Robots are commonplace in plastic production plants, helping injection molders and other processors reduce costs and increase efficiency, and these same benefits are now also available in the lab.
Automation has been accepted by plastic processing plants, and injection molders and other processors reduce costs and increase efficiencies through the use of manipulators in the production floor. But in the lab? Is a scalable, fully automated system for material testing feasible? This means that, just as in the factory floor, operators are free to perform other types of quality tests while automating the system, the heart of which is the robotic arm in the enclosed unit, with the testing tasks of each batch of specimens Matches well.
Now robots can be deployed in the lab to perform a range of tasks to test any product from a packaging container to a medical dispenser. Testing can be done without human intervention, all year round. Traditionally, In large industrial metal plants, for example, samples and tests are taken every 24 hours.While an operator can only work 59h per week or 127 days a year, using a robotic system that can run continuously in the material test results in productivity Significantly increased.
Tinius Olsen focuses on a material testing automation system at the Control Expo 2017 in Stuttgart, Germany, a low-force system for bending tests on plastics
Test automation does more than just test hundreds of samples per day in a factory, but increases productivity by automating the handling of samples in a cell.
Give a medical molder a true example of a test drug dispensing device: The company tests at three separate stations and a group of laboratory operators need to load, test, and detach the test components over the course of a day. Now, all this Is completely automated.Another case, a global company engaged in rubber and plastics testing, has automated tests of tensile, flexural modulus and compression and is now investigating whether the entire process can be further automated.
A robot in the cell center can service multiple material testers, providing multiple samples for multiple types of testing
Automated testing also reduces the chances of job errors due to boredom and fatigue while performing a large number of repetitive tasks. A robot can work consistently from person to person. Advanced automation systems are not limited to just one type of test, Ability to run multiple different tasks and test combinations to increase efficiency and speed.
Building blocks with a modular, scalable approach allows automated testing of very high forces ranging from very low forces (just a few Newtons) to over 1000 kN A single sample processing system with a robotic arm Multiple test machines to provide samples.
With the latest technology, you can perform tensile tests on one machine and bend tests on another machine; you can also use two test machines for fastener testing, sample and management; or make one Rockwell durometers work with a tensile testing machine.For examples of drug delivery devices, needle puncture force may be tested at one station and drug dispense pressure may be tested at another station.
In an automated system, the key to the success of material testing is also to have the right fixtures to hold the specimen firmly for precise testing
Automation systems have been in production for many years and today's technology can be scaled up or down to meet any requirement. The use of smartphones and tablets also means that managers can remotely view robots and test stations from anywhere The test unit is ejected from the unit and the entire process is either successful or unsuccessful and can be monitored remotely using an industrial camera in the unit in real time.The production unit allows the production manager 24 hours a day to access via cellphone or tablet to check if everything is working get on.
Based on the concept of modularity and scalability, material testing automation is now practicable to plastics processors who originally thought it necessary to get out of manual testing when they reached a certain level of production, and now by automating them every moment of the day All benefit from productivity and repeatability.