12 motors & drives
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improve its braking performance. The FR-A741’s improving quality – can be achieved using robotic
regenerative braking system makes it much more efficient technology. This is evidenced by a recent application, at
than conventional drive systems, giving it the potential for Rodinger Kunststoff-Technik (RKT) GmbH in Germany.
significant energy savings. It also helps to keep operating At this company, Mitsubishi Electric articulated arm
costs low, and makes possible the use of smaller and robots are used to handle delicate moulded parts, in order
much less expensive drive systems, and simpler and more to prevent expensive wastage, which could otherwise be
compact switchgear cabinet layouts. substantial with the company manufacturing around 500
The FR-A741’s regenerative function works by feeding different products, and undertaking production runs of
the energy generated by braking back into the power between 100 000 and a million units per annum.
grid. This has the effect of generating much less heat than As well as preventing waste, the robots (RV-6S units)
with a braking resistor, eliminating the need for cooling have increased efficiency by improving production rates
hardware. However, the prime benefit is that energy by 10 per cent at the injection moulding plant. This
fed back into the grid can be used for other purposes, improvement results from faster removal of parts, despite
reducing overall power consumption and operating costs the fact that in some cases the 15 – RV-6S robots have
substantially in many high torque applications; typically to remove up to 48 parts simultaneously and place them
hoists, conveyor systems, centrifugal separators, testing precisely in a variety of different size recesses.
machines, winding machines and elevators. Robotic technology is also playing a similar role,
When used as proprietary items, inverter drives can, although this time as one key component in a series of
on their own, produce major savings in energy in certain optimised automation packages developed by Mitsubishi
market sectors. But what about the wider manufacturing Electric to improve the performance, efficiency and
area where savings are not so obvious? quality throughput of flow pack machines. The packages,
Well, here the focus has to be on such factors as for Low/Medium, Medium/High and Ultra-High
Quality Improvements: reducing the number of rejects production flow pack machines, integrate the benefits
to reduce energy in rework and waste generated; on of Mitsubishi Electric’s ac drives, servo systems, PLCs,
Increased Productivity: manufacturing the same product motion controllers, HMI’s, virtual software and – in the
with reduced levels of energy, to achieve a lower unit cost case of Ultra High production machines – vertical robots,
per item; and on Improved Efficiency. to provide machine users with the maximum flexibility
Improved efficiency can be achieved in a number of and repeatability in operation, to obviate errors and waste.
ways: by replacing repetitive manual tasks with robots; By the very action of integrating these products
by using servomotors in place of standard motors for Mitsubishi Electric is producing a synergy of operation
improved response and precision; by ensuring the correct that is greater than the sum of the discrete components
alignment of mechanical couplings, belts and chains, involved. Although designed primarily to improve the
and by providing adequate lubrication. Checking a drive overall performance of the flowpack machines, this
system right down the power train makes economic synergy produces efficiencies in operation that also benefit
sense as a poorly maintained mechanical drive can reduce the environment, through more efficient use of materials,
operating efficiency by as much as 5 per cent. reduced wastage, improved quality and reduced use of
The key environmental objectives of improving energy.
efficiency and reducing waste – and, it must be said, Another highly relevant example of using synergised
automation technology to achieve higher production
efficiency and therefore improved energy efficiency is at
Russian Railways Magnitogorsk repair depot which has
increased productivity by 100 per cent, repairing over
three thousand more freight carriages per year.
Using the software and hardware integration capacity
of a Mitsubishi iQ Automation Platform to automate an
entire section of the rebuild process, all the benefits of
Environmental Manufacturing can be brought together.
The system integrates RFID tracking, welding robots,
CNC milling machines, parts handling and production
line conveyors.
The iQ Automation Platform provided an solution
to draw all the disparate elements of the repair process
together. It is a multifunctional, multi-CPU platform
designed for complex automation tasks using a single
approach to both hardware and software. n
Fig. 2. There are strong initiatives within energy intensive industries Mitsubishi Electric Europe BV is based in Ratingen,
to use inverter drives to reduce energy consumption. Germany. www.mitsubishi-automation.de
www.engineerlive.com
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