‘Standing still is the fastest way of moving backwards in a rapidly changing world’, an oft-quoted phrase and an ethos that could well apply to world-renowned innovators Cosworth, whose latest facility upgrades keep them firmly on the front foot in the propulsion industry.
When Cosworth opened its state-of-the art Advanced Manufacturing Centre (AMC) back in 2015, the company attracted the interest of some of the world’s highest profile automotive brands. The focus on low-volume, high performance components gave Cosworth an advantage that it has continued to hold ever since, yet as high performance has become even greater in the intervening years, the company has had to invest to maintain its industry-leading position.
Recent upgrades to the AMC, an integral part of Cosworth’s Northampton campus, have allowed Cosworth to push for increased levels of quality and flexibility to meet exacting demands from itself and its growing roster of OEM customers.
Brands like Gordon Murray Automotive and Aston Martin have already benefitted from Cosworth’s pinpoint precision and performance, but with these latest upgrades, the company is ready to fulfil even more demand.
Housed inside the AMC are 11 Matsuura CNC automated machining centres with automatic pallet loading, and an Oerlikon-Metco SUMEBore plasma coating machine. Cosworth engineers have, however, put into practice what it preaches to its clients: constantly striving to make the best even better, especially where quality control is concerned.
Cosworth already has a high-quality production line with multiple measures in place, using precision equipment to track each part and prevent faults from being carried forward through the production process. The engineers have made changes in two key areas to meet their own exemplary standards.
Firstly, they looked into their cast component leak testing apparatus. Once a part has finished a machining operation, it is checked for leaks within its structure. Ensuring that there are no cracks between oil and water galleries, combustion chambers and cylinder bores is crucial to the reliable operation of high-performance engines.
“The outgoing system had two means of testing and no electronic data recording,” explains Process Engineering Manager, Martin Hall. “We had our hot water tank for two reasons: one, heat helps to expand the part, bringing it closer to its running condition, and two, you can detect bubbles coming out of it better. We would design bespoke sealing plates that cover all apertures of the part. It would then be pressurised with compressed air and placed in the water tank. The technician running the test would spend time looking for any tiny bubbles that may signify a small leak – or big bubbles if there’s a mass leak. Although it’s not the worst way to test a part, it’s not the best because there’s no measuring apparatus to determine its leak rate.”
In 2021, the Cosworth engineering team were briefed on a new project which would put the AMC to the ultimate performance test. It provided the ideal opportunity to begin development of new leak test equipment.
The new machinery, named the ‘Flexible Batch Production Pressure Tester’, incorporates a scanner to bring it up to the same level of data tracking as the rest of Cosworth’s manufacturing equipment.
Each part has a UID (Unique Identifier) marking on it; the scanner recognises this and records the results to a folder that it creates for every test on every part. Not only are the results saved to the UID on the network – with instant access to each component’s data sheets at any point in the production process – but it also prints out the results on a sticker which is affixed to the component’s route card. This ensure a two-step method of ensuring ‘no fault forward’ control within each of the pressure testing steps.
The leak testing function is comprised of a pressure tester that fills the components with compressed air. It then monitors how much air is leaking from the part, signified by a drop in pressure, and bespoke machined plugs that seal all orifices open to the air. Pressurised air can only escape if there is a crack or manufacturing defect. There is also a pass master and fail master to show that the machine is calibrated and working correctly. Daily tests ensure the results are accurate.
This scale of testing is usually reserved for production levels associated with large OEMs that can afford to make fully automated equipment, as they produce very high component quantities. Cosworth, however, has developed an innovative and cost-effective solution for its comparatively small-scale production runs, that can produce the same level of testing as fully automated equipment.
Moving onto the second newly developed piece of equipment: the DC (Direct Current) Tooling Flexible Cell. Within the manufacturing of engine blocks and cylinder heads – the primary function of the AMC – crankcases, blocks and heads need to be mated during certain machining processes, such as honing cylinder bores.
The modern architecture and design of the engine blocks means that they are produced in two halves which are then fastened together. It is critical that this is done with absolute precision and to the provided specification. Any deviation from the true tightening requirements would result in the two halves having incorrect tolerances; the efficiency, performance and, crucially, reliability of the engine would be severely compromised.
The latest design of what are effectively F1 engines that the brand produces for its customers, have tolerances and clearances on all oil pathways that are so critical that being microns out would spell disaster. Tightening of fasteners, when two components are being mated together for a machining operation, need to be completed with the utmost accuracy and perfectly repeated every time. This is the purpose of the DC Tooling Flexible Cell.
There are two pivotal tightening operations when it comes to engine components: torquing the fasteners to a predetermined figure, and then tightening to a specified rotation measured in degrees. All of this is done in a specific pattern. Traditionally this was carried out by a technician and a highly accurate torque wrench, but when it comes to engines as large as the V12s Cosworth is currently producing, the number of operations to successfully mate two parts becomes very high. One cylinder head alone can have a minimum of 26 bolts and that’s only on one side of the V.
What Cosworth wanted to achieve was to keep flexibility within its batch production area, yet retain quality control, performance, and repeatability.
Engineers designed a part delivery system made up of a turntable with two engine stands on it. One is staged where the tightening operations take place and the other one is where another engine is loaded ready for the tightening process. This enables two technicians to work together in the cell, one loading engines and the other performing the tightening operation. The net gain is a boost to the efficiency of the workstation.
The operation begins with the part being scanned into the system using the same UID system as the rest of the AMC. The system recognises the part, and the tightening programme is automatically selected to ensure the sequence is carried out correctly. The tool that tightens has encoders on it that position the device in the right location as the technician carries out the tightening sequence. The tool cannot then tighten the wrong bolt or nut out of sync. The machine records all the data to the UID and saves it to the network to complete the task. The technician can then move onto the next component and the process begins again with the scanning of the next UID.
Both of these upgrades to the AMC are a vital step in ensuring no-fault-forward production, repeatability and accuracy whilst maintaining the degree of flexibility Cosworth requires to meet its varying customer requirements. Any part Cosworth chooses can be taken through these two pieces of equipment, meaning that even within the prototyping phase of a programme, engines are receiving the same standard of quality as OE manufacturing, keeping Cosworth moving forward in a rapidly changing world – just as it always has.
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