Acknowledgements
In accordance to our curriculum requirements of the third semester of Electronics
and Communication Engineering, we have prepared this report on “A Case Study on
The Microprocessor based Instrumentation System”. We have prepared this report
on the basis of our industry visit to Panchakanya Profiles located at the Patan
Industrial Estate, Lalitpur. Our report covers the description of the existing systems
and machineries implementing it. We have known about the manufacturing
workflow in our visit and the shortcomings were understood and an alternate, more
efficient system of our understanding has therefore been suggested.
We express our heartfelt thanks to our faculty facilitator Mr. Aanand Kumar Shah
for providing us the opportunity to visit an industry and develop real life
comprehension of microprocessor systems included in our course, and somewhat
beyond it. Due to this activity, we were able to devise a system with our creative
forte at work amalgamated with subject rhetoric.
It would be unjust to leave out a note of thanks to Panchakanya Profiles for
cooperating with us for our activity and especially Ms. Geeta Subedi for facilitating
us throughout the industry visit duration and taking us through the entire
manufacturing plant step by step.
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Abstract
This report is aimed at exploration of manufacture of ready-to-install uPVC furniture
frames. The entire process is a semi-automated process in which the uPVC profiles
are fed as the raw materials and then after the required manual inspection as feedback
between the machinery operations, the frames of required order are yielded. All the
necessary precision is to be monitored by the workers themselves which is one of
the major shortcomings of the existing process. There is no system of checking of
validity of output. All the loading, unloading solely requires physical work is to be
done by the workers themselves as well. An implementation of conveyor belt in both
loading and unloading process along with microprocessor enabled precision
management would provide a better alternative. Therefore, a system encompassing
the aforementioned proposals is suggested as well.
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... i
Abstract ..................................................................................................................... ii
Introduction ................................................................................................................1
Industry Status........................................................................................................1
Objectives of this study ..........................................................................................1
Scope and Limitations of this report ......................................................................2
Outline of this report ..............................................................................................2
Methodology ..............................................................................................................3
uPVC ..........................................................................................................................4
Overview of the process.............................................................................................5
Machine Description ..................................................................................................8
Double Mitre Saw ..................................................................................................8
MA 2010 Kaban .....................................................................................................8
V Notch Saw ..........................................................................................................9
CNC......................................................................................................................10
Limitations of the Existing System ..........................................................................11
Proposed MBI System .............................................................................................12
Matrix Keypad .....................................................................................................13
Microcontroller ....................................................................................................13
L297 and L298N ..................................................................................................14
Components Used on the MBI System ................................................................17
Conclusion ...............................................................................................................17
Appendix-A ..............................................................................................................18
Appendix-B ..............................................................................................................19
Appendix-C ..............................................................................................................20
References ................................................................................................................21
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Introduction
The Panchakanya Profiles is a uPVC (unplasticized Poly Vinyl Chloride) product
manufacturing plant located inside the Patan Industrial Estate, Lalitpur. As part of a
much wider manufacturing ecosystem, Panchakanya Group, it is most widely known
for the production of uPVC-based structural materials such as windows, doors,
partition frames. The major advantage to using uPVC profiles over other raw
materials, as advocated by the company, is the galvanized steel core of the profiles
which makes the products much stronger while providing efficient thermal
insulation, soundproofing, and heat shielding. The Panchakanya Profiles promises
to adhere to such standards by carefully selecting the raw materials, designs with its
10 years of experience in the industry.
Industry Status
Owing to the remarkable advantages of using steel-reinforced uPVC as a raw
material, uPVC-based products have been gaining a popularity in residential,
institutional, and industrial ecosystems. A recent study shows that uPVC covers
33.61% of the windows and doors marker share [1]. As a result, quite a few industries
similar to the one covered in this report have evolved over the past few decades.
While this report is based solely on the observations made at Panchakanya Profiles,
it is safe to assume that the points made in this report bear some degree of similarity
to other similar industries mentioned below:
➢ Global UPVC Nepal
➢ Mega Windoor Nepal
➢ WinCraft Nepal
➢ Winsys UPVC Windows and Doors
Objectives of this study
This case study was performed with the following objectives:
➢ To study the existing manufacturing system used in the production of uPVC-
based products at Panchakanya Profiles.
➢ To observe and determine any shortcomings of the analyzed system.
➢ To propose a new MBI system overcoming such weaknesses, and providing
higher efficiency in the manufacturing process.
