The system is a fully-automated assembly and testing line for oil pumps. In seven interlinked steps, all individual parts are assembled and their function and tightness are tested at further stations. All components are automatically transferred to the assembly line and the finished unit is ejected.

Within the system, palletised or individual components and subassemblies are transferred horizontally and vertically using electrical ballscrew linear drives, electric toothed belt linear drives and pneumatic rodless linear drives from Hoerbiger Origa. These linear drives work hand in hand with five articulated-arm robots, which add or move components or subassemblies.

The assembly and testing line, which is flexibly designed for two pump types, is controlled centrally. For complete component tracking, all pallets are fitted with RFID tags, allowing each assembly and test step to be logged for every unit, which is marked accordingly at the end of the line.

The heavy-load version of the OSP-E ballscrew linear drive is used so that heavy pallets with several components can be moved horizontally and vertically, and positioned with a very high level of repeat accuracy. These linear drives combine a high force with a load-bearing capacity of up to 18000N and excellent slow-speed running.

The individual work pieces are transferred between successive assembly positions extremely quickly on their carriers. To enable the short cycle time required here with maximum positioning accuracy, Büssing & Bolurtschi uses OSP-E electrical linear drives with toothed belt drives. These are designed for high speeds and are also available in long lengths. Büssing & Bolurtschi has built special work piece carriages or load carriers of this linear drive, into which a robot places the pump housing and cover and transfers them to the assembly stations for pistons, balls and springs insertion. The carriage for all Hoerbiger Origa linear drives already contain convenient threaded mounting holes, so the carriages can be easily attached to them.

For the assembly of the pump rotor and wing, the components, which are also supplied as a unit on pallets, are moved both vertically and horizontally to the transfer position by electrical linear drives. Another articulated-arm robot then inserts these parts into the pump housing. The precision assembly of location bushes then takes place for a correct fit of the pump cover, which is also assembled here. To ensure defect-free assembly of these bushes, the work pieces must also be positioned with great accuracy via the electrical linear drive. To move up to this assembly position accurately in short cycles, Büssing & Bolurtschi relies on the extremely high repeat accuracy (± 0.05 mm/m) of Hoerbiger Origas linear drives. The housing cover is transferred to the assembly station by a pneumatic linear drive, or rodless cylinder, and automatically screwed on there. This rodless pneumatic cylinder OSP-P is fitted with a compact aluminium roller guide to optimise it for the high loads and speeds required.

After assembly, the finished units are automatically transferred to a testing station. Here, another robot takes the units from the work piece carrier and places them on empty pallets. Once a pallet is full, an electric drive moves the pallets to a storage stack.