Robotic Automation provide Automotive Parts with robot system

The valve body is the control centre of the transmission. It uses a system of hydraulic fluid directed over a baffle plate via a layered network of pathways, valves, check balls and servo pistons. This layered network is sandwiched with gaskets before being screwed together.

During assembly, the operator is required to position a total of up to 6 springs and 7 check-balls of varying size at points in the maze-like pathways on each layer of the valve body. If one of these is incorrectly placed, the final transmission unit will fail during testing and need to be disassembled, which is a wasteful and time-consuming exercise that cannot be afforded, particularly under the "lean manufacturing" methodology commonly required by large automotive companies. Operators would also need to check that all other pathways were clear, that the springs operated freely and that each part was free of metal casting burrs. Six operators working up to three shifts per day could be called upon to perform this repetitive yet exacting assembly procedure. 

Solution:
With this twin station solution, a single operator outside the cell can load the gaskets and baffle plates on one station while, inside the cell, the robot is completing assembly at the other station. The operator and robot then swap stations, with the operator removing a finished unit before loading new parts again. Production is continuous.

Beginning the automated process, the cell's integrated vision system checks the position of the loaded parts and identifies any burrs, blockages or deformations formed during the casting of the metal parts. The Motoman HP50 robot now begins positioning springs and three sizes/colours of check-balls from its on-board magazines/dispensers into precise points on 2 baffle plates. The robot then retreats for a second to allow the vision system to confirm the balls and springs have all remained in place and no other material is blocking the pathways. The robot then checks that all 6 springs are performing freely to the correct specification by use of a position transducer on the gripper. The robot's grippers are then used to position gaskets on the baffle plate which will create a watertight seal to withstand the pressurised hydraulic fluid when the unit is finally installed. 

Finally, the robot engages its tool-change interface to connect to the jig holding the top layer baffle plate. The robot lifts this whole jig, with set of plate, check-balls and gaskets in situ, before flipping and positioning atop the first set and then engaging the jig's on-board screw drivers to lock the unit into final assembly. The finished unit is then ready to be unloaded while the robot immediately starts assembly of the next unit. 

Equipment suplied to Automotive Parts:

• MOTOMAN HP50 robot and NX100 controller
• RA designed end-of-arm tooling with multiple dispensers and magazines, pneumatic grippers and automatic tool-change interface
• RA designed lightbox/camera unit. Image recognition software
• RA designed jigging with screw driving system
• RA designed twin-station work cell with safety features: automatic screens, interlocks

• Increased reliability and continuity of "lean" production
• Increased competitiveness by reducing overall costs
• Increased staff safety and reduced repetitive strains, injuries, lost production time, potential claims and compensation
• Labour saved in disassembly and reassembly after failure 
• Greater productivity
• Minimised failure rate in the final unit
• Shorter assembly time on each valve body
• Saved labour and associated costs x 4
• Less break time and down time