DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF GANTRY AUTOMATION SYSTEM FOR WHEEL HUB MACHINING IN VMC

International Journal of Innovative Research in Advanced Engineering (IJIRAE) ISSN: 2349-2163
Issue 06, Volume 5 (June 2018) www.ijirae.com
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IJIRAE © 2014- 18, All Rights Reserved Page –218
DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF GANTRY AUTOMATION
SYSTEM FOR WHEEL HUB MACHINING IN VMC
Chandan M P*
P.G. Student, Department of Mechanical Engineering
The National Institute of Engineering, Mysuru, Karnataka, India
chandanmp6666@gmail.com
Manoj M Koushik
Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
The National Institute of Engineering, Mysuru, Karnataka, India
beingmanoj@gmail.com
Manuscript History
Number: IJIRAE/RS/Vol.05/Issue06/JNAE10082
Received: 02, June 2018
Final Correction: 09, June 2018
Final Accepted: 18, June 2018
Published: June 2018
Citation: Chandan & Koushik (2018). DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF GANTRY AUTOMATION SYSTEM FOR WHEEL
HUB MACHINING IN VMC. IJIRAE::International Journal of Innovative Research in Advanced Engineering, Volume
V, 218-224. doi://10.26562/IJIRAE.2018.JNAE10082
Editor: Dr.A.Arul L.S, Chief Editor, IJIRAE, AM Publications, India
Copyright: ©2018 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
License, Which Permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author
and source are credited
Abstract— Industrial automation deals primarily with automation of manufacturing, quality control and material
handling processes. Gantry system is one of the pioneer platforms in industrial material handling systems. The
objective of this work is to design and develop the part handling units of a gantry automation system. Different
part handling units like End-of-arm, Input Conveyor with Tilting Unit, Rotary Orientation Station and Transverse
Conveyor with Tilting Unit have been designed, manufactured and deployed in the gantry automation system that
facilitates automatic loading and unloading of wheel hub component during CNC operation. These part handling
units are custom designed to meet the customer requirements for production line that consists of 2 Vertical
Machining Centres that performs drilling operation in flange down condition of the wheel hub component and 1
Vertical Machining Centre that performs tapping operation in flange up condition of the wheel hub component. In
this gantry automation system, first design is carried out as per customer requirements then assembly process is
carried out with electrical wiring as per design, then gantry is made to automatically pick and place the wheel hub
component using controlling unit and PLC software from one station to other and the machined component is
placed on top of the output conveyor as the last operation in gantry system. The main objective behind this work
is to reduce the material handling time of the wheel hub component during the machining operations and to
increase productivity.
Keywords— Industrial Automation; Gantry System; Vertical Machining Centre (VMC); Productivity; Wheel Hub
I. INTRODUCTION
Automation is a technology makes use of self-regulating machinery, electronic equipment, etc. to make a
manufacturing system or process operate at greater speed and with little or no human intervention. Automation is
“The creation and application of technology to monitor and control the production and delivery of products and
services”. Though automation can be applied in a wide variety of areas, it is most closely associated with the
manufacturing industries. The word ‘Automation’ is derived from Greek words “Auto” (self) and “Matos” (moving).
Automation therefore is the mechanism for systems that “move by itself”. However, apart from this original sense
of the word, automated systems also achieve significantly superior performance than what is possible with
manual systems, in terms of power, precision and speed of operation.

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Automation has been achieved by various means including mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, electrical, electronic
devices and computers, usually in combination. Complicated systems, such as modern factories, airplanes and
ships typically use all these combined techniques.
Gantry is a continuous-path, Cartesian coordinate robot constructed in a bridge shape that uses rails to move
along a single horizontal axis or along either of two perpendicular horizontal axes. The Gantry systems are
designed for in-line production and hence gantry moves in two directions that are along Y-axis which makes
horizontal movement and along Z-axis which makes vertical movement. In in-line production, the layout of
machines and handling systems are arranged in a straight line. The part to be machined moves forward from one
work station to the next in a well-defined sequence and there is no movement of the part in reverse direction The
main elements of the gantry system are Gantry column, Gantry beam, Carriage with Loader, End-of-Arm Tool
(EOA).
