Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • IAR Chap 2

    Uploaded by

    dpshradha
    10 views25 pages

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    10 views25 pages

    IAR Chap 2

    Uploaded by

    dpshradha

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 25
    2 1 PROCESS INDUSTRIES VERSUS DISCRETE MANUFA n Chapter ion of industry types in es: (1) basic categori In the discu: tions were divided into two facturing industries. Process industries Pe! of materials, because the materials tend ails, whereas discrete manufacturing indust materials, because the materials tend to be operations performed on the materi of the typical unit operations 5.1.1 Levels of Auto! ction 4.3) in the The levels of automation (Se n in the low an Significant differences are see! there are differences in ries, simply because the pt the devices are used mostly ing operations, whereas in actions of machines. At level 2, the the process industries, and machines are contro At level 3, the difference is be tions and interconnected machit issues are similar, allowing for t rocesses and equipme! 5.1.2 Variables an ‘The distinction between process industri to the variables and parameters that cha The reader will recall from the previous fined as outputs of the process the process industries, the varial whereas in discrete manufacturing, with reference to Figure 5.1. ‘A continuous variable ( ceeds, at least during the manufacturing operation. TABLE 5.1 Typical Unit Operations in the Process Indus! and Discrete Manufacturing Industries Process Industries Chemical reactions Comminution Chemical vapor deposition Distillation Mixing and blending of ingredients Separation of ingredients 2, industries and th process industries and (2) discrete ye
    109] (Gorl) Pals data Time Figure 5.1 Continuous and discrete variables and parameters in manufacturing operations, 14 5.2 CONTINUOUS VERSUS DISCRETE CONTROL ~ Chap. 5 / Industrial Control Syste, % ly certain vah ster) is one that can take on onl ae ze variable (or parameter) is in take on aval a ae oe ‘The most common type of dis ee ae aa canis a san je OFF, open 5 i ples ‘aL two possible values, ON or C clos [seroant = Dacia bine apables and parameters in manufacturing include fim swith oat discrete binary ver and work part present or not present in ¢ TAs, NOt al dice iabl te i Other possibilities can take g se (and parameters) are binary. possi y Sean a possible values but less than an infinite number that lserete ote iy more than {wo Postncide day piece counts in a production 9perdion ane the dspay inary. Examples inet cial form of discrete variable is pulse data, which consist of, eee ee eee ential in) as shown in Figure 5.1. As a discrete variable, a py, example. parts passing on a conveys calle (ise train; series of pulses (called a pu n train might be used to indicate piece counts, for t detected. As a process paramet netivate a photocell to produce a pulse for each par aoe pulse train might be used (o drive a stepper motor. Industrial control systems used in the process industries tend to emphasize the control ot Continuous variables and parameters. By contrast, the manufacturing industries produce Gieorete parts and products, and their controllers tend to emphasize discrete variables and parameters. Just as there are two basic types of variables and parameters that characterize ic types of control: (1) continuous control, in production operations, there are also two basi : enich the variables and parameters are continuous and analog; and (2) discrete control, in which the variables and parameters are discrete, mostly binary discrete. Some of the differences between continuous control and discrete control are summarized in Table 53. In reality, most operations in the process and discrete manufacturing industries include both continuous and discrete variables and parameters. Consequently, many industrial con- trollers are designed with the capability to receive, operate on, and transmit both types of als and data. Chapter 6 covers the various types of signals and data in industrial control systems and how the data are converted for use by digital computers. TABLE 5.3 Comparison Between Continuous Control and Discrete Control Comparison Factor Continuous Control in Process Discrete Control in Discrete Industries Manufacturing Industries Number of parts, number of products Typical measures of Weight measures, liquid Product output volume measures, solid volume measures Typical quality measures Consistency, concentration of Dimensions, surface finish, appear solution, absence of contaminants, —_ance, absence of defects, product conformance to specification reliability Typical variables and Temperature, volume flow rate, Posit i fe : , force poical veri ennerat “sition, velocity, acceleration Typical sensors Flow meters, thermocouples, Limit switches, photoelectric sensors: pressure sensors strain pi sors a gages, piezoelectric ser Typical actuators Valves, heaters, pumps Switches, motors pistons Seconds, minutes, hours Less than a second Typical process time constants “| ty | 8?! Continuous Versus Discrete Control te To complicate ma : cout ae eee ieee ere i eas . no longer measured continuous! ms around 1960, continuous process x " nolonger measured continuous Instead, they are sampled periodically in effect creating *e a discret sampled-data system that approximates the ata continuous Se larly. * the contol signals sent tothe process are typically stepwise functions tha approximate : us control signals that are transmitted by analog controllers. Hence. in digital vot computer process control, even continuous variables and parameters possess character 7 istics of discrete data, and these characteristics must be considered in the design of the computer-process interface and the control algorithms used by the controller. 