Mitsubishi Chemical Upgrades Extrusion Lines with Danfoss iC7-Automation for Precise Low-Speed Motor Control

Application area: Industrial motor control and process automation
Industry sector: Plastics and chemical manufacturing

At its production facility in Tielt, Belgium, Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials (MCAM) manufactures specialized, high-performance polymers for demanding sectors like aerospace, wind energy, and semiconductor manufacturing. To modernise its operations and expand production capacity to 11,000 tons per annum, MCAM partnered with technical integrator ATS and drive manufacturer Danfoss to implement a new electrical standard. By incorporating advanced smart building systems and industrial automation frameworks, the collaboration successfully retrofitted legacy machinery and introduced the Danfoss iC7-Automation variable frequency drive to guarantee stable, continuous production across the plant’s extrusion lines.



The first two photos illustrate typical plastic extrusion lines at a representative site, which is not the MCAM facility.

Demanding operational requirements in continuous plastic processing
The extrusion of high-performance plastics is a continuous process that must ideally run uninterrupted to maintain material consistency and prevent quality defects. Unplanned downtime results in significant raw material waste and prolonged, costly restart procedures.

The Tielt production facility operates 55 extrusion lines of various technological generations, with some machinery dating back to the 1960s. This legacy equipment compromised reliability and complicated maintenance procedures due to a lack of technical uniformity. Concurrently, the facility initiated a capacity expansion project to add six new extrusion lines. To support this growth, the company required a standardized electrical and control framework across all legacy and new production assets to simplify plant operations and maintenance.



Frederik Laevens (ATS nv) and Koen Shiettekat (Danfoss) check the iC7-Automation VFD settings.

Standardized electrical architecture and mechanical integration
The technical integrator, ATS, developed a generic electrical schematic serving as a uniform reference architecture for both retrofits and new installations. This methodology organized line functions into modular functional blocks, enabling diverse extrusion line configurations while reducing space requirements. The consolidation allowed control components to fit into more compact enclosures than previous installations.

During the modernization of the lines, mechanical adjustments were required to integrate modern motor technologies into the existing extruder frames. The implementation team adapted the structural frames and belt drives to ensure precise mechanical alignment and compatibility with the updated electrical systems.




Resolving low-speed torque constraints
During the retrofit of a specific extrusion line utilizing the smallest motor in the facility, specialized technical challenges emerged regarding low-speed motor control. Plastic extrusion demands continuous high torque at very low operational speeds. The previously installed variable frequency drive required an encoder workaround to manage control loops, yet the system failed to deliver stable operation, particularly during startup sequences, causing the motor to stall.

To resolve this limitation, the integrator deployed the Danfoss iC7-Automation variable frequency drive. The technical evaluation demonstrated that the drive could maintain precise motor control under high-torque, low-speed conditions without requiring encoder feedback.



These iC7-Automation drives control the extrusion line.

Technical features of the automation drive
The selected drive platform provides specific technical features aligned with the plant modernization objectives:

Partners from left to right: Koen Shiettekat and Kurt Muylaert (Danfoss Drives), Michiel Vanderperre (MCAM), Gianni De Greve and Frederik Laevens (ATS nv)

Operational results and deployment efficiency
The implementation of the new drive system resolved the startup issues, with the affected extrusion line achieving full torque operation within four hours of deployment. The standardized electrical framework and modular control enclosures reduced the physical footprint of the control panels from three cabinets to a more compact configuration. Based on these operational results, the facility has integrated this drive specification into the engineering plans for two additional extrusion lines to ensure continuous processing reliability.

Edited by Natania Lyngdoh, Induportals Editor, with AI assistance.

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