Pneumatic Take up Unit for Engine Valves

An Engine Valve manufacturer in the USA had procured a vibratory bowl feeder locally within the USA. The input height of the machine which he wanted the bowl feeder to feed was 1.8 mtrs and keeping the vibratory bowl feeder at such a height was not practical as loading of valves in the bowl feeder becomes difficult as also doing any maintenance on the same is cumbersome.

He came to know that Elscint specializes in Engine Valve take up units and approached us for a solution as his local supplier in the USA was not capable of providing such an equipment.

His requirement was to feed engine valves from dia from 20 mm to 50 mm and length between 30 mm to 160 mm. His vibratory bowl feeder was used for feeding and orienting the Engine Valves.

Elscint provided him with rest of the complete equipment with PLC controls. A pneumatic cylinder of 1.8 mtr stroke was used to transport the engine valves in batches up to a height of 2 Meters from the Ground Level for further feeding. Speed of between 6 cycles per minute was achieved. Depending up on the size of the Engine Valves, between 5 to 12 could be transporter with each stroke. This system resulted in a smooth flow of components without any starvation to the next machine. The biggest advantage of this system is loading of the heavy Engine Valves at a height of just 500 mm, usage of the bare minimum space and flexibility of feeding various sizes of Engine Valves through the same Feeding System. Adjustment of various sizes was done with the help of easy knobs and guide blocks.

The equipment consisted of a stopper cylinder, a lifting cylinder of 1.8 mtr stroke and a release cylinder. All SMC make pneumatic parts were used and Siemens make PLC was used for the control panel. You can have look at the video of the same for smaller valves and also one for bigger valves. Further,  you can also have a look at a the video of the pneumatic lifting unit with a vibratory bowl feeder.