Advanced Robot Assisted Manufacturing and Control System for the Internal HVOF Series Coating Process of Cylinder Bores in Light Weight Engine Manufacturing

Actual necessities in the automotive industry are the reduction of fuel consumption and pollution emissions, engine efficiency improvement, as well as cost reduction in manufacturing. Light weight engineering in the powertrain and especially in the motor engineering is a key to fulfill most of these requirements.

A very promising technology is the reinforcement of the inner surface of cylinder liners in aluminum crankcases using thermally sprayed coatings. In order to achieve a cost effective, reliable and flexible solution for series production, as well as the maintenance of high quality standards, an interdisciplinary cooperation between material science and robot assisted engineering and manufacturing technology has to take place.