Automation Engineering 

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) provides advanced automated systems and solutions to help commercial and government clients achieve dramatic gains in productivity and product quality. As a multidisciplinary organization, SwRI offers services ranging from “clean-sheet” feasibility studies to sophisticated “turnkey” systems.

This SwRI-designed automation cell incorporates industrial robotics and custom controls (control panel inset) to automate all aspects of product processing, including quality inspection and material handling. The cell instrumentation includes a programmable logic controller, servo controllers, and safety relays, which serve to monitor and control all system functions.

Today’s increasingly complex industrial processes combine diverse technologies that must be customized for each application. SwRI staff have specialized expertise in electromechanical and robotic systems, software development, process improvement, and product development. With this experienced staff and extensive facilities, SwRI develops and integrates technologies to enable clients to reduce costs, increase throughput, and provide consistently high-quality products. Specific services include:

• Turnkey system development, including assembly, inspection, and material handling and processing
• Custom and commercial off-the-shelf robotics integration
• Product quality inspection using machine vision and sensor technologies
• Process evaluation and improvement
• Process monitoring and control
• Control system design and implementation using traditional and state-of-the-art methodologies
• Multi-agent systems and distributed control architectures
• Finite element analysis (FEA)
• Three-dimensional solid modeling and animation
• Dynamic system modeling and analysis
• Technology transfer
• Human/machine interface development
• Field failure analysis
• Field service
• Rapid prototyping

SwRI facilities include:

• 6,000 square feet of space for assembly, testing, and prototyping
• State-of-the-art machine shop

Institute engineers developed this automated net-shaped gear transfer system to transfer  heated billets into a gear press and to place finished gears onto a cooling conveyor. This system incorporated a machine vision system for inspection and process control. Capable of handling a wide variety of products without retooling, the system can process up to 20 pieces per minute.

Primarily intended for use with the U.S. Air Force F-15 fighter aircraft, this SwRI-developed wing-lifting device helps crews remove and re-attach the fighter’s wings quickly and accurately. Using a scissor-lift actuator for vertical movement and a wrist mechanism for precise wing alignment, the apparatus can be minutely adjusted so that mounting bolts may be inserted without excessive force, resulting in reduced damage to bolt holes and increased fatigue life.

SwRI developed this in-line axle gauging system, drastically reducing the false-reject rate of axle shafts on a shaft extrusion line. The apparatus automatically configures itself to handle a large variety of parts by moving the supports and lasers with linear actuators.

This brochure was published in August 2006. For more information about automation engineering, contact Paul Evans, Director, Automation Engineering Section,  Automation and Data Systems Division, Southwest Research Institute, P.O. Drawer 28510, San Antonio, Texas 78228-0510, Phone (210) 522-2994, Fax (210) 522-4644.

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