Torque monitoring

Industry, especially the automotive industry and aerospace technology, requires process reliability in screwing processes. During assembly, it is often required that screw connections are logged and saved. For this process monitoring, it is necessary that the applied torque as well as the position of the screwdriver is monitored during the screwing process. In many screwing processes, especially with high torques, it is important to adhere to a specific screw pattern with specified torques in order to avoid tension in the components to be screwed. The term Poka Yoke is also often mentioned here. The Japanese term Poka Yoke stands for the concept of constant quality improvement by avoiding (Yoke) unintentional mistakes (Poka). It was developed in 1960 by Shigeo Shingo, who dealt with statistical quality control (SQC) as part of the Toyota Production System (TPS). It is a method of preventive quality assurance to increase the product quality and the process quality of production. Torque and angle of rotation monitoring is provided by the modern nutrunner controls. The highquality angle and length sensors from our positioning system constantly tell the screwdriver control what position the screwdriver is in.

The workpiece to be screwed together with the specified sequence is visualized on a monitor. Only when the position of the screwdriver is correct is the screw spindle released. The operating personnel receive feedback from optical and acoustic signals and are thus reliably guided through the screwdriving cycle. At the same time, all relevant data of the screwing process is logged and assigned to the component. In addition to improved ergonomics and greater safety, productivity often increases significantly. When developing our new positioning systems for TA300 Nm to TA1000 Nm, the biggest challenge is our self-imposed goal of being able to equip all torque arms that have already been produced since 2018 with the positioning system and this should also be possible with relatively simple assembly. We have achieved our goal and all torque arms already purchased from us TA300, TA500 and TA1000 or from Atlas Copco (starting from serial number Bxxx000x) SML-300 MKII, SML-500 MKII and SML-1000 MKII can now be retrofitted with our positioning system.