The ACS Loading-Unloading Systems are simple robots designed to guarantee the full autonomy automatic operation of laser cutting plants. They feed the machine with a stack of sheet with an only size and thickness: to change the size or thickness of the sheets to be cut in automatic, it is necessary to integrate ACS with the facilities described in the Warehouses section.
he multiplicity of cutting machines and possible installation layout at the customer site has imposed the design of different ACS models, to meet all the different needs encountered: each different type of ACS has therefore specific peculiarities which are described in their own section.
The feautures common to all models are the ways of handling the sheet and the splitting of the robot in two parts to speed up the loading and unloading process.
Handling the sheet
All types of Antil ACS move the virgin sheet via a suction cups gripping tool and collect the cut sheet from the laser table through an unloading comb, single or double depending on the chosen configuration.
The virgin sheet is taken from the stack, with the possibility to control the presence of a single sheet (to prevent the loading of two or more sheets “glued” together). This control is activated for sheets of thickness less than 6 mm.
The virgin sheet is then deposited on the laser cutting table, and at the end of the machine processing the cut sheet is collected from the table and deposited in the unloading area.
The loading-unloading cycle in its entirety allows the operation of the cutting machine in a fully automatic and unattended way.
Robot splitting
To run the loading and unloading of the laser cutting machine with the maximum speed, the robot has been designed divided in two parts:
• the first part is a comb lift with a wide vertical stroke, mounted above the outside table of the laser cutting machine. The comb collects the cut sheet freeing the laser table and raises it to a level that allows the insertion of the second part of the robot.
• the second part of the robot is a traversing wagon, that, in the upper part, keeps the unloading drawer for the cut material and in the lower part has a suction cups lifter.
To perform the loading operation, the wagon picks up a sheet from the stack to be loaded and moves on the laser cutting table to deposit it.
At the same time of the deposit of the virgin sheet on the table,also occurs the deposit of the cut sheet on the unloading drawer. The simultaneity of these functions guarantees the maximum speed of the complete loading-unloading cycle.
The maximum execution time of the loading-unloading, also for sheets with an high thickness, is so content.
