Intelligent Assembly Detection Technology Creates Maglev Track Production Core Competitiveness

On May 6, 2016, the low-speed maglev line in Changsha was officially opened to traffic. This is China's first low-speed magnetic levitation line with independent design, independent manufacturing, independent construction, and self-management. In addition to the existing lines, there are 60 km of coastal sightseeing lines in Tianjin Binhai New Area and 50 km of lines in Zhangjiajie. Other cities such as Xi’an, Luoyang, Changzhou, and Jinan also have intentions to build medium and low-speed maglev lines. The market demand for magnetic levitation rails huge.

Maglev trains must run smoothly on the track, so the quality and construction requirements of the rails are extremely high. The China Railway Construction Company is the only medium- and low-speed magnetic suspension rail supplier in China. It can produce 20,000 tons of rails per year and it is still far from meeting the huge market demand. The main production contradiction comes from the rapid supply of front-end components, and the subsequent assembly cycle is lower than the supply rate, resulting in a backlog of intermediate product inventory, and the production efficiency is affected. Under the background of China's strategy of manufacturing 2025, the Group's Technology Research Institute responded to the call of the state and repeatedly argued that it would strive to automate the rail assembly assembly in order to increase production efficiency and reduce labor costs.

Figure 1 Manual inspection of rail assembly quality

After careful investigation, the Employer selected the North Steel Association for project cooperation from the qualified supplier bank. The owner provided the rail assembly process. The North Union Steel provided integrated hardware and software design technologies. Both parties jointly created a smart manufacturing. Demonstration of an automated assembly inspection line. The production line integrates heavy-duty truss manipulators, linear roller machines, electric shear wrenches, laser collimators, linear scanning vision systems, linear/bending sensor assembly platforms, safety light curtain systems, assisted suspension cranes, and special spreaders. Coating machine, automatic drilling equipment and software control system.

Figure 2 3D simulation of automated assembly rails

Real-time online automatic detection

In the aspect of assembly quality, the entire line of visual automatic detection is realized, the assembly accuracy is <0.1mm, the detection accuracy is 0.01mm, and it is more accurate and efficient than the traditional vernier caliper detection.

In terms of track roughness detection, mechanical detection avoids the subjective factors existing in manual detection. By comparing the parameters with the orbital roughness database, a scientific and reasonable procedure is used to determine the roughness on-line detection. Each detection parameter can be fed back to the main control room in real time through the Internet of Things system.

Automated bonded magnetic pole sensing board

In order to ensure that the train runs smoothly and without noise, the bonding of the magnetic sensor board is the core process, and whether the bonding is good depends on the quality of the glue layer. In the past traditional production, there are defects such as uncontrollable thickness of the adhesive layer and unstable adhesive layer in the manual coating. Different from the conservative two-tube two-component dispensing solution, the North Steel team of experts has creatively proposed a three-pipe dispensing solution, using a professional TP-160 platform. The two-component adhesive is mixed in advance, and three tubes are sprayed at the same time to ensure The amount of glue is uniform and stable, and the amount of glue can be adjusted effectively. Eliminate the uneven thickness of the glue layer; the glue surface layer breaks, bubbles and other phenomena occur.

Figure 3 Three-channel multipurpose dispensing nozzle

Double truss manipulator solves assembly accuracy problems

In order to solve the problem of large single-track length span and difficult positioning accuracy, heavy-duty double truss manipulators are used. The lifting weight is 1.6T, the running speed can reach 0.6M/S, and the linkage auxiliary device is equipped to solve the problem of starting the double truss. Stop the uncontrollable problem of inertia and synchronize the double truss (differential <3mm) operation.

Figure 4 Heavy Duty Double Truss Robotic Arms in Hoisting Rails

Three-axis movable platform assembly system realizes the assembly and positioning of curved rails

A single three-coordinate positioning platform can be flexibly moved and combined together to realize the coincidence of the center of rotation of the sleeper turning center and the curvature of the F-shaped bending rail, ensuring the assembly accuracy of each series of curved rail rows.

Figure 5 Positioning table assembly enables precise positioning of curved rails

The smooth assembly of the middle and low speed magnetic levitation rail automation assembly line reduced the number of manual production lines from 56 to 8 and the assembly efficiency from 20m/day to 208m/day, and the production efficiency was increased by more than 10 times. The qualified rate of products has been increased from 86% to 99%, and the product yield rate has been controlled, real-time online detection. This production line technology is suitable for automatic assembly of various types of rails, such as high-speed rail row, regular rail row, and super rail row, and it is compatible with various types of gauges, such as gauges, pillows, and rail widths. It is a typical example. A demonstration of a fully automated assembly inspection line.