N95 Foam Spooler

This very large custom spooler included 19 Kinetix drives powering 38 different servo motors. Large rolls of foam (used in N95 masks) were loaded into the unwind section where they were unwound and slit into strips in an isolated tension loop between the unwind and pull roll motors (using a pressurized "dancer" roll on a hinge as the positional feedback). Each strip would then get wound up in one of the 18 different sections, where in each one a small spring-loaded dancer roll would help keep a much more delicate tension loop between the winder and pull roll stable as the rolls grew to 25" in diameter. While this was happening, "traverse" motors that were electronically cammed to the winder motors would shift back and forth to create a stable spool pattern.

I was the main controls engineer for this very exciting project that was custom-built for one of the largest producers of N95 masks on the planet, a company that is a household name in the USA. Besides commuticating with the customer to ensure rigid specifications were met, managing cross-functional teams, creating the HMI, and programming the complex motion processes and PLC code, I also worked directly with Allen-Bradley to help create a spooling function block for Studio 5000. This function block allowed a highly customizeable spool to be made, using techniques such as lobing, tapering, adjustable cross-hatch widths, and more.

Once finished, I also commisioned this project at the customer site. Despite the many challenges that occur when shipping a machine of this size and complexity across the country, the customer offered me a high ranking job before I left.