Blogs

1. Press = inflexible?

In the past cognition, presses are usually labeled as “slow”, “inflexible” and “high risk”. With the development of technology, safety solutions for presses emerge in an endless stream, and the safety of presses is greatly improved. Under the premise of ensuring safety, the owners put forward further requirements for the flexibility and high efficiency of production.

In the case introduced to you today, a manufacturer of kitchen accessories hopes to improve efficiency by introducing Robots to load the bending machine, that is to say, during the operation of the equipment, materials can be loaded by both robots and manually . In order to control the cost, it is necessary to continue to use the existing controller as much as possible so that its original functions will not be affected.

2. Safe press, is it risk-free just adding the robot?

If the press uses a safe solution and just adds a robot for material loading, is there no risk? Obviously not!

The interface area between robot and bending machine becomes a new risk area. In order to protect the operator from accidental injury, on the one hand, it must be ensured that no operator stands in the way when the robot is loading. On the other hand, it must be guaranteed that the operators are protected when inserting or adjusting the position with their hands (especially their fingers).

Of course, when we take any protective measures or design safety devices, we must try our best not to hinder the free movement of operators.

3. Can the safety of the interface area between the robot and the press be achieved quickly?

Both the bending machine and the service robot themselves actually have their own safety controllers. On the bending machine, Pilz’s camera-based protection system PSENvip monitors safety. What we need is an integrated and efficient interface security solution.

The camera-based protection system PSENvip from Pilz is mounted on the upper die and ensures the safety of the operator of the bending machine

In order to realize the safety of the interface between the two devices, a safety control product that can monitor various safety devices on the press and robot equipment is required at any time.

The new generation of safety relays myPNOZ, which can be pre-assembled and customized, meets exactly the requirements.

The number, type and logical interconnection of safety functions are defined via the myPNOZ Creator online software tool. According to these parameters, Creator will automatically calculate which modules are needed and their insertion order, which is very convenient.

myPNOZ is also very flexible in application. It provides up to 12 different expansion modules. Each input module can monitor two safety functions. This reduces hardware costs and minimizes wiring costs. In addition, myPNOZ enables the formation of several independent safety zones in which monitored machines can be shut down independently, which is crucial for increasing the availability of plant equipment.

myPNOZ can realize the production of 1 batch according to the specific needs of customers. myPNOZ monitors the safety functions of emergency stops, safety doors, light curtains, two-hand controls IIIA/C and enabling switches.

4. Is such a solution feasible?

The solution combined with myPNOZ mentioned above is a real case of Pilz providing services for Peter Huber AG.

The company is a supplier of innovative automation solutions with a history of more than 40 years, and has extensive experience in the transformation and optimization of robots, handling systems, data and control systems, etc.

“During the design phase, Pilz recommended us the modular safety relay myPNOZ. The idea of ​​expanding the input circuit with just one safety relay immediately opened our minds. This solution met our needs almost 100 percent. We could combine the Everything has been prepared and installed in advance, which has brought us a huge benefit in terms of time and cost,” commented Erich Schumacher, specialist in conveyor technology, handling and robotics.