Petri Dishes and Pipette Tips in Focus
Eching-Munich / Germany, June 2010 - Automation systems with consistently high performance tuned over the entire handling process, from removal of molded parts up to packaging, are the supply of Hekuma GmbH. More than 35 years of experience in handling fast–cycling high- volume products, such as CD-packaging or floppy-disk housings form the basis for the latest developments for automation of medical mass-produced articles, for example Petri dishes, pipette tips, or micro plates. Central components of all Hekuma high performance systems are linear-axis robots of own development. At the current stage of evolution, the manipulation times in the mold could be further reduced through a new drive design, new drive components, and control concepts. Overall, The Heku-devices, with acceleration rates up to 10 g (about 100 m/s2), speeds up to 8 m/s, and loads up to 260 kg, deliver great potential for a wide range of automation tasks. At the K 2010, Hekuma demonstrates the progress of developments exemplified by various automation examples for consumer goods in the medical industry. An 8+8 cavity Petri dish production cell (90 mm base + lid) is to be seen in production at the stand of Engel in Hall 15 C 58, as well as a 32-cavity pipette tip high speed removal in combination with a Fanuc injection molding system in Hall 15 at Stand B 25. Additional automation equipment for new ways to increase quality and productivity in medical as well as other products are to be seen at the Hekuma stand D 40 in Hall 10.
High performance part manipulation is traditional at the southern German automation specialist business Hekuma. More than 35 years of development and over 5000 delivered systems are a clear demonstration of performance, just as the level of performance reached in the handling and manufacture of high volume products like CD boxes or floppy disk housings.
This background of experience is the basis for the current range of high performance systems for the fabrication of medical consumer goods, such as Petri dishes, pipette tips, or micro plates.
The basis and key components are the well established linear handling units HEKU 2 and HEKU 3, in again performance-enhanced design. With the current generation of devices, the manipulation times in the mold could be, from an already high level, reduced again through a new drive design, new drive components, and a new control concept.
With the new performance potential, the trend towards production cells with continually higher cavity quantity and shorter cycle times has been met. Maintaining the accustomed high precision and repeatability, as well as the movement of high gripper weights were the focus of consideration. Of course, even in the new generation of devices, the general Hekuma high standard has been maintained, ensuring the longevity of a Hekuma production cell over a total life cycle of a product generation. A substantial share of the overall performance of the units is held by the combination of the high performance linear axis with the suspension in a force balanced “profile steel framework”. This framework provides the basis for both the starting point and the docking interface for all other device modules for post processing.
High Performance for Petri Dishes
An outstanding example of the high performance handling in medical injection molding is the Petri dish production. Current common practice is with production units of 8+8 cavity (Ill. 2) or 16+16 cavity (base + lid), depending on the diameter of the Petri dishes. The most common sizes lie between 35 and 150 mm diameter, with a height of 13 to 15 mm: Also 120x120 mm square dishes are quite common.
The manipulation time (mold open time) of the exhibition system lies currently at around 0.6 seconds, while the total cycle time is less than 4.5 seconds. For the greatest possible protection of the fragile moldings made from polystyrene, the Petri dishes are not held conventionally, but form-fit received and secured by vacuum. The subsequent assembly is adapted to the cycle time. This post processing consists of the assembly of the base and lid, stacking in buffer magazines, and the packaging in tubular bags.
High Performance also for Multi-Cavity Pipette Tip Manipulation
Somewhat different, but no less demanding is the handling task for pipette tips. Here, the molded parts are usually arranged in groups of eight cavities in the injection mold. State of the art are molds with 32 to 64 cavities and cycle times of around 5 seconds. The newly developed, weight optimized, and cleanroom suitable handling grippers are designed as cavity blocks with integrated vacuum system and photoelectric monitoring (Ill. 4). The movement sequence of the HEKI-linear axis can be made with an innovative motion synchronization over long distances parallel to the cycle sequence of the injection mold. The result is a significant reduction of the molded part removal and a mold open time of less than 0.45 seconds.
Without loss in cycle time, qualitative non–conformance pipette tips, e.g. not fully injected, can be eliminated in the periphery equipment and replaced with correct parts from a buffer storage. Also post-processing, such as assembly of filter inserts, the assembly in racks, and packaging thereof can be carried out in conformance to the cycle time, always with 100 percent quality control of all production key stages.
Complete and Cleanroom Suitable at a High Level
Hekuma automation systems are not only trend setting in performance, but also in opportunities for flexible adaptation to the specific manufacturing requirements of customers. In addition, for standard products like Petri dishes or pipette tips, a comprehensive modular system of testing, processing, and manufacturing modules is available. Specialized systems are exactly tailored to the needs of the customer. Adapted to the product class, all system components are also available in appropriate cleanroom design. Standard automation is implemented according to the EN-ISO Class 8 (DIIN 14644-1)-corresponding class 100,000. Other cleanroom classes are available on request. All design variations have the ease of cleaning design of the enclosure, as well as the production of all sensitive components from anti-corrosive materials in common. In total, Hekuma provides high performance automation for all medical consumer goods, which are produced in high volumes. The focus is not only on the production output, but above all on the optimization of the production quality in the long-term operation.
Hekuma presents corresponding measures and module systems at the K 2010 in Hall 10 / Stand D40.