Posted to News on 17th Jan 2008, 09:11
Agile machine-tending robots offer a choice of mountings
With the addition of three new product ranges, ABB's IRB 6600 family of robots now offers convenient, efficient and versatile floor- and shelf-mounted options for tending injection moulding machines from 600 to 3000 tonnes, as well as similar automated machinery.
Compact robots in the IRB 6620 range can be mounted in floor-standing, inverted or tilted orientations and are suitable for use with machines in the range 600-1000 tonnes, while the IRB 6640 robots, which have a reach of up to 3.2m, are optimised for floor-standing applications with machines of 1000-3000 tonnes. Also suitable for 1000-3000 tonne machines are the IRB 6600 robots, which have been designed specifically to be ultra-fast.
The agile IRB 6620 robot provides enhanced flexibility in manufacturing cells. Its low total weight of just 900kg makes it easy to install without the aid of heavy lifting equipment. This is particularly advantageous in applications where the robot is mounted on top of a machine. The suitability of IRB 6620 for inverted mounting also makes it an excellent choice for use in the handling and cutting of materials.
High-performance IRB 6640 robots are offered with a choice of arm length, with corresponding handling capacities from 130-235kg. Their large maximum payload makes these models particularly well suited to heavy materials handling, and their outstanding inertial characteristics mean that they can handle large components with ease. As IRB 6640 robots can bend fully backward, their working range is greatly extended, ensuring that they fit well in densely packed production cells.
Where fast cycle times are a prime requirement, the IRB 6660 robot is attractive. Designed to offer high productivity, uptime and accuracy, these new robots are suitable for press tending, and for applications such as injection moulding where extraction times must be minimised. The most critical motion axes have been enhanced to match typical inter-press cycle requirements, which allow cycle times to be reduced by up to 15 per cent. The maximum load of this model is 130kg, and the maximum working range is 3.1m.
