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URC Valve Body Robot Loading
This cell handles a family of valve bodies for
Mueller Company. The bodies are used in a variety of
commercial water valves.
URC Automation designed the cell, robot tooling,
controls, fixtures, and software.
URC Automation provided and installed the
equipment, programmed the parts and provided on-site training for
the cell.
A quick return on investment was realized as
existing machine tools and conveyors were integrated by URC
Automation into the robot cell.
Using a refurbished robot considerably decreased
the total cost of the system by about $70K.
While refurbished robots aren't a good fit every
time, they can be an outstanding value on some robot loading
applications.
This system was implemented in 1999 and is still
running 24/7 in 2006. It has paid for itself many times over.
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URC Automation
integrated existing machine tools and conveyors with a
refurbished FANUC robot for a depalletizing, machining and
palletizing application for a family of valve bodies.
Maximum part weight was 110 LBS.
A dual compliant
tool was designed and built by URC Automation.
Compliance was ± 10° rotationally and ±
10mm X and Y linearly.
The compliant
tool allowed for part location deviation during the
depalletizing operation. |
| Standard
wooden pallets indexed into the robot cell on a conveyor.
The raw castings were depalletized by the robot and fed into
a machine tool. The robot rough-locates the part on
the pallet with sensors and floats all axes of the robot
tool. The robot grasps the part, with the tool following to
the location of the heavy casting.
Once clear of the pallet, the robot tool locks back into
position. |
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Here is a side
view of the dual robot tool. In addition to rotary and
linear compliance, the robot grippers featured locking
springs. The springs keep the part in the gripper in
the event of air pressure loss. This prevents the
heavy part from being dropped.
An Applied Robotics collision sensor
protects the robot tool and machine tool during setup and
operations. |
| The robot
exchanges parts at the milling machine. A locator on
the milling machine precisely locates the part for the
clamping fixture. An
Allen-Bradley PLC acted as a cell control for the system and
a remote rack was mounted in the robot controller for
communications. |
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After
exchanging the parts at the milling machine, the robot
palletizes the parts on a wooden pallet. Using
standard wood pallets considerably decreased the cost of the
system compared to machined/formed part pallets.
Total turn-key cost with machine tool
integration, one refurbished robot and tooling was
approximately $100K. |
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Robot Loading Benefits |
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Labor Reduction and Reallocation
Lower cycle time, 25% to 400%
Integrate existing machine tools, saving more
money
Throughput and Yield Improvement
Reduce Stress Injuries
Injury Avoidance and Safety
ROI's 12 - 18 months
Quality Improvement
Predictable Production
Flexibility
Material Savings
Reliability and Downtime Reduction
Great for dull, dirty and dangerous jobs
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