Automated Welding Fixture
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Date
2021-12-08
Authors
Desousa, Matthew
Hunt, Matthew
Li, Yuanxing
Vandendorpe, Andrew
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Abstract
This report presents the design of an automated welding fixture developed for Atom Jet Industries to improve the welding process of seeding openers. The design must secure multiple configurations of seeding openers and provide automated rotation about two separate axes to manipulate the seeding openers in space, enabling accessibility to their welding sites from above. The proposed design utilizes a PLC controlled, servo motor driven, rotary tilt table style welding fixture with a universal mounting system to accurately control the positioning of the seeding opener during the welding process. The design features two axes of rotation which are controlled by independent gearboxes comprised primarily of sheet steel parts which are assembled as bolt together units providing access for maintenance. The design process undertook an extensive concept generation and selection phase, of which an overview is presented outlining the process taken to produce the final design. The final design is then presented which highlights the main components of the automated welding fixture and provides justification for design decisions. The tilting and rotational motions of the welding fixture are achieved using independent gearboxes that consist of combined worm and spur gear drive systems. Each gearbox meets the minimum torque requirements of the system with a minimum overall design safety factor of 1.90. The proposed solution provided to Atom Jet Industries has an estimated cost of $3,488.37 CAD (assembly not included). Group 16’s recommendation is to transition to a prototyping and testing phase to validate the design and fine tune the performance before transitioning to implementation of the design in the welding process of seeding openers.
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Mechanical Engineering