Belimo is a Swiss-based manufacturer and distributor of actuators, sensors, and control valves, for HVAC systems. Their North American headquarters is located in Danbury, Connecticut. The goal of our project is to continue to the work of previous senior design teams from 2019-2021 and implement a collaborative robot work cell into their customization department. We are specifically tasked with working to automate the assembly of their rack-bearing subassembly. The subassembly consists of a bent sheet metal bracket and plastic part that are screwed together using self-tapping screws. The addition of screws introduces the added complexity of automating a screwdriving process. The benefits of automating this fully manual assembly process are that it will allow for shorter customization lead times and allow operators to focus on parallel tasks while decreasing assembly costs. After researching and evaluating the different options for automating the rack-bearing assembly our team decided that an off-the-shelf screwdriver integrated with the crobot’s current grippers would be the ideal solution. Our team installed the screwdriver and grippers on a dual mounting plate at a 45-degree angle. The dual mounting plate allows for the screwdrivers and grippers to be used during the same process without needing a tool change. Part feeders and assembly fixturing were designed and 3D-printed for the workstation. The robot was programmed to build the assembly and drop it in a finished goods bin. The robot will run for an hour before any operator intervention.

Our team collaborated with Electrical and Computer Engineering 25,Management & Engineering for Manufacturing 2 on this project.