5.2.1 Continuous Control Systems faintain the value of an output variable stem (Section 4.1.3). In continuous control, the usual objective is to m: re feed- at a desired level, similar to the operation of a feedback control sys However, most continuous processes in the practical world consist of many separat back loops, all of which have to be controlled and coordinated to maintain the oviptt variable at the desired value. There are several ways to achieve the control objective in 2 continuous process-control system. In the following paragraphs, the most prominent categories are surveyed. Regulatory Control. In regulatory control, the objective is to maintain process performance at a certain level or within a given tolerance band of that level. This is ap- propriate, for example, when the performance attribute is some measure of product qua! Frceind it is important to keep the quality at the specified level or within a specified range. In many applications, the performance measure of the process, sometses called caesnder of performance, must be calculated based on several output variables of the process, Except for this feature, regulatory control is to the overall process Wht feedback a retsol is to an individual control loop in the process, as suggested by Figure 52. ha simple feedback control loop) ‘The trouble with regulatory control (and also wit! is that compensating action is taken only after a disturbance has affected the process O° put. An error must be present for any control action to be taken. ‘The presence of an error aan aevthat the output of the process is different from the desired value, ‘The following control mode, feedforward control, addresses this NEE Sew ee Rm Performance Output variables — Input parameters ee Process Measured variables Adjustments to input Pare Controller ss Tndex of Performance performance target level Figure 5.2 Regulatory control. 116 Chap. 5 / Industrial Control Systems ward control is to anticipate the sing them and compensating for Figure 5.3, the feedforward contro} Mt take corrective action by adjusting “The strategy in feedfor upset the process by sen As shown Feedforward Control. is ce 1 wil effect of disturbances tha Gham betore they affect the process. 6 TT elements sense the pres ence of a dist va Wu con econ eva elements sense Tier that compensates for any effect the disturbance vill have on the 2 Process Pitne ideal ense, the eneipensation is completely effective. ate fins process. In {ht on is unlikely because of delays andor imperfections in the ecdback plete commas, actuator operations. and onirol algorithms, so feedforward control i Mestre od with feedback control, as shown the figure. Regulatory and feed. combine i are more closely associated ‘with the process industries than with dis. nufacturing. usuall, forward control crete product mar ‘This term refers to a class of optimization techniques in which the process exhibits the following ¢ teristics: (1) there isa clei index of performance, such as product cost, producti rate, or process yield (2) the relationship between the process variables and the index of performance is known: and (3) the values {optimize the index of performance can be determined math- of the system parameters tha 2 can b When these characteristics apply, the control algorithm is designed to make cess toward the optimal state. The Steady-State Optimization. ematically. y adjustments in the process parameters 10 drive the pro ; ; aentrol system is open loop, as seen in Figure 4. ‘Several mathematical techniques are timal control problems, including differential calculus, available for solving steady-state opt avaiilus of variations, and various mathematical programming methods. Adaptive Control. Steady-state optimal control operates as am open-loop system. t works successfully when there are no disturbances that invalidate the known relation- performance. When such disturbances are ship between process parameters and process present in the application, a self-correcting form of optimal control can be used, called viaptive control. Adaptive control combines feedback control and optimal control by tmensuring the relevant process variables during operation (as in feedback control) ané tising a control algorithm that attempts to optimize some index of performance (as in optimal control). Adaptive control control by its unique capability t | is distinguished from feedback control and steady-state optimal ‘0 cope with a time-varying environment. It is not unusual Disturbance Input parameters Output variables | Process |-——> ‘Adjustmen he lana Ns Measured