References // Double-gantry robot
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| Double-gantry robot |
If you take a closer look at the shelves in department stores and drug stores, you will note the immense variety of plastic bottles. The production of these containers is a major process and logistics challenge. As many as 500 different shapes and sizes of bottles need to be produced and packaged with the system described here. This system consists of 17 packaging cells with gantry robots.
Depending on their size, 10-20 bottles are packed every second for shipment from the factory. To achieve this capacity, considerable expenditure is required. The bottles are produced by 41 blowing machines.
Double gantry robots are used to increase the packaging capacity.
Every packaging cell comprises 2 autonomous gantry robots located on a common packaging path.
These gantry robots in the packaging cells pick up completed bottles from feeder belts. Arriving bottles are counted at an optical barrier. As soon as a complete row of bottles has passed the barrier, a stopper closes and prevents the entry of further bottles. The bottles are stacked in two or three waiting cartons.
A maximum of three different types of bottles can be packaged in one cell. Rows of bottles are taken from the transport belt. The grab adjusts automatically to the size of the carton in which the bottles are placed. The different diameters of the bottles are compensated by a self-adapting grab system. If several layers of bottles are stacked in the carton, the gripper inserts a separating board in the carton.
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