Browse Topic: Factory automation
ABSTRACT The University of Delaware (UD) and the US Army DEVCOM-GVSC (GVSC) have partnered to show the feasibility of fabricating mission specific, man-packable, autonomous vehicles that are created by Computer Aided Design (CAD) and are then produced, from start-to-finish, in a single manufacturing unit-cell without human intervention in the manufacturing process. This unit-cell contains many manufacturing processes (e.g., additive manufacturing (AM), pick-and-place, circuit printing, and subtractive manufacturing) that work in concert to fabricate functional devices. Together, UD and GVSC have developed the very first mission specific autonomous vehicle that is fully fabricated in a single manufacturing unit-cell without being touched by human hand. Citation: Jacob W. Robinson, Thomas W. Lum, Zachary J. Larimore, Matthew P. Ludkey, Larry (LJ) R. Holmes, Jr. “AUTOMATED MANUFACTURING FOR AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS SOLUTIONS (AMASS)”, In Proceedings of the Ground Vehicle Systems Engineering and
ABSTRACT Gas metal arc pulse directed energy deposition (GMA-P DED) offers large-scale additive manufacturing (AM) capabilities and lower cost systems compared to laser or electron beam DED. These advantages position GMA-DED as a promising manufacturing process for widespread industrial adoption. To enable this “digital” manufacturing of a component from a computer-aided design (CAD) file, a computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) solver is necessary to generate build plans and utilize welding parameter sets based on feature and application requirements. Scalable and robot-agnostic computer-aided robotics (CAR) software is therefore essential to provide automated toolpath generation. This work establishes the use of Autodesk PowerMill Ultimate software as a CAM/CAR solution for arc-based DED processes across robot manufacturers. Preferred aluminum GMA-P DED welding parameters were developed for single-pass wide “walls” and multi-pass wide “blocks” that can be configured to build a wide
Advanced two-dimensional materials discovered in the last two decades are now being produced at scale and are contributing to a wide range of performance enhancements in engineering applications. The most well known of these novel materials is graphene, a nearly transparent nanomaterial comprising a single layer of bonded carbon atoms. In relative terms, it has the highest level of heat and electrical conductivity, protects against ultraviolet rays, and is the strongest material ever measured. These properties have made graphene an attractive potential material for a variety of applications, particularly for transportation-related uses, and especially for aerospace engineering. The goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and creating a world that achieves net-zero emissions have prioritized the electrification of transportation, the decarbonization of industry, and the development of products that require less energy to make, last longer, and are fully recyclable. These aspects have
Additive manufacturing (AM) is currently being used to produce many aerospace components, with its inherent design flexibility enabling an array of unique and novel possibilities. But, in order to grow the application space of polymer AM, the industry has to provide an offering with improved mechanical properties. Several entities are working toward introducing continuous fibers embedded into either a thermoplastic or thermoset resin system. This approach can enable significant improvement in mechanical properties and could be what is needed to open new and exciting applications within the aerospace industry. However, as the technology begins to mature, there are a couple of unsettled issues that are beginning to come to light. The most common question raised is whether composite AM can achieve the performance of traditional composite manufacturing. If AM cannot reach this level, is there enough application potential to warrant the development investment? The answers are highly
As manufacturing automation rapidly advances, conveyors are not only being used for transportation but also accurate material (or product) placement. They are often required to deliver product to a precise location consistently. When transporting product by conveyor, equipment choice will greatly impact the system’s ability to reliably deliver to a target position — either stationary (indexing) or dynamic in nature. This article explores some common conveyor types and compares the ranges of positional accuracy you might expect with each type
Traditional robotics has been supported mainly by the automotive industry, so the performance of these devices was adapted to the needs of transportation manufacturers. Envisioning smaller and more lightweight robotics, designers realized that cobots could be used for millions of assembly tasks now being carried out by humans. Following traditional thinking, every cobot in use today is based on electric motors and drives. Something new is on the horizon, however: a cobot based on pneumatic technology that will change the paradigm of a cobot itself and open the door to new ways of thinking about robotic design. Pneumatics will simplify components and make it easy to operate these collaborative units
The field of parallel kinematics was viewed as being potentially transformational in manufacturing, having multiple potential advantages over conventional serial machine tools and robots. However, the technology never quite achieved market penetration or broad success envisaged. Yet, many of the inherent advantages still exist in terms of stiffness, force capability, and flexibility when compared to more conventional machine structures. Deployment of Parallel Kinematic Machines in Manufacturing examines why parallel kinematic machines have not lived up to original excitement and market interest and what needs to be done to rekindle that interest. A number of key questions and issues need to be explored to advance the technology further. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio
Composite materials for aerospace & defense continue on a path of market growth fueled by tightening environmental and economic targets. This trend is occurring alongside rapid innovations in design, manufacturing, automation and cost reduction. Although slowed by the global pandemic, the increasing role of composites for many industries is, in fact, a foregone conclusion. More and more, composites performance-expressed in the elegant functionality of a curved wingtip on an airliner or in the fewer, thinner, winding fan blades of a GE9X engine-demonstrate an accelerating freedom-of-form and utility that makes composites essential to the future
