Murrelektronik’s MVK Metal modules power KUKA robots

How many things can be done in a second? A blink, a breath, a smile. Nothing substantial from an industrial automation perspective, right? Wrong! Because in that timeframe a KUKA robot can change its tools…twice! Who do KUKA turn to for the distributed control of their world-famous robots? Murrelektronik and their patented MVK Metal fieldbus modules.

KUKA robots are known worldwide. The legendary orange robots can be found in manufacturing facilities all over the globe. The company offers a unique product range that features all different kinds of robots that can be used in the most diverse industries.

The automotive industry is famous for its cutting-edge use of robots. They contribute to the optimisation of the industry and flexibility in the production. Multiple robots work together in different capacities: to transport of heavy parts, increase precision or shorten intervals.

Today, the body shops at large automotive manufacturers are fully automated. Tasked with assembling the many different components that make up the body of the car, the robots have to change out their equipment hundreds of times a day during assembly. In order to do this extremely quickly, flexible industrial automation systems are necessary to keep the tool change times and restart times to an absolute minimum.

Fieldbus technology in industrial automation

After assessing the best available fieldbus technology in industrial automation, the team of electrical engineers at KUKA in Italy decided that the robust MVK Metal fieldbus modules from Murrelektronik could more than match their industry-defining expectations and create a powerful automation solution.

The fieldbus modules, running on PROFINET, support Fast Start Up technology which means that everything from powering up to transferring data is done in less than 500 ms. All of the parameters are predefined which allows the flow of data to remain small from the moment of start-up.

This prevents unnecessary information from being transferred to the control. The MVK Metal modules communicate actively with the control and tell it when they are available without waiting for the cycle to find them. This greatly accelerates the process.

Murrelektronik MVK Metal

Murrelektronik’s MVK Metal modules are connected with Push-Pull cordsets which are easy to handle and can be quickly assembled without any tools. These connectors are pre-wired, fully moulded and have been electrically tested which prevents wiring errors and protects from external interferences. The module itself is housed in a zinc die-cast which is resistant against welding sparks, oils and lubricants. It is also fully potted which protects against and shocks or vibrations.

Diagnostics are also very important to the team at KUKA and another reason why they chose Murrelektronik. The MVK Metal fieldbus module provides single channel diagnostics with LEDs that show the status of the connection and the power source. Because the diagnostics are based on the individual channels, the module is able to shut down the affected channel and not the entire module during errors. This is a huge help in avoiding down time.

Visit Murrelektronik today for more information about their complete range of products.