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Dexterity to rival the human hand |
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| Starting point / Task definition |
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For the series production of washing machine drums, the company Fried was looking for a solution that could guarantee a very high level of automation and high availability. All production cells used in the past for this kind of component were implemented with many manual activities and did not meet with the expectations of the company.
The concrete requirement was for hubs with a weight of 7 kg to be placed in the injection molding machine and for the finished parts of some 15 kg in weight to be removed. After a cooling period, two different bearings, four nuts and a sealing ring are pressed into place.
The demands for flexibility were made more stringent still by two different variants, differing in the hub and in the bearings, which had to be manufactured without conversion. The particular challenge consisted in the press unit provided by the customer, which could not be changed and which had originally been designed for manual loading.
The automated loading therefore had to offer a precise mimicking of the human movements. As this is inconceivable with a linear robot, only a solution with a six-axis robot could be taken into consideration.
Furthermore, it had to be taken into account that this project represented the first such complex automation to be undertaken by the customer. Particular attention thus had to be paid to the start-up process and operator qualification. |
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| Implementation / Solution |
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 | | Dexterity to rival the human hand |  |
The first part of the system was implemented with an ENGEL ES 1700 injection molding machine with an integrated ERC 124 linear robot. In this step the linear robot picks up a hub from a specially designed transfer system and places it in the mold. Before insertion the finished part is removed. The finished parts are then placed on a cooling station for six parts. In accordance with the programmed FIFO principle, the coolest part is then put on the transfer station for the second part of the system.
This second part consists of a jointed arm robot, three supply units for the bearings, one supply unit for the sealing rings, one supply unit for the nuts, together with a four-way separator and the press unit. Imitating the actions of a human operator, the six-axis robot places first the required bearings and then the finished plastic part into the press unit.
After pressing, the sealing ring is placed by the robot into the same unit and likewise pressed. Finally, the robot adds the four nuts and inserts them into the plastic component. Then the robot removes the now finished plastic component from the press unit and deposits it on a conveyor.
Particular attention was paid to simple operator control of the overall system. The loading of further hubs and the filling of the supply units for bearings, sealing rings and nuts can be carried out without interrupting the automated operations. By the time the sale was concluded the customer could already be offered a comprehensive training concept, which also included the jointed-arm robot. The provision of training to the system user before system start-up was a major factor in the successful implementation. |
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| System components / Scope of supply |
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- ES 1700 injection molding machine
- ERC 124 linear robot
- Cooling station for six parts
- Insertion/extractor gripper
- Transfer station
- KUKA KR 45 robot
- Five supply units with separator
- Press unit
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| Results / Success |
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| Through the use of optimally coordinated components and an injection molding machine with integrated handling equipment, it was possible to undercut significantly the cycle time specified at the planning stage.
By using a six-axis robot with short acceleration times, these cycle times could also be maintained in the highly comprehensive assembly and manipulation activities of the periphery, and the high availability demanded for higher productivity could also be reached.
The integration of existing and new components could be realized highly effectively by virtue of the range of movement in space of the jointed-arm robot. The design of the system makes it possible for individual system components to be simply adapted for future tasks. The same applies to the injection molding machine with its handling equipment, as well as to the six-axis robot, which can additionally be used for any further assembly tasks. Confidence in the future return from the investment is thus given in large measure. |
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| Industry |
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Metal products
Household appliances (white goods) |
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| Application |
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Handling, loading and unloading
Other handling operations
Assembly
Fastening |
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| Customer |
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| Fried, Urbach, Germany |
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