Robotic Laminate Glass Finishing System

Project Summary and Challenge

Premier Automation provided a Robotic Glass Unload and Trim system to automate the finishing process of laminated automotive windows for a local glass manufacturer. The goal was to fully automate the handling of glass from the rack until the final inspection process, increasing throughput and reducing scrap losses.

This customer manufactures a wide range of glass products for the automotive industry. This facility’s primary product was automotive sidelite windows. Future flexibility and ease of switching between pre-programmed parts or adding new parts to the system was the highest priority for this customer.

Specific challenges for this project were:

• The glass parts are concave with variable radius of curvature on the picking surface
• The glass parts have incredibly complex & diverse geometry that needs to be trimmed

Design Constraints:

• Unload glass from racks without any glass-to-glass contact
• Trim 100% of perimeter of glass to within specified tolerances
• Develop a new part teaching process that is easy for the operator and repeatable

The comprehensive solution included:

• A Fanuc R2000iC/125L robot to unload glass from racks
• Two Fanuc M710iC/45M robots to perform the grinding operation
• Another Fanuc M710iC/45m pick and place robot to deliver glass to the next stage of the process
• Two rack infeed locations to allow continuous operation of the cell while a fork truck driver removes the empty rack and introduces a new one to the system
• Two floor mounted belt grinders with dust collection system
• Each robot was equipped with a custom designed vacuum tool featuring a Schunk DDF rotary union for ease of routing cables and airline, and an Igus Triflex cable management solution
• Fanuc iRVision was used to locate the parts accurately before grinding

Impact to Customer:

Key functionality and enhancements to the system include:

• Utilization of Fanuc Roboguide simulation software and CAD to path programming to train the trim program on each new part
• Improved quality control of parts, with less scratches/defects from operators handling the glass, and a more uniform trimmed edge.

Result

Premier Automation delivers a custom automated solution that meets the customer’s objectives of increased throughput, reduction of scrap loss, and a flexible system to accommodate a range of future parts/products.