SCHUNK HSB Beta Series

Customer Concerns: Cycle Time and Safety

The manufacturer had two major concerns associated with the project:

• The large vertical press presented safety hazard for any operators so the customer wanted an automated system that would not put any personnel in danger.
• The cycle time with transferring the parts to each die was a critical aspect of the machine.  The customer wanted a system that could transfer the parts from feeder system to each die simultaneously so there were no delays with the vertical press.

SCHUNK Solution:

In order to meet the demands of the customer’s application and to address their concerns regarding cycle time and safety, SCHUNK designed the following solution:

• Linear actuators for the XYZ Gantry System and grippers to handle the parts were sized appropriately.   
• SCHUNK sized and selected a Beta 80-SGV Ball Screw Actuator for the X-Axis at a stroke of 900 mm and lead on the screw of 50 mm.  The Beta 80-SGV actuator was mounted above the vertical die press and the customer incorporated linear rails to help support the Y-Axis and Z-Axis.  The Beta 80-SGV was the axis that would move the system horizontally from the feeder system to each die in the press. 
• Two Gamma 120-ZSS Belt Driven Actuators were sized and selected to build a dual Z-Axis system.  The Gamma 120-ZSS actuators were mounted to the Beta 80-SGV (X-Axis), utilizing a carriage-to-carriage mount between the X-Axis and Dual Z-Axis.  The Gamma 120-ZSS actuators move the parts vertically as the parts are transferred from the feeder system to each die in the vertical press.  The Gamma 120-ZSS actuators were linked together using a GX Cross Link Shaft (connection shaft) so both actuators could be driven by one gearbox and one servo motor.
• SCHUNK sized and selected two Gamma 90- ZSS Belt Driven Actuators for a Dual Y-Axis system.  The Gamma 90-ZSS actuators are mounted at the bottom of the Gamma 120-ZSS actuators basically utilizing a carriage-to-base mount between the Dual Z-Axis and Dual Y-Axis.  The Gamma 90-ZSS actuators would move the grippers in and out of the machine so the vertical press could actuate.  The Gamma 90-ZSS actuators were also linked together using a GX Cross Link Shaft (connection shaft) so both actuators could be driven by one gearbox and one servo motor.
• The customer selected the grippers for the application which included (4x) PGN-plus-P parallel grippers to handle the parts through each transfer in the machine.  The grippers were mounted to the end of the Gamma 90-ZSS actuators (Dual Y-Axis).