The continuous growth of cars and MPVs has brought huge business opportunities to stamping machinery manufacturers. Nowadays, the stamping production line is not mainly based on the production of large-sized frame metal parts (such as the mass production of the side panels of the body), but is more inclined to produce in small batches and varieties.
At the Ford Motor Company in Saarlouis, 430,000 variants of the Focus model are produced each year, and since June 2003, parts of the new C-Max sedan have been produced. In order to be able to prepare for the production of new models at the automobile production base, Ford invested a total of 45 million US dollars from 2001 to 2003, and built a new C-Max car special stamping production line. Due to the limited area of ​​the press shop and the difficulty of guaranteeing the production of new models by the original stamping technology, Schuler spent a year and a half, after repeated tests, developed a new stamping line workpiece transfer mechanism with "integration or crossover" The conveyor line replaces the “cross-conveying line†that has been widely adopted since the 1980s.
The so-called "cross-transfer" is a set of mechanically connected synchronously driven stamping workpiece transfer devices. With this punching and unloading and conveying process, the working tempo becomes 14 pieces/min. Since the 1990s, people have adopted the electronic control technology of the stamping stroke, and the production cycle of the stamping line has been increased to 15 pieces/min.
In Schuler's traditional cross-conveying system, the transfer of the workpiece is not done by the robot or the feeder of the production line, but by a stamping stroke mechanism mounted on the side of the press, the workpiece is placed on the transverse bracket. The conveyor is used to complete the loading and unloading of the workpiece.
To ensure that the production line can safely and reliably run the Ford C-Max sedan's stamping machine requires a corresponding safety device to ensure the safety of the person and equipment. Among them, the decisive components are mainly: punch sliders and automatic safety protection devices, such as modular workpiece transfer devices, mold moving tables, and the like.
The entire press line has 18 emergency control functions, 16 closed press line entrances and exits, 13 safety guard doors, 5 sets of safety photoelectric control systems, 1 stamping safety control valve, 5 waste control flaps, 10 mold moves. Workbench and 21 sets of transfer interlocks. Based on extensive safety features and the ability to machine large-sized metal structures, Ford has adopted a distributed configuration control solution based on the Safetybus-p bus technology.
To ensure safe and reliable operation of the press line, Ford has adopted eight Pilz programmable safety control systems. The control system is modeled after the PSS SB3006 DP-S and consists of 100 decentralized input/output control modules and seven routers that exchange data between two Safetybus-p networks. The end point control of the mold moving table is the electromagnetic switch of Pilz PSEN series.
Modular conveyors Currently, Schuler has begun to develop a new generation of fully electronically controlled conveyors. The newly developed transfer mechanism performs workpiece transfer in various coordinate directions under electronic control. This new design has been applied to integrated or cross-transfer systems. The integrated or cross-conveying mechanism installed on the press line is controlled by a separate electronic control system, and each electronic control system can separately write control programs, which shortens the working cycle of the entire press line and increases the flexibility of the transfer device.
In order to take full advantage of the conveyor, Schuler has also developed a new type of machine-to-liquid transmission unit that not only moves as flexibly as a robot, but also has a very fast movement speed, reliable delivery and reliable transmission. Sex is even higher than the robot system.
Better Conveying Motion Simulation In the past, Schuler's stamping equipment in a simple cross-conveying system had to consider many ineffective mold life in consideration of the transfer motion of the workpiece to keep the working cycle of the entire stamping line consistent. For integrated or cross-conveying systems, the stamping time of each stamping process can be individually controlled, so that the maximum punching work that can actually be done is increased to 16 pieces/min.
The stamping line of the integrated or cross-conveying mechanism can increase the production capacity while conveying larger-sized stamped parts, and the footprint is much smaller than the original.
The fast commissioning cross-transfer technology is ideal for conveying complex geometry workpieces, which is evident in the transport of the car's side panels.
In general, higher power and greater flexibility often also represent higher capital investment. The cost of using a new integrated or cross-conveying line at the Ford Motor Company in Saarlouis is only 85% to 90% of the cost of a traditional cross-feeding press line. The main reason for the cost savings was that Schuler replaced the mechanical drive components with inexpensive electrical components, reducing the production cost of the conveyor by almost a third.
