Motor Control Cabinet Buckets for Standard Robot Operation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Industrial robots are often inflexible and expensive due to the need for specialized designs to interact with industrial machines, particularly motor control cabinets, which require multiple axes of movement and high payload capacity, making them incompatible with typical robots.
Innovation Solution
A motor control cabinet design that allows for a bucket containing industrial devices to move along an axis with one degree of freedom, using a slider bearing system and compatible interfacing devices operable by a standard industrial robot, reducing the need for specialized robots.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If industrial robots are designed with multiple axes of movement and high payload capacity to interact with motor control cabinets, then the robots can perform operations on industrial machines, but the robot design becomes specialized, expensive, and inflexible
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of adapting the robot to the motor control cabinet, the patent inverts the approach by adapting the motor control cabinet to work with standard robots. The cabinet is designed with movable buckets and standardized interfacing devices that can be operated by typical industrial robots with limited axes and payload capacity, eliminating the need for specialized high-capacity robots
Solution Approach 2:
The motor control cabinet is designed with universal interfacing devices that can be operated by standard industrial robots. The bucket mechanism and standardized interfaces allow any typical robot to perform operations, making the system universally compatible rather than requiring specialized robot designs for each application
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple interfacing devices with different interfaces are used on the motor control cabinet, then different operations can be performed, but the robot requires multiple end effectors and more axes of movement
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements universal interfacing devices on the motor control cabinet that can perform multiple operations through a single standardized interface. The first interfacing device handles both first and second operations, while the second interfacing device handles the third operation, all compatible with the same robot end effector type, eliminating the need for multiple specialized end effectors
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple operational functions are merged into single interfacing devices. The first interfacing device combines both first and second operations into one interface, reducing the total number of interfaces and end effectors needed while maintaining operational versatility
Data Source
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AI summary
A motor control cabinet (MCC), implemented in a motor control center, on which an operation is performable by an industrial robot (IR), comprising: a bucket placeable in a section of the MCC, the bucket is configured to contain industrial device(s) and is movable along an axis relative to the section; a first interfacing device (ID) associated with the bucket, the first ID is associated with a first operation and a second operation distinct from the first operation, the first ID is operable by the IR to perform the first operation or the second operation on the bucket; and a second ID associated with the bucket, the second ID is associated with a third operation and operable by the IR to perform the third operation on the bucket, an interface of the second ID and an interface of the first ID are compatible with a same end effector of the IR.