A Innovative Robotics System
An extremely high-pressure jet of water is an efficient method of cutting soft materials and combining the waterjet process with industrial robots is an economic alternative to the traditional punch tool method of producing complex-shaped components for car interiors, such as floor carpets, headliners and door trims.
Among the forms of robotic cutting systems; plasma, laser, trim die and electric discharge media, waterjet cutting is considered a fast and flexible method for cutting most plastics, foams and fabrics. The primary advantages of robotic waterjet systems are speed and flexibility.
There are only a few products that can't be cut with waterjet. Most products cut with robot waterjet are related to automobile production, but waterjet cutting technology is also being used outside of the car manufacturing industry.
On straight cuts, a waterjet can cut up to 10,000 mm per minute, depending on the material. Glass mats, made of reinforced polyurethane foam are cut slowly, while hard plastic skins can be sliced comparably at a higher speed. Automotive carpets and headliners, which range from 4.75 mm to 6.5 mm in thickness, can be sliced within seconds. Other versions of headliners, which include a composite material made from chopped fiberglass bonded to cardboard, can also be cut through. Waterjet is as accurate but faster than electric discharge media. Furthermore, waterjet leaves little waste, making it a more of a ''green'' system than plasma or laser cutting.
Flexibility is another strong point for waterjet. The cut quality is the same between a trim die and a waterjet robot, for squareness and taper. With waterjet, the operator has complete control over the cut angle. It is easy to readjust two mm in any direction. Time-to-market, re-engineering, etc. costs are lowered. A waterjet system can be reused, unlike a trim die.
The trim die was the system by which mass produced cutouts were made in the automobile industry for years. With the invention of reliable waterjet cutting systems, trim dies are becoming somewhat obsolete. Trim dies are large punches that cut out fabrics and carpeting for automobiles. They are useful for only a few model configurations. A particular die has to be scraped when that version of the model is replaced. With waterjet, a few keystrokes are all that are needed to reuse the same robotic cell for different types of vehicles and for new models. An example would be manufacturing headliners for pickup trucks with regular cabs and for those with extended cabs. Two different trim dies are needed for each size headliner. With waterjet, a few simple and quick changes to the programming of a robotic cell are all that are necessary to reconfigure the machine to cut for a different model.
Features
Higher Productivity
Reduce Manpower
Flexible
Easy to Operate
Highest Standard of Safety
Large Cutting Area
Applications
Cutting process of the interior pieces after press forming (including cutting shapes and holes) is an important step of automobile interior production. As the interior pieces are always composed of three-dimensional curves and curved surfaces, in the traditional manual cutting method, there are many problems, such as low efficiency, uneven quality, bad consistency and interchange ability.
The interior pieces cut by water-jet have smooth surfaces and good consistency, water-jet is also the fastest and best method of interior cutting. Our robot water-jet cutting machines are developed for automobile interiors trimming as shown in below example.
