Delta Automation Solution for a High-end Automotive Assembly Line in China

Automobile manufacturing has become one of the fastest growing industries in China. Many world-leading car manufacturers see huge business opportunities and are actively investing in the booming China automobile market. To increase market share and sales revenue, they are expanding or renovating existing factories and production lines. This has resulted in fierce competition between automotive component and equipment manufacturers, who are looking for new strategies to increase productivity and stay competitive in the market.

Recently, a major Chinese automotive assembly line integrator has applied Delta's industrial automation products and solutions to the dashboard assembly line of a world-leading car manufacturer. This has helped their customer improve production processes and efficiency, and has made troubleshooting and adjustments easier and more convenient. The solution impressed the customer with its high precision, high performance, and cost-effective features.

On the automotive dashboard assembly line in Changshu City, Jiangsu Province, there are 26 stations on a 120-meter assembly line. The control system for each station employs Delta's solution, which includes: three high performance mid-range AH500 Series PLCs AHCPU510-EN CPU modules, three AH500 Series PLCs AH10EN-5A Network modules, 23 network type advanced slim PLCs DVP-12SE Series, and 23 Sensorless Vector Micro AC Motor Drives VFD004M21A-A Series. The Delta solution is connected by an industrial Ethernet network and the customized automation solution meets the customers' unique requirements. Using simplified program-design procedures, it has made fine-tuning more convenient and has enhanced assembly efficiency. The solution efficiently increased production speed, improved product precision and quality, and reduced labor expense and production costs. It also enhances production efficiency, and achieves high performance at a competitive cost. Seeing the advantages and benefits for the first line, the customer is considering applying this solution to other production lines as well.

For Delta's solution, the AHCPU510-EN CPU module provides a maximum 1280 I/O points, a data register of 64k words, and program capacity of 32k words. Its built-in modularized backplanes, Mini-USB programming port, and SD card slot offers users a more flexible way to manage hardware settings. Users can set up communication protocols to satisfy their needs with the fully isolated RS-232/422/485 multi-modes and Ethernet communication port. Other features of the CPU module include status light, system diagnosis, online editing and debugging functions. It also supports PLC Link and Ether Link for rapid data exchange, which saves time for editing programs, and greatly enhances the efficiency of the system.

In addition, the AH10EN-5A Network module offers two Ethernet communication ports, which support various extension functions. The DVP-12SE Series has a built-in Ethernet card for high speed processing and supports the Ethernet/IP communication protocol. The compact and low-noise VFD004M21A Series AC Motor Drive provides a proportional integral differential (PID) control function and several innovative technologies that can efficiently reduce electromagnetic interference for the machines. All the models support MODBUS TCP communication protocols and can be easily applied to complex and harsh industrial environments.

The automotive industry requires high-end industrial automation applications. High standards for suppliers and automotive machinery are why the market is dominated by large global companies. The success of Delta's solution for this leading international car manufacturer's assembly line in China has opened the door to global auto assembly lines. High performance and price competitiveness are the foundation for Delta in the promising Chinese automotive machinery market.