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Prepared for the Future - Steel Today, Aluminum Tomorrow

DETROIT, Mich - July 28, 2000 - A completely new and totally automated blanking line gives Shanghai Volkswagen in China maximum quality and flexibility for either steel or aluminum. In addition to a mechanical 630 metric ton press, the line consists of various automated components, including a washing unit, straightener, coil loading, coil feed, cropping shears, and blank unloading.

This installation marks the first time Schuler Automation GmbH & Co. KG has supplied a complete blanking line to Shanghai Volkswagen. Significantly, with aluminum constantly gaining importance in the automobile industry, all system components have been prepared to handle future requirements for either aluminum or steel coils.

Preliminary acceptance trials took place in April at the Schuler plant in Hessdorf, Germany. The Chinese delegation was most impressed by the construction and technical specifications of the fully-automated blanking line, and by its performance in a trial run. The system was installed and put into operation in China under the guidance of Schuler Automation's project management and the start-up team.

All components of the mechanical 630-ton press meet the rigid demands of manufacturing automobile body parts. The blanking line can process steel coil widths from 400 to 2,000 mm (16 to 79 inches) with thicknesses of 0.5 to 2.8 mm (0.02 to 0.11 inches), and a maximum coil weights of 30 metric tons.

The blanking line for Shanghai VW features a blank washer that can be raised above the line by a lifting table when not needed, e.g., when processing aluminum. Other characteristics include a fully automated cassette changeover system for the straightener, as well as a stacking system design that accommodates additional vacuum belts to transport and release aluminum blanks. The option of working steel or aluminum on a single press line is one of the outstanding attributes offered by Schuler Automation.

The system's standard, fully-automated coil loading and thread up from over or under, includes clean and dirty rolls for processing the outer wraps. This prevents particles of dirt from being transferred from the start of the coil to the rest of the steel coil by the rollers. A cropping shear separates the dirty or damaged leading edge of the coil.

Any dirt is removed from the coil material in the strip washing unit, where a predefined quantity of oil is added. This increases the edge life of the cutting tool, since dirt transfers from the coil to the tool. When using aluminum, the washing unit is not needed, and the aluminum sheet is transported via a roller table located below the washing unit and fed to the straightener.

The straightener, with its topochrome™ coated straightening rollers, uses the "12 + 1" system developed by Schuler Automation. The optional, adjustable 13th bending roller gives the blanks a slight concave or convex tendency. This is a major contribution toward manufacturing safety, simplifying movement of the blanks in the blanking press die.

The feed is equipped with two topochrome-coated rollers, and with optical as well as additional inductive weld recognition. With a feed length of 100 to 4000 mm (4 to 158 inches), the feed works with an accuracy of ±0.1 mm. The stroking rate of the blanking press is between 60 strokes per minute for 100 mm and 21 strokes per minute for 4,000 mm, depending on the feed length. The move-in oscillating shear produces rectangles, parallelograms and trapezoids at a cutting angle of ±30°.

The cut blanks are transported from the press/shear via telescopic conveyors, which are adjustable for length and width. Steel blanks are transferred to hanging transport by magnets. Vacuum cup conveyor belts are fitted to the stacker for aluminum. The blanks are finally stacked on pallets in two stacking positions, and the positioning system's rear stops can be arranged as individually programmed to ensure precise stacking of the blanks.

Another technical highlight is the visualization developed by Schuler Automation on the basis of WinCC (Siemens visualization product running under Windows NT). This extremely user friendly program uses graphics along with pictures to monitor all changes required when changing tools for new parts. This visualization program operates faster through an interface to the Siemens S7 control module.

The supply of this fully-automatic blanking line marks another step in the successful cooperation between Schuler Automation and Shanghai Volkswagen. These orders strengthen Schuler Automation's claim to be the only worldwide system supplier of automated stamping plants able to offer comprehensive expertise from a single source, from coil to the finished part.

Schuler Automation GmbH & Co. KG, an integral part of the Schuler Group, is the leading supplier worldwide for complete stamping plant equipment, including the necessary dies and automation.

http://www.schulerinc.com 

 

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