As manufacturers continually look for ways to maximize productivity and eliminate waste, automation sensors are taking on a new role in the plant. Once, sensors were used only to provide detection or measurement data so the PLC could process it and run the machine.
When choosing what sensor to use in different applications, it is important to first look at how they operate. Capacitive sensors generate an electrical field that can detect various liquids or other materials, such as glass, wood, paper, ceramic, and more at a close.
The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) defines five types of fixed industrial robots: Cartesian/Gantry, SCARA, Articulated, Parallel/Delta and Cylindrical (mobile robots are not included in the “fixed” robot category).
Supply chain and labor shortages are putting extra pressure on automation solutions to keep manufacturing lines running. Even though sensors are designed to work in harsh environments, one good knock can put a sensor out of alignment or even out of condition.
In our previous blogs, we discussed the basics of the P-F (Potential – Functional Failure) curve and the cost-benefit tradeoffs of various maintenance approaches. We’ll now describe the measures that can be taken to discover failure indicators along the P-F curve.
Bin-picking, random picking, pick and place, pick and drop, palletization, depalletization, these are all part of the same project. You want a fully automated process that grabs the desired sample from one position and moves it somewhere else.
The rise of many players in manufacturing automation, along with factories' growing adoption of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and automation solutions, present a suitable environment for open-source software.
If you have ever walked through a stamping department at a metal forming facility, you have heard the rhythmic sound of the press stamping out parts, thump, thump. The stamping department is the heart manufacturing facility, and the noise you hear is the heartbeat of the plant.
In the field of automation, a very popular choice for prime mover duties is the
pneumatic cylinder. Pneumatic cylinders carry many advantages in terms
of relatively low first cost, application simplicity, and durability.
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