A new generation assembly platform
Building assembly automation is repeating much of what was done before. Only the products to assemble, the tooling and cycle times are variant. There is a lot of basic commonality to projects in asynchronous pallet type conveyors.
And this basic front end in automating product assembly can be standardized.
Commonality of design steps for automation are embedded into our equipment sold to machine builders.
This is the foundation for our assembly platform, incorporating such commonality. The platform is a direct insert into an asynchronous conveyor line, with embedded software to operate the customers assembly devices for a value add process.
The assembly platform insert is self contained.
Programming the assembly platform
The assembly platform is a programmable logic controller with I/O hardware. Its outside appearance is a conveyor segment insertable into a conveyor line. When inserted, the platform, serves as a value add station for the assembly line.
Because the assembly platform is to serve the asynchronous pallet based conveyor type assembly, its specialization allows the platform to be pre programmed for commonality functions. This saves much time for the automation builder. He does not need to deal with an all purpose PLC from scratch.
The platform also recognizes the fact that building automation is primarily a tooling process, dominated by tool makers, not software programmers.It is: tool design, then test and modify and test and test again. Therefore the programming environment requires no software or PLC skills.
The visual programming code of the platform is developed for this process and requires no software or PLC programmer.
The tool designer and tool maker is capable to program it without special software skills.
Station
-
The assembly
platformIt is...a conveyor segment with automatic pallet handlingIt is...a programmable logic controller with preprogrammed protocols for the customers assembly devicesIt is...an I/O hardware array to control the customers assembly devicesIt is...a program development environment for the customers assembly logic
Specifications
-
station Platform conveyor insert size 500x100x130/250 [mm] (LxHxW) Buffer conveyors 500-2000x100x130/250 [mm] (LxHxW) Max conveyor speed 1.0 [m/s] Pallet moves asynchronous, collision free Conveyor particulation available in increments to class 1 Vibrations 0.2 [g] rms Pallet position repeatability 0.1 [mm] Reliability 6mio [cycles] mean time to fail Available pallet sizes 120 [mm] or 240 [mm] Digital inputs (24 [V] - PNP/NPN) up to 64 Digital outputs (24 [V] - PNP/NPN) up to 32 Analog inputs (12bit, 0-10 [V]) 8 channels Motor control 4 stepper motors Serial ports 1x RS232 Ethernet ports 1 Programming tools
-
Embedded
softwareIt is...embedded into the station (no external software needed)It is...accessible and compatible with any recent browserIt is...usable without any programming skill, by simple drag and drop operations
It is...based on sequences that can be created by the user and saved and reused as building blocks for more complex sequences
It is...completely graphical. From the configuration to the status, everything is accessible through few simple clicks