Glass: handle with care, do not drop
15 Jan 2000
Mitsubishi control systems are providing the delicate touch for stacking ultra-thin glass sheets at production speeds, as they come off Pilkington's float glass line. The stacks of glass must be built to precision without scratching, because robotic automatic destackers in the Far East require an absolutely precise location of the glass sheets to avoid damage.
The control systems do, however, have the flexibility to cope with the variations required for multi-product manufacturing and occasional rejects before stacking and dispatching, says Mitsubishi.
Hi-tech glass producer Pilkington is a major supplier to manufacturers of laptop screens, watches, calculators and optical data storage systems.
AMTRI was brought in to design and build the handling systems using Mitsubishi D75 servo motion robotic control via an ANS PLC.
