Manufacturing

Customer
Prototype Manufacturer

Application
Engine components

Background
This mid-west based company produces precision machined high-performance powertrain parts and prototype components for all the major automotive manufacturers.

Problem
This particular part is an aluminum bed plate. Its dimensions are 19”L x 14” W x 4” T with many blind holes. Previously manufactured as a prototype and individually cleaned, this bed plate is now in full production and a more cost effective and less time consuming cleaning method was needed. Several criteria had to be met: 1) the system had to be totally automatic with safeguards in place in case of production line back-up, 2) it had to be integrated into a fully automatic production line with the ability to communicate with several other machines, 3) the part temperature could not exceed ambient +/- 5°F after the wash, rinse and dry cycles, 4) the system also had to produce at least 150 clean parts per hour / 1,200/shift, 5) upon completion of the cleaning cycle the part had to be 100% dry to pass a QC inspection of the machined surfaces (a surface indicator test).

Solution
Design a fully automatic aqueous-based conveyor system capable of washing, rinsing, and drying these bed plates. Unlike other conveyors, this machine was specifically designed to be loaded and unloaded by a “pick-and-place” robot. In case of any production line difficulty, special PLC programming was incorporated to purge any parts remaining in the conveyor to avoid unnecessary heating of the parts. The conveyor was also equipped with three (3) electronic eyes that would: a) first, index each part to begin the cycle after being placed onto the conveyor belt, b) secondly, would sense the part entering the dry zone and position the part to be blasted with 80 psi of compressed air using specifically placed nozzles located directly above the blind holes. The part then passed through a heated dry section to assure 100% dryness. c) lastly, would sense a completed part and allow the “pick-and-place” to remove it from the conveyor. Finally, wash, rinse and dry temperatures are carefully monitored to ensure compliance with part temperature requirements as the part exited the machine.

The output requirements have been met; this cleaning system is now producing a clean, dry part every 23 seconds (1,253/shift).

System
A customized Better Engineering Cyberjet Conveyor with a 4’ wash zone, 2’ rinse zone, a compressed blow-off air zone (to blow water out of blind holes), a 4’ heated dry zone, a customer specific Better Engineering PLC programming package, three (3) retro-reflective photo eyes and a computerized indexing mechanism. It also contained the following options: a steam exhaust system, an in-line filtering system, and an oil skimming belt.

5/8/98