Product category:
Monitoring and sensor equipment and systems
News Release from: Balluff UK | Subject: Parallel Passive Inductive ID system
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 10 August 2007
Inductive ID identifies engines after
assembly
Wishing to improve traceability of completed small engines coming off an assembly line, a USA company is using a passive inductive ID system to identify specific engines within a production batch.
The Balluff Parallel Passive Inductive ID system features non contact and wear-free data exchange between the carrier and the read head The data and necessary power for the data carrier are inductively coupled and require no battery for operation or data retention
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 24 Oct 2000 at 8.00am (UK)
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The data carriers are capable of withstanding hostile manufacturing environments and are rated for - 20 to +70 deg C.
The ID system also withstands the rigors typically found in machine tool environments, where components are showered with hot chips, coolant and lubricants.
These are among the reasons why the Briggs and Stratton Small Engine Facility in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, USA, chose Balluff's Parallel Passive Inductive ID system to help identify specific engines within their production batch.
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The Bluff facility builds 14,000 units/day of Quantum 4-cycle engine.
The market knows the product for its excellent 'one-pull starts' on power equipment, such as self-propelled lawn mowers.
Manufacturing engineering technician, Billy DePew, had to improve traceability of completed engines coming off the line.
The task meant accomplishing the following.
* Ability to trace a non-conforming part back to the pallet it was produced on.
* The date of manufacture and work shift.
* To check other engines of that batch to determine the exact corrective procedure.
Working with Balluff engineers, DePew added a Balluff Parallel Passive Inductive ID system to help identify specific engines within their production batch.
With this system, engines that did not meet Briggs and Stratton's rigid QA (quality assurance) standards could be isolated by a time stamp (date/time of manufacture) that was applied to each block, providing traceability and accountability for work performed by Briggs operators.
The ID system helped Briggs and Stratton flag nonconformities before final engine assembly, and reduce scrap - increasing throughput and the overall quality of its engine components.
* Tracking system - working with his Balluff team, DePew determined that a simple Balluff 60R 'read only', passive inductive identification system could provide information to help improve quality tracking on the engine line.
The Balluff BISC-60R-001-08P ID system installed at Briggs and Stratton consists of a simple parallel, self-contained read head, an 8-bit parallel (8-byte addressable) device resembling a 30mm inductive proximity sensor.
This read head works with 1,023-byte Balluff BISC-12805/L data carriers, one each mounted on the machining pallets.
These data carriers are essentially industrial EE-PROMS encapsulated in robust manufacturing grade Duraplast material.
They are capable of withstanding hostile manufacturing environments and rated to - 20 to +70 deg C.
The 88 data carriers used in this application have a mounting hole in the centre of the tag for easy pallet attachment.
Data exchange between the carrier and the read head is non-contact and wear-free.
The data and necessary power for the data carrier are inductively coupled and require no battery for operation or data retention, eliminating added cost and the risk of losing data.
Precise alignment of the read head and the data carrier is not necessary.
The data carrier can be read 'on-the-fly' while moving past the read head.
* System installation - after the data carriers were mounted on the engine block pallets and the M30 read heads were mounted and aligned, the system was ready for integration into Brigg's existing control system.
DePew integrated the Balluff ID system into his Mitsubishi PLC and Telesis work station with an LCD screen used for visually checking data.
All communications in the network are via RS-232.
Small engine blocks are installed on each of 88 production pallets progressing on a conveyor that moves them through 54 machining stations.
Cylinder bores are rough-cut, valve guide holes are bored, oil fill holes are cut, breather bores and cam bores are machined, and heads are tapped in sequence at the various stations.
At the third machining station, the pallet number is automatically read off the data carrier on the pallet, and that number, plus the date, time, and crew/shift number, is coded by an operator into a pin stamper, which imprints the information on the corresponding engine block.
This data is essential in pinpointing any out-of-spec components that must be pulled out of the system.
Beyond that, the process provides greater traceability and quality control on the entire engine machining process.
* Results - with the integration of the Balluff Parallel ID system, the Briggs and Stratton Poplar Bluff engine block line achieved a cost-effective method of identifying quality problems.
Briggs and Stratton also achieved a system of 'back-tracking' components and accounting for work performed by its employees.
The system was determined to be efficient, cost-effective, and relatively easy to integrate.
The IP67-rated Balluff ID system was also robust enough to withstand rigors typically found in machine tool environments where components are showered with hot chips, coolant and lubricants.
According to DePew, "The Balluff ID system was simple to install and use.
There are no problems with the system and the reads are accurate.
We've also received good support from the Balluff organisation.
We'd like to expand this system into other plant areas, even in a new plant expansion.".
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