Automation

and Advanced
Manufacturing
Basic Mechanical
Engineering
MIE 1071

Department of Mechanical and

Industrial Engineering.
 Automation and its elements
Automation can be defined as a technology concerned with the application of
mechanical, electronic, and computer based systems to operate and control production.
This technology includes
 Automatic machine tools to process parts
 Automatic assembly machines
 Industrial robots
 Automatic material handling and storage systems
 Automatic inspection systems for quality control
 Feedback control and computer process control
 Computer systems for planning, data collection, and decision making to support
manufacturing activities
To automate a process, power is required, both to drive the process itself and to operate
the program and control system.
An automated system consists of three basic elements:
1. Power to accomplish the process and operate the system
2. A program of instructions to direct the process,
3. A control system to actuate the instructions

Types of Automation System

Automated manufacturing systems operate in the factory on the physical product. They
perform operations such as processing, assembly, inspection or material handling.

Page 2 of 24
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
 They are called as automated manufacturing system because they perform their
operations with a reduced level of human participation compared with the corresponding
manual process.
Advanced manufacturing system can be classified into 3 basic types.
1. Fixed automation
It is a system in which the sequence of processing operations is fixed by the equipment
configuration. Each of the operations in the sequence is usually simple, involving perhaps
a plain linear or rotational motion or simple combination of two.
e.g. feeding of rotating spindle
The typical features of fixed automation are:
 High initial investment for custom engineered equipment
 High production rates
 Relatively inflexible in accommodating product changes
eg.: SPMs laid on sides of conveyor, Transfer line
2. Programmable automation
It is a system where the production equipment is designed with the capability to change
the sequence of operation to accommodate different product configuration. The operation
sequence is controlled by a program. New programs can be prepared and entered into the
equipment to produce new products.
Here volume of production is low to medium and variety of products is more.
Time loss is high in this case due to various changeovers.

Page 3 of 24
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
 This kind of automation is well suited for batch type production
eg..: CNC machine
3. Flexible automation
This is an extension of programmable manufacturing system. This is capable of
producing a variety of parts with virtually no time lost for changeovers from one part
style to the next. There is no production downtime while reprogramming the system and
altering the physical setup like toolings, fixtures, machine settings
This system may consist of a series of workshops that are interconnected by material
handling and storage system. A central computer controls the various activities like
routing parts to appropriate workshop and control operations at different station.
The features of flexible automation are:
 High initial investment
 Medium production rates
 High flexibility
eg.: Flexible manufacturing systems

Reasons for Automating

1. To increase labour productivity.
2. To reduce labour cost.
3. To mitigate the effects of labour shortages.
4. To reduce or eliminate routine manual and clerical tasks.
5. To improve worker safety.
6. To improve product quality.
7. To reduce manufacturing lead time.
8. To accomplish processes that cannot be done manually.

Page 4 of 24
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
 NC machines
It is a form of programmable automation, in which the process is controlled by numbers,
letters and symbols.

Components of NC machines
A numerical control system consists of the following three basic components:
1. Program of instructions
2. Machine control unit
3. Processing equipment

Program of instructions:
 The program of instructions is the detailed step-by-step commands that direct the
processing equipment.
 Commands refer to positions of a machine tool spindle with respect to the
worktable on which part is fixture.
 Instructions include spindle speeds, cutting tools, feed rate, etc.
 The program is coded on a suitable medium for submission to the machine control
unit.
 The most common medium in use has been 1-in wide punched tape.
 Magnetic disks, floppy disks, SD cards have replaced the punched tape.

Page 5 of 24
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
 Machine control unit (MCU)
MCU consists of the electronics and control hardware that read and interpret the program
of instruction and convert it into mechanical actions of the machine tool or other
processing equipment

Processing equipment
 The processing equipment is a component that performs useful work.
 Examples of this component include NC machine that perform machining
operations.
 The processing equipment consists of the work-table and spindle as well as motors
and controls needed to drive them.

