The Fisa Cleaning Installation |

The terminology and definitions introduced below are those used in a Fisa Cleaning Installation.

The Fisa Cleaning Installation (also referred to as Fisa Cleaning Machine or simply Cleaning Line) consists of

- Modules with Basket Positions
- Robot Structure
- Robot(s)
- Electrical Cabinet(s)
- Baskets See also the following links to other pages:
  Basket Properties
  Configuration Parameters - Configuration of the programming unit
  Glossary
  Installation Tree
  Graphics Menu

  The robot that takes the basket from the loading position needs to know the treatment code of the basket. The robot moves the basket through the different cleaning treatments in the Installation. When a Basket is ready, it is released on an unloading Position.

  Modules

  A Module consists of a Module Chassis and Basket Positions.

  Basket Positions

  Basket Positions can be of different types: tanks, blowing units, hot air drying units, vacuum drying units, etc. A Basket Position can also be a conveyor or stack for baskets or simply a manual loading position for a basket. A Basket Position can be equipped with any number of Accessories.

  Accessories

  An Accessory is a device, such as an ultrasound transducer, liquid level switch, heating element, pump, buffer tank, filter, electromagnetic valve, agitation device, etc. Accessories (eg pump) can be controlled by physical Outputs and the status of others (eg presence detector) can be read by physical Inputs.

  The Robot Structure

  The robot structure consists of columns that are fixed to the Modules and/or the floor and support the rails. The rails support the robot trolley and supplies it with electrical power. The rail also includes a toothed strip into which the trolley’s horizontal positioning gear assembly runs.

  The Fisa Robot

  The Fisa robot consists of the trolley that moves horizontally on the rail(s). The trolley has an arm that moves vertically. The arm has a gripping device that takes or releases a basket. The gripping device can be anything from a simple hook to a rotating tong.

  The movements and other actions of a robot are stored as instructions in the Programming Unit.

  Vertical and horizontal coordinates are stored in an electronic card inside the trolley. The manual control box is used for positioning the robot and arm when memorizing the coordinates.

  NB. An External Liftout mounted on a basket position is a Fisa robot lacking the Trolley. An External Liftout moves only vertically and is used to unburden the Robot for other productive work while the liftout of the Basket in that position is being carried out.

  The Programming Unit

  The programming unit of a robot is a blue metallic box, normally mounted inside the Electrical Cabinet It contains the processor, the IO-modules and the memory for storing the instructions. The programming unit communicates with the trolley with IR-signals.

  The programming unit is equipped with an RS-232 serial communications port for transfer of programs to/from a PC.

  When more than one robot service the installation, their programming units can be linked together with a Master Slave Network in order to exchange information between them.

  The programming unit has a non-volatile memory in which the current status of the installation is stored. Thanks to this, the robot(s) resume where they were after a power failure on the installation.

  Inputs and Outputs

  Each programming unit contains the I/O module with 16 physical Inputs and Outputs. There are 48 additional virtual Inputs and Outputs in the programming unit. For any Robot, these virtual I/O’s can be configured as physical if the Electrical Cabinet contains external I/O modules.

  External I/O’s can be configured as common physical or flags. This makes it possible for any robot to actuate on a certain accessory connected to a particular external I/O or to read a particular external Input.

  The Microterminal

  The Microterminal displays messages and current instruction. It is equipped with keys for manual editing/listing of programs and Start, Step and Stop buttons.

  Electrical Cabinet

  The electrical cabinet contains the instruments and controls needed to operate the installation. The programming unit(s) of the robot(s) are typically built into the electrical cabinet(s). Sometimes the ultrasound generators are also mounted in the electrical cabinet.

  The PC (Personal Computer) for monitoring the production can be built into the electrical cabinet or installed as a separate unit.

  Instruments

  The Instruments mounted in the electrical cabinet are indicators/regulators for variables such as temperature, pressure, flow, concentration, pH, etc.

  External I/O modules

  The electrical cabinet can also contain up to 6 external I/O modules, each with 8 physical outputs and inputs. These modules are installed when more than the 16 physical inputs and outputs for any robot are required, or when physical common IOs are required.

  Baskets

  Typically, the baskets are tailor made for the parts to be treated. Subsequently, the basket positions are tailor made to the baskets.