Cabinet-free automation

Control, measurement and regulation in a single unit

Control electronics, measuring technology and pneumatics sit in the same housing. The C100-4.0® switches compressed air at an adjustable pressure to the dispensing outlet for a programmable time. Sensors and signals from the system can be read in and evaluated via the digital inputs, while valves and indicator lamps are driven via the outputs. Where movement is involved, the unit also handles position control of the connected drives.

Everything is operated via the touchscreen on the front. Dispensing pressure, process time and limit values are entered directly on the device, without a programming environment and without a wiring diagram in the background. Up to 1000 programs can be stored, named and linked to one another, so that multi-stage sequences can be mapped as well.

The current dispensing pressure is continuously measured and displayed graphically. This makes visible what is actually happening in the process, and deviations become apparent before they lead to rejects. Monitoring functions intervene when defined conditions are not met, ending the process or jumping to another program.

Taken together, this provides automation that would otherwise require a PLC, a control cabinet and external engineering. With the C100-4.0® it stands ready to connect on the bench.

Dosing systems for every requirement

Anyone automating a dispensing step, an axis or a temperature process runs into the same calculation: PLC, control cabinet, wiring, external engineering. For an application with valves, sensors and axes, that effort bears no relation to the task. The C100-4.0® process controller from H. Sigrist & Partner AG covers control, measurement and closed-loop regulation in a single device. Processing unit, inputs and outputs and pneumatic elements are integrated and meet industry standard. Control cabinet construction is no longer required.

The controller processes setpoints, monitors parameters and drives external actuators. Digital and analogue inputs and outputs, serial interfaces, TCP/IP and pneumatic elements are available. It is used as a dispensing controller in series production, in test benches and in development and research. Wherever a process has to run repeatably without a special-purpose machine being built for it.

ODC integrates motor-driven movement directly into the program sequence. The target unit is stored in the device, so motion is commanded in millimetres, degrees or millilitres rather than motor steps. Brushed DC motors and stepper motors are supported. Stepper motors are driven using microstepping and reach resolutions in the µm range, backlash-free and with high holding force. There is no upper limit on travel distance. Accuracy is maintained over long distances.

Typical movements:

Volumetric dispensing with a fixed conversion ratio between motor revolution and volume
Linear axes for translational movement
Rotary axes
Stirrers for stirring and mixing
Sequential and simultaneous sequences combining several of these movements
Response to input signals during a running program Common drives are preconfigured.

Customer-specific drives can be created and parameterised.

Measuring range from below 1 µl to over 1 litre
Media from low to high viscosity
Gas bubble detection, logically linked to control and regulation variables

Flow&Go® makes the volume actually dispensed the controlled variable, not the dispensing time. With expensive media or tight tolerances this decides the scrap rate, because viscosity variation and trapped air are detected before they end up in the part.

Programs can be chained sequentially and branch into a defined target program. Which outputs switch on program stop is defined per program. Multi-stage sequences are built without a higher-level controller.

Watchdog Control extends Program Link with event-driven program jumps. A sudden pressure drop or a digital input triggers a defined jump. The process responds to a fault itself instead of letting it surface at final inspection.

Communication runs over TCP/IP as server or client and serially over RS232. The behaviour is freely definable: incoming messages are parsed by regular expression, outgoing messages are tied to defined events. Internal process values are continuously accessible over the network.

The C100-4.0® starts as a base unit and is extended through software modules. What controls a single dispensing station today can later take on an axis, a volumetric measurement or the link to the production line. This avoids the break that occurs when a controller reaches its limit and has to be replaced entirely.

We develop and manufacture a substantial part of our range ourselves, the C100-4.0® included. That has two practical consequences.

First, the person who advised you also answers the question of why a signal is not arriving as expected. There is no manufacturer in the background to hand you over to.

Second, the device is adapted to your application rather than your application to the device. Customer-specific drives, your own communication protocol, an additional evaluation logic: whatever the device provides for, you parameterise yourself. Anything beyond that we discuss.

We will also tell you when the C100-4.0® is the wrong choice for your task. A controller that works well on a test bench is not automatically right for three-shift operation on a packaging line.

Whether the C100-4.0® fits your process is settled fastest against the actual task. Describe the sequence, the required cycle time and the signals involved. You will get the matching configuration level from us, and a note on where a different solution would serve you better.

Software for the compact controller

SW3900003

Swissline

Addon software for C100-4.0: Flow&Go®

Addon-Software für C100-4.0®

Addon software for C100-4.0®: Connectivity

SW3900004

Swissline

Addon software for C100-4.0®: Connectivity

Addon-Software für C100-4.0®

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C100-4.0 software addon: keyboard integration

SW3900002

Swissline

C100-4.0 software addon: keyboard integration

Addon-Software für C100-4.0®

SW3900000

Swissline

C100-4.0 software addon: Program Link

Addon-Software für C100-4.0®

C100-4.0 software addon: Watchdog Control

SW3900001

Swissline

C100-4.0 software addon: Watchdog Control

Addon-Software für C100-4.0®

Control & Regulation – Automation without a control cabinet (PDF)

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