Combined with the packaging and transportation automation project of the back-end of the filling line carried out by Novozymes, this paper gives a comprehensive introduction to the packaging and transportation system composed of label detection system, palletizing manipulator system, A** and its server, etc., which can enable us to deepen the practical application of manipulator and A** technology in the packaging and transportation process of filling back-end packaging and transportation in the biological industry.
Background
Novozymes is a global leader in the field of biological solutions, and its filling line has high requirements for continuous production, because it is the last workshop of the whole production line, and it is 24 hours of continuous filling, the equipment is required to complete the production task stably and on time, otherwise it will cause the accumulation of the pre-sequence production line and receive complaints from customers who cannot deliver on time. Continuous production requires operators to work in shifts, and the equipment cannot be stopped. However, night shift production faces a series of dilemmas, such as: for operating employees, night shift production is more difficult, the body's physical fitness at night is reduced, and it is easier to get tired;As employees get older, they become less and less suitable for night shift production. In addition, the younger generation is reluctant to enter the factory, believing that the work in the factory is intense and restrictive, and the interest in factory work has declined, and the company is generally facing the problem of difficulty in recruiting and employing workers.
With the maturity of robotics and A** technology and their successful application in various industries, the management of Novozymes has gradually become more confident in introducing the application of automation equipmentAfter accounting in engineering economics, the labor cost savings are much greater than the investment cost of equipment, and can also meet the company's requirements. In addition, due to the difficulty of recruiting and employing workers in foreign factories, the company is very supportive of automation transformation projects, hoping that these projects can be gradually promoted to foreign factories after successful implementation in China. Based on the above points, Novozymes decided to implement a project to automate packaging and transportation at the end of the filling line.
Packaging and transportation system composition
The packaging and transportation system is mainly composed of label detection system, product material handling system, palletizing manipulator system, pallet destacker, full pallet conveyor system, automatic wrapping machine, roller shutter door control system, A** and its server, electronic control system, etc., see Figure 1.
Figure 1 Composition of packaging and transportation system.
1.Label detection system
Empty buckets are manually placed on the conveyor line. Due to the need to detect impurities of the same color inside the empty barrel, it can only be detected manually. The labeller automatically applies the label to the empty drum. The filling is carried out by a fully automatic filling equipment, and the filled barrel passes through a camera visual inspection system to check the content of the label print and whether the label is complete. Qualified products will remain on the production line, and non-conforming products will be removed from the production line.
2.Product handling system
After the product arrives at the designated position, after the product is detected in the corresponding position by the sensor, the position of the product is fixed by the material handling mechanism, so that the manipulator can accurately grasp the gripper of the product. See Figure 2.
Fig.2. Product dispensing mechanism.
3.Palletizing robotic system
The task of the palletizing manipulator system is to grab the product and place it on the pallet, and the 6-axis manipulator is used to complete the grasping and placing action. The manipulator adopts a customized gripper to fit the gripper according to the shape of the product. The manipulator adopts a flexible design that adapts to the two products, and the second product does not need to replace the gripper, and only the program adjustment is needed to complete the product replacement. At the same time, for different placement form requirements, it can be achieved through the selection program. See Figure 3.
Fig.3. Palletizing manipulator system.
4.Pallet destacker
The pallet depalletizer is used to complete the destacking of wooden pallets. Due to the low accuracy of wooden pallet production, there will be a large deviation in the thickness and length of the pallet. By adding sensors, the pallet depalletizer can adapt to the pallet size, and at the same time standardize the tolerance range of the pallet size from the drawing to maintain the consistency of the pallet.
5.Full pallet conveyor system
After the robot has stacked all the products, the conveyor system conveys the tray to the wrapping machine, and the product is conveyed out after the wrapping machine completes the wrapping.
6.Automatic wrapping machine
The wrapping machine that adopts the side film and the top film automatic lamination, only needs to apply the film manually, and the equipment will alarm after the film is used up. At the same time, the membrane has a stretching function, which saves the consumption of the membrane compared with the previous artificial wrapping. See Figure 4.
Fig.4. Automatic wrapping machine.
Figure 5 a**
7.Roller shutter control system
The filling line and packaging line of the product filling workshop need to meet the requirements of food grade, and the rolling shutter door needs to be closed during the production process, so the rolling shutter door control system is used, and the rolling shutter door is remotely connected with the A** server to realize the control of the rolling shutter door.
8.a** and its servers
a**Laser navigation mode, compared with the traditional geomagnetic, **, installation and maintenance is more convenient, see Figure 5. a**Through the wireless network, the automatic loading of empty pallet stacks, the automatic offline of products, the automatic transportation of products to the storage area, and the completion of two-layer stacking. The server sends task information to the server, reads the running status of the server, and links the server with the shutter door and the exit of the conveyor line.
9.Electronic control system
The electronic control system adopts Siemens' PLC products, including IO module, inverter, coating machine control system, touch screen, etc., and realizes human-computer interaction through the touch screen.
Process flow
The finished products from the filling line are automatically placed on empty pallets, and a complete set of automatic packaging and transportation systems are formed for automatic wrapping, automatic destacking, and automatic transportation to the storage area. The process flow, as shown in Figure 6.
Fig.6. Process flow diagram.
1.Empty pallet loading area
In the initial state of the system, the operator will stack the whole pallet (a total of 10 wooden pallets), stack the whole stack of pallets through the pallet shaping mechanism, and then place them in the empty pallet loading area. Among them, the position of the entire stack of empty pallets is physically positioned.
2.a**Empty pallet loading
When the system detects that the empty pallet stack is empty, it calls A** to load. a**Loading from the empty pallet position into the system. A** will cooperate with the roller shutter door and give the roller shutter door opening command. The a** gives a completion command, the roller shutter closes, and the system moves the empty pallet to the destacking position. The waiting position is designed for the empty pallet stack, and when the waiting position is empty, it will give the a** loading command, which ensures the overall cycle time of the system.
3.Destacking
The depalletizing of the lowest pallet is carried out by a special depalletizer. Up to 10 pallets can be dismantled at a time. It is divided into two positions: destacking position and waiting for destacking. It can load 20 pallets at a time to ensure the continuous use of the equipment.
4.The product is off the production line after the filling is completed
After the product is filled, the unqualified products are removed from the production line through the label inspection system, and the qualified products continue to flow out to the last end of the production line.
5.Robot stacking
The sensor recognizes that the product has been in place, and the position of the product is fixed through the product position sorting mechanism. The robot uses custom-made grippers to place the product onto an empty pallet. Among them, the position of the stacking is preset by the robot system. On the touch screen, the operator selects the type of product and the order in which it is placed. The system makes a judgment based on these choices.
6.Automatic wrapping
After the tray is transferred to the wrapper, the wrapping machine is triggered by the position signal to realize the automatic wrapping function.
7.a**Pick-up
After the product is offline, call A** to pick up the goods, A** will give the door to the rolling shutter door after receiving the command, and A** will place the goods in the cargo storage area after receiving the goods. Among them, the goods need to be stacked in two layers, and A** will automatically select the placement according to the data requirements in the system.
Applications
The automatic packaging and shipping system was officially put into production in October 2022. At present, the system realizes the automatic packaging and transportation of the back end of the packaging line, and the production speed meets the filling rhythm of the filling line and the speed requirements of future product upgrades. The comparison before and after the transformation of the production line is shown in Table 1.
Table 1 Comparison before and after the transformation of the production line.
Wrapping up
On the whole, the automatic packaging and transportation system is mainly completed by the manipulator to complete the automatic palletizing, a** to complete the automatic emptying of the pallet, and the product is automatically transported to the cargo storage area. Novozymes' existing wireless network structure and existing space were used to complete the modifications, which enabled the company's automation level to be improved.
This article is from:Logistics Technology and Application, Issue 11, 2023
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