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AFRICAN FUSION
August 2016
36
INDEX TO
ADVERTISERS
Today’s technology
Afrox........................................................................ 8
Air Liquide............................................................ 26
Air Products.......................................................... 19
ESAB ..................................................................... 30
Lincoln Electric..................................................OBC
Renttech SA.......................................................... 32
SAIW........................................................................ 2
Specialised Exhibitions. ...................................... 15
voestalpine Böhler Welding . ....................OFC, IBC
Welding Alloys SA................................................IFC
Yaskawa’s Robot-based spot welding systemwith two 7-axis
units: an all-in-one solution.
Yaskawa’s high speed robot spot welding system comprises a cell with a positioner and two spot
welding robots, particularly lightweight spot welding guns, a nut welding machine and a full range of
accessories.
High speed
robotic spot welding
Y
askawa has developed a compact
and flexible systemfor high-speed
robot-based spot welding. The
modular solution comprises a cell with a
positioner and two spot welding robots,
particularly lightweight spot welding
guns, a nut welding machine and a full
range of accessories.
A combination of high-performance
components results in significantly
faster cycle times in spot welding ap-
plications than with conventional solu-
tions. At the same time, the design of
the robot-positioning cell is so compact
that it requires up to 40% less space
than a comparable unit. A high degree of
rebuilding flexibility fromone product to
the othermakes for additional flexibility
in production. The frontal ‘robot-on-
board’ positioning of the manipulators
allows simple removal of the component
without interference contours.
Compact robots and spot
welding guns
The heart of the unit is the 7-axis
Motoman VS100 robot with a pay-
load of up to 110 kg. The model
has an additional tilting axis
and offers a highly flexible work-
ing range. It can work close to
workpieces and other robots, thus
enabling flexible and space-saving
system design. The additional axis and
resulting added degree of freedom
permits reorientation of the manipula-
tor axes without changing the position
of the spot welding gun. This enables
the robot to reach deep into confined
spaces or perform longer linear move-
ments. The interference contour of the
entire manipulator can be adapted by
programming. This robot also contrib-
utes towards Yaskawa’s improvement
strategies by downsiz-
ing tools, extending
the working range in
the direction of the
robot body and us-
ing energy-efficient
motors.
The robots are supportedby thenew
generation of spot welding guns, which
are distinguished by their extremely
light weight. They operate without
a compressed air system and are of
lightweight construction, making them
an ideal complement to the compact
robots. Energy consumption is accord-
ingly lower. The deliberately simple
design of the gun body, transformer
and motor nevertheless guarantees a
high degree of robustness. The lateral
routing of cables improves the turning
capacity of the robot hand and the
standard version can be configured in
many different ways.
A nut-welding machine that was
also newly developed by Yaskawa
rounds off the new range for robot-
based welding processes. It consists
of a welding construction that can be
set in multiple positions and has an
adjustable welding head. A Motoman
MH5 handling robot automatically feeds
the items to be welded, such as nuts,
bushings andpins. This integrationof all
components in a standardisedmachine
offers numerous advantages in terms
of autonomy, performance, reliability,
maintenance-friendliness and flexibility
of the unit.
The heart of
the new unit is
Motoman’s 7-axis
VS100 compact
robot, the industry’s
first 7-axis spot welding robot.