Skillfully integrated: BvL cleaning system in production cell reduces personnel deployment

BvL Cleaning System Ocean – compact cleaning as an island solution.

Sketch of a manufacturing cell: The robot retrieves a component from a basket stack and supplies it to the machining center and BvL cleaning system.

The focus here is on the process – also in a spatial sense. In a machining center, for example, planetary carriers made of gray cast iron are initially machined. Afterwards, they are cleaned. To reduce handling times, a manufacturing cell was designed in which the machining center and cleaning system are operated by a robot.

The operator only brings the floor roller into the manufacturing cell and starts the process. Then he can attend to other tasks for the entire shift. Now, a robot takes over the handling. The robot picks a component from the basket and places it into the machining machine. Here, a processing time of 12 minutes per component is defined. Then the robot hands the machined or ground component over to the cleaning system and, after the cleaning process is complete, returns it to an empty basket.

A basket is loaded with 8 components. The floor roller is loaded with 5 baskets. With a processing time of 12 minutes, 40 components can thus be processed within an 8-hour shift without employee intervention.

Small but mighty: this is the best way to describe the BvL cleaning system "OceanRW". At first glance, it appears to be a classic, small single-tank cleaning system that operates on the turntable principle. The cleaning object is placed on the workpiece carrier at the top and rotates around the horizontal axis during the process. The specially adapted nozzle frame tailored to the component ensures thorough cleaning. Drying is also carried out through individually designed nozzles in rotational operation.

In this interim cleaning, the cleanliness requirements were rather moderate. The parts should be free of visible transport and production residues such as chips, blasting media, or casting sand after cleaning.

"It is important to us that we design the perfect cleaning system for the customer," explains Bernd Menke, Sales Manager of BvL Surface Technology. "And that involves much more than just looking at the cleaning object. The entire process, logistics, and automation play just as important a role as employee satisfaction," says Menke. "In this case, a small cleaning system was able to represent the perfect process. This makes it possible to keep the solution neither too complex nor too expensive – and at the same time relieve employees in production," he emphasizes. Menke also points out that "BvL can implement very diverse solutions and integrate them into the customer's production line. Our consulting and expertise benefit from a wide range of experiences. But our software engineers have also connected the most interesting interfaces and different types of systems," he explains.

Many manufacturing companies are currently experiencing a massive shortage of skilled workers in production. Manufacturing cells with workpiece stock for one shift can be a sensible way to deploy personnel efficiently and valuably. For efficiency in the process and also employee satisfaction, it is important to integrate both processing and cleaning. Then, the components are optimally prepared for the next manufacturing step.