Case study: Door lock assembly with robots

Always looking for news or case studies that other media don't mention, I received an interesting press release from Bulgaria today. That is, a country that has probably never been reported on at this point. Moreover, Bulgaria has an unemployment rate of 6.3%, which is unusually high by our standards. The shortage of skilled workers should therefore be lower than in our country, so that the automation reason "amortization" should be in the foreground. The example also shows how Chinese companies are conquering European markets seemingly unnoticed. This is because the Bulgarian company uses Chinese robots. The choice was a consequence of the complete offer received (see below) - unfortunately, further photos/videos are not available.

Press Release

METAL LS, the Bulgarian manufacturer of door locking systems, door and window handles, and building hardware, began planning the new automated assembly of door locks in 2019. The robotic systems the company was already using for other applications were too large for the planned production facility. Therefore, the new solutions needed to be as compact and precise as possible, and to be state of the art. Door and security locks are precision parts whose dimensions and components are specified in DIN standards. Therefore, quality and precision were particularly important decision factors for METAL LS. In addition, the robots had to achieve high productivity and assemble between 10 and 14 locks per minute. The company also required a high degree of flexibility from the solution and the possibility of retooling in order to be able to reuse the same system for the production of different types of locks in the future.
After comparing different manufacturers and products, METAL LS chose a robotic system from Delta. It was the only manufacturer to offer a complete solution with programmable logic controllers (PLCs), a human-machine interface (HMI), servo systems and robot arms with machine vision.

Seven jointed-arm robots are used

For the implementation of this project, METAL LS and Delta have jointly developed a customized workstation for the assembly of the mechanical door lock components. The main part of the system consists of a rotary table on which seven six-axis DRV90L7 articulated robots are installed. The robots are capable of extremely precise and fast movements and have a hollow wrist that allows easy combination with the right tool for each production step. The DOP-115MX HMI is used to visualize all processes and allows the user to select different slips for different locks via a touch screen. It also displays system information and warnings or alarms. The AS300-series PLC (AS324MT-A) monitors the assembly line, controls the ASDA B2 servo drive, and communicates with the rotary stage servo drive. Two DMV2000 vision systems equipped with cameras are installed to locate the parts on the conveyor and send accurate signals to the robot to pick up and assemble the parts. The AC servo system, consisting of ASDA-A2 and ASDA-B2 drives and ECMA motors, ensures that the robot arms are precisely positioned and high productivity can be maintained.

A few adjustments to the parameter settings were enough to quickly overcome initial communication problems between the PLC, robot and vision system. Careful preparation and system configuration by the Delta team also ensured that all Delta industrial automation (IA) products were quickly integrated into d

The Chinese group Delta is apparently primarily active in the production of LED lighting and e-mobility (charging stations). Robots seem to be only a marginal segment.

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The author of this blog is significantly involved in the AI/ robotics project Boost-Bot. He advises robotics companies and investors on market (entry)/ business development and funding/subsidies. More about him can be found here.