Development of a Hydraulic Press-Based Flat Steel Bar Cutting System
Keywords:
Hydraulic press, Flat steel bar cutting, Conveyor-assisted feeding system, Cutting accuracy, Process capability (Cp, Cpk)Abstract
The aim of this research is to overcome the problem of delay and non-uniform quality in the cutting of flat steel bars by hydraulic press, due to the inefficient traditional process of feeding the steel bar to the hydraulic press. So a conveyor rail system to convey flat steel bars along with the hydraulic press was developed and designed to boost the cutting speed and precision. The research method was to build a prototype for the conveyor rail system and test it to see the difference in cutting performance between the conveyor rail and no conveyor rail, as well as the cutting time and the accuracy of the workpieces. The experimental results indicated that the developed system could cut the cutting time of the flat steel bars with a thickness of 9 mm from 8.6 s/piece (before development) to 3.8 s/piece (after improvement), which is an improvement of 55.81% efficiency. The accuracy of the workpieces with thicknesses of 3, 6 and 9 mm and a target 150 mm, showed average size of 150.2, 150.1, and 150.2 mm, respectively, with a tolerance of up to 1 mm, and an average squareness of about 90° with a tolerance of up to 1°. In addition, the results of the process capability analysis using a computer program showed that the values of Cp (process capability index) and Cpk (process capability index adjusted for actual position) for thicknesses of 3, 6 and 9 mm were 1.85/1.39, 1.95/1.60 and 3.30/2.26 respectively, all of which are superior to the industrial standard of 1.33. The results of the research validate the developed conveyor rail system which can enhance the production efficiency, ensure quality control and can be applied in real industrial conditions.
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