Feedforward | Parameters eae control elements Controller Index of Performance performance target level Fi " ‘igure 5.3 Feedforward control, combined with feedback control. a 5.2 / Continuous Versus Discrete Control "7 Input parameters Put paramete Output variables Performance ——— —evresee measure ———} Process, (| Adjustments wee] all rameters erformance (IP) Controtter | implement discrete control. At that time, computer technology was in its inf: the only computers available for process control were large. expens’ Compared with today’s technology, digital computers of the 1950s were slow. and not well suited to process-control applications. The computers sometimes cost more than the processes they controlled. Advances in technology have resulted in the development of the microprocessor. T: industrial processes, certainly new installations, are controlled by digital computers Sasei on microprocessor technology. Historical Note 5.1 Computer Process Control [1], [7]. Control of industrial processes by digital computers can be traced to the process industiss in the late 1950s and early 1960s. These industries, such as oil refineries and chemical plat use high-volume continuous production processes characterized by many variables and sss ciated control loops. The processes had traditionally been controlled by analog devices. ea: loop having its own set-point value and in most instances operating independently of other loops. Any coordination of the process was accomplished in a central control room. wher= workers adjusted the individual settings, attempting to achieve stability and economy in = process. The cost of the analog devices for all of the control loops was considerable, and th= human coordination of the process was less than optimal. The commercial development of the digital computers in the 1950s offered the opportunity to replace some of the analog com trol devices with the computer. “ The first known attempt to use a digital computer for process control was at a Tex<0 refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, in the late 1950s. Texaco had been contacted in 1956 by 2 computer manufacturer Thomson Ramo Woodridge (TRW), and a feasibility study was CO ducted on a polymerization unit at the refinery. The computer-control system went on Ene | in March 1959. The control application involved 26 flows, 72 temperatures, three pressures. and three compositions. This pioneering work did not escape the notice of other companies in the process industries as well as other computer companies. The process industries 2¥ r Process Control 121 computer process control as a means of automation, and the computer companies saw a potential market for their products, The available computers in the Inte 1950s were not reliable, and most of the subse- quent Process-control installations operated either by printing out instructions for the opera- tor or by making adjustments in the set points of analog controllers, thereby reducing the risk of process downtime due to computer problems. The latter mode of operation was called set-point control. By March 1961, a total of 37 computer process-control systems had been installed. Much experience was gained from these carly installations. The interrupt feature (Section 5.3.2), by which the computer suspends current program execution to quickly Tespond to a process need, was developed during this period. The first direct digital control (DDC) system (Section 5.3.3), in which certain analog devices are replaced by the computer, was installed by Imperial Chemical Industries in England in 1962. In this implementation, 224 process variables were measured, and 129 actuators (valves) were controlled. Improvements in DDC technology were made, and additional systems were installed during the 1960s. Advantages of DDC noted during this time included (1) cost savings by eliminating analog instrumentation, (2) simplified opera- tor display panels, and (3) flexibility due to reprogramming capability. Computer technology was advancing, leading to the development of the minicom- puter in the late 1960s. Process-control applications were easier to justify using these smaller, less expensive computers. Development of the microcomputer in the early 1970s continued this trend. Lower cost process-control hardware and interface equipment (such as analog- to-digital converters) were becoming available due to the larger markets made possible by low-cost computer controllers. Most of the developments in computer process control up to this time were biased toward the process industries rather than discrete part and product manufacturing. Just as analog de- vices had been used to automate process industry operations, relay banks were widely used to satisfy the discrete process-control (ON/OFF) requirements in manufacturing automation. The programmable logic controller (PLC), a control computer designed for discrete process control, was developed in the early 1970s (Historical Note 9.1). Also, numerical control (NC) machine tools (Historical Note 7.1) and industrial robots (Historical Note 8.1), technologies that pre- ceded computer control, started to be designed with digital computers as their controllers. The availability of low-cost microcomputers and programmable logic controllers resulted in a growing number of installations in which a process was controlled by multiple computers networked together. The term distributed control was used for this kind of system, the first of which was a product offered by Honeywell in 1975. In the early 1990s, personal computers (PCs) began to be utilized on the factory floor, sometimes to provide scheduling and engineer- ing data to shop floor personnel, in other cases as the operator interface to processes controlled by PLCs. Today, PCs are sometimes used to directly control manufacturing operations. 