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Scope and Limitations of this report
Through this report we wish to convey the information we were able to gather
regarding the manufacturing of uPVC products by visiting Panchakanya Profiles’
plant. Furthermore, we hope to be able to provide an alternative, more automated
system worth considering for performing the said task given its obvious advantages
discussed later in this report. While we performed this study to the best of our ability,
various factors such a lack of experience, time constraints, secrecy of the sensitive
parts of the company certainly have affected its reliability. The alternative solution
provided through this report, while overcoming the shortcomings of the existing
system, might be suboptimal at best because of the aforementioned reasons.
Outline of this report
So far, we’ve established what this report is about and what it entails. We’ve also
given a brief overview of our industry of choice. In the following section, we will
describe the measures taken to perform this study and prepare this report. After that,
we will give a brief synopsis of the material science behind uPVC; while it might
prove to be redundant for the overall course of Instrumentation System, it is
absolutely essential to understand the specifics of what follows. Once that’s out of
the way, we can finally look at the manufacturing process going through each of its
parts in detail. Finally, we will provide a microprocessor based alternative system
that will subdue the inadequacies of the existing system.
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Methodology
Our industry report is based on a UPVC-furniture industry. We visited Panchakanya
Profiles for our project assignment visit and collected first-hand information on the
required domains, aided by the manager of the industry. Our primary research
methodology approach was profoundly observational. We developed an
understanding of the workflow and the machineries and plants involved in it through
our industry visit. The course of a uPVC frame to a ready-to-install furniture piece
was illustrated to us. The use of each machine present in the industry was observed
and then upon further research, the components involved in each machine and the
system of processes in it was understood. Then a sequential system of the steps
involved in the manufacture was developed as per our observation. The human
resource was quintessential in the industry. Finally, a solution of a further automated
system was devised and suggested based on our techniques used for identification,
selection, process, and analysis of the collected information, and also understanding
developed from the course materials.
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uPVC
uPVC, also known as un-plasticized Polyvinyl Chloride, is a low-maintenance
building material used as a substitute for painted wood, mostly for window frames
and sills when installing double glazing in new buildings, or to replace older single
glazed windows. It has many other uses including fascia, and siding or
weatherboarding. The same material has almost entirely replaced the use of cast iron
for plumbing and drainage, being used for waste pipes, drain pipes, guttering and
downpipes. These products are often referred to collectively in the home
improvement industry as “Roofline”.
What is good to know, is that UPVC is a cheaper alternative to expensive hardwood
timber and aluminum. It is a popular material due to its durability (can serve for
between 40 and 80 years) and it being a cost-effective option.
The amazing strength, versatility and low maintenance comes from being
manufactured using vinyl polymer which is bound to chlorine atoms so the window
frames are not actually plastic and can work well with steel. This means that
homeowners won’t have high ongoing costs.
Currently, all uPVC windows and doors must be energy rated to conform with the
Building Regulations, and are available in choice of attractive colors and woodgrain
timber effect finishes.
If anybody’s looking for energy efficiency, uPVC is the perfect choice, as energy
rated uPVC windows are extremely thermally efficient. They have a very low
thermal conductivity (insulator) as a result of the type of materials used in
manufacturing. This stops heat escaping as easily as it can do with some other
building materials.
Also, uPVC windows are recognized as Green Windows. Companies recycle uPVC
into tiles, pipes, roadside guideposts, among other things. Also, uPVC frames with
double glazed window glass reduces noise by nearly 80%, creating a quite home
environment.
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Overview of the process
What follows is a general introduction to the manufacturing process using the
existing system. Later, we will be explaining each of the machineries involved in
this process in detail. The description provided here goes hand-in-hand and must be
accompanied with the following flowchart.
Figure 1 Block diagram for existing system
The Raw Materials
As mentioned before, the raw materials used for the production of window, door
profiles are uPVC frames that are internally reinforced with galvanized steel. The
frames are not manufactured on-sight rather they are acquired through external
vendors such as Veka and Conch [2]. Due to this reason, the exact composition of the
materials used in these frames remains unknown. These uPVC frames are available
in standard lengths so as to minimize the leftover waste.
Measurement and Assembling
The window profiles are manufactured for standard sizes or according to consumer
requirements. To meet such requirements the uPVC frames are measured and
marked manually using traditional measuring tape. The marked frames are fed into
a cutting saw preset to cut at 45°. As we will discuss later, this is one of the key
problems with the existing system.
