PLC Controller for Hydraulic Pressing Machine

Meftah Mahmoud Mohamed and Jason Gu

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3J 2X4, Canada
Mf225030@dal.ca & Jason.Gu@dal.ca

Abstract: Pressing Machine is the heart of the brick production lines where a hydraulically operated
pressing machine is considered to be a complex system; this work describes the design and experimental
implementation of a control system for a hydraulic pressing machine. The overall operation and control is
based on a programmable logic unit and a sensory system. The functionality of the control system is
analyzed through simulation Packages, and validated with physical experiments.

Key Words: Pressing Machine, Hydraulic, PLC

is open for discharging the amount of requested mortar in one

1.INTRODUCTION
A century ago the manufacturing of sand lime bricks began
[1]. During that time control technologies changed while
production steps of bricks are similar. Bricks made by hand or
by machine [2], however; much of the process is now
automated, brick-making is simple and basic. The Brick
pressing stage has the following essential steps :
• Loading the mixture in the die “mould”.
• Compression of the mixed material.
• Removing the block from the mould.
• Wet curing, the length of time depending on the
climate and the nature of the stabilizer [3]. "Not done
for sand lime bricks".
pressing cycle; the hydraulic press moves down to mold brick.
When green brick takes, its shape depends on the fitted mould
under two direction hydraulic pressure and very high
frequency vibration [4]. After that hydraulic press is return up
and green bricks moved to the autoclave cars using gripper or
robotic system as shown in Figure 1. The essential parts of a
brick press are:
Box or frame in which the mortar is molded;
Plunger or die carried on the end of a ram, which gives
the necessary pressure;
An arrangement for pushing the pressed brick out of the
moulding box [5].
Presses are generally made of iron, although other metals are
used, occasionally, for the moulds and dies. The greatest
variations found in brick presses are in the means adopted for
actuating the ram [6] and many ingenious mechanical devices
have been applied to this end, each claiming some particular
advantage over its predecessors.

Figure (2) Press Machine [4]

Figure (1) Structure of Press Machine [4]

Pressing machine is the heart of the Sand Lime production
line; all the other units designed to take in and out into and
from the pressing machine. The pressing machine hopper gate
The essential three parts of a brick press are the frame in
which the mortar is molded, and die carried on the end of a
ram, which gives the necessary pressure, and an arrangement
for pushing the pressed brick out of the moulding box [7]. In
many recent presses, the brick is pressed simultaneously from
top and bottom, a second ram, working upwards from beneath,
giving the additional pressure [8].

