OUR SERVICE

Hardware and firmware design

Abstract representation of a circuit, white on black background

We can design and serially produce circuit boards for specific projects, together with their dedicated firmware; these boards can either be stand-alone or integrated in personal computers via PCI, PCI Express, or PC/104 bus.

Our staff of electronic designers will respond to all of your requests, turning an idea into a functioning and certified product. Our know-how stretches from defining a circuit diagram on dedicated CAD to arranging the layout of the board components, from designing the master with up to eight-layer technologies to creating and testing the prototypes, until the CE and EMC certification of the device.

Furthermore, we offer a high-end service of real-time firmware design on microcontrollers and PC platforms with real-time Shell specifications. We are specialised in programming trajectory generators for multi-axis machines, in developing connection protocols of slave devices to CAN or EtherCAT fieldbuses, in control algorithms of InkJet printheads, and in systems based on an efficient real-time multi-task architecture.

Software design

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Tpa customizes the software interfaces of its products for premium clients.

Our software design service includes realizing user interfaces that were specifically designed to have our numerical controls and/or automation systems dialogue with the clients’ CAD/CAM, ERP, and CRM systems. Our first aim is consenting the best integration between machines or plants equipped of Tpa numerical controls and the management and graphical software used by our clients.

Along the years, our staff developed solutions in several fields:

coating: we recently realized a software suite dedicated to panel coating. This suite includes a vision system that, by means of a camera, is able to identify the different outlines and compute their coating programs in real time;
expanded polystyrene working: we developed the automation of high-accuracy machines – such as milling machines, used to produce hollowed items, or routers and cutting machines, developed to cut out profiles with hot wires. Paramount for the accuracy and precision of the working is controlling temperature and speed of the cuts and managing an eventual wire snapping;
electrical coil winding: Tpa developed the automation of winders that use high-speed spindles and winding algorithms capable of optimizing the distribution of the coils;
machine vision systems: we created an application to spot and map the wood knots and its natural imperfections before processing the raw panels, obtaining this way an optimization of the work areas. Another remarkable application we created can identify the kitchen tops exiting a production line, so that it can categorize the different types of material among more than 30 kinds of lamination, and allocate them in different areas of the storehouse;
digital textile printing: thanks to a strategical partnership with one of the most important manufacturer of digital textile printheads worldwide, Tpa developed along the years a hardware and software system dedicated to high-productivity digital textile printers, capable of printing several hundreds of square meters per hour.

Automation code design

Abstract representation of a circuit board, white on black background

Tpa application designers will develop automation logics for the customer’s needs in our proprietary programming language. The projects are developed following the specific requirements of our customers’ devices, machines, and plants. What characterizes Tpa numerical control and automation system is its large architectural adaptability and abundant availability of powerful edit, debug, and cycle-tracing tools, and this provides our clients with total autonomy during the development phase of their own applications.

This service will allow dealing with unexpected work spikes, granting smaller clients the possibility to further specialize their machines, without having to necessarily bear the cost of a PLC applicator.

Mechatronic products

Essential drawing of a spindle fitted in a mechanical arm, grey tones on black background

Tpa creates distribution boards. This service is mainly addressed to those clients that design and produce few special customized machines. For this type of customer, it is convenient purchasing from Tpa numerical control, drives and motors, and a certified and cabled distribution board. This concentrates upon a single supplier all the difficulties and risks related to the correct integration of all electrical, electronic, and software parts, so that the application functions properly altogether, in compliance with the regulations in force.

Tpa also designs specific mechatronic groups and complete medium-sized or smaller machines, tailored on our clients’ specific needs.

Machine and plant retrofitting

Essential drawing of a woodworking machine with spindle and plane, white on black background

Tpa offers a retrofitting service for numerical controls, machine software, drives, and motors.

This service is addressed to all those clients that want to update the electronics and informatics of their machines maintaining the old mechanical parts. The aim is to keep using the same machine and/or plant, making it sensibly more efficient both with the updating of its software interfaces and with the integration of new operating systems and modern company management systems.