Press Release
DRIVING DOWN COSTS OF BLOCK PAVING
A unique robot-based system for the laying
of street paving slabs has been developed by Dutch company
Robostreet, cutting operating costs, time and eliminating the huge
problem of on-the-job injuries, particularly
back-strain.
Streetwise 1200 is the first of a range of machines from
Robostreet and already 22 have been sold to the local authority in
Rotterdam. At the heart of each vehicle are either four or
five Commander SK AC drives from Control Techniques, including the
new ultra-compact 5.5kW size D model that controls the hydraulic
pump.
“We recognised that there was a significant market need for such
a vehicle,” explains Mr A. van Wijngaarden, Technical Director of
Robostreet. “Here in Holland, the heavy work involved in
street paving is a major contributor to some 5% of employees being
off sick through back injuries – a national cost of around
€120.000.000. And most countries of the world have a similar
problem. Local health and safety legislation is now limiting
the amount that can be laid manually and the race is on to build
street paving machines that are accurate, safe, fast and
cost-effective.”
A group of multi-disciplinary entrepreneurs accepted the
challenge and, together with system integrator, Axoll, initiated a
study of how bricks are laid and the development work began.
Control Techniques’ Rotterdam drive centre was approached to
provide drives to control a hydraulic pump as well as a compressor
and drives for the servo adjustment of a camera system and a
rotating laser system.
An on-board diesel generator produces 400V AC, but this can drop
by as much as 200V on heavy load and, on testing other types of
drive this caused a trip-out. However, with the Control
Techniques Commander SK, there was sufficient DC residue to allow
the drive to ride through the dip without tripping. A further
factor in its choice was its size. The space available on the
panel is extremely limited and the new 5.5 kW Commander SK size D,
which is some 30% smaller than its predecessor, fitted in with no
problems.
During development, the versatility of the Commander SK proved
valuable, with different operating modes being tested under
operating conditions to find the most successful.
A 3 kW Commander SK provides compressor control and two small
0.25kW Commander SK drives provide rotation control for two
rotating positioning lasers. A further small SK is used to
provide precise height positioning of the camera in the
vision-control system.>>>>>>>
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