nokra develops and manufactures measuring and testing systems for use in the steel, aluminum, and automotive supply industries. The optical measuring systems are also used in plant engineering and in the processing of vehicle windows. The laser-based systems measure and test geometric features such as length, width, thickness, profile, shape, and position of, for example, sheet metal, strips, plates, as well as forged test pieces in solid forming and windshields.

The data collected during measurement is evaluated and presented to the operator in a clear graphical format. In addition, the digital data can be used to perform analyses and quality controls on the products and feed them back into the entire production process. This enables process flows to be optimized.

„The Deditec modules ensure reliable operation of nokra systems—even under demanding industrial production conditions. In applications with very long cable runs, the analog current signals are transmitted without interference.“

In the product area of thickness measuring systems for steel strips and sheets, the thickness measurements are to be transmitted as analog signals rather than digitally, depending on the area of application in production. For this purpose, the digital measurement data is converted into analog values via an interface converter and output. nokra uses three modules from Deditec for this interface extension. The ready-to-use modules NET-DEV-DIO 1-8, NET-CPU-Base, and NET-DEV-DA2_ISO are installed in the control cabinet on a top-hat rail without wiring and can be configured to send either current or voltage signals, depending on the customer’s requirements.

The thickness values sent by the measuring system are sent to the two-channel converter synchronously with the strip feed. Here, the values are converted and transmitted analogously to two channels: one for the sheet thickness, the other for the thickness deviation. This allows the converted signals to be sent directly to a roller in order to regulate its rolling gap and adapt it to different sheet thicknesses. In this case, the thickness measuring system is not only used to determine and control the sheet thickness, but also as a “trigger” to control other machine tools.