Assembly & handling

The upper part of the housing must be screwed to the lower part of the housing. To do this, the sensor must detect the position of the screw holes in the housing top.

This process requires millimetre precision so that no spreading or smearing occurs when dispensing lubricants. Lubricant must be accurately applied in sufficient quantity to guarantee proper functioning. If too much lubricant is dispensed, malfunctions will occur.

The quantity of screws required for battery pack assembly is stored in a bunker feed system  and fed from there to the screwing systems accordingly. For smooth production, it is important that misaligned screws are detected by the sensor and only those in the correct position are fed to the screwing system.

In many applications, connector harnesses with colour-coded pin positions are used to make electrical connections between different components.

Checking the correct position of a connector

During the assembly and production of electronic parts, connectors must be attached to printed circuit boards, and wires or cables are inserted in the connectors.  The aim of the application is to check whether a connector has been fully inserted into the socket.

During final product control, it is to be checked that the products have a uniform appearance. The aim of the application is to guarantee the correct position of adhesive labels on packaging so that the products appear identical on the sales shelf.

Vibration spiral conveyors can be used for sorting, conveying and transporting a wide variety of small parts and connecting elements.
Springs, screws, nuts, pins, washers, caps and special elements are sorted and made available for automatic further processing. Different batches with different springs can be processed in a vibratory bowl feeder. Getting the wrong springs down the line will result in rejects and/or machine damage. A vision sensor is used to ensure that the correct spring type is fed.

During final product control it is checked that the products are correctly sealed. The aim of this application is to check that closures are fully sealed so that products cannot leak during transport. 

A central element of modern intralogistics are automated high-bay warehouses. They enable fast storage and retrieval as well as optimal use of the storage space. Small parts and spare parts can be ideally stowed away in containers or boxes.
Precise positioning and reliable control are crucial for the automatic compartment allocation of the shelves - otherwise collisions and thus major property damage can occur. An optical sensor should check the occupancy status of the shelf compartment: empty, single, or multiple occupancy

One task in industrial automation is the detection of platelets using an optical sensor. The flakes can be metallic and shiny or black and highly light-absorbing.

The quantity of screws required for battery pack assembly is stored in a bunker feed system and fed from there to the screwing systems individually. For subsequent control of the correct position of the screws , they must be detected at a specific position in the feed system in order to provide a trigger signal.

A large number of screws are processed during the assembly of a battery pack. Bunker feed systems are used to stock these screws. In order to avoid an interruption in production, it is important to be informed in good time that screws need to be replenished.

Components for the production process are supplied in load carriers.  The challenge is to position the load carriers as precisely as possible, as this is imperative for a stable, robot-aided handling process. 

During assembly, it is frequently necessary to align two metal sheets as close as possible in the joining process in order to guarantee a good weld seam. The aim of the application is to determine the gap between two metal sheets and to transfer the measured value to the control system. 

Punched, milled or cut holes in metal sheets are checked for dimensional accuracy during assembly. 

High precision is of utmost importance during the application of lubricant. However slight irregularities may occasionally occur, which can compromise the production process. It is therefore important to detect potential errors at an early stage.

In electronics manufacturing, processes often require the handling of very delicate or particularly small components. When placing a control chip, as in this example, no gripper errors may occur, as damage must be avoided under all circumstances.

Painting is an important step in automobile production, which not only fulfills aesthetic but also functional aspects. In this step, the body of the vehicle is coated with paint. An important part of the overall process is the position control of the various body parts after drying with the help of an optical sensor. To do this, all car body components such as the bonnet, trunk lid, and doors must be closed in order to move on to the next step, the assembly.

The battery modules must be screwed into the lower part of the housing. The screw holes are usually located under mechanical devices, which in turn have an opening. The sensor is to be used to detect the position of the screw holes underneath.

During the assembly, packaging and production processes in different sectors, parts must be collected from trays for individual work steps. 

When assembling vehicles, sheet metal parts and / or plastic parts must be connected to one another. These are often assembled with clips which the parts are screwed or plugged together.

In production, components, e.g. sheet metal parts, must be identified. During assembly processes, there is a risk of mixing up similar components. The identification of an incorrect part after installation can have costly consequences

In production, components must be identified. There is a risk of confusion between similar components during assembly. High costs can be incurred if the wrong component is identified after installation.

In addition to materials being fed in universal load carriers, high flexibility can be achieved by using a bulk storage bin with a vibrating feeder arrangement. This is particularly suited to transporting small parts, such as mechanical components either plastic or metal.

When screwing the outer casing of the cordless screwdriver together, several parameters must be observed – from the order of the screws to the different tightening torque for the individual screws. The varied positions at which the parts are fed complicates the process step even further.

The flexible use of mobile robots is an attractive solution for machine tending processes. Yet this flexibility can cause robot positions to be comparatively imprecise.

Throughout the production process, a large quantity of data is generated that has to be monitored and checked. The operator must be able to consult, manage and evaluate this data easily in order to identify and implement any necessary modifications to the process.