How can we help you?
Marija Mijic
HR & Office Allrounder
T +43 660 383 95 46
office@craftworks.at
craftworks GmbH
Schottenfeldgasse 20/6a
1070 Vienna
Minimizing Inefficiency
in a Screw Conveyor
By analyzing optimal operating parameters, improve efficiency through artificial intelligence.
Success Story
reading time: 2 min
Manufacturing
Material Industries
Visual Inspection
Anomaly Detection
Industrial Software
25%
Decrease in errors
Efficient
Energy use and wear
Less
Stress on material leads
Springer is a leading manufacturer of machines for the lumber industry. One of their products, the screw conveyor, is used extensively to feed logs into their processing line, and Springer identified a need for optimizing their product performance. The screws on the conveyor followed a stop-go motion, thus causing high levels of mechanical stress on the components and consumes excessive energy.
The challenge was to find the optimal settings with regard to screw speed and screw angles in order to eliminate the stop-go motion and keep the screws moving at a constant rate.
craftworks was assigned with developing a controller that would be able to receive machine information from the PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) and calculate the required speed to be used, then sending it back to the PLC, which could, in return, adjust the required parameters in real time.
A Python based model was created which obtained and calculated the data. A PoC was then implemented using a PLC, with the next steps consisting of developing a product based upon this for future screw conveyors.
Leveraging AI to optimize screw conveyor operations, this case demonstrates a 25% error reduction, marking a significant stride towards mechanical efficiency and sustainability in the lumber industry.