February 2021 Volume 3

AUTOMATION

piece of steel welded onto the end of the billet in the center. The “tong” hold provides an operator a handle to hold while the billet is being forged. Since the “tong” is a smaller diameter than the billet to be forged, this creates a gap between the larger diameters. Due to the longer surface contact of the cat-tracks, the gap does not appear to the tractor drive assembly and the billets are driven thru the induction coil line at a continues rate. Billet Weighing Systems Billet Weighing systems move the forging manufacturing process towards greater efficiencies, greater part quality, and reduce scrap by measuring billet weight prior to being feed into the induction heater. These systems can be integrated into a manufacturing line or sit off-line as a stand-alone inspection station, as when used with a robot to check the part weight before loading into the main line.The ability to sort over and under billet weights provides a more uniform heating of billets and part quality during the press forging process. Robotic Loading/Unloading The world of robotic handling offers forging manufacturers a new era of forging automation. With the reduction in robot costs, these systems provide significant value to the overall cost of part production. Robots offer another great alternative in the area of pick and place processing by adding the ability to have six-degrees of movement, to pick from multiple positions, transfer to multiple positions, re-orient the part during transfer, load and unload inspection stations along the way, and pick billets directly out of a container. The return on investment is readily justifiable.

• ROI – Robots can be multi-purposed across multiple projects by merely re-programming • Repeatable movements and cycle times in the manufacturing process • Ability to handle “hot parts” coil unload to press load • Increased worker safety & ergonomic handling of heavier billets • Addresses the problem of finding skilled labor & training cost • Efficient manipulation & handling of parts • Reduced loading times • Reduced cycle time from heating to press operations. • Repeatability in the heating/movement process to assure metallurgical properties are being maintained. • Increased quality measures to assure only correct billets are processed. • Added upfront processes to increase downstream quality and tooling life (billet graphite/ lube Systems) • Increased worker safety Inverter Technology Automation for Progressive Induction Heating

Figure 5. Individual power modules of the InductoForge® Module Billet Heater In every heating process, automation of the billet or bar handling system is the beginning step for improving a forging cell. When considering automation for the heating process, the automation methods come in the form of operational controls. Automated induction heating systems have become increasingly more popular in the past two decades as computer controls, and electrical technology has advanced. One fully automated solution available is the InductoForge® Module Billet Heater. The InductoForge® is the first induction heater that offers individual power supply control to each induction heating coil. The ability to control power to each induction heating coil provides the flexibility for "job shop" forging companies to properly heat billets at different diameters and production rates while maintaining acceptable billet temperature uniformity.

Figure 4. Robotic extraction of a bar-end heating system By adding vision capabilities to the robotic system to detect and determine parts in any configuration, a company can further customize and tailor the loading and infeed process for an ever changing product stream. Additionally, robots are being used to quickly extract hot billets and deliver them to the next process after the induction heater. Many companies are also using robots to transfer parts to presses and actively forge the parts in the press. Some advantages of using robotics in the forging process include the following: • Six-Axis Part Manipulation replicating same movements as operator

FIA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2021 34