Automate for FLEXIBILITY

Trang 1

Tan Orr

Manufacturing Engineering; Sep 2004; 133, 3; ABI/INFORM Global

lan Orr

achieving these goals

Each year UPF (Flint, MI), a leading supplier of truck and bus frames to the automotive industry, sup- plies thousands of truck and bus frames to its automotive customers A key to UPF’s success is its ability to deliver small, medium, and large batch runs of many different frame configurations Although it provides a competitive advantage, the company’s complicated

n today’s competitive climate, companies demand that suppliers be able to meet their needs quickly and without adding cost Flexibility is the key to

Robotics permits this automotive supplier to deal with batch runs

of different frame configurations

Toploader Program Manager and Senior Engineer

Fanuc Robotics America Inc

Rochester Hills, MI

Shape-generation software package drives laser- cutting robots that cut holes or shapes through the sides of a truck or bus frame rail or stiffener rail

production process prompted UPF to design a facility that incorporates a wide range of automation solutions to deal with challenges such as these: Customers provided as little as eight hours notice of a batch-run order for frame rails eFrame and stiffener rails have cutouts (round, square, or rectangular holes) located in one, two, or all-three sides The cutouts are used either to attach other assemblies, including cross-frames, or to route utilities for the vehicle, such as fuel hoses, electrical cables, and hydraulic lines

Trang 2

eTruck and bus frame and stiffener rails vary in

length from eight to more than 40' (2.5-12 m), and

weigh 200-900 Ib (91-409 kg) A successful automation

solution is necessary to handle this wide range of lengths

and weights, especially when little or no time is allowed

for changeover

Working with two of its integrators, Citation Tool

Inc (Fraser, MI) and Custom Machines Inc (Adrian,

MI), UPF designed and built a robotic automation sys-

tem that incorporated two robotic laser-cutting cells and

two heavy-payload material-handling articulated

gantries The laser-cutting robots use a patented, shape-

generation software package Both articulated gantries

employ a patent-pending approach where a single robot

controller drives two independent robot arms to func-

tion as a giant reconfigurable gripper

Two parallel lincs make up the automation system,

converging into a single manual frame-assembly line

The parallel automation lines provide UPF with the flex-

DuracBar Plus is a new engineered iron that offers unparalleled material consis-

tency from lot-to-lot and bar-to-bar Because it machines better than carbon steels, alloy steels,

and competitive grades of continuous cast iron, using Dura-Bar Plus gives you faster cycle times plus

increased productivity, longer insert life, and less downtime for tooling changes And that all adds up

to a lower cost-per-part Guaranteed to be defect-free, Dura-Bar Plus is available in gray and ductile

irons in a wide variety of shapes and sizes For more about how Dura-Bar Plus can save you money

and improve your profitability, see our web site at

www.dura-bar.com or call

Ä ‘

ì Nữ

Continuous Cast Iron Bar Stock

|-800-BAR-MILL (1-800-227-6455) — 2100 West Lake Shore Drive, Woodstock, IL 60098-691 |

E-mail: sales@dura-bar.com Internet: www.dura-bar.com

Circle 56

104 wwwsme.org/manufacturingengineering * September 2004

Trang 3

on each line, or to increase through-

put by building the same type of rail

on both lines

Both automation lines begin with

large CNC punch presses fed by ser-

vodriven pullers Indexing-slide punch

and button holders on the presses are

preloaded with the multiple hole sizes

to be punched in the frame rail A

blank frame rail or stiffener rail is

attached to the servo-puller, which

positions the rail lengthwise within

the press

After leaving the press, the servop-

uller delivers the rail to a Fanuc ARC

Mate 120:B laser-cutting robot Our

company’s ShapeGen software is used

to program the ARC Mate 120iB to

cut pre-determined holes or shapes

through the vertical sides of the rail

using a CO, laser The servopuller

accurately positions the rail in the X

axis in the laser cell, and the robot

positions the laser head in the Z and

Y axes for hole-location accuracy

This robotic

automation

system incorporates

two robotic laser-cutting

cells and two heavy-

payload material-

handling articulated

gantries

& Automation

present in the downstream frame assembly area, there’s no room to receive rails from the laser-cutting cell If the rail were to remain on the

conveyor, it would act as a roadblock

to all upstream laser cutting, and eventually to the punch press To pre- vent this roadblock, a Fanuc dual-arm

The rail is then conveyed into

an automated material-handling

area where one of three things may

happen:

® [he rail may pass through to the

frame assembly area This movement

occurs if no further processing is

required, and/or there are currently no

rails downstream,

®I[he rail may be buffered (stored

temporarily) on a storage rack When

a partially assembled frame rail is still

Increase Your

Competitive Edge!

