Parveen Kumar completed a summer internship at Lotus Auto Engg. Ltd. in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan from May 20 to July 5, 2016. The internship focused on studying the production process of ring gears. Ring gears are fitted onto vehicle flywheels and have teeth that interact with the starter motor. Lotus Auto produces ring gears through a multi-step process that includes blanking coils of steel, machining, gear hobbing to cut teeth, chamfering edges, washing, and induction hardening to increase hardness of the teeth. The internship provided Parveen the opportunity to understand and analyze Lotus Auto's ring gear production line.
2. Summer Internship
At
LOTUS AUTO ENGG. LTD.
BHIWADI, RAJASTHAN
Under
Project
Of
RING GEAR PRODUCTION
From
20-05-2016 to 05-07-2016
3. Content
ABOUT LOTUS AMTEK AUTO LTD.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY & LITERATURE
REVIEW
RING GEAR
RING GEAR PRODUCTION LINE
4. LOTUS (AMTEK) AUTO LTD.
Amtek is a leading multi-national manufacturer of automotive components and assemblies
with production facilities located strategically across Asia, Europe and USA. The Group’s
extensive manufacturing capabilities encompass Iron and Aluminum Casting, Forging,
Machining & Assemblies.
Amtek Auto Ltd. has established itself amongst the top players in the Indian auto ancillary
industry and has also grown to become one of the largest manufacturers of Forgings, Castings,
Machined Components and Assemblies, which includes Piston Connecting Rod modules and
Gear Shifter Forks and Yokes, Flywheel Ring Gears in the country. Amtek also holds the
distinction of being among the largest manufacturer of Flywheel Ring Gear Assemblies and
Turbocharger Housings in the World. The Group's extensive manufacturing capabilities
encompass Sub assemblies, Iron, Gravity & Aluminum Castings, Forgings, Complex Machining
& Ring Gears Flywheel Assembly.
AAL entered into a joint venture with Benda Kogyo of Japan to form Benda Amtek in 1997 for
manufacturing of flywheel ring gears located Gurgaon. Later, in 1999 the company entered a JV
with Ateliers de Siccardi to form Amtek Siccardi for manufacturing crankshafts at Manesar. In
2001 the company acquired auto component manufacturing firm Wesman Halverscheidt
Forgings. The same year it also acquired Indusial Auto components Coimbatore (India).
In 2002 the company established an iron casting facility at Bhiwadi. The same year AAL
acquired 14.8% equity stake in Ahmednagar Forgings. The next year in 2003 the company
acquired an additional 20% stake in Ahmednagar Forgings.
5. LOTUS (AMTEK) AUTO LTD.
Different divisions of the company are:
Amtek Centre of Excellence (ACE)
Amtek Forging Division (AFD)
Amtek Iron Casting Division (AICD)
Amtek Aluminum Casting Division (AACD)
Amtek Automotive Machining Division (AAMD)
Amtek Ring Gear Division (ARGD)
Amtek JVS
6. Business Divisions
Forgings: -
Forging is the process of forming hot / cold metal. The Forging divisions of the group are Baddi (H.P).
Connecting Rods, Crankshafts, Steering Knuckles, Gears shifter Forks, Sector Gears & Shafts, Stub
Axles, Front Impact Beams etc. are some of the products in the Amtek Forging suite.
Castings: -
Casting is the process of forming from molten metal. The Group has facilities for Iron Castings at
Bhiwadi (Rajasthan), Baddi (H.P), Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) & Tipton (UK). Besides Iron Castings,
Amtek has facilities for Aluminum Castings at Bourne (U.K) and is in the process of commissioning
another Aluminum Casting facility at Ranjangaon (Mah.).
Machining:-
Machining is the term used for a set of metal – cutting processes which are performed on Forgings
and / or Castings to give them the exact shape and size for assembling in the vehicle. The Group has
Machining facilities within India at Gurgaon (Haryana), Sanaswadi (Mah), Manesar & Dharuhera
(both in Haryana), Baddi (H.P), and across the World at Letch worth, Coventry & Bourne (in U.K) &
Hennef (Germany), Stanberry, Bay City & Kellogg (in USA).
Assembly: -
The Assembling activities are carried at Letch worth, Coventry, Gurgaon, Dharuhera, & Hennef
(Germany). The products include Bridge Fork Assemblies, Strut Assemblies, Wheel Corner Modules,
Axle Assemblies, Turbochargers, Piston Cylinder Modules, Spindle Assemblies, and Fuel Delivery
Systems.
7. MANUFACTURED PARTS
Amtek product portfolio consists of an extensive range of
components for 2–3 wheelers, Car, Tractors, LCV, HCV and
Stationary engines. The major categories of components
manufactured are,
Connecting Rod Assemblies
Flywheel Ring Gears and Assembly
Steering Knuckles
Suspension and Steering Arms
CV joints
Crankshaft Assemblies
Torque Links
8. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY & LITERATURE REVIEW
The main objective of the Training is to study the
Production process of the Amtek MAGNA Powertrain Ltd.
