Miscellaneous special-purpose machinery

Tender description

The High Temperature Research Centre (HTRC) in collaboration with Rolls-Royce Plc (RR) have been funded by innovate UK to automate the ceramic core injection process. Therefore, there is the requirement for the design, manufacture, FATs, installation, commissioning, SATs and training in the use of an automated core injection cell that contains the following: Automated conditioning and injection of ceramic core material; Siemens PLC; Platen and die position control; 2 6-axis robots with changeable End of Arm (EoA) tools; Vision system to detect macro defects; Adaptive fixtures to aid robot loading and Automated sprue cutting. The High Temperature Research Centre (HTRC) in collaboration with Rolls-Royce Plc (RR) have been funded by innovate UK to automate the ceramic core injection process. Dimensional variation of turbine blade cooling channels can be reduced by controlling the geometry of the ceramic cores leached from within to produce them. Therefore, there is the requirement for the design, manufacture, FATs, installation, commissioning, SATs and training in the use of an automated core injection cell that contains the following features: — Automated conditioning and injection of ceramic core material to manufacture production quality parts unattended (the resolution and feedback rate of KPVs like temperature and pressure are critical to the research capabilities of the cell); Siemens PLC to monitor, output and adjust ‘real time’ KPVs of an injection unit; automated die and robot arms within pre-defined operating windows; — Ability to react to the pressure cycle using air-assisted ejection will also be incorporated into the die; — Platen and die position control as accuracy and repeatability during use has a major impact of the performance of the cell; — 2 6-axis robots with changeable End of Arm (EoA) tools to complete a variety of operations: pick and place the consumable insert / injected cores, clean the die with a mechanical brush, apply die lubrication and manipulate the core without deforming or marking it; — Vision system to detect macro defects (micro defect inspection to be done in collaboration with the HTRC); — Adaptive fixtures that present aligned consumable inserts to the robot for loading into the die; — Automated sprue cutting solution prior to transfer of the core to critical operations within the required cycle times (current HTRC equipment design will be adapted to enable unattended operation). The HTRC intends to contract these activities to Modtech Machines Ltd, who have shown they are capable of providing a bespoke automated injection cell containing all of the required features within a lead-time that ensures project milestones are achieved. In particular they have demonstrated to be leaders in their field at commissioning the vision systems required for defect detection and pick and place operations as well as integrating the sophisticated sensors and software required for future research and Industry 4.0 capabilities.