Robot running lightsout alarms

hello guys,

I have had a robojob robot installed about 4 month ago on a mazak integrex 200IV, the idea is to run the machine lights out with nobody in the workshop although i have came into a few problems. I am hoping someone has had a little more experience than me and could give me some pointers.

The robot is not in a cage so works with a system of a yellow zone and a red zone, so if you are in the yellow zone the robot will run at 25 percent but if you are in the red zone the robot will alarm out completely. the doors open automatically for the robot to take out the finished part and load a new part, when i have been leaving the robot to run during the night i keep getting a alarm where it thinks someone is in the red zone so it will stop completely and wont continue until the alarm is reset and the run button pressed.

I have cleaned the lens which picks up the motion and still seem to get errors, starting to think the change in temperature might be an issue aswell.

If anybody has any information on automisation which may be of use it would be greatly appreciated.

J

Critters, Birds, or bats?

Dennis

hi dennis

we did think about that so we installed a camera incase of mice etc and shows nothing when robot is alarming out.

the sensor is very sensitive so we think it may be coolant mist also which is causing it. at the moment it seems to be alarming out after the doors open so we have tried adjusting the valves on the doors so it is smoother with no bangs. fingers crossed.

J

Now that I've had my second cup of coffee... Could be moths, too, especially if the machine cell is the only place where there are lights on.

Coolant mist or lens shake should cause alarms during the day, too. Logging the cause of all day shift alarms might add some useful info.

We often run an injection molding press unattended overnight; no automation, just small parts that drop in a box, but sensors to ensure the parts clear the mold. The first several times ended after only a couple hours with mystery alarms. The press could run for eight hours straight during day shift, then quit before ten PM. A couple late nights in the tool shop gave me the opportunity to troubleshoot when the press would quit; turned out the molding parameters went to hell. That begged the question, What changed? Turns out it was the incoming line voltage from the powerco rose at night after the industrial loads diminished, and while that should not have had any effect, it would if any of the heats were set at the edge of the comfortable molding window. Apparently with auto proportioning controllers, the change in voltage caused some wide swings while they auto tuned themselves again.The solution in each case was to work a bit harder to get more "robust" molding parameters, where slight fluctuation wouldn't exceed the limits, and then all was well.

Don't know exactly how this translates to a machining cell, but offer it as food for thought.

Dennis

Its funny you say that as of today we have started logging the alarms to try and get some sort of clarity and to keep record of causes and solutions,

the company who are dealing with our robot are in tomorrow but they arent the suppliers as it is still all new to them aswell hence the reason i am seeking advice on the forum. hopefully tomorrow they can answer some of our questions.

the lens shake does sound like a problem that we are having, the machine can make vibrations when running on 100 percent rapid so when i leave tonight i will turn it to 25 percent to see if that works. adjusting the valves and air pressure on the doors opening and closing has made a difference so far.

fingers crossed

thanks for the information denis

J

Can the system store the frames and highlight the detected trigger for the alarm?
Not real sure what your video system is but most machine vision style can do this rather easily.
Security type motion detectors store all the frames so this should also be easy to backtrack.
What is weird is that your detection does not automatically store and highlight the fault in red on the image. Maybe it's there but you don't know how to get to it.
If temp you can use I/R blocking filters on the front of the lens but normally this is gradual enough that one frame to the next won't trigger.
If mice, moths or flies, well they are intruders and the system should fault.
You said you cleaned the lens. Needing to do this very often is a problem.
If the camera "looks" through a window out of the focal plane coolant splatter and dust do not trigger a false alarm. This is a fancy optics problem best handled by those that build and design this stuff.

Yours is not working right. It is not telling you when, how or why. Yes I'd be pissed off and take it out on the vendor(s).
You should be able to easily see why the camera/computer made this decision to halt everything.
Knowing it should allow you to clear the fault and re-fire the machine cell from your bed where it woke you up with an alert.
Bob

If door opening / closing are causing false triggers....that -to me- is improper installation of the sensor. It should not be mounted to the machine, but independently mounted to the floor via dedicated post with vibration dampening. And some of these sensors are just not a good fit for "dirty" environments - BTDT.

The thought occurs to me that even if the sensor is properly mounted, it could occasionally be reading the door bounce, if it's timed to read before the door settles down.

Dennis

thanks for the responses guys,

the company robojob are in today and have the laptop plugged into the sensor to see where this issue is athough it isnt showing any alarms, typical.

the reason i think the door is causing an alarm is there is a switch behind the control panel so that it alarms if the control is pulled forward as that would then get in the way when the robot is going to collect the finished part, although i have tied the switch back to prevent it from alarming (probably shouldnt have but also tied the control panel so it cant come forward) i think the doors opening with a bang might trigger the switch. also there is a timer on the robot so if the door doesnt open in the correct time it alarms the robot so it doesn't crash into the door.

will keep posted today about things we are trying.

thanks J

IF it is moths, a simple fix can be to just put a bit of black taper over the Light curtains status LEDS, some curtains have em on the beam side and i have personally witnessed more than a few moths that really liked em on paper guillotines!

Is it literally a lights out shop?

this might be a little simplistic, but is it possible that a janitor or security guard is watching it out of curiosity and then getting a little too close.