Unique solutions created with and for the customers, that revolutionise the manufacturing processes

Blue Origin, a leading aerospace transportation company based in the USA, has incorporated an automated line comprising nine multitasking milling and turning centres for machining various rocket engine components, Inconel nozzles of the recoverable launchers, for its Blue Engine facility in Alabama.

The project developed by Soraluce is a customised solution, consisting of a palletised automated line that integrates nine milling-turning machines, with high torque 5 axis multitasking contouring head and milling-turning table.

Some of the main advantages of this solution are the optimisation and increase in production capacity, the reduction of part handling, greater precision in machining and the overall quality of the parts, as well as the reduction of production costs with improvements in the useful life of the tools and a reduction in machining cycle times.

Thanks to the collaboration with one of the largest mining companies in the world, Danobat has succeeded in finding a pioneering solution for the maintenance of freight wagons.

Characteristics of the project

Customer’s previous machining process:

• The process was not automatic
• Different flows, different entrance and output areas

Our solution:

• Automatic maintenance shop; main line for car first inspections and disassembly, bogie repair shop and a wheel shop maintaining around 30 ore cars per day
• Machine automatic programming based on customized CAM system

Advantages:

• Improved productivity
• Less workers are needed
• Fully automatic process, part flow automatically chooses, depending on the state of the wheelset
• The line is capable of managing changes bearings, wheels maintenance and installation of new wheelsets due to some element of the wheelset is damaged or end of life
• Reduction of ore car damage when they go from mines to the port
• Automatic centralized PLC system
• Increase safety and sustainability

The installations consist of:

• A line for ore car first inspection and disassembly
• Bogie repair shop
• Wheel shop maintenance equipment
• PECS central control system

Krones AG, German leading packaging and bottling machine manufacturer, has incorporated a large size Soraluce multitasking portal machine SORALUCE PR 6000 2T with two Ø 6000 mm milling-turning tables with high dree of automation, which includes a robotized tool magazine system with capability for 500 tools.

The machine, 32 m length, 14 m width and 300 tones, incorporates a good number of milling and turning heads to perform the required diverse machining operations and automatic head changing system. The process involves no downtime as it works in pendulum mode, loading/loading a workpiece in one station while the second station runs the machining process.

The project incorporated latest Soraluce Smart Technologies like DAS Damping Active Stabilizer or Adaptive Control.

Goimek worked together with SENER Aerospace on the JUICE -JUpiter ICy moons Explorer- mission, led by the European Space Agency (ESA), the aim of which was to explore the planet Jupiter and its three largest moons: Ganymede, Callisto and Europa.

Goimek was entrusted with the manufacturing of the MGAMA Medium Gain Antenna Main Assembly of the JUICE explorer. This two-axis steerable antenna operates in X- and Ka-bands and facilitates both the two-way communication between the spacecraft and Earth and the operation of the radio-frequency experiment carried by the probe.

Specifically, Goimek was in charge of manufacturing the main reflector, a titanium component with a thickness of 0.7mm, 500 mm in diameter and demanding exceptionally high-precision geometric tolerances, as well as the auxiliary elements necessary for the correct operation of the system: the struts and the sub-reflector.

Numerous facets had to be taken into account in the manufacture of these parts: from geometric intricacies, to ensure a correct operation of the mechanism, to the use of lightweight, cost-effective, yet resistant and durable materials to be able to withstand the harsh conditions of Jupiter’s icy moons.

In essence, the endeavour posed a significant challenge for Goimek, nonetheless one that has enabled the company to gain a deeper insight into this type of parts and to consolidate its market position as true specialists in precision machining for the aerospace sector.