Not one component is to run on the system, but several variants — and the decisive question is not how many, but what they have in common.
Cleaning multiple part variants on one system
1 · The challenge
Why multiple part variants are a task of their own
A system on which several different components are to run does not become possible by getting bigger. It becomes possible by designing workpiece fixture, part positioning, process stations, nozzle and process design as well as program and cycle strategy for a defined range of parts. Identical parts are expressly not what is meant.
How many different components can be processed on one system cannot be pinned down to a single number. What is decisive are the features the components have in common and the possibilities of designing workpiece carriers, grippers, programs, process parameters and, where necessary, tool or fixture changes accordingly.
Thus the question of the range of parts is a different one from the question of production volume. How many parts per unit of time have to be processed is a question of cycle and throughput; how many different components are to run together is a question of fixture, program and process design. In production the two overlap, in the system design they separate.
The question is answered not in operation, but in planning: which components can run over one system together is something we already define at the system planning stage. If, on the other hand, your range of parts changes constantly and unpredictably, that speaks against a machine type with a fixed range — and we tell you so in the conversation as well.
2 · Engineering considerations
What we base the system design on
- 01
Part geometry
What is decisive are the features the components have in common. Variants that resemble each other in fixture points, dimensions and the areas to be cleaned can be designed for together more readily than components that share hardly anything. That is why the clarification does not begin with the number of variants, but with what distinguishes them from each other. - 02
Workpiece fixture
The workpiece carrier is the essential part: depending on part geometry and process requirements, it can be deliberately designed so that it takes several different components or variants. The same applies to grippers. As the differences grow, gripper, tool or workpiece carrier changes come into question. - 03
Part orientation
Several variants often mean several defined fixture positions on one workpiece carrier. The position of each component is determined by us as part of the process design — according to nozzle accessibility, spray shadow, drainage of the process medium and the prerequisites for drying. What is the favorable position for one variant need not be so for the next. - 04
Production concept and material flow
Several variants act on the sequence: an adapted transport and cycle strategy, process stations designed accordingly, different program and recipe selection, where necessary part recognition or changeover options. None of these functions is automatically built into every system — they are means of the project-specific system design. - 05
Production volume
How many parts per unit of time have to be processed is a question of its own and belongs in the same system design — but not in the same sentence. Together with the cycle time, it decides which machine type carries at all; the range of parts decides what can run together within that machine type. - 06
Future expandability
Which variants are to be added later belongs in the system planning and not in a later conversation. If the next part looks different, this is where it is decided whether the system keeps up or has to be rebuilt — and this point lies before the design engineering, not after it.
3 · The system concepts
Which system concepts come into question
Continuous cleaning systems
ZDA continuous cleaning system is designed for a defined range of parts; several variants are possible depending on the system design, an arbitrary change is not. If the range is fixed at the system planning stage and it is about continuous flow in a line, it can make sense.
Chamber cleaning systems
ZKIf the range of parts changes constantly and unpredictably, the chamber cleaning system comes into question: its argument is flexibility — changing, also more complex workpieces at small to medium production volumes. It is paid for with cycle time, and that is not a disadvantage, but its price.
Rotary indexing cleaning systems
RTRotary indexing gains its time by running loading and unloading parallel to processing. Whoever changes their range of parts constantly gets further with it than with the continuous cleaning system; the number of stations is structurally fixed for that.
Robotics
If several variants are to be gripped and handed over, robot handling comes into question — the grip then arises from geometry, weight, surface and position of the respective workpiece. Machine vision is examined, not presupposed: where the part position can be defined mechanically, it is not needed.
The principle
Why variety of variants does not dictate a machine type
That several components are to run together says nothing about which machine type the system has. It says that workpiece carriers, grippers, programs and process parameters have to be designed for it — and that it has to be defined which components form the common range. Whether this becomes a continuous, a rotary indexing or a chamber cleaning system arises together with production volume, cycle time, material flow and degree of automation. There is no rule “many variants, 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 number of variants
- 01
There is no number
An upper limit for the number of variants cannot be stated, and a guide figure would be misleading. What counts are the features the components have in common and the means by which fixture, grippers, programs and process parameters can be designed for them. Two systems with the same number of variants can therefore be completely different in effort. - 02
The range of parts is fixed in planning, not in operation
Which components can run over one system together is defined at the system planning stage. That is not a restriction that is lifted later, but the prerequisite for the system design to take hold at all — fixture, nozzle positions and programs are created for a named range. - 03
“Any component” does not exist
A system on which any component runs does not exist. What is possible is a defined range — depending on the system design, also a broad one. Whoever skips this distinction plans a system that is either too narrow or too expensive.
Questions and answers
Frequently asked questions about the range of parts
How many different components can a parts cleaning system process?
What is a defined range of parts?
What is the difference between high production volume and multiple variants?
What happens if a new variant is added later?
Direct contact
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93186 Pettendorf
Pettendorf bei Regensburg
Fax +49 (0) 9409-777 3607
Technically responsible for this page: Günther Zippel — International Sales & Technical Consulting