In 2019, in Prilep, Macedonia, Mikrosam is proud to launch one of the world's largest fully automated production lines for compressed hydrogen gas cylinders (CHG) and compressed natural gas cylinders (CNG) for the automotive industry. The entire production line will include multiple multi-station fiber winding machines (FW) integrated with Mikrosam's innovative fully automatic device, with an annual output of more than 60,000 cylinders. The contract with JSC DPO Plastic was the result of a two-year design and tender process.
Mikrosam will supply JSC DPO Plastic with the latest and most advanced multi-station fiber winding machines for wet and prepreg winding. The innovation is the ability to wind glass and carbon fibers very quickly and precisely. These multi-station fiber winding machines are designed to produce a variety of cylinders from 40 to 350 liters for storage of CNG and CHG.
In addition to Mikrosam's patented automatic cutting / continuous winding system, high-speed dual-drive trolley, and high-precision prepreg winding function, the winding device also has a patented tooling shaft designed for pressure vessels. This system can continuously program and adjust the internal pressure in the cylinder liner during the winding process of each layer. In addition, in the wet winding process, the mixing of the resin, the transfer to the resin tank, and the impregnation of the resin on the fibers are all well controlled. These features are integrated to ensure not only a very fast speed, but also a consistently high winding quality, and each produced cylinder has the best material usage.
Mikrosam's engineering technology is extended and expanded to easily achieve large-scale production by integrating multiple fiber winding stations, while also ensuring the high quality and high production capacity of the entire production line. In order to achieve large-scale production and maximize equipment utilization, the production line is equipped with a complex dynamic load balancing system, which can ensure the synchronous operation of four or more stations of the winding machine. This dynamic load balancing system provides higher overall utilization than simply placing many fiber winding machines in the workshop. The design of Mikrosam equipment has effectively improved the automation of multiple winding machines.
• Liner preparation workstation;
• visual inspection and buffer stations;
• Automatic resin mixing and glue supply system;
• continuous curing furnace;
• Multi-robot handling system;
• Cylinder blanking station;
• Cylinder preparation station to be tested
All units are connected to a robot-based handling system and a top-level control system (TCON). The robot-based handling unit controls and measures the weight of the bottle at each stage, from the plastic liner to curing. TCON system-the most advanced software developed by Mikrosam-collects the details of process parameters at each step of the production process into a database, and can even collect data from third-party supporting equipment (such as blow molding machines, test equipment, etc.) . The software integrates data into the factory ERP to ensure full traceability of the production process and improve quality, while providing users with unlimited reporting capabilities.
The growing demand for compressed natural gas and compressed hydrogen in markets such as the global automotive, transportation, energy storage, and fuel cell vehicle (FCEV) markets is driving demand for high return-on-investment and cost-effective production solutions. This trend has prompted users to achieve these goals through the development of advanced composite production processes. Earlier this year, Mikrosam just provided a professional equipment for fast prepreg wire wound hydrogen cylinders to a top Japanese Tier 1 automotive supplier (Tier 1), which applied advanced and cost-effective solutions. A large automated production line followed closely behind. Over the past few years, Mikrosam has become a high-quality supplier of fast and accurate prepreg winding equipment for high-end applications. Customers in these high-end applications want to increase machine productivity while maintaining a high return on investment. Rate (ROI).
"After reviewing many competitive quotation options, we are very pleased to select Mikrosam as the best and most reliable supplier, and its mature production track record function provides the highest return on investment for such a scaled production line (ROI). In addition, Mikrosam has a good relationship with third-party equipment suppliers. Integration of the equipment can be achieved not only on the fiber winding machine, but also on the entire production line with the shortest production cycle to achieve the highest quality level. Chairman Irina Shevtsova said.
"Many customers choose Mikrosam not only because we have advanced composite material expertise, but also because we are relentlessly focused on providing solutions to achieve their market goals. Among the several automated production lines delivered, each production line There are innovations in it, and Mikrosam has become the benchmark for automated production equipment for fiber winding machines in the industry. In a growing new market, this new production line with many innovative devices has once again consolidated Mikrosam's leadership in the field of composite manufacturing automation "Said Dimitar Bogdanoski, sales manager at Mikrosam DOO.