135°
45°
Figure 2: Angled faces for edges of the window profile
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Water Drainage
As these window/door profiles will be used most frequently in outdoor
environments, they need proper drainage for spilling out the collected rainwater
during heavy storms. These drains are generally oval-shaped holes drilled using a
three-tine copy router. Even though the movement of the drill if hand-guided, the
copy routing is templated, i.e. support plates are used for pre-defined movements.
Wedge Welding
Once the frames are cut in desired lengths, they must be connected together to form
the outer edges of the profile. The use of uPVC makes this part really easy compared
to metal or wood. The frames can be secured together with enough sturdiness by
simply heating the surface to a temperature in the range of 180°C to 200°C and
applying sufficient pressure.
Steamrolling
The faces joined together with the application of heat leave out some abrasive ends
which cannot be left behind for the final shipment. To overcome this the sharp
corners are smoothened out using a CNC machine that moves along the freshly
welded edges. The CNC machine use here has been pre-programmed with this fixed
movement. The saw attached to the shaft of the CNC is not very sharp and is not
used for cutting.
Glass Fitting
Once the profiles are ready, the glass can be attached for the windows. The glass
panels are also obtained from third-party vendors in desired proportions. The uPVC
frames used here support up to 32mm of glazing panels.
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Figure 3 Workflow of the existing process
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Machine Description
We’ve already established a general overview of how the overall process of
designing and shaping these uPVC profiles goes in the previous section. With a
closer and keener observation, we have provided the following description of each
of the important steps involved and the machineries that were used. Most of these
equipment are proprietary and little information is known about their
implementations. However, with a black-box approach and the information available
on the internet, the interface of these machines is quite discernable. This section will
include general descriptions of each of the equipment and, perhaps more
importantly, their use in this particular scenario.
Double Mitre Saw
Mitre saws are versatile woodworking tools created for cutting a variety of building
materials such as lumber, siding, flooring, or even PVC pipes. They have become
an integral part of the industry and are the most commonly used sawing equipment.
Double Mitre Saw is a two-headed saw of which one or both the heads are movable
either manually or motored displacement. The cutter can be made of virtually any
substance, and in our case, it is carbide-tipped, which is sufficient to cut through
uPVC frames. The saw blades can be adjusted to cut at any angle between -45° and
45° using an internal servo mechanism, however for our requirements it is always
preset to 45° as shown in Figure 2.
The saw used here had only one movable head which was moved manually with
hydraulic assistance contrasted against a scale laid alongside as per the
measurements. This manual positioning of the saw head is one the key setbacks of
the existing system, which we will try to solve using an instrumentation system as
described in the later sections.
MA 2010 Kaban
The 2010 Kaban is a heat welding machines designed especially for joining polymer
products. It works based by heating two different surfaces of a substance using a
heated Teflon plate as shown in Figure 4. The plate is heated to a temperature of
about 200° C. The cross-sectional surfaces of two different uPVC frames are heated
using the said plate by applying lateral pressure as shown in the figure. Also, a top-
down pressure is applied to keep the frames in place. This process can be applied
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instead of chemical adhesion because of thermal welding property of polymers. On
both heads 90 ̊ and intermediate angle welding can be made independently. Rotating
support arms are present in the machine for smooth welding of long profiles.
Figure 4 Wedge Welding using heated Teflon plate
V Notch Saw
V-notch saws are used for a variety of cutting applications including 45° double
miter cutting, notching and bending of aluminum and plastic extrusions, or toe-
notching of wood panels. It models from 10 to 16-inch blades. There is Angular
adjustment for blade wear. It has a floor stand with chip discharge standard. It has
Pneumatic vertical & horizontal clamps. Two saw blades on two separate motors are
fixed at 45 degrees without cross. It has Guide rod assist positioning with adjustable.
V-notch depth based on different profile. Automatic shaping of one pair of saws is
cut. It operates on air pressure of 0.5-0.8(MPa). The air consumption capacity is
50(L/min). The input voltage required for its working is 380V 50HZ or as customer
specification. The input power required is 1.5(Kw). The spindle rotary speed is 2800
(r/min). Its saw blade specification is ø300x3.2x ø30. The cutting height is 20-60
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mm and cutting width is 120 mm. The cutting length is 300-1600 mm. Overall
dimension of this machine is 1800*1380*1300mm weighing around 220 kg.
