Press Release
AUTOMATED WELDING BOOSTS TOWBAR PRODUCTION AT WITTER – CUTS
WELDING TIME BY UP TO 50%
Automated jig control, using drives from Control Techniques,
has made a significant contribution to increased production at
Deeside-based Witter Towbars, cutting the welding time for each
towbar assembly by up to 50%!
The new rotating jigs were designed and produced by
Telford-based Automatic Technologies International (ATI) using
Unidrive SP AC drives with UMD servomotors from Control Techniques
Dynamics, with programming provided by on-board EZMotion
modules.
Used in conjunction with MAG-welding robots, the jigs – known as
welding ‘manipulators’ - provide up to 360° rotation, most often in
45° increments, between periods of welding.
“The client was looking at different ways of automating what had
been a manual task,” explains Alex Wilson, managing director of
ATI. “The solution required integration with the welding
robot and special machine builders were offering solutions that
required PLCs to provide the control and interface – a costly
solution. We were able to provide a much simpler solution,
with no PLC required, simply by using position numbers from the
robot output card direct to an EZMotion module within the Unidrive
SP. And, as a bonus, we could guarantee complete safety
whilst loading each job, using the secure disable feature on the
drive, so that it wasn’t necessary to power down the drive each
time or use contactors to provide a category 4 safety stop.”
Just three outputs are used from the robot, making up eight
binary codes covering the jig rotation, as well as ‘stop’ and
‘run’. The programming for acceleration / deceleration and
positioning is all carried out in the easy-to-program EZ-Motion
card fitted inside each of the 2.2kW Unidrive SP AC drives.
To give the best dynamic response, matched to the drive, 115UMD
Unimotors low cogging brushless AC servomotors are used, with
Sin/Cos absolute encoder feedback to give precise position control.
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