Integrated Motion Control
Applications
Pick and Place with ControlLogix and Ultra3000
Pick and Place machines are used in the consumer products industry for a wide variety of product transfer applications. The machine basically takes a product or products from machines such as wrappers, cartoners or fillers, and stacks them into a case, which then is ready for palletizing or shipment.
The infeed to the Pick and Place machine is a typical smart belt process where random finished product is assembled in an orderly fashion. A photo-eye on the product pick conveyor counts the number of products waiting to be lifted from this belt into a case. The X_Pick and Z_Pick Axis assembly waits in place for the signal to pick. Once the signal is recieved, these axes work together to move the finished product into the case.
While this motion occurs, the bottom Index_Case conveyor is moving half-formed cases into place for the X/Z_Pick axis to fill it with the the appropriate amount of finished product. A tape or glue dispenser then closes the major flap on the case. The cases are then distributed to an outfeed conveyor usually driven by a servo motor for rapid load and removal of empty and finished cases.
Rockwell Automation Solution
ControlLogix with embedded Motion is the control of choice for the Pick and Place. A typical configuration would include using a 1756-M08SE SERCOS Interface Motion Module that links with fiber optic cable to the multiple Ultra3000 SERCOS Drives and MP-Series Low Inertia Motors driving the X-Axis, Z-Axis and Case-Index conveyor. MP-Series Low Inertia Motors have been chosen for all axes because of the high acceleration and deceleration of machine mechanics, as well as their compact size. Machine operators can use the 6182 Operator Interface connected to the ControlLogix platform using EtherNet in order to change recipe information and monitor actual machine characteristics. RSLogix 5000 Programming Software provides flexibility in setup of the control hardware, as well as programming and diagnostics.
Through the use of RSLogix 5000 all motor and drive parameters are defined as part of the motion axis configuration and require no secondary software package for machine or drive setup. The ControlLogix controller automatically configures the drives over SERCOS at power-up. This allows for drives to be powered-up right out of the box with little configuration by the user. Programming is simplified as well with the use of virtual axes that provides superior master coordination between the X-Axis and Z-Axis. Complex multi-axis motion profiles are simplified with the use of Position Cams with Cubic Spline cam profile segments. This allows the use of a low number of cam points to create the desired motion profile. ControlLogix allows for easy interlocking of the motion and overall machine code through combination of motion and machine logic into a single program.