Aluminum foil, as the crystallization of metal rolling technology, has become an indispensable functional material in modern industry and household life due to its excellent barrier properties, thermal conductivity and plasticity. In the field of aluminum foil processing, the tensioning and straightening machine, as a core equipment, its control accuracy directly affects product quality and production efficiency. In response to the urgent need for intelligent upgrading in the industry, FGI, based on its independently developed FD500 series of high-reliability engineering frequency converters, has created a full-process intelligent solution, successfully achieving import substitution and facilitating the industry's development towards high-end and green.

1. Project analysis

A certain aluminum foil processing enterprise in Zhengzhou, Henan Province

Encountered multiple challenges during equipment upgrade

· Process control issues: Effectively solve problems such as strip breakage, speed fluctuation and torque deviation, ensuring uniform thickness of the aluminum foil

· Increased precision requirements: Need to achieve high-speed response and high-precision control

· Cost optimization needs: Improve performance while reducing the overall cost of the equipment

· Domestication demands: Seek stable and reliable domestic alternative solutions

2.FGI scheme

In response to the stringent requirements of the aluminum foil bending and straightening process, FGI has adopted the FD500 series highly reliable engineering-type inverter as the core driving equipment, and has developed a "1 + 4 + 4 + 1" intelligent collaborative drive system to achieve precise control throughout the entire process:

One unwinding frequency converter

Precisely controls the unwinding speed of raw materials, ensuring stable supply and avoiding belt breakage caused by sudden changes in tension.

4 input frequency converters + 4 output frequency converters

Intelligent coordination for adjusting speed differences, achieving high-precision straightening of aluminum foil.

One roll-up frequency converter

It adopts constant tension control to ensure that the finished products are neatly rolled and to prevent the materials from deforming or becoming loose.

3.Core technical advantages

All-round Drive Platform

The FD500 is compatible with various motor control algorithms such as synchronous motors, asynchronous motors, and synchronous reluctance motors. It can be adapted to the tensioning and straightening machine equipment industry, significantly reducing the cost risks brought about by equipment maintenance, product debugging, and product model replacement in the industry.

Intelligent parameter adjustment

It is equipped with multiple functional blocks such as constant tension and load distribution, which can meet the project requirements of constant tension unwinding, multi-device synchronous speed regulation, constant tension rewinding and other logics. It can be conveniently operated with one machine. When combined with a dedicated upper computer debugging system for the product, it can be intelligently and quickly  debugged to maintain the uniformity of the aluminum foil thickness at the load end, effectively solving problems such as belt breakage and edge lifting in traditional equipment.

Establishment of the steady-state framework

In view of the complex and changeable grid characteristics of engineering projects, a power grid consisting of 220V AC, 380V AC and 690V AC was planned and designed. It was ensured that the positive and negative fluctuations could range within 10% to 15% under these power grids. Through the hardware structure for full-load steady-state operation and the software self-regulation algorithm, the straightening machine equipment was ensured to operate stably and perfectly adapted to the high-speed production rhythm.

Open and Interconnected Ecosystem

Supports multiple communication protocols such as Modbus-RTU, Profinet, Modbus-TCP, EtherCAT, and EtherNet. It can quickly connect to PLC/DCS systems and various HMI, and adopts an LCD keyboard. It supports different versions of text display in English and Chinese, flexibly meeting the needs of various user operation interfaces. In this project implementation, Profinet communication is used for reading, writing and data exchange, which improves the data transmission rate and effectively avoids electromagnetic interference, saving programming time and worker operation training costs.

Comprehensive Safety Protection

Based on the basic data such as voltage, current and temperature, a comprehensive and rich set of fault alarm/pre-warning protection logic has been configured. Considering the requirements of the project market for reliable alarm but without sensitive alarm causing machine shutdown or production halt, a wider range of alarm logic has been developed to ensure safety and reliability during high-intensity and long-term production operations.

Through the successful application of the FD500 series high-reliability engineering frequency converter in the aluminum foil bending and straightening machine, FGI has achieved the domestic substitution of core equipment with its "precise millimeter-level" control capability, empowering the intelligent manufacturing of the non-ferrous metal processing industry. In the future, FGI will continue to use technological innovation as the engine, promote the domestic substitution strategy, and provide more efficient and reliable all-scenario automation solutions for various industrial fields, helping the industry accelerate its upgrading and transformation.