ring plus aqua ltd

Amaze, The Automated Assembly Machine For Integral Shaft Bearings

Engineering EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2013 Category: “Technology/Innovation”

“Implemented at: Ring Plus Aqua Ltd”

May 3, 2023 1

10th Oct’2013

Introduction to Integral Shaft Bearings

Business Opportunities & Challenges

Conventional Bearing Assembly – Process Flow & Limitations

Automated Bearing Assembly Machine - Operations

Error Proofing

Benefits of Automated Bearing Assembly Machine

Patent and National Level Recognition

Contents

May 3, 2023 2

Introduction To Integral Shaft Bearings

Integral Shaft Bearing has two widely spaced rows of rolling element, do not have inner ring but raceways machined directly on the surface of the shaft. As a result there is more space available for the rolling elements, giving higher load carrying capacity with reduced price than conventional single row bearings. Water pump bearings are ready-to-fit bearing units. It comprises a shaft, an outer ring and rolling elements in between. The bearings are greased for its life and protected against environmental influences by two sealing rings.

These bearing are being used in water pumps for automotive & non-automotive applications. Current major OEM customers are ………….

May 3, 2023 3

Business Opportunities & Challenges

Opportunity

Collective business potential of INR 200Mn

Challenge

Revamp of conventional bearing assembly lines to eliminate manual intervention during bearing assembly processes to meet requirement of these customers

Improve positioning

● Tier progression from current Tier 2 to Tier 1 for new products (forged components and transmission gears

New products & accounts

● Enter into products currently being manufactured by OEMs themselves, due to presence of few quality suppliers

● High value fully machined forged components

● Fully finished transmission gears

● Diversification of customer base through new accounts, a key strategic growth driver

Market growth & market share growth

● Accelerate growth across base business segments (ring gears, bearings, pulleys and flexplates) through both

● Growth in domestic market of ~14% and export market of ~5%

● Increasing penetration and market share

Capabilities – supplement all the other growth drivers

● Ability to manufacture world class product using state of the art technology

● At competitive price

● World class quality standards

● Global SCM & VMI solutions

● Design engineering, validation & testing

Inorganic growth

● To use the inorganic route to enter into

New product line/ platform

New geographies

Acquire technology

Acquire customer

Conventional Bearing Assembly Processes !!!

INR200Mn

Automated Bearing

Assembly Machine

Conventional Bearing Assembly - Process Flow

All these Operations are interlinked

Based on PLC logics

Ball Fillings

Cage Fixing

Clearances Measurement

Manual Gauging of shafts

Manual Gauging of sleeves

`

Signal to start next greasing

cycle

OK Not OK

Packing Rejection BinSignal to start next greasing

cycle

Grease Filling

Seal Fixing

Spinning

Weighing

`

May 3, 2023 5

Limitations of Conventional Bearing Assembly

Conventional Assembly - Drawbacks

Shaft & Sleeve sorting at 2 different stations and offered for bearing assembly at the 3rd stn.

Manual ball selection & filling

Manual axial & radial inspection of bearings

Manual intervention at each stage of bearing assembly, thus chances of incorrect assembly

Inadequate error proofing, thus chances of wrong assembly

Operator dominant process, thus high level of skill required for bearing assembly

All the above results in process variation, thus inconsistent product quality

Hesitation for the acceptance of our bearing assembly line from OEM Customers

May 3, 2023 6

Automated Bearing Assembly Line - Conceptualization

Manufacturing &

commissioning of Bearing

Assembly Line

Define the requirements for machine

Selection of supplier and sign-off Non-

Disclosure Agreement

(NDA)

Release of PO with

Statement Of requirements

(SOR)

Machine lay-out

approval

May 3, 2023 7

Supplier Evaluation &

technical assessment

Automated Bearing Assembly Machine

Shaft Loading

Shaft insertion on fixture by tilting it 90 deg

Shaft Gauging

Sleeve Gauging & sleeve insertion on shaft

Continued …..May 3, 2023 8

Design Conceptualization

Auto Ball Selection & feeding Ball Cage pick up & fixing

Roller Cage InsertionBearing Assembly pick up & placing for clearance measurement

Continued …..


May 3, 2023 9


Grease Filling

WeighingUnloading on OK/NOT OK bin

Visual InspectionAntirust Application &

Packaging

Spinning

Manual Seal insertion

Auto seal fixing

Automatic Assembly - Features


May 3, 2023 10


Automated Bearing Assembly – Concepts & Error Proofing

Automatic Assembly - Features

•Auto gauging through LVDT probes & auto selection of correct number and size of balls through PLC logics.Gauging & Ball Selection

•Correct orientation of ball cage & roller cage assembly through orientation fixture.Cage Orientation•Correct numbers of rollers which are weighed before assembly & inter-linked to rejection bin.Rollers•100% radial clearance measurement & NG bearings after this measurement are interlinked to rejection bin thru PLC.Clearance Measurement

•Volumetric dispensing for grease, thus better control.Grease Dispensing•Final weighing to detect any miss-out component and rejection is interlinked to rejection bin.Weighing•All sub-operations are performed sequentially & interlinked through in-built poka yoke’s at each stage.Poka-Yoke•Operator safety is also considered while designing this machineSafety

May 3, 2023 11

Our Innovation – Automated Bearing Assembly Machine

Salient Features:-

• Bearing assembly within close tolerances• Poka Yoke at each assembly station• Segregation of NG parts at each assembly station• Higher Reliability• Productivity improvement by 3timesMay 3, 2023 12

Automated Bearing Assembly Machine - Benefits

• Automated controls at each stage & linkage of all sub-assembly operations thru Programmable Logic Controls.

• Error proofing at each stage for defect prevention.

• Productivity Improvement from 1500 to 4000 per day.

• Effective space utilisation i.e. 50% space saving as compared to conventional assembly machine.

• Auto segregation of Ok & Not ok products at different stages.

• Saving of 12 man days per day.

• Reduced Operator fatigue.

• Manual intervention eliminated.

• This idea gave us commanding position over the competitors, which helped to open the doors of potential OEM customers like Ford, Renault, Suzuki, Fiat, PSA, Hyundai, Pierburg, Sogefi, Magna etc

• Capacity enhanced by 4000 pcs / dayMay 3, 2023 13

PATENT APPLICATION

The First Ever Patent Application From Ring Plus Aqua Ltd For Automated Assembly Machine For Integral Shaft Bearings

May 3, 2023 14

Complete patent application filed on 29th October 2012 and is published in the weekly journal of “India Patent Office on 30th November’2012”.

No infringement objection received during the initial six months also as of Oct’2013. “Now it is under process for granting patent.”

Thank You!

May 3, 2023 15