ODG Automation Puck Design for Gear Manufacturing

Authors:

Ian Travell and Ye Guan

Case revision date:

2014-03-04

Source:

Ontario Drive & Gear

Length:

4 pages (Module 01 - Case Study)

Summary:

Ontario Drive & Gear (ODG) is a Canadian manufacturing company specializing in manufacturing high precision gears and couplings as well as assembly of various low volume transmission components. ODG uses manufacturing automation methods for many mid quantity gear cutting operations to increase production efficiency. To do this, automation pucks are used to transport gears in and out of machines which is depicted in Figure 1. The puck is a specially-shaped plastic tray that fits onto the gear cutting machine’s conveyor belt and it provides a stable fixture on which the gear rests. The current pucks are machine and part-specific and must be changed for each different part that is manufactured. This means that new pucks must be made for each different size of gear product and all the pucks on the conveyor belt must be replaced. This process is very time consuming and costly. The company is looking for a new automation puck system that can cut down on cost and retooling time.

Ian Travell, a second year Mechanical Engineering co-op student from University of Waterloo, was asked to design and test a new automation puck system that was compatible with the existing machines, cost efficient and easy to use.

Figure 1 - Gear cutting automation process

Learning objectives:

This case study is intended to teach students application of engineering design concepts with a real-life engineering problem. The primary teaching objective of this case study is to illustrate the engineering design process to form a conceptual design based on the given information.

Key words:

Automation system; 3D Printing: CAD

CEAB attributes:

Problem Analysis; A knowledge base for engineering; Design

Modules:

Module 01- Case Study

Module 02 - Needs Analysis

Module 03 - Conceptual Design and Validations

Module TN - Teaching Note