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2. PRESSING CONDITIONS
In pressing; In order to accomplish this, several conditions
must be kept in mind such as the strength and trueness of
shape of the bricks in the green condition, and the effect of the
material on the lining of the mold boxes. The ideal mixture
and the one that must be realized if bricks are to be made
successfully on a commercial basis, is one in which there is
enough fine material to surround the larger particles [6] thus
preventing their cutting action, and to allow of very closely
packing. However, it is not desirable to have the entire sand
very fine.
All above constrains are related to mixture material
percentage; Sand is naturally very hard on machinery, but
under some conditions, it cuts much worse than under others.
For many manufactures, it is found it very difficult to press
shapely bricks from a mixture of round sand and 5 percent of
lime [4]. With 8 per cent of lime, however, the bricks were
firm enough to be handled easily in the green condition.
When such mixtures are put through the press in the usual way
the air has not time to escape, and consequently the brick
ruptures when the pressure is released from the mold boxes. In
view of the fact that sand grinding is a very difficult and
expensive process. It must be evident that the followers of this
practice expect great good to come from having the material
very fine.
3.PRESSURE IN MOLDING BRICK
The object to be accomplished in pressing mixtures in brick
making is not only to shape the mass and give it sufficient
strength to stand up in the hardening cylinder, but also to bring
the reacting materials into close enough contact so that
chemical reaction can take place. The ideal condition is
reached when the sand grains are pressed closely together with
only a film of lime between them.
The most economic pressure to use in any case will vary; it
would seem, with the character of the mixture. Mr. Peppel [5]
finds that the best results are obtained when 15,000 pounds
pressure is applied for each square inch of surface [9], and that
pressure higher than this produce bricks of lower crushing
strength. This is a question of very great importance, for,
while it seems improbable that pressure too great for the good
of the brick is likely to be employed, nevertheless there is a
limit beyond which it is poor economy to carry it.
Figure (3) Stacking Robot [5]
2015 27th Chinese Control and Decision Conference (CCDC)
Figure (4) loading cranes for handling green bricks [6]
If the material to be pressed is very fine, presses must be
constructed so as to allow air to escape. This 'is accomplished
in some presses by causing the die first to descend, then to rise
a little, and finally to descend again for the final compression
[4]. By this procedure any air which is unable to escape during
the first plunge of the die and which might rupture the brick if
allowed to remain, escapes when the die is raised the presses
are used to compact the particles, thus increasing density [6].
A Chain conveyor will take the ready bricks out from pressing
machine where the cubing system is to handle a one cycle
group of bricks one time to the hardening Car as described in
Figure 3 . After Pressing sand lime bricks, loading cranes
for handling green bricks as shown in Figure 4 where
handling system such as gripper is used to handle green bricks
and stack it on hardening cars. Also palletize system might be
used.
4.PRESS MACHINE DESIGN REQUIREMENT
A well-designed system is one that not just put to work during
start-up, but can also be maintained, expanded, modified, and
kept running without difficulty [10]. The control strategy of
the pressing machine is to design an Automated Press machine
that has the following objectives:
9 High efficiency for production mechanism with high
quality product [4].
9 Optimize the use of raw materials with small waste
material [6].
9 Simple controller design, simple structure and require
little maintenance and providing an easy ways to do
maintenance.
9 The easiest usability with meaningful operating
indicators [5].
9 Require small number of labors and possible to do work
by inexperienced person with clear work procedure steps.
Those objectives of the design are established by considering
legal requirements, significant environmental aspects,
technological options, financial and operational issues,
business requirements and the views of interested parties.
5.PROGRAMMABLE LOGIC CONTROLLER
The advent of the Programmable Logic Controller ‘PLC’
began in the 1970s, and has become the most common choice
for manufacturing controls [11]. PLCs have been gaining
popularity on the factory floor and will probably remain
predominant for some time to come. Programmable
565
 controllers are similar. Unless there are good reasons for a
particular choice (ready experience in the engineering or
maintenance staff, equipment being supplied by an outside
contractor and similar considerations), there are good and bad
points with all PLC manufactures [6]. Choosing a
programmable controller is rather difficult task. In other
words, see the existing types in terms of quality, price,
requirement needs and ease of operation. The gold guideline
is therefore choosing PLC machine that suits the target
application.

6.PRESS STAGE CONTROLLER

The control unit is based on a STEP 7 200 series
programmable logic controller of type S7-216 that transfers of
data to a computer via serial communication [12]; where PC is
used for supervisory control and monitoring purposes; The
actual programming of the machine control unit is performed
using the STEP 7-Micro/WIN programming package . This
programming package provides a user-friendly environment to
develop, edit, and monitor the logic needed to control the
application [13]. Table (1) shows the Input and output
assignment of the hydraulic pressing machine; and
Figure (5) shows the flowchart of the control algorithm.

Table 1 Input and output assignment of press machine

Variable
Type Comment
Name
Reactor Output via Output signal to mixer
Conveyor net controller

Hydraulic Output Hydraulic press go down

Press when = 1
Hydraulic press return up
when = 0
Mold Gate Output Output signal to open mold
gate
Mold Vibrator Output Hydraulic vibrator used to
empty pan
Pan Full Input Limit switch activated when
pan is full
Down sensor Input Limit switch activated at
down position
Up sensor Input Limit switch activated at up
position
Mold timer Internal Mold down position timer "
timer Press timer"
Start Input Main start switch
Stop Input Main stop switch

At this stage; upon the flow chart of Pressing machine

operation logic is developed taking into account the constrains
and pre conditions and safety for each stage; Figure (5) shows
the output simulation results of Moeller PLC simulator; there
are inputs switches used to represent sensors which are level
high and level low sensor also there are control signal such as
sand order and water order. While output actuators are
affected with status of input sensor and also effected with
Figure (5) Flow chart of press machine
control sequence.

