Quality Inspection Cell
This small robotic inspection cell uses pneumatics to load a fixture with parts for inspection into an OGP inspection system, then remove the fixture to a docking station where a UR cobot will place the parts into a good or bad bin based on the results from the OGP. It will then drop the fixture onto a conveyor to be reused with new parts for inspection.
A Compact GuardLogix PLC is used for device control, software handshaking with the UR cobot, and safety. Every field device is landed on an IP67 remote IO block and monitored or controlled over Ethernet/IP to save cabinet space and cost.
The budget was tight for adding an HMI so I proposed using Weintek. Their driver for Rockwell works great to get PLC tags into the HMI project for linking control and indication. With a much more affordable hardware cost than competitors and free software download, it was a perfect fit for this application.
I owned electrical control enclosure design, PLC programming, and HMI development while working with a robotic system integrator to handle the software handshaking between the PLC and cobot. After design was done, I flew up to the customer site for IO checkout and startup.
This system has 4 equipment module sequencers - loading the part, OGP inspection, unloading the part, and robot sorting of the inspected parts. A step description of each sequencer is shown on the HMI as well as the current state of the machine, good/bad part counts, the result of each OGP inspection, and all instrumentation feedback.
Safety is handled with a combination of door interlock switches, a light curtain, and E-Stops. Air will be dropped from the pneumatic actuators via a safety dump valve if the safety circuit is not satisfied. In addition to air dump, the fixture conveyor and the cobot are both disabled from any motion.
What used to be a completely manual process is now fully automated, thus allowing for significantly more throughput and freeing an employee from a boring job. Contact JD Controls LLC today to discuss your automation needs.