Better Manutacturing through Simulation

ÔN crashies pl0se calls

serapped parts and time spent avoiding these problems can cost thousands and seriously hinder your

fan you affnril f0 let that hiapnen?`

With UERIEUT, yo tín † haue ta

VERICUT* virtual manufacturing Reet |

you to simulate the complete CNC machining proc Ree ome LE

VERIGUT also improves machining nt

E1 20)19))81)2100210)0 0/1)

* shorter cycle times!

Cc mean Ss - Tee Nam BC oO k

Sag ACOSO M EIU ea

VI Research nee ea

NaI mera) oe gr

WWW.pech.com mare infol

Circle 81

Trang 4

Toploader (articulated gantry) robot,

consisting of two R-20001A/200T

robot arms mounted to the same over-

head linear track, will remove the rail

from the conveyor and automatically

place it on a storage rack This buffer-

ing process allows the laser and

punch-press operations to continue

without interruption When the frame

assembly area can accept a new rail,

the dual-arm robot takes a rail from

the storage rack, using FIFO (first-in,

first-out) logic, and places it onto a

conveyor to assembly

eThe frame rail may be combined

with a stiffener rail Many of the

assembled truck and bus frames

require that a stiffener rail be added to

the main frame rail These stiffener

rails are matched to a particular frame

Gull hand aepueciie? Look to Weiler for automated deburring solutions that eliminate tedious manual operations reducing repetitive motion injuries while increasing productivity

Weiler’s Nylox® nylon abrasive filament

- brushes are the solution for automating your deburring and finishing processes These brushes are ideal for in-machine, robotic and custom machine operations

Aggressive, yet compliant, Nylox brushes increase throughput, improve part

consistency, and lower your deburring costs

[NO dt cetera EG€E €Cl2EW/E05° Gl

ngs

0ne Wildwood Diive * Creseo, PA 18326 + 888-600-5857 + Fax: 800-635-3615 (Soh isi

` www.wellercorp.com ® E-mail: info@weilercorp.com tokens nels

Circle 44

See us at IMITS Booth #B-6421

106 wwwsme.org/manufacturingengineering * September 2004

Cutting robot operates in the cell shown above

rail (they receive the same punch- press and laser-cutting process) An additional complication is that the frame and stiffener rails come in left and right-handed variations (an assembled truck or bus frame has one left-hand and one right- hand frame rail connected by smaller cross-frames)

To ensure that the frame and stiffener rails are combined with the correct frame rail, the stiffener rails are manufactured just after the matching frame rails The dual- arm robot must then match the appropriate rails to one another When the frame and stiffener rails arrive in the material-handling area, the dual-arm robots match and combine the left and right- hand rails and stiffeners Simultaneously, the robots align the various holes and shapes in the frame rail with the matching holes and shapes in the stiffener rail

To reduce expensive work in process (WIP), UPF only stocks blank frame and stiffener rails After the company receives an order, the appropriate frame rail is

Trang 5

manually loaded onto a conveyor in

front of one of the two punch presses,

and connected to a linear servopuller

The C-shaped frame rails are posi-

tioned on the conveyor so that the

horizontal back of the “C” is flat

against the conveyor, and the L-

shaped stiffener rails are positioned as

needed Through-hole shapes are then

stamped in the rails by the CNC

punch press The linear servopuller

positions the rail lengthwise under the

punch press Positioning of the rail

and the action of the press are coordi-

nated by a PLC to guarantee accurate

and repeatable hole locations

Positioning of the

rail and the action

of the press are

coordinated by a PLC

The servopuller removes the rail

from the punch press, and moves it

down to the CO, laser-cutting cell At

this cell, various shapes are cut

through the vertical sides of the frame

and stiffener rails Under control of a

PLC, the servopuller positions the rail

within the work envelope of the ARC

Mate 120iB laser-cutting robot, and

the PLC sends a signal to the robot

controller to begin the cutting process

The robot controller, running

ShapeGen software, makes a two-step

laser cut on the rail Its first cut uses a

low-power laser setting to remove the

paint along the path of the desired

cut, ensuring a clean, efficient final

cut For the second cut, laser power is

increased to ensure the desired shape

is cut completely through the rail

The software package gives robot

programmers a choice of predeter-

mined shapes (circle, hexagon, rec-

tangle, slot, keyhole, or pommel), or

they can configure a custom shape

The software also supports setting a

kerf (cutting angle) to optimize the

TY Em

cut As the rail is removed from the laser-cutting cell, it’s pulled through a brush to remove any small metal par- ticles created by the cutting process

