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Cap Assembly & Fluid Fill

Cap Assembly & Fluid Fill

SITUATION

The purchasing customer expressed the desire to expand its assembly operations for COVID test kits. This presented an opportunity to automate a COVID test cap filling and assembly machine. ensuring a more consistent outcome by accurately regulating variability and improving processes while generating cost savings. The former antiquated process was slower using unpredictable equipment with slow output rates.

OPPORTUNITY & IMPLEMENTATION

The project requirements included the machine being completely autonomous aside from the operator loading parts into the large capacity feeding systems and removing the completed and rejected parts bin. At its core, the requirements of this project required a part output of 80 parts per minute with minimal rejected parts.

The proposed and final stations include:

Cap Feed Index Dial- The Cap Feeder bowl supplies cap parts to the coin change mechanism. The EOAT picks and places the cap parts into the rotating index dial.
Filling Station- The filling station fills caps with 1.5m via individual servo-driven metering pumps.
Flare Feed & Pick and Place– The flare parts are loaded into a feeder bowl, and a single track using high-pressure air jets locates the part to the flange coin change mechanism. The EOAT picks and places the flange part into the cap on the index dial.
Flare Press- The flare press activates, seating the flare part into the cap.
Plunger Feed & Pick and Place- The plunger parts are loaded into the feeder bowl, and a single track using high-pressure air jets locates the part to the plunger coin change mechanism. The EOAT picks and places the plunger part on top of the cap parts.
Plunger Press- The plunger press activates, seating the plunger into the cap part.
Unload/Reject-The EOAT picks and places the good parts into the good parts reject chute. The reject EOAT picks and places rejected parts and places them into the reject chute.

DESIGN FEATURES & SPECIFICATIONS

  • 3 feeder bowl systems to provide a cap, flange, and plunger parts to the machine.
  • The servo-controlled metering pump provides fluid to the fill station.
  • Pneumatic cylinders control the part press tooling.
  • Unload and Reject stations with bins under the machine table.
  • Class 3 guard enclosure.
  • Output is 82.5 PPM.
  • Stack Light Indicators display the current machine state.
  • Allen-Bradley 10” PanelView HMI
  • The machine HMI uses customary pictures & buttons for control overrides. All machine sequences can be
    operated in manual mode on the HMI. Current cycle times are displayed on the HMI.

Approximate Machine Dimensions: 130”L x 152”W x 119”H

Power Requirements: 480VAC, 3 Phase, 60A

Pneumatic Requirements: 80PSI – 25 SCFM


Capsule Assembly Fluid Fill