Historical Perspective
 The development of NC owes much to the US Air Force and the early aerospace
industry
 The first development work in the area of NC is attributed to John Parsons
 The original NC concept involved the use of coordinate positional data contained
on punched cards to define the surface contour of helicopter blades
 A contract was awarded to Massachusetts Institute of Technology to develop a
prototype NC machine
 The first NC machine, a retrofitted tracer mill was successfully demonstrated at
MIT in March 1952
 Machine tool builders began initiating their own development projects to introduce
commercial NC products
 Certain companies in the aerospace industry began to devise NC machines to
satisfy their own production needs
 The Air force funded MIT to design a part programming language that could be
used to control NC machine tools
 The result was the development of language APT (Automatically Programmed
Tooling) which consisted of English like statements

Page 6 of 24
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
 Coordinate System
To program the NC machine, it is necessary to establish a standard axis system by which
the relative positions of the tool with respect to the work can be specified.

Milling and Drilling Machines

 Two axes, x and y are defined in the plane of the table.
 The z axis is perpendicular to the plane and movement in the z direction is
controlled by the vertical motion of the spindle.
 The positive and negative directions of motion of tool relative to table along these
axes are as shown in the fig. below
 However, in addition to the three linear axes, machines may possess the capacity to
control one or more rotational axes.
 Three rotation axes are defined in NC, a, b and c axes.
 These axes are used to specify angles about the three linear axes

Page 7 of 24
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
 Turning Centres

 For turning operations, two axes are normally all that are required
 The z- axis is the axis of rotation of the workpiece and the x- axis defines the radial
location of the cutting tool

Classification of NC machines
1. Based on the type of control
a. Point-to-point control
 Tool path is controlled between points e.g.: drilling operations
 Path traversed between point is not important
b. Straight line control
 Tool path is controlled along a straight line. e.g.: slotting operations
c. Contouring control
 Velocity of both the axes are changed continuously in order to achieve
the programmed feed rate
 CNC systems with contouring control supports point-to-point as well
as straight line control
 Contouring control is available in all 3 axes as well
 Two additional axes A&B for the spindle head along which contouring
control can be done is also available, making it a 5 axis machine

Page 8 of 24
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
 2. Based on type of control loop
a. Open loop system (fig.a)
 There is no provision to check whether the tool/workpiece has moved
to the programmed location.
 Mostly used in CNC trainer machines when torque requirement and
positioning accuracy requirement is low
b. Closed loop system(fig.b)

Page 9 of 24
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
  Feedback provision exists to verify whether the tool/workpiece
position achieved is same as the programmed value.
 More accurate positioning
 Expensive
 Can support higher torque
e.g.: Heavy cut on tool steel

Slowing down of servomotor and tacho-generator

Tacho outputs less voltage

Larger error signal

More current

Servo motor will speed up

Problems with Conventional NC

The problems arise in the conventional NC system are the following:
Part Programming Mistakes
 While preparing a punched tape, part programming mistakes are common.

Page 10 of 24
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
  Mistakes can be either syntax or numerical errors, and needs three or more passes
before the NC tape is correct.
 Achieving optimum sequence of processing steps is another problem especially
with manual part programming
Punched Tape
 Paper tape is fragile and is susceptibility to wear and tear making it an unreliable
NC component for repeated use on the shop floor.
 Durable tape materials like Mylar and aluminium help overcome this problem but
are expensive.
Tape Reader
 Tape reader is known to be the least reliable hardware components of the machine.
 When a breakdown occurs on a NC machine, the maintenance personnel usually
begin their search for the problem with tape reader.

Controller
 The conventional NC controller unit id hard-wired.
 This means that its control features cannot be easily altered to incorporate
improvements into the unit.

Management information
 The conventional NC system cannot provide timely information on operational
performance to management.
 Information may include piece counts, machine breakdowns and tool changes
Non-optimal speeds and feeds
 The function of conventional NC is to control the position of the tool relative to the
work.
 There is no attempt to optimize the speeds and feeds during machining process.
 The part programmer must plan the cutting conditions conservatively which
reduces productivity.

Page 11 of 24
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
 CNC Machine
Computer Numerical Control machine (CNC machine) is an NC system using a dedicated
microcomputer as the machine control unit.
Thus the large hard-wired MCUs have of conventional NC have been replaced by control
units based on digital computer. Hard-wired MCUs were replaced by minicomputers
which were later replaced by microcomputers. Present day CNC machines are all
controlled by microcomputers.

