2008-02-19 - ABB’s new Dynamic Drive Chain technology for automotive press lines increases productivity by 10-30 percent, eliminates two of the most costly sources of downtime, and significantly improves product quality.
By
ABB Communications
With the automotive industry in general agreement that the press lines of the future will be electrically rather than mechanically driven, ABB has developed a low-risk, reversible servo press kit that can be speedily retrofitted to conventional mechanical press lines or added to new ones.
The results in productivity, availability and quality are outstanding:
- 10-30 percent increase in production
- Elimination of clutch and brake failures, which are among the top five sources of downtime
- Improved quality - up to 40 percent slower stamping speed at the same cycle time
Press lines are where the hundreds of metal parts that typically make up the body of a car are manufactured. Sheet metal blanks pass through a series of cutting and punching operations, separated by robot cells which unload the parts from one section and load them onto the next.
The beauty of the ABB innovation is that it enables the presses to open and close faster while maintaining the original speed for pressing. This produces a considerable increase in productivity without increasing the pressing speed - a key factor in press automation as slower pressing improves part quality and reduces the number of rejects.
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| Left: An illustration of a typical tandem press line with robot cells between each section. Right: A press line, with Fagor presses, at the Gestamp factory in Palencia, Spain, with an ABB robotic destacker cell in the foreground. |
The Dynamic Drive Chain solution (DDC) is a low-risk, reversible upgrade kit consisting of an inverter, servo motor and auxiliary gear. Easy to install, it can be retrofitted during a planned maintenance shutdown and is even equipped with a switch that reverts the servo press to classical mechanical mode when activated.
The kit is based on proven ABB products like the ACS800 variable speed drive and IRC5 robot controller that are widely used by the automotive industry and globally supported by ABB business units.
The solution follows other productivity improvements that ABB technologies have recently brought to press lines. Robotics innovations such as a special press automation robot, optimized robot placement, robot synchronization techniques and a seventh robot axis have cut unloading and loading cycle times from more than six seconds five years ago to less than three seconds today – a reduction of more than 50 percent.
DDC is the result of close collaboration with press manufacturers like Fagor and Jier as well as with ABB customers such as Gestamp, Honda, Renault, Hyundai and Nissan.
Click here to read an in-depth article on
ABB’s DDC technology and the servo press line of the future.