1

Computer Aided
Manufacturing Lecture 08

CAM Materials Handling

Automation - Robotic

Dr. Ragab Kamal

 Contents

• Containerization

• Fixed-Path Equipment

• Mobile Equipment

• Warehousing and Storage

Introduction
 MATERIALS-HANDLING DEFINITIONS
• Materials-handling technology includes hardware and
systems which can be categorized as follows:
– Containerization: This classification covers the broad spectrum of
confinement methods that are used for storage through all phases
of the manufacturing, or process, cycle.
– Fixed-path handling: This classification applies to movement and
storage of unit loads of material with an intermittent or a
continuous flow over a fixed path from one point to another.
– Mobile handling: This classification includes all handling systems
that move material over various paths within a manufacturing or
processing cycle.
– Warehousing: This classification of materials handling considers
the systems, equipment practices, and requirements dedicated to
the following operations within the manufacturing, processing, or
distribution cycle:
CONTAINERIZATION
 CONTAINERIZATION
One of the basic principles of materials
handling is that materials should be
converted wherever possible to unit loads to
avoid manual handling.
A unit load is defined as a standard container
package containing one or more items that
can be handled in a standard way.
 CONTAINERIZATION HARDWARE
● Pallets
● Containers
● Tote boxes and bins
● Dunnage
● Outer securement
 MATERIALS HANDLING:
FIXED-PATH EQUIPMENT
• CONVEYORS
• SORTING, CONSOLIDATING, AND DIVERTING DEVICES
• HOISTS AND CRANES
• AUTOMATIC GUIDED VEHICLES
• ROBOTS
There are many considerations involved in planning fixed-
path equipment installations; many of these considerations
are unique to a specific type or class of equipment, but
general areas that must be addressed in the planning and
exploration stage are:
● Flexibility of the system. Must a wide range of unit-load sizes or bulk
material be handled or conveyed?
● State of materials to be handled. Is it in a unit load or bulk form?
● Weight, dimensions, and physical properties of the material being
handled or moved. Is it fragile, light, firm, or does it have other
properties that require special attention?
● Loading and unloading methods. Is it handled manually or received
from or delivered to other equipment such as lift trucks, palletizers,
or packaging equipment?
● Capacity of equipment. Does the conveying speed match the speed or
capacities of the equipment it is being interfaced with? Is there
sufficient capacity or length to accumulate material when required?
● Supporting-system requirements. Is the material to be sorted,
accumulated, weighed, or further processed while being
handled or conveyed?
● Environmental conditions. Must provisions be made for dust,
high or low temperature, high humidity, or other ambient
conditions in the plant or outside?
● Safety. What special precautions must be taken to protect
operating personnel or personnel working near the
equipment? What provisions must be made to comply with
regulatory requirements?
● Maintenance.
● Facility restrictions. Are overhead heights or floor loading
capacities adequate for supporting and accommodating
equipment? Is there sufficient plant area? Will the fixed-path
system impede access to equipment and the flow of
personnel and other materials within the plant?
● Horizontal or vertical distances to be covered. What hardware
is required to negotiate inclines and declines throughout the
system?
● Power and energy requirements.
 CONVEYORS
• Conveyors are gravity or power devices commonly used to
move uniform loads continuously from point to point over
fixed paths.
• The primary function of the conveyor is to move materials
when the loads are uniform, and the routes do not vary.
The movement rate and direction is usually fixed, although
powered conveyors have the capability to alter the rate of
speed.
• The major types of conveyor and related devices are chutes
and wheel and roller conveyors.
 Can it be handled on a roller conveyor?

Wheel and Roller Conveyors. These depend on

both gravity and power to move materials.
Chutes. Chutes are the Objects of various shapes can be handled by
simplest fixed-path devices changing the cross section of the rolling surface
that use gravity to convey bulk or by aligning the objects in the conveyor
or unit loads down declines. framework. These conveyors are generally used
Straight and spiral types are to move materials horizontally.
available.
Roller and wheel spacing guidelines.
Roller-conveyor curve sections.
Special types of wheel conveyors
• Belt Conveyors. Belt conveyors consist of an endless moving belt which carries
materials within a supporting frame. The belt can be made from a variety of
materials and may or may not be equipped with cleats or other grabbing
devices. The belt may be supported by a solidslider-type bed of wood or metal
or by rollers.
• Metal-Belt Conveyors. Similar in design to standard belt conveyors, these
differ in that their surface is a belt of woven or solid metal. The materials
include carbon steel, galvanized steel, chromium stainless steel, and other
metals or special alloys that are required for a specific application and
environment. Wire belts are also available for use where processing
temperatures vary from 160 to 1416 C. Wire-belt conveyors are used primarily
to move product or unit loads through processes that include liquid or
chemical treatment, heat treatment, or kiln firing operations.
• Surface Chain Conveyors. Surface chain conveyors include sliding chain,
pusherbar, slat, and tow types and car-type trolley conveyors.
 Surface Chain Conveyors
(a) In-floor towline,

(b) trolley conveyor,

(c) pusher bar conveyor,

(d) slat conveyor.

 Overhead Conveyors
• Overhead conveyors include both trolley conveyors and power and
free types of equipment. These conveyors are supported and
function within a trolley track driven by a chain power drive to
move parts or product. The path of the conveyor can be straight,
inclined, declined, and around corners; it can make optimum use
of building geometry and follow the general work flow path within
the limitations of building constraints and equipment design
parameters. Conveyors can be supported independently or
attached to existing beams and trusses, depending on the load
factors involved.
Plan and vertical elevation views of trolley
conveyor system
Load-spacing considerations for overhead
conveyors
 Bulk-Materials Vertical Conveyors

• Bulk-materials vertical conveyors are generally used to lift

bulk materials up to silos, hoppers, or other storage

containers from which the material may be dispensed into a

mixing, packing, truck-loading operation, or directly to a

process. Some of the industries that use this equipment

include glass, agricultural fertilizer, and powdered chemicals.

