Professional Documents
Culture Documents
I. INTRODUCTION
Automation is a technology makes use of self-regulating machinery, electronic equipment, etc. to make a
manufacturing system or process operate at greater speed and with little or no human intervention. Automation is
“The creation and application of technology to monitor and control the production and delivery of products and
services”. Though automation can be applied in a wide variety of areas, it is most closely associated with the
manufacturing industries. The word ‘Automation’ is derived from Greek words “Auto” (self) and “Matos” (moving).
Automation therefore is the mechanism for systems that “move by itself”. However, apart from this original sense
of the word, automated systems also achieve significantly superior performance than what is possible with
manual systems, in terms of power, precision and speed of operation.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
IJIRAE: Impact Factor Value – SJIF: Innospace, Morocco (2016): 3.916 | PIF: 2.469 | Jour Info: 4.085 |
ISRAJIF (2017): 4.011 | Indexcopernicus: (ICV 2016): 64.35
IJIRAE © 2014- 18, All Rights Reserved Page –218
International Journal of Innovative Research in Advanced Engineering (IJIRAE) ISSN: 2349-2163
Issue 06, Volume 5 (June 2018) www.ijirae.com
Automation has been achieved by various means including mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, electrical, electronic
devices and computers, usually in combination. Complicated systems, such as modern factories, airplanes and
ships typically use all these combined techniques.
Gantry is a continuous-path, Cartesian coordinate robot constructed in a bridge shape that uses rails to move
along a single horizontal axis or along either of two perpendicular horizontal axes. The Gantry systems are
designed for in-line production and hence gantry moves in two directions that are along Y-axis which makes
horizontal movement and along Z-axis which makes vertical movement. In in-line production, the layout of
machines and handling systems are arranged in a straight line. The part to be machined moves forward from one
work station to the next in a well-defined sequence and there is no movement of the part in reverse direction The
main elements of the gantry system are Gantry column, Gantry beam, Carriage with Loader, End-of-Arm Tool
(EOA).
This Gantry system is placed between VMC in the layout and all other automated stations are positioned in-line
with this gantry system thereby making the gantry to automatically pick the wheel hub component from one
station and place it on other station. Two such gantry system are placed opposite to each other namely OP60A
gantry and OP60B gantry. The wheel hub component in flange down condition is automatically handled by OP60A
gantry line which is placed between two VMC’s (where drilling operation is performed) and wheel hub component
in flange up condition is automatically handled by OP60B gantry line which is placed between one VMC (where
tapping operation is performed). The different part handling systems to be designed in order to handle the wheel
hub component are End-of-Arm, Input conveyor with tilting unit, Rotary Orientation Station and Transverse
conveyor with tilting unit. All these systems are designed and developed based upon the desired orientation of the
wheel hub component need to be handled during automatic loading and unloading sequences.
End-of-Arm tool is designed to grip the part while the gantry is moving from one station to other station. Two
such End-of-Arm tools are designed namely OP60A and OP60B End-of-Arm. OP60A EOA is attached to OP60A
Gantry loader whereas OP60B EOA is attached to OP60B Gantry loader. Wheel hub in flange down condition is
gripped by OP60A EOA and Wheel hub in flange up condition is gripped by OP60B EOA.
Input conveyor with tilting unit is designed and placed as the first station in the layout where the raw wheel hub
in flange up condition is loaded on to this. Once the wheel hub is loaded the tilting unit will tilt the part by 180
degree and make the wheel hub to be placed on top of input conveyor in flange down condition.
Rotary orientation station is designed to properly orient the part before loading it to the VMC machine. Two such
stations are designed, namely OP60A and OP60B Rotary orientation station. OP60A orients the wheel hub in
flange down condition whereas OP60B orients the wheel hub in flange up condition. OP60A rotary orientation
station is placed as the second station in the layout, i.e., between input conveyor and VMC-1. OP60B rotary
orientation station is placed as the fourth station in the layout, i.e., between transverse conveyor and VMC-3.
