Product Information

[22.09.08]

Motion Control from Rexroth for the Cama Group

The Italian Cama Group will in future be using Motion Control from Rexroth in its robot systems. The company has been manufacturing machinery and totally robot-controlled plants for the secondary packaging industry for over 25 years. Its latest new product is the Delta Triaflex robot, the axes of which are to be controlled by Rexroth’s IndraMotion for Packaging platform. “In Rexroth we have the perfect partner in terms of flexibility, product reliability and continuous project engineering support. Rexroth’s customer support is efficient and available throughout the world,” says Cama director Daniele Bellante to explain the company’s preference for the Lohr-based control and drive specialist.

The packaging market is characterized by an ever increasing diversity of products. This means that secondary packaging systems have to be highly flexible, which in turn means that the use of a robot is often the best solution for many packaging applications. The Cama Group plans and develops robots which are capable of being perfectly integrated in complete systems for secondary packaging.

The Cama Delta Triaflex robot shown at the Interpack 2008 trade fair achieves speeds of up to 150 cycles per minute, operates on a single and double line tracking basis and enables technically complex operations such as controlling and loading products to a machine in throughfeed operation to be carried out.

Connected to an intelligent system for visual scanning, the Triaflex can operate in three dimensions, rotate the head through 360 degrees, and pick up anydesired products from the belt and position them correctly in a packaging unit.
“Delta Triaflex makes the entire product handling process much simpler,” explains Bellante. “Thanks to Motion Control from Rexroth we have achieved both reliability and the flexibility that the market demands. In addition, we have also managed to combine far-reaching motion control with increased handling
speed.”

The Rexroth IndraMotion for Packaging control platform is connected directly to the camera on the robot and controls its axes. The operative real-time system allows up to 64 axes to be synchronized. It is equipped with packaging-specific motion control functions. The controller-based motion logic in the Rexroth platform is comprised of a PLC, Motion Control and a robot control unit, all integrated in a single component. “As far as performance and flexibility are concerned this control system offers advantages in terms of higher computing
power, scalability and modularity. In addition, we also have many years of experience in robotics,” says Luca Stanzani, packaging branch manager at Rexroth in Italy.

Up to 16 kinematic systems can be controlled concurrently, each one with a maximum of eight interpolated axes with up to four belts (belt tracking). In addition, packaging manufacturers can also create their own kinematic systems quickly and easily. Particularly impressive about the new IndraMotion for Packaging is that it allows visual scanning systems to be integrated with ease and offers programming via RCL (Robot Control Language). The standardized IndraWorks software simplifies project planning, programming, visualization and diagnosis for all Rexroth components.

The Cama Group is the only company in Europe to offer a wide range of robot systems for the secondary packaging industry. “Our robots are designed for integration in our packaging systems. And they are flexible and compact. Which
is why our control cabinet, for example, is of a much more rational design than one used for an integrator used for connecting an external robot to a plant,” explains Cama director Bellante. Rexroth therefore manages to fit the control
system for the Triaflex system in a single control cabinet. This means considerable cost savings in respect of cabling and also makes the job of installation easier. In relation to specific project requirements it is also possible to add new functions at any time.

There will also be another advantage in terms of flexibility and modularity in the near future when Cama starts using motors with integrated drives from the IndraDrive Mi series from Rexroth, which will lead to a further big reduction in the amount of plant engineering required.