CNC
CNC single corner cleaner for Vinyl window profiles that cleans the welding beads
occur after welding process. In this CNC 680, model top and bottom surfaces are
cleaned simultaneously. CNC machines are designed for the cleaning of welding
chips of PVC profiles that is welded at an angle of 90 degrees. CNC 608 has 2 x
servo drive motors whereas, CNC 610 has 4x servo motors.
After welding, operator or robot mechanism (SA 260) automatically takes the frame
from the place where the cleaning process start and carry out the cleaning of the
flashes by the means of the spinning mechanism. It supports simultaneous cleaning
of top and bottom surfaces. All unit parameters can be set independently by the
operator according to the frames. Automatic line can be made by combining with
Four Corner Welding Mach (DK540), Cooling Unit (SA 250) and Rotating Robot
(SA 260) as a later date. It has automatic frame and sash profile recognition system.
CNC-680 is built with the memory capacity of 6500 profiles.
CNC machine has windows based industrial PC and 15” LCD touch screen monitor.
It also supports remote control via internet and providing technical support. Feed
rates of the window can be adjusted manually on the control panel. New program
can be loaded in the machine using USB. It is provided with portable touch screen
panel. CNC machine has low pressure control valve. It also has automatic central
lubrication system. The machine is provided with 11 pcs. of tools such as milling
cutters and saw blades. It is claimed that 230-280 widow frames can be processed
with in time frame of 8 hours.
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Limitations of the Existing System
As already pointed out, the existing plant has several setbacks caused due to the
involvement of manual measurements and positioning systems. In a precision
working environment, these can cause several defects in the end product thus
increasing the cost. Furthermore, the cost of manpower to perform such tasks is also
high which can be easily overcome by using a computerized instrumentation system.
The MBI system proposed in a later section hopes to provide such measures.
Although several more problems can be pointed out with a pedantic approach, for
the sake of this study we have decided to emphasize on the following points:
➢ Manual measurements taken for the dimensions of the outer edges of the
windows profiles.
➢ The movable head of the double mitre saw was being moved with hands by
contrasting against the scale.
➢ Lack of proper feedback regarding the output obtained at several stages.
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Proposed MBI System
At last, to address the elephant in the room, we will now be providing a schematic
and descriptive introduction to the instrumentation system that we deem to be
suitable for use in conjunction with the existing system. This proposed MBI system
hopes to overcome the limitations we discussed in the previous section. While doing
so, we may have introduced some level of complexity to the system. Furthermore,
the proposed system might have problems of its own that are only apparent once a
real-life implementation of the system is available. However, for the purpose of this
report, we will only focus on the limitations of existing system that have been
overcome by this new MBI system. With that cleared out, we can now move on to
introduce the proposed MBI system.
Figure 5 Block diagram for MBI system
The instrumentation system showcased here is a simple stepper motor position
control for the movable head of the double mitre saw. As apparent from the block
diagram above, the proposed MBI system has a microcontroller as a center piece.
However, this is not quite true, as we have used the 8086 microprocessor, primarily
due to our familiarity with the device during our courses. But the gruesome details
of interfacing such a chip with memory and I/O modules is quite boring and
irrelevant for this discussion. And so, we will follow a black box approach and treat
the combination of those as a microcontroller. The implementation circuit is
provided in Appendix-A for interested readers.
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Once we have such a black box point of view we can now go ahead and look at the
actual circuit. From this point onwards, a microcontroller will mean the I/O port
interface we obtained from the circuit given in Appendix-A.
Figure 6 Proposed Model
Matrix Keypad
First and foremost, we will look at the user input to the system that is provided with
a keypad interface. A 4×4 matrix keypad is connected to an input port of the
microcontroller. The interfacing is done with status check method as it proves to be
quite simple without requiring any extra hardware. The layout of the matrix
keyboard is quite simple. 10 numeric values and some control signals must be
incorporated and so a 4×4 layout, which is favorably available in the market, had to
be chosen. The interfacing can be described in the following way with respect to the
circuit provided in Appendix-C.
• In the idle state, all the upper four lines of Port C are left high, and the lower
four lines are continuously checked for any input.
• If there is an input, then the upper four lines of Port C are asserted one at a
time and lower four lines are read each time.
• The key being pressed can be decoded by the corresponding active lines in the
upper and lower Port C.
