The dawn of a new age

TASK

Cleaning parts with robots

MORE engineering SA, a system partner of Stäubli Korea, is breaking new ground when it comes to cleaning parts for the automotive industry. The experienced integrator uses robots for high-pressure waterjet cleaning in a range of applications.

Fast, flexible and efficient solutions are required when it comes to the inline cleaning of parts such as gearboxes, turbochargers, crankcases, crankshafts and camshafts.

Stäubli Korea and MORE engineering have tackled this issue in recent years and have together developed robot-based systems for the automated

SOLUTION

Robots assigned to waterjet cleaning

Many suppliers of Hyundai Motors are using six-axis robots from Stäubli to clean parts with waterjets on the production line. MORE favours the Stäubli TX90 HE, which is perfectly suited to this kind of job. The robot has a good range but is still compact and the HE model above all is spray-proof.

These HE robots are setting new standards when it comes to the inline cleaning of large parts. HE stands for Humid Environment and indicates six-axis robots from Stäubli which have been modified for use in wet rooms and have recently been in increasing demand for cleaning parts.

HE models are basically designed for any application in which the robots are in direct contact with liquids or spray water. Something that was originally intended for machine tools, food industry applications and waterjet cutting is now proving a hit in active parts cleaning with powerful waterjets.

The vertical cable bushing on these machines is particularly beneficial. All the connections are under the base of the robot, where they are protected from spray water.  To ensure their durable, sustainable use, the HE robots feature stainless steel parts, customised seals and specially coated housing parts, which are also much less sensitive to mechanical damage.

CUSTOMER USAGE

Simple, highly flexible system with exceptional productivity rates

Hyundai suppliers in Korea are impressed with the efficiency and speed of the process. Users particularly love the robots' simple programming options. The system is so easy to use that programs for cleaning cycles on new parts can be created in just a few minutes.

Users are, however, firmly warned against trying to imitate this groundbreaking cleaning concept with conventional standard robots. Working with the impact of intense sprays would instantly shut down a conventional robot. Stäubli's HE robots, on the other hand, are perfectly suited to the extreme conditions of use and are outstanding under continuous use with unrivalled 24/7 availability. Hyundai suppliers, in any case, are extremely enthusiastic about the solution because of its flexibility, productivity and process reliability.