Renishaw contributes to Reclaim project

The UK's remanufacturing sector is set to benefit from a major GBP1m research and development project that has just got underway, with Renishaw as a key contributor.

The project is being undertaken by a consortium of eight organisations, which in addition to Renishaw includes Delcam, Electrox, TWI, Precision Engineering Technologies, Cummins Turbo Technologies, Airfoils Technology International and De Montfort University.

The main aim is to develop an integrated production system incorporating all of the processes required for cost-effective, rapid and reliable remanufacturing.

The Reclaim (remanufacture of high-value products using a combined laser cladding, inspection and machining system) project is being coordinated by Jan Willem Gunnink of Delcam, who said: 'This project is extremely timely as the remanufacturing sector is entering a period of sustained growth that will see it double in size in the next 10 years.

Currently, most remanufacturing involves a series of operations on different pieces of equipment, which might even be in different companies.

Each process is labour intensive and dependent upon the skill of the operator.

This makes the overall process inefficient, expensive and difficult to manage.

The new system, which is being developed during the project, will combine laser cladding, machining and in-process scanning in a single machining cell.

While the main focus will be on the repair of damaged parts, it is planned that the equipment could also be used to manufacture new metal parts, to upgrade obsolete parts and to reconfigure standard parts for specialist, low-volume applications.

To achieve this goal, a number of important developments will be required.

A laser-cladding head, using the latest fibre-laser technology, will be developed, which will fit directly into the spindle of a conventional milling machine, thus simplifying the programming of the machine to perform the cladding process.

The CAM software to be developed will enable seamless control of cladding, machining and inspection processes via a single interface.

A contact measurement system for remanufacturing applications will be developed to enable rapid inspection of parts.

This scanning information will be used to locate the part accurately, assess the degree of damage, define the machining operation and to inspect the part at the end of the process.

Delcam's main contribution to the project will be the development of a single piece of software to control the entire process from start to finish.

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