Xi'an SAFE Project: Fully Automated Polyurethane Casting Solution for Rail Pads Project
Customer Background
As a world-leading provider of rail transit solutions, SAFE Rail Fastening System specializes in the R&D and manufacturing of core products for high-speed railways, metro systems, and heavy-haul railways. With an annual production capacity of up to 5 million sets and a technologically advanced 30,000-ton automated logistics hub, the company stands as a benchmark enterprise in China’s railway engineering sector. SAFE’s unwavering pursuit of exceptional quality is endorsed by the rigorous dual authoritative certifications of CRCC (China Railway Test & Certification Center) and TÜV NORD Germany, ensuring all its components meet the most stringent safety standards worldwide.
Overview
Amid the wave of modern railway industry upgrading, microcellular polyurethane elastomers are rapidly replacing traditional rubber baseplates as the preferred material in the rail transit sector, thanks to their superior vibration damping performance, exceptional load-bearing capacity, and excellent environmental durability. However, the extremely stringent safety standards of High-Speed Rail (HSR) impose absolute requirements on product consistency. Previously relying on manual operations, the client faced numerous challenges such as unstable mixing ratios and low product qualification rates caused by temperature fluctuations. They urgently needed a comprehensive solution to achieve a leapfrog transformation from manual production to a fully automated, data-driven production model.
Project Challenge: A "From Zero to One" Breakthrough Journey in the Polyurethane Field
Despite SAFE’s absolute dominance in the steel fastening system market, its cross-border transformation to microcellular polyurethane rail pad products still encountered a steep technical learning curve. The client had a complete “knowledge gap” in key areas such as polyurethane chemical systems, reaction kinetics, and precision casting processes. What they sought was not merely an equipment supplier, but a strategic partner capable of building an entire production ecosystem from scratch.
Haifeng's Solutions
01
Volatile protective performance
To achieve precise chemical metering ratios, we tailor-made a high-pressure metering system integrated with an innovative dual-loop control mechanism. By combining high-precision gear metering pumps with Coriolis mass flow meters, the system enables real-time flow correction to ensure zero deviation in mixing accuracy.
Full-process data traceability: Key process parameters are automatically recorded every 5 seconds, creating an exclusive “digital file” for each rail pad to achieve quality control and traceability.
02
CNC Robotics + Intelligent Management, Enhancing Production Efficiency
Abandoning the traditional tunnel oven design, Haifeng innovatively adopted a tunnel-free water-heated mold frame solution. This design achieves uniform heat distribution, minimizes temperature deviations between molds, optimizes the polyurethane curing reaction process, thereby endowing products with more excellent physical and mechanical properties while featuring energy-saving and environmental protection advantages.
03
Innovative Energy-Saving Temperature Control, Optimizing Product Performance
The casting process adopts CNC trajectory control technology, achieving millimeter-level precise casting positioning for complex mold structures and ensuring product molding quality.
Dual-tank linkage system: Equipped with working tanks and refilling tanks, it supports automatic refueling and continuous uninterrupted production. Meanwhile, it is paired with a high-precision temperature and pressure control module to ensure a stable and controllable production environment.
Full-process automation: The production line integrates automatic mold opening, closing, and robotic part picking functions, significantly reducing labor dependence and intensity, shortening the production cycle, and improving overall production efficiency.
Project Achievements
Acting as the “Chief Technology Architect” for SAFE’s polyurethane project, Haifeng Automation successfully helped the client achieve a crucial “from zero to one” breakthrough in the polyurethane field through a comprehensive turnkey solution：
Professional process consulting
Assembled a team of senior technical experts to provide full-process guidance for the client in overcoming technical difficulties related to polyurethane chemical properties and removing transformation obstacles.
Customized system integration
Based on the exclusive specifications of rail pad products, tailor-designed a fully automated production line to achieve perfect adaptation between equipment, processes, and products.
End-to-end full-process delivery
From the initial formula verification in the R&D laboratory to 24/7 uninterrupted automated mass production on-site, what we delivered was not just a set of production equipment, but a mature manufacturing system that is replicable, high-capacity, and high-quality.
