Jämförelse av mattor för vibrationsmatare med hjälp av försöksplanering

Detab is a company in Jönköping that develops systems for feeding parts for robots and packaging processes. To control the flow of parts on their vibratory feeders, Detab uses different carpets with angled straws. The two mainly used carpets have been discontinued and must now be replaced. A newly emerged option is a contender in replacing one of the carpets. The new white carpet is completely additively manufactured. To compare the old carpet and the new carpet, data is needed to show how different settings affect the flow of the parts. Through design of experiments and response surface methods, tests can be performed in a systematic and mathematical way compare the performance of different settings. Some basic parameters were defined to begin the investigation of which design of experiments method would be used to best compare the carpets. The parameters defined where the parts that would be used in the tests, the factors that were to be adjusted during the tests, the maximum and minimum values of the selected factors and how the results would be measured. Different methods were tested, and finally optimal design was chosen and executed using the program Design-Expert. The completed tests resulted in response surfaces that were constructed using Design-Expert. These response surfaces were analyzed and several similarities and differences between the different carpets were observed. Primarily, it was found that the green carpet had more settings that resulted in a flow above 0 parts/minute. Using Design-Expert, the response surfaces could be analyzed to find the optimal settings and their expected response. These points and more were then compared with tests performed afterwards to see if the expected values matched reality. It turned out that there were some uncertainties in how well the surfaces could predict the response in comparison with reality. Based on the experiments carried out, recommendations were made on how the company should proceed to be able to assess whether the new carpet is worth using in future construction of their machines.