And to analyses the Production process and defects of the
Amtek MAGNA Powertrain Ltd... The study includes the
study of all control plans of the products and machining
processes etc. The main objective in working with the
production process is to calculate the production rates with
in time and without any defects.
My duty in company was to understanding and studies the
production of Ring gears process. Lotus AMTEK deals with
the production or machining of ring gear. It is a joint
venture of Amtek group
9. RING GEAR
DEFINITION:-
A starter ring gear, sometimes called a starter ring or ring gear, is a medium carbon steel ring
with teeth that is fitted on the periphery of a flex plate or flywheel of an internal combustion
engine, mostly for automotive or aircraft applications. The teeth of the starter ring are driven by
the smaller gear (the pinion) of the starter motor
Manufacture
The starter ring gear is most commonly made by forming a length of square or rectangular steel
bar into a circle and welding the ends together. There then follow various operations such as
normalizing (to remove stresses and improve the properties in the weld area), turning,
generating the teeth by gear hobbing and finally a heat-treatment operation(s). The teeth of the
starter ring need to be hardened in order to increase their strength and resist wear. The normal
hardness at pitch circle diameter is 45-55 HRC. The body of the ring is generally left untreated
which gives some ductility for shrinking onto a flywheel or welding to a flex plate
Attachment
The interference fit renders the starter ring firmly attached to the flywheel.Engines with
automatic transmissions instead have a pressed steel plate with the starter ring gear usually
welded onto the outside of the plate
10. RING GEAR PRODUCTION LINE
Ring Gear Manufacturing Process
RAW MATERIAL (Trapezoidal Bar Of Alloy Steel)
INWARD INSPECTION (To Verify The Dimensional And Metallurgical Parameter )
BLANKING
MACHINING
HOBBING
CHAMFERING
WASHING
INDUCTION HARDENING
FINISHED COMPONENT
11. RING GEARDEFINITION:-
A starter ring gear, sometimes called a starter ring or ring gear, is a medium carbon steel ring
with teeth that is fitted on the periphery of a flex plate or flywheel of an internal combustion
engine, mostly for automotive or aircraft applications. The teeth of the starter ring are driven by
the smaller gear (the pinion) of the starter motor
Manufacture
The starter ring gear is most commonly made by forming a length of square or rectangular steel
bar into a circle and welding the ends together. There then follow various operations such as
normalizing (to remove stresses and improve the properties in the weld area), turning,
generating the teeth by gear hobbing and finally a heat-treatment operation(s). The teeth of the
starter ring need to be hardened in order to increase their strength and resist wear. The normal
hardness at pitch circle diameter is 45-55 HRC. The body of the ring is generally left untreated
which gives some ductility for shrinking onto a flywheel or welding to a flex plate
12. RING GEAR PRODUCTION LINE
Ring Gear Manufacturing Process
RAW MATERIAL (Trapezoidal Bar Of Alloy Steel)
INWARD INSPECTION (To Verify The Dimensional And Metallurgical Parameter )
BLANKING
MACHINING
HOBBING
CHAMFERING
WASHING
INDUCTION HARDENING
FINISHED COMPONENT
13. PRODUCTION PROCESS
Ring Gear Manufacturing
1. Blanking: Blanking process the rolling of a straight
trapezoidal bar of steel into a coiled form; slitting the
entire coil at a point to separate each steel loop of the
coil which in the form of ring but silt at point; flash
butt welding together of the separate end of the loop
together to form a complete ring; removal of extra
welding flash from the ring.
14. PRODUCTION PROCESS
2. Machining: the machining processes involved is
turning. Basically the turning operation on a ring is done in
two steps. In the first step & the internal diameter is turned
to specific size and surface finish. The cycle time to this
operation is varies between 1-1.5 minutes depending on the
size of the ring. In the second step outer diameter & outer
face is turned and the cycle time varies between 1 - 1.5.
15. PRODUCTION PROCESS
3. Hobbing: The term hobbing is refer to the process of
cutting the outer diameter of the machining ring into the
shape of gear teeth by a specially designed cutting tool is
called the hob cutter. The profile and the shape of the cutter
on the hob. Gera hobbing is performed on special purpose
machine called the gear hobbler.
16. PRODUCTION PROCESS
4. Chamfering: In the chamfering process the sharp edges
of the gear teeth on the clutch side of the gear are removed
to facilitate easy engagement of gear teeth with the pinion
gear of the electric starter motor of the engine as to avoid
any kind of friction, which may occur otherwise during
actual use. The approx. cycle time of the operation is
between 50sec -120sec depending on the component.
17. PRODUCTION PROCESS 5. Debarring & washing punching: In the process
the loose chips of the metal which may have stuck of
the ring are removed and the gear are washed using
antirust oil. This operation takes around one minute.
Punching of the batch code and the supplier code is a
lose done after this process
18. PRODUCTION PROCESS
6. Induction hardening: This is the operation of
raising the surface hardness of the gear teeth up to a
specific level and the depth of the hardness is also
controlled to achieve a specific case as per the design
requirement of the costumer.