Automation

Defined as the process of following pre determined sequence of operations with little or no human Intervention using specialized equipments and devices that performs and controls the manufacturing Process. The technology concerned with the application of complex mechanical, electronics and computer based systems to operate and control production.

Production System A collection of people, equipment, and procedures organized to accomplish the Manufacturing operations of a company

1. Automation of the manufacturing system 2. Automation of manufacturing support systems

Automation of the manufacturing system operates in the factory on the physical product. They perform operations such as processing, assembly, inspection or material handling. Automated machine tools Transfer lines performing series of machining operation Manufacturing systems using robots for processing/assembly. Automatic material handling and storage Automatic inspection system for quality control

It is classified into the following three types

Fixed Automation Sequence of processing (or assembly) operations is fixed by the equipment configuration Ex: Feeding of rotating spindle
Typical features: Suited to high production quantities High initial investment for custom-engineered equipment High production rates Relatively inflexible in accommodating product variety The economic justification for fixed automation is found in products that are produced in very Large quantities and at high production rate. Application: Machining transfer, automated assembly machines. Programmable Automation The production equipment is designed with the Capability to change the sequence of operations through re-programming to accommodate different product configurations. The operation sequence is controlled by a program, which is a set of instructions coded so that they can be read and interpreted by the system. It can also be modified or new programs can be prepared to produce new products. Typical features: High investment in programmable equipment Lower production rates than fixed automation Flexibility to deal with variations and changes in product configuration Most suitable for batch production Physical setup and part program must be changed between jobs (batches) Ex: NC Machines, Industrial Robots, PLC(Programmable logic controller)

Flexible Automation

Extension of programmable automation. System is capable of changing over from one job to the next with little lost time between jobs. It is a case of soft variety, so that the amount of changeover required between styles is minimal. Typical features: High investment for custom-engineered system Continuous production of variable mixes of products Medium production rates Flexibility to deal with product design variations

Programmable Automation Variety

Flexible Automation
Fixed Automation

100

10,000 Quantity

1,000,000

Automation of manufacturing support systems Business functions sales and marketing, order entry, cost accounting, customer billing Product design - research and development, design engineering, prototype shop Manufacturing planning - process planning, production planning, MRP, capacity planning Manufacturing control shop floor control, inventory control, quality control

Automation of manufacturing support systems is aimed at reducing the amount of manual and clerical efforts in product design, manufacturing (INFORMATION PROCESSING CYCLE) planning and control, and business function of the firm. CIM(Computer Integrated Manufacturing): pervasive use of computer systems to design the products, plan the production, control the operation, and perform business function CAD: Computer Aided Design: use of computer systems to support product design CAM: Computer Aided Manufacturing: use of computer systems to support manufacturing CIM= CAD+ CAM+ Business functions related to manufacturing

Reasons for Automating

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. To increase labor productivity To reduce labor cost To mitigate the effects of labor shortages To reduce or remove routine manual and clerical tasks To improve worker safety To improve product quality To reduce manufacturing lead time To accomplish what cannot be done manually To avoid the high cost of not automating

Numerical Control (NC) refers to the method of controlling the manufacturing operation by means of directly inserted coded alpha numerical instructions into the machine tool. It is a form of programmable automation. A numerical control, or NC, system controls many machine functions and movements which were traditionally performed by skilled machinists. Numerical control developed out of the need to meet the requirements of high production rates, uniformity and consistent part quality. Programmed instructions are converted into output signals which in turn control machine operations such as spindle speeds, tool selection, tool movement, and cutting fluid flow. It is easier to write new program than to make major alternation of the processing equipment. Hence, capability to change the program makes NC suitable for small and medium production. Machine tool application: Turning, Milling, drilling, boring Non-Machine tool application: Assembling, Inspection, Material Handling, Drafting, polishing Basic components of NC, system

1. Program of instructions /part program Detailed step by step commands that direct the actions of the processing equipment. Command may be referred to positioning of cutting tool/machine spindle w.r.t. work table Or selection of spindle speed, feed rate, cutting tool and other functions. The program is coded on a suitable medium like 1 inch wide punched tape (earlier), Magnetic Tapes, diskettes, and electronic transfer of part programs from a computer.

