Automatic balancing of passenger car drive shafts
In order to meet the high demands of "just-in-sequence production" in the automotive plant, maximum system availability and minimum cycle and changeover times of the automated production systems are required. In each of the four systems implemented, more than 280 different types of passenger car drive shafts with lengths of 400 to 2,000 mm are removed from an electric overhead conveyor, then automatically balanced and discharged from the cell. For this purpose, after determining the unbalance of the cardan shaft in another station of the system, the unbalance correction weights are assembled on the basis of the measured data and automatically welded by the robot to the corresponding positions on the cardan shaft. To enable the various cardan shafts to be manufactured in chaotic sequence within a minute, the robot and balancing machine are equipped with extremely compact servo-motor-driven traversing fixtures, so that the fastest possible automatic changeover to the respective shaft type can take place.
Automatic balancing of truck wheels
The wheel balancing machine is equipped with transfer technology and a specially adapted robot gripper. The truck wheels are delivered as a stack and guided via roller tables into the working area of the robot. The robot positions the wheels in the balancing system, where they are automatically measured. The balancing weights are applied manually at the customer's request; the position for the weights to be applied is indicated precisely by a laser. With automatic balancing weight application, the weight is applied directly without laser marking. After processing in the balancing system, the wheels are stacked on top of each other again by the robot on a roller table.
System advantage
This flexibility and the use of high-tech components have resulted in a process-reliable automation solution that offers 100% inspection of the various products in the shortest possible time and is therefore highly economical.
