Page 14 - MetalForming May 2010
P. 14
For over 60 years, Stainless Sales Corporation has supplied the finest stainless steel strip coil to the transportation, medical and consumer goods markets.
Flat - rolled stainless steel
Company facts:
888.863.6411 StainlessSales.com
Robots
designed and integrated air-knife fan- ning systems driven by a Bosch Rexroth/Indramat servo drive.
“Our operators used to spend a considerable amount of time dealing with destacking each of the lines— adjusting, moving, prying, etc.,” says Hipsher. “Now, while the robots have reduced cycle time through each line from 9 to 10 sec. to as little 7 sec., our OEE (overall equipment effectiveness) has soared because we’re not shutting down the lines to manually separate blanks to avoid hitting doubles. Net production through our three lines has nearly doubled.”
Enrique Pano, business development manager for ABB Press Automation North America, adds: “Robotic automa- tion on these lines provides Whirlpool an optimum balance between cycle time, flexibility and uptime.”
Eddy-Current Thickness Sensing, Vision-Based Position Sensing
At the beginning of each destack cycle, an eddy-current sensor checks for double blanks; a positive result sends the robot back to the stack to release its load and try again. It makes three attempts to pick one blank before call- ing for operator intervention. Also, at the beginning and end of each stack, an ABB-engineered vision system kicks in to inspect blank position in space. An overhead camera snaps a photograph of the blank as it’s held by the robot end- of-arm vacuum-cup gripping tool and compares its position to the pro- grammed position.
“The only time we see any variabil- ity,” says Whirlpool electrical controls engineer Mark Cosiano, “is the first and last inch or so of each 2-ft. stack of blanks. Any offset data immediately gets fed to the robot controller to adjust blank positioning in the press on the fly, with no noticeable increase in cycle time. And it’s that initial positioning in the first draw die that’s critical—that die sets the clinch-seam flange and creates the part features that ultimately fixture the stamping in the remaining presses in the line.” MF
Press Controls For All Presses
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Toledo Integrated Systems
Press Pilot 150 Control
We Provide Solutions For...
Mechanical Presses Hydraulic Presses Forging Presses Transfer Presses
Maximizer TPC (Total Press Control)
Toledo Integrated Systems Toledo Transducers, Inc.
www.ToledoIntegratedSystems.com 800-T-Toledo 419-867-4170
12 METALFORMING / MAY 2010
www.metalformingmagazine.com
