Bengt Lennartson at Chalmers University of Technology explains how you can save up to 30% of energy and 50% peak power by optimised robot systems
Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden has developed a new optimisation procedure that enables energy consumption to be reduced by 30% while retaining the given production time. The procedure was achieved by minimising the acceleration of industrial robot systems.
Energy optimisation of robot motions helps to reduce acceleration and deceleration, as well as the time the robot is at a standstill since being at a standstill also consumes energy. A basic idea in the proposed optimisation concept to let the robot move slower instead of waiting for other robots to catch up, before carrying out the next operation sequence. The optimisation also determines the order in which the various operations are carried out, to minimise energy consumption without reducing the time it takes to execute the operation.
Industrial robot systems
Evaluations on industrial robots show that it is possible to save up to 30% energy and 50% peak power, neither substituting any hardware nor provoking negative consequences on the overall plant production. The required peak power determines the necessary capacity of the power supply system, including the amount of copper in power cables.
Researchers at the Chalmers University of Technology are working on projects to observe robots in manufacturing industries with an aim to reduce energy consumption. In the AERUS Project, additional activities have been included to it to further reduce the energy and peak power consumption.
This ebook outlines the work of researchers at the Chalmers University of Technology and how they aim to save the manufacturing industry energy but still keep the required execution time. Professor Bengt Lennartson and Dr Kristofer Bengtsson are leading the research at the University which aims to lead to potentially significant energy savings in the automotive industry.
