TE Connectivity:
HCSTAK 25 Electric Vehicle Connector Assembly Machine
CAD model of the HCSTAK 25 assembly machine
The main project I was assigned to at TE Connectivity was the HCSTAK 25 project. HCSTAK 25 is a type of electronic connector that TE makes for high power transfer applications like electric vehicles. The goal of this project for my team was to create a machine to automate the assembly of these connectors since they contain floating contacts which take a lot of time to assemble by hand. I was tasked with learning how to use their robotic arm and create a gripper design for their application. I participated in group discussions of top level design as well as prototyping and testing of the machine components.
My first task on this project was learn how to use the Mecademic Meca500 Mini Robotic arm. It was my responsibility learn how to operate and program the robotic arm keeping in mind the goal to pick and place components with high accuracy.
I reached out to the engineering team at Mecademic who then trained me on their robotic system. I then created theoretical dynamic paths using the provided software and showed my team how to use the robot for their application. I was the first person in the company to use this small robotic arm and I believe it will be a helpful addition to their knowledge base for future machines.
Mecademic Meca500 Robotic Arm. Courtesy of Mecademic Robotics © 2021
CAD models of the connectors and the contacts to be placed inside them
I was then tasked with creating a gripper design for the Meca500 robotic arm to accommodate these 6 styles of connectors. The machine needed to be able to pick up stacks of the contacts (show above the connectors) after they were punched out and place them inside the connectors.
After extensive research looking at pneumatic and electronic options, I chose to use the Mecademic long stroke gripper manufactured by SCHUNK which directly integrated with the Meca500. I then created 3 sets of fingers, the leftmost and rightmost of which were used on the final robotic assembly. One set of fingers needed to be able to go inside the connectors which one set needed to be able to grip the outer hosuings.
The Three Amigos
Cross section analysis in Creo to see how gripper finger would fit
Sample code for Meca500 robotic arm
In order to design the set of fingers I looked at the cross sections of the components in the machine that the fingers had to accommodate. I worked with the design engineer on my team to come to a compromise of our designs, taking suggestions from the lead engineer as well. Since these were being made out of steel I did not analyze the stress and instead designed around the geometric constraints.
I prototyped my gripper fingers with FDM 3D printing technology to see how they fit on the gripper. The plastic proved to be too flimsy to pick up anything successfully though, to they were replaced with simple pieces of metal to test picking and placing movements.
3D printed fingers
Gripper with metal flats in place of fingers
This is the final product! My team sent me a demo of their working machine after I left. Thank you to Tim Darr, my manager, for giving me the opportunity and to my team Dave Wiltraut, Ed Price III, Kellen Haile, and Jeff Zerbe for helping me throughout the summer. The project turned out great in the end!