Pneumobot

Sprue Picker Robot

Contents

Problem Statement
Plastic Injection moulding
Robotics
Automation 2012 visit & IATF 2013
Design and analysis
Pneumatics and electricals
Fabrication

Problem Statement
1. To Enhance the productivity in IMM industry using
automation and resolve issues regarding workers.
2. To perform pick and place operation within 8 seconds from
IMM to Granulator.

Purpose of Project
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Consistency
Fast Cycle time
Less Labor Cost
Product Hygiene
Safety Issue
2nd level Automation
Continuous Operation
Productivity

Abstract
Electro-pneumatic robot for automation in plastic IMM

having mechanical gripper to remove sprue (waste

component) from the mold and placing it into
Granulator.
A linear and rotary pneumatic actuator will be used to
give required motions.
Mitre Bevel gear to transmit power and torque. Linear
nylon made slider for easy sliding motion
.

Methodology
1. Robot models and IMM study
2. Exhibitions
3. Industry survey
4. Brain storming
5. Pneumatics and Electricals.
6. Design and material selection
7. Analysis
8. Design review and synthesis
9. Fabrication
10. Testing and results

Process flow in IMM :

Parts of Horizontal Injection moulding machine

Schematic of thermoplastic Injection molding machine

Arburg machine specifications :

Clamp Tonnage /
Machine

Tie Bars Clearance

HxV (mm)

Injection Weight
PS. g (oz)

25 Arburg

221

32 (1.13)

40 Kawaguchi

275 x 245

*55 Arburg

320 x 320

*88 Arburg

370 x 370

*110 Arburg

420 x 420

125 Kawaguchi

435 x 375

140 Kawaguchi

435 x 375

175 Kawaguchi

445 x 445

*220 Sumitomo

610 x 560

265 Kawaguchi

550 x 550

*280 Sumitomo

685 x 635

300 Dongshin

685 x 580

73 (2.57)

Min - Max Mould

Height. (mm)
150 - 300

150 - 250

Opening Stroke
Max (mm)
200

230

78 (2.5)

min 225

350

89 (3.4)

min 200

450

153 (5.9)

min 250

575

226 (7.97)
260 (9.17)
372 (13.1)
532 (18.8)

649 (22.9)
733 (25.9)
970 (34.1)

180 - 400

180 - 400
250 - 450
250 - 580

200 - 550
300 - 620
300 - 680

355
355
400
510

500
580
600

Component with sprue

Component without sprue

Proposed designs
1. Guide way cartesian model
2. Articulated type (scara,revolute)

3. Cartesian type

5. Swing arm type (horizontal)

4. Swing arm type (vertical)

Types of products :

Robot Applications inside & outside the Mold

Two Plate Mold

Simple Operation

Sprue Picking Only

Sprue Picking
with Part
Dropping

Taking out the

Sprue from the
mold and
dropping it.
( Inside of the
mold, Conveyor ,
Box )

Sprue and Parts Removal

Sprue Picking
with products
connected

Part Removal

Part removal
with the sprue
or without the
sprue

Remove Parts, 90deg Rotation and Placing

the parts ( Conveyor, Box)

Mounting Position of Robot

Pick Operation
Arm : Double arm or Single
Arm
Descent Position : Nozzle or
Clamp
Motion Style : U or L
Operation : Vacuum, Chuck,
Gripper

Robot case-study models :

1. Artic RSL

4. Wittmann Battlefeld w702

5. Sepro S3 picker

2. Yushin Hop 5

7. Phoenix

3. Sailor RX-8

6. Arburg integral picker

Complete Process Chart

Arrival of Raw
materials & mould

Raw material (RM) for

coloring and mixing

Start

Sprue & defectives

to granulator
Yes

End

Dispatch of Component

Mould on moulding
machine using hoist

RM feed to the Hopper

Is product
defective?
No

Component package
and storage

Moulded components
for finishing

Catia model of Picker

machine on fixed platten

Drafted image

Cylinder selection
Cylinder selection :

Cylinder selection from Janatics Pneumatics catalogue through requirement of

std stroke, bore and force. 3 A52 magentic cylinders and 1 A03 series male
threaded cylinder for gripper.
Dimensions and mechanisms of robot were finalized from cylinder selected.
Swing Cylinder Stroke 50mm ,Diameter 25mm
Kick Cylinder
stroke 80mm ,Diameter 20mm
Vertical cylinder stroke 160mm ,diameter 16mm
Gripper cylinder stroke 20mm, diameter 16 mm.

