DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

CONTROL SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATIC LOADER OUTPUT

OF SNAP GAUGE ON MACHINING C LINE 6 AT PT. FNI

Rahardian Faizal Zuhdi

Politeknik Manufaktur Astra

(Polytechnic of Astra Manufacturing)

Engineering Production & Manufacturing Processes Study Program

Mechatronics Concentration

Jl. Gaya Motor Raya No. 8, Sunter II, Jakarta 14330, Jakarta

E-mail: Rahardian.faizal.z@gmail.com

Abstract - PT. Federal Nittan Industries (PT. FNI) is a company engaged in manufacturing of engine valve

automotive components. In the manufacturing, engine valve are experiencing machining process in the machining

area. One of the machines at the machining area is snap gauge. Snap gauge is used for valve engine dimensional

inspection process which includes examination of the head, seat, keeper groove, stem, and carbon. In snap gauge

there is a section called loader output. Current conditions, the low height of output loader required operators to

bend over during engine valve withdrawal. This resulted in an operators’ morality, especially the operators’

enthusiasm and fatigue level in work. With this problem, then a mechanism created to increase the height of the

loader output in which the mechanism was capable to run automatically. Thus the height of the previous loader

was 40cm, after the development of the device, it is now increased to 65cm and the operators do not have to bend

over like previously. By changing the posture of operators at work, it increases the level of ergonomic which

affects on the level of operator safety.

Keywords: control system, PLC, Loader Output, Snap Gauge

I. Introduction

1.1 Background

PT. Federal Nittan Industries (PT. FNI) is a

company engaged in the manufacturing of engine

valve automotive components. Products of PT.

Federal Nittan Industries are shown in Figure I-1.

PT. Federal Nittan Industries is a joint venture

company between Nittan Valve Co., Ltd. Japan and

PT. Astra Otoparts, which was established since July

1, 1995. PT. Federal Nittan Industries occupied a

new factory located at Jalan Halmahera-9 Block DD,

MM 2100 Industrial Estate, Cikarang Barat, Bekasi

17520 in 2009. The process of engine valves

manufacturing generally consists of forgings,

stellite, heat treatment and machining.

Some customers of PT. Federal Nittan

Industries are, Daihatsu, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki,

and Hino. Increased sales of motor vehicles resulted

in increased demand for engine valve production

from customers. Referring to this, PT. Federal Nittan

Industries doing improvement on some machines.

One improvement is the engine which manufacture

snap gauge. Snap gauge is used for valve engine

dimensional inspection process which includes

examination of head, seat, keeper groove, and

carbon. Improvement would be done was on the

loaderoutput which was too short and created

difficulties for operators. In addition, too low

position of loader also affected the operator’s safety

and ergonomic levels in terms of spine health that

have long-term consequences. Turning to the

morality consequences, it reduced operator working

enthusiasm because in the process of valve engine

withdrawal operators must bend over or even squat.

Currently, PT. Federal Nittan Industries

conducted cost reduction program, in order to reduce

the expenses for the purchase of spare parts. So in

developing the device, it mostly utilized spare parts

were used or damaged spare parts so it use waste

parts which were no longer used that impact on

decreasing the expenses of spare parts purchasing.

The improvement included the increase of

penumatic cylinder as the up and down mechanism

of loaderoutput, so the loader height increased and

could facilitate operators in withdrawing snap gauge

valve. Up and down process of pneumatic cylinder

is automatic when loaderoutput is full. Of altitude

measurement data, snap gauge loaderoutput at all

line, the data obtained was that the snap gauge at line

6 had the lowest height of loaderoutput that tthe

author would do improvement at snap gauge line 6.

1.2 Research Questions

Based on the existing background, reseacrh

problems are formulated and discussed as follows:

1. How to create a mechanism to increase the

height of loader output?

2. How to create control system for loader output

so it can run automatically and safe?

3. How to create a device that is able to achieve

one or all of QCDSMPE (Safety, Quality, Cost,

Delivery, Morality, Productivity and

Environment)?

4. How to create a device that is able to provide

low cost but high benefits for the company?

