ROBOTICS & MOTION CONTROL FEATURE
Lightweight robots ensure process repeatability and greater cost stability
The manufacturing industry is under constant pressure to keep control of costs which is why Ferdinand Wagner Profile, part of the Zapp AG group, decided to automate its component welding and soldering processes. The automation was provided by system integrator, Faude Automatisierungstechnik which installed two lightweight robots from Danish manufacturer, Universal Robots into the production system
F
erdinand Wagner’s main production focus is the manufacturing of
precision steel profiles for various industrial sectors as well as lifestyle products. In 2008 the company became part of the Zapp AG group. The company faced the challenge of
having to make its products quickly and flexibly in order to meet customers’ demands. In the lifestyle sector in particular, parts are often not only technically challenging, but also very in terms of exterior decoration. Products can change from season to season and the production lines are constantly having to be readjusted. It was during the implementation of a
long-term major contract for the lifestyle industry that the company became aware that parts of its production system needed to be automated in order to ensure cost/price stability. “In the long-term it was simply no longer cost-effective to manually process 500,000 to 600,000 components per year. The assembly line’s welding and soldering process – whereby two components are joined together – ideally lent itself to automation through a robotic solution,” explains Bernhard Eckert, production manager.
ROBOT PROGRAMMING MADE EASY Nevertheless it was a complicated specification: the robot was needed to prepare and secure the unmachined parts without manual intervention as well as ensure the parts were fed correctly for the welding stage. The workpiece then had to be properly positioned for the subsequent soldering process. Another challenge lay in ensuring the quality of the soldered connection. For parts which were destined for used on highly-aesthetic, premium products, these connections had to be flawless and could not contain any sign of discontinuity or leakage. The automation process also needed to replace the visual checking system previously used to
monitor for defects. What’s more, the employees were relatively inexperienced robot users, which meant the solution had to be easy to operate. The company contacted various
providers before finally finding the right solution with system integrator Faude Automatisierungstechnik, a long- standing application partner of Danish robot manufacturer, Universal Robots (UR). UR’s six-axis lightweight robot UR5 weighs just 18kg and a reach of 85cm, and can lift up to 5kg. “A key advantage of the UR5 is its
intuitive user interface. Individual movements to make up a sequence are first roughly ‘shown’ to the robot by pulling the arm in which has a ‘neutral’ mode with no resistance. A touchpad is then used for final minute adjustment of each move before being saved. A one-day training session is all that is required to show technically adept employees, who have no experience with automation technology, how to use the programming system,” explains Dieter Faude, managing director of Faude Automatisierungstechnik.
CAREFUL AND PRECISE HANDLING Two lightweight robots from Universal Robots are now responsible for the welding and soldering process. Due to the high complexity of the processes and the sharp gripping tools involved, the application is surrounded by a protective fence. The major contract involved processing of a round, metal component with a diameter of approx. 10–12mm, along with a part roughly 40mm in length. Both parts are pressure-sensitive and therefore have to be treated with a high degree of care. First, they are carefully separated out
using a separation system and placed in the correct position for feeding into the first robot. This robot is kitted out with a specially-designed double gripper with tongs built to withstand high
/AUTOMATION
Those employees who were previously in charge of welding and soldering processes are still employed by the company; they now mainly focus on the processing of smaller batch quantities
This robot duo is designed to process around 160 parts per hour. They are used in two-shift intervals followed by a blind shift. At the end of the working day the robots continue working on an unmanned shift until the material is exhausted
temperatures which are able to grip the parts securely, thus preventing pressure marks. The robot picks up both pieces one after the other and places them inside an instrument attached to a tack welding machine. There the two parts are welded without any trace being left. The welding unit releases the connected parts, before the robot picks them up and moves them to a park position where it gently places them into a fluid. At this point, robot two picks up the parts using a single gripper. Robot one starts its cycle from the beginning whilst robot two takes the parts to a high-frequency station where they are soldered at a heat of around 800 degrees so that they are permanently fused together. The next stage is quality control which is
done using the ‘Flexvision’ camera system made by Fause Automatisierungstechnik. The lightweight robot holds the component up to the camera in various positions so that the system can check all branch lines and seams. Compared to a visual check, this process ensures 100 per cent objectivity. If the seam passes the test, the robot carefully places the part in the correct position within a sieve, making sure not to scratch the workpieces. “It was essential to us that parts were handled carefully and gently: we had to ensure that the decorative surfaces, which are polished by hand in a final step, were at no risk of damage as this would result in the costly scrapping of pieces. That is why, in addition to quality assurance, the manoeuvrability of the robots and the structure of the gripping tools played such a crucial role,” explains Eckert.
Universal Robots
www.universal-robots.com Enter 208
AUTOMATION | MAY 2015 19
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52