Fully automatic transportation-RFID system optimizes material flow and circulation
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At Mokapak, the transportation of pallets from the loader to the foil packaging machine is done by the laser AGV (Automatic Guided Vehicle System). The truck automatically drives according to the set guidance route, and the entire driving process is fully automated. The control system of the carrier is activated by the loader. Its activation is instructed by a certain pallet that needs to be transported at a specific location. Then, the available AGV truck transports the pallet to the foil packaging machine, where it is packaged and labeled. When labeling, it is necessary to provide information about the products to be carried, but the AGV vehicle does not “understand” what it is currently transporting. Moreover, at the same time, there will be multiple trucks carrying pallets of different products. Therefore, it may be unclear which automatic trucks carry which goods to the foil packaging machine. Therefore, simply transmitting product data via the network (similar to the transportation of pallets) will not meet its requirements. In addition, other factors must be considered: the loading system, packaging system, and labeling system are from different manufacturers. These factors make the communication and synchronization between independent control systems very difficult, and so far, it is still a big problem. The identification data of the transported goods may be lost. In order to solve this “data transportation” problem, on the basis of the current system, another parallel system was developed and implemented. The task of the system is to separately manage the product information carried by each independent AGV vehicle. After studying a variety of current technologies and conducting a series of tests, Lavazza’s technical department decided to use Siemens’ radio frequency identification system (RFID for short) in the project.
Time and place
Each vehicle is equipped with a rewritable transceiver. These mobile data storage units are also called “tags.” Each loading or unloading position of the pallet is equipped with an antenna. With this antenna, it is possible to read or record the data on the transceiver of each AGV vehicle separately. If the carrier carries the pallet that needs to be packed from the loader, the system can use the antenna to transmit all the relevant information of the pallet to the transceiver of the carrier. In other words, the data of the pallet moves with the truck. Therefore, when arriving at the destination, the data can be conveyed to the arriving tray without error. The data “transported” in the transceiver can be read through the antenna configured on the roller conveyor of the packaging machine. With this data, the control system can identify the pallet and identify the goods being transported. Once the pallet is wrapped in foil, the same information is sent to the labeling machine, and the labeling machine affixes the standard label to the shipped pallet.
RFID system optimizes material flow and circulation
Industrial automation production, logistics and marketing have increasingly higher requirements for non-contact identification systems, requiring it to be dust-proof, not affected by temperature changes, and have more storage space. The data storage unit (MDS) is directly installed on the product, product carrier or product packaging, so the information transmitted to the MDS is attached to the product. No optical contact or physical contact reader/recorder is required, and the information in the data storage unit can be read through radio frequency technology (antenna), or the information can be recorded in the data storage unit. The reader/recorder (antenna) can be connected in series with the intelligent PLC module or PC. Siemens has a series of RFID systems to choose from, which can meet various requirements:
l Moby D and Moby F are used for logistics, distribution and order pick-up
l Moby I, Moby E, Moby U and SIMATIC RF 300 are used in industrial production and production line applications
l Moby R is used for transportation, transportation logistics and positioning
The test was successful
In the test project, Siemens’ RFID system product MOBY F was used. During the test, six SLA81 antennas were installed: one was installed in each of the five loading stations, and the other was installed on the foil packaging machine. The whole system is monitored and managed by Simatic S7-300 PLC. In addition to controlling the operation logic, it also controls the communication between the loading system, foil packaging system and marking system. All operations are visualized through the SCADA software Simatic WinCC.
After the pilot project was successful, other departments also cited this technology. The extended application of the test will be completed in the first half of this year, with 21 additional SLA81 antennas, one S7-300 PLC, and two visualization sites equipped with WinCC software (version 6.0) will be installed. The RFID system launched by Siemens meets all major standards. Therefore, system solutions using this technology can be used worldwide. Siemens’ services cover the world and provide you with RFID system service support anytime, anywhere.
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