Camas continuous motion machines allow companies to reach productivity levels unattainable with other technologies (cam index machines or pneumatic drive machines).
A technical solution designed specifically for the assembly and testing of products in the food and beverage industry or in the cosmetics industry, such as push-pull caps, sports caps, safety caps or non-refillable caps.
Productivity can vary from 40,000 to 85,000 pieces/hour due to the use of continuous-motion rotating tables.
The solution is characterized by very high efficiency, remarkable sturdiness, great productivity, compactness and low maintenance. Furthermore, like all Camas solutions, it is completely customizable and built according to the client’s and product specific requirements.
This ball valve rod assembly can handle the assembly of dozens of different product codes.
Different product combinations can be made according to:
Large numbers of combinations necessarily require rapid retooling systems to speed up the changeover from one product to another, replacing as few components as possible and zero adjustment.
The machine can work in two configurations:
In 100% automatic mode, the machine covers a high percentage of the article range, producing 80% of the total rod volume.
In this configuration the machine can work unmanned. This allows a single operator to manage several automations and related feeding systems in total autonomy.
Products with a smaller volume, or which would have had a large impact on the investment and complexity of the vibratory feeding system, are loaded manually by the operator.
The ball valve rod assembly automation manages the unloading of parts in both modes. This allows the right oring to be checked before unloading.
This machine is also very easy to manage, maintain and has a reduced footprint with its total footprint of 4.5 square metres.
Camas has also produced the same type of automation, with the appropriate modifications, for the assembly of internal orings in valve bodies.
This robotized island, designed and built by Camas, carries out the assembly of the opening valves on CO2 cylinders.
The productivity of this system is 2000 bottles/hour without any intervention on the part of the operator other than the subjugation of the components.
The line is composed of:
The delicacy of the valves (protection of the thread) and the volume of the cylinders and the management of the two components within the customer’s production cycle, required different types of interlocking systems. Each one dedicated to the specificity of the component.
Camas has completely designed and developed the 3D vision system that allows the recognition of bottles arranged in boxes and guides the robot to the grip.
In order to allow a continuous production of the robotized island, without stops for container changeover, two pick-up points have been created where two containers can be positioned and prevent the interchange from generating machine stops.
The great elasticity of anthropomorphic robots allows to carry out several operations in addition to the simple classic pick&place.
Before the valves are brought onto the rotary screwing table, a safety ring is fitted to the valve and a threadlocking sealant is then dispensed.
The technical specifications require the adhesive to be partially dried before the valve can be screwed onto the bottle.
For this reason an automatic storage system has been created to allow the valve to rest for 1 hour before being mounted.
The system automatically presents only those valves that have rested for the necessary time to the loading robot.
The two loading areas and the table are connected by robots. In this case, Yaskawa anthropomorphic robots were used in order to have only one brand of robot inside the production site. However, Camas is able to program the main brands of robots, carefully chosen according to the application to be performed.
On the rotary table the actual assembly takes place: the valve is screwed to 55 Nm, where 4 Siemens Brushless motors, directly managed through the Camas Supervisor.Net operator interface, finalize the screwing.
Two different bottle diameters and heights can be managed by the robotic island.
All the equipment that must necessarily be interchanged for the production changeover are made with quick release systems or with automated systems that, through special routines, are activated at the recipe changeover.
The assembly line for the soap pump consists of two rotary tables with mechanical cam-controlled movements. This technology makes it possible to achieve high productivity with enormous precision, associated with lower air consumption and lower noise emission levels.
On the first machine there are 24 divisions and the pump motor is assembled. On the second table, with 16 divisions, the complete assembly of the pump takes place. The two machines are independent, but it is possible to satisfy the request for connection between the two.
Both machines have a cycle time of 1 second, with 60 strokes per minute. For each cycle two pieces are processed, so as to double the final productivity: 60*2=120 pieces/minute.
The machine produces a pump model consisting of 10 components. The variability is determined by the colours of the external components and the length of the suction pipe, which can be between 100 mm and 240 mm.
The components assembled on the first machine are: body, seal, diaphragm, pumping piston, ring nut and ball.
While on the second table are mounted: the pumping body mounted on the previous machine, cap, spring, dispenser and suction pipe.
The suction pipe is uncoiled and cut to size directly in the machine, without any need for intervention by the toolmaker, so there is no equipment change from one model to another.
All the feeding systems are made using vibrating systems. To make colour change efficient, the various feeders are equipped with rapid emptying systems, with an increasingly immediate change from one colour to another.
