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The Czech company Q-Plus manufactures tools, assembly lines and specialist machines for several different industries. The company has developed an assembly line to construct the vehicle ceiling for an automobile manufacturer's final assembly. Several versions and colours of the ceiling are available, and these are produced "just in sequence" to suit the automobile type.
During assembly, it must be ensured that all foam and small parts are installed completely and in the correct colours to match the car ceiling. At the same time, the system must guarantee that the assembly speed matches the four minutes per ceiling necessary for the vehicle production.
In order to guarantee use of harmonized components and minimize consulting and procurement costs, Q-Plus wanted to obtain all the sensor solutions from a single source.
SICK complete solution for the automatic vehicle ceiling assembly line
The assembly is divided between four fully and partially automatic workstations: from fabric cutting, over insertion of different foam parts to pressing in small parts. Application consultation and sensor technology from SICK provide solutions for these different applications. The presence of manually inserted, foamed ceiling parts in the assembly tool is checked using flat miniature photoelectric proximity sensors (WT2F).
These take up very little space in the assembly tool, and reliably detect the presence of the foam part. Colour sensors (CS8-4) are used to ensure that all the visible assembled parts of the ceiling are the same colour.
Miniature photoelectric proximity sensors (WTB4-3) check that the small parts to be installed are complete and that the ceiling is in the correct assembly position. Magnetic cylinder sensors (MZT8) detect the end positions of clamps used for holding the ceiling in the assembly position in all pneumatic cylinders, and monitor the end position of the cylinder when the small parts are pressed in.
The hazardous point, based on a cutter used to cut the fabric at the semi-automatic work station, is safeguarded with a safety light curtain (C4000 Eco). Your Benefits: * 100% monitoring of the car ceiling assembly
* Space-saving sensor solutions
* Efficient consulting and implementation of solutions provided by a single source With the aid of the sensors, the process steps are monitored at all assembly stations, thus ensuring the high level of quality required by the final customer. The flexible, automatic adjustment of the system to the required car ceiling variant is guaranteed. The compact sensor designs make integration easier, even in tight spaces in the assembly equipment. The consulting and support from a single source on sensors and safety enabled the customer to maintain a simple and cost-effective procurement process and to integrate harmonized sensor solutions.
The Tour of Sensor Solutions Where there's SICK, there are sensors – and where there are sensors, SICK's solution expertise is never far away. Each problem is different, and so is each solution. Sometimes they're simple, sometimes they're complicated. From solutions with single sensors to complex systems with a wide variety of sensor components and control elements, your applications can profit from the years of experience of one of the world's leading specialists. On the Solutions Tour 2010, SICK regularly presents sensor solutions from all around the world – straight from the industrial practice of factory automation, logistics automation and process automation. Each solution is one stop on our round-the-world "tour of sensor solutions" and is presented in detail as a Solution Tour stop. Join our tour – it's worth it every time!
SICK PTY LTD ABN 81 006 054 468
899 Heidelberg Road, Ivanhoe, Victoria 3079 Australia
Telephone +61 3 9497 4100 Facsimile +61 3 9497 1310 / 1300 767 425
Tollfree 1800 334 802 www.sick.com.au
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