The reliability and throughput on a hot-plate production line at Slovenia’s leading foundry has been improved with the installation of 36 axes of servo control.
The bending and welding production line at ETA Cerkno was suffering from reliability problems and unacceptable levels of downtime. Breakdowns meant that bending or welding had to be carried out manually, a costly exercise. Availability of spare parts was a further issue, while replacing the six machines was prohibitively expensive.
“The mechanical side of the machines was fundamentally good,” says Marko Vrabl, manager of PS Logatec, Control Techniques’ local drive centre, “and so ETA brought us in to upgrade the electrical control system. In four of the six production cells there is a three-dimensional wire bending machine and a four-dimensional SCARA robot for assembling and welding the wire contact onto the heating plate. Two other cells have just a SCARA robot. Before the retrofit, the program was written in a low level language and was loaded from a PC that was wheeled between cells as required.”
According to Vrabl the system is now much easier to program and use. Each cell has its own control cabinet complete with seven Unidrive SP AC drives working in servo mode and with a position controller and touch screen terminal. To program a bending machine is now a simple matter of keying in a set of parameters. Each cell has a high level of security and safety, with power immediately turned off if the door is opened.
The upgraded hot-plate production line at ETA Cerkno
The robot is programmed using a teach-in feature on the Unidrive SP drives. This has proved very popular with ETA. An operator is able to go safely into a cell and, using just a 48 V power supply, drive through all of the robot axes using a handheld control unit. This rehearses all the movements and actions that are needed. Then, when the operator is out of the cell and the door is secured, the full power can be restored and the robot is ready to go.
Unidrive SP is a ‘solutions platform’ AC drive which is configurable into open and closed loop, vector, servo and regenerating modes. It has connectivity to most industry standard networks, is configurable for all types of AC motors including linear motors, and accepts 14 position feedback protocols.
Diving robot cleans up canals Beckhoff Automation
Robotics & Mechatronics
Around 70% of the waste in water sinks to the bottom of the ocean or decomposes into micro and nanoplastics, amounting to tens of millions of tons. So the European Horizon Maelstrom research project put together an international research team and developed the Robotic Seabed Cleaning Platform.
Read more...Robotic solution for adhesive tape application with flexible control Beckhoff Automation
Editor's Choice Robotics & Mechatronics
In industry, even elaborate processes, such as the application of adhesive tape to parts with varying geometries are automated. Innovative Automation has developed a platform with Beckhoff control technology and a remote feeding module, which increases productivity and enables flexible customisation for different requirements.
Read more...Automating precision tasks
Robotics & Mechatronics
A new low-cost modular robotics kit from motion plastics manufacturer, igus, makes automation extremely easy and affordable for manufacturing companies in South Africa.
Read more...The importance of precision and accuracy in manufacturing robotics
Robotics & Mechatronics
When it comes to robotics and automation in the manufacturing industry, precision and accuracy are crucial for seamless operations. Jan ‘t Hart, national sales manager of Yaskawa South Africa, details what goes into ensuring precision as a leading manufacturer of industrial robots.
Read more...Caster for service robot applications
Robotics & Mechatronics
As part of a drive to get robots into more workplaces, operating side by side with humans, a team of expert development engineers at NSK has come up with a novel way to improve the mobility of cobots.
Read more...Future-proofing SMEs with cobots Omron Electronics
Robotics & Mechatronics
Many countries around the world are likely to experience skill shortages over the coming decade, especially technical specialists. At the same time, product lifecycles are becoming shorter. Collaborative robots are easy to set up, and offer a quick and cost-effective solution.
Read more...Automating screw assembly using AI
Robotics & Mechatronics
Screw assembly is a key process in all production industries. In essence, it creates a secure connection between two or more parts, using one or more screws. What sounds simple is, in practice, extremely complex.
Read more...Connecting robot accessories to any industrial or factory network
Robotics & Mechatronics
Robots need accessories to work efficiently. But what’s the easiest way to connect the accessories to factory networks? The easiest way is to use HMS Networks’ ready-made Anybus products, as RSP discovered.
Read more...An innovative cobot DNH Technologies
Robotics & Mechatronics
The Franka Emika Production 3 is a highly innovative collaborative robot that is playing a key role in shaping the future of smart factories.
Read more...How Danone SA pulled off its new automated palletising system
Editor's Choice Robotics & Mechatronics
When Yaskawa Southern Africa was contacted about Danone’s new automation project in Boksburg, the industrial robotics manufacturer teamed up with one of its preferred suppliers, Tectra Automation to offer a turnkey solution.
printer friendly version