The composition of the injection molding robot is generally composed of an execution system, a drive system, a control system, etc. The execution and drive systems are mainly designed to complete the normal functions of the arm, and the operation of the mechanical parts is driven by pneumatics or motors to achieve the function of picking up objects. With the gradual deepening of the application of robots, inserts are now placed, product glue ports are cut, and simple assembly is performed.

Classification

1. Basic injection molding robots. This type of robot generally includes fixed mode programs and teaching mode programs according to production process requirements. The fixed mode program covers several standard processes for injection molding production, and uses industrial controllers to perform simple, regular and repetitive actions. The teaching mode program is specially designed for injection molding machines with special production processes, and the purpose of successful picking up objects is achieved by arranging basic actions in an orderly and safe manner.

2. Intelligent injection molding manipulator. This type of manipulator generally includes functions such as multi-point memory placement, standby at any point, and more degrees of freedom. It is generally driven by servo, and can perform more complex operations in a human-like manner to the maximum extent. It can also be equipped with advanced sensors to give it visual, tactile and thermal functions, making it a highly intelligent injection molding robot.

2. According to other classification methods, it is classified as follows:

The driving method is divided into pneumatic, variable frequency, and servo.

According to the mechanical structure, it is divided into rotary, horizontal, and side-taking.

According to the arm structure, it is divided into single-section and double-section.

According to the number of arms, it is divided into single-arm and double-arm.

According to the X-axis structure, it is divided into hanging arm type and frame type.

According to the number of axes, it is divided into single axis, double axis, three axis, four axis, five axis, etc.

According to different control programs, it is divided into multiple sets of fixed programs and self-editable programs.

The size of the equipment is distinguished according to the movable arm, generally increasing by 100MM.

Composition

1. Execution system

The actuator of the manipulator is divided into hand, arm and trunk;

1. Hand

The hand is installed at the front end of the arm. The inner hole of the arm is equipped with a transmission shaft, which can transmit the operation to the wrist to rotate, extend and bend the wrist, and open and close the fingers.

The structure of the manipulator hand imitates human fingers and is divided into three types: jointless, fixed joints and free joints. The number of fingers can be divided into two fingers, three fingers, four fingers, etc., among which two fingers are the most used. According to the shape and size of the clamping object, various shapes and sizes of chucks can be equipped to meet the needs of operation. The so-called hand without fingers generally refers to a vacuum suction cup or a magnetic suction cup.

2. Arm

The function of the arm is to guide the fingers to accurately grasp the workpiece and transport it to the required position. In order for the manipulator to work correctly, the three degrees of freedom of the arm must be accurately positioned.

3. Trunk

The trunk is the bracket for installing the arm, power source and various actuators.

2. Drive system

There are four main types of drive mechanisms used in manipulators: hydraulic drive, pneumatic drive, electrical drive and mechanical drive. Among them, hydraulic drive and pneumatic drive are the most used.

1. Hydraulic drive

Hydraulic drive manipulators usually consist of a drive system composed of a hydraulic motor (various oil cylinders, oil motors), a servo valve, an oil pump, an oil tank, etc., and the manipulator actuators work. Usually it has a large grasping capacity (up to several hundred kilograms), and its characteristics are compact structure, stable movement, impact resistance, vibration resistance, and good explosion resistance, but hydraulic components require high manufacturing precision and sealing performance, otherwise oil leakage will pollute the environment.

2. Pneumatic drive

The drive system is usually composed of a cylinder, a gas valve, a gas tank and an air compressor. Its characteristics are convenient gas source, rapid action, simple structure, low cost and easy maintenance. However, it is difficult to control the speed, and the air pressure cannot be too high, so the grabbing capacity is low.

3. Electrical drive

Electric drive is the most commonly used drive method for manipulators. Its characteristics are convenient power supply, fast response, large driving force (the weight of the joint type has reached 400kg), convenient signal detection, transmission and processing, and a variety of flexible control schemes can be adopted. The drive motor generally uses a stepper motor, and the DC servo motor (AC) is the main drive method. Due to the high speed of the motor, a reduction mechanism (such as harmonic drive, RV cycloid pinwheel drive, gear drive, spiral drive and multi-rod mechanism, etc.) is usually required. With this manipulator, a large torque and low speed motor without a reduction mechanism has begun to be used for direct drive (DD), which can simplify the mechanism and improve the control accuracy.

