Ceramic glazing line demonstrates how systems can adapt to non-standard items

Rollon was a key partner in a twin line engineered to suit pottery containers requiring depalletising prior to glazing and firing, then repalletising in the final robotic operation.

It is not every day that an automation specialist is asked to come up with systems suitable for a ceramic tableware production line. The fact that Adelphi Automation and engineering partner Rollon were able to automate the entire line without requiring the manufacturer to alter its processes is testament to the flexibility of the suppliers’ technology – and thinking.

Rollon’s linear actuators and gantry platforms were chosen for the project, says the company, due to their precision and ease of integration. The modular design of these systems made it possible to develop a tailored gantry system that could meet the complex motion and spatial demands of the pottery glazing process, it explains, within the constraints of the existing factory layout.

Initially, an ABB FlexPicker picks up each cup or bowl and puts it on the conveyor belt. A Rollon gantry system, meanwhile, lifts the wooden boards on which each layer sits. This consists of a 3-axis gantry from the linear Smart series, with steel-reinforced drive belt transmission.

Once the pottery is put on the conveyor, it goes through a cleaning stage served by another XYZ gantry system with two E-Smart 50 actuators running in parallel on the X axis and an R-Smart 120 actuator on the Y axis. On the vertical axis is the Rollon omega drive S-Smart unit.

“Payload, speed, and stiffness were the main factors that made us choose these solutions,” says UK technical sales engineer at Rollon Timothy Prinsloo. “The Smart series [linear actuators] provides a very robust and reliable performance, while the Uniline actuator has been used where there was a higher risk of corrosion and, therefore, the application needed more protection.”

After the glazing process, the pottery moves into the main oven, then another XYZ R-Smart gantry system takes the pottery out of the oven and on to a conveyor. The pieces are repalletised, with a roller conveyor utilising Rollon’s Smart actuators.

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