Following just the text of our
newsletter - without photographs and figures. If you like to see also the photpgraphs, please download your own copy in Adobe PDF format or
ask us to send you respective information by mail.Heat Release Decal Application Machine with 6 degrees of freedom!
A new concept for the application of heat release transfers.
The industrial use of heat release decal
application machines is still characterised by one restriction: size and position of both
the decal as well as the article which has to be decorated. Both have to fit within
predefined tolerances. Only then it is possible that a silicone pad moves a decorative
transfer precisely onto, for example, a ceramic plate. The practical operation has
revealed that the actual positioning of the decal deviates from the target position due to
many factors. These include inaccuracies from cutting the decals to size, as well as
positioning deviations during transfer movement. Also, deviations from original size or
position of the article have to be taken into account.
Even with increased expenditure, such as costly centring and positioning devices or
correct sized and cut decals, the accuracy cannot be guaranteed as tableware products are
not always dimensionally consistent. Deviations in roundness, diameter or flatness cannot
be compensated, nor can the influence of air moisture on the dimensions of the decal
backing paper.
Until now …
The New Heat Release Decal Application Machine developed by data M Engineering is able to
handle these restrictions.
The silicone pad is moved by a hexapod mechanism, consisting of a triangular arrangement
of linear axes. This results in 6 degrees of freedom and allows an absolute free
3-dimensional movement, contrary to conventional decorating machines.
A control unit, based on a Pentium processor with a Windows operating system, controls the
most complex movements of this decal application unit. Each of its six legs has a digital
electric drive and allows for the highest positioning accuracy. Due to the free moving
silicone pad, neither article or decal has to be aligned. The silicone pad is able to
compensate for every possible misalignment by respective movements. Previous clumsy
alignment devices are now obsolete.
The actual position of decal and article is detected by 3 cameras integrated in the
machine. The control computer then converts these signals and sets the machine into
motion, in order to put the decorative transfer precisely onto the article. Two cameras
take the actual position of the ceramic decal whilst the other one takes the position of
the article. If the article, e.g. a plate does not meet the tolerances allowed, it will
not be accepted and will be sorted into secondary stacks. Due to integrated vision
systems, this type of machine opens totally new fields of application. In addition to
optical quality inspection, particularly non-symmetrical objects, elliptical or polygonal
plates can be decorated without any offset.
Thus, tasks which had to be performed manually can now be mechanised using this type of
decorating machine. It has a competitive cost performance ratio due to the relatively
small number of moveable components used and a considerable utilisation of modern software
technology.
data M Engineering is growing
The developer of industrial vision systems and
technical solutions for the ceramic decorating industry is growing.
End of June data M Engineering moved into larger facilities at the village Valley. Valley
is located in Upper Bavaria, about 25 km south of Munich. With approximately 1.000 square
meters office space (shared with its sister company data M Software) and about 150 square
meters mechanic shop floor data M’s engineers and mechanics around the founders
Andreas Bachthaler and Albert Sedlmaier will have the space they need for development and
future support of its customers.
The expandable building also offers some space for a future growing. Since its foundation
in 1991 data M Engineering hasn’t been growing extremely rapid but continuously
– and has got its fixed market position.
One of its working domains has always been the development of computer controlled machines
with integrated vision systems, based on standard PCs with all their advantages.
Examples for these activities are a fully automatic working inspection machine for turned
parts (COPRAź Roll Scanner) or a laser based sensor for detecting angles on bending press
brakes.
These devices have found a broad usage in industry. They are being sold mainly to
so-called OEM manufacturers and – of course – to the "sheet metal"
customers of the sister company data M Software GmbH. Furthermore data M Engineering is
developing customer specific hard- and software solutions. data M is working for major
european companies.
Main working domain of data M Engineering, however, has always been the development of
integrated vision systems for the ceramic decorating industry. It started with a machine
for cutting decorative decals and was continued with the development of decal alignment
units (positioning devices with integrated vision system) and customer specific solutions
like optical quality inspection systems.
Today, a large and increasing number of porcelain manufacturers are working with devices
or solutions from data M Engineering.
