Automated High speed hose cutting system

Automated High Speed Hose Cutting – Hastings Deering

OUR Projects

Automated High Speed Hose Cutting – Hastings Deering

OUR Projects

Automated High-Speed Hose Cutting

Automated High-Speed Hose Cutting Solution

The IR4 team have engaged with Hastings Deering, Mackay to provide a solution that automates the, labelling and storage of various hydraulic hose diameters using the latest IR4 automation technology.

This is one of the more challenging projects the team at IR4 have tackled due to the flexibility of the hose, the many variations in hose diameter, type and length to be presented to the system. Additionally, there is a requirement for high-speed throughput and a cassette staging area to hold the various diameter hoses. An operator will schedule the daily cut list through the HMI.

The system selects the correct hoses from the cassette staging area throughout the shift and presents them to the three stations on the cutting table. The system then measures the hose length and cuts the hose to the desired length within a high degree of accuracy and labels the hose with a unique identifier.

Following the cutting the 2nd handling robot collects the hose from the cutting table and presents it to the automated vertical storage rack. On the outbound side of the vertical storage rack, the hoses are picked up by a third robot that presents the hose to a cleaning station where a polyshot is passed through the hose to clean it. The polyshot is digitally inspected to ensure that it has been sufficiently cleaned, if not the process is repeated until the cleanliness requirement is achieved.

This project is currently in development.

THE JOB

Design a system that has the capability to automate processing of a full array of the most commonly used hydraulic hoses
Completely isolate the operator from the process
Provide an intuitive human machine interface operating system that semi-skilled staff can easily operate
Build and design the capability for high-speed hose cutting of multiple sizes
Eliminate the current bottleneck and labour-intensive process of manually cutting various hoses
Capable of holding up to 130kg hose reel weight
Includes automated hose cleaning and cleanliness validation
Capable of processing 1 hose per minute

SCOPE OF WORK

Automated staging area incorporating over 20 different hose diameter options
Capable of processing hoses up to 80mm ID
Capable of processing one hose per-minute
Cassette staging for shift production
Robotic presentation of cassettes to cut process table
Days production upload for automated hose selection, cutting to length and post-cut cleaning and processing
Post cleaning validation of all hoses.
Automated batch identification marking
Smart cut-hose table providing hose management to support cutting
Vertical tracked hose management system

MODULAR SYSTEM FLEXIBILITY AND ADDITIONAL CAPABILITY

The IR4 high-speed hose cutting system has the capability to cut many different hose types, not just hydraulic.

The system can also be scaled down for lower volume requirements or scaled up to meet higher volumes

The stage II planning for the high-speed hose cutting system will have the added capability of automatically fitting hydraulic hose fittings with minimal manual intervention.

THE DELIVERABLES

Provide accurate, reliable high-speed hose cutting system that can handle up to 22 variants of hose in automated staging area
HMI system that is intuitive and can be easily operated by semi-skilled staff
Automated robotic handling from hose cassettes to cutting table
Up to three cutting saws working simultaneously
Full batch tracking and traceability of daily production runs
Lights out production when fully staged
Post cut automated hose cleaning and validation all reportable back to the HMI operating system
Labelling and batch tracking capability
Automated post cut handling of hoses into vertical racking system.