Size and weight are not a surcharge on an existing system design: they act on system dimensions, payload, workpiece fixture and loading at the same time.
Cleaning large and heavy parts
1 · The challenge
Why size and weight are a system design of their own
A larger component demands different system dimensions — different chamber and zone sizes. A higher weight demands different handling: payload, workpiece fixture and loading. Both differences arrive at the same place, namely in the system design, and neither of them is dealt with by transferring an existing system design.
The weight shows up at a place that has nothing to do with the cleaning: the work on the part. That heavy or ergonomically unfavorable work is to be eliminated is one of the most common reasons for automating in a production — the question is then not how cleaning is done, but who moves the component.
Where the part size means that none of the standard machine types solves the task, that is a case of its own. The part size stands on an equal footing with geometry, contamination and process environment — it is not a special request, but one of the criteria by which it is decided whether a special-purpose system is created.
In the end, the system size is a result, not a specification: it follows from part dimensions, weight, production volume and process requirements and is determined project-specifically. That is why the clarification begins with your component and not with a system dimension.
2 · Engineering considerations
What we base the system design on
- 01
Part geometry
The dimensions of the component help determine the dimensions of the system: larger components lead to different chamber and zone sizes. That is not a scaling of a known design, but a calculation of its own — which is why we calculate a larger component separately instead of transferring an existing system design. - 02
Workpiece fixture
A higher part weight demands different handling: payload, workpiece fixture and loading change together. The fixture does not only carry the part — it holds it in the process in the position the method presupposes, and exactly that becomes more difficult with increasing weight, not easier. - 03
Production concept and material flow
How a large component gets into the system and out again is a design matter of its own. For handling heavy batches, loading devices come into question; if the system stands in a line, the existing material flow decides how handover takes place and at which point. - 04
Degree of automation
From geometry, weight, surface and position of the workpiece follows how it has to be gripped — and only from that follow payload, reach and number of axes of the robot. With heavy components, the grip is therefore the first question and not the robot. - 05
Type of contamination
Larger components often come from a different customer group. Commercial vehicle manufacturers, for example, are not a subset of passenger car manufacturers: besides larger dimensions and higher weight, partly different materials and different contamination are added there. The materials act on process medium, pressure and temperature, the contamination on chemistry, exposure time and choice of method.
3 · The system concepts
Which system concepts come into question
Special-purpose systems
If no standard machine type solves the task — because of the part size, the geometry, the contamination or the process environment — a special-purpose system comes into question. We have built, among others, systems for marine engines; the system size follows from part dimensions, weight, production volume and process requirements.
Chamber cleaning systems
ZKIf the component goes into the system as a batch and several minutes per cycle are permissible, a chamber cleaning system can make sense. For handling heavy batches, a loading trolley comes into question there — loading is done manually or automatically.
Robotics
If a heavy component has to be gripped, transferred or loaded, robot handling comes into question. Payload and reach follow from the component; the actual task lies in the grip, in the detection and in the coordination of motion and system control.
Material flow and conveying
How the component gets to the system and leaves it again is part of the task with large parts: material flow and conveying, transfer stations, buffer sections and cycle coordination are planned along with it instead of being left to the existing line.
The principle
Why “large and heavy” does not dictate a system
Size and weight are requirements on the system design, not a system decision. They say that dimensions, payload, fixture and loading have to be recalculated — not which machine type stands at the end. Whether this becomes a chamber cleaning system with a loading device, robot loading or a special-purpose system arises together with contamination, residual contamination requirement, production volume, cycle time and material flow. There is no rule “large component, therefore system Y”. What you see here is the consideration, not its result.
4 · What else to consider
What else has to be clarified beyond the system size
- 01
An existing system design is not transferred
Four differences — larger dimensions, higher weight, partly different materials, different contamination — all arrive at the same place: in the system design. That is why we calculate a larger component separately instead of transferring an existing system design. That is not a surcharge, but the reason why the system fits in the end. - 02
The system size is a result, not a specification
How large a system can be designed cannot be answered as a dimension: the system size follows from part dimensions, weight, production volume and process requirements and is determined project-specifically. A dimension that applies to one component therefore does not apply to the next. - 03
The weight is also a question of the work on the part
Whoever moves a heavy component does so at every cycle. That heavy or ergonomically unfavorable work is to be eliminated is therefore not a side aspect of automation, but one of its occasions — and it belongs in the clarification before the loading is designed.
Questions and answers
Frequently asked questions about large and heavy parts
How large can a parts cleaning system be designed?
What changes when the component gets heavier?
Does a large component always need a special-purpose system?
Why is a larger component calculated separately?
Direct contact
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Technically responsible for this page: Günther Zippel — International Sales & Technical Consulting