This Gantry system is placed between VMC in the layout and all other automated stations are positioned in-line
with this gantry system thereby making the gantry to automatically pick the wheel hub component from one
station and place it on other station. Two such gantry system are placed opposite to each other namely OP60A
gantry and OP60B gantry. The wheel hub component in flange down condition is automatically handled by OP60A
gantry line which is placed between two VMC’s (where drilling operation is performed) and wheel hub component
in flange up condition is automatically handled by OP60B gantry line which is placed between one VMC (where
tapping operation is performed). The different part handling systems to be designed in order to handle the wheel
hub component are End-of-Arm, Input conveyor with tilting unit, Rotary Orientation Station and Transverse
conveyor with tilting unit. All these systems are designed and developed based upon the desired orientation of the
wheel hub component need to be handled during automatic loading and unloading sequences.
End-of-Arm tool is designed to grip the part while the gantry is moving from one station to other station. Two
such End-of-Arm tools are designed namely OP60A and OP60B End-of-Arm. OP60A EOA is attached to OP60A
Gantry loader whereas OP60B EOA is attached to OP60B Gantry loader. Wheel hub in flange down condition is
gripped by OP60A EOA and Wheel hub in flange up condition is gripped by OP60B EOA.
Input conveyor with tilting unit is designed and placed as the first station in the layout where the raw wheel hub
in flange up condition is loaded on to this. Once the wheel hub is loaded the tilting unit will tilt the part by 180
degree and make the wheel hub to be placed on top of input conveyor in flange down condition.
Rotary orientation station is designed to properly orient the part before loading it to the VMC machine. Two such
stations are designed, namely OP60A and OP60B Rotary orientation station. OP60A orients the wheel hub in
flange down condition whereas OP60B orients the wheel hub in flange up condition. OP60A rotary orientation
station is placed as the second station in the layout, i.e., between input conveyor and VMC-1. OP60B rotary
orientation station is placed as the fourth station in the layout, i.e., between transverse conveyor and VMC-3.
Transverse conveyor with tilting unit is designed and placed as the third station in the layout i.e., between VMC-2
and OP60B rotary orientation station. The wheel hub component is loaded in flange down condition. Once the
wheel hub is loaded the tilting unit will tilt the part by 180 degree and make the wheel hub to be placed on top of
transverse conveyor in flange up condition.
The objective of the work is to design the following part handling systems of automated gantry system used for
wheel hub machining in VMC. i.e., Design of End-of-Arm Tool, Design of Input Conveyor with tilting unit, Design of
Rotary Orientation Station, Design of Transverse Conveyor with tilting unit, Design of overall layout.
Paper is organized as follows. Section II describes the detailed theoretical background or in other words literature
survey, referred from Journals and papers. Section III presents the design of different part handling system in an
automated gantry system for wheel hub machining in VMC. Finally, Section IV presents conclusions and future
enhancements of the work.
II. RELATED WORK
There are number of technologies proposed for Gantry Automation System, some of the related literatures
reviewed for this work is as follows.
 The part need to be handled in this work is a wheel hub. The size and shape of this component is unaltered
throughout the operation, hence the gripper system is designed for a component that is having a same size
and shape all the time. Whereas the author A Chesoh et.al [1] has proposed a gripper suitable for different
size and shape of the component. Hence only the basic gripping technology is considered from this paper
that helps in building the gripper system for a wheel hub component that is having a definite size and shape
throughout the process.

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 Sandeep S et.al [2] has proposed the automatic loading and unloading of components to the CNC machine. It
make use of gravity chute for the part flow which is fixed to the machine itself and a swing arm is deployed
for picking and placing the component automatically. The complete system is designed for the front loading
of the CNC machine. Whereas the requirement in this present work is to develop a system that is capable of
loading and unloading the component from top of the machine. Thereby utilizing the overhead space and
decreasing the overall layout space. Hence an over head gantry system needs to be designed.
