Industrial robots use carbon fiber composite materials to reduce weight

Industrial robots use carbon fiber composite materials to reduce weight

Earlier, the Advanced Manufacturing Research Center (AMRC) of the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom launched the world's earliest reconfigurable carbon fiber composite robotic machine tool. The carbon fiber composite robot project is part of the AMRC "Future Aircraft Factory" project. It is also supported by the British Government Aviation Technology Research Institute, and is jointly developed by Airbus and the parallel motion robot system manufacturer Exechon. version.

The relevant person in charge said: "This modular structure made of carbon fiber composite materials can be easily disassembled and moved by two people. The use of composite materials also means that factory temperature changes have much less impact on the accuracy of robot actuators than all metal. "This also represents a new height achieved by the integration of industrial robots and new materials. At present, in the manufacturing of industrial robots at home and abroad, the application trend of carbon fiber composite materials is becoming more and more obvious.

Suzhou Noen Composites is one of the few companies in the Yangtze River Delta region that focuses on carbon fiber robotic arms. According to its staff, although the number of axes and shapes of the robotic arms are different, they all accept instructions and then accurately Positioning to a certain point for operation. The robot arm is required to accurately place the workpiece in a fixed position under the condition of bearing its own weight and grasping the maximum weight of the workpiece during work, and the application of the carbon fiber robot arm has emerged.

The movement speed of the mechanical arm from starting to braking has a direct effect on the stability of its work. The lighter the weight of the arm, the smaller the inertia of the movement, and the smoother and smoother it will run.

The final position accuracy will be higher. The density of carbon fiber is only 1.75g/cm3. Take Noen Composites as an example of a customized carbon fiber robotic arm product. The carbon fiber robotic arm has a total length of 930mm, a width of 150mm, and a wall thickness of 5mm. Except for the metal shafts at both ends, the whole one The total weight of the robotic arm is only 3kg, and this lightweight effect can significantly improve the operating accuracy of the industrial robot.

The rigidity of the arm directly affects the smoothness of movement, the speed of movement and the accuracy of positioning when grasping the workpiece. Insufficient rigidity of the material itself will cause bending deformation of the arm in the vertical plane or torsional deformation of the inner side of the horizontal plane, and the arm will vibrate accordingly, and even cause the workpiece to jam. The tensile strength of carbon fiber composite material is about 1400 MPa, which is several times that of steel. It has advantages over traditional metal materials in terms of elastic modulus and load-bearing capacity, and has the ability to adapt to high-strength operating frequencies.

In domestic robot applications, carbon fiber robotic arms are not only used in aerospace or industrial manufacturing, but also appear more and more frequently in common small and medium-sized robots. This also shows that domestic robotic arm technology is maturing and its application direction It is constantly expanding. I believe that with the integration of new material technology, carbon fiber robotic arms can play more roles for people.