1.5 SOCIAL Issues OF AUTOMATION Automation has contributed to modern industry in many ways. Automation raises several important social issues. Among them is automation’ impact on employmenthunemployment. Automation leads to fuller employment. When automation was first introduced, it caused widespread fear. It was thought that the displacement of human workers by computerized systems would lead to unemployment (this also happened with mechanization, centuries earlier). In fact the opposite was true, the freeing up of the labor force allowed more people to enter information jobs, which are typically higher paying. One odd side effect of this shift is that “unskilled labor” now pays very well in most industrialized nations, because fewer people are available to fill such jobs leading to supply and demand issues. Some argue the reverse, at least in the long term. First, automation has only just begun and short-term conditions might partially obscure its long-term impact. For instance many manufacturing jobs left the United States during the early 1990s, but a massive up scaling of IT jobs at the same time offset this as a whole. Currently, for manufacturing companies, the purpose of automation has shi increasing productivity and reducing costs to increasing quality and flexibility in the manyfacturing process. Another important social issue of automation is better working conditions. The automated plants needs controlled temperature, humidity and dust free environment for proper functioning of automated machines. Thus the workers gets very good environment to work in. ifted from 4 Industrial Automation and Robotics ¢ ‘ 4 eae AMatomation leads to safety of workers, By automating the loading and unloadin, y ‘i jar and | operations, the chances of accidents to the workers gets reduced. em On increase in standard of living with the help of apie Say prowlctvty te ene minciearell ctivity and automation is the sure metho s eee the increase in productivity and autorhat wed, thus enabling a large number g They #2 cost of color TVs, washing machines and stereos has compone! households to buy these products. Adval 1.6 Low Cost AUTOMATION s Ss Low cost automation is a technology that creates some degree Sh sucmnation aia the a existing equipment, tools, methods, people, etc. using mostly standard comps lable oS in the market with low investment, so that pay back period is short Disa "The benefits of low cost automation are manifold. It not only simplifies the Process, out also reduces the manual content without changing the basic set up. Major rai of “e Cost, ‘ dutomation are, low investment, increased labour productivity, smaller batch size, better 2 utilisation of the material and, process consistency leading to less rejections. 2. Prog ‘A wide range of activities such as loading, feeding, clamping, machining, welding, forming," 4,» gauging, assembly and packing can be subjected to low cost automation systems Option. or prod Besides, low cost automation can be very useful for process industries manufacturing tne con chemicals, oils, or pharmaceuticals. Many operations in food processing industries, which need -yauc » to be carried out under totally hygeinic conditions, can also be rendered easy through low cost tom: automation systems. 2 accordi ’A wide variety of systems (mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, electrical and electronics) are new p available for deployment in LCA systems. However, each has its own advantages as well as pachir limitations. For uncomplicated situations, one can build a simple LCA device using any of the indust above systems, through a rapid techno-economic evaluation. However, in most of the practical ie applications, hybrid systems are used since that can allow use of the, advantages of different devices, while simultaneously minimizing individual disadvantages. : <7 | Issues in Low Cost Automation DB 1, Assessment of the Current Productivity Level. There are some simple procedures for this. ~ Work Sampling (activity sampling) is one of them. It needs no equipment and only very little - time to collect the data. If the data is processed, considerable information will come out about 3. Fle the current productivity level. h 2. PMTS. Predetermined Motion and Time Studies is a very useful tool to check whether an parts existing manual operation is correctly pasted. If the time taken is more than desirable, PMTS_ man will help in identifying it and improving it. acco 3. Design for Automation and Assembly. When components ate made and assembled "°° manually one may not have thought about the complexity of automation. For