Once the laser cutting is complete, the servopuller releases the rail onto

a conveyor for delivery to the Toploader dual-arm robots,

Join the revolution

Turn between centers with Neidlein mechanical face drivers to higher concentric accuracy, up to four times greater operating speeds, significantly reduced setup time, longer pin life, and half the tailstock pressure than compared with hydraulic-style face drivers

Neidlein face

drivers and centers from LMC will help you

Quickly grip and tum a workpiece from its end Machine the entire O.D of

the workpiece in one operation

Quick-change center points and drive pins Your bottom line is increased productivity, quality and cost efficiency From the inventor of face drivers

vệ NEIHLEIN

Booth E-2055

Circle 167

Trang 6

If the rail doesn’t require any

additional processing and the down-

stream frame-assembly area ts clear,

the rail is conveyed straight through

to the assembly area If the frame rail has to be buffered to one of the eight adjacent storage areas or combined with a stiffener, then a dual-arm

ity

ci

spray with "5-point" orifice for effective cleaning thru

a,combination of solution impingement and chemicat action

ergy (cavitation) Ultrasonics, heavy duty,

spaced nickel magnetostrictive transducers, for critical cleaning

applications involving hieavy ioads with tenacious contaminants

IMTS Booth #4460 -

502 Hwy 67 s Kiel, WI USA 53042-1600 + Tel: (920) 894-2293 s Toll-free: 800-545-0661

Fax: (920) 894-7029 s www.stoelting.com

Circle 182

108 www.sme.org/manufacturingengineering * September 2004

robot is pressed into action To handle the UPF frame rails, Fanuc provided a dual-arm R-2000i1A/200T Toploader robot powered by one robot controller Each rebot can handle a payload of up to 440 lb (200 kg) and is equipped with electromagnetic grippers, providing up to 16,000 Ib (7300 kg) of lifting force Rails less than 15' (4.6-m) long are light enough to be lifted from the conveyor by a single robot Longer rails are too heavy for one robot and cause excessive wrist loading

A single controller coordinates the motion of both

robots, effectively turning them into one

12-axis servogripper

The patent-pending solution uses a single controller to coordinate the motion of both robots, effectively turning them into one 12-axis servogripper When a long rail enters the robots’ work envelope, one or both change position along the linear rail

to ensure that they share the load equally The position of a robot arm, relative to the second robot arm and also to the rail to be picked, varies considerably with each unique rail length This on-the-fly servo-con- trolled adjustment allows adding rails

of unknown lengths to the system at any time

Once the two robot arms are positioned correctly along the rail, they move down and pick the rail up using electromagnetic grippers When the electromagnets turn on and grip the rail, both robot arms are mechanically coupled, in that they must move together to lift, move, and place the rail, Whether the robots are moving under program (automatic) control or

Trang 7

jog (manual operation) control, the

motion of both arms is synchronized

by the controller Next the rail is

either moved to a buffer location or,

in a sertes of pick-place motions, com-

bined with a stiffener rail When the

downstream frame assembly area

becomes clear, a rail stored in the

buffer location will be removed by the

dual-arm robot and placed on the out-

bound conveyor

This automated system gives UPF

various short and long-term benefits:

«The company can produce and

ship complete frame rails with mini-

mal! advance notice

*The system eliminates storage of

expensive, partially processed rails

For more information on prod-

ucts made by Fanuc Robotics,

Circle 400

SME offers books and videos

on automated production sys-

tems and robotics Available on

VHS and DVD, Industrial Robotics,

part of the Fundamental Manu-

facturing Processes program,

gives students, designers, engi-

neers, and managers a basic

overview of the types of robotic

systems that can be imple-

mented in a manufacturing facil-

ity The book Getting Factory

Automation Right (The First

Time) presents a step-by-step

approach to prudent automation

purchasing and implementation

And the book Successful

Assembly Automation describes

manufacturing theory, general

assembly principles, automated

assembly processes, product

design for efficient assembly, and

Tiêu đề	Automate for flexibility
Tác giả	Ian Orr
Trường học	Manufacturing Engineering
Thể loại	Bài luận
Năm xuất bản	2004

Định dạng
Số trang	7
Dung lượng	2,92 MB