Gantry techniques utilizing ServoBelt expertise can present the automotive trade with flexibility at a fraction of the price of rack-and-pinion techniques. Supply: Bell-Everman
Overhead pick-and-place gantries are an essential a part of trendy automotive crops, shifting and positioning components with the velocity, precision, and reliability that high-volume manufacturing calls for. Historically, producers have confronted an equipment-selection dilemma, with the trade dominated by heavy-duty techniques constructed from large metal fabrications. Designed for excessive payloads, these overbuilt techniques come from massive tools suppliers who supply sturdy engineering at a premium worth, prolonged lead occasions and restricted room for personalization.
Small and midsize automotive purposes, nonetheless, don’t require such excessive capabilities, and in these instances, the outsized techniques symbolize a crucial mismatch. Compounding this problem, the trade’s fast-moving manufacturing setting calls for suppliers who can adapt rapidly, customise gantry techniques to particular software wants and ship inside aggressive time frames — necessities that many massive, established tools producers are unable to fulfill.
Thankfully, a movement management system has emerged to fill this hole. Gantry techniques that includes ServoBelt expertise ship the industrial-grade sturdiness and customizability automotive manufacturing requires — at a fraction of the price of conventional rack-and-pinion techniques and with lead occasions which might be usually lower than half of these of bigger suppliers.
Equally essential, superior beam engineering using T-slot extrusions ensures ServoBelt techniques meet the structural efficiency requirements producers count on from conventional rack and pinion tools.
For these causes, ServoBelt movement management expertise permits automotive producers to implement superior overhead automation with out compromising on the efficiency their manufacturing calls for.
Designing an overhead gantry for an automotive provider
Progressive Machine & Design (PMD), a {custom} automation firm in Victor, N.Y., was tasked with designing an automatic manufacturing line for a Tier 1 automotive provider. A part of a diesel engine camshaft manufacturing operation, the road would come with a pick-and-place gantry system to move components by a number of machining operations.
The manufacturing line consisted of sequential machining operations, with 4 to 5 machines at every stage. The gantry’s perform was to deal with the camshafts, from uncooked inventory to remaining product, transporting them between the varied machining facilities.
The system was designed to select up the uncooked camshaft blanks and ship them to the primary set of machines. From there, it could transfer the components by completely different operations, together with grinding, lathing, and different machining processes. The gantry was designed to interface with the top-loading machining facilities and to exist above the machines, saving priceless flooring house.
The core problem throughout the design course of was to engineer a sturdy overhead gantry system that might navigate a decent plant format, deal with a two-camshaft payload weighing roughly 80 kg (176.3 lb.), and supply exact positioning for half supply into the machines.
Gantry-based robotics can transport supplies throughout manufacturing processes. Supply: Bell-Everman
ServoBelt drive delivers efficiency
For its gantry system, PMD integrated ServoBelt expertise — a linear drive system that mixes the reliable “rack and pinion” drive technique with precision and anti-backlash traits due to a singular belt design. ServoBelt’s key options, equivalent to its ease of customization, excessive efficiency, and avoidance of overly greased metal racks, made it an acceptable selection for this undertaking.
Design flexibility and customization: In contrast to inflexible, standardized techniques, ServoBelt expertise allowed PMD to customise the gantry’s dimension, top, and beam span to suit the particular plant format constraints.
This flexibility was a crucial issue that “tipped the scales” in ServoBelt’s favor, based on Brent Stratton, chief mechanical engineer at PMD.
Excessive efficiency with out over-engineering: ServoBelt delivered the required efficiency specs with out pointless over-engineering. Although able to even tighter precision, it supplied the required quarter-millimeter positioning accuracy and will deal with high-speed journey, working at 3 m/s (6.7 mph) — nicely inside its functionality of 4 m/s (8.9 mph).
Lengthy-distance capabilities: A key benefit of ServoBelt is its distinctive belt-rack design, which eliminates belt stretch over any journey distance. This characteristic allowed PMD to create a protracted gantry that spanned a number of machining facilities with out sacrificing positioning accuracy.
“Whereas we don’t usually make techniques this lengthy, we’d often attain for a continuous-loop or OMEGA-type drive,” Stratton stated. “However the great thing about the ServoBelt belt-rack system is that it takes all of the stretch out of the equation. You may go actually lengthy with out worrying about belt stretch in any respect.”
