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Control Migration & Throughput Increase — Power-Steering Gear Assembly Machine

Motion Control Allen-Bradley Mechanical Redesign Automotive

A pinion-and-yoke assembly and torque-calibration machine for hydraulic steering gears was capped at 15–25 pieces/hour on an obsolete PLC 5/30 platform with DC drives. Migrating the control and motion system to ControlLogix/Kinetix — and redesigning the torque-nut and lock-nut mechanical subsystems — pushed output to 35–40 pieces/hour.

Scope of Work

  • Migrated the PLC 5/30 to a ControlLogix 1756-L71.
  • Replaced PC-based monitoring with a PanelView Plus 1500 HMI.
  • Migrated 1394/DC drives to Kinetix 6500 with MPL servomotors.
  • Designed custom flanges, mechanical couplings and gearboxes to mount the new servomotors.
  • Redesigned the torque-nut and lock-nut mechanical subsystems.

Architecture

The ControlLogix processor communicates over EtherNet/IP to a PanelView Plus 1500 HMI and to Kinetix 6500 drives powering custom-coupled MPL servomotors, with load-cell torque measurement closing the loop on the assembly process.

Technology

  • Allen-Bradley ControlLogix 1756-L71, Kinetix 6500, PanelView Plus 1500
  • MPL servomotors over EtherNet/IP
  • Load-cell torque measurement
Electrical cabinet on the plant floor next to the assembly machine Torque and valve assembly station with servomotors and monitoring screen