In the past, the automotive industry has been the most important field of robot applications .
With the increase in automation requirements, industrial robot applications have been expanded. In addition to traditional welding applications, robots load and unload materials on the machine, palletize materials, grind, spray, and assemble. Other fields have also been widely used. Metal forming machine tools are an important part of machine tools.
The forming process is usually associated with high labor intensity, noise pollution, metal dust, etc. Sometimes it is in a high temperature, high humidity and even polluted environment. The work is simple and dry, and it is difficult for enterprises to recruit people.
The integration of industrial robots and forming machine tools can not only solve the problem of hiring enterprises, but also improve the processing efficiency and safety, improve the processing accuracy, and have great room for development.
CNC bending machine integrated application: There are two main ways of robot bending integrated application. One is the bending machine as the center, the robot is equipped with a vacuum suction cup, and the magnetic force is divided into the loading frame, the positioning table, the lowering table, and the turning frame Bending unit. The second is a flexible processing line for plates formed by robots and laser equipment or CNC turntable punches, industrial robot walking shafts, sheet transmission lines, positioning tables, and vacuum suction cup grippers.
Press stamping integrated application: There are two main ways of robot and press stamping integrated application. One is single robot stamping and loading: the robot moves the sheet from the depalletizing station to the positioning table, and then moves it to the press mold after positioning After the stamping is completed, the robot takes the material into the stacking table to realize the automatic loading and unloading of a single press robot.
The second is the robot stamping connection: establishing a stamping connection between multiple presses through multiple robots. According to the requirements of the workpiece forming process, multiple presses are required for processing. The entire production line consists of a destacking robot, a transfer robot between the loading robot and the press, and a tail robot. Compared with linear coordinate manipulators, the use of six-axis robots is more flexible, has no equal height requirements for molds, and is easy to integrate.
Hot die forging integrated application: Hot die forging production line usually consists of two die forging presses, one for stamping and the other for trimming. The hot die forging robot integrated application usually configures two robots, one is responsible for transferring the high temperature material processed by the intermediate frequency furnace to the stamping forming die forging press, and the other is responsible for taking the material from the stamping forming die forging press and transferring it to another die.
Forging machine for trimming. In order to prevent the high-temperature stamping workpiece from sticking to the mold, it is necessary to lubricate the mold after each stamping. Lubrication can be done by the robot, or it can be realized by a special mechanism. Because forging is a harsh environment brought by high temperature and high humidity and graphite lubrication, special attention should be paid to the protection of the robot and the ability of the robot to resist heat radiation.
Welding applications: Welding is the post-process of sheet metal processing of forming machine tools. There are two types of robot welding, resistance welding and arc welding. Welding robot applications account for more than 45% of the entire robot application. The application of arc welding is based on a robot, and is equipped with a welding machine, a wire feeder, a welding gun, a fixture, etc. to form a welding workstation. The application of resistance welding is based on a robot, and is equipped with a spot welding gun, a welding controller, a water and gas unit, a pipeline package, a fixture, etc. to form a spot welding workstation.
Integrated application of robot and machine tool: In the integrated application of machine tool, the specific application form of industrial robot is still being explored and innovated. Since industrial robots have many similarities with CNC machine tools in principle and structure, they are all automatic devices controlled by CNC systems and driven by servo motors to achieve precise position movement. Therefore, machine tool manufacturers have considerable advantages in the development of industrial robots. Therefore, many robot manufacturing enterprises at home and abroad have the foundation of machine tool manufacturing.
The development of robots in the field of machine tools is a bit special. First, with the continuous improvement of machine tool numerical control technology, the maturity of various automatic detection and dynamic compensation technologies, the development of machine tool technology has entered a new stage of intelligence.
A kind of boosting effect; second, the integrated application of robots and machine tools also has some special advantages, such as increased machine tool density and improved plant utilization; shortened auxiliary time and improved machine tool work efficiency; operation accuracy and repeatability are better than natural people High; the possibility of work injury is greatly reduced; can work continuously for a long time without emotional problems and emotional needs, and so on.
At present, the main form of robot and machine tool integration applications: in most application fields such as welding, handling, palletizing, and assembly, industrial robots are used as the host. Unlike this, the robots that are equipped with machine tools generally function as auxiliary machines. The current specific application forms are:
(1) Single machine loading and unloading
Single machine loading and unloading is the most typical and mature application of robots on machine tools. It is more accurate, faster and safer than manual loading and unloading. The advantages of robot loading and unloading are particularly obvious for the processing of small and medium-sized parts with large production batches and short processing times, or bulky workpieces that need to be hoisted.
The structural relationship between the robot and the machine tool is divided into two forms: the robot is installed outside the machine tool and integrated with the machine tool. Robots installed outside the machine are divided into fixed, mobile, and rack-mounted types.
(2) Robot and machine tool form a flexible production line The
Robot is responsible for the process conversion of the workpiece. The flexible production line is formed with several machine tools. It is a more complex and more valuable application than single machine loading and unloading. In the current industrial transformation and upgrading process, market demand is becoming more and more vigorous.
In this application, the layout of the machine tool depends on factors such as the process route and site conditions. Common types are L-shaped, U-shaped, linear, and opposite layouts. Among them, three CNC machine tools form a U-shaped layout, and a robot performs workpiece conversion in the middle of the site. This layout is very compact.
(3) Working with the machine to complete the machining process. The
Robot grips the workpiece to realize the processing operation on the punching and bending machine. It is not only a simple loading and unloading, but it replaces all the original manual operations. This is more accurate and faster than manual operations, thereby improving product quality and production efficiency. In particular, it has completely solved the hidden dangers of industrial injuries of stamping machine tools.
(4) Independently complete the processing procedure
Equip the robot with special claws, the robot can complete the cutting, grinding, polishing, cleaning and other processes. Even the robot can directly hold the cutting tool, perform drilling, tapping and riveting on the workpiece, and can also perform cutting processing. In this case, the robot itself is a machine tool.
Robots with vision and touch can be used in complex processes such as assembly and part sorting. Even for loading and unloading, special station equipment with positioning devices can also be used.
The robot is equipped with special claws, which can be used in casting and forging machinery operating in a high-temperature environment. It can complete tasks such as hot metal picking, pouring, hot blanks up and down, and replacement of hot molds.
An authoritative professional exhibition is the best window to reflect the overall situation and technological trends of an industry. The reason for this rapid development trend is certainly related to the leading and catalytic effects of China’s industrial transformation and upgrading, the rapid increase in China’s labor costs, the reduction of industrial robot prices and the improvement of these general factors, but at the same time industrial robots have It is a highly flexible general automation device, and its application occasions and functions have unlimited expansion space.
Robots are now a typical representative of advanced manufacturing technology and automation equipment. Intelligent industrial equipment has become the basis for the upgrading and transformation of the global manufacturing industry. The integrated application of industrial robots and CNC machine tools makes intelligent manufacturing and digital workshops and intelligent factories move from concept to reality.