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Tuesday 05 July 2016
An innovative project to develop a lightweight exhaust system for a luxury sports car has relied on Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence equipment for quality control checks.
Coventry University’s metrology department used the ROMER Absolute portable measuring arm and G-Tube software to perform measurement and inspection tasks on a variety of parts and sub-assemblies.
The project, undertaken at the Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering (AME), initially examined ways of halving the weight of the complete cold end of the exhaust system.
A second phase, supported by Innovate UK, involved developing a production ready solution that delivered the product technology to market.
As part of these investigations, the metrology team also employed the ROMER Absolute arm to inspect parts in a robotic welding cell on the AME shop floor.
“Through the successful completion of the project, the consortium has proven the ‘art of the possible’ in exhaust light-weighting; namely the removal of almost 50 per cent of the weight from the cold end assembly,” explained Trevor Toman, AME’s head of metrology.
The project had also effectively demonstrated how pre-market prototypes could be manufactured in a production representative environment, he added.
“AME enjoys a good working relationship with Hexagon whether its through the purchase and ongoing support for measuring arms, scanners, laser trackers and equipment access for small projects or the mutual delivery of continuing professional development to customers.
“Hexagon is a respected and trusted supplier and the Institute is always happy to work with a company whose knowledge continues to grow in line with its expanding presence in the marketplace,” said Trevor.
Hexagon and AME are set to host an open house event at the Institute later this year with a range of workshops and product demonstrations including portable measuring arms and new Tube Shaper software.
The Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering, a collaboration between Unipart Manufacturing and Coventry University, currently has 60 budding engineers studying on its unique ‘live manufacturing’ degree courses.
Assisted by R&D successes such as the lightweight exhaust, it is also building a strong reputation for commercializing new innovations and has six other projects either finished or currently underway to pioneer new prototyping and powertrain solutions.