The need to integrate automation into production process to carry out tending operations is an increasingly requested topic in the industrial machinery field.
Brentech launched on the market an accessible and advantageous solution suitable to process even small production batches with the possibility to repeat different operations on different machines.
For an important Italian company operating in the European heating and refrigeration field, Brentech has developed an automatic cell with a collaborative robot to carry out the loading and unloading operations of a pipe tapering machine.
Strengths of the robotic cell
- it can be used in a versatile way to repeat interlocking operations with high precision and flexibility, even next to the working staff;
- it is equipped with special safety systems allowing to work by sharing spaces without having to install other devices with protective networks and barriers;
- thanks to the simple and intuitive controls and the self-learning function, it is very user friendly: it can easily be used in fact even by working staff without any highly specialized training as to the programming operations.
Planning and technical aspects
First of all, a virtual analysis was carried out by a special software to check the maneuvering areas, any interference and above all to confirm to the customer the compliance with the required cycle time.
The components to be processed, positioned on special templates, are automatically loaded by the robot equipped with two independent grippers to minimize the waiting times between unloading the processed piece and loading the next piece. Subsequently, a movable bench is created to give customer the possibility of moving the collaborative robot on different machines.
Particular attention was paid to the PLC for data exchange in order to guarantee efficient communication between the two machines. The machine control cabinet is equipped with instrumentation for remote assistance and for the interconnection with the company management system in line with requirements of Industry 4.0 provisions.