Transverse conveyor with tilting unit is designed and placed as the third station in the layout i.e., between VMC-2
and OP60B rotary orientation station. The wheel hub component is loaded in flange down condition. Once the
wheel hub is loaded the tilting unit will tilt the part by 180 degree and make the wheel hub to be placed on top of
transverse conveyor in flange up condition.
The objective of the work is to design the following part handling systems of automated gantry system used for
wheel hub machining in VMC. i.e., Design of End-of-Arm Tool, Design of Input Conveyor with tilting unit, Design of
Rotary Orientation Station, Design of Transverse Conveyor with tilting unit, Design of overall layout.
Paper is organized as follows. Section II describes the detailed theoretical background or in other words literature
survey, referred from Journals and papers. Section III presents the design of different part handling system in an
automated gantry system for wheel hub machining in VMC. Finally, Section IV presents conclusions and future
enhancements of the work.
II. RELATED WORK
There are number of technologies proposed for Gantry Automation System, some of the related literatures
reviewed for this work is as follows.
The part need to be handled in this work is a wheel hub. The size and shape of this component is unaltered
throughout the operation, hence the gripper system is designed for a component that is having a same size
and shape all the time. Whereas the author A Chesoh et.al [1] has proposed a gripper suitable for different
size and shape of the component. Hence only the basic gripping technology is considered from this paper
that helps in building the gripper system for a wheel hub component that is having a definite size and shape
throughout the process.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
IJIRAE: Impact Factor Value – SJIF: Innospace, Morocco (2016): 3.916 | PIF: 2.469 | Jour Info: 4.085 |
ISRAJIF (2017): 4.011 | Indexcopernicus: (ICV 2016): 64.35
IJIRAE © 2014- 18, All Rights Reserved Page –219
International Journal of Innovative Research in Advanced Engineering (IJIRAE) ISSN: 2349-2163
Issue 06, Volume 5 (June 2018) www.ijirae.com
Sandeep S et.al [2] has proposed the automatic loading and unloading of components to the CNC machine. It
make use of gravity chute for the part flow which is fixed to the machine itself and a swing arm is deployed
for picking and placing the component automatically. The complete system is designed for the front loading
of the CNC machine. Whereas the requirement in this present work is to develop a system that is capable of
loading and unloading the component from top of the machine. Thereby utilizing the overhead space and
decreasing the overall layout space. Hence an over head gantry system needs to be designed.
The wheel hub component needs to store on the buffer conveyor when the other wheel hub is in machining
operation. Hence mechanical conveyors need to be designed for part storing. S H Masood et.al [3] proposed
how to decrease the number of parts in an overall conveyor system that results in ease for assembly and to
decrease the overall cost incurred in building it. The latest techniques discussed related to design for
manufacturing and design for assembly are deployed in the present work carried out that yields in reduced
cost for manufacturing and assembly.
The Automation of any system is difficult without the knowledge of sensors available. Gualtiero Fantoni et.al
[4] has discussed the grasping devices build with the help of different sensors for detection of part. This
paper is studied to get the knowledge of sensors suitable in grasping any component. In this present work
there is a need to design an automatic rotary orientation station that demands the knowledge of sensor. The
different sensors used in the related work are understood for selecting the appropriate sensor that serves
the purpose.
III. DESIGN OF PART HANDLING SYSTEM OF AUTOMATED GANTRY SYSTEM
The design of different part handling system of automated gantry system used for wheel hub machining in VMC is
discussed in this section.
