Assembly in Action: Robots Support Meteor Machines
In the Meteor Compact System (MCS) coil production cell, an automatic winding machine is equipped with a linear loading and unloading axis. In addition, parallel process stations are located on a rotary table in the cell. Modular, replaceable components are also used, such as soldering or welding systems, wrapping and labeling equipment, and testing stations. A Turboscara robot from Bosch Rexroth AG (Stuttgart, Germany) links the parts supply, winding machine and rotary table. The robot handles workpieces in the MCS cell. The gripper modules were developed by Meteor. Depending on the requirement, up to three individually controllable grippers are accommodated in a compact gripper head. In addition, the gripper head can be equipped with a swivel unit and three additional grippers.
Up until a few years ago, the winding cells were built by customer-oriented handling facilities. By using the Turboscara robots, no design or assembly is required. Moreover, programming and commissioning time is drastically reduced. An entire cell can be programmed and commissioned in 1 or 2 days. The large working radius of these robots allows the MCS coil production cells to be equipped with a variety of process stations. With four-axis movement, the robots can place the workpiece in various positions. A later change in processing order can be performed by replacing or adding individual components.