Imaging lenses used in many industrial machine vision applications have special requirements beyond those of standard imaging lenses. The lenses used in factory automation, robotics, and industrial inspection have to work in specific and demanding environments, which could involve vibrations, shocks, temperature changes, and contaminants. Because of these environmental requirements, new classes of ruggedized lenses are being designed specifically to work in a multitude of different scenarios, therefore creating different types of ruggedization. There are three distinct types of ruggedization available: industrial ruggedization, ingress protection ruggedization, and stability ruggedization
Gaps in composite structures are a risky factor in aeronautical assemblies. For mechanically joined composite components, the geometrical conformance of the part can be problematic due to undesired or unknown re-distribution of loads within a composite component, with these unknowns being potentially destructive. To prevent unnecessary preloading of a metallic structure, and the possibility of cracking and delamination in a composite structure, it is important to measure all gaps and then shim any gaps greater than 127 microns. A strategy to overcome the high relative tolerances for assemblies lies in the automated manufacturing of shims for the gaps previously predicted through the evaluation of their volumes via a simulation tool. This paper deals with the development of a special end-effector prototype to enable the shimming of gaps in composites structures using a pre-processed geometry. The aim of this end-effector is to provide movement to a temperature controlled hot-end in
This paper presents a full automated solution that uses robots for manufacturing business jets primary parts. The purpose of this technological innovation is to increase productivity, improve the quality of final product, reduce costs with maintenance and consumable materials, in addition to meeting the requirements of ergonomics, occupational health and safety. So, better results have been sought in terms of process efficiency and technological innovation aligned to competitive market requirements related to industrial automation. The aim is to improve the manufacturing processes of the furniture parts, striving for excellence in every step by further adding value and reducing wastes in order to reduce manufacturing costs and enable greater customer satisfaction
Linear motion systems are found inside countless machines including precision laser cutting systems, laboratory automation equipment, semiconductor fabrication machines, CNC machines, factory automation, and many others too numerous to list. They range from the relatively simple such as an inexpensive seat actuator in a passenger vehicle, to a complex, multi-axis coordinate system complete with control and drive electronics for closed-loop positioning. No matter how simple or complex the linear motion system, at the most basic level, they all have one thing in common: moving a load through a linear distance in a specific amount of time
This paper discusses an energy efficient compressed air system at an industrial automation components manufacturing facility. The authors performed and energy assessment as part of the DOE's Industrial Assessment Center program and followed up with additional investigations on the compressed air system. The compressed air system utilizes an outlet pressure transducer to a microcontroller to adjust system capacity by changing motor speed and modulating an electric proportional inlet valve. This control system allows reduced modulation of operating pressure and a lower operating set point, when compared to either system alone, and avoids thermal overloads when the VFD attempts to operate at low frequencies. The control system will be examined and discussed with respect to operation, energy savings, installation costs, and payback
The demands on future mobility concepts for private transport will be determined by three major trends: climate change, urbanization and demographic change. These trends also provide the basis for three main development goals: “zero emissions”, “intelligent mobility” and “zero accidents”. In combination with intelligent traffic concepts and driver assistance functions, electric mobility will make a vital contribution to implementing these goals. To nevertheless keep individual mobility affordable and safe, the complexity of the electrical/electronic architecture (E/E architecture) of today's vehicles must be significantly reduced. It must advance along the steps that avionics and industrial automation already took more than 20 years ago, i.e. it must adopt the structures and methods of modern information and communication technologies (ICT). The text below describes the motivation and idea for future E/E architectures and the potential which arises from changing them significantly. The
A side-effect of the continuing globalization is that manufacturing is more and more becoming a commodity. The manufacturing industry has to respond to rapidly changing markets more often and much faster than ever before while maintaining equivalent or better quality. The Automated Manufacturing System has been widely accepted as an enabling technology to respond quickly to the market changes and to improve the quality and operational efficiency of production. In this context, wireless sensors carry several advantages compared to traditional wired sensors in creating highly reliable shop floor control system, including self-organizing, self-healing, auto-routing, and self-controlling. This paper presents an agent-based simulation test bed to assist the system designer at each stage of development of wireless sensor based shop floor control systems. The proposed test bed exploits virtual factory approach in order to enhance the design and development process. Virtual Factory allows
Autonomous guided vehicles, called AGVs, are important components of factory automation and manufacture system integration that requires both technical and management skills. In this paper, an AGV prototype equipped with IR detectors and IR range sensors is programming to follow a route line on the floor and avoid some obstacles on the way. The motion of the experimental AGV is promote by two DC motor with build-in gearbox, working with simultaneous PWM control in closed-loop operation. This AGV is designed to operate in environments such as offices and shop floor, in order to carry light loads on flat surfaces and ramps with positive and negative inclination. Simulations tests with ADAMS® are compared with some experimental results in order to validate the model and the prototype approaches
Integra Lion of automated guided vehicles into manufacturing has become common in the recent past. The total control system plays a unique role in this process called integration. This paper considers the elements of large system integration and identifies specific actions to aid in successful system implementation
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