triflex® R Dress Packs in Autonomous Repair Cell at SEAT

• What was needed: triflex® R robot dress packs, linear retraction system, swivel bracket
• Requirements: The energy supply must be flexible and still protect the cable from sagging
• Industry: Automotive sector
• Success for the customer: Long service life, as the cable package is not under tension

The autonomous repair cell installed by Procon Systems at the SEAT plant works in several steps. First, the car body is guided through a measuring tunnel. In the next step, it is transferred to the repair cell, where it is inspected for damage. In the third step, the affected areas are wet-sanded and the defects are repaired. After that, sanding residues are removed and the paintwork is polished. All of these steps are performed by robots.

The biggest challenge for the engineers was to ensure that damage to all areas of the bodywork was recognized and repaired.

A cable package to power these robots that was suspended from pulleys was out of the question as such a system would be under great tension and lead to cable breaks.

The decision to manage the cable package was made in favor of the igus® triflex® R system. The triflex R dress pack offered greater flexibility and maneuverability compared to conventional corrugated tube systems. At the same time, its bend radius is limited so that the cables cannot be bent excessively and also only allows a certain amount of torsion.

The RSEL retraction system was chosen for the energy supply on the robot as it offers the best price-performance ratio. It is more cost-effective than RSE and slimmer than the RS system. In addition, various media had to be safely guided on the robot, such as hoses for polishing agents, compressed air as well as control and data cables for the functions of axis 6 with the camera.

The cost-effective TRL (light 3D chain) was selected for the less stressed axes 1 to 3. It is light, inexpensive and easy to fill.

For axes 3 to 6, the stronger TRE.100.145.0 was chosen to provide sufficient space for the cables and hoses. The filling can be easily optimized using the two openings on the side of the dress pack.

With its maximum rotation angle of 270° the swivel bracket ensures the necessary freedom of movement for the robot, presenting the ideal cost-effective solution for this application.