A Look at Liquid seals in the Automotive Industry
Liquid seals in the automotive industry have to meet high functional quality standards and have to be applied in the shortest time possible due to the high volume of work pieces. This environment gives rise to innovations that guarantee maximum speed and quality from initial design to final results.
When dispensing liquid seals, for example on the housings of automotive control units, it is particularly important to apply the material precisely each and every time along the intended sealing contour. On the die-cast housing, the sealing contour runs partly in a straight groove, partly around corners and screw locations, and partly in various radiuses. For the area where the plug housing will later be installed, the liquid seal often has to be applied on ramps.
Once the seal contour has been optimized to fit the component and has been created in CAD at the workstation, it is transferred to a storage medium and can then be passed directly to the system, making data import very simple. The Upic5 editor enters the DXF file for the CAD contour directly and automatically generates the NC block. Application of the seal contour can then start immediately.
Only those material applications that have been fully and reliably tested meet the high safety standards demanded by the automotive industry. By integrating inspection in the dispensing cell, Scheugenpflug in conjunction with Atlas Copco has added yet another important automation step. To ensure optimum proven and traceable product quality, vision systems are used to check the width, position, and uninterrupted application of the adhesive or sealant during application itself. The quality of application is known as soon as the adhesive or sealant has been applied. Therefore, there is no need for a separate cell, which means that users save on cycle times and resources.
The sensors are mounted directly on the application head above the nozzle. Inspection is performed in real time as the adhesive or sealant is applied, so the plant personnel know immediately whether this is “IO” or “NIO.”
Source: Scheugenpflug GmbH | Adhesives Magazine