Features of CNC Control system

1. Programming and operating features
 More than one program can be stored
 Multiple program entry options – using computer, edit mode/MDI mode
 Program editing at machine site
 Offset adjustment for tool radius and length is easy
 Adaptive control – optimizes the speed and feed during machining
 Re-computation of axis position – using different work offset values
 Use of canned cycle – built in routines which move the tool in predefined
way, thereby reducing the length of the program. E.g.: in a VMC G81 is
the canned cycle for drilling
2. Machine tool control
 Linear interpolation
 Circular interpolation
 Helical interpolation
3. Diagnostic feature
 Control start up diagnostics – checks health of CPU, I/O devices, servo
controls, etc.
 Malfunction and failure analysis – to detect the reason for malfunction
done by a PLC program
 Tool life monitoring – expected life of tool is entered. Upon reaching the
expected life, a warning signal is given to take necessary actions

Page 12 of 24
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
  Preventive maintenance notice – low level of hydraulic oil, coolant and
lubricant
 Programming diagnostic – tool path simulation is possible, cycle time
calculations are possible.
Advantages and Disadvantages of CNC machines
1. Reduced non-productive time
 Less number of job setup as multiple operations can be done on a single
machine
 Less job setup time due to simplified fixtures
 Less tool change time
 Tool positioning time is reduced
2. Simplified fixture
Requires simpler fixture because the positioning is done by the program rather
than the fixture or jig. Some of the fixtures used on CNC systems are as follows:
 Machine vice (machining centre)
 Hydraulic chuck (turning centre)
 Grid plate and grid box
 Strap clamps, tee bolts and nuts
3. Reduced manufacturing lead time
4. Greater manufacturing flexibility
 CNC adapts better to changes in jobs and production schedules.
5. Improved quality control – due to less rejections and lesser inspection
6. Complex geometries are possible
7. Reduced inventory
8. Engineering changes can be easily accommodated
9. Less floor space requirement

Disadvantages of CNC system

1. Higher initial investment
2. Higher maintenance cost
3. Skilled programmers are needed

Page 13 of 24
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
 Introduction to Robotics
An industrial robot is a general purpose, programmable machine which processes certain
anthropomorphic characteristics. The robot can be programmed to perform some useful
task. It will repeat that motion pattern again and again until reprogrammed to perform
some other task. Hence robot can be used for a variety of different industrial operation
like machine loading & unloading, spot welding, spray painting, etc.

Application of Robots
1. Material transfer and handling
2. Machine loading and unloading
3. Welding
4. Spray coating
5. Processing operations
6. Assembly
7. Inspection

Following are the various applications within these seven categories

MATERIAL TRANSFER & HANDLING

Material transfer applications are those in which the robot is used to move workparts
from one location to another. In some cases it may also be re-orientation of parts.
Examples of material transfer robot operations
 Pick & place operation
 Palletizing & depalletizing operation
 Stacking operation
 Handling radioactive materials
Advantages
1. Heavy, complicated and delicate jobs can be easily handled
2. Worker is free from repetitive tasks
3. Reduces material transfer idle time

Page 14 of 24
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
 MACHINE LOADING AND UNLOADING
Machine loading applications are material handling operations in which the robot is
required to supply a production machine with raw parts and/or to unload finished parts
from the machine. In some cases the, the robot holds the part in position during
processing
Production operations in which robots have been successfully applied to perform the
machine loading and unloading function are:
 Die casting (unloading)
 Injection moulding (unloading)
 Hot forging (holding)
 Upset forging (holding)
 Stamping press operation (holding)
 Machining operations such as turning and milling (loading and unloading)
Advantages
1. Human labour is relieved form hot and unsafe environment as in die-castings,
forgings
2. Reduces machine loading and unloading time
3. Increases productivity

WELDING
The welding processes are a very important application area for industrial robots. The
applications logically divide into two basic categories, spot welding and arc welding.
Spot welding is a process in which metal parts are fused together at localized points by
passing a large electric current through the two parts at the point of contact. The process
is implemented by means of electrodes which take the form of tongs, mounted on a large
robot’s wrist as the end effector.
Several types of arc welding processes can be accomplished by industrial robots, like gas
metal arc welding or MIG welding and as tungsten arc welding or TIG welding
Advantages:
1. Higher productivity
2. Improved safety and quality of work

