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US 2019/0291978 A1Published application
Modular loading and unloading system and process
AssigneeAmada America, Inc.
InventorsMichael Beransky, Mihai Cioclei, Alexey Volovik, Jonas Gutierrez, Fred Cortez, Karapet Kirishchyan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A modular loading and unloading system wherein modular units can be simply added to a base unit, or main unit, in a desired configuration that fulfill capacity and footprint needs of a manufacturer at any moment, for example when the manufacturer's business expands, thus considerably reducing the time and cost of modifying existing manufacturing systems, such as a laser-based parts cutting system.
Claims19
A modular loading and unloading system comprising:
- a master module comprising:
- a first frame adapted for positioning over a first shuttle that feeds material sheets into a first material sheet processing machine, the first frame having a left side disposed to the left of the first shuttle and an opposite right side disposed to the right of the first shuttle;
- a pair of master loading rails extending between the left side and the right side of the first frame;
- a loading unit that is movably attached to the first frame and disposed above the first shuttle, the loading unit having a plurality of wheels associated with the pair of master loading rails, such that to allow the loading unit to move between the left side and the right side of the first frame and vice versa;
- and
- an unloading unit that is movably attached to the first frame and disposed above the first shuttle;
- a slave module comprising:
- a second frame being adapted for selective positioning either to the left or to the right side of the master module;
- and
- a pair of slave loading rails associated with the second frame and being aligned with the pair of master loading rails, such that to allow the loading unit to travel from the first frame to the second frame and vice versa;
- a controller having:
- a data connection to the first shuttle and to the master module;
- wherein the controller is adapted to automatically recognize what type of system module is connected to the controller via a unique network identifier associated with said system module;
- wherein, the loading unit of the master module is controlled by the controller to automatically travel from the master module to the slave module to retrieve a material sheet therefrom and place the material sheet onto the first shuttle.
11 more elements
A modular loading and unloading system comprising:
- a master module, the master module comprising:
- a first frame adapted for positioning over a shuttle that feeds material sheets into a material sheet processing machine, the first frame having a left side disposed to the left of the shuttle and an opposite right side disposed to the right of the shuttle;
- a pair of master loading rails extending between the left side and the right side of the first frame;
- a loading unit that is movably attached to the first frame and disposed above the shuttle, the loading unit having a plurality of wheels associated with the pair of master loading rails, such that to allow the loading unit to move between the left side and the right side of the first frame and vice versa;
- and
- an unloading unit that is movably attached to the first frame and disposed above the loading unit when the unloading and the loading units are both in an initial position;
- and
- a slave module comprising:
- a second frame being adapted for selective positioning either to the left or to the right side of the master module;
- and
- a pair of slave loading rails associated with the second frame and being aligned with the pair of master loading rails, such that to allow the loading unit to travel from the first frame to the second frame and vice versa;
- wherein, the master module is adapted to perform concurrent loading and unloading operations by the loading unit being moved away, into the slave module to retrieve a material sheet therefrom, thus allowing the unloading element to concurrently approach the shuttle to collect processed parts from the shuttle.
9 more elements
A method of configuring and operating a modular loading and unloading system comprising a master module having a loading unit and an unloading unit, a slave module adapted to allow the loading unit to travel from the master module to the slave module and vice versa, and a controller, the method comprising:
- placing the master module over a shuttle and the slave module adjacent to the master module;
- expanding the modular loading and unloading system by connecting a new module of the system to the controller;
- automatically recognizing, by the controller, the type of the new module based on a unique network identifier associated with said new module;
- presenting to a user, via a GUI, the option to add the new module with default parameters associated with the new module;
- if the user selects not to add the new module with default parameters, presenting the user with the option to set, via the GUI, custom parameters associated with the new module.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.