PRODUCTION
Further spring pack syste
ccording to estimates, vehicles
with dual clutch or conventional
automatic gearboxes will start to out-
number vehicles with old manual gear-
boxes in the coming years in Europe.
As a result of the trend towards these
efficient and fuel-friendly gearboxes,
the SCHERDEL factory in Friedau con-
tinues to see a rise in the production of
spring packs that are installed in dual
clutch or conventional automatic gear-
boxes. However, this also meant that
existing productive capacity in Friedau
was initially unable to keep pace with
increasing demand. SCHERDEL there-
fore invested a substantial amount of
money in a new spring pack assembly
system at the beginning of 2012 to en-
sure all of its customers are supplied
ʻjust in timeʼ. The new fully automated
system has been equipped with innova-
tive features which are the result of ex-
perience gained from working with its
predecessors. For example, larger
components and spring packs with a di-
ameter of over 200 millimetres can now
be processed. Moreover, washing and
drying is an integral feature of the pro-
duction process.
Brief insight into the workings of the
new spring pack assembly installation:
four different components must be au-
tomatically singulated and positioned
before being fed to the workpiece carri-
ers. The metal or plastic upper and low-
er parts are connected to the compres-
sion springs in the machining stations.
Sensors monitor the machine parame-
ters and the completeness of the re-
quired components. After the integrated
heat treatment process, assembled
parts are demagnetised and must pass
a quality assurance test. The produc-
tion process is rounded off with wash-
ing and protective coating procedures.
A
The advance of automatic gearboxes in Europe bo
View of the new spring pack
installation in Friedau
View of a VW dual clutch gearbox
10
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
–
MANAGEMENT – TECHNOLOGY & PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT – NEWS AND INFORMATION
