Innovative Digital Printer Control Unit

INNOVATIVE DIGITAL PRINTER CONTROL UNIT

SCE has a lot of experience in the automation of machines for the ceramic sector, thanks to which it was chosen as Technological Partner to design a numerical control dedicated to a revolutionary solution for digital ceramic glazing.

The realization was developed in cooperation with a company of consolidated innovative tradition in the specific sector and allowed to deal in an original way with the problem of glazing ceramic tiles through digital Drop on Demand (DOD) deposition of water-based enamels. The typical solution for this application was to use spray systems to coat the tile with a first layer of very low porosity ceramic material to allow subsequent decorative inkjet printing with solvent-based pigments.
The new construction instead uses an exclusive DOD enamel distribution system capable of obtaining a limited application only to the tile surface, avoiding all the classic disadvantages of standard solutions, such as waste of 40% of the material, heavy contamination of the working environment , the need to provide auxiliary ventilation systems, close cycles of washing and cleaning of installations with consequent waste of energy and water resources.

SCE has created a new CNC-based control dedicated to the specific application, designed to comply with the regulatory requirements and the quality control of the digitization processes required by the indications of Industry 4.0.
The new structure is designed with a highly innovative architecture, based on modules interconnected with each other, with the machine and with the external environment, thanks to the use of industrial BUS (Ethercat) and communication interfaces based on ICT technologies of now pervasive use.

Following the main features of the system:

CNC integrated with PLC, capable of communicating with intelligent peripherals, both of SCE production and from the market;
Integrated management of glaze preparation units and video devices able to guarantee the quality of the process at the exit of the glazing machine;
Graphical representation of both printer settings, machine alarms, and visualizations to allow remote diagnostic and control service;

Complete interfacing with the processes related to the other production phases and with the supervision systems both at the setting level and at the level of production statistics;
Industrial PC, centered on a standard Operating System and dedicated operator interface with touch screen and IP65 protection.