The quality of a product is largely determined by the means of its manufacture. In the machine-building industry, the technical characteristics of machines and related equipment, which is directly involved in the processing, assembly and acquisition of products, are of particular importance. But also a significant role, from the point of view of ensuring the quality of the result, is played by technological equipment, which is a whole range of additional devices for the main production units.
General information about technological equipment
The category of technological equipment includes both stand-alone equipment and embedded components, the function of which affects the quality of the production process. As for individual units, they can also contribute to the characteristics of the line in an indirect way, without directly communicating with its capacities. Now it’s worth considering what functions the technological equipment and equipment perform in the production complex. Its main tasks are to maintain the normative quality of products, increase production, minimize and facilitate the work of staff, etc. These goals are achieved by more efficient implementation of preparatory operations using tooling elements, expanding the technological capabilities of machines, and reducing processing time blanks and due to other improvements in the production process.
Types of Snap
The basic separation of technological equipment is made on the basis of purpose. In particular, there are control, assembly, machine, fixing and moving elements of equipment equipment. The control equipment serves as an auxiliary component at the stage of the audit of the manufactured product for compliance with standards. Assembly devices increase the efficiency of the assembly of finished elements in a single design, device or complex. The most common is machine tooling, the presence of which affects the improvement of certain characteristics of the manufactured product - for example, strength, wear resistance or durability of the bearing. Additional fastening devices, in turn, improve the technique of fixing the same workpieces during processing or moving within the production site. Accordingly, moving equipment is an element of the logistics infrastructure and is responsible for the stability and accuracy of product movement along the same conveyor line.
Snap automation
Previously, the functions of equipment were assigned mainly to technical means intended for manual handling. Then came more efficient and productive mechanized analogues. At the present stage of technological process development, equipment is increasingly being endowed with automation functions. It is important to note that the driving source of automation is the main equipment, which, according to the same principle, controls its main components. At the same time, technological equipment can work both in a combined model and in a semi-automatic mode. In such cases, the partially implemented principle of mechanized control is also envisaged. For this, hydraulic or pneumatic drives are used. One way or another, but almost all modern enterprises are actively moving or have already switched to the application of the concept of automated control.
Tooling Design
The process of developing a technical design solution for the manufacture of a particular type of equipment includes several stages. At the first stage, the purpose and range of functions of the element are determined, after which its characteristics are calculated, from the point of view of integration into a specific production process. It should be noted here that there are standards by which this or that component is manufactured, but the variety of production equipment often necessitates the development of devices that are unique in quality. At the main stage, the design of technological equipment implies the creation of a scheme for manufacturing and assembling an element in accordance with the nature of the target processing operation. Along with this, experts form a set of requirements for materials that can be used in the manufacture of devices. In this case, the designer should focus on the operating conditions of the equipment and the specifics of its immediate tasks.
Manufacturing Tooling
Typically, the manufacturing process of tooling elements is based on the use of special strains and lithforms, which allow serial production. Again, to work with non-standard devices, the form itself can be developed separately with specific parameters defined in the project. Of course, the production of technological equipment does not end with shaping. Further, the stages of milling, turning and heat treatment can follow, allowing to bring the workpiece to the required operational state.
In Russia, many enterprises are engaged in the manufacture of such accessories. For example, the plant of technological equipment in Yaroslavl (YaZTO) is engaged in the production of combined, forming and dividing dies, which produces including large-sized products. Also in this direction is the Moscow company Elton, the Belgorod enterprise Rhythm, and many other plants, one way or another connected with metalworking.
Conclusion
Often, work on the introduction of equipment in the production facilities cost significant amounts. And in itself, high-quality technological equipment with automation elements can make up almost half of the cost of all equipment in the enterprise. But practice shows that the competent use of assistive devices is fully justified. In addition, in factories with outdated equipment, the use of modern devices is the only way to improve the quality of products.