Mechanisms
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Quarter turn pulley

Power screw
Electric motor
Rack and pinion
Pneumatic 4 piston actuator
Spiral Bevel gear pair

Design considerations :
We have used factor of safety of above 3 everywhere except in case
of gear we have fos = 2.4
Our design is safe at 8 bar pressure. and gear pair fos is 1.2 at 8 bars.

Solenoid valves can operate at max of 8 bar pressure

All other pneumatic component can sustain 10 bar pressure.

Design innovations
Mitre bevel gear eliminated the need for
wrist rotation of gripper plus reduced 1
movement of vertical cylinder.
Arc bracket provides rotation on either
side.
Self made slider from nylon on
Aluminium was made.
Gripper was developed from compact
cylinder.

Analytical design and analysis

Our calculations predict that each cylinder can retract or extend in 0.2
seconds so we retrict ourself to max. of 4 to 6 bar pressure operation.
As cycle is to be completed in 8 seconds, 4 bar pressure is sufficient.
We designed Mitre bevel gear from Design data book taking cylinder specs
into account.
From gear pair , Shaft was designed. Bearing selection was done then
Column was checked for buckling analysis. Swivel motion arc bracket was
made.
Cantilever beam analysis for carriage ,then Mountings plus sliding chuck
was designed.
Strong foundation design and guideways for vertical cylinder were provided
at last.

Design of assembly in CATIA

Part drawing was done in CATIA V5 and
then assembly was done.
Material was applied appropriately and
CG ,weight ,MI were calculated then.
Drafting was done for mfg drawings to
workshops.

Material selection :
1. Cast Iron
It has good damping property and less density than steel but costly and not readily
available. Density= 7250 kg/m^3.
2. Mild Steel
It has compartively less damping but good welding characteristics and cheap plus
readily available. Density= 7850 kg/m^3
3. Aluminium
Light weight with hardness and stiffness. Easy riveting possible.
Density = 2710 kg/m^3
4. Nylon

For easy sliding of carriage , nylon or teflon was considered.

Ansys analysis
Critical components like horizontal shaft,
arc bracket , base plate were examined
for static and dynamic failure.
Fos was safe for design made.

Pneumatic circuit concept

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Push button operated

Interlocking circuit using limit switch operation
Electro-pneumatic circuit using relays,reeds and solenoids.
Micro- controller based.
PLC based.

Pneumatic circuit working

Automation Studio 5.0

Pure pneumatic circuit was made in this
software but electro pneumatic circuit
was just developed but not simulated.
Fluidsim and autosim (SMC) softwares
were tried out.

Electro-pneumatic circuit :
The sensing time of reed switch is 1 millisecond.
Reeds operate at 24 V DC
Solenoid valves operate at 24 V DC with 104 mA current.

As relay logic and logic gates could not be built , we choose controller.
So A micro controller 8052 was used taking sensors as inputs (8) and
solenoids as output (8) . Reset function was provided in case of sudden stops.
C programming successfully implemented the required logic on controller.

Gripper
1. Mechanical 2 finger gripper
2. Vaccum gripper

2 finger gripper had to be imported hence made

a compact gripper from small double acting cylinder
having one fixed jaw and other movable.

