Heavy-Load AGV PU Wheel Line in China

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A leading national industrial forklift and AGV manufacturer in Anhui partnered with Haifeng to establish a high-throughput, automated polyurethane solid wheel casting facility. The project was commissioned to produce high-performance drive wheels and load-bearing rollers (diameters from 250 to 350 mm) for a newly launched fleet of 3-ton heavy-duty autonomous guided vehicles (AGVs).

Previously, outsourced manual wheel casting produced inconsistent adhesive bonding between metal hubs and the polyurethane tread, with peel strengths hovering at only 12 to 15 kN/m. Under high-speed endurance testing at 20 km/h, hysteresis heat built up rapidly within the tire core, exceeding 80°C and triggering catastrophic interfacial de-bonding and tread chunking.

Haifeng engineered a complete turnkey production line centered on the HF-CPU180-WL casting platform. Integrating inline medium-frequency induction core preheating (90°C), dual-flow matrix dispensing, and automated indexing conveyors, the line delivered 800 wheels per shift with peel bond strengths exceeding 30 kN/m and dynamic running heat buildup held below 45°C.

Haifeng engineered an automated lean wheel casting line featuring continuous core thermal conditioning and synchronized matrix dispensing. Forged steel wheel hubs are automatically transferred through a continuous medium-frequency induction heating station that brings the metal to exactly 90°C ± 2°C in 45 seconds, perfectly activating the pre-applied Chemlok bonding primer.

The preheated cores are placed into precision multi-cavity wheel molds on a heated indexing conveyor. Chemical components—low-hysteresis MDI prepolymer and 1,4-BDO crosslinker—are metered via servo-driven gear pumps under continuous Coriolis mass flow feedback, maintaining stoichiometric ratios within ±0.2%.

The dual-flow dynamic mixing head engages each mold: a low-flow nozzle dispenses 3 kg/min into the narrow hub clearance to purge air smoothly, followed by high-flow 15 kg/min flooding of the main tire cavity. Total injection cycle is completed in under 90 seconds per wheel. Molds index through a 100°C curing tunnel for 15 minutes before automated hydraulic demolding and transfer to final post-curing ovens.