Controlling Hot Forging Operation Of Ammunition Shell Body Via

9-10 NİSAN 2015 [ULUSLARARASI KATILIMLI 1. SAVUNMA SANAYİ SEMPOZYUMU] KIRIKKALE ÜNİVERSİTESİ
Controlling Hot Forging Operation Of Ammunition Shell Body Via PLC And Minimizing
Human Borne Faults
Ömer Boyacı,1, Necaattin Barışçı, 2 Faruk Ulamış 3
1
Maintenance Department , MKE Ammunition Factory, Kirikkale 71100, Turkey
2
Computer Engineering Department, Gazi University, Ankara 06500, Turkey
3
R&D Department , MKE Ammunition Factory, Kirikkale 71100, Turkey
Summary—Hot forging operation comprises of heating steel billets by an induction furnace followed by centering and
pressing process via a hydraulic press. In this study, hot forging operation controlled with conventional methods is designed
with Programmable Logical Controllers. A robot manipulator is adapted to the system as well, minimizing human errors.
Switchboard of hydraulic press is revised in accordance to PLC so mean time to repair is reduced and more uniform products
are obtained.
Shell body is one of the most important parts of
the ammunition containing all the explosive for the
detonation and determining the flight dynamics of
ammunition. While processing shell body, first,
steel billet heated and given its first form via
hydraulic press. This process of forming shell body
from stell billet is called Hot Forging.
Figure-2 Conveying hot steel billet from induction furnace to
hydraulic press
By the adaptation of PLC in this control
system,
 Shorter MTTR (Mean Time to Repair)
 Reduction in complexity and dimensions
of the switchboard
 Reduction in power consumption
is achieved and migrated to a more advanced
automation schema [2].
The oil leakage in the piston is a common fault in
the hydraulic system of the large forging hydraulic
press. Xian-bin Fu and co-workers has studied on
determining this leakage and prediction of
malfunctions caused by it [3].
In this study, various PLC’s from different
manufacturers are utilized (Telemecanique for
induction furnace, ABB for robot manipulator,
Allen Bradley for hydraulic press) and total number
of I/O ports is more than 100. Oil leakage of
hydraulic press piston is omitted. Operational
sequence of PLC’s in the system is designed
possible interference between PLC’s and quality of
the work in mind. Moreover system utilizes a
protection scheme for any possible faults in various
steps of the process, preventing occurrences of
gross faults.
Figure-1 Before and after hot forging operation
At today’s technology, especially in processes
including high risk factors primary aim is removing
the human element. Thus, while minimizing the
defects caused by human factors, reducing the risk
of industrial accidents. In this study, a hot forging
operation system located in MKE Ammunition
Factory and controlled with conventional control
methods, is revised with Programmable Logical
Controllers. The conveying operation of hot steel
billet from induction furnace to hydraulic press by
clamp through a personal is cancelled and a robot
manipulator is adapted to the system. This
adaptation of robot manipulator to the system will
prevent possible problems listed below;
Delays in the operation of conveying of the
steel billet, from induction furnace to the hydraulic
pres.
 Omission of lubrication or excessive
lubrication of the mold and punch
 Occupational diseases that may result from
continuous exposure to smoke [1].
* Corresponding author: [email protected]
References
[1] Gün, Ayhan, Gök, Kadir “Otomasyon Temelleri ve Robot
Kontrolü” Seçkin Yayıncılık, Ankara
[2] Kurtulan Salman, “Plc ile Endüstriyel Otomasyon” Birsen
Yayınevi, İstanbul
[3] Xian-bin Fu, Bin Liu, Yu-cun Zhang, Li-na Lian “Fault
diagnosis of hydraulic system in large forging hydraulic
pres” Measurement 49 (2014) 390-396
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