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Technology for handing workpieces between stations, machines or conveyors. It is the point at which many production lines still work by hand – and therefore the most common place where a lifting aid becomes economical.
Transfer systems bring workpieces from one machining or assembly station to the next – in cycle, in a defined position and without anyone having to touch them. Familiar forms are the transfer line, the rotary indexing table, the workpiece carrier system on belt or rollers and the gripper transfer in presses.
What they share is that the orientation of the workpiece is maintained over the whole route. Order, once established, is not lost again.
With rigid linking all workpieces are indexed one station onward at the same time. This is fast and compact – but if one station stops, the line stops.
With flexible linking the workpieces travel individually on carriers, with buffers between the stations. A brief fault is absorbed by the buffer, stations can work at different speeds and manual workstations can be integrated. In return the system needs more floor space and more carriers.
Inside the line nobody touches the workpiece. At its edges they do: loading the first carrier, unloading at the end, at inspection and rework stations and wherever two systems of different height or order meet.
These transfers have two properties that make them strenuous. They follow the cycle of the line – the person cannot set the pace. And they demand accuracy: the workpiece has to hit the fixture on the carrier, not just be put down beside it.
Whether a transfer station works by hand, with a lifting aid or automatically follows from a few details.
What Entracon offers here is on the matching page.
See what we offer| Feature | Rigid linking | Flexible linking |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer | all workpieces at once, in cycle | individually on workpiece carriers |
| Buffers | none | between the stations |
| Fault at one station | line stops | buffer bridges short stoppages |
| Manual workstations | hard to integrate | easy to integrate |
| Space required | small | larger |
A pallet or fixture that carries the workpiece through the line in a defined position. Stations locate and clamp the carrier, not the workpiece. The same line can thus process different workpieces as long as they fit the carrier.
Because the parts arrive there unordered – in a container, on a pallet, from the supplier. Automation would first have to create the order the line presupposes. With many variants, an operator with a lifting aid is the more economical solution.
That depends on cycle time, path and gripper and is checked for the specific station. Short paths, a gripper that needs no re-gripping and a carrier fixture with a lead-in all help.
One short conversation usually settles more than three quotations. Call or write — you will reach an engineer directly.
Start typing – for example “balancer”, “SAP” or “pipe stress”.
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