automation | Technology
Right: Engel has extended its Easix
articulated robot range
with three new large models
Dynamic performance Further up the ladder of automation performance, Arburg demonstrated application of its Multilift V robotic system with dynamic mould entry during its annual Technology Days event in Germany. The robot was demoulding 14.3g PP tubs from a 2-cavity mould running a 3.9s cycle on a 180 tonne Allrounder 570 H machine. The dynamic mould-entry axis provides a speed of up to 4,000 mm/s and maximum acceleration of 20 m/s². This makes it possible to reduce action and set-down times by up to 40%, signifi- cantly optimising cycle times. Austria’s Engel claims to supply around half of
all automated injection moulding production cells delivered in Europe and, alongside development of the simple e-Pic, it has also been upgrading its higher
Robot sales on the rise
The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) estimates that some 225,000 robots were sold around the world in 2014, 27% more than in 2013. Strongest drivers of the growth were the automotive industry, followed by the electronics sector. Sales into the plastics and rubber industry as a whole were close to 16,000, around 7% of the total. China is one of the fastest growing sectors. By 2017, more industrial
robots will be operating in production plants of all types in China than in either the European Union or North America, says the IFR. Operating unit numbers there will double from today’s 200,000 to more than 400,000. In North America, numbers will rise to about 300,000 - with 340,000 predicted for Europe’s five largest economies. However, China still has only 30 industrial robots per 10,000 employ- ees in its manufacturing industries, one tenth of the number in Germany, and one fifth of that in North America. “The automation of China’s produc- tion plants has just started”, says Per Vegard Nerseth, managing director, ABB Robotics. ❙
www.ifr.org
Annual supply of industrial robots by region, 2010-2014
performance linear (Cartesian) and six-axis (articulated) robot offerings. The company says the latest generation of Viper linear robots offers improvements in speed, flexibility, compact- ness, energy efficiency and ease of use. The company also used its triennial Engel
Symposium, which took place in June this year, to present several new large sizes of its Easix multi-axis robots. Maximum reach has now been extended to 3,900mm and maximum load capacity to 240kg. The new large Easix robots
are built for Engel by Kuka Roboter of Germany. The smaller models already on the market are supplied by Switzerland’s Stäubli Robotics.
Controls for all Easix (and Viper) robots are fully
integrated into the control system of Engel injection moulding machines. The controller provides different user levels, from a simple view to a fully object-oriented visualisation of the sequence. Many tasks that previ- ously required calling in a programmer can now be managed by machine operators themselves, such as synchronisation of the robot movements with the ejectors, Engel says.
Stäubli, which also supplies robots independently, says six-axis robots are increasingly to be found undertaking downstream plastics automation tasks such as deflashing, testing, cutting, gluing, assembly and packaging. “Stäubli robots tick all the boxes when carrying out these roles not only on account of their sleek structure and precision, but even more so with their dynamics: when loading and unloading injection moulding machines, tool-open times can be kept to a bare minimum,” says a spokesperson for the company. At Fanuc, which like Engel makes both injection moulding machines and robots, UK sales and market- ing manager Andrew Armstrong says processors are increasingly appreciating the cost benefits of automa- tion, which he says in a complex production cell may account for well under 10% of the total capital spend. Armstrong sees a growing preference for its six-axis robots (the company makes only multi-axis articulated designs), which he attributes to their greater flexibility, increasing cost-competitiveness, and recent speed improvements. He says six-axis robots are also now often being mounted on beams over the moulding machine, extending the work envelope with a seventh axis and leaving more space on the shopfloor for other operations. One recent installation using Fanuc robots is in
operation at UK-based injection moulder R A Labone producing tyre pressure sensor housings. The manufac- turing cell, installed by automation integrator RNA,
30 INJECTION WORLD | July/August 2015
www.injectionworld.com
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