Fuel Tank Fabrication System

The main assembly line at a major heavy truck manufacturer is configured with demand type cells for several key components. One such cell is the fuel tank fabrication cell.

A key ingredient of the process is the welding of end caps. While the mechanical configuration of an existing machine was well conceived, several attributes of the mechanics needed improvement and a total revamping of the control system was required. Using the existing machine configuration as a start point, MRI designed and built the next generation machine.

Improvements included:

• Redesign of the vacuum heads to solve a nagging cap marring problem;

• Addition of a manually adjustable slide for the outboard weld head to position the weld torch for various length tanks in an operator friendly and consistent fashion;

• Implementation of automated seam trackers with a custom feature monitoring for "take off" such that seam wander is detected before damage to the tank occurs;

• Integration of the machine PLC (programmable logic controller) to the weld controllers such that close coupling of the automatic weld cycle to the machine function is enabled as well as selection of fixed weld recipes through the operator interface terminal; and

• Application of current operator safety devices and interlocks.