Habonim 4 piston actuator :

Robot Specifications
1.Payload : kg
2. Weight : 22.4 kg
3. Cost : 51,200 uptil now
4. Control method : Micro controller
5. Material : Mild steel for foundation, Aluminium for manipulator
6. Configuration : Semi- cylindrical (swing arm)
7. DOFs : 4 (3 cylinder + 1 gripper)
8. Actuator : Mitre bevel gear rotation using swing cylinder
9. Kick stroke : Linear nylon guide rail.
10. Vertical stroke : Gripper with guide way
11.M/c tonnage : 30 to 55 tons
12. Power supply : 24 V DC ,1 A
13. Air consumption :
14. Swing angle : 50 to 90 deg both sides.
15 .Max pressure: 6 bar
16. Working pressure: 2 to 4 bar
17. Overall cycle time : within 8 secs.

BOM 1 out of 4 bills

Sr. no

Model no.

Specification /product

Qty

Cost

Total

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

A52020080O
A52025080O
A52016160O
DS254SS60-W
GR5105006
WP2210650
MS022
AA022
AP010
AP008
AM1016
AM1020
AM1025

DA 20 x 80 Cyl.(Mag) Basic
DA 25 x 50 Cyl.(Mag) Basic
DA 16 x 160 Cyl.(Mag) Basic
1/8 -5/2,24V DC Double Sol. valve
Flow control valve 1/8 x Dia 6
Male elbow Dia 6 x 1/8
DOUBLE FOOT MOUNTING (DIA 20,DIA 25)
CLEVIS FOOT BRACKET (DIA 20,DIA 25)
ROD END SPHERICAL EYE (DIA 25,DIA 32)
ROD END SPHERICAL EYE (DIA 20)
Reed switch with clamp (A52016)
Reed switch with clamp (A52020)
Reed switch with clamp (A52025)

1
1
1
4
6
8
1
1
2
1
2
2
2

1243
1323
1176
2030
224
43
234
148
560
511
451
451
451

1243
1323
1176
8120
1344
344
234
148
1120
511
902
902
902

14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24

FRCLM146234/W
WP2110851
M0030104
ASC0161
WP2110852
A2G02
WH00B08
WH00B06

FRCLM-3/8(40Micron,10bar)with Wall mounting brack

Male connector Dia8x 1/4
Manifold (4 Valves) DS2-1/8,5/2,5/3
Silencer (Conical-1/4)
Male connector Dia8x3/8
Pressure gauge(0-10bar)R1/8,Dia 40
TUBE(PU) OD8 (Blue)
TUBE(PU) OD6 (Blue)
Parallel Gripper (10/ 16 dia)
Reed switch for parallel gripper
Tube cutter

1
2
1
2
1
1
2
8
1
2
1

2649
36
1355
83
41
171
56
31

2649
72
1355
166
41
171
112
248
0
0
135

WC1

Total

135

23218

Motion sequence of Pneumobot:

1. vertical arm descend
2. strip forward
3. grip on / vaccum on
4. strip backward
5. vertical arm retract
6. swing outward
7. grip off /vaccum off
8. swing inward

Cylinder A+
Cylinder B+
Gripper C+
Cylinder BCylinder ACylinder D+
Gripper CCylinder D-

We implemented the logic A+B+C+B-A-D+C-D- using relay(4 three pin

& 4 five pin relay) along with 4 double solenoid valve and 8 reed
switches(magnetic sensor).
Above sequence can be changed as required using micro-controller or
PLC.
For interfacing with IMM , micro-controller or PLC is needed.

Fabrication operation
1. Milling
2. Boring
3. Tapping
4. Welding
5. Grinding
6. Drilling
7. Turning and Facing
8. Laser cutting
9. Hack saw cutting
10. Rivetting
11. Surface finishing
12. Grub holes

Material was purchased from Bhosari.

Manufacturing was done at Talwade,Akurdi

Final mfg and finishing was done at

Nangergoan ,Lonavla

Final Assembly
All components were joint and made ready.
Piping was done properly along with sensor
wiring connection through insulation
casing.
Manifold and controller housing was done.
Gauge and frc unit was interfaced then.

Thank You