Case Studies

The Challenge

One of Europe’s foremost sun-protection system manufacturers, located in Austria commissioned to SolarEdge Automation Machines a complete production line for roller blinds. Ultimately, they were looking to automate their manufacturing process in order to create a high-quality product of variable dimensions in under two minutes.

The finished product was strong, so seams had to be thoroughly welded and appealing. For this client, the aesthetic component of the product was just as important as its durability. The edges of the fabric must be clean cut, and the cut must be seared. The lower pocket-with-keder would be visible in the finished product, therefore had to be high-quality. The tolerance of the diagonals on the finished product were required to be less than 2 mm. This machine would also have to accommodate rolls of various weights and dimensions.

The Solution

Basing this concept on our SM-500-ZA machine, used for the automated production of retractable insect screens, our engineering team designed a machine that automatically pulls the fabric off the roll, cuts the fabric to size with twin motorized rotary blades, and applies a coextruded PVC profile to the top while simultaneously creating a pocket-with-rope to the bottom. Finally, an automatic ultrasonic machine crosscuts and rewinds the created products on an aluminum tube.

The new machine produces a perfectly cut and welded roller blind, rewound and ready for insertion in the box, in less than 90 seconds: 30 seconds less than their original request!

Reduced cycle times. Computerized order load management.

Our automation team developed a software interface to communicate between the machine’s manufacturing software and our customer’s order database system, resulting in the complete automation of their order management system and load handling.

A series of cleverly designed tools ensure the welded seams are perfectly flat and straight. The powerful motorized electric rotary blade cuts through the profile and pocket with speed and great precision while the ultrasonic blade creates beautifully seared cuts on the sides of the blind.

The machine is operating in our customer’s factory in Austria.