Special purpose machine manufacturer simplifies control cabinet installation
Machine manufacturers can save a lot of time and effort during installation if the systems are no longer delivered with open cable ends in the traditional way. A globally active special purpose machine manufacturer for pharmaceutical products is therefore equipping its machines with pre-assembled cable harnesses that are directly connected to the control cabinet using connectors. This prevents wiring faults and reduces the installation time by more than 30 percent.
"Over 80 percent of the special purpose machines are exported. However, very often there is a lack of qualified personnel during the installation and commissioning on site. This can be very expensive if someone has to travel extra to eliminate wiring faults," says René Heiden, Operations Manager at SUATEC, describing a typical installation challenge on international construction sites.
SUATEC GmbH with over 50 employees creates automation and engineering solutions for process and plant technology. This also includes control cabinet construction for the special purpose machine manufacturer. "The machine is connected to a cable harness comprising 50 individual cables. Each cable has another 4 to 25 individual strands that must then be stripped, fitted with contacts and wired on site. This is where mistakes occur. The machine manufacturer wanted to prevent this by simplifying the cabling by pre-assembling them with connectors", the SUATEC works manager explains.
Plugging pre-assembled cable harnesses directly into the control cabinet
Guido Steenbock (HARTING left), and Rene Heiden (SUATEC, right) on the joint project. The special purpose machine manufacturer wanted to simplify the cabling and deliver its systems pre-assembled with connectors.
The large number of connections and the resulting high number of connectors from each machine to the control cabinet was a challenge. SUATEC in cooperation with the connector specialist HARTING has developed a way of routing the cable harnesses directly inside the control cabinet. The control cabinet is equipped with a special circuit board for this. It replaces a terminal strip with 200 individual low-voltage contacts. The low voltage cables are now connected directly to the circuit board. This PCB is delivered with pre-assembled adapters that fit directly into the contacts of HARTING industrial connectors. HARTING also supplies the pre-assembled cable harnesses as well as a stainless steel plate with accompanying surface mounted housings to accommodate the connectors. The solution also dispenses with the interface on the control cabinet wall and most of the internal wiring.