 The wheel hub component needs to store on the buffer conveyor when the other wheel hub is in machining
operation. Hence mechanical conveyors need to be designed for part storing. S H Masood et.al [3] proposed
how to decrease the number of parts in an overall conveyor system that results in ease for assembly and to
decrease the overall cost incurred in building it. The latest techniques discussed related to design for
manufacturing and design for assembly are deployed in the present work carried out that yields in reduced
cost for manufacturing and assembly.
 The Automation of any system is difficult without the knowledge of sensors available. Gualtiero Fantoni et.al
[4] has discussed the grasping devices build with the help of different sensors for detection of part. This
paper is studied to get the knowledge of sensors suitable in grasping any component. In this present work
there is a need to design an automatic rotary orientation station that demands the knowledge of sensor. The
different sensors used in the related work are understood for selecting the appropriate sensor that serves
the purpose.
III.DESIGN OF PART HANDLING SYSTEM OF AUTOMATED GANTRY SYSTEM
The design of different part handling system of automated gantry system used for wheel hub machining in VMC is
discussed in this section.
A. Design of End-of-Arm Tool
End-of-Arm is an end effector used to grasp and manipulate component during the machining work cycle. The
End-of-arm used on both the gantries is identical. The schematic representation of the proposed End-of-arm for
OP60A operation and OP60B operation is as shown in the Fig 1 and Fig 2 respectively. The function of OP60A End-
of-arm on OP60A gantry is to grip the outer diameter of the component which is of 51 mm in diameter in flange
down condition and to load the same to OP60A machine. OP60B End-of-arm on OP60B gantry is to grip the outer
diameter of the component which is of 136 mm in diameter in flange up condition and to load the same to OP60B
machine.
Fig. 1 End-of-Arm Tool OP60A Fig. 2 End-of-Arm Tool OP60B
Working Mechanism: The pneumatic operated three jaw concentric gripper grips the component firmly using the
fingers provided. Once the component is gripped maybe in flange up or flange down condition, a feedback is taken
using the sensors mounted to know the gripper condition (open or close). Using this feedback the EOA will be
moved to the intended position to unload the component. The gripper is made open condition to unload the
component to the chuck, then the pressure start provided will be actuated having a stroke of 4 mm, it will push
the component towards the chuck during unloading with the help of pusher pad provided. In OP60A EOA a puller
is provided that will pull the part out of chuck during unloading from the machine chuck.
Analysis of Base Plate: The base plate is made up of mild steel with yield strength of 296 MPa and modulus of
elasticity of 2x105 MPa. In this analysis it is made sure that the load on the base plate is 150 N. Base plate is
constrained by fixing it to the Z-axis beam. The static displacement plot is as shown in Fig 3 and the static stress
plot is as shown in Fig 4. The maximum displacement is 1.0303x10-6 mm, maximum stress induced is 0.015 MPa.
Hence the Base plate is safe for the given load.

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Fig. 3 Displacement Analysis of Base Plate Fig. 4 Stress Analysis of Base Plate
B. Design of Input Conveyor with Tilting Unit
The OP60A VMC requires wheel hub to be loaded in flange down condition to start the machining operation.
Hence the wheel hub should be in flange down condition on input conveyor (IPC). But the component is loaded in
flange up condition to the input conveyor from the previous OP50 gantry (where turning operation is performed).
To make the component automatically tilt 180 degree from flange up to flange down a tilting unit is designed as
shown in Fig 5 for input conveyor as shown in Fig 6. Clamping unit is designed to grip the part in flange up
condition during tilting as shown in Fig 7.
Fig. 5 Tilting Unit for Input Conveyor Fig. 6 Input Conveyor
Fig. 7 Clamping Unit-Flange
Up Condition of Component
Working Mechanism: Wheel hub component is loaded on to the tilting unit in flange up condition, before tilting
the component should be clamped by designing clamping unit for flange up condition. Once the component is
clamped the drive assembly and driven assembly together with cradle plate tilts 180 degree, so that the
component tilts to flange down condition. Once the required position is achieved the complete cross weldment is
lowered with the help of cylinder, LM Rail and block assembly, so that the component is placed on top of the input
conveyor in flange down condition.
