Team Clean Hob
| Project name | Clean Hob |
| Project Title | Design & Implementation of Hob cleaning Installation |
| Abstract | Acushnet Company’s – Titleist Golf Ball Manufacturing Division Challenged Associate & Team Lead of Titleist’s Engineering & Technology Center, Jeffrey J. Alves Jr., to engineer an improved design of the current hob cleaning & preparation process for his senior design project. One of the company’s core values is driving to innovate. We are always challenging our process, asking the question – is there a better way, and using technology to differentiate us from the competition.
Although the current procedure has been the standard operation in the manufacturing process of our golf ball mold cavities, there are 3 major drawbacks. 1) The master tooling die, the hob, has a high risk of getting damaged; this results in an obsolete piece of equipment. 2) The current process is completed manually; this results in machine downtime, directly affecting production volume. 3) The operation is inconsistent and rejected/defected cups are a direct result of those inconsistencies. Thus, the newly engineered design must achieve: | Automation | Repeatability | Efficiency | Design attributes were accomplished using: · Universal Robots UR5 COBOT Robotics. · PLC automation from KEYENCE Corp. interlocks & laser sensor detection. · Crest Ultrasonics cleaning equipment integrated with Detonox cleaning solution. · Custom designed rinse & dry features achieved by fluid mechanics. The Company will benefit from the result of the newly engineered design in 3 ways: · The high risk of damaged hobs will be removed. · Production volume will increase. · Defected cups will decrease. |
| Faculty advisor | Professor Wenzhen Huang |
| Sponsor | John Romanelli |
| Team lead | Jeffrey J. Alves Jr. |
| Team Members | The following member have contributed to the project during the fall semesters. The capstone course at UMD is a sequential course that students need to take in Fall and Spring. The below members have not made any contributions during the spring semester. The final design and implementation are fully completed by the team lead during the spring semester.
Gabriella Monico, Chloe Shirikjian, Jordan Breveleri |
| Video link | https://youtu.be/yRF_4ZLzXHM |
