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[July 2002]
Austrian Brick Company Opts for Robotic System
Ziegelwerk Pichler Wels KG (Wels, Austria) is taking advantage of the latest robot technology by adopting drying palletloading equipment from the Ceric subsidiary, Keller HCW GmbH (Ibbenbueren, Germany).The Pichler Wels works has formats with a clay column width of up to 500mm, cut lengths of between 68mm and 270mm, and clay column depths of up to 400mm being produced.
Extension of the turntable is no longer necessary with the new system. With a change of brick format, a new format number is allocated at the control desk. The capacity of the plant is dependent on the number of green bricks per transfer cycle. Depending on the course taken by the transfer gripper, up to 500 cycles per hour can be reached. The new plant is said to be gentler in operation for the product, safer, more rapid and more flexible in function.
Existing automatic groups with old fashioned belt or conveyor chain groupings will be replaced by the latest robot technology systems. Existing cutters and transport equipment for drying setters can usually continue to be used. With older plants, or especially sensitive products, conversion to frequency converter-controlled drives at the transport equipment is required. The green bricks are turned or set without turning on the drying setters.
This is dependent on the design of the dryer or the drying setters in combination with the external contours of the green bricks. The turning devices used previously can be dispensed with. The robot performs the turning movements without placing any load on the freshly cut bricks.
With the use of this automatic system, there is just one transfer of the green ware, directly from the cutting table to the grouping conveyor. Deformation of the bricks is said to be avoided, as the grouped rows of green bricks are taken from the grouping conveyor in synchronised movement with the bricks being gripped on the cut surfaces.
ENDS