Maplesoft updates MapleSim to increase compatibility with production lines
Updates to MapleSim Insight by Maplesoft enable machine designers to improve web handling equipment using digital models to reduce costs. The new MapleSim Web Handling Library is an add-on to the system-level modelling and simulation tool. The library expands the modeling scope of MapleSim by adding rollers, drum brakes and other components that can faithfully simulate a machine’s handling of paper, plastic film, textiles, or foil.
Maplesoft has also released updates to the MapleSim family, with expanded modelling libraries, new productivity features and an increase in connector choices. According to the company, control engineers can now connect MapleSim’s digital models to even more automation tools using MapleSim Insight to support optimal controller development using virtual commissioning.
Machine builders use system-level models at the early stages of automation design to predict the operating performance and to optimise machine responses. MapleSim creates a model of the machine that can be run through testing and simulation scenarios before a physical prototype is built. Production lines that include continuous rolls of material, can try out different roller locations and tension options virtually to determine the most effective choices. Design revisions that would be costly to make after prototyping can be applied to the digital model for a fraction of the time and effort, says Maplesoft.
Using MapleSim and the MapleSim Web Handling Library, an engineer can proactively test physical changes, such as adding extra nip rollers or dancers, and determine the impact of adjustments to the controller code. Users can then visualise the torque, tension, and web motion in 3D. This information can be used to limit the fluctuations in tension for the production process.
“Automation companies today are constantly reviewing operations to determine if a machine can run at a higher speed, perform with less vibration, or operate more efficiently if a different motor, actuator, or other component is used,” says Chris Harduwar, vice president of business development at Maplesoft.
“By starting with a MapleSim model and adding production data, customers get a faithful representation that can respond to different parameters and layouts just as the physical line would,” he adds. “The MapleSim Web Handling Library can be used to find web speed improvements and solutions to control code problems before having to change hardware, saving time and money.”
Maplesoft also offers full-service solutions for diagnosing, fixing and optimising machine performance, working with customers to create a digital model, and then to run this model in MapleSim Insight, which provides simulation-based 3D visualisation and debugging capabilities and connects directly to common automation platforms.
The new version of MapleSim Insight now understands the EtherNet/IP industrial protocol and provides the means for almost any PLC programming environment to use a MapleSim model in a virtual commissioning workflow. As a result, tools like CODESYS join the list of connecting programs, alongside software from B&R, Beckhoff and Rockwell Automation.
Other improvements to MapleSim and its add-on libraries, toolboxes, and connector add-ons include features that save time when creating and analysing models and add fidelity for specialised domains such as tyre behaviour on different terrains and winches with ropes and cables.
