The Fraunhofer IWU in Chemnitz has comprehensively modernized its more than 20-year-old hydroforming test facility. Graebener® was commissioned to upgrade the complex system hydraulically, electrically, and in terms of safety to the latest state of the art, while also significantly reducing its energy consumption.
The Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology is, by its own statement, a “driver for innovations in the research and development of production engineering. [...] [It] focus[es] on scientific developments and contract research regarding components, processes, methods, and the associated complex machine systems and their interaction with humans - [i.e.] the entire factory."
Since 2000, the institute has been operating a highly complex hydroforming test facility in Chemnitz, which is capable of producing a wide variety of components:
- The press can be used to form both tubes by internal high-pressure forming and plates by external high-pressure forming.
- The forming media used is HFA fluid or optionally nitrogen.
- In addition, the machine can be coupled with an injection molding unit so that it can even be used to produce hybrid parts - consisting of metal and plastic - in a single machine cycle.
- The press has a total ram force of 50,000 kN and is loaded manually or via robot handling.
After more than 20 years of operation the supply of spare parts has to be secured. Furthermore, the energy efficiency of the machine needed to be optimized. A public Europe-wide tender followed, and Graebener® was awarded the contract.
Since the test system is a complex, evolved system with various connected external units, this retrofit was a special challenge.
What exactly has been done?
We upgraded the system to state-of-the-art hydraulics, electrics and safety technology, ensuring the availability of spare parts:
- The press control system was replaced based on a PLC control system Siemens S7-1518-F.
- The system is equipped with our latest digital axes controllers with Siemens technology.
- An extended version of our PressPro® software serves as the HMI.
The energy consumption of the system was also reduced. Due to the massive increase in energy costs, the energy optimization of machines and systems is an important and frequent part of our modernization activities for years:
- Our tailored energy-optimized solutions can include the replacement of hardware components, e.g. more energy-efficient drives or gearboxes,
- or the implementation of various operating modes in the software, which ensure that the system does not consume more power than is absolutely necessary during downtimes, standby and operating times; like in this case.