CAD APPLICATIONS

[MAE 577]

FINAL PROJECT:
By:and Analysis of Pneumatic Welding Fixture
Design
Sidhant Sharma Date: 12/15/2010
Agenda
 Introduction
 Automation
 Basic Terminologies
 Product and System Description
 Problem Description
 Reasons for choosing the problem
 Design goals
 Survey
 Alternative designs
 Analysis
 Problems faced
 Webpage
Introduction
 Automation
 Basic termin0logies
Automation
 Automation is the use of control systems and information
technologies to reduce the need for human work in industry

 Mechanization on the other hand is the aid of machinery to

assist humans with the muscular requirements of work

 Need for Automation

 Higher production rates
 Increase in accuracy
 Replacing human operators in hard physical, monotonous or dangerous
work
 Performing tasks beyond human capabilities of size, weight, speed,
endurance, etc.
 Economy improvement
Common types of Automation
 Electrical – fast, reliable, precise but expensive
 Hydraulic – high forces possible but prone to leakage
 Pneumatic – cheap, small but slow in operation and
provides low force

 Combined systems
Electro-hydraulic
Hydro-pneumatic
Electro-pneumatic
 Basic terminologies
 Welding – A fabrication process that joins materials,
usually metals or thermoplastics, by causing
coalescence. Eg. – gas welding, resistance welding,
friction welding, laserbeam welding, etc.

 Fixture –A device which locates and secures a

workpiece during a machining operation

 Features of a fixture -
 Location system
 Clamping system
 Control system
 Foolproofing and asymmetry
 Weight and Handling
Product and system
description
Product and System description
 A Safe (also called strongbox) is a secure lockable box used for
securing valuable objects against theft or damage
 Two models of Defender Plus Safes from Godrej & Boyce Mfg.
Co. Ltd. are shown below

61’’ (height) model

26’’ model
Product and System description contd..
 The 61’’ model is composed of three subassemblies
1. Inner body
2. Door
3. Outer body - Fixture is being designed for making this
subassembly (shown in next slide)

1. Inner body being inserted 2. Door assembly

Problem description
Problem description : To design a pneumatic
welding fixture for outer body subassembly

Left
shell

Right
shell

Lug

3. Outer body subassembly and operations

Why is the problem worth study??
Design : Designing a fixture involves designing all of its
elements i.e location, clamping, control systems

Motion Study: Motion study is a necessity as the fixture

involves moving elements that must move precisely so as to
maintain tolerances

Optimization: The problem breaks down into a multi-

optimization problem as we optimize the assembly
sequence, process sequence, setup-time, etc.

FEA : We analyze the clamping forces and their effects on

Design goals
To design the location system
To design pneumatic clamps for the clamping system
To carry out mechanical simulation on the fixture, which
will help in fixing the location, design and geometry of
clamps
To optimize the setup time on the fixture
To optimize the sequence of assembly of the outer body
To design the control electro-pneumatic circuit for the
finalized motion sequence
 Survey of pneumatic
clamping mechanisms
Pneumatic Clamping Mechanisms
Alternative fixture designs
 Design 1

Design 2
Decision making : Final Design
Weightage to factors out of 1

Sr no Factors Design 1 Design 2 Selection

1 Pneumatic elements no. 0 1 Design 2

2 Weight of fixture 0 1 Design 2

3 Workpiece securing 1 0 Design 1

Ease of welding
Design 2
4 operation 0 1

5 Setup time 0 1 Design 2

Spacing for pneumatic
Design 2
6 wiring 0 1

7 Sequence control 0 1 Design 2

8 Design of circuit 1 1 Design 1,2

CAD Models
Horizontal toggle clamp
cad final project simulation vi
deos\horizontal pneumatic to
ggle clamp mechanism.avi
Hold down clamp

cad final project simulation v

ideos\vertical pneumatic tog
gle clamp mechanism simula
tion.avi
Final fixture assembly
Analysis and Results
Geometric Analysis
Lug location system

Right shell location

 Motion analysis

Piston rod displacement Clamping rod displacement

It can be observed that 24 mm of the piston stroke is converted into 11 mm

of the clamping rod movement through the toggle mechanism. Thus we can
fix the clamping bar 8-10 mm away from the surface to be clamped.
Motion analysis contd..

Piston rod displacement Clamping rod path trace

For 24 mm of the piston stroke the clamping point moves 55

mm horizontally and 88 mm vertically. Thus we placed it 40
mm horizontally and 20 mm below the point to be clamped.
Setup time analysis results
  Setup Process
time(sec) time(sec)
Trial sequence 1 64 215

Trial sequence 2 47 198

Difference 17 17

cad final project simulation

videos\fixture trial2.avi

fixture mech
simulation setup time
analysis.xlsx
Clamping force and stress analysis

Horizontal clamp force

Left shell

Lug
Lug clamp force
Clamping force and stress analysis contd..

Old design of
lug clamping
rod

New design with

reduced stress
by approx. 50 %
Electro pneumatic system equivalent

Fixture mechanical system

Electro pneumatic control circuit

cad final project simulation vide

os\IMG_0132.MOV
Challenges
The main problems faced in the project were-
Setting up the event based motion sequence in
Solidworks as there was no provision for event based
motion simulation in the premium version
High computation times as the simulation was upto 1
minute in certain cases

Solution: The event based problem was solved by the

use of independent linear motors to control the motion
of each pneumatic clamp independently in the required
sequence
Website demo

https://sites.google.com/site/sidhantsharmacadapplications/
References
BOOKS 
[1] Jigs and Fixture Design by Edward Hoffman
[2] Design of Jigs and Fixtures by Joshi

WEBSITES
[1] www.wikipedia.com
[2] www.youtube.com
[3] http://www.drillspot.comp
Thank you!!
Questions??