2. Machine Control Unit(MCU) Consist of electronic and controlled hardware that read and interpret the program of instructions And convert it into mechanical action of the machine tools and other processing equipments. Type of readers depend on the storage media for the part program. Punched tape reader, magnetic Tape reader, floppy disk drive. Includes control system software, calculation algorithm, and translation software to convert NC part program to suitable format. 3. Processing Equipment It performs the useful work. Its operation is directed by MCU. It consist of work table, spindle, motor and controls needed to drive them.

Types of NC systems 1. Traditional numerical control (NC); 2. Computer numerical control (CNC); 3. Distributed numerical control (DNC). Traditional numerical control machines have hardwired control, whereby control is accomplished through the use of punched paper (or plastic) tapes or cards. Tapes tend to wear, and become dirty, thus causing misreading. Many other problems arise from the use of NC tapes, for example the need to manual reload the NC tapes for each new part and the lack of program editing abilities, which increases the lead time.

CNC refers to a system that has a local computer to store all required numerical data. Use of CNC allowed the use of other storage media, magnetic tapes and hard disks. The advantages of CNC systems are not limited to the possibility to store and execute a number of large programs (especially if a three or more dimensional machining of complex shapes is considered), to allow editing of programs, to execute cycles of machining commands, Etc. The development of CNC over many years, along with the development of local area networking, has evolved in the modern concept of DNC. Distributed numerical control is similar to CNC, except a remote computer is used to control a number of machines. An off-site mainframe host computer holds programs for all parts to be produced in the DNC facility. Programs are downloaded from the mainframe computer, and then the local controller feeds instructions to the hardwired NC machine. The recent developments use a central computer which communicates with local CNC computers (also called Direct Numerical Control)

NC CO ORDINATE SYSTEM A standard axis system must be defined by which the positioning of the work head relative to the Work part can be specified. 1. Flat and Prismatic work part: drilling and punching of flat sheet metals to distinguish +ve from - ve Right Hand Rule is used. 2. Rotational parts: Associated with NC lathes and turning centers. The path of the cutting tool relative to the rotating work piece is defined in the X-Z plane where the X axis is the radial location and Z axis is parallel to the axis of the part. The part programmer must decide where the origin of the coordinate axis system should be Located based on programming convenience. Ex: Corner of the part or center (Symmetrical w/p). It is called as Target point. FIXED ZERO VERSUS FLOATING POINT ZERO NC machines have either of two methods for specifying the zero point. The first possiblity is for the machines to have fixed zero. In this case the origin is always located at the same position is for the machine table. Usually that position is the southwest corner of the table and all the tool locations will be defined by positive x and y coordinates. The second and more common feature on modern NC machines allows the machine operator to set the zero point at any position on the machine table. This feature is called floating point zero. The part programmer is the one who decides where the zero point should be located. The decision is based on part programming convenience. For example the workpart may be symmetrical and the zero point should be established at the center of symmetry. The operator must move the cutting tool under manual control to the target point .

Motion control 1. Point-to-point systems: Some machine tools for example drilling, boring and tapping machines etc, require the cutter and the work piece to be placed at a certain fixed relative positions, without regard for the speed & path taken to get to that location at which they must remain while the cutter does its work. These machines are known as point-to-point machines 2. Continuous path systems In this system, relative positions of the work piece and the tool is continuously controlled. It involves motion of work piece with respect to the cutter while cutting operation is taking place as in milling, turning, routing machines etc. Contouring machines can also be used as point-topoint machines, but it will be uneconomical. When tool is moved parallel to only one of the major axes: Straight cut NC When simultaneous control of two or more axes is done in machining operation: Contouring

Absolute and Incremental Positioning: An absolute NC system is one in which all position coordinates are referred to one fixed origin called the zero point. The zero point may be defined at any suitable point within the limits of the machine tool table and can be redefined from time to time. Any particular definition of the zero point remains valid till another definition is made. In an incremental system the movements in each Part program block are expressed as the displacements along each coordinate axes with reference to the final position achieved at the end of executing the previous program block. INTERPOLATIONS: Interpolation consists in the calculation of the coordinated movement of several axes using the programmed parameters, in order to obtain a resulting trajectory, which can be of various types, such as: - Straight line, Circular, Helicoidal The interpolation module computes instant by instant position commands for the servo module, which in turn, drives the motors. There are two types of interpolators, namely: - Process interpolator (for continuous axes) - Point-to-point interpolator (for point-to-point axes) The various interpolations are: 1. Linear Interpolation 2. Circular Interpolation 3. Helical Interpolation 4. Parabolic and Cubic interpolation.

