Industry Focus Automotive Supply Chain
Accurate inspection in the bag T
By using Keyence’s LJ-G sensor, automotive equipment manufacturer, Faurecia Group, has automated its inspection of airbag deployment slits in vehicle dashboards, resulting in stable measurements and a fast return on investment
he Faurecia Group designs, devel- ops, manufacturers and supplies OEM parts - with 320 sites in 34 countries, including 30 major R&D centres. Faurecia includes four business segments - Automotive Seating, Interior Systems, Emission Control Technologies and Automotive Exteriors. An inspection station designed by Faurecia Interior Systems’ R&D centre in Méru, France, is used at its interior systems plant.
Passenger safety
Dashboard skins have tiny slits that enable an airbag to deploy in the event of a crash. If incorrectly made, these slits can prevent an airbag from prop- erly deploying and can compromise passenger safety. Using laser triangula- tion, each dashboard slit is scanned and converted into an 800 point profile to determine its residual thickness i.e. the skin thickness at the slit’s deepest point. The residual thickness is obtained from the lowest point of the profile. The value in millimetres relative to the refer- ence point on the frame is calculated directly. “We used to perform these mea- surements manually with a microscope. Not only was it long, but it required destroying the parts being measured.
We therefore decided we needed a con- tactless measurement solution that was easy to integrate and offered repeatabil- ity,” explained Lionel Marlier, respon- sible for safety regulation at Faurecia Interior Systems.
The LJ-G is a 2D laser displacement sensor that can perform on the fly mea- surements on production lines. Consisting of a controller, a monitor and laser heads, it is easy to use, with its set- up menu designed so that even novice users can easily configure settings. Its support software makes set-up via a PC simple. Furthermore, data can be exported to a spreadsheet for analysis.
Above: Keyence’s LJ-G sensor is providing fast, non-destructive airbag deployment inspections that require
less human involvement
“It was very simple to integrate and measurement is stable without the need of any special action from our side,” added Marlier. Although dash- board skins can be black, white or brown, the LJ-G is not affected by colour or lighting conditions thanks to its E3-CMOS image sensor. Developed for industrial vision appli- cations, the sensor has a dynamic range that is 300 times wider than that of con- ventional sensors. As a result, it can per- form measurements on surfaces of any colour or reflectivity. Additionally, the LJ-G also pro- vides a position adjustment function enabling stable measurements even when targets are incorrectly placed or tilted with an angle. The LJ-G Series offers repeatability of 1 micron and a sampling speed of 3.8ms.
“Inspections are now twice as fast as before and can be performed in the production area, which has improved our efficiency,” emphasised Marlier. “Not only is Keyence’s automated solution a means of ensuring contin- ual quality improvement, it’s also cost effective. Inspections are faster, non-destructive and require less human involvement. All in all, the LJ-G has paid itself off in less than a year and has improved the accuracy of our measurements.”
Keyence
www.keyence.co.uk T: 01908 696 900
Improving on traditional axles
remain a solid solution. However, with vehicle man- ufacturers constantly looking to reduce size and weight, while still improving performance and prof- its, a different approach is required. Designers have been turning their attention to wheel and track dri- ves, which incorporate a planetary gear design. Compared to standard axle drives, wheel and track
T
drives provide a neater, more compact solution which provides improved ground clearance for rough terrain and off-highway vehicles. At the centre of this solution is the planetary gear design which comprises several smaller planetary gears rotating around the central input pinion gear which enables the gearbox to deliver high reduction rations with a much smaller footprint to traditional helical or bevel helical gearboxes. The Brevini planetary design is well suited for many mobile applications. Thanks to the use of planetary gears it is possible to incorporate multi- ple reduction stages into a very compact space - the three planetary gears also share the radial load,
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raditionally, vehicle drive systems have been based around axles and in many cases they
thus reducing wear and improving reliability. The design also has an increased torque capability due to the input torque being shared between multiple sets of teeth on the primary drive pinion. In addi- tion, the planetary arrangement is highly efficient, up to 98% per stage - another key advantage in improving running costs and performance figures. Brevini wheel drives are used across a range of vehicles including agricultural machines, mobile access platforms, forklifts and heavy duty wheeled vehicles up to 400 tonnes. This design combines the high speed hydraulic motor with the planetary gear unit to produce a more economical package when com- pared to using a large low speed motor on its own. The track drive units are also used across many industries including mining and construction in tracked vehicles weighing up to 130 tonnes. The compact track drive unit is designed to mount inside the track sprocket and to provide a reliable drive solu- tion even in the most severe of operating conditions. Both of these drive configurations offer a range of reduction ratios, enabling the designers of mobile plant
to match the drive unit with the most suitable hydraulic transmission. Further flexibility is provided by the abili- ty of the drives to accommodate the mounting of all types of orbital, geared and axial piston type hydraulic motors made by Brevini Fluid Power. In addition, Brevini have included the option of a mechanical disconnect device. This is manually oper- ated from the hub end-plate and enables a vehicle to be towed in the event of an emergency. Complementing this device is the additional option of an integral multi-disc negative parking brake, which is spring applied and hydraulically released. This functions as an emergency fail-to-safe brake should the hydraulic pressure fail and is an important safe- guard for mobile access equipment, which is some- times manoeuvred with the platform fully raised. With this product range, Brevini Power
Transmission is able to provide a drive solution for vehicles up to 50 tonnes per wheel and up to a three metre wheel diameter. Brevini UK
www.brevini.co.uk T: 01925 636 682
Enter 208
Enter 209 OCTOBER 2013 Automation
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