The development of sealing materials and sealing solutions will be a new challenge for industry. In order to master the high quality requirements and demanding production processes, KLINGER Dichtungstechnik relies on a new finishing system for the production of gasket sheets. Siemens supports KLINGER Dichtungstechnik with the latest technology to achieve these goals.

Tradition and expertise in gasket production

As a subsidiary company of the globally operating KLINGER Group, KLINGER Dichtungstechnik GmbH & Co KG has been focusing on the research, development and production of high-quality industrial gaskets for more than 130 years. The company has been run as a family business for five generations and is based in Gumpoldskirchen, Lower Austria. As the competence center for the 50 independent companies and 60 worldwide production, sales and service partners that form the KLINGER Group, KLINGER Dichtungstechnik is deemed to be the innovation center for development of revolutionary sealing materials and sealing solutions.

Siemens as a reliable partner

For many years, KLINGER Dichtungstechnik has relied on Siemens as its partner for drives and control systems. KLINGER not only produces gaskets, but also largely develops its own production machines. Drive technology is therefore a critical aspect of project realization. The production of sealing plates at KLINGER Dichtungstechnik's production plant is carried out using a rolling process. The resulting sealing sheets have raw dimensions of up to 4.5 x 2 meters and have to undergo further production steps on the way to the end product before they can be delivered to the customer. All these tasks are carried out fully automatically in several stations by a system known as the finishing unit. Due to the positive experiences in the past, Siemens frequency converters and a Siemens control system were used for this major project.

© Siemens

Siemens SINAMICS frequency inverters are used amongst others.

Intelligent quality control in the finishing unit

A total of 39 Siemens servomotors and four Siemens AC motors are used in the finishing system. "This combination gives us a concentrated drive power of 104 kW, which is optimally matched to the demanding processes of the finishing system," says Peter Hallas, Sales Manager at Siemens. The panels in different materials and thicknesses are first fed into the machine individually and then trimmed lengthwise to a width of 1.5 to 2 meters in the next step. Quality control is carried out using line scan cameras, which record the sealing sheets from both above and below. A machine learning algorithm that can be adapted to the needs of production is used to detect faults on the plate. The result of the test is finally sent to the Siemens control system for further processing, where the high-precision motion control of all 39 axes is realized too.

© Siemens

Finishing system at KLINGER Dichtungstechnik

Automation and integration into the production environment

After the panel has been printed, it is cut in the transverse direction in order to obtain a form suitable for shipping. The final step is stacking on pallets, that is provided by a pallet conveyor unit. A distinction is made between good and reject panels and each is stacked accordingly in order to deliver the highest quality to the customer. This is followed by packing and picking by the employees. "This technology not only enables precise motion control, but also seamless integration into KLINGER Dichtungstechnik's existing production environment," adds Thomas Sellner, Project Manager at KLINGER Dichtungstechnik. Quality pays off here too, as the machine, that is in continuous operation for eight hours a day, has to step in big shoes: the "old" finishing machine has been running daily since 1971. But the new system, that is currently in the test phase, is already showing promising results.

Step into the future

"The cooperation with Siemens and the use of Siemens products in our plant technology emphasize our continuous striving for innovation and quality. This not only ensures the efficiency of our production, but also the satisfaction of our customers worldwide," says René Blumauer, Technical Manager at KLINGER Dichtungstechnik. Ernst Schäfer, Technical Managing Director of KLINGER, also extol the user-friendliness of SIZER for Siemens Drives in the project, which facilitates both simple and complex drive planning. With the support of Walter Rohrbach, specialist consultant at Siemens, the customer was able to gain valuable knowledge and is now in a position to plan other projects independently. Nothing will keep KLINGER from starting production and future exciting projects with Siemens.