Engineers at the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI) have developed a unique installation for automated wire laying in cable harnesses. This was reported by the press service of the university.
The development can be adapted to any type of harness. Preliminary tests of the machine were successful.
Two typical types of harnesses for the customer were laid out on them. So, the first of these two types of harnesses is laid out manually for two to three weeks, and on the machine - only six hours. Another, more complex harness, takes ten hours of machine work, while manual assembly can take up to four weeks.
The assembly of cable harnesses at domestic enterprises is carried out manually. Despite the small length of the harnesses, which is about a meter, there can be up to a kilometer of wires and about a thousand connections inside. The new installation allows you to fully automate this stage, requiring only one operator to monitor the work around the clock.
The process of working with the installation begins with entering, checking or adjusting the necessary parameters for laying out the harness through a program on the monitor. The operator specifies the cross-section and length of the wires, the number of branches and connections. Then coils with wire are loaded, connector simulators are installed, and then automatic layout is started. The machine operates on three axes, which allows you to perform complex spatial operations without manual rearrangement of workpieces.
After completion of the work, the operator only has to remove the harness blank and transfer it to the next stage - strapping or soldering.
There are no direct analogues of our system in the world. There are developments to facilitate the layout process, but none of them provides such a degree of automation.
The development will accelerate and reduce the cost of production of complex electrical products for the defense, aerospace, automotive and electronics industries.