Towards autonomous adaptive disassembly of permanent-magnet synchronous motors with industrial robots

Abstract

On the way to a circular economy, it is necessary to develop new end-of-life (EOL) solutions for critical components and materials. Due to the electrification of personal transportation a rise in production numbers of electric motors is to be expected, necessitating the development of EOL solutions for such motors. Such solutions, like the reuse or remanufacturing of components, necessitate in term the disassembly of the motors. To economically facilitate such disassembly operations, new automation solutions need to be developed. One possible approach is the disassembly with industrial robots coupled with process-specific end effectors. This makes it possible to flexibly execute a variety of disassembly processes without the need for cost-intensive specialized machines. However, due to the inherent uncertainties of products returning from the field, an ideal disassembly procedure cannot be assumed. To address this issue, in this paper we present a new concept for the autonomous adaptive disassembly of permanent-magnet synchronous motors (PSM) with industrial robots. The system will be able to plan possible disassembly sequences while taking different process alternatives for individual steps into account. During the actual disassembly the system will check the outcome of the individual steps, as well as the resulting state of the motor to be disassembled. In case of an unsuccessful operation the system will then be able to autonomously adapt to the actual situation and generate an alternate disassembly sequence utilizing alternative processes. This paper presents the necessary infrastructure, both in hard- and software, to achieve this autonomous adaptability for the example of PSM, thereby making a contribution on the way to intelligent automatic disassembly systems and the change to an economic and ecological circular economy.