Production facility, production facility design method, production facility control method, and manufacturing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10654138-B2
Application number	US-201615569984-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 12, 2016
Priority date	Aug 20, 2015
Publication date	May 19, 2020
Grant date	May 19, 2020

Abstract

A production facility is provided with: an AGV for transporting a plurality of fuselage panels of multiple types having different shapes in a mixed state on a previously determined transport path; a plurality of A/Rs for riveting the fuselage panels; work areas set so as to correspond to the respective A/Rs in which the A/Rs move to rivet the fuselage panels; and a buffer area, set beforehand in the transport path adjacent to the work area, to which the A/R corresponding to the adjacent work area moves so as to rivet the fuselage panel. When there is no fuselage panel to be riveted in the work area adjacent to the buffer area and the fuselage panel to be riveted is present in the buffer area, a control device moves the A/R corresponding to the work area adjacent to the buffer area to the buffer area to rivet the fuselage panel.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A production facility comprising:
a guide vehicle configured to transport a plurality of machining targets of multiple types having different shapes in a mixed state on a predetermined transport path as a production line;
a plurality of processing tools configured to process the machining targets transported on the transport path;
a plurality of work regions preset in a transport direction of the transport path, each corresponding to a different processing tool of the plurality of processing tools, and each representing a range in which the corresponding processing tool can work to process the transported machining targets; and
a controller configured to control the guide vehicle to transport the machining targets from one of the work regions to another one of the work regions arranged on a downstream side in the transport direction and perform movement machining processing in which the processing tool not having the machining target to process in the work region corresponding to the processing tool is moved to another one of the adjacent work regions so as to process the machining target.

2. The production facility according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a spare work region preset adjacent to the work region in the transport path to which the processing tool corresponding to the adjacent work region moves so as to process the machining target,
wherein the movement machining processing moves the processing tool, which corresponds to the work region adjacent to the spare work region, to the spare work region to process the machining target in a case where the machining target to be processed is not present in the work region adjacent to the spare work region and the machining target to be processed is present in the spare work region.

3. The production facility according to claim 2 ,
wherein the spare work region is set between the work regions.

4. The production facility according to claim 1 ,
wherein, in a case where the machining target capable of being processed by the plurality of processing tools is present in the work region and the machining target to be processed in another one of the other work regions adjacent to the work region is not present, the movement machining processing moves the processing tool corresponding to the another work region to the adjacent work region so as to process the machining target by the plurality of processing tools.

5. A production facility design method, comprising:
taking a time that each of the processing tools can use for processing the machining target as a set time; and
determining a transport order of the machining targets of multiple types so that an operating time of each of the processing tools does not exceed the set time in a case where the movement machining processing according to claim 1 is performed.

6. The production facility design method according to claim 5 , further comprising:
calculating a minimum number of the processing tools necessary to process the machining targets by dividing an average processing time of each of the machining targets by the set time and determining the transport order of the machining targets of multiple types based on the calculated minimum number.

7. A production facility control method for a production facility provided with a guide vehicle configured to transport a plurality of machining targets of multiple types having different shapes in a mixed state on a predetermined transport path as a production line, a plurality of processing tools configured to process the machining targets transported on the transport path, and a plurality of work regions preset in a transport direction of the transport path, each corresponding to a different processing tool of the plurality of processing tools, and each representing a range in which the corresponding processing tool can work to process the transported machining targets, the method comprising:
controlling the guide vehicle to transport the machining targets from one of the work regions to another one of the work regions arranged on a downstream side in the transport direction, and
performing movement machining processing in which the processing tool not having the machining target to process in the work region corresponding to the processing tool is moved to another one of the adjacent work regions so as to process the machining target.

8. A manufacturing method, comprising:
manufacturing a machining target using the production facility according to claim 1 .

Assignees

• Mitsubishi Heavy Ind Ltd

Inventors

• Hirai Makoto
• Goto Takuya
• Kaneko Tsuyoshi
• Nakamura Katsumi

Classifications

• G05B2219/31054

  Planning, layout of assembly system · CPC title

• B64F5/10

  Manufacturing or assembling aircraft, e.g. jigs therefor · CPC title

• Y02P90/60

  Electric or hybrid propulsion means for production processes · CPC title

• G05B19/41815

  characterised by the cooperation between machine tools, manipulators and conveyor or other workpiece supply system, workcell · CPC title

• G05B2219/31338

  Design, flexible manufacturing cell design · CPC title