In recent years, the rapid development of China's industry has put forward higher requirements for the production capacity and quality of products. Therefore, it has become a top priority for China's forging enterprises to strengthen the research and development of forging automation production technology, producing high-tech content, low price and high-quality products, and better satisfying the requirements of market competition.
I. The current development status of automation in Chinese forging enterprises
Presently the technical level of Chinese forging equipment enterprises has made significant progress in the past two decades from the traditional single-machine based market development model to the beginning of continuous attempts to integrate the whole machine process automation. However, there are some main factors restricting the progress of its automatic level.
(1) Low stability, reliability and accuracy of forging equipment.
(2) Long time low reliability of the forging production line.
(3) Integration and independent operation of different parts of the forging production line.
(4) Due to the lack of full consideration of automation equipment according to its own product characteristics and production technology requirements, it leads to a contradiction between product characteristics, diversity and adaptability of forging automatic production lines.
(5) Lack of automation thinking and sufficient automation technical personnels.
II. Production condition of forging equipment
(1) Hot die forging press and screw press
The main reasons that hot die forging press and screw presses are difficult to realize automation are the characteristics of their product and process, die cooling and lubrication systems, clamp design and manufacturing, walking beams, robots, etc.
Currently, these two types of presses have been widely used in the field of Chinese forging enterprises, especially the using of screw presses. At present, Chinese screw press automatic production line technology has been relatively perfect and mature, through the effective application and exploration of these equipment, the development of 10,000 tons of presses, small servo direct drive presses, etc. which have significantly improved the level of automated production in the forging industry.
(2) Electro-hydraulic hammer
The main reasons why electro-hydraulic hammers are difficult to realize automation are the features of product and process, mold cooling and lubrication systems, logistics and capacity control, pre-sequence matching, and electro-hydraulic hammer operation reliability. Due to the features of electro-hydraulic hammers, the forming process makes it difficult to automate. Currently, the remote control technology is gradually widely used in the die forging hammer, which greatly reduces the difficulty of the operation of the equipment, but the equipment still highly require for the operation technical ability, coupled with the influence of factors such as sticking to the die and repeated blows, resulting in the difficulty of the electro-hydraulic hammer to adapt to the machine operation.
III. Effective approaches to develop forging automation
(1) In the process of promoting the development of forging automation, forging enterprises need to fully realize that the key to the development of forging automation lies in process and mold. Only by ensuring the scientific and advanced nature of the process can we extend the viscosity of the mold, especially the automatic production line of multi-step forming. Rational distribution of the materials in the forming step (see figure) can ensure the smooth realization of automated production.
(2) To this end, forging enterprises need to increase the research on various process forming control technology, mold design and manufacturing technology, mold cooling and lubrication system and clamp manufacturing technology, weakness control technology, etc., and improve the stability and reliability of forging automation production by continuously improving and optimizing these technologies. In the overall design, we should focus on the adaptability of equipment parameters to the process, and increase innovation and optimization efforts to effectively improve the automated production level of forging enterprises.
(3) Cultivation of forging automation talents
While studying automated manufacturing technology, enterprises need to strengthen the education and training of existing forging production operators, and regularly arrange them to study and communicate with advanced forging production enterprises, so as to continuously improve the business ability and technical level of operators.
Conclusion
In general, Chinese forging enterprises nowadays are affected by many factors, resulting in their development direction in the automation and intellectualization, facing many problems and difficulties. To this end, our forging enterprises need to continuously optimize and innovate automated production technology, increase automation personnel training, thus, to push the automation development of Chinese enterprises.
After years of exploration, Ningbo SmartSmith Engineering Technology Co., Ltd. has accumulated rich experience in the production of forging automation equipment, and we are very willing to further communicate and discuss with our friend in this domain.
Rationally distribute the material in the working position
