ENGEL to stress cost efficiency in lightweight auto parts production

ENGEL and its partner ZF-Friedrichshafen will present one milestone in automotive parts manufacturing at NPE 2015 in Orlando. The geometrically optimized and stress-resistant plastic brake pedal is manufactured from thermoplastic fabric.

This innovation already received the Composite Innovations Award in 2011, and has been consistently enhanced by ZF since then. ENGEL will be offering a glimpse into the efficiency of the new manufacturing process at its stand at the exhibition (W1303).  

Using a vertical ENGEL insert 1050H/230 single US injection molding machine with an ENGEL easix multi-axis industrial robot and infrared oven, a continuous-fiber-reinforced thermoplastic semi-finished product (known as thermoplastic fabric) will be heated, preformed in a mold and immediately overmolded with polyamide. The system produces ready-to-fit components; no cutting is necessary.

Thermoplastic fabric offers offer high strength and rigidity. In addition, the product developers at ZF have adapted the layer structure to the component load when designing the brake pedal. This enabled the component weight to be reduced by around 30 percent compared to conventional steel brake pedals—without impairing load-bearing capacity. In addition, the lightweight construction method makes many conventional manufacturing process steps unnecessary, thereby increasing productivity and cutting unit costs.

The control unit of the ENGEL easix multi-axis robot is fully integrated into the control unit of the injection molding machine. As a result, besides making it easy to operate and program the robot, the movements of the machine and robot are precisely coordinated with each other.

Since the robot has access to the machine parameters, the gripper can enter the mold area during the opening movement, which in turn significantly reduces cycle times. Synchronous movements are particularly important when it comes to handling pre-heated semi-finished products, because semi-finished products must not be allowed to cool too rapidly in advance of the forming process. Another factor that determines quality in this application is the high positional accuracy of the multi-axis robot.