1.3 Limitation of Research

The final project was limited by several

things, namely:

1. Discussed the PLC program on automatic

loader output and did not discuss the program

on the main machine.

2. Discussed the cost of making the automatic

loader output.

3. Discussed device cabling of input and output

and PLCs.

4. Did not discuss mechanical calculations in the

manufacture of automatic loader output.

5. Did not discuss the calculation of electric, wind

pressure in the manufacture of automatic

loader output.

6. Did not discuss in detail the main engine i.e

snap gauge.

1.4 Objectives

The objectives of this final project were:

1. To improve operators’productivity of

machining C Line 6.

2. To improve ergonomics and safety in

withdrawing the part process engine valve after

the process of snap gauge.

3. To facilitate snap gauge operators’ works in

withdrawing the part process engine valve after

the process of snap gauge.

1.5 Benefits

The benefits of conducting this final project,

namely:

1. Increased the productivity due to the

withdrawal and putting back the part process of

valve engine becomes more efficient.

2. Increased safety and ergonomics for operators

when withdrawing and putting back part

process engine valve.

3. Reduced spare parts waste and spare parts

purchasing costs because in making of the

device was utilized used spare parts.

II. Theoretical basis

2.1 Ergonomics

The definition of ergonomics in

Wignjosoebroto Sritomo’s book is: ergonomics

(English) actually comes from the Greek words of

Ergo which means work and Nomos which means

legal. Thus ergonomics is intended as a scientific

discipline that studies the human being in relation to

work. Ergonomics discipline in particular learns the

limitations of human ability to interact with

technology and products they make. This discipline

comes from the fact that human beings have

capability limits of both short term and long term

when dealing with environmental circumstances of

their system works in the form of hardware

(machinery, equipment, etc.) and software (working

methods, systems and procedures, etc.). Thus it is

clear that ergonomics is multi-disciplinary science,

because it learns knowledge from biological

(medicine, biology), psychological (psychology)

and society (sociology) sciences.

2.2 Snap Gauge

Snap gauge is a gauge or a measuring

device that is often used in the manufacturing

industry, especially the PT. Federal Nittan

Industries. Gauge is used for measuring the outside

dimensions of an object. This gauge framework is U

shaped and has the jaw with a measuring surface.

Snap gauge there is a fitting type (GO) and not

fitting type (NO GO). Figure II-1 shows a snap

gauge measuring instrument.

Figure II-1 Snap gauge

2.3 Loader

Loader is an entry or exit lane for the

engine valve to be processed in a machine or have

gone through a process to eventually be forwarded

to the next process. In figure II-2 loader output is

used in industry, especially at PT. Federal Nittan

Industries.

Figure II-2 Loader Output

2.4 Control System

The control system can be viewed as a

system in which an input or some specific inputs are

used to control the output at a specific value. A

control system can control various aspects such as

controlling a variable to obtain the desired value,

controls the sequence of events / processes and

control whether an event occurred or not. Basically

the control system used to control the sequence of

events. A control system consisting of input, the

control element / control and output. The basic

working principle of a control system can be called

a causal relationship between the input and output

components. The presence of an input signal makes

the system processes the signal so as provide the

system output. Simply, the basic working principle

of the control system shown in Figure II-3:

Figure II-3 The working principle of the control

system

InputControlSystem

Output

III. Data Collection and Design

3.1 Snap Gauge

Snap gauge is a manufacturing machine

that is used to check sizes or dimensions of engine

valve. In this process the engine valve is measured

using a camera that is recording and matching it with

the data that has been previously setup. Figure III-5

shows display of panel screen while the machine is

performing measurements on part process.

At snap gauge, part process of the previous

process will go through loaderinput and come out

through loaderoutput. At the snap gauge line 6, the

condition of loaderoutput was too low so it was

difficult in withdrawing and putting back processes

on the tray. Figure III-1 shows a snap gauge machine

image at machiningline 6.

Figure III-1 Snap gauge machine

Figure III-6 shows snap gauge engine parts,

the author did an improvement on the unloading or

outlet chute parts.

