Robotic oiling of concrete moulds cuts wastage and improves the environment

Citation

(2006), "Robotic oiling of concrete moulds cuts wastage and improves the environment", Industrial Robot, Vol. 33 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2006.04933daf.007

Robotic oiling of concrete moulds cuts wastage and improves the environment

Robotic oiling of concrete moulds cuts wastage and improves the environment

Keywords: Robotics, Painting

Aerated concrete block manufacture at two of Tarmac Concrete Products' factories has been dramatically improved using robots to apply “release” oil accurately to the inside of the moulds in which the concrete mix sets prior to cutting and autoclaving. The turnkey retrofit installations were supplied by Leicester-based integrator, RobotSense.

At both of the Tarmac sites, a six-axis, articulated-arm robot from Motoman has replaced the original oiling process employing a ring of pneumatically powered spray jets, which were difficult to control and wasteful of oil. Previously, the mould car was often not coated properly, which was detrimental to the quality of the product and increased scrap. The old system also emitted undesirable airborne pollution during oil application.

RobotSense was first asked to review the set-up at Tarmac's plant at Ford Airfield Industrial Estate in West Sussex and determine ways in which a new, automated system could improve the productivity of the process and reduce wastage. Initially, the integrator worked with oil suppliers and manufacturers of spray equipment. Tests were then carried out using a replica mould car and robot under controlled laboratory conditions. The results were very positive and installation of the robotic installation began in late 2003.

In operation, the mould car passes into the spray cell where, once in place, it is locked and a robotic arm is activated. The arm carrying an electrostatic spray gun descends into the car and applies mould release oil smoothly and evenly to the inner surfaces (Plate 7).

Plate 7 Motoman robot equipped with spraying equipment for accurately coating the inside of concrete moulds with oil

There are numerous safety features including a light curtain which, if broken by an operator, stops the robot until a reset button is pressed. There are three analogue controls that allow the amount of oil applied to be varied, as well as full diagnostics which enable the monitoring of oil usage. The employees that maintain and operate the system were given practical training by RobotSense before use.

The system not only met the initial objectives of improved product quality and reduced wastage, but also resulted in substantial additional benefits that nobody involved in the project had foreseen. There was a substantial saving in compressed air and energy usage, but the biggest saving was in oil consumption.

The robot used just one third of the oil consumed by the previous pneumatic spray equipment and this alone resulted in an annual saving of £46,000. As oil prices have now increased further, the system continues to save the company even more money.

Health and safety as well as environmental implications were considerable, with operators reporting a much cleaner working environment and improved air conditions.

Following the success of this low- pressure, water-based system at Ford, a high-pressure system to robotically apply mineral-based mould release oil was commissioned for Tarmac's plant in Alfreton, Derbyshire. The system entered service in 2005, with similar benefits.

For both of these applications, as for most others, RobotSense chose Motoman robots owing to their competitive price, high reliability and easy-to-use, Windows-based programming.

Web sites: www.motoman.co.uk, www.robotsenseuk.com