In the areas of intralogistics, packing technology, assembly and material handling systems, gantry systems are mainly used for stacking and moving wood, metals, plastic or glass. The gantry units are often driven on single axes by PLC-controlled positioning drives. Lenze says a more elegant way of doing things, such as with gantry-robot kinematics and coordinating multiple axes, has not been possible up to now due to the complicated and time-consuming programming it would involve. This is exactly where the new FAST technology module comes in; it clusters the robotics together to create an easy-to-parameterise drive solution with a robotics core at its heart. This is just as easy to parameterise as a single positioning axis.

“The FAST technology module is so easy to use that PLC-controlled gantries can be very effectively replaced with sequential motion commands,” explains Lenze’s Alexander Schlegel. This has tangible advantages; soft intrinsically synchronous travel profiles result in substantially less wear on the mechanical parts of a machine than point-to-point positioning. They can also be designed to be considerably more energy efficient and operate faster with smaller drives. Thanks to the open standards used, namely PLCopen parts 1/2/4 and the IEC 61131 programming environment, FAST can be used to perfectly integrate additional drive tasks. For example, upstream and downstream conveyor drives are easy to engineer with the same controller and inverter drives from the same i700 family.

Even complex drive systems with multi-axis coordination are easy to use without any special knowledge of robot programming thanks to the prepared and intensively tested software solution. Lenze is convinced that this solution will make companies more willing to use robotics, especially in view of the fact that they considerably improve the efficiency and productivity of their plants. Thanks to the simplification of the engineering process, engineers have more time to optimise processes and the actual functions of the machines they build. All in all, this improves the competitiveness of OEMs as they no longer need to concentrate on motion control.

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Kawasaki says the weight of the CP palletizing robot has been reduced by 38% compared with the range it replaces, while the drive mechanism for the arm’s rotation has been enhanced. These improvements have enabled CP palletizing robot payload capacities to be increased in line with overall performance, with the three models in the CP palletizing robot range offering maximum payloads of 180, 300 and 500kg.

Ian Hensman, Kawasaki Robotics’ sales and marketing manager points out that the new arm on the CP palletizing robot offers the optimal flexibility demanded by manufacturers and food processors today: “The CP palletizing robot range ranks as best in class when running the standard industry takt test for large robots; 400mm up, 2,000mm horizontal and 400mm down. Having the ability to increase palletizing speeds when production demands is a bonus for the CP palletizing robot. And with a palletising volume of 1,800mm by 1,600mm and height 2,200mm users are provided with a wide working range.

“Supporting the high performance of the CP palletizing robot range are the ‘green credentials’ that it offers,” he continues. “We’ve concentrated on making the CP palletizing robot low energy and easy to maintain. More than 90% of all components across the CP palletizing robot range are identical, allowing customers to reduce their parts handling and storage requirements. An integrated hybrid function stores energy from braking utilising it for acceleration and lowering energy consumption overall.”

The CP palletizing robot range is supplied with the compact Kawasaki E03 controller which the company says is ideal for locating under a conveyor in normally redundant space. Straightforward programming is also offered when the optional K-SPARC palletizing software is used. This enables CP palletizing robot programs to be generated offline by selecting the work-piece, pallet and stowage pattern. Layout planning and operating simulations can also be performed enabling optimisation of the palletizing operation.

Visit the Kawasaki website for more information on the CP palletizing robot.

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