TRAPO Expertise: Precise gripping and individual robot gripper technology
In potato salad production, the highest hygiene standards are expected – which TRAPO meets with expertise in hygiene design and its own stainless steel production.
Precise robot palletising and gripping for safe stacking of gourmet salads in food production: with intermediate support and TRAPO
special gripper.
Task
The customer required a solution for individual plastic containers of different volumes – from two to five liters.
Solution
The potato salad containers are brought together from two lines – where a robot with multifunction gripper takes over the safe stacking of the layers on pallets.
The containers filled with potato salad are transported to the gripper via a conveyor belt. The gripper places the containers to be stacked centrally and accurately in the recess of the lid of the salad container below.
To do this, the robot grips the container at an angle and moves precisely to the set-down position.
The gripper then lightly jogs the layer, each consisting of four containers, and uses this counterforce to gently press the product into the nest of the lower lid.
After every two finished layers, vacuum grippers with different levels suck in a single, stable intermediate layer at an angle to place it precisely. The gripper thus ensures a stable, optimum layer pattern with perfectly upright containers. Misalignment or falling down is impossible.
When the last row has been deposited, an empty pallet is fed in via the pallet magazine, ready for palletizing again.
Requirements
- Merging of products from two lines
- Safe stacking of containers on pallet
- Insertion of the intermediate layer for stabilization
- Special gripper for safe handling of the containers
- Provision of empty pallets via a magazine
Food production places high demands on hygiene standards. We use stainless steel housings and control panels.