Storage and Automated Tests in ATEX Specimens

Mission Objectives

Our client, one of the world's leading energy players, contacted ASM to design a fully automated machine dedicated to testing petroleum products. Such a product did not exist and until this equipment was made by ASM, the petroleum industry did not have at their disposal dedicated test equipment for petroleum-derived products. In direct collaboration with the customer's research and development teams, ASM engineers had to take into account many requirements related to the product under test:

  • The footprint had to be reduced to a minimum to adapt to the test ovens which were placed on the floor and in a laboratory with little space available
  • Versatility of installation, with several sizes of cylinders being used: 25 ml, 50 ml, 100 ml and 250 ml
  • Tightness of specimens imposed for the validity of the tests
  • Fully automated test management, their duration varying from a few hours to several days

Results

After 2000 hours of design and development, ASM has produced a line with the following technical characteristics:

  • Testing and storage on a conveyor of 30 hermetically sealed specimens
  • Purpose-designed robotic arm, which combines pneumatic cylinders and electric motors
  • Maximum miniaturization by integrating the robotic arm in the center of the specimen conveyor
  • Versatility of the system dynamically managing different specimen formats

 

Since its creation in 1997, ASM has designed and installed more than 300 production machines, prototypes and pilot installations in France and abroad, of which here are some examples: