Unshakable high-speed take-out robot for Injection Moulding

The robots responsible for removing finished parts from injection molding machines have a very clear objective: to remove the part as quickly as possible in order to maximize the machine's productivity. The high speed of these movements makes it especially challenging to achieve the necessary levels of positioning precision, stability and operator safety. YUDO-SUNS, a leading Korean producer of auxiliary equipment for injection molding machines, has solved these challenges for its high-speed robots using advanced motion control technology from B&R.

 YUDO-SUNS is an affiliate of the YUDO group, a technological leader in the Korean industrial sector providing total solutions for plastic processing robots, factory automation and automatic feeding. YUDO-SUNS offers a wide variety of products and systems to support integrated monitoring and control solutions based on thirty years of development experience. The company takes particular pride in its state-of-the-art take-out robots, featuring B&R automation, for injection molding applications. They have provided take-out robots for injection molding lines ranging from 30 to 4,000 tons of clamping force, with B&R’s solution dramatically improving these robots' stability and part removal speed.

33 percent reduction of vibration for fast and precise positioning

The number one priority for a take-out robot is to minimize the time it takes to remove a part, as this has a direct impact on the productivity of the entire injection molding machine. Fast and accurate removal requires high-speed position control accompanied by vibration control to attenuate the machine's vibrations. Without vibration control, these vibrations would render the machine useless, even at low speeds. B&R's motion control portfolio offers not only a PID controller, but also a full range of advanced features such as feed-forward, low-pass, notch and biquad filters. B&R also provides a complete selection of motion profile solutions, including seventh-order polynomials. Using B&R’s motion technology, YUDO-SUNS has reduced vibration by up to 33 percent with the robot's vertical axis moving at a rate of 4.0 m/s.

Improved stability with Sensorless Collision Detection

Since the robot operates at such high speeds, the reaction strategy in the event of an unexpected collision is vital to protecting field personnel and the robot itself – not to mention the expensive mold.

By utilizing the general momentum of the robot, the Sensorless Collision Detection function developed by B&R is able to identify collisions without requiring a single sensor, saving the time, cost and maintenance that would normally be involved in mounting additional sensors on the machine. The fact that this technology can be applied to any take-out robot is also a big advantage.

The Sensorless Collision Detection function can be divided into two components: the technology that detects collisions and the reaction that is triggered when a collision occurs. YUDO-SUNS implemented three different reaction modes that determine how the robot moves when a collision is detected. Varying levels of impact force reduction are achieved by either simulating a zero-gravity environment or actively moving in the opposite direction. The added stability provided by detecting and reacting to collisions effectively increases the speed at which the robot is able to perform safely. B&R's intelligent functions ensure optimal robot stability and maximum operator safety. In addition, they provide helpful management features such as sending automatic alarm notifications to up to five registered administrators, including a history of the machine's operation leading up to the error – and all of this in up to five different languages (Korean, English, Portuguese, Spanish and Chinese).

Flexible and powerful motion programming

Users are able to create custom programs for the take-out robot using a wide variety of motion control functions – another example of the ability of B&R's flexible programming to optimize operations. The user can build a program using twelve sets of powerful commands and easily modify or download programs using a USB flash drive. Error localization is handled by the compiler, which gives users added confidence that their programs are stable. This is an enormous advantage for users in overseas or remote locations as it allows service technicians to make adjustments quickly in the event of a problem.

Eighteen percent energy savings

Two issues that continue to gain significance in the industrial sector are the production of green, pollution-free energy and reducing the power consumption of machines and plants. B&R developed a Servo Sleep feature that switches off the drive when the take-out robot is in standby mode and automatically switches power back on as soon as the robot is needed. The Servo Sleep function also records the amount of energy being used by the robot and estimates the total amount of electricity used. For YUDO-SUNS, this feature reduced energy consumption by up to eighteen percent.

 Creating value for customers with B&R

Beyond simply supplying its products, YUDO-SUNS' philosophy of "Consilience Technology" aims to fully satisfy its customers with complete systems that create added value in the field. They accomplish this by drawing on their many years of experience and strong engineering skills as well as through their partnership with B&R.

"High-speed, high-precision control is becoming an increasingly vital requirement for supporting state-of-the art industrial technology," says Mr. Hyun Kim, manager of the R&D center and control development team at YUDO-SUNS. "This is exactly what we were able to achieve with the innovative technologies from B&R."