Converge Welding (Bus Soldering) is the middle processing technology in photovoltaic solar panels, the former one process is string welding. In this process , it needs to weld several welding strips on the surface of multiple solar cells in parallel to form a battery string. For multiple groups of welded battery strips, they are ordered and transferred to converge soldering workbench. And do positioning and correction for them through machine vision to ensure accuracy of welding.
Then, connect all these battery strips by welding strip (convergence strip). In this step, the welding gun is welded in the direction of the extended ends of the battery strings on both sides to achieve current collection between the battery strings to form a complete solar cell module.
Finally , these components will be transferred to the next process for lamination, frame installation, junction box installation and other packaging processes, ultimately forming a complete solar panel that is durable, safe, and easy to install and use.
--Problems on Traditional Converge Soldering--
For traditional labor converge welding solution, there are some obvious and severe problems , such as, low production efficiency, unstable yield and welding quality, limited flexibility, etc. , that is, products performance and reliability are influenced at last, and production cost is also added actually. Therefore, it is hard to expand the production scale to be competitive in such market environment.
--Zmotion Technology Converge Soldering Solution--
For this market requirement, Zmotion develops one vision motion controller (the controller supports motion control and vision control) "VPLC711", and SCARA robotic arm is combined together, then this kind of "SCARA + machine vision" solution can be applied in battery strip converge soldering well.
Through Zmotion solution, it can meet string welding requirements for photovoltaic solar panels with incoming materials of different angles and specifications, which means production efficiency and precision are promoted greatly. Then obviously, data processing speed is accelerated, and the flexibility and automation level of the production line are enhanced.
In addition to the advantages of increasing production capacity, there are also beneficial to environmental protection. Specifically, in our Zmotion solution , the scrap rate can be dropped to "12%", then energy consumption can be reduced effectively. In this way, it can help achieve environmental protection and sustainable development goals.
In short, you can obtain fast return, and achieve real intelligent manufacture with efficiency and environment protection through our "highly integrated hardware & RTFuse robot system platform".
OK, next, let's see the solution in details. And you will know "why choose our Zmotion solution".
VPLC711 Robot System on Photovoltaic Bus Welding
--Traditional Bus Welding Solution--
Please refer to above image, it can be seen there are many devices used, like, robotic arm drive control, PLC, vision IPC, displayer, HMI, etc., which means the hardware cost is high , integrations of functions and hardware & software are low , then it will cause the development period is long , and the data interaction velocity can't reach the need.
--Zmotion Bus Welding Solution--
Obviously, Zmotion solution integrates hardware and software well . Later, they will be introduced one by one. And it can be known VPLC711 can connect to many devices and components, functions and interfaces are powerful really. For ZMIO310 EtherCAT bus expansion module, it depends on your actual needs. It mainly expands IO, AD/DA resources.
As it was mentioned, see how to use these interfaces.
EtherCAT: connect to EtherCAT bus drive to control SCARA robotic arm, welding axis and other axes motions.
4 Single-Ended Pulse Output: connect to stepper / pulse drives to control welding ribbon reels and conveyor belts.
20DI: connect to sensors (origin, position limit), switch signals, encoders, and so on.
20DO: connect to the vacuum suction cup, for high-speed outputs, they are used to connect to hard trigger input of industrial cameras.
RS232: connect to light source controller.
EtherNET: Gigabit Ethernet port connects to an area scan camera that supports Gige protocol to achieve visual positioning and deviation correction.
A. Hardware: VPLC711 Vision Motion Controller
VPLC711 is a high-performance machine vision EtherCAT motion controller that is based on x86 platform and Windows operation system. That is, it supports rich vision and motion control functions, then configuration processes of vision and motion control projects can be simplified greatly. And this vision motion controller also supports running offline.
At the same time, motion control real-time kernel MotionRT7 is built in, then a kind of open IPC form real-time soft controller / soft PLC is formed. Therefore, Zmotion can provide you with a solution of motion control + vision that is integrated flexibly.
In addition, it is very convenient to install and remove VPLC series vision motion controllers, and it don't need big space, then it can be integrated with other control components (servo drive, sensor, encoder, control valve, etc.) easily, that is, providing one complete end to end vision motion control solution.
motion control of 6-64 axes (pulse + EtherCAT).
build in real-time kernel MotionRT7, and the third party vision software is valid.
there are 20 general inputs (10 are high-speed IN), and 20 high-speed outputs on board.
core tasks of automatic devices (motion control, machine vision) can be processed efficiently through multi-core parallel operation.
open IPC form real-time soft controller / soft PLC can integrate motion control + vision solution.
