Automatic product feeding to a wrapping machine
Initial situation
The delicate hollow chocolate figures are fed into the system lying unsorted on a transport belt.
Task
Once they are picked up from the belt, the hollow chocolate figures must be inserted the right way round, precisely and – most importantly – gently into the negative moulds of the wrapping machine.
Equipment
Brief description
The hollow chocolate figures [1], which lie unsorted on the product belt [9], are detected by a camera [2], their position and orientation is determined and the information is sent to the delta robot [3]. This robot takes the hollow chocolate figures gently off the belt using a vacuum gripper and places them in the intermediate position [4]. In this position, another camera [5] takes a side view of the hollow figures and checks their angle of rotation. This important piece of information is passed on to the subsequent 6-axis robot [6], which can then pick up the product from the intermediate position [4]. Before this is done, a third camera [7] scans the hollow figures in the intermediate position [4] for breakage and impurities. Unsatisfactory products are ejected. After the quality check, the 6-axis robot picks the flawless hollow figures with its gripper and puts them on the rotary plate [8] of the wrapping machine. The cells [10] can be used to pick different products independently from one another – all equally gently.
Challenges
- Products susceptible to marking and scratches
- Products susceptible to breakage
- Products constantly moving on the transport belt
- Complete integration of the wrapping machine including format set handling
- High production speed
Advantages of the system
- Gentle product handling and ultra-precise placement on the plates of the wrapping machine
- Detection of breakage in the intermediate position
- Five independently operating systems
- Different products can be processed on all of the systems
- Manual product feeding option
- Tool-free format set change-over