4. Mechanical drive

Mechanical drive is only used in situations where the action is fixed. Generally, a cam-link mechanism is used to achieve the specified action. Its characteristics are reliable action, high working speed, low cost, but not easy to adjust.

Others also use hybrid drive, that is, liquid-gas or electric-liquid hybrid drive.

Three. Control system

The elements of manipulator control include working sequence, arrival position, action time, movement speed, acceleration and deceleration, etc.

The control of the manipulator is divided into point control and continuous trajectory control.

The control system can be designed to adopt digital sequence control according to the requirements of the action. It must first compile a program for storage, and then control the manipulator to work according to the specified program.

There are two ways to store the program: separate storage and centralized storage. Separate storage is to store the information of various control factors in two or more storage devices, such as sequence information stored in latch plates, cam drums, and punched tapes; position information stored in time relays, constant speed rotary drums, etc.; centralized storage is to store all the information of various control factors in one storage device, such as magnetic tapes, magnetic drums, etc. This method is used in situations where sequence, position, time, speed, etc. must be controlled simultaneously, that is, in continuous control.

The latch plate is used in situations where the program needs to be changed quickly. To change a program, you only need to replace a latch plate, and the same plug-in can be used repeatedly; the length of the program accommodated by the punched tape is not limited, but if an error occurs, it must be replaced completely; the information capacity of the punched card is limited, but it is easy to replace, save, and can be reused; the magnetic core and the magnetic drum are only suitable for occasions with large storage capacity. As for which control element to choose, it is determined according to the complexity and precision of the action program.

For manipulators with complex actions, a teaching and reproduction control system is used. More complex manipulators use digital control systems, small computers or microprocessor-controlled systems.

The control system is mostly used by latch plates, followed by cam drums. It is equipped with many cams, each of which is assigned to a motion axis, and the drum completes a cycle in one cycle.

Application

Since injection molding robots can greatly improve productivity and reduce production costs, they can stabilize and improve the quality of injection molded products and avoid losses caused by human operating errors. Therefore, the role of injection molding robots in injection molding production is becoming more and more important. At present, the types of robots in China are relatively simple, and most of them are used for picking up parts. With the development of the injection molding industry, more and more robots will be used in various processes such as feeding, mixing, automatic loading and unloading of molds, and recycling of waste materials, and will develop in the direction of intelligence. Plastics occupy a very important position in our industrial and people's livelihood materials, and many materials have been replaced by plastics one after another; plastic molding includes: injection molding, vacuum molding, blow molding, extrusion molding, die casting, etc., and injection molding is the most widely used. It is extremely popular in the automotive, communications, electronics, electrical, home appliances, medical, cosmetics, daily necessities, office supplies and other industries. In the traditional injection molding process, from the earliest manual mold clamping molding to the injection molding machine hydraulic mold clamping molding, and then evolved into today's computer-controlled molding process, the progress is not only reflected in the product process quality and appearance, but also in the molding efficiency. The competition in injection molding is becoming increasingly fierce, and the molding quality and efficiency are related to the survival of the enterprise; the molding quality is related to the performance of the injection molding machine itself, the mold technology and the surrounding environment, and the molding efficiency is related to the mold precision, molding technology, and production quantity; with the increasingly tight supply of injection molding machine operators and the increase in labor production costs, the removal robot of the injection molding machine is also more and more widely used. The application of plastic molding automation is extremely common. The main uses of robots in the application process are as follows:

1. The robot takes out the product in the mold, replacing people to turn the original semi-automatic production into fully automated production;

2. The robot takes the product outside the mold and embeds the product in the mold (labeling, embedding metal, secondary molding, etc.);

3. Automatic packaging and automatic warehousing after the robot takes it out;

4. Automatic feeding system for molding raw materials, waste recycling system;

5. Whole factory production control system, etc.;

Due to the different molding products, the application of automation is also very complicated. Because it can replace the low efficiency of manpower and ensure the molding product process, it is more and more widely used. The take-out robot of the injection molding machine is the most widely used in molding automation.

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