus technology is used in large production lines, with thousands of control points. Most single machines use PLC or special controllers. Some medium and low-end equipment adopts relay control, while more small equipment do not use any electronic controllers. On the whole, only about 10% of domestic packaging machinery use advanced controllers.
In terms of performance, IPC has strong scalability, and rich software resources enable it to develop more application schemes. At present, it is mainly used for the management and communication of large-scale equipment. PLC system will still be the mainstream controller of packaging machinery within 5 years; As the previous mainstream controller, the relay will continue to continue in the low-end market. Although the market has declined, it will not be eliminated in the packaging industry within three years.