Page 19 - Industrial Technology magazine February 2021 issue

It is critical to have a solid
mechanical guidance system that is
capable of accommodating the
loads and forces applied to the
system as a result of the high
accelerations and the stop-start
motion profile. In this application,
the guide systems are housed deep
within the cell.

Minimal maintenance was therefore
very important. Hepco’s GFX system
offers the reliability required for this,
with eccentric bearings that can be
It is critical to have a solid mechanical guidance system that is capable of adjusted to take up preload that
accommodating the loads and forces applied to the system as a result of the high might develop in the system, and a
accelerations and the stop-start motion profile. removable section of slide to
facilitate mover removal and
These gains in terms of effectiveness could be By switching to the XTS, SECAD was able to replacement if necessary.
achieved thanks to the Beckhoff eXtended achieve a maximum speed of 4m/s with an
2
Transport System (XTS) that combines rotary acceleration of 40m/s . In order to achieve SECAD installed a system with 70
the desired system life of more than five years movers to replace the original
on a system that would operate for 8 hours a system. Beckhoff’s linear motor
day, 6 days a week with an 800g payload, modules are mounted to the system,
the XTS system was integrated with a GFX
1-Trak Lite system from HepcoMotion. The
fully modular GFX system comprises a steel
sub structure with clothoid path track sections.
The clothoid segments provide an optimal
path for movers as they traverse the 180°
turns in the system. The system incorporates
precision ground slides and HepcoMotion’s
patented, lightweight three-bearing mover, ‘J’ shaped systems, such as this one
which guarantees zero play in the curves as used by L’Oréal, offer greater flexibility
well as the straight sections. Fully precision- and are a space saving solution
matched straight and curved track sections
are a feature that make HepcoMotion track
systems such as the GFX stand out from
competitors. Hockey stick, or “J” shapes are
a space saving way to incorporate multiple with magnets mounted to each mover to
motors work stations along one track. provide drive. An encoder flag relays mover
with a linear position to the motor module. On the SECAD
drive system. In this system, all product processing is carried out
system, the movement of on one side of the system, giving the potential
every single carriage – on top of for an additional series of work steps to be
which the pucks are placed – is added on the unused side.
controlled individually through so called
“Movers”. A mover consists of the electronic “Thanks to the optimal combination of
drive element that is mounted onto a type of Beckhoff’s XTS system and Hepco’s GFX, we
steel clamp from HepcoMotion. were able to achieve our goal of substantially
increasing throughput, achieving greater
This in turn perfectly fits to the corresponding flexibility and, last but not least, realising
steel tracks, also from HepcoMotion, onto quieter production,” said SECAD’s project
which the corresponding electronic parts are managers at the conclusion of the project.
fitted. Because every single mover is
controlled individually, the XTS makes it
possible to combine asynchronous work
processes into one single production line at
great speeds. In addition, the individual As each mover is controlled
control over the movers via the software individually, HepcoMotion’s XTS makes
makes it possible to add work stations or it possible to combine asynchronous
change the product format within a very short work processes into one single
timeframe. production line at great speeds.

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