Design and Validation of an Automated Removal System for Screws During Disassembly
摘要
Removing screws is an important part of the disassembly process of end-of-life products like electric vehicle batteries. In order to make this process more efficient, researchers are looking into new ways to autonomously detect and remove screws. The tools present on the market are primarily designed for assembly and need to be adapted to enable dismantling. Previous research has mainly focused on the automated detection and unfastening of vertical, easily accessible screws. Transportation has rarely been addressed, especially for non-magnetic screws. The aim of this paper is to develop a more flexible screw removal solution, able to transport even non-magnetic screws without adding time-consuming movements. It presents a design method to expand industrial screwdriving tools enabling the unscrewing and removal of different types of screws, placed in different orientations and cavities, using a vacuum extraction system. A spring system was developed to ensure contact and positive locking of the tool with the screw. The screw algorithm linking the screwdriver control to the robot control was described. Finally, the entire system was tested on different screws in different recesses and inclinations. These experiments resulted in an overall unscrewing success rate of 98.8 % and a removal success rate of 96 % of screws inclined up to 51 \(^{\circ }\) , proving the feasibility of automated screw removal with an industrial robot.