Industrial Automation
Case Studies

• Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc. Press Station
• Untra Precision Industrial Indexer

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Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc. Press Station

TEAM has designed and manufactured an industrial press station for Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. for pressing two types of MRI Mammotome® components (breast biopsies can be performed as an outpatient service under local anesthesia with the Mammotome® system):

• Probe Needle assembly into the Bottom Handle
• Sleeve Thumbwheel assembly into the Sleeve Mount

Fig 1 – Press Station

The press uses two sets of interchangeable tools that allow accommodation of 115 mm and 145 mm needle lengths of both 8 and 11 gauge sizes. It is built on a frame of 80-20 aluminum extrusions and consists of the following functional units: operator interface box, press mechanism, pneumatic control circuits, PLC controller, safety light curtain, and fiber optic sensors.

The PLC controls and monitors the states of all major functional subsystems providing reliable and safe operation. It utilizes an Allen-Bradley MicorLogic 1200 micro controller that is linked to the PanelView 300 terminal for operator interaction and messages display. The PLC program allows the operator to select English or Spanish language for terminal messages.

The control circuits of the press were designed to satisfy a risk assessment of category 3 that guarantees no loss of safety function through any single fault. Safety devices –emergency stop button, safety light curtains, panel and door interlocks - are hard wired to the safety relay (SL-R11, Keyence Corp.).
The press station is in compliance with the safety requirements of Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc, that include inspection of power sources, mechanical movement, control mechanism and circuits, and human factor considerations.

Fig 2 – Press Mechanism (left). Fig 3 – Press Mechanism Pneumatic Circuits (right)

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Untra Precision Industrial Indexer

Fig 1 – Indexer Mechanism, Control Box and Panel View Mounted on AGIE Wire EDM Machine.

Our Ultra Precision Industrial Indexer is designed and built to cut high-density micro-slots less than 25 microns wide on Sandia National Laboratories Z-Pinch castles and wafers using Wire Electrical Discharge Machining (wire-EDM). The Indexer includes a Controller (using robust and rigid industrial components --Allen-Bradley Ultra 5000 motion controller and HMI PanelView 300 terminals), a Rotary Indexer and a Laser Displacement Sensor. Figures 1 and 2 show the Indexer and a sample slots cutting performed by Indexer on AGIE machine.

The Indexer features include:

• Absolute angular positioning accuracy of ±0.001 degrees in any direction
• High speed jogging and arbitrary positioning capability
• A full set of motion commands for angular and slot positioning
• An automatic slot indexing mode through the laser displacement sensor feedback from EDM table x- or y-motion

Fig 2 Microscopic View of 20mm Diameter Wafer Segment with 300 Slots and 50 µm Slot Width.