Laser station for the marking & reading of automotive parts

Customer's need

The customer would like to integrate XL-Box marking workstations into robot cells to identify 4 parts: sheaves, sun gears, primary shafts and secondary shafts. Each workstation will have its own tooling specially designed for each type of part. Loading, unloading and control of the XL-Box marking station will be fully driven by the PLC machine assigned to it. The XL-Box will ensure the part’s marking and reading (data matrix code). 

Advantages/ Summary

The system will be based on the design of an XL-Box station but the electrical part will be deported in an external control cabinet installed by integrators outside the robotic block. An extraction and filtration system will also be placed outside the robotic block. The robot places a part in the marking station and removes the gripper out of the machine. Then, if the part is correctly detected on the tooling support, the PLC machine sets the valve to close the station’s door. Once the door is closed, the PLC machine selects the marking file and launches the marking cycle. At the end of the marking cycle, the laser informs the PLC machine that the system is in reading mode. The PLC machine starts the reading process and collects the information. Once the part is read, the PLC machine opens the station’s door to let the robot unload the part and then reload it with a new one. 

Solution

• Laser marking on automotive parts
• Marking and simple reading of data matrix codes
• Rectangular Data matrix code (9x4mm)
• Marking time : 3 to 5 secondes
• Reading time : < 1 secondes
• Global cycle time : 20 secondes