DESIGN
The UniPAKer was
using a reject system
that pushed apples
90° off the side of the
conveyor, down a
chute. However, this
was resulting in
bruising to fruit,
preventing reworking.
Brillopak ran tests which
involved inserting the electronic
apple into flow-wrapped packs and
running the packs through the system to
record G-force measurements. This
exercise revealed that the existing
system was causing the apple to be
subjected to forces of up to 26G in
places, but if that G-force could be
reduced to less than 6G, there would be
no damage to fruit.
The company designed and tested a
new gentle reject system that achieved
exactly this. The system uses tangential
force to guide the rejected apples off the
belt at an angle via a flexible
polyurethane band mounted on an
electronic servo motor controlled
pusher.
Brillopak Technical Director Peter
Newman explains: “The electronic apple
allowed us to pinpoint where the
maximum force was. Armed with that
knowledge, we were able to redesign the
system to reduce that force below the
damage threshold. This is a major
benefit to fresh produce packers, for
whom waste as a result of bruising is a
considerable and largely avoidable cost.”
Optimising the pick and place curve
The other operation on robotic apple
packing systems that can be a hotspot
for damage is the pick and place system,
26 » JULY 2020 » WWW.MADEIN.IE
with some rival
robots dropping
fruit from heights of
250mm. Brillopak
has developed a new
robot control system
that has allowed it to
optimise the
acceleration/deceleration
curve by enabling greater
adjustability of parameters.
“When lifting a pack of apples, the
robot arm accelerates strongly upwards
into a curve, then decelerates down into
the crate, so the pack is tightly
controlled as it reaches the bottom of
the crate. Other packaging machinery
manufacturers might be able to design a
robotic system that picks and places
apples into crates at high speeds, but
what sets us apart is our ability to
perform this task at high speed without
bruising the product,” explains Peter.
Measuring the G-forces on the
electronic apple during the pick and
place process, Brillopak was able to
verify the system’s ability to lift bags of
apples and lower them into crates
without subjecting them to force that
would result in bruising.
Brillopak’s UniPAKer robotic
pick-and-place cell was originally
engineered for packing bags of potatoes
and apples into crates. The UniPAKer
has been specifically designed to
improve productivity and improve pack
presentation on shelf. Using a parallel
arm delta robot on a compact footprint,
it will load up to 85 VFFS, tray-sealed or
flow wrapped packs per minute and is
ideal for vegetables, fruits and salad up
to 1kg. MADE
About
Brillopak
Founded in 1999, Brillopak
is a manufacturer of highly
flexible robotic packing and
palletising systems. Using the
latest proven technologies,
its automation solutions are
designed to raise the bar
in packing efficiency. All
machines are small footprint
and are simple to operate by
unskilled staff. We have an
uncompromising approach to
machine safety and prioritise
its design process towards
minimal maintenance
requirement to maximise
machine uptime.
Last year, Brillopak’s
UniPAKer crate loading robot
for fresh produce factories last
year won the PPMA Innovative
Robotics Solution award,
beating nine other processing
and packaging OEM finalists.
The eight independent
judges summarised their
decision: “Brillopak’s UniPAKer
fresh produce robot is a
stand-out performer within its
category. Incorporating a fourarm
delta robot, it significantly
increases productivity, while
improving pick and pack
presentation in crates to reduce
waste. The robot’s highly
innovative glove gripper makes
for damage-free handling of
food items to help showcase
automation at its best.”
The system has been
specifically designed to improve
pack presentation in retailer
crates and handle products
carefully to prevent bruising. It
will consistently load up to 75
packs per minute in VFFS, tray
sealed and flow wrapped packs
and is ideal for vegetables,
fruits and salad up to 1kg. As
highlighted by the judges, the
UniPaker’s innovative patent
pending ‘glove’ end-effector has
been designed with soft fingers,
four on each side, which scoopsup
the product and places it in
the crate. Conventionally this is
done by a steel gripper which
is prone to bag splitting and
bruising of the product.
Brillopak
ran tests which
involved inserting the
electronic apple into
flow-wrapped packs
and running the packs
through the system
to record G-force
measurements
/WWW.MADEIN.IE