THE COMPANY
futronic is a manufacturer of electronic control systems and offers complete solutions from development to serial manufacture from a single source. The focus of the company’s activities lies in the glass industry, but it has also made a name for itself in other areas of industry. futronic products are known throughout the world for their reliability and performance.

CONTROL SYSTEM FOR SERVO-PROPORTIONAL VALVES DURING RETROFIT
Based on the requests of its customers, futronic has taken an important feature in its current FMT24S machine controller and created a stand-alone system out if it. The SPV24S can now be used to retrofit older control systems or the products of other companies without this function and equip them with modern control capabilities for servoproportional valves in IS machines. The SPV24S supports up to 24 sections with almost any number of servo-proportional valves in addition to functioning with all current brands of servo-proportional valves used in IS machines. This means that in a station cycle, additional control can increase the throughput of existing electronic timers by up to a factor of ten in terms of the quantity or pressure normally indicated for the electronic timer angle system. Speed changes in IS machines automatically trigger control of the servo-proportional valves at the appropriate time and for the appropriate duration. This module also supports maintenance functions such as level changes carried out directly from the o...

THE COMPANY
futronic is a manufacturer of electronic control systems and offers complete solutions from development to serial manufacture from a single source. The focus of the company’s activities lies in the glass industry, but it has also made a name for itself in other areas of industry. futronic products are known throughout the world for their reliability and performance.

CONTROL SYSTEM FOR SERVO-PROPORTIONAL VALVES DURING RETROFIT
Based on the requests of its customers, futronic has taken an important feature in its current FMT24S machine controller and created a stand-alone system out if it. The SPV24S can now be used to retrofit older control systems or the products of other companies without this function and equip them with modern control capabilities for servoproportional valves in IS machines. The SPV24S supports up to 24 sections with almost any number of servo-proportional valves in addition to functioning with all current brands of servo-proportional valves used in IS machines. This means that in a station cycle, additional control can increase the throughput of existing electronic timers by up to a factor of ten in terms of the quantity or pressure normally indicated for the electronic timer angle system. Speed changes in IS machines automatically trigger control of the servo-proportional valves at the appropriate time and for the appropriate duration. This module also supports maintenance functions such as level changes carried out directly from the operating bar. Pressure, quantity and angle settings are configured using a screen dialogue. Furthermore, the operator can also save any settings made for an article and call them up later on demand.
Pressure or quantity levels are displayed graphically in a tree structure. The individual switching levels can be adjusted numerically or jogged incrementally.

FMT24S - CONTROLLERS BASED ON USING THE PRINCIPLE OF MODULARITY
Isolated solutions and proprietary systems are yesterday's news – today, technologies are in demand, the ones that hit the ground running and that can be flexibly adapted to any approaching technical challenges. Precision and reliability in this process are top priority in order to ensure product quality. futronic took this trend into account during the development of its FMT24S product family. FMT24S stands for ‘Flexible Modular Timing System’, a decentralized machine controller for IS machines with up to 24 stations. It is structured modularly, providing the machine and plant manufacturer with a kind of construction kit. This allows the project engineer to customize the controller with minimal structural effort based on the requirements profile of his customers.
If the framework conditions and requirements change during operation, the individual modules can be replaced and extended. FMT24S-specific components are available for this. In addition, other commercially-available digital and analogue I/O assemblies, interface converters and other extensions can also be integrated. “The scalability of the system ensures the highest level of flexibility and investment security,” explains futronic Managing Director, Wolfgang Lachmann. This is made possible by the consistent use of bus technology.

BUS SYSTEM ON THREE LEVELS
The FMT24S system provides three different bus systems that play against their respective strengths at the various communication levels. The command and visualization level of the controller is represented by commerciallyavailable PC hardware. In order to ensure compatibility with the IT structure of a company, futronic depends on Ethernet technology and the TCP/IP protocol. The advantages are clear. For one thing, this allows the controller to be integrated over the Internet into the cross-location data structure of a corporation which also lets systems be remotely maintained in a costefficient manner. For another, the services provided by IT departments can also be used for administration or data protection. That also saves preventive and corrective maintenance costs.
A CANopen bus system is used at the operative level of the FMT24S system. Modern equipped IS machines, for instance, with ten stations have up to 400 sensor-lamp combinations on both operating bars. These can now be connected over station interfaces to a line bus that is pulled through the operating bar. CANopen works deterministically and ensures that every key command is implemented within of a tenth of a second. Time-consuming wiring and multi-pole cable and socket systems are unnecessary. The third bus system for FMT24S module communication is a futronic in-house development; it is known as the Binary High Speed Bus (BHSB). The bus system with a star topology is able to process all of the currently impending switching commands to the machine within 500 µ-seconds. This enables the system to run at 30 machine cycles per minute at a resolution of 3,600 individual operations each.
“Commercially-available, conventional field bus systems cannot match that,” Lachmann explains. The FMT24S controller is therefore also up to the challenge of the high requirements that, for instance, are placed on the output to modern actors such as servo-proportional valves or electrical servo-drives.

ADAPTABLE SOFTWARE CONTROLLER
About three quarters of the effort required for developing the FMT24S family of controllers was invested in the software. At the forefront was the human-machine interface and the modularity of the system. This ensures that, based on a client-server architecture, network multiple product lines can be networked and that systems can be operated remotely, if necessary. When configuring the controller as part of commissioning a system, it ‘becomes familiar with’ the structure of each application at the customer location and learns customerspecific terminology and manufacturing processes. The data is saved in a SQL-compatible database that can be seamlessly integrated into the existing IT infrastructure.

POTENTIAL NOT YET EXHAUSTED
FMT24S has already proven itself in practice. Heinz Glas GmbH, with its main production facilities in Kleintettau, Thuringia, manufactures packaging for cosmetics. In 2006, it began the process of replacing its older systems with new FMT24S modules. In the meantime, many domestic and international Heinz Glas plants have been re-equipped. “The FMT24S controllers manufactured by futronic can very easily be connected to the adjoining systems to create one integrated system,” explains Alfred Krischke, Director of the plant in Kleintettau. This comes very close to the plant's ‘allin- one’ philosophy. Krischke emphasizes that one key function is the option of monitoring multiple systems on one screen, even if the systems are from different manufacturers. Since the potential of the system has not yet been exhausted by far, he feels that glass manufacturers are well prepared for future requirements.
The engineers at the GPS Glasproduktions-Service GmbH in Essen are also convinced by the performance of the FMT24S. They equip IS machines for the plant manufacturer with futronic controls as standard components. “The controls of the FMT24S family can be customized precisely to our requirements and integrated optimally in our machines,” says Managing Director, Lars Diekämper. He also appreciates the smooth interaction with the company's in-house servo and drive technology.