At the Ford Motor Company in Saarlouis, 430,000 variants of the Focus model are produced each year, and since June 2003, parts of the new C-Max sedan have been produced. In order to be able to prepare for the production of new models at the automobile production base, Ford invested a total of 45 million US dollars from 2001 to 2003, and built a new C-Max car special stamping production line. Due to the limited area of ​​the press shop and the difficulty of guaranteeing the production of new models by the original stamping technology, Schuler spent a year and a half, after repeated tests, developed a new stamping line workpiece transfer mechanism with "integration or crossover" The conveyor line replaces the “cross-conveying line†that has been widely adopted since the 1980s.
The so-called "cross-transfer" is a set of mechanically connected synchronously driven stamping workpiece transfer devices. With this punching and unloading and conveying process, the working tempo becomes 14 pieces/min. Since the 1990s, people have adopted the electronic control technology of the stamping stroke, and the production cycle of the stamping line has been increased to 15 pieces/min.
In Schuler's traditional cross-conveying system, the transfer of the workpiece is not done by the robot or the feeder of the production line, but by a stamping stroke mechanism mounted on the side of the press, the workpiece is placed on the transverse bracket. The conveyor is used to complete the loading and unloading of the workpiece.
To ensure that the production line can safely and reliably run the Ford C-Max sedan's stamping machine requires a corresponding safety device to ensure the safety of the person and equipment. Among them, the decisive components are mainly: punch sliders and automatic safety protection devices, such as modular workpiece transfer devices, mold moving tables, and the like.
The entire press line has 18 emergency control functions, 16 closed press line entrances and exits, 13 safety guard doors, 5 sets of safety photoelectric control systems, 1 stamping safety control valve, 5 waste control flaps, 10 mold moves. Workbench and 21 sets of transfer interlocks. Based on extensive safety features and the ability to machine large-sized metal structures, Ford has adopted a distributed configuration control solution based on the Safetybus-p bus technology.
To ensure safe and reliable operation of the press line, Ford has adopted eight Pilz programmable safety control systems. The control system is modeled after the PSS SB3006 DP-S and consists of 100 decentralized input/output control modules and seven routers that exchange data between two Safetybus-p networks. The end point control of the mold moving table is the electromagnetic switch of Pilz PSEN series.
Modular conveyors Currently, Schuler has begun to develop a new generation of fully electronically controlled conveyors. The newly developed transfer mechanism performs workpiece transfer in various coordinate directions under electronic control. This new design has been applied to integrated or cross-transfer systems. The integrated or cross-conveying mechanism installed on the press line is controlled by a separate electronic control system, and each electronic control system can separately write control programs, which shortens the working cycle of the entire press line and increases the flexibility of the transfer device.
In order to take full advantage of the conveyor, Schuler has also developed a new type of machine-to-liquid transmission unit that not only moves as flexibly as a robot, but also has a very fast movement speed, reliable delivery and reliable transmission. Sex is even higher than the robot system.
Better Conveying Motion Simulation In the past, Schuler's stamping equipment in a simple cross-conveying system had to consider many ineffective mold life in consideration of the transfer motion of the workpiece to keep the working cycle of the entire stamping line consistent. For integrated or cross-conveying systems, the stamping time of each stamping process can be individually controlled, so that the maximum punching work that can actually be done is increased to 16 pieces/min.
The stamping line of the integrated or cross-conveying mechanism can increase the production capacity while conveying larger-sized stamped parts, and the footprint is much smaller than the original.
The fast commissioning cross-transfer technology is ideal for conveying complex geometry workpieces, which is evident in the transport of the car's side panels.
In general, higher power and greater flexibility often also represent higher capital investment. The cost of using a new integrated or cross-conveying line at the Ford Motor Company in Saarlouis is only 85% to 90% of the cost of a traditional cross-feeding press line. The main reason for the cost savings was that Schuler replaced the mechanical drive components with inexpensive electrical components, reducing the production cost of the conveyor by almost a third.
Yibo Machinery Co., Ltd. , http://www.zjrollformingmachine.com