3.2 Problems occured

In the previous figure it has been described

that inprovement was done in the unloading or outlet

chute. On the current condition, the height of loader

on each line particular line 6 on the snap gauge was

too low. Before doing this improvement, the author

first conducted interviews with several operators in

the area of machining line 6, three people in three

shifts. Of the three operators who were interviewed,

they claimed that the low height of loader had caused

the decreasing performance of operators within one

working shift. Figure III-2 shows the loader and the

height of loader which was too low in average of

each line.

Figure III-2 Problems on loader output

From the measurements performed, the

average height of loader output in snap gauge was

40cm. Due to the low height of loader, it had caused

operators’ increasing levels of fatigue and lack of

enthusiasm so that affected the productivity of

operators during the work. PT. Federal Nittan

Industries assigned one operator for three machines,

so that the low position of loader made the operator

bend over when withdrawing the part process, this

lead to operators’ decreased morality in their

enthusiasm and level of fatigue. This bending

conditions also affected the level of operators’

safety, in this case the spinal health due to they bend

over too frequent durig the work. Figure III-3 shows

the posture of an operator when withdrawing part

process.

Figure III-3 Operator's posture

3.3 Specifications required

In the development of automatic loader

output the mechanical development, control systems

and PLC program must be tailored to the needs of

the field or work area. The specs are as follows:

1. In the development of automatic loader output,

additional height must be considered with the

current loader height which was 40cm from the

floor, so the minimum additional height is

25cm so that the operators do not have to bend

over in the withdrawing of engine valve.

2. This device must be flexible or can be used on

another machine if necessary.

40cm

3. This device requires a control system which

has fixed or permanent settings, so that

operators can not change the setting so that the

device is able to work optimally without any

changes to the settings.

4. In developing this device, it should utilize

existing components and minimize the

purchase of components to fit the company's

program namely Cost Reduction Program.

5. The PLC used is a kind of compact PLC, where

the PLC used is OMRON CPM2A

6. In the event of damaged device, it should be

easy in troubleshooting or problem analysis.

7. This device should be run automatically by

simply pressing one button, and the device can

work continuously.

8. For the control system, the control panel used

is not too big so it does not need to add the

construction of the main engine.

9. Automatic loader output must be equipped

with an emergency stop button to avoid

possible accidents.

10. Automatic loader output must be equipped

with a manual operator switch used as an

instruction from the operator that the engine

valve has been drawn all and operators already

in a safe position.

3.4 Design

3.4.1 Design Making

Figure III-4 Design of automatic loader output

Description of figure III-11 is as follows:

1. Loader with positions on the right and left.

2. Solenoid Valve.

3. Adjuster with knob to adjust the loader width.

4. Two pneumatic cylinder on the right and left in

accordance with the position of loader.

5. Guide is used to align the motion of the

cylinder stroke while ascend so it does not spin

or sway, using the former pneumatic cylinder

that has been damaged.

3.4.2 Components Design

To develop the device according to the

working system required in the field, it takes some

supporting components in the development of

automatic loader output. These components either

electrical, pneumatic, and control are used as

supportings so that the device is able to work in

accordance with the desired working system that is

able to work optimally. The components required in

the development of automatic loader output and

their functions are shown in Table III-1.

Table III-1 Components required

Item Number

Air Cylinder 2

Rotary Air Cylinder 1

Solenoid Valve 3

Speed Control 2

Relay 24VDC 4

Reed Switch 4

Lampu Indicator 2

MCB 2 Phase 1

Proximity Sensor 2

Push Button Operator 1

PLC 1

Selector Switch 2

Emergency Stop 1

IV. Development and Testing

4.1 PLC Cabling

To activate the PLC Omron CPM2A using

a voltage type of 2 Phase with voltage of 220 VAC.

Both phases were connected to L1 and L2 / N ports

in order to enable the PLC Omron CPM2A. As for

the common input and output, they were given

positive voltage (24 V). Figure IV-1 shows the PLC

cabling.