Page 15 of 24
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
 3. Greater quality of product

SPRAY COATING
Automobile and appliances industries require the application of some form of paint.
Usually human workers apply this form of paint, the most common method is spray
painting, which has many health hazards like fumes, mist, noise, fire hazard and possible
cancer danger. For these reasons, specialized industrial robots are being used more and
more frequently to perform spray painting.
Advantages:
1. Safety of operations from hazardous environment
2. Lower energy consumption
3. Less coating material usage
4. Higher productivity
PROCESSING OPERATIONS
This is a miscellaneous category in which the robot is used to perform some
manufacturing process other than welding, spray painting, assembly and inspection
operation. Just as welding and spray painting, the processing operation is performed by a
specialized tool attached to the robot’s wrist as its end effector.
Operations like drilling, boring, reboring, grinding, milling, riveting, polishing,
deburring, etc.
Advantages:
1. Increased productivity
2. Reduced machining time

ASSEMBLY
Assembly operations are seen an area with big potential for robot applications, especially
the batch type assembly operations. The reason for this is based on economics and the
technological capabilities. Operations include parts mating, parts joining, adhesive works,
crimping, etc.
Advantages
1. Higher productivity

Page 16 of 24
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
 2. Reduced rejected parts
3. Fast operations
4. Less wastage of materials

INSPECTION
Traditionally inspection function has been a very labour intensive activity. The activity is
slow, tedious, and boring, and is usually performed by human beings on a sampling basis
rather than by 100% inspection. Errors form an integral part of sampling inspection and
100% inspection by humans is not feasible. Use of robots overcomes both the above
problems. Robots may use gauges or mechanical probes, optical sensors to perform
dimensional checking.

Six Degrees of Freedom

The purpose of the robot is to perform a useful task. To accomplish the task, an end
effector is attached to the end of the robots arm. The robot arm must be capable of
moving the end effector through a sequence of motions. These basic motions are called as
degrees of freedom. There are six basic motions, or degrees of freedom. The six basic
motions consist of three arm and body motions and three wrist motions as shown in fig
below.
Arm and body motions
1. Vertical traverse
Up and down motions of the arm, caused by pivoting the entire arm about a
horizontal axis or moving the arm along a vertical slide
2. Radial traverse
Extension and retraction of the arm (in and out movement)
3. Rotational traverse
Rotation about the vertical axis (right or left swivel of the robot arm)

Wrist motions
4. Wrist swivel
Rotation of the wrist

Page 17 of 24
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
 5. Wrist bend
Up or down movement of the wrist, which also involves a rotational movement
6. Wrist yaw
Right or left swivel of the wrist

Configuration of a Robot
Industrial robots come in a variety of shape and sizes. They are capable of various arm
manipulations and they possess different motion systems. Almost all present day
industrial robots have one of the following four configurations:
1. Polar coordinate configuration
2. Cylindrical coordinate configuration
3. Jointed arm configuration
4. Cartesian coordinate configuration

Page 18 of 24
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
 Polar coordinate configuration
This configuration is also known as spherical coordinate configuration because the
workspace within which it can move its arm is a partial sphere. As shown in fig below,
the robot has a rotary base and a pivot that can be used to raise and lower a telescopic
arm.

Polar coordinate configuration

Cylindrical coordinate configuration

In this configuration, the robot body is a vertical column that swivels about a vertical
axis. The arm consists of several orthogonal slides which allow the arm to be moved up
or down and in or out with respect to the body. This is shown in fig below.

Cylindrical coordinate configuration

Page 19 of 24
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
 Jointed arm configuration
The jointed arm configuration is similar in appearance to the human arm, as shown in fig
below. The arm consists of several straight members connected by joints which are
analogous to the human shoulder, elbow, and wrist. The robot arm is mounted to a base
which can be rotated to provide the robot with the capacity to work within a quasi-
spherical space.

Jointed arm configuration

Cartesian coordinate configuration

A robot which is constructed around this configuration consists of three orthogonal
slides, as shown below. The three slides are parallel to the x, y, and z axes of the cartesian
coordinate system.