example, putting fy" half a dozen nuts and bolts is very easy in a manual assembly but very complex for an automatic system. its 1 abil 1.7 TYPES OF AUTOMATION an 1. Fixed Automation (Hard Automation) Fixed automation refers to the use of special purpose equipment to automate asfixed sequence of processing or assembly operations. It is typically associated with high production rates and it is relatively difficult to accommodate changes in the product design. This is als? called hard automation. For example, GE manufactures approximately 2 billion light bulbs pe! but also ‘low cost e, better forming, doption. acturing ich need low cost nics) are well as of the practical ilferent for this. ny little itabout ether an s PMTS: embled putting for an ‘fixed ction S also per ‘Automation 5 rear and uses fairly specialized, high-speed automation equipment. Fixed automation makes sense only when product designs are stable and product life cycles are long. Machines used in pard-auromation applications are usually built on the building block, or modular principle. They are generally called transfer machines, and consist of the following two major components: powerhead production units and transfer mechanisms. Advantages _2 Maximum efficiency oe HW unit cost Zs-RaTomated material handling—fast and efficient movement of parts Xr little WIP 5 Disadvantages ge initial investment Cp datexibility Programmable Automation In programmable automation, the equipment is designed to accommodate a specific class of product changes and the processing or assembly operations can be changed by modifying the control program. It is particularly suited to “batch production,” or the manufacture of a product in medium lot sizes (generally at regular intervals). The example of this kind of automation is the CNC lathe that produces a specific product in a certain product class according to the “input program.” In programmable automation, reconfiguring the system for a new product is time consuming because it involves reprogramming and set up for the machines, and new fixtures and tools. Examples include numerically controlled machines, industrial robots, etc. Advantages _ZHexibility to deal with changes in product 7 ‘Ow unit cost for large batches Disadvantages —© New product requires long set up time 2 High unit cost relative to fixed automation 3. Flexible Automation (Soft Automation) In flexible automation, the equipment is designed to manufacture a variety of products or parts and very little time is spent on changing from one product to another. Thus, a flexible manufacturing system can be used to manufacture various combitiations of products according to any specified schedule. With a flexible automation system it is possible to quickly incorporate changes in the product (which:may be redesigned in reaction to changing market conditions and to consumer feedback) or to quickly introduce a new product line. For example, Verda is widely credited with using flexible automation technology to introduce 113 changes to its line of motorcycle products in the 1970's. Flexible automation gives the manufacturer the ability to produce multiple products cheaply in combination than separately. Advantages Flexibility to deal with design variations “s-€istomized products Disadvantages rge initial investment teh unit cost relative to fixed or programmable automation 6 Industrial Automation and Robotics 1.8 CURRENT EMPHASES IN AUTOMATION Currently, for manufacturing companies, the purpose of automation has shifted from increasing productivity and reducing costs, to broader issues, such as increasing quality and flexibility in the manufacturing process. The old focus on using automation simply to increase productivity and reduce costs was seen to be short-sighted, because it is also necessary to provide a skilled workforce who can make repairs and manage the machinery. Moreover, the initial costs of automation were high and often could not be recovered by the time entirely new manufacturing processes replaced the old. (Japan's “robot junkyards” were once world famous in the manufacturing industry.) Automation is now often applied primarily to increase quality in the manufacturing process, where automation can increase quality substantially. For example, automobile and truck pistons used to be installed into engines manually. This is rapidly being transitioned to automated machine installation, because the error rate for manual installment was around 1 to 1.5%, but is 0.00001% with automation. Hazardous operations, such as oil refining, the manufacturing of industrial chemicals, and all forms of metal working, were always early contenders for automation. Another major shift in automation is the increased emphasis on flexibility and convertibility in the manufacturing process. Manufacturers are increasingly demanding the ability to easily switch from manufacturing Product A to manufacturing Product B without having to completely rebuild the production lines. 