By August 12, 2014 Read More →

Robot palletising and depalletising for packaging lines

140812_Beumer_1Specially designed to solve even the most complex palletising and depalletising challenges reliably and efficiently, the robotpac from Beumer Group is a space-saving, fully articulated palletising robot. It is able to stack bundles such as bags, cardboard boxes, canisters and trays safely and economically.

Beumer Group is single-source provider for filling, palletising and packaging technologies. Over the years, Beumer has established extensive expertise in the design of grippers and control technology. Furthermore, the company offers solutions for filling, conveying, palletising and packaging from one source. This reduces the number of transitions in a project as a whole.

Pictured right: The Beumer robotpac series suits palletising and depalletising of a wide range of packages using specially developed gripping systems.

Different grippers are available for different palletising tasks. The fork gripper was designed for palletising bagged goods and cardboard boxes. It picks up the packaged item from a take-away roller conveyor and secures it using a holding-down device during transport. Once the target position on the pallet has been reached, the gripper opens with a horizontal movement and the push-off plate pushes the packaged item off the fork. The fork gripper, specially designed for palletising, features gentle product handling and precise placement of the packaged items.

The double fork gripper was also designed for palletising bagged goods and cardboard boxes and picks up two bags simultaneously from a double take-away roller conveyor. Once the packaged item is placed on the pallet, the fork is raised and the tool approaches the target position for the second packaged item. The placement occurs consistently with the first fork’s stacking process. Once both forks have placed the packaged items, the tool returns to the pick-up position.

140812_Beumer_2When palletising bagged goods, the finger gripper takes the bags from hoist equipment on the take-away roller conveyor and carries it to the target position. Here, the fingers open while the slide plates remain in a closed position. This ensures that the bag is guided along the sides during the stacking process. The double finger gripper is a high-performance tool designed for maximum palletising capacity.

Pictured left: The suction gripper on the palletising robot is designed to handle all goods with suctionable surfaces.

Parallel and suction grippers are also available, as combinations and special tools.The parallel gripper is a special tool for palletising cardboard boxes and other dimensionally stable containers with parallel side walls. The essential components are a fixed plate that functions as a limit stop and a pneumatically activated clamping device that pushes the cardboard box horizontally against the fixed plate.

The suction gripper is fundamentally able to handle all goods with suctionable surfaces. Bagged goods belong to the most frequently palletised products. The suction gripper places its suction head above the product and then lowers the suction head tightly against the product surface. The vacuum pump starts and creates a vacuum in the suction head. Then, the bag is picked up and transported to the target position. Air is released into the suction head and the bag is placed. The suction gripper is used for low palletising capacities.

In addition to these gripping systems, there is a large number of specialty grippers and combination tools for different palletising applications. Special tools enable simultaneous processing of secondary tasks, including sheet or empty pallet placement on the conveying systems or barcode reading. Should the palletising needs of the user be so specific that none of the standard grippers is suitable, Beumer can design a system specifically for such unique requirements. Virtually all products can be palletised with a robot.

140812_Beumer_3Beumer says the robotpac offers the highest levels of precision and availability for palletising applications, as well as gentle product handling. An ultrasonic system provides accurate measures of the stacking height, making it possible to calculate the exact placing position of the packaged items and stack these precisely and carefully. This precision guarantees an optimal stack configuration. The latter not only serves as a mark of quality for your customer, it also ensures high stability during shipping and storage.

Pictured right: Efficient palletising of bagged goods.

A key advantage according to Beumer is that the control systems do not require special robot-related expertise – due to their user-friendly design. To enable operators to operate the Beumer robotpac easily and quickly in palletising applications, the intralogistics specialist has equipped it with the Beumer Group Human Machine Interface (HMI), an operator panel with an optimised user interface and optimised navigation, which creates easily understandable and intuitive interaction, enabling the user to define efficient working sequences. The operator can control the machine safely, independently of prior skills, training and capabilities, this saving time and money which ensures high economic efficiency.

Regulated by complex control mechanisms, the Beumer robotpac can stack packaged goods of variable dimensions on one pallet. Individual programmes cover all packing patterns, so that complicated and tedious adjustments become a thing of the past. The switch to another programme with the Beumer robotpac requires a mere push of a button. Thereby, the Beumer robotpac optimises the material flow quickly and easily adapting itself to products of different sizes and characteristics in a variety of palletising applications.

Beumer says that robust and empirically tested machine components, together with state-of-the-art geared motors, guarantee smooth operation. This means the robotpac is not only easy to maintain, but also extremely quiet. The performance can be enhanced cost-effectively. Equipped with an additional drive axle and an integrated motor connected to the control system, the robotpac is freely movable on a guide rail. Consequently, it can be used in distribution centres for order picking tasks. The robotpac palletising robot demonstrates its reliability even in dusty environments typical of packing plants and of the building material industry.

Visit the Beumer Group website for more information about palletising robots.

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