Continuous Motion
400 ppm continuous-motion, pump assembly and inspection are broken down into stages and accomplished over several synchronous, geared dials.
HAUMILLER ENGINEERING
Continuous motion is the method most Haumiller machines use for moving parts through the process. "Unlike indexing, which uses a dial that stops and starts at each station in the machine, continuous motion never stops moving in a very smooth and calculated manner, which preserves both the machine itself and the parts that are moving through it," says Phillips. "In continuous motion, multiple processes occur without interruption for every cycle, effectively overlapping. And because the tooling never loses contact with the individual components, part alignment is maintained during assembly."
Engineers comprise more than a quarter of Haumiller's workforce. "The applications engineers are the link between our sales group and the concept engineers," explains Phillips. "They develop the initial machine concepts that are used in the quoting process to determine feasibility and cost. The mechanical engineers are further broken down into concept engineers and mechanical design engineers. The concept group develops a machine concept when we are initially given a new product, and the mechanical design group executes on that concept to achieve the final machine. The controls engineers work on everything from the electrical and pneumatic controls of our equipment to the development of all machine programs."
Haumiller achieves motion control using three-phase ac motors, servos, steppers, pneumatics and robotics, says Dennis Fox, controls engineer at Haumiller. And Haumiller's inspection controls include discrete sensors, vision, pressure/flow, weighing/counting, torque and functional testing.
"Most of our machine controls are hardwired," explains Fox. "There are some right now using digital networks through EtherNet I/P, Profinet or Modbus TCP, but currently no wireless controls."