"The expansion into larger facilities and the investment into a modern manufacturing
system is a signal to our customers that our past strategy has been the right one and that
we are willing to continue this way also in the new millennium" Andreas Bachthaler,
managing director at data M Engineering states.
Decal Transfer for Plate Decoration
Retrofit Possibility for Existing Heat Release Machines
A cost intensive area in the production of
porcelain is the decoration of the whiteware itself.
Automatic decal application machines, which are able to achieve significant
rationalisation in this area, have been on offer for a few years.
The process of heat release presumes that both the article to be decorated and the decal
itself are within the given tolerances and that the position of both, in relation to each
other, always stays the same. It is precisely at this point where the problems start
– in the first instance, with decal fit.
From removing the decal from the magazine and placing on the vacuum table, to the transfer
to the article itself by means of a silicone pad, a whole range of size deviations can
accumulate. These can be solved by using a decal positioning system developed by data M,
which recognises the position of the decal with the help of two video cameras and
compensates the positioning faults.
A tripod shaped positioning table is used to position the decals themselves. This means
that the positioning table, despite its small size of only 400 x 400 x 110mm (W x D x H),
can lift vertically the complete weight of the pad up to 15kN. The vacuum table can be
directly mounted onto the positioning table and the pad can, therefore, pick up the
aligned decal without any in-between steps.
In order to adapt existing heat release decal machines easily, the decal positioning
system uses an SPS interface, which coordinates each individual sequence of events.
Technically, the positioning system is a machine in its own right, which, by means of the
SPS interface determines whether an existing decal is in place or whether the cycle has
been completed and the positioning table can be returned to its starting point.
Conversely, the heat release machine must know whether the decal has been collected or a
new decal can be put down.
Expansion for In-Line Quality Control Available
There is also an expansion to the described system on
offer, which enables you to measure the articles themselves.
As a result, roundness and size accuracy of the plate can now be determined. With this
information the decal can be placed in the center of a plate even if the plate is not
perfectly round (and therefore not perfectly centered) but still within acceptable
tolerances. This is achieved by the installation of another camera and corresponding
software.
This leads to an achievable accuracy, better than ± 0.1% of the measurement area. The
sorting of the articles can also be coordinated via this equipment.
Decal Cutting
At TECNARGILLA’99 the engineering team of data
M introduces a new version of its decal cutting machine.
This system works fully automatic and cuts up to 50 sheets with a moveable perforating
unit. Hereby the cutting contour can be as complex as the user needs it. First the user
draws the cutting contour by means of a marking pen – anything else is done by the
integrated vision system having a camera system mounted above the perforating unit. The
computer control unit - especially developed by data M - guarantees the highest rate of
accuracy and allows for multiple cuts without deviation from the original cutting line.
Optionally, interfaces like HPGL or DXF are available in order to import data from CAD
systems or software programs like Plate Scribe. In the new version PostScript files can be
imported as well, which allows the user to read also ‘MAC-files’.
data M Online or on CD-ROM
On our Internet Web-Site we are offering actual info
to customers and interested companies. Various sections provide you with most actual news
(also containing previous issues of this info forum), sections showing actual product- and
price info as well as dealer- and representative’s addresses, customer support
section and other details. Why not having just a look at data M’s web-site?
By the way: If you haven’t got an Internet connection or fast modem, we’ll send
you a copy of our web-site on CD-ROM. Please call us or send us a short fax message with
your address and fields of interest.
Are you prepared for the Year2K bug?
Less than 4 months remain before 2000 and the
possible computer problems caused by date change. If you are not sure if your actual
software versions are able to handle the year 2000 problem accurately, please contact your
sales representative or our team at data M directly. At
http://www.datam.de/English/Support/ index.htm we have listed the actual Y2K-ready
software versions and respective testing environments.
Thank you for visiting data M. If
you have any comments or if you need more infos please contact us: mailto:datam@datam.de
And don't forget to bookmark this web-site if you find it interesting.
data M Engineering GmbH
Am Marschallfeld 17; D-83626 Valley; Germany
Phone: +49 8024 640-0
Fax: +49 8024 640-300
All material on this web site is copyright © 1998, 1999 data M Software
GmbH, data M Engineering GmbH, Germany.
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