In one of Europe's largest service centres in the sheet steel sector, steel coils (slit strips) with a diameter of 700 – 2000 mm and a minimum height of 20 mm are marked using a fully automatic topex thermal transfer marking machine.
The steel coils are held together by one or more straps and are stopped on the customer's on-site conveyor in labelling position at the topex thermal transfer labelling machine (labelling station). The stop position is always central, regardless of the diameter.
A "part in position" signal is then emitted by the on-site PLC and the variable print data is transferred from the measurement program to the topex printer. The label is then printed and pushed onto the vacuum stamp.
The vacuum stamp on the topex label handling system is moved vertically upwards away from the dispensing edge and directly up to the strap by a topex Robi 9100 robot. A colour and distance sensor detects the lowest strap regardless of the height of the steel coil, because if there are several straps, only the bottom one is labelled. The label, measuring 184 x 20 mm, is applied to the strap and then pressed against the curved surface.
After this, the handling system moves back to its home position, an enable signal is emitted and the product (steel coil) is transported away from the labelling station by the customer's own system.
