Sensor Mounted Robot Manipulator for

Applications in Ductile Iron Pipe Industry

Abhijeet Kumar, Om Prakash Bokare

Automations & Robotics

Tata Metaliks Limited

Kharagpur, 721301, West Bengal, India

abhijeet.kumar@tatametaliks.co.in, Omprakash.bokare@tatametaliks.co.in

Vishwajeet Kumar Dwivedi

Electrical & Instrumentation

Tata Metaliks Limited

Kharagpur, 721301, West Bengal, India

vk.dwivedi@tatametaliks.co.in

Abstract

The ductile iron pipe making operation is a traditionally human intensive operation wherein humans have to work in close proximity to a large number of moving parts and equipment. With an aim of making a safer and more productive workplace, it was decided to try and implement robotics in one of the major operations during finishing of the ductile iron pipes at TML.

A project was taken to integrate vision sensor systems with industrial robots, while the use of robots in certain segmented operations had been done in the ductile iron industry; its use in the specific application of deburring at the finishing lines is novel in nature and has not been tried earlier. This project involved bolstering the safety of involved personnel, and improved some critical parameters such as quality of the pipes, cycle time for de-burring.

Several challenges were observed in the areas regarding establishment of sequence of operations such as inconsistencies in certain parameters like the length of the pipes, varying ovality of the pipe, degradation of tools and surfaces due to continuous etcetera. Looking at all these issues, it was decided to try out a vision system which would considerably alleviate variabilities in the system.

The dust in the atmosphere, limited the vision system’s capabilities and lead to inefficient operation at times. To remedy this, the team conceptualized, designed and assembled a robot manipulator integrated with the sensor instead of using a separate vision system. It was designed specifically for the de-burring process, after close monitoring of process and product related parameters such as quality, speed and overall efficiency.

In addition to the design and implementation of system, another major objective of this work included developing efficient and cost-effective solutions to the above-mentioned challenges and necessary corrections in the system design which ensured smooth operation and optimum synchronization among the system components. This led to cost benefits for the company in indirect terms.

This project may be looked at as a pre-cursor to holistic robotisation of the ductile iron pipe making process.

Keywords

Robotic manipulator, automation, ductile iron pipes, vision based sensors

Acknowledgements

Mr. Mohit Kale, General Manager, Engineering Services
Dr. Bharat Bhushan, Chief Digital Officer and GM, Projects

Biographies

Abhijeet Kumar is Junior Manager, Automation & Robotics at Tata Metaliks Limited. He has obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Masters in CAD/CAM & Automation from National institute of technology, Silchar and worked as project assistant in Industrial Engineering department at IIT Kharagpur. He has published chapter and conference papers in Springer. His research interests include Automations & Robotics, digitalization, design & simulation and optimization.

Om Prakash Bokare is Engineer, Robotics at Tata Metaliks Limited.

Vishwajeet Kumar Dwivedi is Manager, Electrical and Instrumentation at Tata Metaliks Limited

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Mr. Abhijeet Kumar