Analysis of Input Conveyor Stand: The Input Conveyor Stand is made up of mild steel with yield strength of 296
MPa and modulus of elasticity of 2x105 MPa. In this analysis it is made sure that the load on the stand is 1500 N
where the top assembly is fixed and 1000 N where tilting unit is fixed. Stand is constrained by fixing it to the floor.
The static displacement plot is as shown in Fig 8 and the static stress plot is as shown in Fig 9. The maximum
displacement is 0.715 mm, maximum stress induced is 13.02 MPa. Hence the input conveyor stand is safe for the
given loads.
Fig. 8 Displacement Analysis of Input Conveyor Stand Fig. 9 Stress Analysis of Input Conveyor Stand

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C. Design of Rotary Orientation Station
The wheel hub component in flange down condition is picked from the input conveyor and should be loaded into
OP60A machine for drilling operation, similarly the component in flange up condition is picked from the
transverse conveyor and should be loaded into OP60B machine for tapping operation. Before loading the
component to these machines the component should be properly oriented in the required orientation for proper
machining hence rotary orientation station is designed. Two rotary orientation stations are designed OP60A and
OP60B. The Rotary orientation station OP60A as shown in Fig 10 is placed before OP60A VMC in the overall layout
where as Rotary orientation station OP60B as shown in Fig 11 is placed before OP60B VMC.
Fig. 10 Rotary Orientation Station OP60A Fig. 11 Rotary Orientation Station OP60B
Working Mechanism: When the component is loaded by EOA (End-of-arm tool) of gantry system onto the rotary
unit of Orientation station the sensor 1 gives the signal to the motor to start, once the motor starts rotating and
the required orientation is achieved it is sensed by the sensor 2 and 3 and the signal is given to the motor to stop
and the orientation locking unit is pneumatically actuated so that the close tolerance is achieved in the desired
orientation and then EOA will unload the component from the station. Analysis of Structure: The structure is made
up of mild steel with yield strength of 296 MPa and modulus of elasticity of 2x105 MPa. In this analysis it is made
sure that the load on the stand is 800 N. structures is constrained by fixing it to the floor. The static displacement
plot is as shown in Fig 12 and the static stress plot is as shown in Fig 13. The maximum displacement is 0.036 mm,
maximum stress induced is 7.74 MPa. Hence the structure is safe for the given load.
Fig. 12 Displacement Analysis of Structure Fig. 13 Stress Analysis of Structure
D. Design of Transverse Conveyor with Tilting Unit
The design and working of tilting unit is same as that of tilting unit for input conveyor. The only difference is in
clamping unit because in tilting unit of input conveyor component is clamped in flange up condition where as in
tilting unit of transverse conveyor component should be clamped in flange down condition as shown in Fig 15.
Transverse Conveyor is as shown in Fig 14.
Working Mechanism: Once the component is loaded to this tilting unit of transverse conveyor it will tilt to 180
degree from flange down to flange up. And the component is made to load on to this conveyor in flange up
condition. Analysis of Transverse Conveyor Stand: The transverse Conveyor Stand is made up of mild steel with
yield strength of 296 MPa and modulus of elasticity of 2x105 MPa. In this analysis it is made sure that the load on
the stand is 2500 N where the top assembly is fixed and 1000 N where tilting unit is fixed. Stand is constrained by
fixing it to the floor.

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Fig. 14 Transverse Conveyor Fig. 15 Clamping Unit-Flange down Condition of
Component
The static displacement plot is as shown in Fig 16 and the static stress plot is as shown in Fig 17. The maximum
displacement is 0.369 mm, maximum stress induced is 18.30 MPa. Hence the transverse conveyor stand is safe for
the given loads.
