| Housing Assembly and Test Station
The requirement was to press fit two hose connectors into a housing. The original machine
performing this function was old and had become unreliable. Curtis Assemble
and Test Ltd (CAT), was appointed to design a new, fully automated assembly and test station and to install it
as a complete turnkey system.
The system is initiated when a pallet of housings arriving at the assembly station via a
conveyor. A robot is then used to select a housing from the pallet and place it on a
rotary indexing machine. The housing is then orientated; connectors are taken from a bowl
feeder and orientated; two interference fit connectors are pressed into the housing (the
system checks the correct insertion force is needed); the assembly is leak decay and probe
tested. Assemblies within test parameters are placed back into the pallet by the robot.
Any assemblies that need further attention are segregated. When all the housings have been
assembled the controlling plc releases the completed pallet and receives the next pallet
of housings.
A self diagnostic system is incorporated and this, together with CAT's peerless
build quality has helped achieve a high utilization factor. The net result is increased
throughput and improved quality.
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