Without automized motor and gear production, the high production levels in the automobile industry of today would be unthinkable. The Bremen Machine Manufacturer, J. A. Krause, as leading manufacturer supplies the fully-automatic assembly plants just for this. The most efficient assembly lines can screw a new engine together every twelve seconds. VARICON industrial plug connectors and INTERBUS-IP65 local bus help to solve this task effectively and economically.

Modularization reduces system costs
To be able to keep up with the pressure of competition in the future too, the Bremen engineers have, through consistent modularization, not only reduced the production costs of the plant dramatically, but have as a useful "side-effect", also reduced the run time between order and delivery. In addition to reducing costs, the modular structure also makes it easier to extend the system and simultaneously increases availablility.

The concept of modularization is based on a clear allocation of electrical equipment to mechanical functional units. This is made possible by small I/O units with IP 65 protection networked through INTERBUS. By moving the peripheral components into the machine, by means of INTERBUS, the need for switch cabinets is reduced considerably.

VARIOCON - the plug connector system for automation
In order to make these disappear completely, the control was simply moved into the operator panels. Supply and connection to the bus system is provided by VARICON. VARICON is a plug connector kit system for automation technology. The modular structure permits supply and signal lines to be combined. For the first time, an IP 65-protected square connector  is joined directly to the p.c. board. This does away with all the internal wiring. Three different VARICON series are available:

• Plastic - for normal industrial purposes;
• Metal - easy exchange of the hood increases the mechanical stability;
• additional EMC components ensure higher EMC properties.

For the design engineer that means design flexibility up to the production stage, as only after complex EMC measurements have been caried out must the decision about the range be taken.

VARIOCON is part of the PLUSCON industry plug connectors range of products. Other automation problems can be solved with PLUSCON RC M23 round connectors, PLUSCON HC heavy-duty square connectors, PLUSCON SAC sensor/actuator boxes for parallel wiring  and the new quick connection system, Quickon.

Dipl.-Inform. Uwe Piepmeier