Fig. 16 Displacement Analysis of Transverse Conveyor
Stand
Fig. 17 Stress Analysis of Transverse Conveyor Stand
E. Design of Overall Layout
The overall layout of Gantry Automation System is designed as shown in Fig 18 to perform the intended
operations automatically in sequence. The wheel hub component after turning operation in previous OP50 gantry
is made to unload on the input conveyor of OP60A gantry. The input conveyor has 180 degree tilting / lower unit
which tilts the wheel hub from flange up to flange down condition and lower it on input conveyor with part
resting as required at OP60A VMC machine. The OP60A End-of –arm is designed in such a way that it grips the
part in flange down condition. It picks the part from input conveyor and places it to the rotary orientation station
OP60A. The rotary orientation station OP60A is designed in such a way that it automatically orients the wheel hub
component in flange down condition to the required orientation as required by OP60A VMC machine.
Fig. 18 Overall Layout

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The OP60A end-of-arm tool will again picks the part from this station and places it to the OP60A VMC machines,
after machining operation components are unloaded to the transverse conveyor. The transverse conveyor has 180
degree tilting / lowering unit which tilts the wheel hub from flange down to flange up condition and lowers it on
transverse conveyor with part resting as required at OP60B VMC machine. The OP60B End-of-arm is designed in
such a way that it grips the part in flange up condition. It picks the part from transverse conveyor and places it to
the rotary orientation station OP60B. The rotary orientation station OP60B is designed in such a way that it
automatically orients the wheel hub component in flange up condition to the required orientation as required by
OP60B VMC machine. The OP60B End-of-arm tool will again picks the part from this station and places it to the
OP60B VMC machine, after machining operation components are unloaded to the output conveyor.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
The production industries always look for an increased productivity and high quality of its finished components.
This can be achieved by incorporating a custom designed automated gantry system that suits the particular
component which helps in automatic part handling that results in decreasing the overall cycle time and helps in
eliminating the hurdles that affect the quality of the finished components. The Gantry automation system for
automatic loading and unloading of wheel hub component to the VMC machine is designed and fabricated as per
the requirements of customer considering the specifications provided by them. The Gantry automation system
developed is capable of performing the intended tasks automatically in a pre determined sequence and
orientation.
The automated gantry system is tested and it is found that system meets the customer needs successfully and runs
without intervention of human being thereby results in increased productivity, higher quality and decrease in
overall cycle time during wheel hub machining in VMC. Scope is there to extend the length of the gantry system in
future if required depending upon customer needs, which can be accomplished by increasing the beam length
thereby making space to install more number of vertical machining centre between stations results further
increase in productivity of machined wheel hub component. The cycle time can be reduced further by replacing
the existing motors of gantry system with a high end motors. If the size of the wheel hub varies in future it can be
handled in the existing gantry system by modifying the gripper fingers and locators used in different part handling
system.
REFERENCES
1. A. Che Soh, S.A. Ahmad, A.J. Ishank and K.N. Abdul Latif, “Development of an adjustable gripper for robotic
picking and placing operation”, International Journal on smart sensing and intelligent systems Volume 5, Issue
4, December 2012.
2. Sandeep. S and K.R. Prakash, “Automation of loading and unloading to CNC turning center”, IJMER Volume 1,
Issue 2, June 2013.
3. S.H. Masood, B. Abbas, E. Shayan and A. Kara, “An investigation into design and manufacturing of mechanical
conveyors systems”, Advanced Manufacturing Technology Volume 25, Pages 551-559, June 2004.
4. Gualtiero Fantoni and Marco Santochi, “Grasping devices and methods in automated production processes”,
Manufacturing Technology Volume 63, Issue 2, Pages 679-701, November 2014.
BIOGRAPHIES
Mr.Chandan M P is Post Graduate student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, The
National Institute of Engineering, Mysuru. He has received his B.E. degree in Mechanical
Engineering from Visvesvaraya Technological University. He is currently pursuing his
M.Tech in Industrial Automation and Robotics. His research interests are in the field of
Design, Modeling and Analysis (DMA) and Robotics for Industrial Automation.
Mr.Manoj M Koushik is Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering,
The National Institute of Engineering, Mysuru. He has received his M.Tech (PDM) from
Visvesvaraya Technological University. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D in the area of
Product Design. His teaching and research interests are in the field of Production and
Metrology and Product Design.

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