TPT July 2021

AR T I C L E

Fives Group

Shandong Province Sifang Technical Development Group robot that is placed beyond the forming conveyor. Due to its design the packing process is very simple and f exibl , consisting of picking up the tubes from the upstream chain and placing them into the downstream bundle formation rollway, creating the bundle with the required shape. This operation involves a different number of manipulations, depending on the tube weight and dimensions.

Robots are super standard and have ready-on-stock components available everywhere in the world, whose brand can be chosen according to each customer’s preferences and countries’ availability. Their reliability has been widely proven in the highly demanding automotive sector and their remote connection capabilities guarantee full and immediate control as the traditional fork systems.

Figure 2: Different tubes, same clamp – super fast adjustment

Flexibility Flexibility is one of the most attractive features of Robopack. The system can be easily tuned to match any tube format and length with a minimum engineering impact thanks to its modular design. When necessary, depending on the tube length and storage buffer needed, a different number of modules can be combined to form the buffer table. Moreover, two robots can be put aside and made to work simultaneously when handling long tubes. The robot payload can be also chosen depending on the tube weight, size and package’s dimension according to the desired throughput. Likewise, any line upgrade in terms of tube size/length, and/or layout modification is quite straightforward and can be achieved, depending on needs, simply by adding new modules or increasing the robot size and/or number. For the same reason, the system effectively lends itself to be reused in different lines or configurations by rearranging the existing modules or upgrading them to new ones, without needing to dismiss what is already in use. Boosting productivity Depending on the tube size and length, package type and dimension, the production capacity can reach up to 40 tubes/ min in a fully automatic cycle. Compared to forks, Robopack offers an overall 15 per cent extra performance thanks to its capability to face the most variable operating conditions: • Smaller packages can be produced without affecting the performances, since the cycle time is not predetermined and depends on layer size and payload. As soon as the layer size is reduced, the required payload lowers leading to reduction pickings’ number. • The inlet buffer table can absorb downstream line stops with a higher lung capacity

Each single anthropomorphic manipulator is equipped with a gripper device (or clamp), specifically designed to minimise the weight impact without affecting the stiffness and handle the whole product range, minimising the tube flexion. Depending on the product type, Fives developed three different technologies, all provided with dedicated features to guarantee the maximum safety whenever a general blackout or sudden arrest, due to external causes, should occur: • Magnetic technology, dedicated to magnetisable alloys • Vacuum technology, suitable for stainless steel tubes, best in preserving surface quality • Mechanical technology, for stainless steel tubes and mostly fitting with large tubes Just after the forming conveyors, the bundles are handled by an additional set of rollways conveying them to storage and unloading chain conveyors. Similarly, to the inlet buffer table, a modular approach is applied guaranteeing the best possible flexibility to the whole system. The storage and unloading conveyors are made of arrangeable modules so to fit the tube length, covering the needed runout space and storing the required number of bundles. Also, shutters chain conveyors can replace the rollway modules when timber pieces are used. The system can be integrated with third-party equipment, such as blowing stations, strapping machines, film wrappers, draining and weighing stations and ticket printers. Particular attention was paid to automation. Thanks to the knowledge and experience gained in advanced automation, Fives developed complex algorithms exploiting the freedom degrees offered by these machines. The user interface is friendly and easy to customise, providing a wide set of features: • Bundle and buffer table filling level dynamic visualisation • Visual recipe and order management • Strap position calculation • Control desk tube mill/cut-off integration • Chat app to communicate among all tube mill workstations

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JULY 2021