• Factory Automation Systems

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 3276

TOKYO, April 23, 2019 - Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6503) announced today that it will release the "MELFA Smart Plus Card Pack" and the "MELFA Smart Plus Card" with upgraded predictive-maintenance and enhanced force-sensor functions for upgraded functionality in MELFA-FR series industrial robots on April 26, 2019. The new functions incorporate Mitsubishi Electric's original compact AI technology, Maisart®,1 to realize 60% reductions in both takt time and system startup time to contribute to increased productivity at manufacturing sites.

  1. 1 Mitsubishi Electric's AI creates the State-of-the- ART in technology Maisart
  • MELFA Smart Plus Card

    MELFA Smart Plus Card

  • Insertion into MELFA-FR series

    Insertion into MELFA-FR series

Product Features

  1. 1) Reduces downtime by detecting abnormalities in advance (predictive maintenance)
    • The predictive-maintenance function uses Maisart to detect and provide early warnings of abnormalities in drive-system products2 incorporated in robots, helping to reduce downtime.
    • Highly accurate predictive maintenance is realized simply by inserting the card into the robot controller, without having to add any other device or sensor.
    1. 2 Gearboxes, motor encoders, and batteries to maintain position-information memory
  2. 2) Shortened cycle time with automatic parameter adjustment (enhanced force sensor)
    • Maisart automatically adjusts the parameters of systems that utilize force sensors3.
    • Takt time is reduced by 60%4 compared to a conventional method by controlling pressure exerted on target items, thereby helping to achieve higher-speed operations similar to those performed by skilled human hands.
    1. 3 Gearboxes, motor encoders, and batteries to maintain position-information memory
    2. 4 Compared to reference value for connector-insertion operation based on conditions set by Mitsubishi Electric
  3. 3) Shorter startup time though automatic program generation (enhanced force sensor)
    • Operation start and end points need only be entered to automatically generate a program for the shortest-possible operation time.
    • Shortens system startup time by 60%4 compared to a conventional method.

Release Schedule

Product
Name		 Model
Name		 Main Specification Price Release
Date		 FY2019
Sales
Target
MELFA
Smart Plus
Card Pack		 2F-DQ520 Equipped with all seven functions5, including predictive maintenance and force-sensor expansion functions Open price April, 26 200 units
MELFA
Smart Plus
Card		 2F-DQ521 Any one of MELFA Smart Plus Card Pack functions5, such as predictive maintenance or force-sensor expansion. Open price
  1. 5 See Function of MELFA Smart Plus table in the full document

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