Application Examples Automotive Industry

DEPRAG – The best solution for your production

Automatic Assembly & routing of flat conductor cable reduces cost and weight

Lighter cars are easier on the wallet and the environment

Required Process:

Scientists at the Institute for Manufacturing Automation and Production Systems (FAPS) at the Friedrich-Alexanthe-University Erlangen-Nuremberg have based their research on this idea and also the automated handling and assembly of flexible flat cables. Their research has resulted in the development of a system prototype.

The FAPS research equipment enables robot-guided assembly & routing of multi-core flat cables onto a three dimensional module (e.g. a vehicle door Panel) and assembly by means of hot-melt adhesive coating or laser welding. The patent pending “Direct Contact Spring Clip” is the successful result of this development project.

A sophisticated screw-driving system with screw feeding as well as a special Direct Contact Spring Clip gripper is in use to connect the electrics of the loud speaker with the flat cable to be mounted into the vehicle door panel.

The team led by Dipl.-Eng. Markus Michl has relied on the screwdriving spindles, feeding systems and screwdriving controller technology from DEPRAG.

The main component of the screwdriving system is a DEPRAG programmable screwdriver MINIMAT®-EC Screwdriver with a torque range of 0.7 to 4.2 Nm suitable for the application. Project leader Dipl.-Ing. Markus Michl: “Due to its small size and low weight this device proved to be the best suited screwdriving-spindle for the robot end-effector”.

A Screwfeed system automatically feeds the four M4 x 12 mm screws, required for the loudspeaker. Based on vibratory feeding technology, the screw feeding system is distinguished by its highly reliable feeding performance.

The screws are assembled in a two-step process: First the screw is threaded in at a slow speed and then tightened to a preset torque (minimum 1.2 Nm / maximum 1.8 Nm). Once torque has been reached the screwdriver stops automatically. This process is monitored and controlled by the Sequence Controller AST10 with integrated power supply and already loaded standard screwdriving programs. which is integrated with the Central control system of the assembly cell. The sequence controller not only supervises the screwdriving process, is also controls and monitors data for central data collection and retrieval, compares data with external databases and allows the worldwide access to the processing data. The advantages are seen in the high precision, sophisticated software ergonomics, the http-interface and the integrated web server.
Dipl.-Inf. Markus Michl decided for the DEPRAG AST10 screwdriving control “because the simple integration into our control system was convincing”.