566 2015 27th Chinese Control and Decision Conference (CCDC)

 can be displayed during program run time; and the required
level can be entered by using keypad.
7.PRODUCTIVITY
Productivity of the production line is a function of the press
capacity and press cycle speed; where this could control the
amount of production volume by regulating the amount of
mixture fed to the reactor. So at the beginning of work shift
the required amount of production is decided from the
operator at the control room. If the entered productivity is over
than the production line productivity limit; the PLC
monitoring system will show indication to a logical error.
While if the entered productivity is less than the production
line productivity limit; therefore PLC productivity procedure
will start to control the mixture volume.

S ta rt

I n itia liz a tio n

C h e c k th e v o lu m e s
f o u n d in s a n d h o p p e r
L im e s ilo
Figure (7) Simulation of The PLC ladder diagram.

I n itia liz a tio n fo r P r e s s
M ix tu re O r d e r
M ix e r T u rn e d O n
L im e ; S a n d & W a te r O rd e r
The monitoring LCD is called MFD which is one of Moeller
company products. Productivity of the production line is a
function of the press capacity and press cycle speed; where
this could control the amount of production volume by
regulating the amount of mixture fed to the reactor.

S ta r t W o r k
M ix e r T u rn e d O n No

L im e ; S a n d & W a te r O rd e r N o

F ill m ix tu re in th e re a c to r

W a it u n t il r e a c tio n c o m p le t e

S ta rt P re s s
C o u n t P r o d u c t io n

I s p r o d u c t iv it y = d e s ir e d Figure (8) PLC controller of Pressing Machine using STEP 7

p r o d u c t iv it y
Yes

S to p
8.VISUALIZATION USING LAB VOLT VIRTUAL
LABORATORY PROGRAM
Figure (6) Flow chart of the productivity of press machine
Lab Volt Virtual Laboratory ‘LVVL’ simulator is 3D
simulator allows constructing Electromechanical and
Figure (7) shows the output simulation of PLC ladder diagram
hydraulics systems. Thus, it could perform on a computer the
using Easy soft Moeller simulator; mixture level in the reactor
same demonstrations and experiments which can be carried

2015 27th Chinese Control and Decision Conference (CCDC) 567

out using the actual hydraulics system. And all system parts
could be tested many times in a safe environment; figure 9
shows the simulation of Pressing cylinder by using LVVL.
Figure (9) Simulation of Pressing Cylinder by using LVVL
9.EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
A complete control system is designed for the hydraulic
pressing machine so that each cylinder moves forward and
back automatically, to achieve such a process two magnetic
Proximity Switches are used at both sides of the double acting
cylinders, one switch is used to sense and then indicate that
the piston has moved forward while the other is used to sense
and then indicate that the piston has returned back. A pressure
sensor is used to ensure reaching the desired pressing pressure
finally; Programmable logic controller “PLC” Step 7 200 is
used in implementing the control algorithms of the hydraulic
pressing machine. Experiments are carried out in laboratory as
shown in figure (10) and the results are in line with those
obtained via simulations.
Figure (10) PLC controller for Hydraulic Pressing Cylinder
10.CONCLUSION
Pressing Machine is the heart of the brick production lines;
this work describes the design and experimental
implementation of a control system for a hydraulic press
machine. prior to the actual implementation, Simulation is carried
out for evaluation and identification of its normal operation and
568 2015 27th Chinese Control and Decision Conference (CCDC)
performance, Flow charts is validated using Moeller easy soft
PLC simulator while Lab Volt Virtual Laboratory simulator is
used to simulate the Hydraulic and Electromechanical parts to
ensure the safety and functionality of the system. Experiments
are in line with those obtained via simulations and predict the
actual behavior of the control system.
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