TPT May 2018

T E CHNOLOG Y

Flexible production cell featuring bending robots and encoding

Photo credit: © transfluid

one side to the centre. Following processing, the workpiece is placed on a slide. The bending cell also features a separate step conveyor that feeds in short pipe lengths, including two different

FOR complex requirements involving processing very long (6m) pipes and shorter pipes of only 500mm in a single automation system, the engineers at transfluid Maschinenbau have developed a dynamic production cell equipped with robot benders and clever pipe encoding. The automation system bends 6m- long pipes with small diameters at a consistently high speed. Simultaneously, the transfluid production unit is capable of producing shorter pipelines of 500mm featuring diverse bending geometry in large quantities. Handling the coated pipes during the process is also demanding. Because of the sensitive surfaces, special care and treatment are required. To ensure that production can be implemented safely, quickly and thoroughly, transfluid has equipped two robots that are used as bendingmachines with different magazines. One magazine is a chain conveyor that guides long pipes to the bending robot. According to the markings placed on the pipes by the encoding beforehand, the robots are able to detect which geometries need to be produced. In this case, they are capable of bending a long pipe from

The necessary data may be loaded into the bending robots with a data file directly from the CAD system

This makes prior processing of the ends faster. Because of this process there are no geometric limitations, and the pipe can be sealed beforehand with caps, making it immediately available for use after bending. In addition to flexibility, the automation system offers another advantage in that the robots do not need to be programmed. As with any conventional bending machine, the necessary data may be loaded into the bending robots directly from the CAD system and transformed into a bending geometry. The systems can also be linked online with all relevant measurement systems. transfluid Maschinenbau GmbH – Germany

pipes, if required. Depending on the case at hand, each robot processes a different geometry or pipes with another diameter. This enables a large series of short components to be processed efficiently at the same time. Long components can be processed just as effectively. “An additional challenge for the development of our solution was that all the pipes have previously end formed ends on both sides or they already have cutting rings mounted,” explained Stefanie Flaeper, general manager at transfluid. “With robot technology, bending geometry may be started at an extremely short distance from the bend on both previously mounted ends. And the process, ie preparing the ends first and then bending, is able to be implemented consistently for any pipe with this bending technique.”

Email: sales@transfluid.de Website: www.transfluid.net

The bending robots are able to bend short and long tubes effectively The step conveyor guides pipes to the bending robot

Photo credit: © transfluid

Photo credit: © transfluid

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