Robots at die-casting machine for vehicle transmission

As soon as the die-casting machine opens, the corresponding KR 125 removes the casting. It grips the product on its sprue, meaning that it can handle practically any part, even very large ones. In the next step the robot positions the part in front of sensors, by means of which the controller checks whether it is complete, or whether it is there at all. The robot then immerses the casting, which has a temperature of 300 to 350 °C, into a quenching bath of about 30 °C. It then transfers the part to a trimming press. Also integrated into the sequence is a turnover station, where the part is rotated if necessary before being loaded into the trimming press.

The KR 125 mounted on top of the machine sprays the mold with water-soluble parting agent as soon as the previous part has been released by the controller. This procedure ensures that the next casting can be removed from the mold just as easily.

DTC employs the third KR 125 for the thixocasting process, in which the molten aluminum which is otherwise used is replaced by a billet. The robot picks up a shell in which the billet rests, and then slides the billet out of the shell and into the filling chamber of the machine, or else it takes a free-standing billet from a platform, holding it along its entire length and round its full circumference so as not to deform it, and places it in the chamber.

• Three KUKA KR 125 robots
• Gripper for the thixo billets
• Various jaws, used to grip the casting either on the sprue or directly on the contours of the part
• Spray head, which uses high-pressure air to apply water-soluble parting agent
• PC-based KUKA robot controllers, including control panel with Windows interface
• The complete customer-specific automation equipment for the die-casting cell
• Robot programming
• Stamping press
• Conveyor system
• Commissioning
  
  

Supplied by the KUKA systems partner FKS Maschinenbau GmbH, Berlin.

• Resistant to high temperatures
  
  In order to handle the hot castings, the KR 125 in question was fitted with a so-called foundry wrist, which is resistant to particularly high temperatures.
  
  
  
• Space-saving
  
  In order to take up as little space as possible, one of the robots was even mounted in a slanted position, although it was already saving space by being installed on top of the die-casting machine.
  
  
  
• Very user-friendly
  
  The Windows interface on the control panel of the PC-based KUKA robot controller makes programming markedly simpler.
  
  
  
• Higher quality
  
  The six-axis jointed-arm robot applies the parting agent more selectively than is possible with two-axis linear units. This allows problem areas to be sprayed reliably, for example. The KR 125 is also more economical with the parting agent.
  
  
  
• Additional benefits
  
  KUKA robots provide short cycle times, high acceleration capacity, repeatability and an availability of nearly 100 percent.