Figure IV-1 PLC cabling

4.2 Input Device Cabling

Table IV.1 is the input data used in Omron

PLC CPM2A to perform work functions of

automatic loader output. In the table below input

1

2

3

4

5

device used amounted to 10 devices which are

connected to 12 PLC addresses from 000 to 011.

Table 0-1 Data Input of PLC Omron CPM2A

N

o

Addres

s

Description

1 000 Selector Switch Manual

2 001 Selector Switch Auto

3 002 Selector Switch Man. Left

4 003 Selector Switch Man. Right

5 004 Emergency Stop

6 005 Operator Button

7 006 Sensor F.W 1

8 007 Sensor F.W 2

9 008 RS1 High

10 009 RS1 Low

11 010 RS2 Low

12 011 RS2 High

4.3 Output Device Cabling

Table IV.2 shows the data outputs used in PLC

Omron CPM2A to perform work functions of

otomatic loader output.

Table 0-2Data Output of PLC Omron CPM2A

Address Description Solenoid Cylinder

1000 Relay 1 Solenoid

Valve 1

Cylinder

Kiri

1001 Relay 2 Solenoid

Valve 2

Cylinder

Kanan

1002 Relay 3 Solenoid

Valve 3

Cylinder

Gate

4.4 Development of Pneumatic Systems

Figure IV-2 Pneumatic Systems

In the figure IV-2, automatic loader output

consists of 3 pieces of pneumatic cylinder. Where

two of them are as right and left loader lifting, and

one of tem as a gate or output direct changer of part

process. This system used 2 single solenoid valves

5/2 and single solenoid valves 1 3/2.

4.5 The Device Testing

4.5.1 PLC Input Testing

The way of PLC Input testing was done in

two ways, namely by connecting the PLC to the PC

and can see the indicator LED on the physical

display of PLC.

Testing was done by pressing the push

button, activated the selector switch, activated the

proximity switches, and activated the reed switches

on the cylinder. OK parameter when conducting the

test was if the activated input device would turn on

the indicator light located in the PLC according to

the address given to each device. PLC input device

test results are shown in Table IV-3.

Table IV-3 input device testing

4.5.2 Output Device Testing

PLC output testing was done by connecting

PLC to the personal computer (PC) by monitoring

mode and see it directly through the existing LED

status on PLC and to see the change / movement of

the actuator used. PLC output test results are shown

in Table IV-4.

Table IV-4 Output device testing

4.5.3 Device Working System Testing

The device working system testing was

performed to know whether the machine working

system has worked well, and according to the

program that has been determined. The test results

are shown in Table IV-5.

Single Solenoid

3/2

Table IV-5 The device working system testing

4.6 Evaluation after Device Development

4.6.1 Loader Height

After the development of automatic loader output,

the height of loader output increased, from the

previous height of 40cm and added with 25cm, the

height of the current strokecylinder is 65cm. Change

in height can be seen in Figure IV-3.

Figure IV-3 The height differences before and after

device development

4.6.2 In Ergonomic and Safety

Figure IV-4 shows the results of the device

development that affects the position and work of

operator.

Figure IV-4 Differences in the posture of operator

V. Conclusions and Suggestions

5.1 Conclusions

The development of automatic loader

output generates some conclusions that can answer

the research questions formulated and described in

Chapter I.

1. After the development of this device, the

height increased from 40 cm to 65 cm.

2. The development of this automatic loader

output used PLC Omron CPM2A with the

making of program which can be repeated

automatically, and there are also programs for

operator safety at work.

3. The development of this device affects the

safety, namely the addition of operator button

as the instruction that condition is safe. For

ergonomic, the device changes the posture of

operators at work.

4. The development of this device mostly used

spare parts and waste materials from both spare

part maintenance and from fabrication waste

material.

5.2 Suggestions

The development of the automatic loader

output is not yet ideal in its height increased, with

the ideal height should be 80cm or 40cm of

additional height, but because of the limited

pneumatic cylinders spare part it only can be added

for 25cm. Expectations after the development of this

device is the improvement made to add the height of

automatic loader output to be ideal and to facilitate

operators in the work.

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