NC Part Programming
It consists of planning and documenting the sequence of processing steps to be performed on an NC machine. Part program: A computer program to specify - Which tool should be loaded on the machine spindle; - What are the cutting conditions (speed, feed, coolant ON/OFF etc) - The start point and end point of a motion segment - how to move the tool with respect to the machine. - application of cutting fluids. A Binary digit is a bit. Represented by presence or absence of hole Combination of bits Character (0 to 9, A to Z) Combination of characters Word Combination of words Block.

A Block is one complete NC instruction.

Manual part programming Computer assisted part programming Part programming with APT Part programming using CAD/CAM

NC Words (Codes)
N Code - Sequence Number : identifying program blocks G Code - Control Functions/ Preparatory functions: set up the mode in which the rest of the operation is to be executed D Code- Dimension words, specify the coordinate positions of the programmed path. X and Z specify the absolute coordinates, and U and W specify the incremental coordinates F Code - Feed Rate S Code - Spindle Speed T Code - Tool Selection M Code - Miscellaneous functions G Codes G00 Positioning (not cutting) G01 Linear interpolation G02 Clockwise circular interpolation G03 Counterclockwise circular interpolation G20 Inch data input G21 Metric data input G54 Workpart coordinate preset G80 Canned cycle cancel G81-89 Canned cycles G90 Absolute programming G91 Incremental programming M Codes M00 Program stop M02 Program end M03 Start spindle CW M04 Start spindle CCW M05 Stop spindle M06 Execute tool change M07 Turn coolant on M25 Open chuck M26 Close chuck M30 Stop Machine

Sequence and format of words: N3 G2 X+1.4 Y+1.4 Z+1.4 I1.4 J1.4 K1.4 F3.2 S4 T4 M2 destination coordinates dist to center of circle feed rate tool

sequence no

preparatory function O0013 N0010 N0020 N0030 N0040 N0050 N0060 N0070 N0080 N0090 N0100 N0110 N0120 N0130

spindle speed
miscellaneous function

T0404 G57 G00 X26.00 Z0.0 S500 M04 G01 X-0.20 F100 G00 Z2.0 X50.0 Z50.0 T0404 G57 G00 X25.00 Z2.0 S500 M04 G01 X22.5 Z-70.0 F100 G00 X26.0 Z2.0 S500 G84 X17.5 Z-20.0 D0=200 D2=200 D3=650 G00 Z2.0 X50.0 Z50.0 T00 M30

O0013

Program identification number

N0010 T0404

N0010 Sequence number T0404 Select tool number 404

N0020 G57 G00 X26.0 Z0.0 S500 M04

G57 PS0 G00 Rapid movement (no cutting) X26.0 X location (as a diameter; 13 form zero) Z0.0 Z location S500 Spindle speed is 500 rpm M04 Rotate spindle counterclockwise
N0030 G01 X-0.20 F100

G01 Linear interpolation (cutting) X-0.20 Move only in x direction until you pass the center by 0.1 mm (facing) F100 Set feed rate to 100 mm/min.
N0040 G00 Z2.0

G00 Move rapidly away from work piece (no cutting) Z2.0 the movement is 2 mm away from the face.

N0070 G57 G00 X25.00 Z2.0 S500 M04

G57 PS0 G00 Rapid movement (no cutting) X25.0 X location (as a diameter; 12.5 form zero) Z2.0 Z location S500 Spindle speed is 500 rpm M04 Rotate spindle counterclockwise
N0080 G01 X22.5 Z-70.0 F100

G01 Linear interpolation (cutting) Z-70 Move only in z direction (external turning) F100 Set feed rate to 100 mm/min.
N0090 G00 X26.0 Z2.0 S500

G00 Move rapidly away from workpiece (no cutting) to location x= 26.0 (13.0 from zero) and z = 2.0.
N0100 G84 X17.5 Z-20.0 D0=200 D2=200 D3=650

G84 Turning cycle for machining the step X17.5 final diameter Z-20 length of step is 20 mm D0=200 Finish allowance in X direction (0.2 mm) D2=200 Finish allowance in Z direction (0.2 mm) D3=650 Depth of cut in each pass (0.65 mm)

N0110 G00 Z2.0

G00 Move rapidly away from workpiece (no cutting) Z2.0 the movement is 2 mm away from the face.
N0120 X50.0 Z50.0 T00

X50.0 Z50.0 Move to the tool changing location T00 cancel tool selection
N0130 M30

M30 Program End