Customer Background
The customer is a leading supplier of heavy duty stamped spring components and related items for use in the automotive industry. The company has several locations in various countries, and serves automotive manufacturers as well as Tier 1 suppliers.
Challenge
The current production process included a deep rolling step where oils were applied. Following this procedure the customer needed to have this oil, shot dust blast and metal slivers removed before the transmission springs could move to the next manufacturing step. This was a high volume production line with 2 parts every 15 seconds or 480 parts per hour. The final criterion was the automotive springs needed to be completely dry upon exiting the cleaning process.
Solution
The best solution to ensure the high volume of parts being cleaned would maintain cleanliness standards was a belt washing system with wash and heated blowoff process zones. A 24” wide stainless steel, flat wire conveyor belt allows parts to be cleaned two at a time, side by side, for increased production capabilities. The wash module has a tank capacity of 300 gallons with a horizontal stainless steel centrifugal pump. The solution tank is equipped with a 3-position level control and fill solenoid valve which senses the water levels. If a low water condition is sensed, the solution heat and pump are turned off to prevent damage. Since these stamped springs had quite a bit of oil on them, an oil coalescer was added to help remove these oils from the recirculating solution and stainless steel micro-filtration for removing fine particles such as metal slivers. A product sensor was placed at the load end, and PLC operator interface and machine diagnostics. These features allow for more specialized control of the washing process and energy conservation.
A heated blowoff blower, coupled with an increased blowoff zone length of 5’0” ensures parts will exit 100% dry per customer requirement. Hinged clean-out doors provide access to the inside and bottom of the tank for periodic maintenance. The door frame is designed to be flush to the tank bottom to facilitate easy tank cleaning. Floor space was limited on this project, especially in length. Alliance was able to meet these limitations with overall dimensions of 14’8” long x 6’9” wide x 4’3” high (6’0” high to top of control cabinet).