Optimag P Drives Safety & Efficiency Gains on Gripping and Stacking Process

Location: Burnham, UK

Eclipse Product Installed: 6 x Optimag P (PSPM100C)

Industry: Lifting and handling equipment

Process: Lintel gripping and stacking  

Background

AOE Engineering Ltd. specialises in bespoke production equipment for a variety of industrial clients, predominantly in the aerospace, automotive and construction sectors. Their range features lifting, automation and torque reaction systems.

The Challenge

AOE was approached by a leading lintel manufacturer to design and build a new crane, gripper and inverter system for stacking newly made steel composite lintels onto pallets. The galvanised steel lintels range from 3 m to 4.8 m in length and weigh up to 90kg.

The current method of stacking relied on 2 operatives manually lifting the lintels from the outfeed conveyor, then turning it manually before stacking it at low level onto the pallet.  Due to health and safety risks, the client needed to replace the manual handling process and replace it with an automated mechanical system.

In addition, access to the outfeed pickup point is very restricted by the close proximity of products and other equipment. The client needed a lifting mechanism that only required single-face access to the lintels. This limited access ruled out many traditional handling methods. The new design also had to be adaptable to enable it to lift varying product widths.

The Solution

Having reviewed various options, the engineers at AOE chose to incorporate 6 x 100mm diameter Optimag P pneumatically activated lifting magnets. The Optimag P requires only single-face access to engage with the workpiece. It requires a short pulse of air to activate or deactivate the magnetic field. It has an integral safety feature in that the load is still secured even if the power source fails. It can be activated by an integral PLC or a manual push-button interface. The “Safe Working Load” performance specification of the 100mm model easily met the size and weight demands of the application.

Incorporating the Optimags into the gripper system has dramatically improved operations. It has enabled the client to eliminate the manual handling element of the process. The process now requires only one operator rather than two. The single operator activates a mechanical system as opposed to 2 operators handling large, sharp, heavy lintels.

The Optimag P solves the restricted access problem, as it only requires single-face access to engage with the product. The AOE designers incorporated an adjustable stop mechanism to ensure that the lintels were centred in the feed conveyor to ensure alignment with the crane and pallet.

Comment

David Ogden, Operations Director at AOE Engineering, commented, ”Optimag P was an essential ingredient in meeting this challenging client brief. By combining the expertise of our talented design team with premium components like Optimag P, we’ve delivered a solution that’s safer, more efficient and perfectly aligned with our client’s needs.”

To find out more about AOE Engineering Ltd, click here.