As one of the main branches of Guardian Industries, Guardian Glass is one of the largest glass manufacturers in the world, which makes products from sheet glass, coated glass and processed glass. Operating 25 float glass (plate glass) plants in various countries of the world, Guardian Glass manufactures float and processed glass products for the interior and exterior glass surfaces of commercial and residential buildings, as well as vehicles and technical items. Guardian glass products may be found in homes, offices, cars and the most distinctive architectural spectacles in the world. The Guardian Glass Scientific and Technological Centre is constantly working on the creation of new glass products and solutions with the aid of the most developed technology possible, so that its clients may see what is possible.
The installation of a fast and efficient glass stacking system became necessary in the Orosháza plate glass works, which would meet the requirements in every way.
The ABB robot system moves huge plates of glass in the Guardian Orosháza plate glass works 
The ABB robot system moves huge plates of glass in the Guardian Orosháza plate glass works 
The ABB robot system moves huge plates of glass in the Guardian Orosháza plate glass works 
The ABB robot system moves huge plates of glass in the Guardian Orosháza plate glass works 
The ABB robot system moves huge plates of glass in the Guardian Orosháza plate glass works
Working together and the ABB robot were the key to success
After thorough discussions, it was the ABB IRB 8700 robot which met all challenges. The gripper is a vacuum-operated holding structure, 16 of which were mounted on the robot. With the aid of the vacuum created in the holding structure, the robot grips the glass plate at 12-16 points and can hold it with the force caused by the vacuum. It was this that posed the greatest challenge. A huge, paper-thin glass plate weighing scarcely a few kilos must be gripped in a completely different place and with a different force than even an 8 m2 glass weighing hundreds of kilograms. While it is gripped and held by vacuum, the glass plate must be put in its place with millimetre accuracy by the robot, meanwhile turning it from a vertical to a horizontal orientation. During the process, the glass must remain undamaged.
From the very first steps, ABB worked together in the project with Entra-Sys Kft. and 3i Kft., which helped with the mechanical jobs and the control system. The road to commissioning led through many tests and simulations, which finally perfected the head which grips the huge glass sheets.
The new plate glass stacking system’s capability
The strength of the new glass plate stacking system is that it can move the huge plates of up to 2600 by 3210 millimetres from a vertical to a horizontal orientation quickly and safely, if the glass to be moved is 16 millimetres thick (and the glass sheet weighs 350 kilos), or even if it is a filmy sheet a total of 2 millimetres in thickness.
The ABB robot takes down these huge plates individually from a rotating stand to put the sheets in the proper place according to type, meanwhile the side to face upwards can be selected. For this, it was necessary to have the stacking route for the individual sheets calculated in the most minute detail, and for it to be determined how quickly and with what direction changes the robot can move while working with the various plates. An important component of the design was that the corners of the glass should not come into contact with anything, and care had to be taken that the glass plates which stuck together due to vacuum should not be damaged or broken during lifting. When the plates are put down, the vacuum paws set them in place with a blast of air.
In the following video illustrating the operation of the robot, József Károlyi, Guardian Orosháza Operations Manager and Zsolt Harvich, AAB Kft. sales manager tell us interesting facts about the project and the work done by the robot.
The new robot in numbers
The IRB 8700, the new robot for stacking glass sheets is available in two configurations: in the first case the robot arm has a reach of 4.2 metres, and the robot’s load capacity is 550 kilograms. In the second configuration, the arm can reach 3.5 metres, and can bear up to 800 kilograms. The loading speed and efficiency are outstanding, it can place 2 glass sheets in 35 seconds. Likewise, a new change with the introduction of the robot, is that if a glass breaks for some reason, the work does not need to be stopped, it can continue.
An additional advantage of the robot is that it works without human intervention (there may be a need for a machine operator’s supervision, though, for which there was training by ABB when the project was delivered) and ABB have undertaken the servicing of the robot.