1.9 REASONS FOR AUTOMATION 1. Shortage of Labor 2. High Cost of Labor 3. Increased Productivity. Higher production output per hour of labor input is possible with automation than with manual operations. Productivity is the single most important factor in determining a nation’s standard of living. If the value of output/ hour goes up, the overall income levels go up. 4. Competition. The ultimate goal of a company is to increase profits. However, there are other measures that are harder to measure. Automation may result in lower prices, superior products, better labor relations, and a better company image. 5. Safety, Automation allows the employee to assume a supervisory role instead of being directly involved in the manufacturing task. For example, die casting is hot and angerous and the work pieces are often very heavy. Welding, spray painting and other operations can be a health hazard. Machines can also do these jobs more precisely and achieve better quality products, 6. Reducing Manufacturing Lead-time, Automation allows the manufacturer to respond quickly to the consumers needs. Second, flexible automation also allows companies to handle frequent design modifications. 7. Lower Costs. In addition to cutting labor costs, automation may decrease the scrap rate and thus reduce the cost of raw materials. It also enables just-in-time a ee 2 mkt the manufacturer to reduce the in-process quality of the product at lower cost, tt 1.11 ISSUES FOR AUTOMATION IN FACTORY OPERATIONS Task is too difficult to automate Short product lifecycle Customised product Fluctuating demand Reduce risk of product failure Cheap manual labor Transfer Devices and Feeders 12.1 INTRODUCTION , neteenth century, the increasing need for finished goods j, search for and to develop new methods gy iti as led engineers to “ i large quantities hi B development in the various manufacturing proces i i It of. manufacturing or production. As a resu! i it is now possible to mass-production, high-quality durable goods at low cost. One of the more important manufacturing processes Is the assembly process thee is eae when two or more. components parts are to be secured together. The history o! janes ly Ee development ig closely related to the history of the development of mass-production met ods. The Pioneers of mass production are also the pioneers of modern assembly techniques. Their ideas ang concepts have brought significant improvement in the assembly methods employed in high volume production. However, although many aspects of manufacturing engineering, especially the pans fabrication process, have been revolutionized by the application of automation, the technology of the basic assembly process has failed to keep pace. Although, during the last few decades, Since the beginning of the ni efforts have been made to reduce assembly costs by the application of high speed automation and more recently by the use of assembly robots, success has been quite limited and many assembly workers are still using the same basic tools as those employed at the time of the Industrial Revolution. So in these days, it is felt necessary that manufacturing engineers and designers must learn about automatic assembly. This in turn provides means to improve design, productivity and competitiveness. 12.2 FUNDAMENTALS OF PRODUCTION LINES A production Jine consists of a series of workstations arranged so that the product moves from one station to the next, and at each location a portion of the total work is performed on it: aaa ‘ ‘ z Production lines are associated with mass production. If quantities of product are very high and ns A é s ions, the work can be divided into separate tasks that can be assigned to individual workstation then a production line is the most appropriate manufacturing system. In terms of the capacity of a production li 3 of : luction line to it jations, three {YP® ~ line can be distinguished: Spe with. model, variate ( 236 237 Transfer Devices and Feeders duces only one model and there is no variation in the model. The tasks a are the same on all product units, \duces each model in batches. The workstations are set up to produce spose PO reach station ) eanaae! ine prod ' i quantity of the first model, then the stations are reconfigured to produce the desired . eave nest model, and so on. ity 7 i god node line also produces multiple models; however, the models are intermixed on yeline rather than being produced in batches While a particular model is being worked * Fe tation, different model is being processed at the next station. ntl 3 ees OF ASSEMBLE LINES fv assembly ines are of two types: fal ‘assembly Lines. A manual assembly Tine consists of multiple workstations s a nusiyentially, at which assembly operations are performed by human workers a srarises accomplished on manual assembly lines include mechanical fastening operations, § wing, hand soldering, and adhesive joining. vi | gt en a uc idhesive joining say |, automated production lines. An automated production line consists of automated Ing 4 orkstations connected by a parts transfers system whose actuation is coordinated with the ih | acons. In ideal, no human ‘workers are on the line, except to perform auxiliary functions such sgl changing, loading and unloading parts, and repair and maintenance activits Modern, ats | gutomated lines are integrated systems operating under computer control. i ‘automated production lines can be divided into two basics categories : ks, Zransfer lines, which consists of a sequence of workstations that performs processing ations. Transfer lines are c transfer of work units between st with automatis are designed for job requiring high operations, sive pieces of equipment; they usually expen: quantities of parts. ial indexing machine, ged around a circular wh workstations are arran ‘chanism that provides in whicl am and worktable called a dial. The worktable is actuated by a me partial rotation of the table on each work cycle. 