Modular system for automated portable electronic device disassembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11045913-B1
Application number	US-201916383334-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Apr 12, 2019
Priority date	Apr 13, 2018
Publication date	Jun 29, 2021
Grant date	Jun 29, 2021

Abstract

This application relates to a method for disassembling a portable electronic device. The method can include generating data associated with disassembling the portable electronic device based on measurements of a housing of the portable electronic device, removing a display assembly from the housing using a first module of a modular system based on the measurements of the housing, and removing an energy storage component from the housing using a second module of the modular system based on the measurements of the housing.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for disassembling a portable electronic device, the portable electronic device including a display assembly and a housing defining a cavity that carries an energy storage component, comprising:
generating data associated with disassembling the portable electronic device based on measurements of the housing of the portable electronic device including measurements of the physical attributes of the housing;
removing the display assembly from the housing using a first module of a modular system based on the data generated from the measurements of the housing wherein removing the display assembly from the housing exposes the energy storage component carried within the cavity of the housing; and
removing the energy storage component from the housing using a second module of the modular system based on the data generated from the measurements of the housing.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data is generated using a vision system included in the first module.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the data includes a length of the housing and a width of the housing measured by the vision system.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the data is augmented by a scanning unit of the first module.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the scanning unit is utilized to detect a presence or absence of the energy storage component that is carried by the housing.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the energy storage component is removed from the housing by cooling the housing with a cooling unit.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein a rate at which the housing is cooled by the cooling unit is based on the measurements of the housing.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the measurements of the housing includes a bend angle of the housing.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the energy storage component is attached to the housing by an adhesive, and the energy storage component is removed from the housing by swinging the housing with an amount of momentum that is sufficient to overcome an adhesion force associated with the adhesive.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a controller of a modular system for disassembling a portable electronic device including a display assembly and a housing defining a cavity that carries an energy storage component, cause the modular system to carry out steps comprising:
generating data associated with disassembling the portable electronic device based on measurements of the housing of the portable electronic device including measurements of the physical attributes of the housing;
removing the display assembly from the housing using a first module of a modular system based on the data generated from the measurements of the housing wherein removing the display assembly from the housing exposes the energy storage component carried within the cavity of the housing; and
removing the energy storage component from the housing using a second module of the modular system based on the data generated from the measurements of the housing.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the data is generated using a vision system included in the first module.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the data includes a length of the housing and a width of the housing.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the steps further comprise:
augmenting the data by using a scanning unit.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein removing the energy storage component from the housing comprises the steps of:
cooling the housing with a cooling unit.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the measurements of the housing includes a bend angle of the housing.

16. A system for processing a portable electronic device, the portable electronic device including a display assembly and a housing defining a cavity that carries an energy storage component, the system comprising:
a controller in communication with a camera, the controller configured to generate data based on measurements of the housing of the portable electronic device including measurements of the physical attributes of the housing based on an image of the housing taken by the camera;
a first module in communication with the controller, the first module configured to remove the display assembly from the housing based on the data generated from the measurements of the housing, wherein removing the display assembly from the housing exposes the energy storage component carried within the cavity of the housing; and
a second module in communication with the controller, the second module configured to remove the energy storage component from the housing based on the data generated from the measurements of the housing.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the second module further comprises:
a cooling unit for cooling the housing.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein a rate at which the housing is cooled by the cooling unit is based on the measurements of the housing.

19. The system of claim 16 , wherein the measurements of the housing include at least one of a width, a length, or an angle of the housing.

20. The system of claim 16 , further comprising:
a scanning unit configured to detect a presence and an absence of the energy storage component within the housing.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Wieler Patrick S
• Rujanavech Charissa
• Lewis Mark
• Loeper Thomas
• Powell Dan
• Schwarz Jason
• Sever John
• Staunton Darragh

Classifications

• Y02P90/02

  Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS] · CPC title

• G05B2219/45091

  Screwing robot, tighten or loose bolt · CPC title

• G05B2219/40034

  Disassembly, for recycling · CPC title

• G05B2219/31065

  Disassembly evaluation · CPC title

• G05B19/41805

  characterised by assembly · CPC title