Each robot takes it in turn to take
a pack off the infeed conveyor and
position it precisely in the crate, so the
desired crate presentation is achieved
twice or three times more quickly
than with a single robot. To maintain a
compact footprint, simplify operation
and minimise capital outlay, the entire
system is centrally controlled and the
robots share a vision system, infeed
and outfeed, regardless of whether it is
a dual or triple configuration.
The 70-80 ppm speed capabilities of
the dual-head UniPAKer are the perfect
match for flow wrapping lines handling
fruit and veg such as apples, sprouts,
tomatoes, peppers and pears, with or
without a supporting tray.
When three heads are better than two
The triple-head system has been
conceived with difficult-to-handle or
bulky products in mind.
Brillopak is currently building its
first triple-head UniPAKer cell for a
supermarket customer with the goal
of packing bags of carrots into plastic
retailer crates at speeds of 100 ppm.
carrots at speeds of 37 ppm per head.
A triple-head system can achieve over
100 ppm, which should enable the
customer to meet its two-year payback
target.
Another potential application for the
triple-head UniPAKer is for placing
products such as peppers into the
pocket of the flow wrapper. Using three
robots operating at 60 picks per minute,
the UniPAKer would be able to match
typical flow wrapper speeds.
MULTI-PICK SPEEDS UP SINGLE
ROBOT SYSTEM
However, adding another robot is not
always the best approach for increasing
packing speeds. In applications where
the product is fairly straightforward to
pick, a single robot with a multi-pick
head might be a more cost-effective
and space-efficient option. In
this configuration, the robot performs
two picks, then places the packs in the
crate, two at a time. This design works
well for tray-sealed meat packs, which
are uniform packs with flat surfaces,
but cannot be handled at very high
speeds as the film lid may tear. Speeds
of 60-70 ppm can comfortably be
achieved on this application.
Brillopak’s UniPAKer robotic pick and
place cell was originally engineered
for packing bags of potatoes and
apples into crates. Designed to handle
VFFS, tray-sealed or flow-wrapped
packs up to 1kg, the UniPAKer has
been proven over-and-over again to
improve productivity and improve pack
presentation on shelf.
www.brillopak.co.uk
Carrots are a difficult product to
handle as each bag of the same
weight is a different shape and size,
therefore the robot has to slow down
to perform the pick and position the
pack in the crate; too much speed
will result in the bag falling out of the
gripper or an untidy crate
presentation. Using a single
robot head in conjunction
with a flexible finger gripper,
the UniPAKer can handle
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