Main technical issue
The main objective is the control and minimization of the deformation of large, complex geometry and low stiffness workpieces during the setup and clamping process in order to achieve improved precision during the subsequent operations: machining, welding, assembly. The workpiece in study is the Tail Bearing House (TBH) of a turbine (1900 mm in diameter, 350 mm in height and common thickness of 6-10 mm), and the machining operation to control is the turning of the flanges. This structural component is made by welding different forged and cast components that are machined afterwards. The welding produces deformations and distortions, so the fixture has to adapt the clamping of the workpiece to avoid additional deformations and hyperstatic load states in order to assure suitable precision and to fulfil the requirements for subsequent assembly process. The precision and tolerances required in the workpiece are ±0.2 mm for general diameters; ±0.05 mm for reference dimensions within turned features, and ±0.015 mm for reference holes. The fixture tolerances must be related to the part tolerances in the contact areas.
Proposed technical solution
In order to solve the problems and limitations explained above, it has been decided to develop a system with integrated sensors and actuators to correct and control the deformations of the workpiece while improving the precision and performance of the machining process. The development of the clamping unit has been done based on an existing flexible clamping element developed by Roemheld, adding different subsystems. The solution comprises a series of intelligent clamping units able to detect and correct the position of the workpiece, with the following characteristics:
- Integration of sensors (displacement and force) in the clamping unit to detect undesirable deformations;
- Integration of actuators in the clamping unit to counteract the deformations by modifying and adapting the position of the yaws and the clamping force;
- Achieve an automatic position correction based on the measurement of the position and force sensors.
Main advantages of the solution
The developed intelligent clamping unit aims at substituting the current manual clamping elements in order to obtain the following improvements in the set up of the workpiece:
- Achievement of an automatic clamping and position correction based on the measurement of the displacement and reaction force in the clamping unit;
- The positioning precision of the clamping unit depends on the stiffness of the workpiece and in the case of the TBH it is below 0.01 mm;
- Using the force control in the clamping unit, it can achieve a reaction force precision of ±8N with a positioning repeatability within 0.01 mm; -Using the position control in the clamping unit, it can achieve a repositioning precision of 0.007 mm;
- Reduction of workpiece exchange and set-up time by the introduction of the clamping units, being this independent of the number of units. With the developed clamping unit, it takes just 4 seconds to set up, compared to up to 15-20 minutes using the mechanical clamping elements.
The clamping unit allows keeping the same clamping and holding forces of the mechanical units.
Project:
Enterprises:
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Sector
Metal
Keywords
