Robot unloads components

Bespak is using a six-axis robot to unload injection moulded components at its King's Lynn, UK factory, where the company makes drug delivery systems.

The Fanuc roboshot 100t injection moulding machine is producing three inhaler components and a Fanuc M6 robot was specified for component handling. This robot can carry a combined weight for tooling and components of up to 6kg at the end of an arm. The robot unloads the moulded components from the roboshot into boxes and handles the boxes and their lids. An added complication is that two of the parts have to be printed and the third does not.

There is one inbound conveyor and two outbound conveyors to the system, one in front of the moulding machine and the other adjacent to a pad printer, which is fed by a vibratory bowl feeder.

The cycle starts with an empty box being lifted from the inbound conveyor to the loading station on the outbound conveyor after having its lid removed to a park stand. Parts are then counted into the box from the moulding machine until it is full, when the robot replaces the lid and stacks an empty box on top, which it then fills. The two full boxes are then fed out of the cell.

When parts are to be printed the robot empties the finished parts into a hopper above the vibratory bowl feeder, which feeds the pad printer. This in turn counts finished parts into the box. The robot again replaces the lid and stacks a second box.