A. Design of End-of-Arm Tool
End-of-Arm is an end effector used to grasp and manipulate component during the machining work cycle. The
End-of-arm used on both the gantries is identical. The schematic representation of the proposed End-of-arm for
OP60A operation and OP60B operation is as shown in the Fig 1 and Fig 2 respectively. The function of OP60A End-
of-arm on OP60A gantry is to grip the outer diameter of the component which is of 51 mm in diameter in flange
down condition and to load the same to OP60A machine. OP60B End-of-arm on OP60B gantry is to grip the outer
diameter of the component which is of 136 mm in diameter in flange up condition and to load the same to OP60B
machine.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
IJIRAE: Impact Factor Value – SJIF: Innospace, Morocco (2016): 3.916 | PIF: 2.469 | Jour Info: 4.085 |
ISRAJIF (2017): 4.011 | Indexcopernicus: (ICV 2016): 64.35
IJIRAE © 2014- 18, All Rights Reserved Page –220
International Journal of Innovative Research in Advanced Engineering (IJIRAE) ISSN: 2349-2163
Issue 06, Volume 5 (June 2018) www.ijirae.com
Fig. 3 Displacement Analysis of Base Plate Fig. 4 Stress Analysis of Base Plate
B. Design of Input Conveyor with Tilting Unit
The OP60A VMC requires wheel hub to be loaded in flange down condition to start the machining operation.
Hence the wheel hub should be in flange down condition on input conveyor (IPC). But the component is loaded in
flange up condition to the input conveyor from the previous OP50 gantry (where turning operation is performed).
To make the component automatically tilt 180 degree from flange up to flange down a tilting unit is designed as
shown in Fig 5 for input conveyor as shown in Fig 6. Clamping unit is designed to grip the part in flange up
condition during tilting as shown in Fig 7.
Working Mechanism: Wheel hub component is loaded on to the tilting unit in flange up condition, before tilting
the component should be clamped by designing clamping unit for flange up condition. Once the component is
clamped the drive assembly and driven assembly together with cradle plate tilts 180 degree, so that the
component tilts to flange down condition. Once the required position is achieved the complete cross weldment is
lowered with the help of cylinder, LM Rail and block assembly, so that the component is placed on top of the input
conveyor in flange down condition.
Analysis of Input Conveyor Stand: The Input Conveyor Stand is made up of mild steel with yield strength of 296
MPa and modulus of elasticity of 2x105 MPa. In this analysis it is made sure that the load on the stand is 1500 N
where the top assembly is fixed and 1000 N where tilting unit is fixed. Stand is constrained by fixing it to the floor.
The static displacement plot is as shown in Fig 8 and the static stress plot is as shown in Fig 9. The maximum
displacement is 0.715 mm, maximum stress induced is 13.02 MPa. Hence the input conveyor stand is safe for the
given loads.
Fig. 8 Displacement Analysis of Input Conveyor Stand Fig. 9 Stress Analysis of Input Conveyor Stand
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
IJIRAE: Impact Factor Value – SJIF: Innospace, Morocco (2016): 3.916 | PIF: 2.469 | Jour Info: 4.085 |
ISRAJIF (2017): 4.011 | Indexcopernicus: (ICV 2016): 64.35
IJIRAE © 2014- 18, All Rights Reserved Page –221
International Journal of Innovative Research in Advanced Engineering (IJIRAE) ISSN: 2349-2163
Issue 06, Volume 5 (June 2018) www.ijirae.com
Fig. 10 Rotary Orientation Station OP60A Fig. 11 Rotary Orientation Station OP60B
Working Mechanism: When the component is loaded by EOA (End-of-arm tool) of gantry system onto the rotary
unit of Orientation station the sensor 1 gives the signal to the motor to start, once the motor starts rotating and
the required orientation is achieved it is sensed by the sensor 2 and 3 and the signal is given to the motor to stop
and the orientation locking unit is pneumatically actuated so that the close tolerance is achieved in the desired
orientation and then EOA will unload the component from the station. Analysis of Structure: The structure is made
up of mild steel with yield strength of 296 MPa and modulus of elasticity of 2x105 MPa. In this analysis it is made
sure that the load on the stand is 800 N. structures is constrained by fixing it to the floor. The static displacement
plot is as shown in Fig 12 and the static stress plot is as shown in Fig 13. The maximum displacement is 0.036 mm,
maximum stress induced is 7.74 MPa. Hence the structure is safe for the given load.
The static displacement plot is as shown in Fig 16 and the static stress plot is as shown in Fig 17. The maximum
displacement is 0.369 mm, maximum stress induced is 18.30 MPa. Hence the transverse conveyor stand is safe for
the given loads.
