ABB’s automation technologies for the factory of the future at the PPMA Total Show 2017

Under the theme of “smart manufacturing”, ABB will demonstrate how its products, systems and services use digitalisation to improve energy efficiency

ABB is showcasing its range of automation technologies, targeting all industries including food and beverage and pharmaceuticals and a host of applications from picking, packing and palletising to pumps, fans, compressors and mixers.

Stand F70, at the PPMA Total Show 2017, Birmingham NEC, 26th - 28th September 2017, will reflect ABB’s broad portfolio including robots, variable speed drives, motors, distributed control systems, programmable logic controllers, switchgear and cable ties.

Under the theme of “smart manufacturing”, ABB will demonstrate how its products, systems and services use digitalisation to improve energy efficiency and enhance overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), while helping to fulfil regulatory compliance.

Robotic automation

ABB’s family of table top Selective Compliance Articulated Robot Arms (SCARA) opens new opportunities for automated materials handling and inspection applications. Offering fast and accurate performance and capable of handling payloads up to 6 kg, it incorporates the same high performance and design concepts as ABB’s other small robots, including superior path control and accuracy in a small footprint.

The SCARA will be working alongside ABB’s dual-armed collaborative robot YuMi®. Featuring an inherently safe design, together with flexible hands, universal parts feeding system, camera-based part location, lead-through programming, and state-of-the-art precise motion control, YuMi opens new possibilities for collaboration between robots and human workers in small parts handling applications.

ABB’s FlexPicker robot cell, comprising of two ABB FlexPicker IRB 360 robots with integrated colour vision technology, can perform 120 picks per minute. The IRB 360 offers outstanding motion performance with the shortest cycle times, precision accuracy and high payloads.
Variable speed drives and motors

ATEX-compliant package

ABB is one of the only companies that makes both variable speed drives and low voltage AC motors. As such it is well equipped to offer customers a perfectly designed, tested and approved matched pair, for whatever the motor-driven application. For instance, an ATEX approved AC motor and drive combination gives safe, economic power combined with effective control. By choosing an ATEX compliant motor-drive package, end-users can be confident that it is optimised for their application, complies to ATEX 2014/34/EU and is commercially beneficial, giving more available power for your money.

Wash down motor

ABB has launched its IEC stainless steel wash down motor that complies with strict hygiene standards. The stainless-steel casing, rated to IP69K, means the motor can resist direct water sprays at 100 bar and 80 degrees centigrade, allowing production equipment to be cleaned in place. The smoothly finished surface features laser engraved markings and a self-draining design, discouraging the growth of microorganisms. The bearings are lubricated with H1 food grade grease, ensuring safe operation in processing environments. Encapsulated windings ensure the motor has a long life in extremely humid conditions.

Smart sensor

A device that cost efficiently monitors the condition of low voltage (LV) motors to increase their performance, efficiency, reliability and lifespan is now available in the UK. The ABB AbilityTM Smart Sensor for motors is a pocket-sized device that is retrofitted to the frame of LV induction motors. Installation of the sensor module is made easy as no additional wiring is required.

By providing meaningful information on motor condition and performance, the service will enable users to plan their maintenance according to actual needs rather than on time intervals or operating hours alone. This can reduce downtime by up to 70 percent, extend motor lifetime by as much as 30 percent and cut energy consumption by up to 10 percent.

Control systems, PLCs and HMIs

Visitors will also be able to try out ABB’s Zenon supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system, which will feature in a touchscreen kiosk on the stand. The Zenon system incorporates many features for food and beverage and pharmaceutical production applications, including security protection, audit trail, batch and production scheduling capabilities.

ABB Ability Manufacturing Operations Management is all about combining plant operations data from any control system with ERP data and other data sources into actionable information that provides the right insights for decision makers to plan, execute, optimise and continuously improve plant operations.

Supporting the control systems is a range of PLCs and human-machine interface (HMI) along with the Automation Builder software platform. The platform is ABB's integrated programming, maintenance and simulation environment for its PLCs, robots, motors and drives systems. It helps machine builders and system integrators to significantly reduce the time and costs associated with operating and maintaining automated systems.

Switchgear

ABB’s EMAX2 is an all-in-one circuit breaker which matches new grid requirements. EMAX2 enables a direct communication to the new ABB Agility Electrical Conduit System cloud computing platform, which enables remote collection, storage and processing of breaker data. This data can be communicated to the user via smartphone, tablet or personal computer, giving them access to factory energy consumption data which they can use to identify potential areas for improvement.

Cable ties

A selection of ABB’s Ty-Rap® detectable cable ties are available to prevent accidental spoilage in food, beverage, pharmaceutical and other contamination-sensitive processes. Incorporating a special compound that can be detected by X-ray equipment, metal detectors and visual inspection equipment, Ty-Rap® detectable cable ties can be used to safeguard against potentially expensive recalls caused by compromised product quality.

Anti-microbial conduit system

Visitors will also see how further protection against accidental contamination can be achieved by using ABB’s new Adaptaflex antimicrobial conduit system range.

Featuring a smooth, food grade DuPont Hytrel® thermoplastic jacket together with a single piece liquid tight 316 Stainless Steel fitting, the Adaptaflex range helps prevent the formation of bacteria that can pose a threat in food production processes.

For more information, please contact ABB Robotics by email via robotics@gb.abb.com or call 01908 350 300 ref ‘PPMA 2017’.