APA-Tec: A showroom of smart drive solutions
21 October 2024
Selecting the right drives for a complete filling line is one of the most complex tasks in automation technology. Every single station of the filling line, from conveying and dosing to capping and packaging, places specific demands on the drive systems. Furthermore, for certain products, these systems must not only be powerful and precise, but also meet stringent requirements regarding hygiene, corrosion resistance, and particle emissions – a challenge perfectly suited to LinMot and APA-Tec GmbH.
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More informationBottling
It becomes particularly challenging when filling aggressive or sensitive substances such as chemicals, food products, or pharmaceutical and cosmetic products. Actuators made from conventional materials often lack the necessary resistance to chemical reactions, moisture, or high temperatures that can occur in filling lines. Therefore, stainless steel products are often indispensable in lines handling special substances and under specific production conditions. LinMot's specialized product line meets these requirements, offering actuators that function flawlessly in both hygienic and highly corrosive environments. Mr. Eberhard Vaas, Managing Director of APA-Tec GmbH, is particularly impressed by the linear guides from the LinMot stainless steel range: “Any manufacturer can supply the drive, both rotary and linear, but the machine builder still has to design and build the guide himself. The linear guides from LinMot offer enormous relief and time savings here,” says the managing director of APA-Tec GmbH.
LinMot components speak all the important languages of the control world, enabling smooth and efficient integration into control architectures.
Close
The realization of industrial systems for APA-Tec GmbH for precise and dynamic closing and screwing presents an extremely complex challenge. The various components of such an application, such as different servo motors, grippers, hoses, and sensors, must be precisely coordinated and integrated into the engineering. This makes implementation planning-, material-, cost-, and time-intensive. Furthermore, the requirements for dynamics, repeatability, durability, and efficiency are high, and conventional drive systems often reach their limits when it comes to implementing effective closing processes. In addition, machine builders must not only consider technical feasibility but also factors such as energy efficiency, space requirements, and maintenance effort.
“The Z-axis also has to be implemented by the machine builder themselves. This is a very complex challenge for the screwing process of our products, as they are offered in a wide variety of formats, all of which have to run on this one machine,” says Mr. Vaas, addressing a common problem for many machine builders. For this reason, LinMot offers the PR02 linear-rotary motor for linear-rotary movements, which, unlike competing products, is an all-in-one solution that meets diverse engineering requirements. PR02 motors are also installed in APA-Tec's “99” filling system to execute all the movements of the screwing station: The six installed linear-rotary motors alone can grip, move, and insert the spray heads, and once the thread start has been easily located, tighten them with torque. “Thanks to the PR02, we can implement completely different movement sequences with a single drive – what more could you want?” says the Managing Director of APA-Tec GmbH, praising the outstanding versatility of LinMot's PR02 motors.
Thanks to the PR02, we can implement movement sequences that are completely different from each other – what more could you want?
Pick and Place
“APA-Tec has extremely high speed requirements,” explains Managing Director Vaas, justifying why LinMot was chosen for pick-and-place applications as well. Thanks to their low moving mass, LinMot drives can operate reliably even at high cycle rates without sacrificing precision. This efficiency not only reduces production costs but also energy consumption compared to conventional drive solutions.
LinMot drives offer high repeatability, ensuring that each part is placed exactly in the right position, which is essential when fitting the lids. Load balancing is provided by the completely maintenance-free MagSpring, which delivers a constant force across the entire working range.
The broad product portfolio and modular system also enable flexible adaptation to a wide variety of requirements in automation technology. Whether complex motion sequences or simple pick-and-place applications – LinMot drives can be individually configured and seamlessly combined into a wide range of multi-axis and handling systems. This versatility and adaptability make LinMot products the ideal solution for modern pick-and-place processes where speed and precision are crucial competitive factors.
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