Automation

Question 1

Describe Automation

Answer 1

• minimum human interactions
  
  • More efficient
  • Reduce labour cost
  • Maintain quality
  • Needed due to lack of skilled
    operator

Question 2

Describe adaptive control, and how it can improve a production facility, including the key to effective adaptive control.

Answer 2

• Optimise production rate
  
  • Optimise product quality
  • Minimise production

The secret ingredient: Fast response time.

Question 3

What are the types of material handling?

Answer 3

• AGV
• Conveyor

Question 4

What are the types of conveyor movement and part positioning?

Answer 4

movement:

Indexed = moves a given distance
Continuous = constant movement

Part location:

Indexed = part position known on conveyor

Loose = part position not known

Question 5

Describe part identification

Answer 5

• To locate parts and identify parts in progress
• Could be bar codes, magnetic strips

Question 6

What are the 4 types of motion actuators in automation?

Answer 6

Electric

Pneumatic

Hydraulic

Solenoid (open or closed)

Question 7

What are the 2 types of electric motion actuator? and what motion can be produced?

Answer 7

Stepper - can stop motor at any point, holds torque when stopped

Servo - Accurate

Linear or rotary motion

Question 8

What are the key differences between hydraulic and pneumatic motion actuators?

Answer 8

• Hydraulic systems are larger and produce more force than pneumatic systems.
• Hydraulic systems can be stopped at any point, pneumatics are fully open or closed

Question 9

What are end effectors?

Answer 9

Anything mounted on the robot that interacts with environment

Question 10

Give examples of regular and advanced end effectors

Answer 10

Regular:

Gripper
Sensor

Advanced:

Compensating unit (adjusts part if misaligned)

Force torque sensor (senses misalignment and sends info back to robot)

Question 11

What are the main types of robot used used in automation?

Answer 11

All are Industrial robots (Can be: fixed base, mobile, base on rail)

Articulated (most common, 6 axis of freedom)

SCARA (pick and place)

Linear/cartesian movement

Controlled rails (move in one axis, more expensive than robots)

Question 12

What are the key robot specs?

Answer 12

Robot spec:

Payload

Gripper (double action to grip when power off)

Reach

Question 13

What are the key parameters related to robot precision?

Answer 13

• Control resolution (number of teeth, like a bike hub engagement)
• Accuracy ( not clustered, close to target)
• Repeatability (clustered, not close to target)

Question 14

What are the types of sensor used in automation?

Answer 14

Detection - detect what part is arriving

Identification - type of part

Measuring

Position

Question 15

What are the human factors when using automation?

Answer 15

• safety issues
• human/machine environment - safety zones.

Question 16

What new tech is being introduced to improve automation UI?

Answer 16

Virtual reality

Augmented reality - another layer of info over virtual reality

Question 17

What are the challenges of automation?

Answer 17

• Awareness
  
  • Risk
  • Skill
  • Training
    
    • Supply

Question 18

How would you begin to cost an automated system?

Answer 18

Calculate the manual operation cost first.

Question 19

What steps would be taken to automate an existing system?

Answer 19

1. Divide into automatable sections
2. List what to automate
3. Find out how to automate section
4. Simplify system - reduce randomness (which means less automation is needed)

Question 20

What are the two types of laser sensor?

Answer 20

• Triangulation, infrared - more precise
• Time of flight, Ultrasonic - for large scale