Design of Transportation Fixture for Car´s Side Panel

Abstract

With the aim of reducing the overall weight of transportation fixture by using aluminum alloy (AW 6063 T66). The focus is on changing the fixture’s frame material from stainless steel to aluminum alloy and design a new frame structure that houses clamping, locating and sensor units and investigating to withstand vibrations, stress and stiffness while loading and unloading of car panels by using static structural analysis in CATIA. In earlier design, fixture frame was made by stainless steel ASTM A554 material. It has high tensile strength, hardness, corrosion resistance and good weldability. But the usage of this material has made fixture unit is heavy, rigid, and bulk. For assembly, preparation and welding causes fabrication time is increased. It also has other disadvantages are consumes high power for transportation, more space utilization and larger robot is needed for handling. To overcome all this problems, AW6063 aluminum alloy is used to construct the frame that causes overall weight of fixture assembly is reduced by 35% that made smaller robot is enough for transportation, and the standard parts used in frame construction is made by Euro Gripper tooling system (EGT), it has standard profile shapes and sizes that makes mounting of assembly and sub-assemblies, sensor unit and accessories in frame takes less time.