Page 24 - MetalForming September 2017

Electro-Hydraulic Motion Controller
...enables upgrades to railcar-wheel assembly via a simpler, streamlined system.
Machine builders that need pre- cision hydraulic motion con- trol, coupled with data acqui- sition during the machine cycle, can benefit more from a customized elec- tro-hydraulic motion controller than from a PLC. An example are wheel-and- axle assemblies for the railcar-manu- facturing industry. The process of attaching wheels and bearings to axles must meet the strict specifications of
Jason Palmer is regional technical sales manager for Delta Computer Systems Inc., Battle Ground, WA; 360/254-8688, www.deltamotion.com.
BY JASON PALMER
the Association of American Railroads (AAR), which requires that, in addition to making sure that precise assembly measurements are adhered to, a record is kept of the forces encountered during the pressing process.
One supplier of assembly machines tasked with meeting these exacting requirements is Mittler Brothers Machine & Tool Co., Wright City, MO. Mittler, which makes equipment and tooling of all types, builds machines for railcar-wheel assembly in two sequential steps. First, the wheels are pressed onto the axle, one at a time. Then, bearings are pressed onto the axle, one on each
end, while keeping the axle centered during the process. A completed assem- bly is shown in Fig. 1.
Mittler, which had produced such a machine years ago, was recently con- tacted by a North American railcar company to produce a new machine, which provided Mittler’s design team with the opportunity to upgrade its hydraulic controls. The previous system worked, but the wiring of its analog hydraulic control module was complex, and the programming of the PLC that controlled the overall motion was dif- ficult. Plus, the company wanted to incorporate an automatic means of
Fig. 1—After the wheels are pressed onto the axle in the Mittler Brothers press, bearings are pressed onto each end of the axle.
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