Sustainable and efficient production is becoming ever more important in the automotive industry. As an alternative joining procedure, adhesive and sealing technology enables a wide variety of materials to be securely bonded during body manufacturing.
Automated adhesive and sealing technology enables a wide variety of different materials to be securely bonded during body manufacturing.
Kuka
In the second quarter of 2020, Audi awarded Kuka the contract for the planning, delivery, assembly and commissioning of ten robot stations for automated seam sealing and insulating material application, including material supply. Several Audi models in various versions will be sealed and damped at this production plant in the future.
Sealing and damping one seam at a time
Audi’s main plant in Ingolstadt, Germany, is where 42 Kuka industrial robots will provide corrosion protection, leak-tightness and acoustic damping in the future. The aim is to assemble a completely new, fully automated production plant that includes material supply.
Seam sealing and applying sprayable damping material are two closely related processes in the painting sector. The car bodies are sealed with PVC on the underbody and in the interior, as are the add-on parts where the sheet metal meets. The sprayable material is applied to the interior of the body for acoustic damping. This task will be performed by the robots, which will be mounted on linear axes and equipped with application technology.