Delta's Motion Control Solution Performs Accurate and Highly Efficient Hydrocolloid Bandage Production

Bandages or wound dressings are essential first-aid supplies used in our daily lives for protecting and caring for minor skin wounds and abrasions. Conventional bandages are usually not waterproof, which may cause infection. With the continuous development of medical technology, a new type of dressing—hydrocolloid dressing, a so-called smart wound dressing—can be waterproof or permeable to moisture vapor. It adheres perfectly to the skin, and can enhance the absorption of an anti-inflammatory or other skin-healing agents through skin surface temperature. In response to rising demand for hydrocolloid dressings, advanced and automated machines are required for production.

Recently Delta enhanced the production efficiency of a hydrocolloid-dressing manufacturer in Zhejiang, China, with an innovative and automated solution. Production of the hydrocolloid dressing generally includes processes such as: feeding, winding and unwinding of both paper and film rolls, hydrocolloid dispensing, forming, wrapping, sealing, and product cutting. The automated motion control solution, which Delta provided for this manufacturer, implements and enhances all these processes with a PLC-based multi-axis motion controller to feed paper rolls and PU film rolls evenly and stably and to control multiple rolling axes synchronously. Servo drives then accurately position the materials for dispensing, and the highly sensitive sensors detect the temperature of the heat-sealing roller for wrapper sealing. The operation speed of the automated equipment is configurable on a human machine interface (HMI) during the process to control the production time.

This automated motion control solution adopts the PLC-based Multi-axis Motion controller DVP50MC11T, which manages 13 sets of servo drives and motors to dispense the hydrocolloid and conducts the winding / unwinding of both paper and film rolls in this successful case. With the PID function, it also controls the paper / film tension and the traction among axes to keep the materials flat and even during feeding.

As far as the processes of hydrocolloid dispensing and product cutting are concerned, positioning plays a crucial role and it counts on the AC Servo Drives ASDA-A2 Series for accurate performance. Wrapper sealing is the last step before product packaging, and it is completed with the temperature detection and control of the heat-sealing roller via the Temperature Controller DTE10T. During production, operators can switch between the manual / automatic operating modes or between two product-cutting modes, adjust the parameters, and view anomaly alarms all on the HMI DOP Series.

The benefits of Delta's motion control solution for hydrocolloid dressing production are as follows:

• Robust equipment for accurate motion control
The automated equipment is labor-saving for hydrocolloid dressing production. The main control of the equipment, the PLC-based Multi-axis Motion controller DVP50MC11T, performs synchronous multi-axis motion control for high efficiency. By virtue of the accurate positioning and dispensing control conducted by the AC Servo Drives ASDA-A2 Series, the yield rate rises and defect losses sharply drops. The automated equipment can also be integrated with a Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm (SCARA) for material pick-and-place handling or with a CANopen Builder program to rapidly organize motion control.

• Switchable production modes for flexible and high quality production
There are manual and automatic operating modes—just one click is required to switch between the modes. Under the auto mode, product cutting can be executed by means of fixed length measurement or color code positioning to ensure a standardized product size.

• Anomaly alarms ensure continuous and stable production
The automated equipment produces up to 200 pieces of hydrocolloid dressing per minute. If there is any sudden incident that may suspend production temporarily, an anomaly alarm will appear on the HMI DOP Series and brings about a system halt for quick troubleshooting.


Delta's automated motion control solution enables stable production of hydrocolloid dressings, performs accurate control, and guarantees the consistency of product quality and size.