Abstract
Advanced manufacturing systems allow rapid changes of production processes by means of reconfigurability providing mass customisation of products with high productivity, quality and low costs. Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMS) employ conventional as well as special purpose CNC machines, robots and material handling systems. In customised automated assembly, a number of different workpieces need to be processed simultaneously at various workstations according to their process plans. Therefore, a material handling system is an important part of RMS, whose main task is to provide reliable, accurate and efficient transfer of materials according to the process scheduling, without bottlenecks and stoppages. In this research, a reconfigurable pallet system was developed to facilitate automated robotic assembly for a highly customised production environment. The aim is to design a material handling system for conveying, sorting and processing of parts, which are supplied by robots and part feeders in different configurations. The developed pallet system provides a low-cost solution and it includes four flexible conveyors and part handling devices. All the elements of the system were successfully integrated with an intelligent controller. A user-friendly human machine interface provides easy reconfigurability of the pallet system and interfacing with robots, processing stations and part feeding sub-systems. The main advantages of the developed material handling system are the ease of operation, its reconfigurability and low-cost. The system demonstrates the advantages of reconfigurable material handling systems and it can be employed for training purposes.
Highlights
Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMS) evolved as a type of Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS), which have the following characteristics: modularity, integrability, customisation, convertibility and diagnosability
RMS are intended for mass customisation by means of rapid changeover of machines, production processes and the whole system logistics
Workstations 1 and 2 are considered as critical locations for positional accuracy. This was achieved by means of locating pins, which engaged in locating holes of pallets ensuring a positional accuracy in the X and Y direction for each pallet entering a workstation
Summary
Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMS) evolved as a type of Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS), which have the following characteristics: modularity, integrability, customisation, convertibility and diagnosability. Modern automated assembly is a multi-stage process, performed by robots and machines, which requires a variety of workpiece to be transferred through the stations by a material handling system quickly, accurately and reliably This goal can be achieved by developing an intelligent pallet handling system. The design of a reconfigurable material handling system needs to be according to the principles of integrability and diagnosability, which are achieved through developing appropriate physical and software interfaces for seamless integration with robots, assembly machines and their controllers. These three criteria are addressed in the design process described below
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
