A new gantry robot-palletiser
Omron technology has been the keystone of the development of a new gantry robot palletizer build by New-Motion that in only six weeks, has developed an accurate, productive, versatile, userfriendly and economical system.
New-Motion (Middleburg, Holland) has opened a new line of business, extending its offer of handling and palletising systems and devising a new type of machine, with original characteristics. In the test phase, the counter has registered over 900 thousand movements. Having virtually piled a million boxes onto a pallet, the faultless longevity test is considered successful.
Omron made a decisive contribution to the success of the project, providing the palletiser operating system and control interface.
«We were in contact with various driver distributers, but controlling the grab-arm with a direct drive seemed to pose a problem, because most providers only sold fixed servo and driver combinations’, says Ronald Dekker, responsible for Engineering at New-Motion. «Incorporating the Omron’s linear servo drive and a 3rd party direct drive motor wouldn’t be a problem. Naturally Omron was also able to deliver the other components like the PLC’s and servomotors and of particular added value was the Omron NA graphic control interface» Dekker adds. «The HD screen quality is fantastic and the operation is very simple. Operators can watch instructional videos directly on the monitor and the interface works with clear pictograms. We were able to programme all sorts of wizards for i.e. pallet selection and pallet load, thanks to this screen intelligence. An operator can define and save their own piling pattern. The system is programmed using the Sysmac Studio Automation Platform, Omron’s new platform for integral development and system programming, including interface, PLC’s and servo drivers. The project could be completed in 6 weeks thanks to this integrated development environment».
Omron’s NA graphic control interface.
Robot drive arm equipped with vacuum grabbers.
The entire palletiser is built in New-Motion’s own workshop.
An original concept
Boxes are delivered to the new portal robot-palletiser on conveyor belts, where a telescopic arm with a grabbing head places them layer-by-layer on a pallet. Three Omron servomotors drive the robot-arm. One on the arm for moving it up and down, the other two on the drive-belts for the single-belt gantry/H-bridge (that is unique); which ensures that the grab-arm can be manoeuvred into any position, and rotations, with high-precision. His direct drive operation ensures that there are no oil or grease spillages on the product, making the grab-arm energy efficient as well. Depending on the product, the drive arm can be equipped with vacuum-, clamp- or sack-grabbers. The fast-coupling and plug connectors ensure that these grabbers are simple to change. An important part of the grab-arm is the built-in load cell. This can not only detect anomalies, it also plays a control role in determining the weight of the contents. The New-Motion palletiser can be remotely maintained via an Ethernet router, allowing service mechanics, based in Middelburg, to access the palletiser software so that they can quickly resolve problems.
Benefits
The palletiser capacity is 200 - 1000 boxes per hour. Box measurements can vary from 100 x 100 x 100 mm all the way up to 600 x 400 x 400 mm, up to a weight of 20 kg. Palletisers with multiple pallet placement options and different packaging supply and discharge possibilities are also available, together with many different options.
According to Ruben Remijn, sales manager of the Dutch company, the biggest advantage is how little space it takes up: «because the grab-arm is situated over the pallet».What is more it is lighter and the movements are more delicate, hence it does not require a reinforced base.
Dekker adds: « We can build the entire palletiser in our own workshop. This enables us to test every detail of the installation so as to ensure that it works perfectly. This way when we deliver it to the client, the final installation and set up only takes two days. Without counting that our approach enables to offer the market a highly efficient solution in energy terms and economically competitive, without for this having to cede on the quality of the components».
History of a project
The Dutch New-Motion, based in Middelburg, has been around since 2004, specialising in conveyor and handling systems for the food and beverages industry. They have built client-specific transport solutions for all phases of the production process that were technically complex or had non-standard sizes. Its product portfolio comprises belt conveyors, modular plastic belt conveyors and conveyor bends; their mainly stainless steel transporting systems are used by manufacturers of dry-foods, who distribute their packaged products in boxes, bags or buckets.
Thanks to a rigorous standardisation across the industry, New-Motion has been able to efficiently produce standardised modules with a limited amount of parts. These modules form the basis of their solutions. Standardisation has led to interesting and intensive partnership with preferred suppliers, and in the case at hand, has induced the Dutch company to open a new production line dedicated to end of line for packaging and logistsics, with the objective of offering a palletisation capable of superseding the weakpoints in the traditional solutions reported by users.
Ruben Remijn, Sales Manager explains: «While we were examining the explicit demands of a customer, we realised that palletising is logically the final step of our internal transporting systems and that automatically piling boxes onto pallets isn’t very complicated, we decided to develop a new type of palletiser».