Bulk material vertical conveyors: (a) rotor lift, (b) bulk flow,
(c) skip hoist, and (d) gravity discharge
conveyor elevator.
 SORTING, CONSOLIDATING, AND
DIVERTING DEVICES
• A materials-handling system must frequently have the ability
at some point to identify, sort, and divert parts, products, or
unit loads. Peripheral accessories and equipment do this,
ranging from simple mechanical diverters to sophisticated
optical recognition reading devices, which can actually read
and identify alphanumeric characters and sort 20,000 items
per hour and which are used mainly for check and mail
handling.
• Whatever the complexity of the system, three basic elements
must be considered: identification of the item to be sorted or
consolidated, recognition of the item, and the command to
activate the mechanisms to divert the item.
Diverting mechanisms
 HOISTS AND CRANES
• Hoists and cranes are materials-handling
equipment used to move varying loads
intermittently within a fixed area. The loads
vary in size and weight and are not uniform.
Most of the materials movement is devoted to
raising and lowering loads, although some
units are so constructed as to permit them to
travel laterally over a specific area.
• Hand and Powered Hoists
Jib Cranes

Bridge Cranes. Gantry Cranes.

 Lifters
• A lifter is an attachment
suspended from the load
hook of a hoist or crane that
permits a load to be handled
more easily or quickly than
possible with a hook, and
many load configurations
cannot be handled with a
hook. In many cases, lifters
are designed for a specific
application, but there are
many standard types that are
available for a wide range of
applications.
 AUTOMATIC GUIDED VEHICLES
• Automatic guided vehicles move material over fixed paths but do
not require the use of an operator or a mechanical drive train
located below the floor surface or an overhead towline.
• They are useful when a variety of materials must be moved over
long distances to and from a variety of fixed destinations.
• There are three identifiable types of vehicles: first, the driverless
tractor (Fig. 4.34) which hauls trailers or cartloads of material;
second, the individual unit-load or pallet mover (Fig. 4.35); and
third, the multishelved self-contained vehicle.The last type is used
primarily to move mail in office buildings or for food and supply
deliveries in hospitals.
Typical features of a driverless
tractor system
Individual unit load or pallet mover
 ROBOTS
• Robots are programmable machines capable
of automatically moving individual parts or
objects over precise paths in space. A robot
can also be programmable so that it is able to
move parts through different paths, capable
of performing repetitive motions, able to
duplicate the movements of the human arm
by moving parts through four axes in space.
 Definition
A robot is a programmable, multifunction
manipulator designed to move material, parts,
tools, or special devices through variable
programmed motions for the performance of
a variety tasks.
 Basic Components
• Manipulator
– Arm or end-effector
• Actuator
– Electric, hydraulic or pneumatic units to supply
power
• Control Unit
– Controls motion or actions; from switches to
microprocessor
 Technical Characteristics
• Work envelope
• Payload
• Precision of Movement
• Speed of Movement
• Stability
 Automation
• Automatically controlled operation of an
apparatus, process, or system by mechanical
or electronic devices that take the place of
human organs of observation, effort, and
decision.
• A process without direct human activity in the
process
Robot with six axes of motion.

Robot grippers equipped with

spring-loaded fingers.
18-05-2023 Sampath.K AP/EEE-DACE 37
18-05-2023 Sampath.K AP/EEE-DACE 38
 Grippers and Tools

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JOINTED-ARM ROBOT

Notation TRR:

18-05-2023 Sampath.K AP/EEE-DACE 40

 MATERIALS HANDLING:
MOBILE EQUIPMENT
INTRODUCTION
APPLICATION CONSIDERATIONS
Equipment Utilization and Selection
FLOOR TRUCKS AND OPERATOR-POWERED MOVERS
POWERED-LIFT TRUCKS
Materials-Handling Attachments
BURDEN CARRIERS
TRACTORS AND TRACTOR TRAINS
MOBILE INDUSTRIAL CRANES
 INTRODUCTION
• The group of equipment that is described as mobile materials-
handling equipment is made up of machines that essentially
depend on a self-contained power source for movement and
are independent in their movement route. The equipment,
being self-contained material movers, provides a flexible,
relatively inexpensive transportation link between plant
activities.
• Generically, mobile materials-handling equipment falls into
five groups, each of which will be discussed in this chapter:
1. Floor trucks and operator-powered movers
2. Powered lift trucks
3. Burden carriers
4. Tractors and tractor trains
5. Mobile industrial cranes
 Equipment Utilization and Selection
• General considerations in establishing equipment
requirements include:
● Unit-load condition and size and center of load
● Terrain, environment, and aisle width in the movement area
● Length, type, and frequency of moves
● Positioning requirements of load(s)
● Operating economies and maintenance
● Standardization of equipment
● Critical nature of operation(s) serviced
 FLOOR TRUCKS AND OPERATOR-
POWERED MOVERS
Factory Trucks
Dollies
Two-Wheeled Hand
Trucks.

(a) Appliance type, (b) drum and

barrel mover, (c) general type with
Western handle, (d) general type
with Eastern handle.
 POWERED-LIFT TRUCKS
This equipment group
represents what is probably
the largest and most varied
of equipment for materials
handling. The powered-lift
truck owes its popularity to
its versatility, being able to
easily pick up a unit load,
transport it quickly in a
variety of environments,
and then position the load
vertically at almost any
point within the capability
of the equipment.
Truck capacity is generally
calculated as follows
Materials-Handling Attachments