12.4 TRANSFER SYSTEMS es The four main types of transfer systems are : continuous ntermittent/synchronous, nit asynchronous and stationary. . and In continuous transfer systems the work carriers are moving at constant speed while fe ws | Work head index back and forth. ‘The assembly operations are cartied out using the a when t ang forward, keeping pace with the work carriers. Exam Ss he an ee manual assembly where the worker can Cohtinuous transfer can be seen in bottling operations, Move with the moving line. f ' 238 _ Industrial Automation and Robotics In intermittent transfer the work carriers are transferred intermittently and the workheag, remains stationary. All the parts are moved at same time, hence the term synchronous trang. system, which is also used to describe this method of workpiece transport. For exampy intermittent transfer systems are used in machining operations, press-working operatio, such system is stressful to human workers, but good in automated operations. NS, ete, The asynchronous transfer system allows each work part to advance to the next station when Processing at the current station has been ‘completed. Each part moves independent of othe, part, increasing flexibility. Good for both manual and automated operations. In the stationaty system, the part is paced in a fixed locaciun where it remains duting the entire assembly process. This system is used when the assembled product is bulky or difficult to handle e.g., airplanes, ships, etc. 12.5 TRANSFER MECHANISMS Transfer mechanisms are used to move the workpiece from one station to another in the machine- or from one machine to another- to enable various operations to be performed on the part. Workpieces are transferred by several methods: * Rails along which the parts, usually placed on pallets, are pushed or pulled by various mechanisms; « Rotary indexing tables; and ¢ Overhead conveyors. ing beam transfer system is used'in types. 's, crankshafts, tubing and piping ofl motor shafts, camshaft; Tne. advantages of walking beam Significant reducti machines. meee ‘achines include lower machine chassis cost an ions in fixturin, 8 costs. This system lends itselt well to very high-speed Transfer Devices and Feeders. 239 Fig. 12.1, Walking Beam System 2, Powered Roller Conveyor System. This t si 5 'ype of system (Refer gutomated flow lines. The conveyor can be used to move parts or tr figure 122) s used in flexible, robust and highly efficient. vr conveyors are Fig. 12.2. Powered Roller Conveyor System d to transport the work carriers. intermittent or 3. Chain Drive Conveyor System. A chain or steel belt is use Chain drive conveyor system as shown in figure 12.3 can be used for continuous, non-synchronous movement of work parts. Forward Work a ‘carriers : Return. ; a“, ' Fig, 12.3. Chain Drive Conveyor syste BRARY satyasaheb Kore Institute of Engineering and Technology Warananagar, Dist. Kolhapur / 240 __ Industrial Automation and Robotics 12.5.2 Rotary Transfer Mechanism ddto index a circular table oF dial at various equal q In sions, some of the methods are described bg ay anism is not suited for high-speed fn uses a piston to drive the rack, ation, + Which methods us 1g to workstation loc ion mec 5, The device rotate. ‘There are variou positions correspondin, 1. Rack and Pinion. The rack and pin! often associated with indexing machi and attached indexing table (0 causes the pinion gear 2, Ratchet and Paw. A ratchet mechanism is based on a wheel that has teeth cut out of of it and a pawl that follows as the wheel turns. Looking a the figure 12.4, as the ratchet wheel ty, the pawl falls into the ‘dip’ between the tecth. The ratchet wheel can only turn in od dhecion—in this case anticlockwise. Its operation is simple but somewhat reliable, owing, + Owing ¢9 al of the components. wear and sticking of sev Paw! ne ie Vaz ine O " LS shaft nes oo Ratchet wheel S a Fig. 12.4. Ratchet and Pawl System wi A 3. Geneva Mechanism, The Geneva type mechanism has more general application ee ses machines but its cost is higher than the mechanisms described earlier. AG ae oo A Geneva anizin as shown in fgare 12.5 is used to provide an intermittent rotational motion aftellé ¢ © rotation. po Because the drive i i eee ean em ina ene yaTDouOn is always under full control of the driver there aga a te ning. Impact is still a problem unless the slots of the driven wheel | le and the driving pin enters these slots at the proper angle. T " revolution. The smaller th e number of stops, the greater the adverse mechanical advantage between the driver and drive V at the cel ; ‘iven members. Thi i igh i 'y eet i This results in a high indexing velocity at terol By the indexing movement Sy iB we Driver i (

    You might also like