Microcontroller
As mentioned before, the microcontroller used here is actually the 8086
microprocessor already interfaced with memory modules and facilitated with 3 8-bit
parallel I/O ports with the help of the 8255A peripheral interface. Most of this
interfacing is just address decoding for different modules and word-length alignment
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as the 8086 is a 16-bit microprocessor whereas the memory modules work with 8-
bit registers. The parallel ports available here are all configured to work in Mode 0
as no handshaking is required or available at the peripherals.
Finally, we can describe the stepper motor interface, the heart of this MBI system,
which will be responsible for the positioning of the saw head. For this, we have use
L297 in conjunction with L298N motor driver for precise positioning.
L297 and L298N
The L297 Stepper Motor IC generates four phase drive signals for two phases bipolar
and for phase unipolar step motors in microcomputer-controlled applications. The
motor can be driven in half step, normal and wave drive modes and on-chip PWM
chopper circuits permit switch-mode control of the current in the windings. A feature
of this device is that it requires only clock, direction and mode input signals. Since
the phase are generated internally the burden on the microprocessor, and the
programmer, is greatly reduced. Mounted in DIP20 and SO20 packages, the L297
can be used with monolithic bridge drives such as the L289N or L293E, or with
discrete transistors and darlingtons.
Figure 7 The L297 IC
Circuit Operation
The L297 is intended for use with a dual bridge driver (in our case L298), quad
Darlington array or discrete power devices in step motor driving applications. It
receives step clock, direction and mode signals from the systems controller (usually
a microcomputer chip) and generates control signals for the power stage.
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Motor Driving Phase Sequences
The L297’s translator generates phase sequences for normal drive, wave drive and
half step modes. The state sequences and output waveforms for these three modes
are shown below. In all cases the translator advances on the low to the high transition
of CLOCK.
Half Step Mode
Half step mode is selected by a high level on the HALF/FULL input.
Figure 8 Half Step Mode Timing Diagram
Normal Drive Mode
Normal drive mode (also called “two-phase-on” drive) is selected by a low level on
the HALF/FULL input when the translator is at on odd numbered state (1, 3, 5 or 7).
In this mode the INH1 and INH2 outputs remain high throughout.
Figure 9 Normal Drive Mode Timing Diagram
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Wave Drive Mode
Wave drive mode (also called “one-phase-on”) drive is selected by a low level on
the HALF/FULL input when the translator is at even numbered state (2, 4, 6 or 8).
Figure 10 Wave Drive Mode Timing Diagram
The L298 is an integrated monolithic circuit in a 15-lead multi-watt and PowerSO20
package. It is a high voltage, high current dual full-bridge driver designed to accept
standard TTL logic levels and drive inductive loads such as relays, solenoids, DC
and stepping motors. Two enable inputs are provided to enable or disable the device
independently of the input signals. The emitters of the lower transistors of each
bridge are connected together and the corresponding external terminal can be used
for the connection of an external sensing resistor. An additional supply input is
provided so that the logic works at a lower voltage.
Figure 11 L298 Block Diagram
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Components Used on the MBI System
Components Quantity
8086 Microprocessor 1
6 KB RAM Module 2
4 KB ROM Module 2
8255A PPI 1
L297 1
L298 Motor Driver 1
Stepper Motor 1
Logic Gates As required
Resistors As required
Conclusion
By visiting the Panchakanya Profiles, we were able to observe and obtain first-hand
experience of what goes into the manufacturing of uPVC-based products. With very
little prior understanding of the specifics or general knowledge of industrial
practices, this case study provided an opportunity to obtain some practical insights
on the topics covered by our course. We looked at the system in place, which has
become quite a standard now in the industry, and saw that this system had some
disadvantages that could easily be overcome by a Microprocessor Based
Instrumentation System.
We designed an MBI system that would solve the issues with the existing system.
Specifically, we tried to eradicate any measurement errors that are introduced in the
system due to human interaction and classical style of feedback. A stepper motor
was used for accurate and precise positioning of the equipment. The implementation
of the proposed MBI system is very feasible and all the necessities regarding such
an implementation have been laid out in this report.
Thus, we have gained valuable insights in what goes into the production of common
products in industrial scale. And by performing this study and designing a system of
our own, we were able to implement the knowledge obtained from our course in
productive applications.
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Appendix-A
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Appendix-B
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Appendix-C
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References
[1] Windows and Doors Market Size, Share | Forecast Report 2027 ([Link])
[2] PKG Profile_Dummy Brochure ([Link])
[3] Stepper motor controllers
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