BMW AG, Germany,
test procedures for electrode holders and handling in the body shop
01 March 2005 in the new BMW production site in Leipzig.
Two years later, the three-door model of the 1-series BMW was integrated into the production unit. Today, more than 5200 employees manufacture up to 700 vehicles per day in Leipzig depending on the requirement.
Application
Several thousand weld spots are welded every hour in the body shop of the BMW plant. Electrode holders that encounter different ambient conditions such as sheet thicknesses and surface structures are decisive for the quality of welded joints. In order to ensure the constant and high production quality, they must be regularly checked for characteristic electrical and mechanical parameters. Test processes that were executed manually in the past were time-intensive and the test rigs used required a lot of space.
BMW therefore requested for a compact and flexible unit with a built-in control system. BMW specialists from Munich and Leipzig plants requested for the improvement in the handling test. Similar to robot arms, handlings, i.e. gripper units controlled using valves, hold individual parts and transport them to the desired position. Handling tools have different characteristic features owing the varied shapes of individual parts.
Solution
The responsible persons have opted for an Inline Controller ILC 200 IB as the control system that can be programmed using the PC WORX automation software and that can be used to configure the Interbus fieldbus system easily.
Interbus supports a transmission speed of 2 Mbps and a complete networking using fiber optics. The Rugged-Line I/O modules compliant with the IP65/IP67 degree of protection are used to route the fieldbus system to the tools.
Summary
With the new automation concept, Phoenix Contact has taken into account the requirement of BMW for a reliable control concept as well as for a flexible and efficient implementation of the handling and holder test.