Method and system for monitoring a manufacturing process and creating and updating a workpiece-specific data set

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11262725-B2
Application number	US-201816604549-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 8, 2018
Priority date	May 11, 2017
Publication date	Mar 1, 2022
Grant date	Mar 1, 2022

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for monitoring a manufacturing process, comprising the steps of: detecting a workpiece with a sensor unit of a portable device, sending the information acquired by the sensor unit to a database and applying a workpiece-specific data set, detecting the workpiece before, during and/or after carrying out a machining step or a handling step on the workpiece by the sensor unit of the portable device, updating the data set stored in the database before, during and/or after carrying out a machining step or handling step on the workpiece. The manufacturing process can, for example, relate to the machining of a board-shaped workpiece, such as a solid wooden board, a chipboard, a MDF board, a HDF board, or a workpiece made of another wood material.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for monitoring a manufacturing process, the method comprising:
detecting a workpiece with a sensor unit of a portable device;
transmitting information detected by the sensor unit to a database and creating a workpiece-specific data set;
detecting the workpiece before, during or after carrying out a machining step or a handling step on the workpiece by the sensor unit of the portable device; and
updating the workpiece-specific data set stored in the database before, during or after carrying out the machining step or the handling step on the workpiece.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the portable device is data goggles, a tablet computer, a mobile telephone, data glove or a smartwatch.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the portable device displays instructions for action, warnings, a confirmation of an activity or a control panel for activating, operating or monitoring a machining device in an augmented reality.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the workpiece is detected in a contactless manner, by means of the sensor unit designed as a camera that comprises a 3D camera.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the detection of the workpiece is carried out based on at least one workpiece dimension that comprises a width, a height, a thickness or a surface area of one side of the workpiece, a color of the workpiece, a degree of gloss of a surface of the workpiece, a material property, an edge material, a coating or a groove or drilling pattern of the workpiece.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the portable device has a data transmission module for wireless data transmission, which is integrated into a local network.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the portable device comprises a position sensor, wherein a position is determined at a time of detecting the workpiece.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the portable device comprises one or more acceleration sensors.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the portable device comprises an audio system with a voice control function.

10. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the data glove can interact with the portable device for gesture control.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the workpiece is a panel-shaped workpiece or has free-form surfaces, and wherein the workpiece comprises a solid wood panel, a chipboard, an MDF panel, an HDF panel, or a panel made of composite materials.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the machining step or the handling step on the workpiece is selected from: cutting the workpiece to size, machining edges, grinding, laminating, painting, drilling a hole, applying a coating material, printing the workpiece, attaching a fitting, transporting, stacking, packaging or assembling components, and
wherein the coating material comprises an edge material.

13. A system, comprising:
a portable device with a sensor unit, wherein the portable device is configured to detect a workpiece before, during or after a machining step or a handling step has been carried out on the workpiece and to determine and transmit information about the workpiece; and
a production control system having a database, wherein the production control system is configured to create a workpiece-specific data set in the database based on the transmitted information about the workpiece and to update the workpiece-specific data set stored in the database,
wherein the system is configured to monitor a manufacturing process.

14. The system according to claim 13 , wherein the portable device comprises data goggles, and wherein the portable device comprises a data glove that is provided for gesture control.

15. The system according to claim 13 , wherein the portable device comprises an audio system with a voice control function.

16. The method according to claim 1 , wherein transmitting the information and creating the workpiece-specific data set comprise transmitting the information about the workpiece detected by the sensor unit to the database and creating the workpiece-specific data set in the database based on the transmitted information about the workpiece.

17. The system according to claim 13 , wherein the sensor unit comprises a camera, wherein the portable device is configured to detect a change in a dimension of the workpiece, and wherein the production control system is configured to update the workpiece-specific data set stored in the database based on the detected change in the dimension of the workpiece.

Assignees

• Homag Gmbh

Inventors

• Frick David
• Friebolin Manuel
• Graf Joachim
• Kuehne Andreas

Classifications

• G06Q10/20

  Administration of product repair or maintenance · CPC title

• G06Q10/0639

  Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations · CPC title

• G05B19/042

  using digital processors (G05B19/05 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G05B19/4184

  characterised by fault tolerance, reliability of production system · CPC title

• Y02P90/30

  Computing systems specially adapted for manufacturing · CPC title