Automated Riveting System
A client in the aerospace industry required a system to automate the riveting of a crucial component used on commercial planes. The range of housings were complex in shape and required up to 50 riveting operations.
A client in the aerospace industry required a system to automate the riveting of a crucial component used on commercial planes. The range of housings were complex in shape and required up to 50 riveting operations.
Design and manufacture a riveting system that could rivet complex housings that formed part of an aircraft. Locating the pre-drilled holes to ensure the automatic loading of rivets is accurate is a crucial part of the solution.
A long term goal was to integrate a Universal collaborative robot, but this did not form part of this project.
The system comprised a rivet bowl feeder, an escapement and a punch assembly. The bowl feeder fed rivets in the correct orientation to an escapement before presenting it to an upper punch, which retained the rivet through a vacuum.
The punch assembly consisted of a “C” frame, pneumatic cylinder, upper and lower punch assembly and component clamping pin. The upper punch assembly uses a spring-loaded inner punch in a normally open position to allow a vacuum to be achieved in order to hold the rivet.
SP Automation & Robotics designed a unique rivet tool comprising the vacuum hold tool, locating tool, stripper tool, and lower tooling. To allow the system to cater for various lengths of rivets and thicknesses of sheet metal material, interchangeable stops/collars were provided. This enabled the client to change between batches and set-ups quickly.
Digital signals were required to enable the future cobot to integrate with the system seamlessly.