ASYS Transport Solutions for the Smart Factory
In production, all materials, such as PCBs in different production states, components in form of component reels, JEDEC trays or sticks as well as consumables, for example for the printing process, must be considered. We supplie standardized and automatable containers for their autonomous transport. The material is distributed via autonomous transport systems – the ASYS AIVs (Autonomous Intelligent Vehicle). Thanks to various platforms, they can realize any material transport as required. An important task here is to provide the line with the material „just-in-time“. The goal is to reduce line stops to a minimum and maximize process efficiency. Once the factory layout has been programmed into the software, the transport robot moves fully autonomously.
Material flow in the Smart Factory
Optimized transport routes thanks to intelligent software and coordinated equipment.
Autonomous Mobile Robot
The AMR stands for Autonomous Mobile Robot, also known as AIV (Autonomous Intelligent Vehicle). This is an autonomously operating transport robot. It is not guided, but operates via the SLAM principle, i.e. freely in space via sensors. SLAM stands for „Simultaneous Localization and Mapping“ and does not require any installations in the existing infrastructure, such as guidelines or others. Our transport robots are based on Omron‘s AMR systems. This means that we are using a compact, field-proven and common system that is perfectly suited for our applications.
As an application for the transport tasks, we have developed various transport platforms. Our AMR, with the transport platform in the driving direction, serves as a universal transport robot. This can pick up different load carriers, such as PCB magazines, component reel containers, but also KLT boxes or tray stacks. The design of the transport roller track guarantees process-safe transport of up to 50 kg.
The double superstructure with transverse platform is particularly suitable for supplying the line loaders and unloaders as well as the reel magazine loader with its parallel magazine positions, but also for the simultaneous transport of several load carriers. For this purpose, two roller sections are positioned at right angles to the AMR driving direction. The division into four segments provides direct access to all four storage slots. The transverse arrangement enables adjacent transfer points to be served without the need for another approach.
Trolley
The manual trolley has a roller conveyor to handle and transfer transport goods between several sources and targets. The orientation of the roller conveyor is crosswise to the driving direction of trolley. The system is optimized to handle containers, like PCB-Magazines, SMD-Reel-Containers, KLT, Boxes or consumables at the shop floor. The platform is available in two dimensions, to provide a universal platform for different materials and container dimensions.
The Magazine Loader is used to automatically feed PCB´s into a SMT-production line or into individual process machines e.g. stencil printers, pick and place systems, reflow ovens or test systems. The PCBs are taken out of the magazine with an extractor mechanism and pulled onto the handover conveyor. The handover conveyor moves sideways on an integrated shuttle lift unit to the handover position and the PCB is subsequently handed over. The system is characterized by its short cycle time. The open magazine table is fixed in position and provides easy access to the magazines. Automatic switching to the next full magazine.
The magazines are filled in the reel magazine loader by feeding the individual component reels coming from the Dry Tower via a cross pusher from the reel section of the system and, depending on the configuration of the reel magazine, placing them into this. Up to two magazines can be placed on the line in parallel.
The M-Station Pick-by-Light is installed close to the pick-and-place system and serves as an interface for replenishing the pick-and-place machines. The M-Station Pick-by-Light can accommodate up to two Reel-Magazines. The filled Reel-Magazine is presented to the operator and the next required component reel is visualized via the pick-by-light function. For this purpose, the level of the required reel is visualized via the LED light bar, thus guiding the operator in a targeted manner. Search and travel times to determine the required rolls are eliminated and the placement system can be resupplied according to consumption and demand. The transfer and takeover process can be carried out manually by an operator, by trolley or by an autonomous mobile robot.