Cylinder Head Assembly

Vrades designs and realizes semi- and fully automatic assembly lines for cylinder heads of combustion engines. Depending on customer´s demands and required output, cycle-times as little as 20 seconds can be achieved.  Our assembly lines for cylinder heads used on passenger cars are customer-specific special installations for the semi- and fully-automatic assembly. Apart from cylinder heads, Vrades produces assembly lines for converters, clutches, planetary gears and control units for conventional and automatic transmissions.

Function volume

On customized assembly systems for gears made by Vrades Maschinenbau, different gear types are assembled in semi-automatic and fully automatic stations. The systems are based on a component carrier transfer system with free circulation and include all required feeding, linking and handling fixtures. Here also robots are used. The single stations are built on welded base racks. Manual workplaces in foolproof design can be integrated in the production sequence. Normally, the gear assembly systems are subdivided into two areas. Namely there is the pre-assembly of the wheel/shaft sets and then the main assembly where the shaft sets are mounted in the housings. In the area of the main assembly, couplings, control units and add-on components are mounted.

 

Application range

The assembly lines for gears are customized special systems for the highly automated assembly in controlled and documented quality. These are used for different types of gears, e.g. manual transmissions, automatic transmissions, direct shift boxes or dual-clutch transmissions. User industries are the automobile industry and its sub-suppliers.

 

Product features

–  Customized assembly systems for gearboxes, consisting of semi-automatic and fully automatic stations

–  Integration of manual workplaces possible

–  Cycle time of manual workplaces: approx. 60 s/gearbox

–  Cycle time of semi-automatic stations: approx. 60 s/gearbox

–  Cycle time of automatic stations: approx. 55 s/gearbox

–  Customer-specific interfaces for production data and quality data acquisition

 

Function principle

In assembly lines for gearboxes, numerous processes are realized, the type and composition of which strongly depend on the corresponding gearbox types. Thus, normally there are many joining processes; in most cases this concerns force-path monitored insertion or press-on operations. Apart from these, the gearbox assembly includes particular processes such as:

–  Measurement of wheel set (static/dynamic, with/without load)

–  Measurement of gearbox

–  Measurement of expansion forces

–  Determination and assignment of classified shims and snap rings

–  Assembly of snap rings

–  Application of sealant

–  Measurement of circumferential backlash

–  Control of transmission ratio

–  Oil filling

–  Labelling

–  Assembly of couplings

The gearbox sub-assemblies pass the assembly steps on component carriers; in most cases, a part of the details to be mounted are carried along on these. Other details are made available in feeding equipments at the corresponding stations.

 

Structure

The customized gearbox assembly systems are planned, designed and supplied as turnkey solution in the requested automation degree by Vrades Maschinenbau. The structure of the stations is realized as far as possible with modular components from our own manufacture whereby the stations always dispose of a solid base rack as welded construction. For linkage, usually component carrier transfer systems with free circulation developed by ourselves are used. Part feeding systems, handling systems, controls and interfaces for data management are realized according to customer’s requests.