Fig. 16 Displacement Analysis of Transverse Conveyor Fig. 17 Stress Analysis of Transverse Conveyor Stand
Stand
E. Design of Overall Layout
The overall layout of Gantry Automation System is designed as shown in Fig 18 to perform the intended
operations automatically in sequence. The wheel hub component after turning operation in previous OP50 gantry
is made to unload on the input conveyor of OP60A gantry. The input conveyor has 180 degree tilting / lower unit
which tilts the wheel hub from flange up to flange down condition and lower it on input conveyor with part
resting as required at OP60A VMC machine. The OP60A End-of –arm is designed in such a way that it grips the
part in flange down condition. It picks the part from input conveyor and places it to the rotary orientation station
OP60A. The rotary orientation station OP60A is designed in such a way that it automatically orients the wheel hub
component in flange down condition to the required orientation as required by OP60A VMC machine.
The OP60A end-of-arm tool will again picks the part from this station and places it to the OP60A VMC machines,
after machining operation components are unloaded to the transverse conveyor. The transverse conveyor has 180
degree tilting / lowering unit which tilts the wheel hub from flange down to flange up condition and lowers it on
transverse conveyor with part resting as required at OP60B VMC machine. The OP60B End-of-arm is designed in
such a way that it grips the part in flange up condition. It picks the part from transverse conveyor and places it to
the rotary orientation station OP60B. The rotary orientation station OP60B is designed in such a way that it
automatically orients the wheel hub component in flange up condition to the required orientation as required by
OP60B VMC machine. The OP60B End-of-arm tool will again picks the part from this station and places it to the
OP60B VMC machine, after machining operation components are unloaded to the output conveyor.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
The production industries always look for an increased productivity and high quality of its finished components.
This can be achieved by incorporating a custom designed automated gantry system that suits the particular
component which helps in automatic part handling that results in decreasing the overall cycle time and helps in
eliminating the hurdles that affect the quality of the finished components. The Gantry automation system for
automatic loading and unloading of wheel hub component to the VMC machine is designed and fabricated as per
the requirements of customer considering the specifications provided by them. The Gantry automation system
developed is capable of performing the intended tasks automatically in a pre determined sequence and
orientation.
The automated gantry system is tested and it is found that system meets the customer needs successfully and runs
without intervention of human being thereby results in increased productivity, higher quality and decrease in
overall cycle time during wheel hub machining in VMC. Scope is there to extend the length of the gantry system in
future if required depending upon customer needs, which can be accomplished by increasing the beam length
thereby making space to install more number of vertical machining centre between stations results further
increase in productivity of machined wheel hub component. The cycle time can be reduced further by replacing
the existing motors of gantry system with a high end motors. If the size of the wheel hub varies in future it can be
handled in the existing gantry system by modifying the gripper fingers and locators used in different part handling
system.
REFERENCES
1. A. Che Soh, S.A. Ahmad, A.J. Ishank and K.N. Abdul Latif, “Development of an adjustable gripper for robotic
picking and placing operation”, International Journal on smart sensing and intelligent systems Volume 5, Issue
4, December 2012.
2. Sandeep. S and K.R. Prakash, “Automation of loading and unloading to CNC turning center”, IJMER Volume 1,
Issue 2, June 2013.
3. S.H. Masood, B. Abbas, E. Shayan and A. Kara, “An investigation into design and manufacturing of mechanical
conveyors systems”, Advanced Manufacturing Technology Volume 25, Pages 551-559, June 2004.
4. Gualtiero Fantoni and Marco Santochi, “Grasping devices and methods in automated production processes”,
Manufacturing Technology Volume 63, Issue 2, Pages 679-701, November 2014.
BIOGRAPHIES
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
IJIRAE: Impact Factor Value – SJIF: Innospace, Morocco (2016): 3.916 | PIF: 2.469 | Jour Info: 4.085 |
ISRAJIF (2017): 4.011 | Indexcopernicus: (ICV 2016): 64.35
IJIRAE © 2014- 18, All Rights Reserved Page –224