Page 20 of 24
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
 By appropriate movements of these slides, the robot is capable of moving its arm to any
point within its three-dimensional rectangular shaped workspace

Introduction to Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing is the formalized term for what used to be called rapid
prototyping and what is popularly called 3D Printing. Referred to in short as AM, the
basic principle of this technology is that a model, initially generated using a three-
dimensional Computer-Aided Design (3D CAD) system, can be fabricated directly
without the need for process planning. Although this is not in reality as simple as it first
sounds, AM technology certainly significantly simplifies the process of producing
complex 3D objects directly from CAD data. Other manufacturing processes require a
careful and detailed analysis of the part geometry to determine things like the order in
which different features can be fabricated, what tools and processes must be used, and
what additional fixtures may be required to complete the part. In contrast, AM needs only
some basic dimensional details and a small amount of understanding as to how the AM
machine works and the materials that are used to build the part. The key to how AM
works is that parts are made by adding material in layers; each layer is a thin cross-
section of the part derived from the original CAD data. Obviously in the physical world,
each layer must have a finite thickness to it and so the resulting part will be an
approximation of the original data. The thinner each layer is, the closer the final part will
be to the original. All commercialized AM machines to date use a layer-based approach,
and the major ways that they differ are in the materials that can be used, how the layers
are created, and how the layers are bonded to each other. Such differences will determine
factors like the accuracy of the final part plus its material properties and mechanical
properties. They will also determine factors like how quickly the part can be made, how
much post-processing is required, the size of the AM machine used, and the overall cost
of the machine and process.

Steps involved in Additive Manufacturing

AM involves a number of steps that move from the virtual CAD description to the
physical resultant part. Different products will involve AM in different ways and to

Page 21 of 24
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
 different degrees. Small, relatively simple products may only make use of AM for
visualization models, while larger, more complex products with greater engineering
content may involve AM during numerous stages and iterations throughout the
development process. Furthermore, early stages of the product development process may
only require rough parts, with AM being used because of the speed at which they can be
fabricated. At later stages of the process, parts may require careful cleaning and post-
processing (including sanding, surface preparation, and painting) before they are used,
with AM being useful here because of the complexity of form that can be created without
having to consider tooling.

Step 1: CAD
All AM parts must start from a software model that fully describes the external geometry.
This can involve the use of almost any professional CAD solid modeling software, but
the output must be a 3D solid or surface representation. Reverse engineering equipment
(e.g., laser and optical scanning) can also be used to create this representation.

Step 2: Conversion to STL

Nearly every AM machine accepts the STL file format, which has become a de facto
standard, and nowadays nearly every CAD system can output such a file format. This file
describes the external closed surfaces of the original CAD model and forms the basis for
calculation of the slices.

Step 3: Transfer to AM Machine and STL File Manipulation

The STL file describing the part must be transferred to the AM machine. Here, there may
be some general manipulation of the file so that it is the correct size, position, and
orientation for building.

Step 4: Machine Setup

The AM machine must be properly set up prior to the build process. Such settings would
relate to the build parameters like the material constraints, energy source, layer thickness,
timings, etc.

Page 22 of 24
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
 Step 5: Build
Building the part is mainly an automated process and the machine can largely carry on
without supervision. Only superficial monitoring of the machine needs to take place at
this time to ensure no errors have taken place like running out of material, power or
software glitches, etc.

Step 6: Removal
Once the AM machine has completed the build, the parts must be removed. This may
require interaction with the machine, which may have safety interlocks to ensure for
example that the operating temperatures are sufficiently low or that there are no actively
moving parts.

Page 23 of 24
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
 Step 7: Post-processing
Once removed from the machine, parts may require an amount of additional cleaning up
before they are ready for use. Parts may be weak at this stage or they may have
supporting features that must be removed. This therefore often requires time and careful,
experienced manual manipulation.

Step 8: Application
Parts may now be ready to be used. However, they may also require additional treatment
before they are acceptable for use. For example, they may require priming and painting to
give an acceptable surface texture and finish. Treatments may be laborious and lengthy if
the finishing requirements are very demanding. They may also be required to be
assembled together with other mechanical or electronic components to form a final model
or product.

Page 24 of 24
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering