Text | Shanxi Yingcai Logistics Equipment Technology Co., Ltd. Wu Zhijie
Abstract: As a new type of logistics warehousing and handling equipment, intelligent aerial manipulators have advantages in coverage, space utilization, and precise scheduling. Based on the intelligent aerial manipulator system designed and implemented by Shanxi Yingcai Logistics Equipment Technology Co., Ltd., this article mainly introduces the actual application in the extrusion workshop of an aluminum factory, and analyzes how it realizes automatic handling and warehousing scheduling, as well as its technological innovation points and competitive advantages.
Keywords: Intelligent aerial manipulator, aluminum production workshop, automated logistics, intelligent
Intelligent aerial manipulator is a new type of logistics warehousing and handling equipment, usually arranged in the upper area of the production line or warehouse. Through its own equipped transverse drive system, longitudinal drive system and lifting and grabbing device, it can realize full-space handling and scheduling covering the X, Y and Z axes. In terms of production workshop applications, through specific planning and layout, unmanned scheduling between different production lines can be completed without affecting ground interoperability. In terms of warehouse applications, combined with a professional warehouse management and scheduling system, it can achieve unmanned storage and automatic scheduling of entry and exit similar to conventional three-dimensional warehouse without configuring shelves.
Figure 1: Application of intelligent aerial manipulator system in aluminum production workshop
Therefore, in the new automated logistics warehousing system, the intelligent aerial manipulator system can achieve efficient, economical and flexible unmanned production and warehousing with its strong coverage, clever space utilization and high-precision intelligent scheduling.
1. The overall structure and characteristics of the intelligent aerial manipulator
The intelligent aerial manipulator is a driving-like structure in terms of hardware system, so it is also called intelligent driving in some projects. According to the actual coverage needs and operation requirements, this type of equipment can be mainly divided into three-dimensional structure models and two-dimensional structure models. The three-dimensional structure model needs to realize movements in the three dimensions of front and rear, left and right, and up and down in the workshop. Its structure is similar to that of a conventional double-girder crane. It must be equipped with a double-girder cart body and its operating mechanism that can move forward and backward. A small car body and its operating mechanism are arranged on the car body to realize left and right movement. A lifting mechanism is arranged on the trolley body, which is responsible for lifting or grabbing goods. The two-dimensional structure model only needs to realize movements in the front and rear (or left and right) and up and down dimensions in certain operating environments. Its structure will be more compact. It does not need to be equipped with a large car body and its operating mechanism. The small car body directly runs on the corresponding track, and the rest of the structure remains unchanged.
Figure 2: A panel furniture factory applies an intelligent aerial manipulator to realize automatic scheduling and assembly of panels
In terms of structure, the most obvious difference between an intelligent aerial manipulator and a conventional crane is that the special spreader or grabber attached to the lower end of the lifting mechanism can be designed to match the actual grabbed goods, and cooperate with the corresponding detection system to achieve automatic and smooth picking and placing of goods without human participation. At the same time, unlike manual lifting operations, this equipment has extremely high requirements for the stability and accuracy during the lifting process, as well as the safety during the transportation of goods. It must be equipped with corresponding limit and locking devices to ensure the stable operation of the entire operation. For example, the lifting mechanism needs to use a rigid nested telescopic structure or a flexible drive plus scissor arm limit structure to achieve a smooth and vertical lifting action of the spreader and ensure accurate and undeviated grabbing actions.
In addition, in the software and hardware system, according to the actual situation of the specific project, laser ranging or barcode scanning devices will be equipped in three movement dimensions to achieve precise positioning. The reduction motor of the key mechanism adopts the variable frequency control system to achieve stepless speed regulation and smooth start and stop. The automatic grabbing spreader is equipped with auxiliary detection devices such as cargo detection switch, cargo loading switch, successful grasp detection switch, cargo barcode scanning device, etc. A series of protective and detection hardware and supporting software systems ensure that the equipment can operate unmanned and automatically.
Figure 3: An aluminum material factory applies intelligent aerial manipulators to realize automatic product entry and exit.
2. Implementation of automatic transportation and warehousing scheduling of intelligent aerial manipulator systems in the extrusion workshop of an aluminum material plant.
Figure 4 is the floor plan of an extrusion workshop in an aluminum material factory from framing to aging. It mainly consists of the extrusion framing area, aging operation area, ground temporary storage area, and follow-up process docking area. The intelligent aerial manipulator is mainly used to realize the supply of empty frames and the collection of full frames in the extrusion framing area. The full frames are sent to the aging furnace and stacked into 4 frames and 1 stack to be put into the furnace (see Figure 5). After aging, they are split into single frames and transported away or sent to a designated location on the ground for temporary storage and data management. The whole system is stable, reliable, flexible and has excellent space for upgrade and expansion while meeting the needs of current technology and production capacity .
Figure 4: Floor plan layout of automated logistics and temporary storage in the back section of the extrusion workshop
As of August 2022, with the help of the intelligent aerial manipulator system, the workshop area has initially realized the automated operation of production scheduling, automatic collection of information, and unmanned transportation between various processes in the area, becoming an intelligent workshop that can systematically connect the front and rear processes.
Figure 5: Schematic diagram of the automated logistics and temporary storage facade of the rear section of the extrusion workshop
Within the scope of the workshop, the specific scheduling methods and processes of each process are as follows:
1. Empty material frame supply During the production process of
, when the extruder framing area reports to the superior system that the cache station needs to replenish empty frames, the intelligent aerial manipulator management and scheduling system issues a command to the intelligent aerial manipulator, causing it to run from the standby position to the temporarily stored empty frames in the area or the upper part of the back-end empty frame dock, and automatically lift the empty frames to the designated empty frame cache dock.
2. Full pallet handling
The framing area of the extruder is completed. When it is transported to the full frame cache dock, a handling request signal is fed back to the superior system. The intelligent aerial manipulator management and dispatching system will schedule the aerial manipulator to automatically lift the full frame material, and then transport it to the aging furnace waiting area or the designated location in the ground temporary storage area according to the arrangement of subsequent processes in the system.
3. In and out of the aging furnace, dismantling, stacking and handling
For the full frame materials specified by the production management system to be aged in the furnace, intelligent emptying The central manipulator will accurately lift it and send it to the area to be put into the furnace, and automatically complete the stacking (4 frames and 1 stack). This operation will be carried out in a cycle until all the materials entering the furnace are stacked in the area to be put into the furnace (this project is usually 3 stacks with 12 frames in total), and the whole is input into the furnace to start the aging operation. After the aging is completed, the intelligent aerial manipulator will automatically depalletize the materials in sequence according to the subsequent process direction of each frame fed back by the management system, and then send them to the subsequent process dock or ground temporary storage location.
4. Ground temporary storage management and handling
For after extrusion or aging, due to process or production scheduling and other reasons, the subsequent process will not be entered temporarily. It is necessary to temporarily store a period of actual full frame materials, which can be stacked and stored in an orderly manner in the free area on the ground in this area by the intelligent aerial manipulator system. With the help of a powerful management and scheduling system and organic integration with a mature three-dimensional warehousing management system, an automated three-dimensional warehouse that can flexibly adjust the layout of cargo spaces can be formed in this area. Its management and scheduling are all completed automatically like conventional three-dimensional warehouses. At the same time, because it is not restricted by fixed shelves, it can be freely scheduled and divided according to customer needs, and some areas can be allocated as other functional areas such as material sorting or shaping. It is extremely flexible and is incomparable to conventional three-dimensional warehouses. In this project, if all the currently free areas are used as temporary storage, if 4 layers are stacked, a storage capacity of approximately 120 frames of empty and full frames can be achieved.
3. Technical innovations and competitive advantages of the intelligent aerial manipulator system in project applications
1. Strong compatibility achieved by utilizing spatial interleaving
Conventional logistics transportation systems mainly use ground conveyors and shuttles. Reasonable arrangement and combination of 4 to achieve the docking of each process. For some workshops with tight on-site space and full of production equipment, it is usually difficult to have an ideal space for the layout of conveying equipment. Or in some environments where manual participation in operations cannot be avoided, the conveying equipment will be divided into multiple small blocks after being laid out. As a result, many locations are inaccessible to ground workers, forklifts, etc., which brings a lot of trouble to daily work and subsequent maintenance.
The main structure of the intelligent aerial manipulator runs on the upper part of the workshop production equipment, and can be arranged on the driving track reserved in the factory or on an independently erected support frame according to the actual situation. Without occupying ground space or interrupting the ground pedestrian and vehicle passages, goods can be automatically transported to various points within the work coverage area through the lifting mechanism and special mechanical grippers.
2. Multifunctionality derived from the unique pick-and-place mode
Conventional logistics conveying equipment has a relatively single function. To complete the production docking of the whole process, it usually goes through multiple links and is completed by matching multiple devices with different functions. Taking the extrusion workshop of the aluminum factory mentioned above as an example, if the conventional automated logistics transportation mode is adopted, a two-station shuttle car needs to be equipped before and after the aging furnace. At the same time, special frame stacking equipment must be configured before entering the furnace, and special frame removal equipment must be configured after coming out of the furnace. During this process, the special equipment and the shuttle car must be docked multiple times, and repeated loading and unloading actions will inevitably cause a loss of operating capacity.
After selecting the intelligent aerial manipulator system, only one intelligent aerial manipulator is required, which can freely dispatch transportation in the entire area without being interfered by the layout of production equipment, and complete the transportation tasks that can only be completed by the cooperation of two shuttle vehicles in the conventional solution due to the inability to communicate between the front and rear of the aging furnace. More importantly, because the picking and placing of goods is automatically grabbed from the top, when faced with operational requirements such as aluminum aging, which requires stacking first and then dismantling, the aerial manipulator itself can accurately and safely complete the stacking and de-stacking operations in front of the furnace without the help of other equipment, thus greatly saving equipment costs and floor space.
3. A new model derived from the expansion of new ideas automated warehouse
In the conventional aluminum factory extrusion workshop, some semi-finished materials usually need to be temporarily stored for a period of time due to production scheduling or process requirements before going to subsequent processes. When the industry faces such demand, there are generally two modes:
The first mode is to use a crane or forklift to stack this part of the material in a free area in the workshop. Although this can achieve the purpose of temporary storage, it brings three problems: First, manual stacking and storage cannot effectively manage materials, and specific materials are often needed. It takes a lot of manpower and time to find the frames; secondly, for manually stacked material frames, when you need to remove the top or bottom material frames, you need to manually climb the hooks, which poses a great safety hazard in the process; thirdly, manual stacking and storage should leave enough channels to facilitate the rotation and entry of forklifts, pallet trucks, etc., as well as the interaction of materials, which will waste a large amount of factory space.
The second mode is to plan a lane-type semi-finished product three-dimensional warehouse in the factory building, which is specially used for the storage of semi-finished products. This model has made great progress compared to the first model and can obtain ideal reserves. At the same time, due to the intervention of the automation system, there is no problem of difficulty in finding materials. It can also be expanded and connected with the front and rear production lines through specific conveying equipment. The problems with this model are: First, the site requirements are relatively high. Many customers cannot find a suitable site for building vertical warehouses near the production line, so they need to choose a special workshop to plan and build. If the construction location is far away, it will bring high transportation costs; second, the conventional three-dimensional warehouse is a complete system project, from ground bearing, factory height, supporting shelf structure to corresponding stackers, inbound and outbound shuttles, conveyors, , etc., which all require large investments.Many customers find it difficult to make up their mind to choose this model after comparing the comprehensive costs of artificial ground storage and three-dimensional warehouses and the return on investment of and .
Faced with many of the above pain points, the newly developed intelligent aerial manipulator system will become a highly competitive new model. From a control perspective, the intelligent aerial manipulator system combines the essence of the RGV scheduling system and the three-dimensional warehouse management system. The aerial manipulator operates on the upper part of the production equipment, like a fully covered shuttle, and can pick up and place the material frame from any point in the entire area.
At the same time, in the free area on the ground, the system plans a virtual cargo space, which can accurately place the material frames at designated points, and with its automatic stacking and destacking function, the material frames can be stacked to a certain number of layers to achieve amplification of reserves. In addition, because it is equipped with a warehouse management system that was born out of a three-dimensional warehouse management system, the information and locations of all material frames are accurately stored in the system. When a certain frame of material needs to be retrieved later, the system can quickly and accurately calibrate the material frame, and the aerial manipulator will automatically complete actions such as destacking and dumping, and finally transport it to the designated location. In the investment scale , this model requires a small amount of equipment during the entire operation process, and does not require additional civil engineering and shelf investment. It is a logistics warehousing model with excellent cost performance.
Table 1 is a comparison of the main indicators of the above three modes to build a temporary warehouse for the aforementioned extrusion workshop project. It can be seen that under a comprehensive evaluation, the intelligent aerial manipulator system warehouse is more suitable for this project.
After selecting the intelligent aerial manipulator system, the number of aerial manipulators that need to be equipped in a specific area, the main configuration parameters of each aerial manipulator, etc. are inseparable from the actual needs of the customer and should rely on professional equipment operation capacity calculations.
Figure 6 shows the efficiency calculation of the aforementioned intelligent aerial manipulator system in the extrusion workshop. This calculation model is based on the calculation model of stacker efficiency in lane three-dimensional warehouses in FEM9.851, and is further evolved by combining the handling and scheduling characteristics of intelligent aerial manipulators in conventional handling and automated warehousing operations. It should be noted that in actual handling and scheduling operations, especially when used as an aerial robot automated warehouse, different items require different times of material dumping due to different storage categories and batches, so the corresponding calculation model needs to be modified and supplemented accordingly, which will not be described here. (In the calculation model shown in Figure 6, the average number of material pours per stack is preset to be once.)
Figure 6: Intelligent aerial manipulator efficiency calculation
4. Intelligent equipment system with advanced control management system
The core highlight of the intelligent aerial manipulator system is not the hardware, but its advanced intelligence, automation and informatization level. As the brain and center of the entire intelligent logistics warehousing system, the WMS system is the key to determining the success of the project. Automated logistics warehousing planning and construction companies have absolute advantages in the development of this type of equipment system.
In the aforementioned aluminum factory extrusion workshop logistics project, the management control system we used is based on the successful implementation experience of many factory-wide intelligent logistics equipment scheduling systems and automated three-dimensional warehouse WMS systems. The WT-WMS-aerial manipulator warehouse management control system V2.0 was developed through integration. The system includes iWMS system, RF acquisition system, monitoring system, job scheduling system, dot matrix screen control system, interface system, etc., see Figure 7.
Figure 7: Intelligent aerial manipulator warehouse management and control system
This system fully absorbs the advantages of the three-dimensional warehouse management and scheduling system, so that the intelligent aerial manipulator has the stability and reliability of a tunnel stacker and the accuracy of each operating dimension. In terms of warehousing information management and interaction, like a mature three-dimensional warehouse, it can be seamlessly connected with the enterprise's ERP and MES systems according to needs to achieve barcoding of warehouse operations, transparent operation processes, accurate inventory management, automated data collection and integration of warehouse information, creating a solid, reliable, comprehensive and feasible collaborative management platform for enterprises.
4. Summary
Through the aforementioned automated logistics and warehousing project of the extrusion workshop of the aluminum factory, the practical application and exploration of the intelligent aerial manipulator was carried out. It can be found that in some specific application scenarios, intelligent aerial manipulators can be used as an effective supplement and alternative to conventional automated logistics warehousing systems. Its flexible automated handling capabilities and automated warehousing construction capabilities will become the core factors for its market recognition and selection. This equipment and its supporting systems are expected to become another product system with huge market demand and potential after automated three-dimensional warehouses and ground automated logistics transportation systems. They will be widely used and promoted in the automated logistics and warehousing industry in the future.
