PC-based hot-runner controller handles all systems & voltages.

While long known as a maker of discrete hot-runner temperature controllers, Athena Controls Inc. will next month introduce a PC-based, multi-zone controller with many sophisticated features. Called the HRC-TS, it can control up to 160 zones, all of which can be set up and monitored from a graphical, touchscreen interface.

Athena product manager Doug Crowell says the HRC-TS, which costs $500-700 per zone, typically becomes cost-effective in applications requiring 20 or more zones. "Below that number, one of our of our standard controllers would be more appropriate," he says.

The HRC-TS will be manufactured by Athena at Plymouth Meeting, Pa., under license from PMS Systems Ltd., a British maker of hot-runner controls. Athena already markets PMS's earlier generation of computerized hot-runner controls, the DOS-based HRC-CLCD.

A 'UNIVERSAL' CONTROLLER

The HRC-TS handles both high- and low-voltage systems - anything from 3 to 480 v, including dual voltage. Moreover, the controller can switch between burst and phase-angle firing, and it has closed-loop current control.

No matter what kind of hot-runner system it is controlling, the HRC's hardware and software remain the same. "It's a true universal controller," says PMS Systems director Andrew Reed, who adds that the HRC-TS can even take care of the unique requirements of Spear hot-runner systems, which have a 32-volt body and 8-v tip.

"There's lots of flexibility in the system architecture," says Reed, explaining that each temperature zone has its own CPU card with two outputs. A central processor polls each card and displays the results on the touchscreen interface. This sort of distributed control arrangement gives the HRC the speed it needs for tasks such as dosed-loop current control, which requires a current measurement and correction every half cycle.

The HRC-TS also uses a Unix operating system, giving it multitasking capabilities. So while it controls temperature, the system can take care of other tasks, such as graphics display or communications over a local-area network (three types of Ethernet communications are standard).

COMMON INTERFACE

The HRC-TS uses the same graphical interface to control all types of hot-runner systems. Users enter temperature settings on a Pentium-based terminal. From this same interface, operators can also access the HRC-TS's long-list of user-friendly features:

* Multiple operation modes are standard. Shutdown and start-up modes harmonize probe and manifold temperatures. Manual and automatic zone-slaving modes copy output across temperature zones either to simplify set-up or to keep the process running in the event of a thermocouple failure.

* Graphics support allows users to display any sort of scanned images, such as photos or tooling diagrams, right on the touchscreen.

* Data-analysis capabilities are standard and include a variety of tools for graphing and 3-D data visualization.

* Tool test provides wiring diagnostics. For example, it can indicate cross-wiring problems or current losses over time.