IBA 2009 is an industrial robot for mobile blasting with dry ice. This is an environmentally friendly and cost-efficient alternative that has been developed by IBC Robotics AB in Eskilstuna with the support of Robotdalen.
“The idea came from our subsidiary IC Cleaning, which sells manual cleaning services incorporating dry ice pellets,” says Erik Jansson, CEO for IBC Robotics. “We asked ourselves whether this could be done with automation instead and contacted Robotdalen.”
Many advantages for both staff and the environment
The IBA unit consists of a robot, an ice blasting machine, a compressor and an evacuation device that sucks up dust and dirt. Everything is enclosed in a protective shell consisting of a 20-foot container.
“IBA is first docked with the container that needs to be cleaned,” says Erik Jansson. “The robot is wheel-mounted and is moved into the container by means of a beam. The software then controls the movement of the robot and how it sprays the dry ice pellets.”
In addition to the economic advantages, the system provides many benefits to the user compared to manual cleaning with water. As dry ice pellets are made of carbon dioxide, which is a gas, it dissipates without going through a wet state. Water takes time to dry and requires a separation process where the contaminants and water are separated.
“The benefits vary depending on the customer’s geographical location. In northern Europe, improved working environment is a significant plus factor,” say Erik Jansson. “In other parts of the world, it is advantageous that our technique does not involve water, which may be scarce.”
Demands for increased efficiency
There are approximately 300 million unloadings from ships each year,” says Erik Jansson. “Of these, just over 20 percent involve the transport of foodstuffs, which means that about 60 million containers need to be cleaned every year. An IBA unit has the capacity to clean approximately 35,000 containers annually.
“Global trade is increasing, which calls for more efficient handling in harbour environments. At the same time, the trend is towards more automation with autonomous harbor cranes. We believe that our IBA is well in line with the increasing requirements for efficiency.”
IBA receives more support
“If Robotdalen hadn’t supported the project, it would still be an idea in a binder in our office,” says Kerstin Eriksson, the initiator behind IBA and owner of IBC Robotics. “They contributed with their expertise and have among other things, created animations and made test runs. At the same time they provided us with extremely in-depth knowledge of robotics. Besides purely financial support, we were able to borrow an industrial robot, which saved us an investment of several hundred thousand SEK.”
Hi-Res pictures from this project are available for download here.