Future scalability: The modular nature of ServoBelt expertise helps future enlargement. If the operation finally requires extra machines, for instance, the gantry might be prolonged to accommodate the expanded format, offering a long-term and adaptable resolution.
ServoBelt has a design to get rid of belt stretch over any journey distance. Supply: Bell-Everman
Composite beam meets the trade’s structural requirements
Whereas ServoBelt supplied the movement management expertise, its beam design represented an equally crucial engineering problem. Automotive producers used to conventional rack-and-pinion techniques have particular expectations concerning structural efficiency.
Composite aluminum beam affords structural efficiency. Supply: Bell-Everman
To satisfy these necessities, the Bell-Everman engineering workforce carried out in depth “beam science” work. It analyzed and optimized a number of structural traits like beam stiffness, deflection, torsional stiffness, torsional deflection, and space second of inertia. Every parameter performs an essential position in guaranteeing the gantry maintains positioning below load and all through its journey vary.
In contrast to Bell-Everman’s conventional single-piece extrusion designs, this software required a brand new composite-beam development to attain the required structural efficiency. The engineers designed a beam meeting utilizing versatile T-slot extrusions skinned in anodized aluminum, making a construction that eradicated deflection between mounting factors.
This composite method delivered a number of advantages. It supplied the structural rigidity required for the appliance, provided the aesthetic look of premium industrial tools and maintained the customizability that made ServoBelt engaging within the first place.
As well as, the in depth design and testing work proved that the gantry system might meet the identical structural requirements as heavy-duty metal tools whereas sustaining value and lead time benefits.
Customized enhancements guarantee security and reliability
Along with the core gantry and beam, PMD designed and built-in a number of {custom} options to make sure the pick-and-place system operated safely and reliably. The controls included Allen Bradley drives and motors with Neugart gearboxes.
To deal with the payload, PMD chosen Schunk grippers with a security lock characteristic that forestalls them from opening if air stress is misplaced. Engineers additionally designed a small Y-axis shift into the gripper design to accommodate minor positional misalignments of the machines.
For security, PMD carried out a threat evaluation. After figuring out the necessity for redundant Z-axis brakes, engineers tasked Bell-Everman with integrating these brakes into the gantry’s design. The corporate’s engineers supplied a clear design for the combination of those brakes. The system’s drives additionally featured Protected Torque Off (STO) to fulfill security necessities.
To handle the problem of oily components and dripping coolant, PMD designed a sequence of drip trays, which served two functions: They saved coolant contained and prevented staff’ fingers from getting into the gantry’s shifting components. Bell-Everman delivered the gantry with a bolt sample to facilitate the combination of those custom-designed trays.
The ServoBelt-powered gantry robotic can enhance security and effectivity. Supply: Bell-Everman
Outcomes: Excessive-end automation at a decrease value
The ServoBelt-powered gantry system efficiently automated the camshaft transport course of, integrating seamlessly with the present machining facilities and the client’s manufacturing execution techniques (MES) database.
- Operational success: The gantry system now handles the whole camshaft workflow, from the preliminary uncooked clean to the ultimate floor unit.
- Security and reliability: The gantry consists of many security enhancements, together with {custom} drip trays to include coolant and redundant brakes on the Z-axis. The gantry’s sturdy development and low upkeep necessities additionally guarantee long-term reliability.
- Value-effectiveness: By offering high-end linear motor efficiency at a considerably decrease value, ServoBelt expertise has enabled the implementation of superior automation with out the value tag of over-engineered techniques.
The ServoBelt-powered gantry now delivers the exact, high-speed automation the provider wanted whereas maintaining prices below management. It additionally fills a crucial hole available in the market, offering producers with a high-performing various to outsized techniques for small to midsize payload purposes that beforehand would have required defaulting to massive, heavy-duty tools.
“What made this undertaking work was our collaborative method with Bell-Everman and their skill to fulfill our distinctive requests — that’s what gained us over,” defined Stratton. “Even past simply assembly our rapid necessities, collectively we constructed one thing that might adapt and broaden as wants change.”
Concerning the creator
Parker Maccianti is lead mechanical engineer at Bell-Everman and has been with the corporate for 9 years. He has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from UC Irvine.
This text is posted with permission.
