Printing machines and peripherals II
- All peripheral units are networked with the main press unit via CANopen
Source: CAN Newsletter March 2007
We encounter printed materials wherever we look every day, whether it be newspapers, soap packaging, fruit juice labels or the CAN Newsletter. Without modern printing technology, none of this would be possible. Printing paper in large quantities, quickly, at high quality and in color at an affordable price and converting this printed material into the desired format requires sophisticated technologies and companies that offer the respective products. Networking the presses, the processing and inking units, the blowers and dryers should not lack an equal amount of sophistication. This is why Heidelberg Druckmaschinen has chosen the CANopen technology to network all the peripheral machines to its presses. Heidelberger Druckmaschinen is the world’s only supplier that develops its own peripherals in-house and systematically uses CANopen technology.
Late in December of 2006, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen released the Star 3000 generation of printing peripherals with a further four models to be launched in the next few months. A unique feature of the series is the networking of peripherals with the standardized CANopen databus system.
JDF and Prinect network prepress, press, and postpress, while CANopen connects the peripherals to the press. With the CombiStar 3000, Heidelberg employs the CANopen network to check the status of the press, enabling the inking unit temperature control to be regulated more accurately. CANopen also simplifies operation of Star peripherals, with all settings being made at the touch of a button via the Prinect CP2000 Center press control system. The preset functions enable peripheral pre-settings to be saved with the job and accessed quickly for a repeat job. CANopen means the Heidelberg Remote Service can now also access peripherals.