B. Solution: Hardware Configuration
C. Process: How to Achieve Motion Control & Machine Vision
a. Machine Vision
In the automated welding process of photovoltaic convergence welding, machine vision system positions it simply through template matching, then uses dual-line to measure and determine the corner position of the battery piece, and calculates the middle point to achieve precision positioning, the precision depends on your actual need.
At this time, SCARA robotic arm corrects it according to offset provided machine vision system. In this way, battery string can reach processing area. Next, the specialized long welding head accurately presses the preset solder points at the extended ends on both sides of the battery string to complete high-speed and high-precision welding operations.
b. Motion Control
Through preset and planned SCARA robotic arm path, do motion control of point to point. In this whole process, control system adjusts the speed of arm joint to make sure it can arrive target position on time along with preset trajectory.
When it arrived the loading point, it will move at vision detection position after material obtained by robotic arm. Then, system will do coordinate offset calculation, at this time, SCARA can real-time adjust battery string position, bus welding of one side can be completed. After this, SCARA will move the product to transfer platform and make it invert, then calculate again for another side welding. At last, move the complete solar module to the unloading area.
D. Solution Advantages
a. Integrated Control System : one control integrates machine vision, motion control, IO control, and robotic arm control, obviously, device cost is saved, development period is shortened, and the installation wiring is simpler.
b. Internal Motion Control Real-Tiem MotionRT7: kernel data can interact mutually, the instruction calling speed can reach us level, which means production efficiency can be promoted a lot.
c. Multiple Robotic Arm Types: support 30+ robotic arm algorithm models, like, SCARA, Delta, 6-joint, palletizing, etc., then make robot control more open and flexible.
d. Vision Fly-Shooting Function: achieve vision fly-shooting through hardware position comparison output PSO to promote instant trigger speed and precision of vision system.
e. Smooth Motion Control: use S curve acceleration / SS curve jerk continuous technology to ensure motion control process is smoother.
f. Uniform API Function Interface: it can compatible with all kinds of PC host computer advanced languages to develop, which means system integration and application development can be simplified.
RTFuse machine system is one software that is for robotic arm market, it supports mainstream Scara, Delta, 6-joint, collaboration, cartesian coordinates, and other robotic arm types.
This software integrates visual motion control, IO logic control, communication interaction, and machine vision. Users can use rich tools of system to do pure graphic programming on teach pendant, which means it can easily achieve one-stop-shop development, no need to edit codes any more.
Why Choose RTFuse Robot System Platform?
·--Low Technical Threshold--
Application engineers can easily get started after simple training through this kind of "drag-and-drop Chinese configuration system" programming. The project control process is executed from top to bottom, and the robot position is taught manually.
--Highly Open System--
Support multiple thread control, except robotic arm control, it also can control other additional axes, IO logic control, communication interaction, etc. Only one controller is enough.
--Strong Software & Hardware Integration--
Integrate EtherCAT bus, pulse control, machine vision, and motion control. Software and hardware are highly integrated to debug the device and check the problem.
--Low Labor Cost--
One person can debug devices' motion control, vision, IO logic control, and others. In this way, avoid problems of engineer loss, and high labor cost.
ABOUT ZMOTION
That's all, thank you for your reading -- Solution on Photovoltaic Converge Welding Robot System by Machine Vision Motion Controller.
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Zmotion Technology focuses on development of motion control technology and general motion control products, it is a national high and new technology enterprise. Due to its concentration and hard work in motion control technology, ZMOTION already become one of the fastest growing industrial motion control companies in China, and is also the rare company who has managed core technologies of motion control and real time industrial control software completely. Here, Zmotion provides motion controller, motion control card, vision motion controller, expansion module and HMI. In addition, there is one program software developed by Zmotion -- ZDevelop. It is a good choice for you to program and compile. And program through upper computer, there is PC manual.
Zmotion Technology provides motion control card, motion controller, vision motion controller, expansion module and HMI. ( more keywords for Zmotion: EtherCAT motion control card, EtherCAT motion controller, motion control system, vision controller, motion control PLC, robot controller, vision positioning...)
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