Applications

The automotive and aerospace industries make extensive use of light weight parts and complex mechanical and hydraulic control units. A key material for these applications is anodized aluminum. Parts are typically found in:

• Braking system
• Injection
• Gear box
• Airbags
• Turbo charger
• Steering system

CYKLOS offers important advantages in surface cleaning and protection. It enables a variety of processes to treat surfaces of machined or casted parts.

CYKLOS shows better uniformity than conventional (electro)chemical processes that are used in surface finishing. It operates fully automatic from loading to unloading of the process trays. The modern control system includes a variety of process controls and allows 100 % product traceability.

Using a modular platform design, CYKLOS can be configured to represent any given process flow to treat metal surfaces. CYKLOS has fully encapsulated process modules and the lowest consumption and drag-out of chemicals. Automatic replenishment of chemicals assures a stable process, excellent repeatability and superior yield rates. Connecting it to a waste container and waste water treatment systems makes it a very environmentally friendly system.

Technical report:

The rotation process for the anodizing of aluminum meets the strict requirements of the automotive industry at XingLi without the normally required post-processing. This makes CYKLOS an absolute competitive advantage for the Chinese anodizer. 

• High process stability and uniformity
• Inline processing
• Rotation of parts ensures best uniformity and prevents build-up of gas in cavities
• Better mixing of process chemicals leads to improved uniformity
• Automated make-up and replenishment system
• Reduced chemical consumption by optimized dosing and drag-out prevention
• Environmentally friendly
• Closed system fulfills HSE requirements (Health, Safety and Environment), is operator friendly and designed with safety in mind
• Data logging for SPC and equipment status, back tracking of relevant process parameters
• Modular system allows upgrades to accommodate for any future process change

CYKLOS is the ideal platform to treat high volumes of small to medium size parts. The process tray is 462 mm x 330 mm x 150 mm (LxWxH), typically holds 40-70 parts, depending on size and geometry.

Available processes

• Cleaning
• Degrease
• Anodizing
• Sealing

Throughput at Anodizing 5μ

• 13 mio. pieces per year
• With a loading of 40 pieces per tray
• Operating 20 hours per day for 300 days per year (40 pcs/tray  43.7k pcs/day  13 mio pcs/yr)

Cost of Ownership

The total cost to treat one part ranges from 0.013 € to 0.05 €.

Footprint

Typically 2.2 m x 13.6 m (excl. tray logistics)