Industry/Application: Automotive - Part Cutting, Transport, Measurement, and Data Gathering Equipment
Description: This X-Y table is utilized in an automotive application for cutting, measurement, transport, and stacking of piece parts that are used within an automotive fuel injection system. The X-Y table shown starts with a large block of aluminum and cuts the block into strips that measure 0.xxx +/- 0.0002 inches. The X-Y table then records the thickness of the finished part and transports the finished part to a stacking area for offload by the machine operator. The measured data is sent via a serial communication link to a factory Personal Computer for entry into the factory Statistical Process Control (SPC) System.
The finished-part accuracy proved to be so accurate, the company eventually quit recording the data.
We were the prime contractor for the project and were responsible for electrical and mechanical design of the completed X-Y table. The X-Y table utilized servo controllers and servo motors with encoder feedback to generate the extreme accuracy required of this system. This equipment produces ~ 30% of the total manufactured parts for the entire factory.
