Grippers in the food industry
Metered gripping force for blister handling
Grippers in the food industry. When filled blisters are handled, the foodstuffs inside must not be affected and the blister must be gripped securely. The confectionery specialist Günthart uses the electrically controlled EGP small parts gripper from Schunk for this purpose.
"The gripper in this application must be food-compliant, easy to control and it must handle the finished blister safely without leaving marks or deformations," explains Jan Erik Schopen, Head of Technology at Günthart in Hohentengen. In the picking cells designed and built by Günthart itself, decorative roses and decorative sheets of sugar dough are first separated manually onto a delivery belt and then sorted into blisters using a Delta robot. As the blister is Günthart's own mold, which is individually loaded according to customer requirements, different product variants can be produced in the cells, which differ in shape, color, taste and outer packaging. The Scararobot with the Schunk gripper connects the end of the two picking belts with a central conveyor belt that feeds the filled blisters to a film sealing unit.
Hygienically safe electronic gripper
"My aim was to get away from pneumatics, firstly because an electric gripper is easier to control and regulate, and secondly because there is no risk of air escaping from the gripper during handling and coating the product with a haze or otherwise affecting it." When selecting and designing the gripper, Jan Erik Schopen drew on the experience and expertise of the gripping system and clamping technology specialist Schunk from Lauffen am Neckar. The technology-driven family business had already made headlines years ago with special hygienic design grippers for chop handling and demonstrated its expertise in the field of more hygienic handling in various applications in the meat, fish, dairy and confectionery industries.
Jan Erik Schopen was all the more enthusiastic when Schunk consultant Nobert Fehrenbacher presented the Schunk EGP as a particularly attractive solution, both technologically and economically: In individual test series, the standardized small parts gripper EGP had proven to be the most efficient solution for handling filled blisters. In order to meet the requirements of DIN EN 1672-2, the gripper is lubricated with H1-certified special lubricant for the food industry and equipped with individually developed gripper fingers made of stainless steel. This ensures that the food is neither contaminated nor that undesirable odors are transferred.
"The conical shape of the gripper fingers ensures that the decor sheets are gently pushed to the side when the gripper dips into the filled blister. In addition, the gripping force can be adjusted in several stages using the potentiometer on the gripper until a secure hold is guaranteed without leaving gripping marks on the blister," emphasizes Norbert Fehrenbacher. The gripper fingers have neither gaps nor dead spaces in which food or cleaning substances could collect. "A simple wipe down as part of our hygiene plan is enough to reliably clean the gripper fingers," explains Jan Erik Schopen. As both the upstream station and the belt as well as the downstream station are 100% monitored, it is sufficient to monitor the finger position of the gripper during blister handling. Nothing more is required, says Schopen.
Maintenance-free servo motor
The mechatronic 24-volt small parts gripper is the most powerful electric small parts gripper with integrated electronics on the market. It scores with high speed and high gripping force. Brushless and therefore maintenance-free servomotors and a powerful cross roller guide ensure high efficiency and make it a dynamic and powerful expert for demanding pick & place applications. In order to increase the dynamics and energy efficiency of the higher-level system, the gripper housing is made of a special high-performance aluminum, and excess material was also consistently saved in the design.
As the gripper can be screwed through and onto the side as well as the base, there is a high degree of flexibility in the system design. Schunk EGP small parts grippers are available in four sizes: 25, 40, 50 and 64 with finger strokes of three, six, eight or ten millimetres. Using an integrated rotary switch, the gripping force of the EGP 25 can be set in two stages to 100 and 50 percent, while the EGP 40, 50 and 64 can be set in four stages to 100, 75, 50 and 25 percent. This means that gripping forces of 20 to 300 newtons are flexibly possible. The grippers are suitable for handling parts weighing up to 1.25 kilograms. The closing time ranges from 0.09 s to 0.49 seconds, depending on the size. In the special speed version, a closing time of just 0.03 seconds can be achieved. Günthart uses digital I/O to control the application.
Control via IO-Link
Alternatively, the Schunk EGP is also available as an IO-Link version (Class B standard). With this version, it is possible to freely define the finger position with each cycle and query it without external sensors by means of appropriate programming. In addition, the gripping force can be conveniently adjusted in four stages, i.e. without manual intervention on the gripper. In the future, Jan Erik Schopen wants to further develop Günthart's cells in precisely this direction: "We will use IO-Link in our next systems, for example to vary parameters via the software and monitor the gripping process." There are also clear advantages when changing components: "The IO-Link master contains all the information so that only the gripper needs to be changed and the system is ready to go again. In future, any employee from production will be able to carry out such a replacement." as
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