In the assembly process, which takes place at two pieces per second, with each piece load the presence of the same is checked and when necessary it is oriented (e.g. piston/erogator) or rotated (as in the final phase of pump closure).
At the end of assembly, the soap pump is unloaded onto the conveyor belt in an unordered and random manner. On request it is possible to integrate canning systems.
From this link you can see the video of the soap pump assembly line in operation.
This assembly and testing line of auto sensor signed Camas, is fully automatic and of the latest generation. The production line is composed of 3 rotary tables interconnected by going-and-going belts and a total of 40 working stations, which allow the production of 1200 pieces per hour.
Some of the most relevant assembly applications present on this system are:
– Hot welding
– Palletising systems for delicate components (specifically plastic components loaded from blister packs)
– Printed circuit board unwinding system
– Integration of a co-moulding system
– Laser welding of the two body shells
Particular attention is paid to the handling of the components, as they are electronic components. For this reason their feeding is mostly done through palletizing systems and the gripping is done through grippers with suction cups.
In the second part, the assembly and testing plant for car sensor consists of a free pallet line, where the sensor, previously assembled, is programmed and immediately tested in its functionality (EoL test).
The sensor circuit programming software and the EoL test are entirely designed and manufactured by Camas.
The QR code marking is done through the use of several laser units. The QR code marked includes the serial number of the part to which all production data is uniquely associated. Through the tracking system of the components and the assembly and testing process, it is possible to retrieve all the production data of the single sensor, even in the after-sales phase.
The export of this data is completely interconnected with the company’s production system.
All operations are controlled by means of vision systems that verify the correctness of the components, correct assembly and final aesthetic performance.
Also in this case the programming of the vision systems is carried out entirely by Camas.
One of the successes of this complete automatic line for car sensor is the achievement of excellent production values (OEE), a result obtained through careful balancing and division of the various assembly phases first and then testing.
Main characteristics:
Two rotary tables with 24 stations each.
The machine processes both the right and left pieces. The two couplers can be produced simultaneously or on only a selected side.
Multi-model line (8 types). Piece discharge in bag packaging system.
Line composed of a pair of rotary tables with 24 dividers for complete assembly of the headrest coupler. The line simultaneously produces the right and left couplers, therefore the pair is produced within the line cycle time of 3 seconds.
The machine is fitted with dual stations and the main handling tasks are carried out by pneumatic actuators.
In light of the various model types (length, number and type of components), to reduce the re-equipping time to a minimum, some of the table stations are dedicated to single models and do not require re-equipping. In light of the complexity of the some of the positions of the components, the line has an integrated robotic loading system.
Fully automatic machine for the assembly of a component of the air release valve on sanitary plants. The external body can be made of plastic or brass. It is a single-product line.
The plant consists of a machine featuring a turntable with 16 sections with cam-operated pick&place units. The finished parts are unloaded by a Cartesian-coordinate robot inside thermoformed trays and sent to the next phases.
The unloading position houses an effective and economical unloading and pallet system allowing for the accumulation of 3 trays for loading and 3 empty trays in addition to the one being filled.
Cam driven machines are automatic mechanical machines driven by cams, in which a single drive both rotates the table and synchronously drives all the work stations.
This technology increases the speed, reliability, repeatability, and accuracy of the work cycle. Camas has been one of the leading manufacturers of these systems for over twenty years.
The cam driven machine has the two classic configuration: rotary solution or linear transfer. The two solutions keep the features of the same solution whit pneumatic manipulation but guaranteeing high production rate, rate impossible for pneumatic motions.
In contrast to rotary machines with rotary tables, an alternative solution is represented by a linear system with a straight layout having two variables: a free pallet system (with pallet transport conveyor) and a fixed step system (with pallet movement via a chain and brushless motor assembly).
Free pallets
In many cases, due to the flexibility required, the presence of operator stations, and the need for different cycle times from assembly to testing phases, the best solution employs linear lines. These machines have pallets that re-enter the loop and are indexed when they are processed. This approach can handle components of nearly any size, from a needle to an entire refrigerator.
In free-pallet machines it is possible to integrate any stations missing along the belt, allowing differentiating cycle times, by buffering and accumulating pallets before the stations whenever inspection and testing operations are longer than the assembly cycle.
Fixed step
While maintaining a similar layout, the main difference in a fixed-step linear system with regard to the previous system consists of a constant distance between the various pallets while maintaining constant pallet exchange below the station.
This solution using chained pallets makes the most of the characteristics of the features of the rotary table combined with flexibility in positioning the various stations, in terms of the dimensions of the stations, as well as improvement in machine accessibility.