Case study
Truck tarpaulins with anti-vandalism cables.
THE PROJECT
A manufacturer of truck curtains requested a machine to weld the horizontal and vertical anti-vandalism straps (PVC straps with steel cable insert).
On a standard truck curtain 90 vertical anti-vandalism straps and 13 horizontal straps are applied: an extremely time-consuming process if done the traditional way. Our goal was to automate and speed up this process by continuously feeding the PVC panels into a machine with conveyor belt while simultaneously welding the straps in X and Y direction with multiple welding heads.
THE PROCESS
We built a conveyorized hot air welding station that feeds the fabric from a heavy duty motorized unwinding station with automatic edge correction and digital fabric tension control. TWo bridges were installd. Multiple high-power welding heads installed on the first tool bridge automatically apply the 13 horizontal straps. A second bridge with 4 welding heads then applies the vertical straps on top. The second bridge automatically adapts its position according to the CAD drawing of the curtain so that the vertical straps are welded exactly in the right position.
With its powerful vacuum turbine and the conveyor belt the machine can work either from the jumbo roll or weld the anti-vandalism straps on curtains (pre-printed) on which the standard horizontal and vertical reinforcing straps have already been applied.
A single operator can supervise the machine during the welding cycles, the machine carries out all steps continuously and fully automatically, fast and extremely efficient.
The combination of the motorized unwinder with electronic edge correction and digital fabric tension control and the vacuumed conveyor belt makes sure that straps are applied with absolute precision and the length tolerance of the finished product is close to zero.
